Batman’s similarly named comic series has long since surpassed the assumption that “all comics are for children” by being more willing to be dark, gritty, and real. In the September issue, number 44 of the New52 title, writer Scott Snyder teamed with other famed Batman writer Brian Azzarello and artist Jock to push the story to new heights of realism.
In issue 44, a flashback issue, Batman faces the possibility of racial discrimination in the Narrows district of Gotham City. Peter Duggio, an African-American 15-year-old, is shot in the stomach and mortally wounded by Gotham police officer Ned Howler before being given a chance to cooperate with the officer’s command to lie down. Batman takes the incident to heart, noting that his attempts as Bruce Wayne to improve the city could have set the events of discrimination in motion.
Lead writer Snyder told The Guardian,
“If we were going to do an issue that dealt with potent problems that people face in cities that are reflected fictitiously in Gotham, then we want to really put our money where our mouth was and explore something that’s extremely resonant right now, and, I think, tricky, murky waters,”
Many members of the comic community and outside of it noted the distinct similarity to recent cases in America such as Michael Brown and Freddie Gray.
“Of course you want Batman to beat this officer up, and be like, ‘How could you?'” Synder said in response to being asked about why Batman doesn’t just physically enact revenge for the boy. “But the point of the issue is that wouldn’t solve the problem. Batman throwing the officer off a roof, or throwing the officer in jail, wouldn’t get to the heart of the matter at all. And that’s the thing I think is ultimately infuriating.” Brian Azzarello added that the comic was meant to “raise the questions and then leave it to the reader to form their own answers and opinions.”
Most readers praised Snyder and Azzarello’s willingness to portray such harsh realities so realistically in what could otherwise just be silly, superhero, escapism books. Snyder made it clear that this instant was crucial in making his Batman more real and developing him more organically.
“Batman is learning he can’t solve problems in the ways he thought he could,” he said. “It’s much more about understanding what people face in their everyday lives: knowing their fears, knowing their anger, and trying to show them, in a way, that they can and we together can fix, or hopefully make baby steps in fixing these problems that seem intractable, entrenched and impossible to overcome.”
You can go support Snyder, Azzarello, and Jock by picking up a copy of Batman #44 either in a local comic shop or online at DC Comics.
