Review: Batman: The Imposter #3
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Mattson Tomlin
Artist: Andrea Sorrentino
Colors:
Letters: Steve Wands
Reviewed by: Carl Bryan
Summary
Bruce Wayne’s mission as the Batman has only been underway for a year or so, but he can tell he’s making a difference. Unfortunately, he’s made some powerful enemies.
The battle against the imposter poisoning the Batman’s name heats up, while Detective Blair Wong makes a deadly decision!
Is there any way back for Bruce Wayne’s war on crime after the damage the copycat has done? Or was that war already lost before it ever began?
Director and screenwriter Mattson Tomlin (Project Power, Little Fish) has teamed up with Eisner-winning suspense and horror artist Andrea Sorrentino (Joker: Killer Smile, Gideon Falls) to create a wholly new version of Gotham City, informed by grim reality, where every punch leaves a broken bone and every action has consequences far, far beyond Batman’s imagination!
Positives
Mattson Tomlin takes the question of ‘What if Batman was real?’ as far as narratively possible and has conjured incredible potential that hasn’t recently been explored in the comics. Batman: The Imposter treats Bruce Wayne and the people around him as tragically flawed and vividly real, with the obstacles Batman faces coming from a reality that closely mirrors our own.
Mattson Tomlin has taken pulp noir to a new level in Gotham with the grit of an interrogation in GCPD, that’s obviously going in the wrong direction. The inner narrative that provides the voice-over in your head to be a bit deeper and foreboding.
Blood – lots of it. How can Bruce not have tetanus or even be able to stand after losing so much via knives and bullets. Tomlin’s Batman is real…or at least he could be.
Positives 2.0
This book is Black Label Royalty already. Andrea Sorrentino is contributing to the Batman landscape compliments the script that Tomlin weaves to the fullest. It reminds me of some of the Blade Runner work that is being written now in comics as well as some earlier Spawn comics where the night rules and the underbelly of the crime world are at every turn. If you like psychological police thrillers with a diverse cast…this is your Batman book! 
Negatives
Some may have an issue with the blood loss or the interrogation scene being a bit too obvious. However, if you suspend a bit of common sense, it’s real and gritty… Frank Miller had his treatment of Batman, but I daresay there is a new person that gives a lens to Batman that we have not looked through yet… Mattson Tomlin 
Verdict
This second of a three-issue event is going to be worthy of some space on your bookshelf. I love the tweaking of the story. The lenses of both Detective Wong as well as Dr. Leslie Thompkins, provide a new view of Gotham’s vigilante hero. They are two strong female protagonists trying to heal their city in their own way!
