For the first installment of a major new comic series — released last Wednesday — Batman’s biggest foe is not the Joker or Two-Face, but the Gotham City Police Dept
Batman
New York: In the backdrop of incidents of police violence against black youth in the US, the latest Batman series issue sees the caped crusader battle police brutality rather than the likes of Joker or Two-Face.
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The first issue continues a storyline started 29 years ago by writer Frank Miller. Pic/AFP
The first issue of The Dark Knight III: Master Race was published on Wednesday, and continues a storyline started 29 years ago by the writer and artist Frank Miller, in his classic The Dark Knight Returns.
The issue came in the week a Chicago police officer was charged with the murder of a black teenager, and a year since riots engulfed Ferguson after officer Darren Wilson killed 18-year old Michael Brown.
The Master Race
In Master Race, Batman appears focused on reforming the criminal justice system — though so far he prefers to enact that reform with his fists. Issue No 1 opens with a young, unarmed black man fleeing from Gotham cops, who draw their guns to shoot before Batman arrives and knocks them senseless. It ends with the hero being brutally beaten by a group of uniformed officers.