Hurwitz, Gregg
About the Author:
Gregg Hurwitz has worked as a comics writer, a novelist, a screenwriter and a TV producer.
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
3 out of 5
(1 book)
Batman: The Dark Knight Volume 2 - Cycle Of Violence
(Art by David Finch, Mico Suayan, Juan Jose Ryp, Richard Friend and Vicente Cifuentes)
A New 52 book. The Scarecrow has been kidnapping children and then returning them in an emotionally hollow state. Batman, determined to save the latest victim before Scarecrow destroys her mind, finds himself exposed to a new, stronger strain of fear toxin.
This book makes the mistake of being too vague and unfocused. Instead of focusing purely on Batman's quest to rescue the child, we also get numerous subplots which serve to dilute the main narrative. There's an exploration of Scarecrow's own childhood, the development of Batman's relationship to the latest Robin (his son Damian, if you weren't aware), the kidnap of Commissioner Gordon and scenes showing the romantic tensions between Bruce and his pianist girlfriend. Any of these in isolation, with the time spent to deep-dive into them, could've been compelling, but all mashed together they rob the book as a whole of any depth.
It's a perfectly fine Batman book, but not doing justice to what we learn about Scarecrow feels like a missed opportunity. Also, the book ends with yet another rehashing of how Bruce's parents died and how he later confronted their killer Joe Chill. It's been done many times before, and often to greater quality.
3 out of 5
Collaborations & Anthologies:
Wolverine: Dangerous Games (here)