Question about Batman: The Black Mirror - spoilers

[Kenney]

I read this trade over the weekend, and really enjoyed it. I'm not the biggest Jock fan out there (I think he's very talented, but he's just not my cuppa), but his style really served this story (and a Dick Grayson Batman) well. And Francavilla is a badass.

I really dug the story as I said, but I'm curious as to whether there have ever been any hints in the past that James Jr. is a crazy psychopath. I was definitely able to groove on the story not having been clued onto that already, but it did feel a bit out of left field to me. That in no way suggest it didn't totally work, but the idea that James Jr. was suspected of being crazy feels like something that might have come up before -- and if it has, I'd like to read that story.

[Paul]

I don't know that we'd ever really seen him, outside of his infancy in Year One, and I think in The Long Hallowe'en.  He was always off stage, having gone to live with his mother in Chicago, so we never saw him.  I think the fact that he lives in Chicago is all the hint about his being a psychopath that we need though... (I keed, I keed)

More thorough detail from Wikipedia here:

James Gordon, Jr.
Gordon and his wife, Barbara Kean-Gordon, are the parents of a son, James Gordon, Jr. (Batman #404-407).[10] James Jr. and his mother moved to Chicago after the divorce. After his introduction in Batman: Year One, the character appeared almost exclusively in comics set during the Year One era, and went virtually unmentioned in present day. This changed when the character re-appeared in Batman: The Black Mirror,

which introduced the now adult James Jr. as a recovering psychopath seeking redemption from his father. This was proven to be just a ruse, as James was secretly plotting to add a psychopathy-inducing chemical into baby formula from Dr. Leslie Thompkins' clinic. After nearly killing his mother, and capturing his step-sister, he is apprehended by Batman and Jim Gordon and brought to Arkham.[11]

[Paul]

As to the Black Mirror story itself, I literally finished reading it just a few minutes ago, and absolutely loved it.  I passed on Detective when that round of batbooks changed hands, deciding to read Batman Inc. and Batman and Robin.  I could have given B&R a miss for this, but reading it over the space of a couple of hours in the hardcover was such a great read, that I'm okay with how it came about.  Jock's stuff was fantastic, but Francavilla was the real star artwise.  Such great mood to it all, but his linework just really made it sing for me.

And Snyder... he's just become one of my favourite bat-writers in such a short time, because he just gets it.  He gets that Gotham isn't just a setting, it's a character.  People talk about cities being characters in books all the time, but few get it right.  Snyder is getting it right!

[Kenney]

Yeah, I read that wiki article, but I figured I would double check.

Paul, I read it the same way. I figured I would just read an issue, to see what the deal was, and before you knew it I was at the end of the book. I don't usually read trades in one sitting, but I was captivated. There was so much good about the book, but the most amazing thing was how they were able to get across how scary James Jr. was without having him fall into the trope of a typical bat-villain. No need to have a Hush-esque alter-ego or anything. Here is just a scary ass dude who looks like John Lennon that shops at Target.

I agree that Francavilla was the star of the book. His art was a cross of Cliff Chiang and Mazzuchelli. That page with the outline of Barbara's head, with Gordon drawn inside? AMAZING.

 

[Paul]

Yeah, I read that wiki article, but I figured I would double check.

Paul, I read it the same way. I figured I would just read an issue, to see what the deal was, and before you knew it I was at the end of the book. I don't usually read trades in one sitting, but I was captivated. There was so much good about the book, but the most amazing thing was how they were able to get across how scary James Jr. was without having him fall into the trope of a typical bat-villain. No need to have a Hush-esque alter-ego or anything. Here is just a scary ass dude who looks like John Lennon that shops at Target.

I agree that Francavilla was the star of the book. His art was a cross of Cliff Chiang and Mazzuchelli. That page with the outline of Barbara's head, with Gordon drawn inside? AMAZING.

 

I can't believe it took someone this long to do something with James Jr., though, as with anything great, part of it is the choosing of some old forgotten nugget.

That's a great comparison with Francavilla's art, it's all of that, via the retro-art-deco-design sense that Darwyn Cooke favors.  I don't know if you read the back matter, but Francavilla's sketches in there are incredible, including a little strip he did as an "audition piece".

[hunter gathers]

It's really interestng what Snyder was able to do with James Jr. He took a character who's most defining moment was being saved by Batman and turned him into a dark perversion of his former role.

In Year One, Batman is able to save James thus cementing his relationship with Gordon, but more importantly it shows that Bruce's mission is not impossible. No matter how dark Gotham may seem that there's always hope as long as there is a Batman.

In the Black Mirror, it is shown that even though one Batman was able to save James Jr. that another could not. He becomes just another lost soul that is chewed up by Gotham. In some ways, it's like Snyder is commenting that Dick Grayson may be acting as Batman, but he is unable to carryout the mission the same way Bruce would.

I wish I could lay claim to this analysis of The Black Mirror, but I saw it elsewhere and it has sort of changed the way I feel about the story as a whole.