Bandits of Batavia #2 is a comic written by Bran Valenza and Henry Barajas with art by Ario Murti and colors by Bryan Valenza. Blackbull and Ayesha must work together to take down the crime boss Mr. Lim. This is a crime drama with heavy violence, constant scheming, multiple perspectives, and this all takes place in Indonesia. The main man here is Blackbull, real name Pitung. He wears a black bull mask when he goes on escapades battling the criminal underworld and he’s developed quite the reputation. Ayesha is the daughter of the man who runs the local Pencak Silat dojo and she also goes on missions battling criminals and making money to keep the dojo afloat. Some of the other notable characters include Mr. Lim the crime boss, Naipin the dojo owner, and a number of underlings and fighters. This story picks up where the last issue left off with a fight in the fireworks warehouse with the team of Blackbull and Ayesha fighting Mr. Lim’s men. The fight is bloody and brutal with an air of desperation as the building is on fire and the time before things start to explode is running out. This takes place in Batavia(modern day Jakarta), Indonesia, in 1875. The violence is very hard-hitting with gruesome attacks, a notable amount of blood, and strong gore. The pacing is overall a bit slower than steady and there is an adventurous and stealthy tone. This is very violently and dramatically intense with many moments being a blend of the two. The dialogue is conversational with a lot of back-and-forth and narration from different sources. There are some thick text bubbles and though one page does get close there aren’t any word-heavy pages here. This is an exciting and riveting sequel issue that moves the story forward by expanding on key characters, raising the stakes, and building towards an inevitable showdown.
The art here is a drawn in a smoothly detailed modern style with strong lighting and shading. This has a color palette with a lot of reds and browns with the occasional splash of blue or pink. Aside from some bamboo stalks and distant palm trees there isn’t much natural scenery. Due to the shifting perspectives this story will go to a variety of places from manors and warehouses to the slums and open spaces in the village. There is a mix of different architecture styles here. The backgrounds tend to show the actual surroundings from the dusty ground to the wood paneling to on the walls. The expression level here is around average as some characters show their while others preserve a tough demeanor. Aggressive emotions are frequent here from anger to rage with some fear, shock, and sadness appearing as well. Faces have an above-average amount of detail with most expressions being easy to decipher. Though knives and guns are used most of the violence is delivered physically. There are many brutal and gruesome attacks that lead to a significant amount of blood and body part-separating gore. The action scenes tend to come in multi-page bursts with a decent panel and a smooth flow.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes, if this is up your alley.
“Would I like this?”
If you like crime dramas that take place in Indonesia and that star Indonesian martial artists while featuring heavy violence, stealthiness, and criminal intrigue then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Violence, blood, gore, gruesomeness.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“I’ll burn the city down before I let them use it.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/beyondtopia/bandits-of-batavia-1-2/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 22
Violent Pages: 13, for 59% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic
**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**
Violence Level – 4
“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”
“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”
“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”
“This was a tournament arc.”
“All my life I had to fight.”
Gore Level – 4
“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”
“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”
“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”
“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”
“This is a slaughterhouse.”
Death Level – 3
“And everybody lived happily ever after.”
“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”
“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”
“Yeah this was a tragedy.”
“Think Gettysburg.”
Porn Level – 1
“Everybody kept their clothes on.”
“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”
“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”
“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”
“Oh. This is porn.”
