Batman Beyond Universe #13 – Review

By: Kyle Higgins & Alec Siegel, Phil Hester; Eric Gapshur; Craig Rousseau; & Thony Silas (art), Nick Fillardi & Guy Major (color)

The Story: What finally broke two generations of the Batfamily?

The Review: It kind of feels like a new dawn for Batman Beyond Universe. Gone is the JLB co-feature and much of the continuity the franchise has gained in comics. Bolstered by call backs to the DCAU’s two biggest animated features, Batman Beyond #13 feels like an event, even on the tails of the “Justice Lords Beyond” arc.

The one element that viewers of the classic television series might not be familiar with is the new Vigilante who the issue informs us teamed up with Terry in “Batman Beyond: 10,000 Clowns”. Vigilante is actually the instigator of most of the issue’s drama, but the core of this story lies solely on Bruce Wayne and his young protégés.

It must be somewhat intimidating to finally reveal the details of one of the DCAU’s biggest secrets after a little over fifteen years, but, if so, Kyle Higgins and Alec Siegel don’t show it for a moment, eagerly adding in the answer to one of this series’ most speculated upon questions. So if you want to know how Bruce fell out with Dick, Terry, and Barbara, this is required reading.

One of Kyle Higgins’ strengths over the course of his run has been giving the Bruce/Terry feud a respectful and visceral portrayal. That continues this issue, with Bruce’s need for control played as a flawed outgrowth of his concern for his partners. It’s not hard to see how his gruff demeanor strangles the best of intentions.

Batman Eternal #6 – Review

By: Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, John Layman, Ray Fawkes, Tim Seely (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Even bats can be scared of ghosts—or, more specifically, spirits of vengeance.

The Review: Having stuck by this series for some weeks now, it’s become painfully clear that a weekly series really takes a bite out of your budget. You are talking about a quadruple (at times quintuple) investment than your typical monthly comic, so even if you want to, you have to think twice about a long-term commitment to spending that kind of money. Next to the bigger-impact Futures End (and upcoming World’s End), my bucks just don’t stretch as far with Batman Eternal.

I want to make it clear, however, that my decision has little to do with the actual quality of this series, which has been fine, if not spectacular thus far. It’s true that issues can vary wildly from week to week, depending on who’s charged with scripting duties, but everyone on this writing team pretty much stands on even ground. In fact, considering the number of cooks in the kitchen, it’s remarkable how the finished dish comes out tasting kind of the same each week, which is part of Eternal‘s problem.

Batwoman Annual #1 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (story), Trevor McCarthy & Moritat (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Behind every good Batman is a Batwoman—ready to take him down.

The Review: Considering how sudden and dismissively J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman were shooed off this title last October, the least DC could do was offer a resolution to their long-invested storyline, which was also cut off when Williams-Blackman left. DC did one thing right in committing this annual to that task, but their inability to bring back Williams-Blackman for this special occasion almost guaranteed the annual’s failure.

Without Williams-Blackman, Andreyko basically has to guess how his predecessors would’ve ended their own story and execute it as best he can. Andreyko’s very capable of course, but this is asking too much of any writer, especially when Williams-Blackman had set up conflicts that require a careful, delicate touch to untangle. There’s simply no way Andreyko could’ve divined Williams-Blackman’s intentions to wrap up their plotlines as planned. Even so, that’s no excuse for him to throw sense and integrity out the window just to get the job done.

Eternal Warrior #6 – Review

by Greg Pak (Writer), Robert Gill, Victor Olazaba (Artists), Guy Major (Colorist)

The Story: It’s tough to refuse a request from a little girl, especially when said request is to kill a being who enslave people.

The Review: Opening an arc with a great hook is something that must be hard. To provide just enough intrigue, action and a direction that can sustain itself for a few issues is certainly something that must require a lot of thoughts and work. Still, what must be even harder is to continue in the same vein, with the same qualities and a consistency that makes the ongoing tale as interesting as it was in its beginning.

To say that this issue is as good as the previous one would be an unfortunate lie on my part. While there are indeed a lot of qualities to be found here, it seems that Greg Pak has the unfortunate task of trying to continue the world-building while at the same time bring a better focus on just who Gilad and Caroline are. While not as good as the opening, does this issue provide enough to make sure readers might want to continue with this arc?

