Batman: Killing Time (2022-) #1

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It makes sense though when the narrator is revealed at the end - in typical Tom King fashion, he’s resurrected a relatively unknown character from the DC back catalogue. I feel it was just a way to keep The Help in the comic even though the "main" villain was actually Clock King in the end. In Year Two, facing the new threat of Batman, the group of Catwoman, Riddler, Clock King, and Penguin conspire to steal the Eye of God from Bruce Wayne and sell it to the government, interfacing with ludicrously foul-mouthed agent Nuri Espinoza. Primarily taking place early in Batman's career, the story is written so that it jumps backwards and forwards through time, but also switches between subplots, resulting in some confusion up front.

Interestingly, King is no stranger to tie-ins as The Vision series that catapulted him into critical acclaim was released in late 2015 as a tie-in to the character appearing in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). If you’ve read my last review of a King project (The Watchmen spin-off Rorschach), then you know I am not a huge fan. I love the intrigue and connections throughout Batman’s iconic rogue’s gallery, sort of allowing the hero to take a backseat in this story himself.

One of those tricks is his use of non-linear storytelling, which for the most part has been successful, and yet when it comes to a certain Dark Knight Detective, of whom King has done many great things, that type of storytelling doesn’t really work well. Other than my general opinion of Tom King's writing, I didn't have any idea of what to expect of this story, no clue what it was about.

I've been a bit tepid with some of King's recent output—except for his and Bilquis Evely's Supergirl, which is excellent—but reading this reminded me why I love his take on the Batman and Gotham as much as I do. If you like the obsessively cursing government agent Espinoza, she curses and curses and curses some more.

If you're a fan of the excruciatingly detailed time narration from the previous issue, you get more of it here and then some. Every location feels representative of its characters while also providing appropriate geographic markers. Without these, it would just read like another Batman story where there’s a MacGuffin in the form of a treasure.

The narrator gives you every minute detail of the battle in the park you could ever want or care to know. The onemonopea start out filling the panels, loud and large and close to the fight, but gradually they get smaller and smaller, leading the audience away from that and on to the reveal waiting for us at the end, and I think it just works really well as a subtle way of also guiding the reader, alongside the art, narration, and paneling. When Tom King pitched this comic as sidestepping the philosophical questions of Batman for something more fun, I wasn’t convinced he had that in him. One of my favorites is the shot with the credits where Clock King is sitting with The Acropolis behind him.This is a miniseries worth reading and re-reading just to catch everything you missed the first time around. Whilst the younger Batman isn't quite so easy to pick up on as a character yet, due to not speaking much, it is through the villains in which the passage of time has rewound.

January 22: In Arkham, Riddler plans the job, saying it needs four people – Catwoman, Riddler, Penguin (money), and a Coordinator who makes the trains run on time. The final issue does reveal some answers, but reading through the other issues is a chore to get through. Catwoman, the Riddler and the Penguin join forces to pull off the greatest robbery in the history of Gotham City. His actions might seem inscrutable, but he openly confesses why to Batman: "It's hard having conversations when everything is so predictable. The narration gets tied down in tedious detail that makes sense in the story but gets to be a little much to read.He’s terrifying - some of the scenes put me in mind of Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men - and I liked how his past ties into Batman’s. Issue after issue, Batman asserts “I am still here,” issue after issue he tries to be brave, he tries to be Batman. Riddler catches a fish, enraging Catwoman, but they get a notification that their secret employer will pay. But nope, as soon as he’s brought into the story, King finds a way to exit him quickly, and it wraps up. ALSO Batman said The Help would be over after this yet that never happened and Batman didn't even try to keep an eye on him?