For someone who doesn't follow the Batman serial regularly, I was very surprised to find that the Batman in Black Mirror isn't actually Bruce Wayne. Instead, it's Dick Grayson, the alter ego of the original Robin. In physical appearance and general build - and taking into consideration the slight nuances in different artists' style - Grayson doesn't really look much different from Wayne. In fact, had they not specified early that it's him wearing the caped crusader's outfit, I would've believed him to be none other than the heir to Wayne enterprises.
Black Mirror is a relatively dark Batman tale. It contains mad villains and hallucinatory drugs, brutal murders and even more horrific revelations. Commissioner Gordon, that reliable and trustworthy Batman ally, practically shares the center stage here, and confronts the past and present of his somewhat psychopathic son, James. James' childhood was marred by odd events during which some people around him were harmed in disturbing ways that his family could never quite understand. With Batman's help, Gordon will, at along last, face his son, and try to confront the demon within him. Through it all, Grayson will fight various foes, both internal and external, all the while realizing how heavy the cape really is of the justice moderator in Gotham's darkest alleys.
Artists Jock and Francesco Francavilla's Gotham in Black Mirror is dark, ominous, and always breathtaking to look at in all its different shades and various hues of red, black and green. They create a world of the Dark Knight at once threatening and glorious: it's like an amusement park for psychopathic and homicidal children in adult bodies. Writer Scott Snyder, who's written his share of dark and mysterious stories about deeply disturbed men (his one-shot serial killer tale Severed is a uniquely underrated gem), fuses many twisted villains into this story, such as Dealer, Roy Blount (a.k.a. Peter Pan Killer) and Roadrunner, to name just a few. Black Mirror incorporates two-part and three-part episodes into its whole, and they are: Skeleton Cases, Lost Boys, Hungry City, My Dark Architect, Skeleton Key and The Face in the Glass.
Unlike previous Batman classics such as The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, Arkham Asylum and The Haunted Knight, Black Mirror presents us with a different character in the caped crusader's place, but it never once disappoints by the absence of Bruce Wayne himself. Dick Grayson may not be the original Dark Knight, but he is as dedicated and committed to fighting evil and upholding justice in Gotham that Wayne himself would be extremely proud of his protege. Besides, I take comfort in knowing that there are now two men capable of instilling fear and panic into Gotham's criminals, just in case one of them feels like taking the night off once in a while.
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