One of the qualities that might ensure it is how Pak writes both Gilad and Caroline as well as their dynamics. The mix between brutality and kindness is fun to read in Gilad’s action and reaction, but it is even more so when it can also be seen in Caroline’s own. The bond between them and how they perceive and educate each other makes for a particularly effective duo, making them interesting but also utterly likable in the process. How Caroline reacts to the slave-trade, how Gilad tries to explain his plan and how everything goes makes for some great character moments, making this story as much about them as it is about the world of 4001 AD in the Valiant universe.

Eternal Warrior #5 – Review

by Greg Pak (Writer), Robert Gill (Artist), Guy Major (Colorist)

The Story: It seems that pissing off an immortal is still a bad idea even in 4001 AD.

The Review: I love surprises. Some people might prefer to have a more stable experiences with book, with a series that can constantly promise a certain modicum of stability in its execution and quality. While a book that can deliver with each issue is certainly nice, one that can suddenly improve and show new and exciting ideas is always something I am looking for.

This issue of Eternal Warrior certainly fits the description. While I am an overall fan of Greg Pak and the Valiant universe as a whole, it seems that this issue is a huge improvement in the series, providing one of those coveted ”jumping-on points” as well as continuing the themes of the series as established by Greg Pak himself.

Set in 4001, this issue shows a future that is rather inspired, with a continuation of what could potentially happen if the representation of the Earth would disappear, as Gilad has destroyed it in the previous arc. The first thing that Pak does right is in setting down the voice of Gilad in this future, representing him once more as an immortal, yet not someone who necessarily grew all that wise or feeble, representing the warrior part of the character quite well. The confident and rather analytic, yet not completely devoid of compassion warrior is one that is rather entertaining to follow, as his relation with the villagers and his granddaughter makes for a rather stark contrats with his demeanour and his abilities.

Letter 44 #3 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: The presidency’s falling apart, aliens are invading, and worst of all, people are not getting enough sex.

The Review: If you were amused by the parallels between the outgoing Carroll administration in #1 and the most recent Bush administration, you’ll be tickled pink by the similarities Stephen Blades shares with Barack Obama as to the early days of their presidencies: “Bailing out the banks and giving loans to the auto companies,” when he actually intended “to have Guantanamo closed by now, and have a real plan to be out of at least one of the wars.”

Fun, though the purpose of all this isn’t quite clear.  Maybe Soule, unable to make up more credible presidential acts, just decided to poach from reality.  Maybe he wanted to make an indirect comment about Obama’s legacy, that the perception of him as a ditherer was caused by events and forces beyond his control and the public’s knowledge.  Either way, Soule is setting Stephen on the same trajectory towards disappointment that his real-world counterpart suffered.  The question is whether that course can be averted in fiction any more easily than in fact.

Letter 44 #2 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Everyone stay calm, and try not to die until oxygen is restored.

The Review: I don’t know what this says about my childhood, but I distinctly remember that my first exposure to aliens involved a lot of old-school TV: the Coneheads from Saturday Night Live, Spock on Star Trek, and Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Even as a kid, I found it puzzling that so many supposed aliens were basically humans with a lot of makeup on.  Now I see it as evidence of the difficulty people have in seeing beyond their own experiences.

The characters in Letter 44 all, to a certain degree, grapple with this same difficulty as they try to wrap their heads around the outer space visitors hanging out in the asteroid belt.  In explaining to Stephen why the Carroll administration took the steps that it did after the initial discovery of the foreigners, Dr. Portek offers a highly logical and straightforward analysis that’s still infected by all-too-human reasoning.  A big linchpin in his argument for defensive action is, “[i]f they wanted to learn about us, they would already be here talking to us.  Exploration and anthropology do not require constructs the size of the moon.”  But isn’t this an entirely terran framework Portek is using?  Who’s to say how an advanced species would approach its studies?

Batwoman #25 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (story), Trevor McCarthy, Andrea Mutti, Pat Olliffe, Jim Fern (art), Jay Leisten & Tom Nguyen (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Forget the wrath of Mother Nature; there are common criminals to worry about!

