It took six months. Six months from One Dark Knight #1 and #3. Release schedules sucks. What doesn’t suck is the quality of One Dark Knight from writer, artist, cover artist Jock. A book that never lets off the gas pedal. Issue #3 ends abruptly, but in the end, a conclusion worthy of your hard earned bucks,.
DC Comics
Writing and Art by: Jock
Story
Over the course of the DC Black Label three issue arc, One Dark Knight has been more than Batman trying to get from point A to point B. Its about much more than just that. Gotham City PD corruption, the people of Gotham City and like most of Batman stories, never giving up in the face of total darkness. Batman takes more than a few detours on his route in this series. Where he starts issue #3 lets us the reader know that this won’t be a calm and peaceful end to the story.
Like I said, having the story be more than point A to point B makes the read that much more enjoyable. Gotham City is the lowest of low when it comes to corruption. The inclusion of it in the story overall was great. But with the inclusion of Vasquez, especially in the finale issue you really see not just the street level issues that Batman has to deal with, but also the office building and political issues as well.
The finality of issue #3 arrives rather quickly and overall I think that is the point. Batman finishes one job. There is no time for gloating or celebrating. Its on to the next job, the next mission. In one way I wanted to see more time taken to complete the story, but am totally okay with it because it makes sense for the character.
Art
Jock does it all. The art explodes off the page in this finale issue. With literal explosions, and even the smaller human moments. There is not a page or panel that does not look great. Jocks art is still an acquired taste. Humans still look like vampires. But the emotion is there. There is also a rawness to Batman in this finale issue. At the end of his rope. With no turns left to take. Only thing between him and the completion of his mission being Gotham City? The finale issue bleeds tension. Colors and pencils are all on point. Something about the way Jock colors Batman with the blue and grey. Its beautiful.
Overall Enjoyment
The series on the whole was one of the best Batman books of 2022 (so far). The ending hit, on almost all accounts. A little rushed. But overall the finale was action packed, it was emotional and the books art is top tier. Jock knows Batman. Hardcover cannot come soon enough.
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