Batwoman #8 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (writers), Amy Reeder (penciller), Rob Hunter (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Kate demonstrates she’s not exactly girlfriend material.

The Review: A black friend of mine once told me that to make it in this world, “you can’t work as hard as a white man; you have to work harder.”  A dim outlook, but one no less wise for it.  I think the same philosophy applies to women as well, perhaps even more so, and perhaps especially to women in the superhero business.  One of the long-running, subtle themes of this series is Batwoman’s struggle to craft a heroic identity beyond “the female Batman.”

The first step in that struggle involves her lack of resources.  Though independently wealthy, she doesn’t have the technological connections and inventiveness to be as well-equipped as the Dark Knight.  Working for the D.E.O. has clearly caught her up some.  Here, she gets to put her voice-controlled throwing dart (with the bit of alien A.I. inside) to use against Medusa’s monster minions.  As cool as the dart’s versatility is, it takes away from Batwoman’s abilities to a certain extent as it takes down all her enemies for her, all in a row.

Still, considering she’s outnumbered by supernatural foes, the extra help is warranted.  Besides, she proves her chops later in the issue (but earlier in the story) by singlehandedly executing a breakout at sea, clearing two boats full of GCPD cops, including her girlfriend, in the process.  The scene plays out yet another complication in Batwoman’s life: the overlap between her civilian identity and her night job.  Batman’s had a long time to separate his personas, but now that Kate’s dating Batwoman’s direct competition, such divisions don’t seem feasible now.

Blackhawks #7 – Review

By: Mike Costa (writer), Cafu & Carlos Rodriguez (pencillers), Bit (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: A “Keep Out” sign is pretty meaningless when you fly a plane into it.

The Review: It goes without saying that getting cancelled would not count among the top ten experiences of your life.  For any creator who cares about his work, there’s the heartache, of course, not only from the realization his baby has no support, but also from the fact he won’t get to see that baby grow up.  Also for anyone who cares about his work, he now has the difficulty of trying to wrap up at the last second stories he hoped would play out for a while.

What you often get is a mad scramble to draw the act to a close and finish with a bang, much like you do in this issue.  There’s a clear feeling of haste throughout, as Costa must rely on heavy exposition, much more than he’s done in any issue I’ve read of him thus far, to speed the action toward its climax.  Hence Lincoln’s narrative spiel taking the Blackhawks from their shaky recovery from a direct attack on their turf to their de facto final mission, all within five pages.

At any rate, Costa disguises the blistering pace of the issue pretty well, using a combination of lively dialogue (“Those guys are firing carbon-fiber needles at 3,000 meters per second…You were briefed to stay out of range!  They dissolve from friction after 4,000 feet.”  Canada: “How much math am I supposed to do here?!”) and meticulously timed action sequences, throwing in a few slow-mo panels to break up the rush just before you get overwhelmed.

Batwoman #7 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (writers), Amy Reeder (penciller), Rob Hunter (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Don’t be too hard on him, Kate—everyone needs a hook to get by in this world.

The Review: Last issue marked something of a turning point for this title.  The first story arc, appropriately enough, focused entirely on delivering a knockout tale that would get you to fall in love with its tone, its sophistication, and its star—check, check, and check.  Now that you’re hooked, it’s time to expand the scope of the series and get you to sympathize with its world and supporting cast.

With that in mind, Williams-Blackman’s “six story” format works very well, especially in this issue, now that most of the light setup is out of the way and they can really focus on knitting the various perspectives together.  It’s clear that a lot of thought went into deciding which scenes go where, as despite the lack of chronological order, you can still see the plot develop in a fairly clear fashion.

The best example starts in Kate’s story, where she encounters Abbott (a werebeast from the Religion of Crime), who worries Medusa might “run us out of Gotham.”  We cut to Maro, and see Killer Croc complain that the occultist promised to make me big time…to give me the juice I need to eat Gotham alive.”  Both these scenes intersect in the following chapter from Maggie’s POV, where we see Croc, now buffed out and feral, tearing into various werebeasts.  A Medusa agent soon after states, “…the Gator’s gut is full of acolytes and Abbott has gone to ground,” proving Abbott’s concerns from earlier.  This is a situation where you can have your cake and eat it too; the story feels lively from the constant cuts, but you can follow along quite easily.

