Written by Doug Moench.
Art by Mike Manley; Josef Rubinstein; Adrienne Roy; & Ken Bruzenak.
Cover Art by Mike Manley.
SUMMARY:
Entitled “The Night Before Zero,” DC Comics released this Zero Hour tie-in for September 1994. Zero Hour’s time displacement ripples are already affecting Gotham City, as a post-Killing Joke alternate reality emerges.
Specifically, an alternate-reality Barbara “Batgirl” Gordon faces a bewildered Dynamic Duo, and later off-screen, confronts her own present-day counterpart: the wheelchair-bound Oracle. As this younger Batgirl reveals, she was abducted but not crippled in The Killing Joke. Instead, her father was brutally murdered by the Joker, only to be replaced by Harvey Dent as the city’s Police Commissioner. Watching these odd present-day events unfold from the shadows is a young, time-displaced Robin (Dick Grayson from several years before).
Taking advantage of the time-bending chaos (especially with the Gotham City Police now hunting all caped crusaders), the Joker raids the Police Commissioner’s Office to kill Dent. After Oracle offers a potential theory explaining the sudden madness, Batman must intercept the Joker to prevent the Commissioner’s assassination (whoever it may be). Batman’s pre-Zero Hour involvement next shifts to Superman: The Man of Steel # 37.
Notes: Despite his presence on the cover, Nightwing does not appear in this story. The alternate-reality Batgirl becomes a pivotal character in the main Zero Hour saga.
REVIEW:
Overcoming potentially confusing plot twists, Batman # 511 is a terrific read, largely due to its welcome unpredictability. Unlike other Batman titles and their self-contained pre-Zero Hour hype, not everything is neatly resolved. Hence, Bat-fans get a welcome sample of how tantalizing DC’s Zero Hour concept may become.
Still, there is one plot element that parents should be advised of: specifically, the Joker’s goons grave-rob Commissioner Gordon’s corpse as a macabre prank to inflict upon Batman. Consistent with their likable visuals, the art team should be commended for conveying this sequence via inference and shadows rather than anything remotely grisly. Unlike some dubious pre-Zero Hour crossovers, Batman # 511 holds up even today because the creative team takes some scripting risks that pay off.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
There is a two-page “Bat Signals” letters-and-answers column.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 7 Stars
