Review: Batman: The Dark Knight Vol. 3- Mad

Quick Summary

Pros: Most of the story works well as a tense and emotional fight against the Mad Hatter. The book has fun moments of action and humor.

Cons: Suspension of disbelief is tested a few times. The book’s conclusion is poorly paced. The female love interest’s story is generic and uninteresting, in a way that brings down entertainment levels.

Overall: This volume has some ups and some downs that give it a very specific appeal. It has a satisfying mix of tension and fun that allows it to appeal to fans of more “classic” Batman stories. However, it also has storytelling problems and falls victim to some generic and overdone twists, which may make it appealing less to fans who like more modern stories. In the end, readers willing to overlook some overdone tropes may find a fun adventure with a solid villain at the center.

Story

Batman: The Dark Knight Vol. 3: Mad, by Gregg Hurwitz, feels like a “classic” Batman adventure. It is straightforward and successfully focuses the narrative on a single villain, the Mad Hatter. The entire adventure is also filled with action and suspense, while still managing to contain some emotion. Plus, there is a bit more humor than there is in more modern Batman comics.

However, as a “classic” Batman adventure, Mad also falls victim to many of the “classic” Batman problems. The comic pushes suspension of disbelief in more than a few places and the conclusion is rather disappointing. The entire narrative also treats Bruce Wayne’s love interest incredibly poorly, in a way that significantly damages pieces of the read.

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The majority of Mad focuses on the Mad Hatter’s attempt to recreate a moment from his past. Unfortunately for the city of Gotham, this involves enslaving and killing droves of people. His actions and the high-stakes nature of his crimes inject the narrative with tension. Meanwhile, flashbacks and background story add in some intense emotions, as readers become aware that he was not always the sociopath that he is today. In general, the entire volume works well as a spotlight on this peculiar villain.

Mad also has enough action and humor to keep this entire villain spotlight entertaining. Batman is constantly dispelling the Hatter’s forces and does so with his characteristic approach to vigilante justice. Meanwhile, jokes about Batman’s “disappearing act” around Commissioner Gordon and some quick jabs from Alfred add some humor into the mix. Mad also contains an Annual issue that has Batman drive three villains crazy simply by making them think he is going after them, which ends up being a delightful story.

Mad‘s pitfalls are mostly minor. The volume gives the Mad Hatter a ridiculous level of control in Gotham and even has him physically besting Batman in some unexpected ways. This makes the book’s final showdown between Batman and the Mad Hatter even more disappointing. Batman simply swoops in and beats the villain over the course of a few pages. Neither of these flaws are too problematic, but they do damage the overall appeal of the book.

However, a more significant problem comes from its treatment of the female lead, Bruce Wayne’s love interest. Her character’s entire existence is set up as a way to complicate Bruce/Batman’s life and gives her almost no opportunity to shine as a compelling character on her own. It makes her seem generic and uninteresting, something that is compounded when Bruce reveals his secret life to her. Considering this character’s level of character development and importance to the story, from a narrative standpoint, this reveal almost guarantees her death. The rest of the book then plays out in the most basic and completely expected way possible, with her being “fridged” and Batman left emotionally shattered. It is an uninspired way to write a female character that actively damages the book’s larger narrative.

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Art

The artwork in Mad fluctuates a bit but is passable in most places. Ethan Van Sciver’s artwork is laid out well and successfully tells the story. However, it does not quite capture the book’s darker tone and occasionally contains pages where background characters don’t look good. On the other hand, Szymon Kudranski’s work is far darker and is able to capture the mood. However, this darkness leads to chapters that rely far too heavily on light and shadow, leaving little room for pages that actually show the characters. Overall, the visuals in this collection are a mixed bag but don’t manage to offend often enough to be downright bad.

Continuity

Batman: The Dark Knight Vol. 3: Mad continues the story from Batman: The Dark Knight Vol. 2: Cycle of Violence (Review).

The story started here is continued in Batman: The Dark Knight Vol. 4: Clay.

This volume also references another comic book, detailed below:

• A death from Batman Incorporated #8, collected in Batman Incorporated Vol. 2: Gotham’s Most Wanted, is mentioned a few times.