Neon Noir in the Batman Comic Book City of Madness
Usually superheroes head to the movies, but Christian Ward’s Batman: City of Madness brings Neon Noir to comic book pages.
The connection between comic books and cinema has never been more prominent. Sure, we used to have superhero movies, but now we have immediately recognizable superheroes in cinematic universes of comic book characters.
Popular characters and less well-known characters (Madame Web and Echo had become famous since hitting the screen) have been making the jump to movies; it’s only fair some cinema makes the jump back.
In the case of Christian Ward’s Batman: City of Madness on DC Black Label, we find the influence of Neon Noir films making a visual and narrative impact on a comic book. In an interview with Cole Haddon, Ward stated he initially wanted to be a filmmaker. After a detour of a couple of decades, Ward is bringing cinematic styles and epic visuals to comic books.
Neon Noir is a style of film with roots in film noir. Originating in the 1930s, film noir brings together the visual and the narrative with a distinctive perspective. You know if you’ve watched a film noir like Double Indemnity or The Asphalt Jungle. There is a great deal of contrast lighting (lots of dark with cutting sections of light). Settings are bleak and presented from the perspective of the protagonist, whose approach is unconventional, verging on criminal.
There are no heroes in film noir. There might be a detective, but “morally ambiguous” is usually an understatement. The tragic and the terrible is shockingly presented, and there are no happy endings in film noir.
Neon Noir takes cues from film noir and updates it with colour and with new challenges and ideas. Much of the contrasting visuals remain. Most of the movie will take place at night or in dark locations, but along with the cutting sections of light, splashes of neon slice across people and locations. The audience is blinded by the flashing neon, hence the name.
The urban setting increases in stature and takes a role in the story. Characters move between darkness and unrelenting light that presents them as garish versions of themselves as the setting changes and warps their identity.
The stories and conflicts in Neon Noir force characters to struggle with the meaning of their own existence and often find themselves pushed into anonymity and insignificance before being wrenched into violence. Neon Noir protagonists are given no choice but to engage in a brutal rampage to pull themselves (and usually a couple of innocent victims) out from under the tyrannical power of evil men.
At the end of Neon Noir, the character whose progress we have followed through the story drifts out of view without celebration or resolution. If you are looking to watch some Neon Noir, you could do no better than Blade Runner, Blue Velvet, Drive, or John Wick.
If you are looking to read comic books inspired by Neon Noir, you can do no better than Christian Ward’s surrealist take on Batman in Batman: City of Madness.
In addition to the usually dark scenes of Gotham at night, Ward has added splashes of neon colours. The villain Two-Face, usually a character with a scarred and unscarred face, now has the addition of Basquiat neon lines. The horrifying image of a character divided between being damaged and pure, has the addition of garish exaggerations. Ward is both pushing the boundaries of Two-Face as a character while also embracing the artist's medium to make the character even more horrifying.
Ward’s use of Neon Noir does not stop at the visual. As the story progresses, a third incarnation of Two-Face appears. Describing himself as Two-Face just from “a different angle,” the new Two-Face introduces a violent world containing unrelenting suffering.
As a result, Two-Face is pushed to reconsider his purpose. The conflict between his good and bad sides is threatened by the inevitability of despair. While Two-Face’s bad side might be drawn towards total violence, such a world would render his identity redundant.
City of Madness reveals a hidden secret about Gotham. Don’t worry if you haven’t read City of Madness yet (it’s well worth a read); this isn’t a spoiler. The Court of Owls reveals to Batman that there exists beneath the city a Gotham Below that feeds on the pain in the world above. For a hundred years, Gotham Below has copied Gotham to create an endless loop of pain.
Similar to Neon Noir characters, Batman is violent but lives by a strict moral code that neglects the laws of society (he is a vigilante, after all). Gotham Below, with its unending suffering and its warped version of Batman, is a force Batman will oppose. Similar to most Neon Noir characters, Batman’s approach will be violent. The theme of Gotham Below also forces Batman to confront his relationship with his adopted son, Dick Grayson.
In Neon Noir movies, characters often see a glimpse of family life that they can never maintain as they are forced to descend into violence to protect themselves and others from evil. Ryan Gosling’s Driver in Drive or Keanu Reeves in John Wick (probably more John Wick 2 onwards as the first film is more a revenge film).
