4. The Art
The pencils, inks and colouring of Capullo, Jock, Maleev, Plascencia et al, seem to lend strength to and reinforce the claustrophobic noir atmosphere of the comics' writing. Like noir, shadow and the muting or absence of colour plays a major role. Batman himself quite often appears as a slick of black ink with two white eyes. The colour that is used is often quite muted so as not to distract or for some reason, so bold and stark in places where one wouldn't expect it. For example Joker's blimp is faded and washed out, but Gordon's hair is almost perpetually a brazen orange. Ultimately though the inks and colouring of this run are something of a break with the norm of recent years whereby we have been bombarded with the varying capabilities of digital technology. Panelling in this run, particularly in the main stories is also very in keeping with a hard-boiled or noir theme. The panels are composed of close ups or detail shots, and even the larger wider pieces still keep us palpably close to the action or remind us of how small we are compared to the man made and natural features that surround us. Whereas Morrison might break the walls of framing in an attempt to illustrate his ideas of higher dimensionality, something readers might simply miss, be confused by or simply be too used to, action in this run rarely bleeds from one panel to another and may simply overlap the framing as if leaping out at us. That said, there is a character almost unique to this particular run of Batman, whereby the absence of background or any artwork at all keeps the eye on what is really happening, and as previously stated this almost high definition quality is kept securely with a regiment sense of framing, or lack thereof. Comics by their very nature employ one of the defining attributes of noir, their oneiric or dreamlike quality, however recently comic artists have tended to move away from a more realistic portrayal in their artwork, at least of the main characters. Artists such as Capullo, Burnham, Quitely and various others now tend to portray unreal or hyper-real cartoon figures framed by meticulous, flawlessly drawn worlds. The composition of figures falls some where between the realistic and the cartoonish. Capullo creates believable figures but outlines them with an almost cartoonish curvature whereas Jock's art uses frenzied lines and stark angles to creates a subtle otherworldly nature. Whilst many criticise Scott Snyder's story telling, it is very rare to find a detractor of this runs art, because while the characters and story arcs thus far may seem dumbed down, and hopefully the next few pages will prove otherwise, the art is something that one cannot help but return to.