Batman ’66 #7 – Review

By: Jeff Parker & Tom Peyer (story), Christopher Jones & Derec Donovan (art), Tony Aviña (colors)

The Story: Batman’s enlisted to track down Gotham’s newest villain—Bruce Wayne.

The Review: Parker definitely took on a different kind of challenge in committing himself to Batman ’66.  Although the show has garnered a cult audience over the years, even the cultists know better than to take the show very seriously.  Somehow, Parker has to sustain long-term interest in the series with a pool of story possibilities limited by the original show’s innocence, simplicity, and campiness.

Although Parker got compelling reads out of the first couple issues, the ones that came after have struggled to find a balance between retro and modern sensibilities, just as this issue does.  The plot, of course, is nothing much: villain False Face masquerades as Bruce Wayne to carry out his evil doing free from suspicion.  Obviously, this puts Batman in the awkward position of working with the police to capture himself, which Parker could have gotten a great story out of, but somehow falls short.

Batman and Robin #18 – Review

By: Paul Cornell (writer), Scott McDaniel with Christopher Jones (pencillers), Rob Hunter, Art Thibert and Andy Owens (inkers)

The Story: Batman and Robin are caught in the clutches of Absence, but learn her origin. A classic comic story.

What’s Good: Visually, this issue hit me better than issue #17. The addition of Chris Jones, Art Thibert and Andy Owens this month really made the difference. The art was less cartoony, more textured and lifelike. The art team had some interesting camera angles and the panel layouts led the eye around the page. There are too many good examples to mention, but check out page two and the toggling of views, the page where Terri is shot, and the death scene of Absence herself at the hands of pirates. The poses are dynamic and the panels on the page make for a cool visual experience.

On writing, Cornell really sucked me in to Absence’ flashback. It lasted a long time, but drew me through a pretty interesting set of events. There’s more than a bit of sci-fi creeping into this book, and I liked the Dandy Walker Syndrome McGuffin.