All this is the more plotty sort of stuff, but Williams-Blackman also take the opportunity to do some necessary character work.  So far, they haven’t quite managed to pin down Maggie nor Chase, both having assertive, wry voices which just happen to echo Batwoman’s herself.  It’s a case where we have three strong women, each with strikingly similar backgrounds, so it’ll take some doing to define Chase and Maggie’s personalities and make them more distinguishable.

Batwoman #6 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (writers), Amy Reeder (penciller), Rob Hunter & Richard Friend (inkers), Guy Major (colorist)

The Review: Talk up any comics enthusiast, and one of the first things out of their mouths will be something along the lines of how unique comic books are for storytelling.  You hear less about their painful limitations.  I don’t know about you, but the most frustrating restriction on comics, in my mind, is their painful shortness.  Many writers have made the most of the pages they get, but by and large, I find myself wishing there was a little more substance in my hands.

That was the prevailing feeling I got reading this issue.  You shouldn’t take that to mean Williams-Blackman skimped on the story in any way.  After all, it’s fairly ambitious of them to not only play around with a number of different character perspectives in the story, but also to set each vignette at a different time.  All told, you get six mini-tales, each standing on their own, and each with enough drama to support half an issue on its own.

This fragmented structure can easily get confusing, but Williams-Blackman do two things to keep things moving smoothly and clearly.  First, they bookend the issue with the central action, Batwoman facing down the kid-thieving Medusa, which lays down some context for each of the different stories we get here.  Second, while each scene has only faint connections to the others, they have enough common ground to deliver a unified story overall.  Think of it as a mosaic, each scene piecing together to form a bigger picture of where this series plans to go next.

Blackhawks #5 – Review

By: Mike Costa (writer), Cafu (penciller), Bit (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Dogs on a satellite!  Hm…doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, huh?

The Review: Can you believe it’s been just about half a year since the new 52 premiered?  At what point do I stop calling it “new,” I wonder?  Anyway, quite a few titles I collected at the beginning have fallen by the wayside since then, so of course I’ve been scoping around for new ones to pick up in their place.  Blackhawks was one of those I heard quiet praise about, and once I saw Cafu switch over from Grifter, I knew I had to at least give the series a shot.

In any case, the Blackhawks, much as it’s weird to say so, is one of my favorite properties, or at least the concept of them is.  Now that the vast majority of heroes in comics have superpowers of some kind, it’s actually kind of a big deal to have a team composed of nothing more than ordinary humans demonstrating extraordinary aptitude in their particular skill-sets as they take on the big baddies of the world.

And that they certainly do in this issue, facing head-on the big momma of them all, the aptly named Mother Machine.  Like most mothers, this villainess is ruthless in her desire to take her charges under her wing.  To chastise the Blackhawks for their disobedience, she lays on all kinds of punishments: “I’ve also shut down the oxygen compilers and internal heaters.  You’ll slowly start to smother, but in the hours it takes for that to happen, you’ll also gradually freeze.  Or else, you would, except…I’ve just disengaged [this satellite] from orbit.”  What’s hilarious is she sees this grim experience or joining her as a fair choice.

The Ray #2 – Review

By: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray (writers), Jamal Igle (penciller), Rich Perrotta (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Guess who’s coming to dinner?  The Ray!

The Review: I was thoroughly unimpressed with the debut of this mini last month, and was of a good mind to drop it immediately.  But I figured that since I already put the money in for one issue, I might as well check out the next one to see if things improve.  After all, it wasn’t so much that the writing or art of #1 was bad; they just felt commonplace and contrived, much more planned than inspired.

It’s not great that for the second time in a row, we open on a monster attack upon San Diego, with the Ray filling you in with some narrated exposition as he takes them down.  That’s par for the course, considering the six-issue constraint Palmiotti-Gray have on their story, but it still would’ve been nice to see more of the action taking place than having it told to us.  Besides, Ray always manages to defeat them so quickly, and with so little evident threat to his person, that you tend to skim past the scenes anyway.

