Gotham City Year One #6 Review
An End Worthy of the Genre's Best
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Writer: Tom King
Pencils: Phil Hester
Inks: Eric Gapstur
Colors: Jordie Bellaire
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Cover: Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur, Jordie Bellaire
Variant Covers: Jorge Molina; Jason Masters & Sebastian Chang
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: 4.99
Release Date: March 28th, 2023
The Full Picture
The success or failure of detective stories invariably comes down to the ending. Did the reader solve the mystery early and grow bored in the end? Is the reader convinced that the guilty person’s motives would drive them to commit the crime? Does the ending make sense given all the clues dropped along the way? And in a hardboiled detective story there is one more critical question: will a cynical reader or detective see the story’s events as just another product of a corrupt society? Gotham City Year One #6 lands on the right side of all of those questions.
Gotham City Year One #6 opens with an extensive backstory on Slam Bradley. He had a brother who got in trouble with the police. He was taken into the precinct and never came back out. Later, his brother not on his mind, Bradley applied to be a police officer at that same precinct. He was always able to pass for white, so that’s what he marked on the form. When he was promoted high enough, he checked out his brother’s file. The only notation suggesting his fate was a trio of letters: NWC. Negro went crazy.
This narration takes place as Bradley is thrashing the Waynes’ bodyguard. The action in Gotham City Year One #6 picks up right where the previous issue ended. Once the bodyguard (and, afterward, the butler) is dispensed with, Bradley enters the library to confront Dick and Constance Wayne. Bradley confronts Dick with what he already knows: the man kidnapped his own daughter so he could ransom her back and get paid out from his wife’s fortune that he couldn’t access otherwise. Confronted by the knowledge that the secret is out, Constance and Dick reveal the full truth of the matter.
Answers and Surprises
Gotham City Year One #6 surprises in one very critical way. Rather than immediately launch back into the circumstances of the case, it opens with an in-depth backstory for Bradley. This is easily the most development the character has received in the series (which should not be taken as a criticism of the previous issues). But the timing proves critical in this case; the reveal would have been wasted if it had come earlier. The revelation about the “Negro went crazy” notation is timed with Bradley beating the tar out of the Waynes’ bodyguard.
The phrase evokes the feeling of Bradley having reached his straw. Over the course of the series Bradley has been manipulated and lied to, and it’s entirely possible that the Waynes’ child died because he was put in a position not to save her. While the term itself is demeaning, that Bradley would be talking about it while this fight is depicted suggests that in this circumstance he finds it apt even though he might otherwise find it offensive. Bradley is self-aware enough to know that by now he’s been ground down to his baser instincts and emotions. But the reader will also recognize that this is the kind of behavior used to justify the police’s treatment of negroes that went crazy.
Ultimately the mystery is wrapped up very tidily. It’s hard to comment on it further without spoiling the end. But it’s worth noting that it’s able to be so tidy because of the established character traits of those involved. It doesn’t feel like King is pulling strings to wrap up the story just so. Indeed, there are some developments that come across as almost inevitable. And if it all leaves Bradley with a view on the society he’s a part of, it is probably this: Gotham is Gotham.
The Hard-Boiled Look
It should come as no surprise that Hester and Gapstur once again deliver intense, visceral fight sequences in Gotham City Year One #6. Likewise they continue demonstrating the toll this case is taking on Bradley by adding still more wear and tear to the detective’s face. Every line and bandage and drop of blood is a testament to how hard he’s battled–first to save Helen Wayne and then to hold the guilty parties accountable for her death. But that is not where the real strength of the issue lies.
Constance Wayne is an integral part of the series’ conclusion, and a large part of why this succeeds is the range of emotion displayed as her part in the case is revealed. Hester and Gapstur underscore every bit of King’s dialogue with nuanced expression. Very rarely does Constance look the same way from panel to panel. In as much as it is possible with still images, Constance seems to react in real time.
Bellaire’s coloring remains complex to the end, setting distinct moods in each scene and accentuating some violent moments while minimizing others. She continues to highlight the most powerful and shocking moments in a fight with red. In some cases this is set against a white space. But it’s most effective when done in panels with backgrounds, especially those with a more realistic coloring scheme. She also employs a faded, almost monochromatic palette for a number of panels and sequences after the mystery is wrapped up. The color scheme gives them a kind of flashback feeling despite the fact that they take place after the principal events of the series; it comes across as visual reinforcement that the story has come to an end.
Cowles’ lettering has been relatively restrained throughout the series, but one choice he made stands out in every issue and especially works in this issue. The sound effects are all colored a canary yellow that Bellaire never uses in her work. The color, along with the uneven placement of the letters, calls to mind old pulp magazines and is well suited to the hardboiled sensibility of the series.
Final Thoughts
Every issue of Gotham City Year One delivered a compelling chapter in the style of a classic hard boiled mystery–a genre that, unfortunately, is far less common in comic books now than it was decades ago. Gotham City Year One #6 excels as the conclusion to the story. The entire creative team delivers an ending that will not only thrill existing fans of this genre, but also cap off a story that will almost certainly convert some new fans.
Also published at Comic Watch.
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