Batman: Killing Time #5 – A Matter of Time

And in the end, it all clicks into place.

Told from the ending of the final page stinger of the last issue and then brought back to the beginning of the incident, this issue focuses on the massacre of Moldoff Park in Gotham over the course of five minutes before jumping back and forth over hours and centuries as previous issues in this miniseries had. Somehow, the opening pages of this book are some of the most tense as readers are told in cold detail about a few of the more notable deaths in the massacre before being dropped into the meetings that lead up to it and the earliest accounts of the Eye of Christ throughout history.

From the very beginning of this story, there had been something of a motif surrounding times and dates of events. Originally I had thought this to have been an esoteric storytelling device used by Tom King in order to give the book an artistic gravitas, but the wool was expertly pulled over my eyes, hiding the true nature behind the mysterious narrator of the book. It both serves as a great way to reveal the real villain of the book in the penultimate issue and goes even further in showing just how much of a fan Tom King is when it comes to the lesser-known characters of the DC Universe.

While I was initially hesitant of the book at first, Tom King’s methodology used when writing this particular story works incredibly well in emphasizing the importance of the story’s macguffin, even though we as readers still have no idea what it can be used for or why so many groups want it. Just the simple fact that people do is enough to sell the concept, and with many characters exhibiting great personalities like the angry, foul-mouthed Agent Espinoza and the ever cool and calculated Riddler, it’s hard not to become invested in their particular stories and conflicts. And it’s especially difficult to overlook the means they’ll go to for their ultimate prizes.

I don’t have enough words to praise how awesome David Marquez’s art is, but I’ll do my best. The book, in general, has had many awesome moments and set pieces, and this issue is no different. While the last issue had the amazing fight between Batman and several tigers, this one certainly had the most amount of violence and definitely the highest body count. The way that Marquez draws the opening massacre is a thing of brutal beauty – with every stab shot and use of a flamethrower or cold gun feeling impactful, terrifying, and outright nasty. Somehow it manages to feel like a scene of horror while being relatively bloodless until the last few panels and shows how Marquez is able to give a scene a sense of emotion.

Even in the moments of calm, Marquez is able to build tension through excellent body language and facial expressions. When Riddler makes demands of Espinoza, he’s drawn to look suave and smarmy while holding, presumably her family, hostage. In the very next page, Marquez gives us several awesome shots of Espinoza’s hands loading her gun, preparing to kill Riddler and Catwoman for the Eye. There are several moments like this throughout the book, and Marquez’s thick linework and realistic proportions elevate this book to great highs throughout.

Alejandro Sanchez’s colors help to make Marquez’s art enjoyable by giving the book a nice sense of vibrancy. With the massacre taking place in the early hours of the morning, those scenes are given a nice orange tint to them. This also helps to emphasize the dark inks used as they contrast the brighter color and help to give other background elements depth, such as the trees and gazebo where the battle takes place.

Though I believe the best uses of color come in the form of The Riddler and his garishly bright green costume, contrasting with every other color scheme in the book to glorious effect, helping him stand out. The second example is definitely the one page that we get in the Iceberg Lounge where Penguin is organizing the assault that begins the massacre. It’s bright, shiny, and makes excellent use of both pastel blues and pinks to portray the elegance of the club against the grimy criminal element that inhabits it.