Batman: Contagion

April 2, 2020

A deadly virus has found its way to Gotham City, medical centres aren’t ready, and its side effects are leaving the streets littered with dead bodies. It’s up to Batman and his allies to find the cure and save as many people as they can.

Released in 1996, Batman: Contagion sees a post Knightfall Batman team go up against something that can’t simply be beaten into submission. When a member of high society flies back to Gotham after an outbreak in Greenland, he doesn’t seem to realise that the virus he’s come to warn about he is carrying. From this one case the book shows, in interesting detail, just how the virus can transfer from one to another, and how quickly an entire city can become infected. Through Batman, we also see how such a virus can ravage the body of those infected. The image of eyes bleeding and skin begin to blister is a horrific sight. We see the worst cases early on, only to make the smallest hints in the most vulnerable become all the more horrifying. As the story carries on, the tension becomes extremely gripping, causing the reader to be deeply invested by the stories end.

The story is told across a number of Batman series, including the Azrael, Catwoman and Robin titles. Each of the characters plays an incredibly crucial part, with the young Tim Drake becoming the most effected by it all.

The book features an all-star selection of writers and artists, spear headed by the great Chuck Dixon, with Graham Nolan, Dennis O’Neil, Jim Ballent and Alan Grant. However, there is a major flaw in how the book comes to its end. Not so much in storytelling, but in pacing and execution. The whole story feels as though it could have used an extra issue or two to really bring it to a close in a more satisfactory manner.

Perhaps a little too close to home given the state of the world in 2020, it’s an entertaining and enthralling read all around.