Written by: Joshua Williamson
Art by: Carmen Di Giandomenico, Ivan Plascencia
Published by: DC Comics
When the one-shots for Metal were first announced, I was mostly interested to see the format they would take. They had every opportunity to be shallow, throw away books, but if Red Death is anything to go by, I was way off.
Williamson gives us a glimpse into a world that could have been. The best part is the world doesn’t feel like a caricature; it looks like something that could have happened as a result of bad choices and events. The book has a lot of similar themes to Killing Joke, in the sense that, as Williamson says here, “It takes only one bad day” for Batman to become his worst fear.
The biggest challenge this book faced is to show this world could happen, and the moments leading to it. In that respect, Williamson succeeds. It is almost visceral, and at times, terrifying. Presumably, that was Williamson’s intent.
Di Giandomenico and Plascencia are already familiar with Flash, as they were on the main title for quite a while. Di Giandomenico’s visceral style brings out the struggle and fear from both Batman and Flash in a way only he could. The best part of it is they play with the palettes and go as crazy and visceral as they want to. That freedom makes this book as successful as it is.
Batman: Red Death starts off the string of one-shots strong and sets a high bar for the rest of the artists and writers to follow, which is the best thing a reader can hope for. This book comes highly recommended.
