Review: Batman Vol. 6- Graveyard Shift

Quick Summary

Pros: Seeing Batman deal with loss is a particularly tragic sight to witness. The character focused stories provide a more emotional journey. A few of the themes developed here are nice to read about.

Cons: The stories here are a bit slower and less action packed (which could be a positive, depending on personal preferences).

Overall: In this Batman collection, a number of surprisingly powerful short stories are gathered together. Here, readers see Batman struggle with his most recent personal loss, discover a problem with his crime fighting methods, and learn more about the limits of his own ability. Not everyone will enjoy the more character focused nature of this story, but those who do will appreciate how it provides an interlude in the nonstop action found throughout the rest of this series. While not the greatest Batman story of all time, this is something that the majority of fans will be able to easily appreciate.

Review Notes

This collection contains Batman #0 and Batman #28, both of which we have covered in previous reviews. Since these issues fit better in the reviews that we have already done, we will not be covering them here. Our review of Batman #0 forms part of our Batman Vol. 4: Zero Year- Secret City review (found here), and our review of Batman #28 forms part of our Batman Eternal Vol. 3 review (found here).

Story

Batman Vol. 6: The Graveyard Shift is a collection of short stories about Batman dealing with loss, change, and hopelessness. On the whole, these stories are dark and introspective rather than being thrilling and action packed adventures. This makes this The Graveyard Shift a somber installment in the series, which actually serves as a nice change of pace. Most of these stories will not be as memorable as the rest of the series has been, but they do provide the perfect interlude between large and more bombastic events.

(spoilers start here)

This book starts out with four stories that are primarily dedicated to the death of Damian Wayne. This is the first time Damian’s death has been broached as a topic in this series and it is handled very well. Readers get to see Batman working through violent and self-destructive anger, which slowly turns into a small bout of depression and general sadness. This is a unique opportunity for most readers as many are not accustomed to seeing this side of the Dark Knight. It also gives an understanding of the pain he is going through that reflects what is going on in the Batman and Robin series.

These Damian Wayne dedications are mixed in with character development between Batman and various allies. Harper Row mirrors Tim Drake’s past role from A Lonely Place of Dying by showing Batman that there are people outside of his family who can tell he is hurting. Meanwhile, Superman shows up in Batman’s life to offer a friendly shoulder to cry on, furthering the friendship between the two. Plus, Alfred and Bruce watching old videos of Damian was probably one of the most touching scenes in recent Batman comics. In a series that has mostly neglected softer, character driven moments, stuff like this is exactly what we needed to see.

These soft, character driven moments from the volume’s first half are sharply contrasted by the undertones of horror from the book’s second half. By no means is this a negative, as the unconnected nature of this story in general allows for a variation in terms of theme. Both horror entries are creepy and scary, one in a supernatural way and the other in an almost too human way.

The first also tackles the ever-present question in Batman comics: “is Batman good for Gotham?” The story’s villain, the Anchoress, suggests that, before Batman arrived, Arkham Asylum was a real place of healing. Now it is simply another prison. The story ends on a positive note though, because instead of completely rejecting the entire notion, Batman shows understanding and seems to make an effort to shift from revenge to rehabilitation. I have always seen this as a big part of Batman’s character so I thoroughly enjoyed seeing it brought up here.

The second story deals with the fact that Batman, despite all of his wits and strength, cannot save everyone. He learns about and defeats a serial killer who has been working in Gotham for an untold amount of time now. In doing this, he sees the deaths that have occurred under his watch and feels the total weight of this hopelessness. A theme like this works well for a short story like this and ends with a surprisingly deep impact, considering the length of the story.

(spoilers end here)

Art

As this book is a collection of different stories from a number of different artists, the quality of the art varies quite a bit. Despite this though, it can easily be stated that this is a good looking book. All of the artists who contribute to this collection are good, at minimum, and their work shows it. In addition, each artist brings forward a visual style that is able to better match the theme of their specific story in a way that is more expressive.

For example, Greg Capullo and Andy Kubert draw pages with a bit more action and heroics, something their particular art style does a great job in depicting. Meanwhile, artists like Matteo Scalera and Alex Maleev are tasked with drawing pages for stories that are almost horror in nature, something their visual style is more suited for. The end result is a visual experience that changes in response to the story in order to enhance the book’s overall appeal.

Continuity

Batman Vol. 6: The Graveyard Shift is a collection of comics that are mostly unrelated to most of Batman’s larger story arcs. This means that they can either be read completely on their own or as a intermediate volume after either Batman Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review) or Batman Vol. 5: Zero Year- Dark City (Review).

The story here continues in Batman Vol. 7: Endgame (Review).

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• A few references are made to the current status of Batman’s son Damian. This is a reference to the events of Batman Incorporated Vol. 2: Gotham’s Most Wanted.
• The suit that Bruce Wayne finds at Wayne Enterprises is a clear homage to the suit from the Batman Beyond series.
• The scenes that the Anchoress shows Batman contain references to Batman Vol. 2: The City of Owls (Review) and Batman Incorporated Vol. 2: Gotham’s Most Wanted.
• “The Meek” story has a few references to the events of Batman Eternal Vol. 1 (Review).