DC Comics reviews for 9/11/19 – Batman #78, Event Leviathan #4

Gotham City Monsters #1

There was a time when Steve Orlando seemed like he was poised to be DC’s next big breakout writer. A few missteps like Justice League of America and it seemed that golden moment passed. If you’ve paying attention lately, Orlando has quietly been on a hot streak en route to becoming the regular writer of Wonder Woman. Before then, he’s tackling another intriguing mini-series set in Bane-occupied Gotham featuring some of DC’s most infamous monsters. Gotham City Monsters is slated to be a six-issue mini-series, but if it stays at the quality of the first issue there’s no reason DC should let it end anytime soon.

Orlando conceives a threat to unite Frankenstein, I Vampire, Killer Croc, Orca and Lady Clay. This is a very unique collection of characters and a set Orlando quickly shows has a ton of potential in this origin issue. A new group of vampires and other creatures have been sacrificing innocents all in hopes of resurrecting their leader. With his arrival, they plan to clean up the Multiverse unless this group can stop them. The fun thing about this team is they fit in an unfilled corner of the DC Universe even with a team like Justice League Dark running around.

Amancay Nahuelpan’s art is well detailed and full of expressive characters. Nahuelpan’s strong line work lends itself well to the larger than life sense of the characters and colorist Trish Mulvihill uses some bright greens and reds to provide an extra pop.

With so much of the DCU seemingly focused on Gotham, it’s easy to reach the point of over saturation, but this addition to the ranks is well worth checking out. It’s a lot of fun and tackles a realm of the city even Batman rarely covers.

Rating: 9 out of 10