Batman And Robin #23.4 (Killer Croc #1) Review

rating: 2.5

D.C.'s villain month came to a close yesterday and brought along a few interesting comics. Bane (Batman #23.4), Killer Croc (Batman and Robin #23.4), Doomsday (Batman Superman #3.1), and Joker's Daughter (Batman: The Dark Knight #23.4) all took over Bat-related titles for this last week. When the comics are listed like that, it's very hard to imagine that Killer Croc would be one of the best from the list. When picking up these comics on Wednesday, I was most excited for Joker's Daughter. It was something fresh and I wanted to see her direction in the New 52. Sadly, this issue turned out to be a real let-down, with basically nothing interesting or remotely important happening (other than Joker's face turning up). Hopefully Duela gets a proper development in Catwoman #24, but that's an entirely different discussion. Getting back on track, let's talk about this week's Batman and Robin. It certainly wasn't the title's best villain month issue (Court Of Owls took that trophy), but it also wasn't that bad of a one-shot. Readers were given a few flash-backs, and got to see a few characters, that nobody cared about, get mauled by Killer Croc. Sounds like everything you could ask for from a one-off issue that isn't even supposed to tie in to the rest of the universe. Although the memories were nothing but a re-iteration of the Croc's origin, they were a welcome break from the otherwise mediocre story. A few dirty GCPD cops go down to the sewers, for any number of reasons, and get attacked by Killer Croc. Now, I'm not completely sure where, but I've read this story before. This has been in quite a few comics before, and wasn't all too interesting, but it wasn't bad (hence the 2.5 star rating). Now, the reason this isn't bad is quite simple, Killer Croc was scary. Brutal, creepy, horrific, call it what you will, but this issue was pretty dark (well, it is villain month, so that would make sense). Writer, Tim Seeley, did a great job of capturing what Croc really is, a monster. As I said before, it wasn't the plot that stood out, but instead the tone. The last comic I remember reading that had such an enjoyably sinister theme was Batman #13 (when The Joker took his face back from the GCPD). Bottom line: no one wants to be in either of those situations (in a room with Croc or Joker). Even though we don't care for these characters (the dirty cops), one can't help but feel bad for them. Spending a few seconds in Croc's sewers must feel like hell-on-earth. Read the comic a few times and look at the artwork on the last few pages and you'll know what I mean. Speaking of the art, it was never bad, but wasn't anything special either. I wasn't left in awe by any of the panels, or impacted deeply by anything I saw, but in no way was the art poor. As I mentioned before, the last seven pages stood out for me (starting with the half-page image of Joanna and Croc). These pages, along with the red and green tints, made the comic feel like a horror movie, which was just the right way to tell a Killer Croc story. Batman and Robin #23 (or Batman and Nightwing #23) was a really good issue and helped some readers come to terms with Damian's death. If next month's issue is anything like that, you can expect a great review. Stay tuned for more!