The Review: DC’s handling of this title has been so erratic that I didn’t even know that #24 was J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman’s final one until I saw the credits on this issue.  I could have sworn they had at least another issue before departing, but I guess DC was eager to tie Batwoman into all the Zero Year craziness, and Williams-Blackman didn’t feel like being good sports about a crossover given the circumstances of why they left in the first place.

That’s all to say that Andreyko couldn’t have started his run on this series under worse circumstances.  Not only is he coming in while tensions over his predecessors’ departure are still simmering, he has to simultaneously deal with the inconclusive arc left in their wake as well as a tie-in to another storyline altogether.  In this situation, Andreyko is kind of like the hapless stepparent who joins a family that just went through a hideous divorce, leaving the household in debt and forcing them to move.  Unhappiness is nearly guaranteed.

Batwoman #24 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Sandu Florea & Derek Fridolfs (finishes), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: If you’re gonna go after Batman, you might as well make it worth his time.

The Review: I’m afraid we can’t get down to business until we discuss to some extent the circumstances leading to Williams-Blackman’s impending departure.  After sorting through all the various accounts of what happened, the whole controversy boils down to this: frustrated by regular, oft-times sudden editorial interference and a mandate that Kate Kane cannot marry, Williams-Blackman chose not to continue a story that was increasingly no longer their own.

Since I don’t know the specifics behind the other editorial mandates reported of, I won’t comment on those.  At any rate, editor-creator tensions are old hat for mainstream comics, and by and large, it’s often impossible to tell exactly when and how they affect any given series.  Only on these rare occasions when a writer airs his grievances publicly do we get real evidence of how an intended storyline gets thrown off course or stonewalled by a decree from above.

Letter 44 #1 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Yet another reason to dread getting snail mail.

The Review: This is not the place for me to get political, and I won’t, but I will say that I’ve never taken the president’s job for granted.  Whatever my opinions on certain policy decisions are, I always feel sorry for the man* who has to make that call.  Call me a foolish believer in the innate goodness of humanity, but I tend to think that even when the consequences seem disastrous, the intentions behind a presidential decision are for the country’s best interest.

In a similar vein, Soule presents a fictional U.S. presidency with obvious parallels to the one we all know so well.  You have newly elected Stephen Blades, running on a platform of openness and change in contrast to the departing Francis T. Carroll’s “eight years of war and economic uncertainty.”  During his time in office, Carroll apparently led the country into conflicts based on faulty information (“Your side had a field day when the WMD thing fell through.”) and developed a reputation for not being the brightest bulb in the room (holding up Carroll’s letter, Stephen’s advisor remarks, “You think it’s written in crayon?”).

Supergirl #24 – Review

By: Michael Alan Nelson (writer), Diogenes Neves (pencils), Marc Deering (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Brainiac and the Cyborg Superman have come to I’noxia. Now it will face the wrath of a force unimaginable: an angry Supergirl.

The Review:

Spoiler Warning: It’s going to be very hard to discuss this issue without spoiling the events of Supergirl #23 and Action Comics #23.3: Cyborg Superman. Honestly I’m not going to try. If you’re really concerned about spoilers for those comics, check out their reviews in the archives. You’ll probably like this comic at least as well as you liked them, but don’t say I didn’t warn you if you choose to read on.

The last time we saw Kara Zor-El, two months ago, she was in something of a bad way.  In fact, she had just been murdered; the flesh stripped from her bones and used to reconstitute the Cyborg Superman. A lot of heroes might take that as the universe telling them to take some time off, but from the very first page it’s painfully clear that Supergirl doesn’t care what ‘a lot of heroes’ think.

Michael Alan Nelson caught my attention with his surprisingly honest version of Kara and that’s still very much in play. Nelson’s Supergirl has always been a powerful and intelligent character, even if she tends to prefer one to the other, and he’s taken evident glee in showing how much she can accomplish when she calls upon the full breadth of her talents. Kara’s journey has been one of controlling her anger and tempering her strength with intelligence. This month we’re reminded how powerful that anger can be.

Batwoman #23 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (Trevor McCarthy), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Apparently, to Batwoman, love is night sweats and terrifying fever dreams.

The Review: There are a lot of contradictions wrapped up in the Bat-family, but the one that perhaps fascinates me the most is despite their airs of being the most straight-to-the-ass-kicking vigilantes in the DCU, they’re also the ones with the biggest dramatic streaks.  The fact they responded to tragedy by dressing up like bats should tip you off already, but you might still be surprised how often you see them acting like the master thespian.

