Batman: Curse of the White Knight #4 Review: The Dead and the Broken

Commissioner Gordon is dead leading Barbara on a warpath against Azrael and the men under his command. Spoilers for Batman: Curse of the White Knight #4 follow.

Sometimes, when something ends on a cliffhanger, you want to throw something from the lack of necessity of it. Other times, you have something like Batman: Curse of the White Knight #3 where it’s perfectly used. It sets up this issue perfectly and then the payoff within this issue is phenomenal. This issue is heavily focused on Barbara Gordon and it excels because of that.

The emotional turmoil within this issue is definitely where the issue is at its best, which is saying something because the whole issue is fantastic. Barbara’s inner turmoil, anger, and hate is completely understandable given what’s happened to her life. Her secret identity was revealed by The Joker and then her father is killed. She’s snapped. It hurts to see her like this, but that’s because we care about her. And then, this issue does one better, by establishing the relationship with Barbara and Commissioner Gordon when she was a child, this makes his death hurt even more. This scene is capped off by a film technique called a match cut, which is used a lot in comics. However, this issue holds one of the best uses of the technique. It’s simple yet so effective.

We also get to see Batman’s vulnerability in this issue. Just like Barbara, he’s mourning the death of Gordon. However, unlike her, he doesn’t let his anger consume him, for once in his life. His reactions to his death are heartbreaking. However, they elicit a much different reaction than the emotions that Barbara’s reaction bring out.

Yet again with this series is the fact that it is an alternate universe and thus, different things can happen. Just as there have been shocking revelations and differences to the main universe previously, that happens again in this issue. Barbara is now crippled like she was for a long time, but not by The Joker’s hand, but Azrael’s. It’s a really effective way to bring a big part of a character’s mythos over in a different way.

Murphy’s art continues to be incredible as well. Whether it be a bombastic action sequence or a quiet, somber moment, his art will capture everything perfectly. His action is quickly paced, fluid, and every punch is felt. Whereas his quieter moments manage to be the exact opposite of that. Slowly paced, which lets the emotions really sink in. His figures are much more static, which really helps emphasize that they aren’t in their right mind. And then his facial expressions in these are great. They bring out the sadness, horror, and grief that each character has in such a real way. It’s simply incredible how well he’s able to bring emotion out of his character work.

CHECK OUT: Batman: Curse of the White Knight #3 Review: The Curse becomes Worse