Batman: Reptilian #5

Batman: Reptilian #5

DC Black Label 2021

Written by Garth Ennis

Illustrated by Liam Sharp

Lettered by Rob Steen

After following a trail of carnage, Batman has finally come face-to-face with the reptilian that's been menacing Gotham’s underworld. And this horrific creature only wants one thing: its mother. But who is its mother? Pick up this penultimate chapter to find out the impossible answer to that question!

Why can’t Batman be like this all the time? He and Croc have this two-man show going on with their personalities playing off one another and it’s an absolute dream come true to see! The characterisation here is beyond anything I could have dared to hope for and all the while they are in the midst of Croc’s kid wrecking havoc all over the place. If this was how Batman was portrayed all the time I’d be one of his biggest fans instead of just a casual fan who picks and chooses stories that seem to be different from his everyday books. I am so enamoured and enraptured by this story that while I know it’s only a limited series I wish it were a maxi-series because it needs to go for as long as humanly possible. Or better yet this creative team needs to do another tale that is horror based and allows us to see another villain in an entirely new way that will rock our worlds.

I am so totally into how this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented impeccably well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job shining a spotlight on their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story there is no escaping just how good this book truly is.

I’m very much enjoying how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I really like the way that the layers open up new avenues to be explored and how this adds so much great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. What this child of Croc’s wants well yeah that’s a massive moment which could lead to so many different ways of exploration. The way that everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is immaculately achieved.

These interiors are bloody mindbogglingly gorgeous! Not only is the way this is painted so as to keep this underground dark, dank and foreboding but to see the attention to detail within the characters, the creature and the backgrounds well that’s just bloody marvellous. How we see the composition within the panels bringing out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is incredibly well rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masters eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is bloody genius.

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There are so many moments strewn throughout this issue that make you laugh, cringe and fill you with nervous laughter energy that you don't ever want to see this end. While this isn’t even over yet I am still ready to say that this should take its place in the all-time best Batman stories ever told. It is that damn good. The creativity and imagination that is on display here through the writing and through the artwork and even through the lettering make this what it is and it’s bloody well perfectly genius storytelling pure and simple. Thanks to the immaculate writing and inspired characterisation all wrapped around these bloody brilliant interiors.