Batman investigates the death of black teenager at the hands of white cops in new comic

Life imitates art, art imitates life, and this whole story sounds a little familiar: A black teenager dies at the hands of a Gotham City police officer, so who better to investigate than...Batman?

That's the plot of Issue #44 of the Batman comics, which explores police brutality. It's a problem the issue's lead writer, Scott Snyder, decided to confront because, "If we were going to do an issue that dealt with potent problems that people face in cities that are reflected fictitiously in Gotham 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."

Batman doesn't end up taking revenge on the cops, perhaps because, as Snyder believes, it's a "tricky, murky" situation. But The New York Daily News reports that the Batman comics don't usually delve into political topics, a change that critics have been praising.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

You can find out what all the fuss is about for yourself by checking out the issue.