Ward uses Batman’s relationship with Dick Grayson, the first Robin who now calls himself Nightwing, to give Batman an awareness of the family life he can never have but must protect.
In a very interesting parallel, Ward compares Batman imposing Robin on Dick Grayson as a form of psychological damage similar to the imposing of the puppet Scarface on Arnold Wesker. If you haven’t heard of Wesker, he is also known as the Ventriloquist. A mentally unstable individual, Wesker is either considered as the conduit of the evil force of Scarface (a puppet made from the wood of a gallows) or a mentally unstable individual with a violent personality that is expressed through the puppet.
A single spread of Wesker getting his puppet alongside Batman giving Dick a Robin uniform (see above) becomes a masterful means of illustrating Batman’s self-recriminations for his actions that have warped the life of Dick Grayson.
To atone for his actions, Batman aligns with the Talon of the Court of Owls (a secret society in Gotham that has harnessed the power of Gotham Below to maintain its own power in Gotham above). With the Talon, Batman descends into Gotham Below to face the unrelenting evil underneath the city.
By creating a Gotham Below and setting in a world that embraces the dark depiction of Gotham with splashes of neon, Ward is drawing on the visuals and conventions of Neon Noir and film noir to produce a new and engaging conception of a character who has accumulated nearly 100 years of stories.
Batman has trained in a multiple disciplines. He is a master at martial arts, but he is also an expert in marksmanship, infiltration, disguise, swordsmanship, stage magic, escapology, even theft.
To battle threats, Batman has worked with those who use magic such as John Constantine, Etrigan the demon and Zatanna. He knows that magic exists, after discovering that Zatanna’s father was not merely one of the greatest stage magicians in the world, but also a user of magic.
However, Batman does not use magic.
As a young man, Bruce Wayne trained with Zatanna’s father, John Zatarra. Bruce learnt sleight of hand and escapology with Zatarra and it is while training with Zatarra that Bruce is faced with the reality of the existence of magic and the supernatural.
After the loss of his wife, Zatarra stopped using magic. But the weight of his heartbreak made him attractive to a demon who feeds on tragic emotional energy. Bruce and Zatanna arrive just as the demon is getting close to breaking Zatarra.
Having seen that magic exists, Bruce asks to be taught magic. Zatarra refuses and explains why Bruce should never learn magic. Zatanna then suggests why it might be difficult for Bruce to learn magic.
The four reasons why Batman shouldn’t and might not be able to learn magic:
Cost: An idea that is familiar from the pages (and movies of Doctor Strange). Zatarra explains that magic has a cost and that the cost of magic will be a person’s strongest characteristic.
Darkness: In order to practice magic, Bruce would need to use his strengths. Zatarra identifies Bruce’s strengths as his drive and his darkness. It is Bruce’s drive for justice based on the dark tragedy of his past that will be his cost. This would turn his desire for justice into a nightmare.
Surrender: Zatanna explains that in order to learn magic, Bruce would need to surrender. Tis continues from Zatarra’s suggestion that the cost of magic would be his darkness and he would need to surrender to his darkness in order to use magic.
Not a muscle: As Bruce attempts to teach himself magic and is not as successful as he expects. Zatanna suggests a reason why Batman might not be able to use magic. Zatarra and Zatanna effortlessly use magic by talking backwards. But Zatanna makes it clear that magic is more difficult than it appears. It is not a muscle to be exercised. It is not about will but about surrender. Bruce would need to surrender the other skills he has learnt in order to be a magician.
To learn magic, Batman would need to combine together these reasons. As Zatarra suggests, Bruce would need to surrender his darkness. It would be the cost of practicing magic. He would need to give totally into a darkness born of tragedy and forsake all other aspects of his training.
It’s not to say that Batman couldn’t use magic. There are various times when he has teamed up with users of magic and has utilised some aspects of magic to achieve his objectives.
However, to become a magician, Batman would become a completely different character. Zatarra goes so far as to argue Batman would become a horrifying version of himself.
Pick up your copy of the collected hardcover of Batman: City of Madness (this is a paid affiliate link and as an Amazon Associate I will earn a small income from qualifying purchases, but won’t cost you any more).
