Skip to main content

Batman: White Knight



When did you turn into a good guy?

The premise of Batman: White Knight is whether Batman, not the villains of Gotham City, is the problem. This Elseworlds tale, written and illustrated by Sean Murphy with color provided by Matt Hollingsworth, takes the "crusader" element of the caped crusader and asks if that is what Gotham really needs right now. The Joker, reformed after nearly being murdered by Batman, proposes Batman's efforts are little more than a villainous crusade, and the real problem plaguing Gotham is the rampant inefficiency at which the city's leaders operate with. With that, the traditional roles of Batman and the joker are flipped. Batman becomes the villain, the scapegoat for the villains' continued presence in Gotham, while the Joker dons the name Jack Napier and champions for a new Gotham, one its residents can feel safe in and be proud of, one without Batman. Napier is Gotham's white knight.

The story is ripe with political allegory, something Murphy has never shied away from. The running theme of the story is police brutality and public discontent due to it, with Batman being a symbol of police officers acting more like wannabe vigilantes than protectors of society. Napier wants to bring about reform the proper, legal way, something the public, jaded from years of being overly reliant on a superhero and seeing little change in their day-to-day lives because of it. He does so the proper way, as Murphy quickly makes clear this is not an elaborate ruse by the Joker. His memories contain all of Joker's, but his efforts and care for the populace are both genuine. In this way, Murphy creates a fascinating character foil of one of the most famous villains in comics, and being able to examine him over eight issues is one of the most rewarding elements of the story.


The rest of White Knight suffers from greater misdirection. The political themes suggest a grounded, more realistic take on the Batman mythos, a character analysis of sorts, but the actual story is anything but. Murphy opens with a story of classism, as Napier forgoes the elite of Gotham to garner support from the cities poorer districts, the ones who feel neglected by police attention. This quickly collapses as a third party unites the cities supervillains in a power play to seize control. The story is anything but grounded, it contains lavish setpieces that include an army of batmobiles descending on a frozen-in-ice Gotham. White Knight had the opportunity to be a much deeper comic than what might be ordinarily seen, especially with its relevance to modern times. Whether or not it succeeded will honestly depend on the interpretations of each specific reader.

Also, the amount of times everyone in the room points their guns at Napier is ridiculous.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Justice League: Origins

The comic-verse is a complicated anthology to keep track of, not helped in the slightest by the vast number of timelines, parallel timelines, resets to those parallel timelines, convoluted resets to those parallel timelines in order to explain changes made solely based off of the preference of the writer, etc. The greatest element of yet also the biggest problem with comics, as has been discussed before, is their continuity. Everything is connected. In the first six issues of the New 52 Justice League run in 2011, Geoff Johns attempts to recreate a more modern origin story for the infamous band of heroes. Dc also attempts to leave the previous origins intact, the reasoning of which won't be explained for almost eight more years with Doomsday Clock. Timeline shenanigans aside, Justice League: Origins succeeds because it is a character-driven story of unwavering commitment to do the right thing. The characters who head the tale are not the ones readers had become to be associated w...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Dark Knight Returns

Frank Miller's post-retirement tale of Batman is well-known and revered in the comic book industry. An aging Bruce Wayne dons the cowl one last time as Gotham City begins to implode without the Batman, teaming up with a new, plucky Robin in hopes of saving the day. This is an industry staple; a must-read. The Dark Knight Returns is a critique of American society, their fascination with violence, and their disconnect from empathy. It is also a sendoff to Batman that wound up being a catlyst for the modern age of comics, alongside Watchmen. Miller explores Batman and Joker's relationship, examining the yin-yang pull the two exhibits on one another. He also addresses heroism versus complacency. Heroes exist to serve the people, not a government, and one major character, in particular, had to be taught that.
Post a Comment
Read more

Injustice 2

The sequel to the surprise hit, Injustice: Gods Among Us and the respective tie-in to its video game counterpart, Injustice 2 is a smash ensemble series that picks up the story about a year after the conclusion of the first video game. Superman, one of the main characters of the first arc, is in prison, and no, there are no breakouts or incidents involving him that would lessen the impact of Batman eventually letting him free in the game to help fight Brainiac. Here, he is relegated largely to a guest character. The main villain is, instead, Ras Al Ghul. Unlike the first series, Injustice 2 is written with a physical publication in mind, and the artwork is far more consistent. Artists would get select mini-arcs within the story rather than one issue at a time, which allowed them to put the spins they needed on characters and better understand the plots of what they were drawing and coloring. Tom Taylor is back as writer and brings his usual selection of talents (see older posts for r...
Post a Comment
Read more