With the detrimental impact of fervent police brutality clearly still a frustratingly divisive problem here in the United States, a growing number of artists across a variety of mediums have started taking society to task for its silence on such grave matters of importance. For lead Batman #44 writer Scott Snyder, the decision to address these issues through the context of Gotham City was born out of a responsibility to truth through art.
"If we were going to do an issue that dealt with potent problems that people face in cities that are reflected fictitiously in Gotham," Snyder told the Guardianin a recent interview, "then we want to really put our money where our mouth was and explore something that's extremely resonant right now, and, I think, tricky, murky waters." According to the esteemed literary journal New York Daily News, Snyder conceived this timely narrative last winter.
The issue details Batman's investigation of the death of a black teenager at the hands of a white Gotham City police officer, though Batman's ultimate decision to (SPOILER ALERT) eschew retaliation in favor of taking the blame has many readers embroiled in a heated debate. "Of course you want Batman to beat this officer up, and be like, ‘How could you?' but the point of the issue is that wouldn’t solve the problem," Snyder explained. "Batman throwing the officer off a roof, or throwing the officer in jail, it wouldn’t get to the heart of the matter at all. And that’s the thing I think is ultimately infuriating."
