Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Batman The Unseen #5Batman Unseen #5 of 5
DC Comics
Moench & Jones

Batman Unseen wraps up by dovetailing the case and the underlying theme of Batman losing his ability to install fear in his opponents. The comic book has what you might expect in it. Batman outsmarts his opponent and then uses some brawn to take out the bad guy. However, the comic tells a twist to the tale by showing some vulnerability for Batman. This was a fun mini series showing off that a couple of guys from the early nineties Batman stories can still get it done today.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe comic opens with Batman laying out his plan to catch the Meat Man. Batman is one smart guy thinking up the idea of having the Meat Man seek out his next victim in the snowy woods. Even an invisible man leaves foot prints in the snow. Batman covers all of his bases by then taking his own invisibility serum and by enabling his special lens that bend the light enough so he can see the Meat Man. When the playing field is level Batman always wins.

However, Batman had been struggling with pushing across fear to those he's taking down. This leaves Batman unsure of his abilities to the point that he's willing to do almost anything to get the fear back. He beats the Meat Man beyond what's called for, but with good reason. The invisibility serum messes with the brain to the point of near madness. Batman knew this and took the serum anyway. But why?

Batman could have beaten the Meat Man simply with the new lens advantage or by having the ability to track his movements in the snow. It wasn't enough, Batman wanted to strike fear into the Meat Man by being invisible himself, at any cost. This mini series seems to have developed into an important lesson in Batman's early life as a crime fighter and it helped to establish a line between him and criminals.

The artwork is more of what you would expect in a Kelley Jones comic. There are a lot of exaggerated angles and long following capes with jagged edges. This issue gives some special treats as Jones gets to draw the cape and cowl running around, but without a man inside it. He also gets to draw a couple of characters slowly reappear from the inside out. The artwork is as fun as ever in this mini series.

This comic isn't a deep study of Batman or any sort of amazing detective story. However, it's a solid story that is something to take a look at. It's not often we get Batman a bit vulnerable and filled with doubt to the point he's willing to cross some of the moral lines he seems to usually have. This is a story that is well told with fun artwork. Seeing Batman work from Moench and Jones of this caliber only makes me want them to return for another mini series. Oh well, I still have plenty of their work from nineties to re-read.

4 out of 5 geek goggles