Batman #7

Script: Steve Orlando
Pencils & Inks: Riley Rossmo
Colors: Ivan Plascencia
Letters: Deron Bennett
Publisher: DC

I've gone on the record on this very site about how I'm one of the few people in the world who isn't a huge fan of Batman and also about how I'm one of the many people in the world who's mildly annoyed by crossovers, so logic would dictate that I probably shouldn't be reading and reviewing the one crossover between the comic with Batman and the comics with all the other Bat-people. But that would be no fun, besides I want to keep up with the Detective Comics cast (even if I didn't really like last week's Tec issue).

Night of the Monster Men is about the Bat-folk fighting the titular Monster Men while Gotham City is stricken by a hurricane. A large chunk of the issue shows the Bat-squad interacting with civilians and that's always interesting but that mostly goes away when the first Monster Man shows up. There's some impulse in the book to frame this as a mystery but it doesn't work because the big bad is revealed on the third page. Despite all my reservations I tried to go into this with a genuinely open mind but the plot lacks a clear structure. All those moments that are supposed to wow you fall flat because of that.

Riley Rossmo's art is great though. He's drawn comics at Image and Marvel before but I had never encountered his work. Here, he does some interesting things with regards to his layouts. The big wide panels here and on Nightwing #5 are there to make this event feel like a movie, that style of paneling is overused if you ask me, and it can backfire if you just show faces or bodies against a simplified background but Rossmo is very clever in using them to frame action against Gotham's skyline. I also absolutely love his stylized version of Batwoman. He exaggerates all the angles in her mask, giving her a more dynamic look. Plascencia's bold, solid coloring of her wig adds to how fantastically striking that second page (a full page shot of Batman and Batwoman) is.

Plascencia's coloring is good, for the most part. As I said, I like this version of Batwoman a lot and he does a nice job portraying the hurricane and Gotham itself but the Monster Men kind of look like they're made out of papier mache. Which I guess could be the point, but it's not working for me.

Not every choice that Rossmo makes works either, there was a panel with Cassandra Cain jumping off a roof that looked particularly awkward. The physicality and movement on action scenes feels artificial. He does have a bit of Rob Liefeld in how he draws legs, so some people probably won't vibe with this art at all. The character acting here is definitely over-the-top but it is effective. It reminds me of Ricardo Lopez Ortiz's on Kingpin, and Lopez Ortiz is another idiosyncratic artist whom I really enjoy. There are some things that could be better executed but overall, I'd say Rossmo's lines were my favorite part of Batman #7. Hopefully I get to see more of his work in the future.

Aside from the art, which was a very pleasant surprise, the side of Night of the Monster Men that I'm most invested in are the characters that I already liked from Detective Comics. It's not like this comic book is a trainwreck but all things considered, most of Batman #7 feels meandering and unfocused.