Review – Batman: Reptilian #2
Review – Batman: Reptilian #2
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Liam Sharp
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: 28th July 2021
Variant Covers: Cully Hamner & Riccardo Federici
Synopsis: Book Two
Batman hits the streets in search of the creature terrorizing Gotham’s underworld—and hits them hard. The first stop is the lair of the Penguin, but Oswald Cobblepot is at death’s door (which is better off than the beast left many of his cronies). The mangled rogue has no answers for Batman, but his blood—and the surprising secrets that it holds—will send the vigilante ever deeper into darkness…
Check out our review of Issue #1 here.
Writer: Garth Ennis
Book two starts with the Batman giving Penguin advice to keep hold of the thing outside his body that should be inside so we know that the horror will be ramped up this issue. Batman questions him but Cobblepot is in no state to answer anything so takes a blood sample to check for any clues.
Back at the Batcave, he finds estrogen in the blood which confuses him. He debates with Alfred that the predator is not deliberately killing people but much like a great white shark it’s testing each victim for something. This version of Batman is a bit of an arse, from calling a near-dead Penguin a “useless little gargoyle“, to arguing with Alfred he’s got a bat-chip on his bat-shoulder.
Searching Gotham for hoods and henchmen, he interrogates one of the only ones left, who tells him about a few taking refuge in the sewers. Finding another trail of destruction including a scalped Ivy he helps a few escape in the boot of the Batmobile. Poor Freeze is broken and hanging from his bootstraps, so kind ole Batman uses his Bat-tape (he actually says this) to fix the cracks in the helmet protecting Freeze. Batman finally finds out that the victims have been tagged with the pheromone pointing the finger back to Croc.
Ennis darkens Batman to his blackest, snarkiest form here, it’s almost too dark unless you remember that Black Label pushes the boundary deliberately. Using Croc as a horny hitman to take out the various villains is an interesting premise but there must be something else to this that we’ll find out over the next few issues.
Artist: Liam Sharp
Sharp continues the breathtaking artwork from issue one here. The first few pages dripping with blood red and black helps show the horror visited on Penguin. The painted images of a masked up Freeze or Ivy show that the killer has no mercy and the expanse of the Batcave is shown in all its glory.
Have a look at the above full-page image, showing Batman towering over a mangled Penguin, his fingers hinting that every bone in his body is broken. Batman’s disgust of the villain is hidden behind the shadows but somehow still seems to be there
Overall Thoughts
This is a bloodbath with wall to wall guts. When the Joker is more caring than Batman, asking his henchmen to call him every hour to make sure they are still alive we’ve crossed into the shark-jumping territory. But Sharp’s artwork is a triumph and I for one will be picking up the next few issues to find out who’s behind this (Joker probably)
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