{"id":3229571,"date":"2010-12-30T22:00:33","date_gmt":"2010-12-31T03:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidepulse.dev\/?p=229571"},"modified":"2010-12-30T21:39:16","modified_gmt":"2010-12-31T02:39:16","slug":"review-batman-the-dark-knight-1-by-david-finch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/2010\/12\/30\/review-batman-the-dark-knight-1-by-david-finch\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Batman The Dark Knight #1 By David Finch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Batman: The Dark Knight #1<\/p>\n

Writer-artist: David Finch<\/p>\n

My first exposure to David Finch was actually Star Trek\/X-Men back in the 90’s, but I literally just discovered that, so instead I’m going to list it as the first time I knew I was seeing his art. Ultimate X-Men back in 2003, when he provided the art for Brian Bendis’s brief run on the title, and I remember immediately thinking that he had a cool dark and gritty style that I wanted to see more of. And more of it I definitely did see over the years, between interior art in books like New Avengers, Moon Knight, Ultimatum, and Second Coming, he also was one of the most predominant cover artists in Marvel’s stable. But there was one thing that always kind of bugged me, see, Finch has this really cool dark and gritty style, the kind of art that was amazing for Moon Knight….but Moon Knight is just a poor man’s Batman…..<\/p>\n

And so it began. When I heard Finch had gone to DC Comics, the first thought that entered my mind was “He’s going to draw Batman”, it’s the franchise he was born for (much like I’ll claim Gary Frank was born to draw Superman). So I wasn’t surprised to see that, aside from the covers of Brightest Day, that Finch would be quickly thrust into the Bat umbrella so that his particular style could be fully taken advantage of. I was surprised, however, to see him become the writer-artist of Batman: The Dark Knight, as I had expected him to be the artist for Grant Morrison (this was before Batman Inc was announced). So all of the sudden I’m torn, because I swear that Finch is destined to be one of the best Bat artists of the modern era, but I have never even considered what his writing would come across like. I mean, it’s a very similar situation to Tony Daniel where a little research shows me that they have done the writer-artist deal in the past, but not on books I’ve read or heard of. So I’m comparing him to Tony Daniel and then it hits me….I like Tony Daniel as a writer-artist on Batman, and I’m even more excited at the prospect of David Finch drawing Batman, so I have to buy it. How bad can it be?<\/p>\n

Not bad at all, to be honest. This is a great first issue that reads almost as well as it looks. The very first thing I notice about the look of this book is that it evokes memories of Hush, which is understandable since Finch is teamed up with Scott Williams and Alex Sinclair, Jim Lee’s preferred inker and colorist. Now, I wasn’t a huge Hush fan, but the combination of Finch and those two makes for one of the best looking Batman issues I’ve seen in a while. Despite handling all the primary creative duties on this book, he doesn’t allow the quality of his art to slide at all, he maintains the quality that fans will expect when they see his name on the title. His rendition of Killer Croc was really sweet looking, monstrous without losing the fact that he started off as a man. Then there was another villain he redesigned for the end of the issue whose name will go unmentioned in this review (maybe I’ll do a spoiler for the morning), and I’ll admit that I don’t remember the last time that villain looked the least bit menacing, so it was a nice touch.<\/p>\n

Oh, yeah, he also draws an awesome looking Batman.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The writing is the big \u00a0question in this issue though, as let’s be honest, nobody who has seen David Finch’s body of work (and claims to be a fan of it) had any questions about how well he would handle the Dark Knight. Again, born to draw Batman. I was pleased though, pleasantly surprised even, I mean, who knew that the book would read as fluidly as it does? Batman has his voice, and despite that I haven’t seen a whole lot of Bruce in costume this past year, this book is clearly Bruce and Finch has clearly been reading Batman long enough to have figured it out. At times things get a little clunky, mainly in the narration, but it’s never too jarring and at no point did I find myself having to stop reading it to question what he was doing.<\/p>\n

The book could easily draw some easy Hush\u00a0comparisons\u00a0for more than the art though, as Finch debuts a character who (like Tommy “Hush” Elliott) knew Bruce as a child, before his parents were killed, and who was created just for the sake of the story. Hopefully she won’t just be used as a villain….I can live with her being a plot point, but I really don’t want to see her wind up as a villain because I really don’t want to compare the book to Hush again.<\/p>\n

The scope of the book isn’t something like you’d expect out of Morrison, I mean, the first arc is looking to unfold as Bruce trying to hunt down a girl he knew when he was a kid because she was kidnapped, and most likely will go through several of his rogues on the way to finding her so that Finch can show what he’s got. It’s not the most dynamic and original story ever, but does it need to be? We’ve got Batman Inc by Morrison, and Tony Daniel has Dick Grayson against the Gotham Mob, so I think Finch handling a Batman who fights Bat villains on Batman like cases? I can live with that, especially if the books keep reading like this. This is a good book, and definitely worth coming back for the second issue of. Finch demonstrates all the making of a solid and quality title in this first issue, and I can’t wait for more.<\/p>\n

Overall?<\/p>\n

8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a bold new era for the Dark Knight with writer-artist David Finch, but how is it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2082,23],"tags":[89,9174,9416,121891],"zone":[121886],"series":[],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/feed\/podcast\/inside-pulse","embedCode":"

Review: Batman The Dark Knight #1 By David Finch<\/a><\/blockquote>