At any rate, the meat of the story involves Lucien’s first meeting with Chanti’s culturally sensitive parents, whom he tries to please by getting into Indian costume and sucking up, big time.  At least he has the good grace to admit he was being an idiot (the title of the scene is actually “Yes…  I Am an Idiot”), because it is a monumentally idiotic move, one that would never, ever fly in real life for a second.  The idea reeks like a premise for a first/last-season episode of a WB sitcom starring Mindy Kaling and John Cho—which, sadly, I’d probably watch.

Static Shock #5 – Review

By: Scott McDaniel (writer & penciller), Andy Owens (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Folks, it’s never a good idea to mess with a guy’s sister.

The Review: In my experience, the end of a love affair—and of course I’m talking about comics here—always comes into two flavors: bittersweet or bitter.  Admittedly, my fling with Static Shock started out less than moony, gradually growing more and more disenchanted with each issue, but there’s still enough feeling in the relationship for me to say that even at the end, I still think it could’ve worked, had things been a little different.

Because honestly, the story so far has not been bad.  Rozum and McDaniel (and now, just McDaniel) have done a fine job weaving in a number of different plotlines, breaking up the story to keep it from being sedentary.  And in fact, in this issue, a lot of those plotlines actually come together to form a fairly cohesive picture of where this title might be going.  It’s just frustrating that it took this long for it get its act together.

Nightwing #4 – Review

By: Kyle Higgins (writer), Trevor McCarthy (writer), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: If this were a romantic comedy, it’d be called “Seeing Double-Red.”

The Review: Speaking as a former fanfiction reader (and, admittedly, writer), I speak from personal experience when I say that it’s always a bit risky to write the same characters as another writer, especially if they’re still writing them.  You have the burden of being constantly compared to each other, and it can get a little dicey if people like one writer’s approach better.

Gail Simone already did a very fine Dick and Barbara reunion last month in Batgirl, so you have good reason to be a bit skeptical of Higgins’ follow-up.  Since the former lovebirds had a rather auspicious parting, it seems somewhat premature to have them meet again so soon.  Higgins himself calls that point out when he has Dick asking Babs doubtfully, “So you decided to just…come say hi…after you made it clear you wanted to do this alone?”  And while her reply of wanting to “try this again” is sweet, it’s not very convincing, story-wise.

Setting that aside, Higgins writes the couple with their characteristic chemistry, though they wisely spend most their time talking and doing shop.  The mini-plotline about the shapeshifting Spinebender and stolen microchips is largely forgettable, but it provides an easy, straightforward basis for the two young heroes to show some excellent teamwork and get some action (not that kind, shippers) without any angst or melodrama attached.

Even with a fairly simple chain of events, Higgins has a habit of glossing over logistics.  The one that really stands out in this issue is when Spinebender takes on Nightwing’s form and tries to trick Batgirl that way.  Granted, these doppelganger tactics are pretty old, and the solutions tend to be arbitrary most of the time, but Higgins should have made an effort to play out the scene with some degree of logic.  Having Babs later explain that she “just went after the cuter one” makes for mild joke, but does little justice for her deductive abilities.

The Ray #1 – Review

By: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray (writers), Jamal Igle (penciller), Rich Perrotta (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Prepare to be blinded by the Ray—in more ways than one.

The Review: Here’s another beauty about the new 52: the opportunity to launch new characters or to revive old ones for a new generation.  So of all the myriad heroes of the DC canon to return to the forefront, why the Ray?  Nowhere in his history, from his origins in Quality Comics’ Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters to his brief stint as a member of Young Justice, did he ever have what you might call popular appeal.

And I’m not sure if this new version of the Ray will turn that trend around.  Truthfully, I’m not a fan of publishers artificially promoting diversity by having minority characters take up legacy brands, like Jackson Hyde and Aqualad, Jaime Reyes and Blue Beetle, Ryan Choi and the Atom, and now Lucien Gates, a Korean-American and newest incarnation of the radiant hero.

