Batman: Reptilian Review (Garth Ennis, Liam Sharp)

Someone - or something - is systematically mutilating Gotham’s supervillains. But who - and why?

Garth Ennis usually only tangentially writes about superheroes in his comics, and often subversively, like in The Boys, The Punisher, Kev, etc. - they’re never the main feature. And, aside from a short run on Ghost Rider, I don’t think he’s ever written a mainstream superhero comic and has only written Batman as a side-character in books like Hitman and Section Eight.

Not that I think it’s from a lack of opportunity - I’m sure he’s been offered every superhero title under the sun by Marvel and DC over the decades he’s been writing comics - but, if we assume the things expressed by characters like Frank Castle and Billy Butcher are similar to his perspective, it’s safe to say that Ennis doesn’t think much of superheroes in general.

So it’s surprising to see Ennis finally write a Batman book, and also very disappointing, as both a fan of Ennis and Batman, to discover that Reptilian was so bad!

The only amazing thing about the book is how little story there is to this six-issue miniseries. Batman tracks down a monster, fights it, the end. That’s really all there is to it. It’s so unimaginative and insubstantial! Ennis tries for goofy humour with regards Killer Croc and a caricature of an idiotic gangster called Volkov, neither of which land, while his Batman is the chattiest I’ve read in some time, spouting a lot of bitterly smarmy dialogue.

It turns out the idea for Reptilian has been floating around for some time as Steve Dillon was originally meant to draw this until his death in 2016 scuppered plans. Liam Sharp is the artist on this book instead and, if you’ve seen his work on other DC titles like Wonder Woman Rebirth, Green Lantern and The Brave and the Bold like I have, you’ll be surprised to see how different his artwork is in this book.

Reptilian is all painted artwork and extremely dark - literally - throughout, so that it’s often hard to discern what’s going on amidst the murkiness. Some of the character designs are oddly cartoonish too, particularly Joker and Penguin, and a lot of Croc’s expressions. Like Ennis mixing in corny jokes into his violent story, the cartoonishness doesn’t sit well amongst all the darkness. The painted style is an odd choice and wasn’t to my taste, though, even if it had looked like Sharp’s usual artwork, it wouldn’t have improved the book.

Despite its top tier talent, Batman: Reptilian is a really boring, underwhelming, and instantly forgettable comic - a very poor (lack of) effort from Garth Ennis.