Batman: Killing Time #5 Review

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Batman: Killing Time #5 is published by DC Comics, written by Tom King, art by David Marquez, colours by Alejandro Sánchez, and letters by Clayton Cowles. War comes to Gotham in this issue as the deal between Riddler, Catwoman and their buyer is interrupted by the Penguin and an army of goons, with Batman and The Help thrown in the mix.

The issue’s plot may have reached the darkest low in an already bloody series. It begins with an incredibly frank and bloody opening that is truly shocking in its execution, depicting a huge amount of death and carnage right from the start. It’s quite grim on a new level, escalating the entire situation quickly. The series then jumps backward, slowly introducing all of the elements that then lead to the meeting at the beginning. Any comments made about an inability to focus during the first four issues are erased by Batman: Killing Time #5, as the ferocity of the first pages snaps you to attention. The tension of this confrontation in the park is altered by the foreshadowing. We know that something chaotic is going to happen, but it is the precise entails that remained a secret.

The battles reignite by the end of the comic with a revitalised intensity. Whilst many questions are answered, King leaves us with countless left. The beginning of the issue does also do something different that previous chapters have not done. The opening plays out at a different pace to the constant changing of setting on every page. This does not shift for long, however, moving through periods of time with hundreds of years of difference. But as the battle builds, the scenes move between different sides of the same place.

For five issues of this miniseries, Batman has been almost wholly irrelevant to the story. He very minimally affects the timeline, appearing much more like a bit-part of the whole event. It is the fascinating politics and power struggle between the villains that makes the comic so gripping. Catwoman and Riddler’s betrayal of Penguin finally comes back to bite them. Riddler’s faith in his plan and Selina’s completely fractured nerves increases the tension of every scene they’re in. The narration in the opening in particular is what makes that part of the comic so evocative. It describes the death of each person in gruesome, intricate detail, mentioning their injuries and the family they leave behind. It gives the entire piece a haunting, upsetting quality.

The art continues to be phenomenal. The incredibly violent first scene is a mixture of depicting an event just before the grizzly conclusion, such as a person pointing a gun, to showcasing the horrific injury in full. What it depicts is a battle bereft of morality or sense, merging Tarantino with Batman. The costumes of each character cause confusion until it is explained later in the comic. After this period, Marquez makes the art clearer, calming the situation down for a while. The art style again brings a gorgeous realism to faces and body language, which manipulates the sadness I felt seeing the brutality on display. When there are only glimpses of the action, it creates a feeling of speed, like they are flashes of movement.

The colours are simply stunning. It is distinctly beautiful during the timezone when the sun begins to set. There is a blend of purple and orange that illuminates the area from street lights. It accentuates the shadows whilst also being achingly pretty. But it heralds a looming disaster. The lettering is easy to read and I am now used to looking for the caption boxes.

Batman: Killing Time #5 is a beautifully brutal comic. It is this intensely explosive release from all of the tension that had been brewing since the start of the comic. The diatribes about Ancient Greece and the tiger brawling were all leading to this confrontation. King’s scripting is excellent but the art may just be some of the best in any book DC has to offer right now. The first several pages are highly detailed about extremely graphic things, which was definitely unexpected and may take many by surprise.

Batman: Killing Time #5 is available where comics are sold.