Batman #2 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Jonathan Glapion (inks), Colors (FCO), Richard Starkings & Jimmy Betancourt (letteres), Katie Kubert (assistant editor), Janelle Asselin (associate editor) & Mike Marts (editor)

The Story: Batman has to deal with a new threat from the Court of Owls.

Five Things: 

1. Great art from Capullo/Glapion/FCO.  Greg Capullo lays out his pages so well.  It’s the kind of thing that’s easiest to appreciate when you see comics that aren’t trying to be visually interesting.  Surely Capullo could tell this story with 3-4 widescreen, rectangular panels per page, but that would be boring and Capullo isn’t boring.  It’s nice to see that dedication to craft.  There are also a couple of classic Capullo action panels in this issue.  The one that springs to mind is the one of the bad guy side-kicking Bruce Wayne through the window.  You can just feel the power of that kick. The guy isn’t kicking Bruce, he’s driving right through him.  Then the window is shattering around his body into a bajillion little pieces.  We haven’t seen many of those hyper-detailed Capullo panels thus far in Batman, so it’s nice to see one pop up.  Now, the art isn’t perfect.  There are a few storytelling flaws, like the motorcycle on the train tracks and the point where Bruce gets knives in his shoulders, but overall the art is excellent.  Wonderful inking to retain the dynamism of the pencils and nicely colored as well.

2. A new villain!  Old villains are so boring because we kinda know what they’re capable of and we know they won’t really die.  Villains like Joker and Penguin are just as safe from death as Batman is and it’s impossible to have drama in a story when the only people who can really die are nameless civilians and Bruce’s girlfriends.  So, this new villain is great: He’s got a cool look.  He just thrashed Bruce in a fight.  We don’t really know what he’s up to.  So much is unknown because we’ve not seen Bruce fight this guy before and it’s better that way.

3.  Snyder writes so well.  Have you ever heard a buddy describe a comic as “wordy”?  We all have, but what they usually mean is, “Lots of word by a writer who doesn’t write well.”  Guys who don’t write well can be really painful to read.  So, it’s important to separate the different elements of writing.  There is, “I have a cool idea for a story.”  There is, “I can write clever banter between Spider-Man and Wolverine.”  And, finally, there is, “I can write a long paragraph in a comic slickly enough that fans don’t complain.”  Snyder excels at that final aspect and it gives him creative freedom to engage in exposition or do more to verbally establish a scene.  It’s a handy thing to have in a bag of tricks because not even Capullo could make the first page of this comic tell a story visually…that was all on Snyder.  He’s also smart to get his wordy parts early in the issue when the reader is fresh.

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #5 – Endings are always hard.  Consider how much gushing the blog and podcasting element of the comic community does over #1 issues and then how the babble dies down because the creators can’t close the deal.  Not a problem here.  Scott Snyder still hasn’t had an issue that could even be called “average” or “meh” and he continues that here.  We get a nice wrap of this Nazi-vampire story that closes up some plot pieces and opens new things for Snyder to explore in the future.  Even if you don’t read American Vampire, this would make a great self-contained read.  Of course, a writer cannot do it alone and this miniseries wouldn’t have reached it’s lofty heights without the talents of Sean Murphy, who is IMHO one of the best artists currently working in comics.  LOVE his combination of cartooning and realism.  Just go buy it!  Runner-up: Who is Jake Ellis #5 (another great ending)

Most Anticipated This Week: Xenoholics #1 – This comic looks like fun and I’ve looked forward to it from the first teaser art showing a man confessing that he has been kidnapped by aliens.  He admits that they anally probed him…..and……”he thinks he liked it”.  Of course, there will need to be more meat on the bone than a simple anal probing joke that reminds me of an old Kids in the Hall skit, but it seems like that slightly dark and slightly warped sense of humor that I enjoy.

Other Picks: Batman #2, Justice League #2, Near Death #2, Fear Itself #7 (TGIO!), Hulk #43, Superior #6, Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X #2, Cold War #1