Reviewer: Chris Delloiacono
Story Title: 20 Days Less One
Written by: Scott Beatty
Penciled by: David Ross
Inked by: John Floyd
Colored by: Noelle Giddings
Lettered by: John Pinaha
Editor: Matt Idelson
Publisher: DC Comics
Recently, Scott Beatty has kept readers wondering about the state of everyone’s favorite butler, Alfred. Beatty, with a big assist from artist Roger Robinson, made it seem like the iconic character could be on his last legs. While it’s pretty clear DC isn’t going to allow a character as important to the Bat-mythos as Alfred be killed off, Beatty and Robinson’s great work gave me reason enough to at least partially suspend this knowledge while I read the book. The biggest problem with the situation was last issue, which was a fill-in story, which I reviewed here. On top of the fact that the story wasn’t very good, it made me wait another month to see the plotline I cared about concluded.
Thankfully, last months bummer only made this issues success that much greater. Scott Beatty’s tells his tale with an all-star cast, that’s truly worthy of the build up. There are appearances by: Superman, Nightwing, the Atom, Bane, Robin, and even Sentinel! None show up as window dressing, each plays a part in the attempt to cure Alfred’s or at least to advance the continuing storylines.
The cast of thousands, all right that’s a bit of a stretch, is made possible by Beatty’s interesting approach to structuring the story. Unfolding over the course of twenty consecutive days, Beatty allows single pages, and in a couple of cases two pages, convey a portion of one day. The device works brilliantly to advance the drama! The vignettes allow us to see what so many characters are going through, as well as the various steps taken to cure Alfred. Batgirl buys a card for Alfred, Batman takes out his frustration on the Riddler, Robin tries to make soup. Beatty’s work is superb at conveying how important this man is to each of them.
Beatty has been on the book for nearly a year now, and he’s done an excellent job sowing the seeds for future issues, by slowly developing subplots. While there have been neat arcs, there also have been the smaller subplots to propel us into the next issue or arc. Beatty strikes gold once again with his next tease. It seems the death of Jason Todd is under investigation again, and Bruce Wayne will have some sleepless nights, wait all his nights are sleepless. Let’s just say, Bruce has some difficult times and many hard questions in store for him. Jason’s death is something that never was tied up properly for me, and I think it’s great that Beatty is dredging the whole thing up again. Sorry Bruce, but I must say, good job Scott!
The cover in error states Roger Robinson as the artist, but in actuality the artist is Dave Ross for this issue and at least the next three as I look forward at the solicitations. I really liked Robinson’s art on the book, he had a very cool way of drawing Batman, and he will be missed. Dave Ross’ work is up to par though. He does a good job with the wide range of guest stars, and he illustrates Alfred’s condition in every dreadful detail. The first couple of pages show Alfred in such a crusty, dried out state, you’d think he didn’t have a chance. Really fine work. The only problem I have with Mr. Ross’ art, is that Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, and Tim Drake were pretty hard to tell apart. While they may have a few features in common, their disparate ages shouldn’t have made this as difficult as it was. All told though a good issue artistically. I look forward to see what else Ross brings to the table the next few issues.
The three main Bat-titles are all very good right now there are no bones about it. Loeb and Lee on BATMAN, Brubaker writing DETECTIVE COMICS, and Scott Beatty on GOTHAM KNIGHTS are at minimum well above average. It’s been surprising that Beatty in a time when the other titles are shining so brightly has been able to keep this title so interesting. The book may seem overlooked but Beatty is crafting some great stories, with nice threads that are continuing through his run.
