One of the vigilantes who enters the room makes note of the captives. Ghost-Maker suggests that half of the city’s criminal underbelly is chained up in the room. It’s only eight people, though. In any other city in the world, eight sociopathic serial killers might seem like a lot...WAY more than half. This is Gotham City. Eight might only be half a year’s worth for GCPD. The crime fighters of the city have their work cut out for them in Batman Incorporated #7. Writer Ed Brisson continues a walk into the shadows with a small army of shadowy crime fighters that are coaxed onto the page by artist Michele Bandini and colorist Rex Lokus. 

The villains in question include Mr. Freeze, the Riddler, the Mad Hatter, and more. Ghost-Maker is ready to slaughter them where they are. The gentleman responsible for wrangling them is a relatively new guy named Professor Pyg. He’s a bit of a maniac himself...ready to kill a group of people who were foolish enough to try to steal from him. So when Nightwing and company arrive to battle him, they’re not exactly saving innocent people. That doesn’t mean that they should die for attempted theft. Nightwing and company will have a bit of a challenge saving them, though: Pyg isn’t alone. 

Brisson keeps the action moving quickly in an issue that juggles a rather large ensemble with clever grace. There’s a very sharp and concise contrast between the dark heroes and the villain they’re up against. Ghost-Maker is willing to kill to save so many more lives, but he’s vowed not to. Pyg is ready to slaughter a whole bunch of thieves because they’ve upset him. The contrast is vivid and dramatic. The contrast works remarkably well in the crime-infested hell of Gotham City. It’s quite a well-distilled plot for Brisson, even if it’s not exactly charting out bold new territory. The similarity between crime fighter and criminal IS the type of thing that has been circulating around Gotham City for over half a century. 

The theme and mood for the bloody psychological horror of a Batman-style story can be really, really difficult to get just right. Bandini impressively contrasts dark heroes against darker villains in the shadowy night of Gotham City. Lokus gives the shadows the clever pops of color they need to feel like they inhabit a place of madness populated by people suffering from inner demons on both sides of the criminal equation. Bandini and Lokus give the action a sweeping, swashbuckling kind of energy in page after page of well-executed melee. The gunfire at issue’s end serves as an ominous contrast against the more graceful aggression that dominates the rest of the issue.

Brisson and company direct the flow of traffic quite well in the course of the issue. The group of crime fighters all come across as being distinct and dynamic in the larger flow of action. No one moment feels too rushed or too heavy-handed, which is particularly impressive given the weird buffet of different personalities laid out between the covers of a very, very busy series of action scenes. 

Grade: A