Even Kate, with all her military upbringing and top-class training, is susceptible to a bit of melodrama on the right occasion—and it has to be the right one, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to take her seriously at all.  Demonstrating her commitment to Maggie by injecting herself with Fear Toxin has got to count.  It’s a big, soap opera moment, with Maggie helplessly stretching out a hand, protesting, “Kate!  No!” while her lover swoons, muttering in martyred fashion, “Now I’ll know what you went through, Mags…”  But hey—comics!

Batwoman #22 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Batwoman and Co. do some major cramming for the big Batman test.

The Review: Batwoman is not the first person to attempt the takedown of Batman, but she is the first hero to do so.  This means a very different kind of approach to the task than that you typically get from his villains.  Their plans are usually born out of years of direct experience with the Bat, meticulously plotted and conspired, with the intent to kill.  Batwoman has the uglier task of taking in Batman alive without ever having fought him face-to-face.

With that in mind, if she’s actually going through with this, then she and her team will require a lot of prep-time to defeat the absolute master of it.  No better way to start than by cornering his enemies first, which is a challenge in itself—or, at least, it should be.  Honestly, you expect far more resistance from Bane than what you see here, even if he’s cut off from Venom on an island and facing two well-equipped* opponents.  But given how much ground Williams-Blackman have to cover in this issue, maybe they can’t afford as much of a Bane-fest as they’d like.

Red She-Hulk #67 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (Writer), Carlo Pagulayan, Patrick Olliffe, Wellington Alves (Artists), Guy Major (Colorist)

The Story: Betty, Aaron, Jennifer and Man-Thing deals with the Echelon soldiers and gets to know about the order of the Shield with Nikola Tesla.

The Review: What a pity.

It’s always hard to see a title go, to see that despite all their efforts, the creators could not make the book sell enough to warrant a continuation. God knows that in this market we have seen a lot of cancellation on splendid titles, with the likes of Winter Soldier and Dial H being taken away because sales were low. It’s never a good thing to see such things happen, but there are also worse things that can happen to books that are cancelled. One of these, unfortunately, is to have an unfitting an unrewarding conclusion.

I am sad to say that this is the case here as even though Jeff Parker tries his very best to give us a grand finale and to resolve every plot points he had seeded in his book, he does not succeed. What gives this impression would be the fact that he tries to conclude too many elements at the same time, which gives the issue a very rushed feeling as the action jumbles a bit chaotically, not letting the reader assimilate everything that happens at a pace that feels satisfactory.

Batwoman #20 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Sandu Florea (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: If you start thinking you can take the Batman alone, you need an intervention.

The Review: My favorite thing about this title is its willingness to allow all its characters to have a voice in the story, to make decisions and have a life that isn’t dictated by Batwoman’s actions.  That’s not to say the series doesn’t take on an additional burden with that.  The more rounded and independent characters you have, the more attention and development they demand.  By taking on a life of their own, they can shift the story in ways the writer didn’t intend.

While Williams-Blackman obviously have an interest in explaining how the D.E.O. came by Batwoman’s sister in the first place, I’m not sure that merited a six-page long, somewhat rambling narrative from Chase.  It really opens up more mysteries than it closes, as we don’t know how the Religion of Crime got their hands on Beth or even how she was revived.  Bones admits that where the sarcophagus in which she was found is concerned, “Hell, we still can’t figure out if it’s magic, or alien tech, or something else entirely.”

Batwoman #19 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Walden Wong (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Chase and Kate demonstrate that every sisterhood is its own beast.

The Review: Where Batwoman really separates itself from the competition is how much effort has been put into developing the supporting cast as fully-rounded characters, with lives and problems outside of whatever Kate’s got herself up to at the moment.  At this point, you feel like you know Maggie Sawyer, Jacob Kane, Cameron Chase, and Bette Kane as intimately as you know Kate herself, which is a rare and special kind of achievement for a superhero series.

