Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #3 – Wonder Woman Arrives From The Land Down Under

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #3 drops readers back into the story arc that takes place at the North Pole with Adam Strange, the archeologist who is working for Bruce Wayne trying to uncover the Kryptonian secrets.  Strange recounts how he came to meet this Earth’s Wonder Woman, who saves the group from a giant millipede-like creature from the center of the Earth, i.e. Skataris. In an interesting and fun twist by Lanning, Themyscria resides in Skataris, having fled there when the Kryptonians first brought doom to Earth-19.

This information is the first mention of what exactly the Kryptonian Age is and why Batman is interested in it. The scenes with Wonder Woman also have a bit of humor to them as Diana gives this flowery speech about who she is and all the humans hear is gibberish. Lanning makes Diana’s and the Amazon’s history interesting and Leandro Fernández’s art enhances the reading experience.

This issue also sees Bruce Wayne adopt a familiar moniker, Matches Malone as he visits Selina’s brothel to confront her about their previous meeting that almost killed him. Lanning captures the sexual tension between Bruce and Selina as the two do their usual tete-et-tete, which as usual eventually involves knives, guns, and someone tied up in the form of a member of the League of Assassins that Selina was able to subdue and prevent from committing suicide.

Lanning also introduces this Earth’s Alan Scott, who is mostly a con man, as he attempts to find the real ring that Wayne is hiding. These scenes which take place on a train, later blown up by The League, means readers can assume that a certain Green Lantern will be appearing soon, whether or not this is a good thing given the Alan Scott introduction, remains to be seen.

Finally, the story goes off-world to Mars where the Scourge of Krypton is teased, but any reader who has any knowledge of DC Comic lore will know who is coming, and it will most likely take more than a few creme-filled cookies to satiate him.

Most of the issue is Wonder Woman’s introduction and origin with the other scenes sprinkled between to break up the narrative, not derail it. Overall, a strong issue that continues to move the story forward while world-building.