Written by Andrew Helfer.
Art by Tang Eng Hurt; Pat Brosseau; & David Baron.
Cover Art by Pat Lee.
SUMMARY:
Released by DC Comics for October 2005, this premiere for the 12-issue series is entitled “Bad Blood, Journey Into Knight: Book One.” Set evidently soon after Batman: Year One, a young Dark Knight probes Gotham City’s new street drug: Sanitiz, an illicit brain-erasing pill.
Haunted by conflicting messages from his ‘parents’ emanating from his sub-conscious, Bruce Wayne tangles with the ruthless drug trafficker, Claire, who has already shot his masked alter-ego point-blank in the chest. At a downtown party, Bruce meets a potential new love interest, Skye, while Alfred’s phone tap sets up their next lead on thwarting Sanitiz’s distribution pipeline.
In proximity to Bogota, Colombia, would-be treasure hunter, Cary, is the evidently oblivious carrier of a lethal plague. Headed home to the U.S., ‘Cary’ may really be Carlos Mercadan: the creator of Sanitiz. At Gotham’s airport, an undercover Bruce discovers ghastly evidence of this plague, as all passengers and crew aboard Mercadan’s passenger jet are dead. A cliffhanger leaves off with Bruce & Alfred in a dire emergency.
REVIEW:
Andrew Helfer’s storyline exhibits some intriguing moments (i.e., Bruce’s dream), but, at this early stage, the plotting falls short of other ‘Young Batman’ titles: i.e., Batman: Year One, Batman and the Monster Men, or Batman and the Mad Monk. Though the art squad’s visuals are generally high-caliber, their Bruce Wayne curiously resembles a man in his late teens. Hence, it is hard to jive Journey Into Knight’s continuity when DC Comics has steadfastly depicted Bruce becoming Batman in his mid-twenties.
This series opener, overall, is a solid read; it just too easily gets lost among DC’s enormous glut of Batman projects.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
Penned by a supposed ‘mole,’ the “DC in Demand” column includes thumbnail cover reveals for Justice # 1; Manhunter # 13; and Batman: Journey Into Knight # 2.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 6 Stars