How often do you get a series where a supporting character is so compelling she can have her own series.  At one point, Chase had just that, and here, Blackman-Williams demonstrate why.  Her vendetta against “the capes and masks” is clearly a manifestation of witnessing her father die from his wannabe superhero aspirations.  There’s a genuine pathos to Chase’s bitterness that makes this otherwise ludicrous set of circumstances feel real.  In some ways, her perspective of the whole costumed capers thing (“cosplay”) is very convincing; in some ways, you can easily be swayed into viewing her as a hero in her own right.

Batwoman #18 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Batman and Batwoman squabble over who gets to take what for their trophy case.

The Review: All in all, the Medusa storyline took three arcs and eighteen months to get from start to finish.  That’s a long time for any superhero title these days to spend on a single antagonist.  While Williams-Blackman did break up the action with quite a few smaller plot threads within the overarching story (e.g. Bette’s fall and recovery, Maggie and Kate’s relationship, etc.), this doesn’t change the fact that they put our heroine into a fictional rut.

For that reason, this issue is our first chance to see Batwoman take on a new mission, giving us a sense of the kind of challenges that sets her apart from the rest of the Bat-family.  Unfortunately, she’s not exactly operating according to her own agenda now, is she?  With the D.E.O. calling the shots, Batwoman winds up tackling opponents usually under her counterpart’s domain.  By doing so, she is no longer her own woman; she becomes the redundant, derivative hero we all dread—and she knows it, too.  Thus Colonel Kane observes as she threatens Mr. Freeze, “Look at her posture…  She’s posing, play-acting.”

Batwoman #15 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III (story & art), W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Dave Stewart & Guy Major (colors)

The Story: It’s rough to be a mortal cop in the midst of a mythic crisis.

The Review: If there’s one area where superhero comics as a genre still lags, it’s in the treatment of supporting characters.  Any prose writer worth his salt knows that when these characters get motivations and plotlines all their own, they make the world of a story even richer.  After all, everyone in the real world is the hero of their own story; fiction should at least try to reflect that, even if happens to feature one star.

And sure, I get why most writers might shy away from that kind of work.  If you have a series titled Superman, readers pick up an issue expecting to see the Man of Steel.  But that to me seems a simple failure of making Lois, Jimmy, Perry, Cat, and the rest of the gang interesting characters in their own right.  Give the support cast half the respect you give your star, and the possibilities for compelling stories suddenly multiply exponentially.

DC Universe Presents #0 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: The Return of the Canned.

The Review: For a showcase title, a #0 issue presents an interesting question, doesn’t it?  How does one choose an origin story for a series open to all origin stories?  I suppose not choosing is one answer.  As annuals and the ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful Weird Worlds prove, comics don’t handle multiple features well, at least not if you want to get some substantial, serious reading out of them.  DC’s definitely pushing it with five pieces stuffed in one issue.

DC Universe Presents #12 – Review

By: Fabian Nicieza (story), Jorge Jiménez (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Kid Flash shuts down an invasion from the land of dinosaurs in record time.

The Review: To put it lightly, I didn’t care much for Teen Titans under Scott Lobdell.  To me it represented some of the worst stereotypes about teens: some of the most thoughtless, stupid humor possible paired with some of the most overdone, hand-wringing angst possible.  I was also disappointed in Nicieza’s handling of Legion Lost.  How putting a writer I liked to work on characters I liked resulted in a title I lost all feeling for, I don’t know, but it hurt anyway.

And then Nicieza takes Kid Flash and turns out one of the one of the most tickling, chuckling issues I’ve read in a long, long while, possibly since the relaunch.  Bart’s irreverence and fourth wall-breakage is a joy to read (“Continuity doesn’t really matter!  Clarity is overrated!”), and provides the kind of voice I haven’t heard since Stephanie Brown vanished into continuity limbo.  I don’t know about you, but it’s just what I’ve been needing.

Batwoman #11 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy & Pere Perez (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: From woman to man to dog—the devolution of Maro.

The Review: At one point in this issue, Maggie remarks, with total affection, “Oh, Kate…you never do anything half-assed, do you?”  And while this is trademark Bat-family behavior, for Kate this seems especially true.  She has a persistence that slides well into stubbornness.  She may be resistant to change, but once she decides to, she doesn’t transition into it like most of us; she goes for it heart, mind, body, and soul.