It’s also not great that Palmiotti-Gray have chosen a new person for the mantle when Ray Terrill, the previous Ray, hasn’t officially been wiped from active status, which the writers should know since they wrote his last appearance in last year’s short-lived Freedom Fighters ongoing.  As the only version of the hero who came closest to having a following (even getting a solo series back in the mid-nineties), you’d think it’d be smarter to use what was working rather than start anew.

But let’s set all that aside and take Lucien on his own merits, shall we?  As far as secret origins go, his come in one of the more traditional ways: a freak accident, in the truest sense of the word.  Sure, it doesn’t make sense how a misfired beam from the U.S. military’s experimental “sun gun” would randomly bestow powers on any organic thing it strikes.  Then again, if you can accept that a lightning bolt and a chemical cocktail can make a man super-fast, maybe you should just this “sun gun” thing go.

Static Shock #4 – Review

By: Scott McDaniel & John Rozum (writers), Scott McDaniel (penciller), Andy Owens (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Come on, Static, it’s New York—you have to expect to get shanked at some point.

The Review: These teen-centric titles tend to follow a somewhat familiar formula.  The protagonists are all various shades of breezy smart-alecks with a modest gallery of C-list/cheesy rogues, and their storylines mostly revolve around trying to balance real life and vigilante life (while having fun!), occasionally delving into mildly dramatic territory.

Static follows this trend more closely than some.  Our hero falls into tiresome trap of trying way too hard to come up with witty lines every other panel.  While a few do have some juvenile cleverness (“You’re the first woman I’ve ever seen whose legs can shave themselves.”), most are either pointlessly dumb (“…moisturizer can soften unsightly, scaly skin!”) or just plain pointless (“They’re the latest in flying fashion!”).  By the way, these lines represent a mere sample of a whole slew Static tosses in one five-page scene.

For our dose of the mildly dramatic, we have the well-worn “It’s all my fault” (which Virgil actually says at one point) guilt trip.  At least Virge doesn’t dwell in his angst, what with Frieda on long distance rebutting with the also traditional “Everything happens for a reason” bit.  This all gets followed up by a re-steeled sense of purpose as Static vows to become “stronger,” “sharper” so he “can make things right.”

Static Shock #3 – Review

By: Scott McDaniel & John Rozum (writers), Scott McDaniel (penciller), Andy Owens (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Even gangsters can’t resist the allure of electronic gadgets.

The Review: Besides the various diversity issues that all comics publishers have to grapple with, one area the DCU infrequently explores is the urban setting.  By and large, most of our heroes operate out of middle-class suburbia, the gentrified cityscape, or in outright luxury.  Even though the Bat-family fight crime in the worst cesspools of Gotham, they eventually return to rather extravagant abodes, so we don’t really see characters rubbing shoulders with the less-privileged.

So it’s intriguing to think of Virgil not only working his vigilantism in the Big Apple, but also living in the less glamorous parts of the city.  Unfortunately, the first couple issues kept almost strictly on point with the crime-fighting plot—as it should, but it would’ve also been just as entertaining to see Static dealing with his home, school, and work life as well.  That was half the fun of his solo series, both in comics and on television.

This issue has Virgil applying real street sense to get a lead on his current target, the Slate Gang.  Any gang has its leaders and followers, and the facts of life are that the followers tend to be of school age.  Virge uncovered one of these would-be delinquents last issue, and here he smooth-talks his way into Quentin’s favor in the time-honored fashion of all teens: tall tales of extreme exploits (“You rocked at Paris Island, son?  What’d you pack?”  “Snub-nosed revolver.”)

Static Shock #2 – Review

By: Scott McDaniel & John Rozum (writers), Scott McDaniel (penciller), Andy Owens (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: No use losing your head over losing your arm.

The Review: Young superheroes have a tough time establishing a distinctive identity for themselves.  It’s a little too easy for people to compare any smart-talking teen to Spider-Man, and almost every character suffers from the comparison.  Writers really have to go above and beyond the typical one-liners and puns to forge true-blue personalities for their creations, or risk committing them to generic class forever.

