A man in a gold mask is beating the hell out of Batman. Bruce has lost a lot of blood. The man towers over him with a katana. He’s mentioning something about Batman’s stature in Gotham City...something about his legacy. Elsewhere, there’s the grand opening of Orgham Place. Nightwing is looking over it all knowing that there’s the potential for danger as Oracle and Batgirl stare on. Tensions are high in Detective Comics #1072. Writer Ram V moves into the next issue of his “Gotham Nocturne” series with the aid of pencilers Ivan Reis and Stefano Raffaele. Danny Miki provides ink assists. Color comes to the page with the team of Brad Anderson and Lee Loughridge. 

There’s a device. It’s called the Thelemus Engine. Talia al Ghul told Batman that they will be using it at a pivotal moment for Gotham City. There is a mass of people gathered for the opening of Orgham Place. Things could get ugly. Batman had entered the underground looking to avert catastrophe, but even the aid of some of Gotham City’s finest vigilantes won’t help if there’s some kind of massive riot. The attack on Batman could make things very, very dangerous for everyone involved. Batman isn’t in a good place at all...

Ram V’s narrative jumps around A LOT. Every scene seems like a brief glimpse into the larger staccato of a story that’s disjointed enough to almost feel nonlinear. It’s difficult to imagine that Ram V would have been consciously attempting this. A nonlinear, disoriented format doesn’t exactly benefit the narrative or echo the themes the author is exploring. The poetry Ram V is bringing to the dialogue feels like it might be a bit stronger if there was a more solid connection between scenes. The dramatic momentum would be served by a less disjointed narrative as well. As it is, there isn’t enough momentum to build much of anything in Ram V’s story.

Batman’s had the hell beaten out of him countless times. Reis and Raffaele show a beaten Bruce, who appears to be struggling on a level he’s rarely had to manage in the past. The drama in the foreground has a solid pulse that seems to overpower everything in the background. The art team shrouds the action in mists and shadows that obscure the precise location of the action. So often it’s raining in Gotham City. Reis and Raffaele deliver a foggy, steamy Gotham City to the page that would be almost completely devoid of atmosphere were it not for some very immersive color by Anderson and Loughridge. 

Ram V might need a few more pages to bring across what he’s trying to deliver in “Gotham Nocturne.” Every chapter seems almost haphazardly cut into weird, jagged shrapnel of narration. There’s a far more elegant suspense somewhere in the heart of what Ram V is trying to say with the series, but he’s been jerking the narrative around so aggressively that it’s difficult to settle into the rhythm of the story. 

Grade: B