Take this case of Gotham’s disappearing children, which Batwoman has investigated since nearly a year ago.  With each arc, the opposition gets only more formidable and the stakes bigger, yet she’s clearly committed to seeing this mystery through to the very end—whenever that may be.  Just when you thought her underground confrontation with Maro and four supernatural minions would top everything off, you learn there’s a greater battle yet to come.

Batwoman #10 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Sometimes people are so close, it’s like they share one body.  Sometimes they actually do.

The Review: This fragmented approach to storytelling that Williams-Blackman have taken on has been an interesting experiment, and a pretty successful one.  Keeping six different plotlines running at the same time in each issue and somehow delivering a coherent, unified read is no easy feat, so in that respect alone, Williams-Blackman have been wildly effective.  But up until now, there didn’t seem to be any reason to write the arc this way except for sheer novelty.

Now, however, with each plotline running closer to each other in time, all coalescing into the “Now” of the present story, you can see how each informs and plays off the others.  Imagine one of those photo-mosaics, where you have scads and scads of little pictures, each with a distinctive subject of its own, yet all coming together to form a single, focal image.  We’ve been too close to the individual pictures, and only now do we step back and see what we’re really looking at.

Batwoman #9 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Kate Kane has it all—the good life, the love life, and definitely the night life.

The Review: I know I’m a bit late to the party in saying this, but I think it’s pretty amazing how naturally people have taken to this title as an ongoing series considering how its lead is an openly lesbian character living an openly lesbian life.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this makes Batwoman the first mainstream comic of its kind, and beyond even that remarkable achievement, it’s impressive how few people have given it a second thought.

And why should they?  Certainly Kate and her supporting cast do not.  Perhaps the complete lack of discrimination shown in Kate’s world thus far seems a tad idyllic—fictionally so—but it also emphasizes that Kate’s sexuality is irrelevant to the demands of her story, except insofar it determines where her relationships with certain characters will proceed.  In many ways, this situation represents the way things might be, or ought to be, in the future.

Blackhawks #8 – Review

By: Mike Costa (story), Cafu (pencils), Bit (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: When the day’s flying is done, every bird must go back to its nest.

The Review: Just a few days ago, I noted in my review of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #6 that with Nick Spencer going off that title, I didn’t really believe there was any title that could really take its place.  Upon reflection, I may have overstated things a bit.  After reading this issue, I firmly believe that Costa might have, given some more, written turned this series into such a title, which makes its cancellation all the more tragic.

From the first issue I ever read, I noticed and greatly admired Costa’s sprightly writing, which has a similar combination of wit and intelligence as Spencer’s.  Even with tons of exposition being exchanged, he keeps the pace breezy, making sure each bit of information comes through a logical part of the dialogue.  He also knows the right timing to throw in a smart joke and break up the tension (“Attila wet his pants.”  “My nervous system was being short-circuited!”).

Batman and Robin #8 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Patrick Gleason (penciller), Mick Gray (inker), John Kalisz & Guy Major (colorists)

The Story: Son, what say we leave this cadaver and play some catch?

The Review: Over the years, Batman has been built up in both competence and legend that he’s attained a mythic status well in keeping with the fact that he hangs with the most powerful beings on the planet without question.  Yet we should never make the mistake of seeing him as invulnerable—and I’m not talking physically.  Everyone admires the feats he can achieve with his mortal frame, but people don’t give him nearly enough credit for his emotional honesty.

Bruce may not wallow in his feelings, and it make take something rather drastic to push him to express himself (i.e. the near-death of his son), but he does not lie nor understate his emotions.  In that respect, Damian really is his son.  This young, would-be assassin is so tough he only reveals his vulnerabilities when pushed to the utter limit, but when he does, he surprises you.  His faint murmurings about protecting “our castle…our kingdom” reveal a romantic view to the world he lives in: he is the prince helping his king-father defend Gotham from their enemies.

Tomasi just does this kind of thing so well: sincere character moments that resonate with you despite their outrageous context.  For any guy—and girl, for that matter—out there, who hasn’t had a moment when he feels the crushing weight of disappointing his father and begs for understanding?  And who hasn’t felt the rush of relief and comfort when his father simply picks him up and carries him home?  If you can connect with that, it hardly matters that both father and son are bleeding and leaving a corpse-strewn, flaming wreck of a boat in their wake.