Tom King and David Marquez’s Batman: Killing Time #2 presents an entertaining but uneven new chapter in the saga of Catwoman and the Riddler’s heist.
Prolific author Tom King is no stranger to the Dark Knight. Between his time writing for Batman, Grayson, and Batman/Catwoman — King has spent a significant portion of his career telling the story of Bruce Wayne and the Bat-Family. Now, he is collaborating with artist David Marquez to tell the story of an epic heist with connections to Gotham’s future and ancient history. Batman: Killing Time #2 is an imperfect but entertaining new chapter in Batman’s crimefighting career.
After the Riddler and Catwoman pull off their elaborate heist in Batman: Killing Time #1, the second issue of the series follows Batman and Commissioner Gordon as they interview Killer Croc at Arkham Asylum to find out what the villains are up to. As the Dark Knight investigates, The Riddler and Catwoman lay low at a safe house, where Selena starts to get cabin fever and tensions rise between the two crooks.
Compared to the carefully plotted first issue, Batman: Killing Time #2 feels far less cohesive. In the first issue, King’s narration presented the Riddler and Catwoman’s methodical plan as they were putting it into action. By bouncing forward and backward in time, King was able to highlight each detail of their scheme without spoiling any surprises. He uses the same technique in this issue but it makes significantly less sense in the context of the narrative. Now that Batman is investigating the crime, there’s no reason for the narration to be approaching events as if they are all part of a carefully orchestrated plan.
King inserts several glib remarks and one-liners into Batman: Killing Time #2. As funny as they are, they stick out as odd tonal departures. At times the comic presents itself as a slick crime drama, but in other moments it’s a goofy, self-aware romp through Gotham City. Either approach would be entertaining, but this amalgamation of the two makes it difficult to invest in the story. That being said, the growing tension between Catwoman and the Riddler is remarkably compelling. King’s keen understanding of each character helps create a sense of anticipation that keeps the story moving at a fast, exciting pace.
David Marquez’s art adds a cinematic atmosphere to every page. He uses an assortment of dynamic angles to control the pace of the story perfectly. Each page is designed to design a little information at a time, leading the reader through each scene in search of answers. Marquez seems just as comfortable drawing scenes of violence in ancient Greece as he does asylums in Gotham. As enigmatic as the flashbacks to ancient times are, Marquez renders each moment with visceral attention to detail that makes the reader anxious to discover the purpose these scenes serve.
Batman: Killing Time #2 struggles to live up to the excellent first issue. King juggles each element of the story flawlessly, but he doesn’t seem to have found an appropriate tone for the series as a whole. Luckily, he’s still a master storyteller, and Marquez’s art makes each page a pleasure to read. Batman: Killing Time #2 is a celebration of the Dark Knight’s skill as a detective and excellent use of Gotham’s incredibly charismatic rogues gallery.
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