Among imagined books I might one day want to read, a “director’s cut” of Ram V’s “Gotham Nocturne” just made the list. The finale, Batman: Detective Comics Vol. 5: Gotham Nocturne Act III, is Ram V’s best “act” yet, lyrical and moving and, indeed, arriving in the end at some original takes on the Dark Knight. Hampering that, as has been the case all along, are backup stories at the end of most chapters that range from absolutely essential to completely unnecessary, and they greatly, greatly affect the progress and reading experience of the book.

“Gotham Nocturne” is cohesive in the big picture but clearly where it started and where it ends are not the same place in the small details, again as mostly relates to the backup stories. One imagines Ram V going back through with a scalpel, keeping this but finely excising that, until “Gotham Nocturne” arrives at its true final shape. The whole thing is lovely, a triumph for Ram V, but to an extent it’s just the first draft of the statue, still waiting for further carving to reveal what’s truly underneath.