Li’l Gotham #20

by Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs

Wayne Manor is a large complex that is occupied by very few people. Though the Bat-family includes many members, it is easy to forget that on most nights this massive structure is inhabited by Alfred, Bruce and Damian. Around this time of year, a place so large can begin to feel a bit spooky. With Bruce away in Russia tracking down a villain, Damian patrols the grounds and stumbles upon something strange. This is a fantastic installment in the series that touches on the power of the imagination when it comes to the unseen, especially nearing Halloween.

Li’l Gotham #20 includes a great sequences that moves about the grounds, as Damian narrates the ins and outs of the estate. Nguyen depicts the many ways in which Wayne Manor is more that well equipped for an attack. It is almost baffling to think about how absurd this complex has become, with different weaponry in nearly every space imaginable. But even with all of those things, Damian still feels it necessary to keep an eye on the property. It is here that he sees Alfred milling about at an odd hour in a typically vacant part of the grounds. In following the butler, Damian sees Alfred dragging a large sack with a hand protruding from the top and realizes that Alfred has his own secrets.

Readers will undoubtedly enjoy every bit of this imaginative issue. It is easy to picture this issue as carried out by kids that are Damian’s age. Upon witnessing something slightly abnormal, and especially with the proximity to the Halloween season, it is easy to recall how quickly children can expand what they do not understand into some grand tale involving all kinds of improbabilities. Damian tracks down several other Gothamites to share his theory. As a result, the issue includes many familiar faces with each one offering their own rendition of what Alfred may be hiding.

As with the rest of the series, Nguyen’s art style on the title is simply magnificent. Here, each of the possible explanations to Alfred’s actions adopts its own slight shift in art style and coloring. Every tale is as entertaining as the last, and some even feel as they could be their own little shorts. Nguyen and Fridolfs remind the audience that many of the members of this Bat-family are still very young and it is easy to believe that individuals of this age would take something so simple and run with it to all kinds of ends. Li’l Gotham is still one of the better digital titles that DC is putting out, and this issue is a prime example for that.