Plot: A Russian kingpin, known as the Tsar, is moving in on Gotham.

Comments: "The Bat and the Beast" opens up with the origin of "the Beast." While an interesting setup, there is very little payoff for this character, other than as a monstrous assassin. Milligan tries to portray the Tsar as a no-nonsense criminal, but from this first issue he seems no more than a dime a dozen nuisance. It was interesting to see the politics of the Russian underworld and see how each kingpin interacts and does business. It was also nice to see that other countries (outside of Gotham City) have gang problems and powerful leaders like the Tsar. Not everything in the world happens in America and, more specifically, in Gotham City and Metropolis and this story shows just that.

Batman Confidential was launched to portray Batman’s early years and it was said that each story would focus on something essential to the Batman mythos. The problem is I can’t find any element here that could be an important part of Batman’s life. It is also hard to figure out when this story fits chronologically because Batman seems to be at the top of his game and it clearly takes place in a post-9/11 world.

Besides that fact, the story doesn’t seem to be moving along at a great pace. We start off with Batman already knowing the plans of the criminal and much of this issue is wasted on scenes with the Beast and the Russian kingpins. The story doesn’t really start until halfway through the book and even then it isn’t much. The ending is a bit of a let down because it really wasn’t that shocking and it still seems like it could have been a one-and-done fill-in somewhere.

Andy Clarke’s art is the best part of the book and actually makes it worthwhile to produce. Everything is carefully detailed on each character and the inks help extenuate their features. Despite the shortcomings of the story, he makes it seem important and worthwhile. If this is why he had to take a break from R.E.B.E.L.S. I would strongly advice to reevaluate how his talents are used, because this just seems like a waste.

As of issue #31, Milligan’s story seems uninteresting and uninspiring. However, the story could pick up and become great. Perhaps this will best read in one bulk, but since this series is not consistently collected in trade, it may not even be worth the hassle. The pretty pictures and the Guillem March cover cannot distract from the poor quality of this arc, so I wouldn’t pick this up just yet. If the story improves then you might want to think about getting interested.

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