And with his physics geekery, Static has even more reason to come across like the “black Peter Parker.”  On the other hand, his love of science provides some of the more entertaining, clever beats in the issue, including a rather elaborate explanation of how he still has both arms after getting one of them sliced off by a flying disc.  He even seems to rely on sound scientific principles (although since I’m a science moron, don’t take my word for it).

The problem is Virgil dispenses most of this information on an audience of no one other than you, the readers.  The problem gets highlighted by the use of word balloons for most of this sequence, making it look uncannily if inexplicably as if Virgil is talking to himself.  Rozum gives him a very personable voice, but without other characters to bounce off of, it makes the issue feel rather monotonous, and he never diverts from the typical bright, witty teen persona.

Going back to what I said last issue, we really need to see more of Static at school and especially at home, since this issue reveals a whole new dimension of drama lurking within Virgil’s very own family.  He must have gotten up to quite some trouble before this series began, what with his family now including a doppelganger of his sister Sharon, only no one knows who is which.  Honestly, you’re more interested to see where this plotline will go than all his vigilante hijinks.

While we do get an ever-so-brief glimpse at Virgil’s new school, not much comes of it.  He exchanges onceovers with another girl (“Nice!”), and he scopes out a classmate with ties to the Slate Gang.  Neither incident does much to build up Virge’s civilian life, nor do they introduce any potential members of his supporting cast into play.  The only use we get out his two pages at school is a convenient shortcut to Virgil’s next encounter with the thugs of the day.

Batman: Gates of Gotham #5 – Review

By: Scott Snyder, Kyle Higgins, Ryan Parrott (writers), Trevor McCarthy & Graham Nolan (artists), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Side-effects may include dizziness, shortness of breath, and murderous rages.

The Review: The tagline on the cover of this issue goes, “The secret history of Gotham revealed!”  Honestly, I don’t see why they even bother.  Every week there’s at least two or three titles on the stands from any company promising to reveal secrets of some kind.  A good many of them wind up obvious, underwhelming, just plain random, or some combination of the three.

You can consider the “secret history of Gotham” a numbing mix of random and underwhelming.  Rather than devise some substantial reason for the Gates’ downfall, Parrott (or Higgins, or Snyder, or whoever is writing this thing now) goes for the ol’ “Turns out, he was crazy!” yarn.  Those diving suits they fashioned may have all sorts of Steampunkery coolness, but spending too much time in them can apparently produce an extreme, mind-bending version of the bends.

If you can take a calming breath, the idea in itself has some interesting possibilities.  Sadly, the story squanders them all by never once laying down the groundwork for this revelation to make sense.  According to Dick, Bradley Gates’ prudent skepticism of his well-to-do employers was really the result of “delusions—hallucinations—and paranoia,” while Nicholas’ homicidal thoughts of revenge (ill-founded to begin with) came from the same, but exacerbated conditions.

But possibly the most tortured stretch of logic in the issue comes from Dick’s defense that Gotham’s first families didn’t cover up what happened to the Gates to destroy them, but to “protect them.”  All so the city-dwellers wouldn’t associate their skyline with “murder” and “madness.”  The premise just assumes a little too much in how seriously people take their architecture.  Five people died constructing the Empire State Building, and no one sees it and thinks, “Look at that.  A constant reminder of the proletariat crushed for social glory.”

Batgirl #24 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Pere Perez (artist), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Presenting: the unsinkable Stephanie Brown!

The Review: Most of the Batman titles have painted Gotham City as perpetually grim, God-forsaken, almost inconceivable to believe it can be saved.  In Scott Snyder’s Detective Comics run, Gotham becomes a force unto itself, a living entity out to consume its inhabitants.  In the end, we have to realize this is a fictional pretension; a city’s just a city, with all kinds of people living in it, most of whom deserve salvation.

Good thing Gotham has Stephanie Brown, who may have had an auspicious start as a vigilante, but certainly now deserves credit as the staunchest defender of people just trying to live normal lives, as she does even when schooling some villainous goon in a power-suit.  The rest of the Bat-family fights crime for justice, vengeance, because it’s the right thing to do; Batgirl does it from the heart.  You won’t see schoolchildren hugging Batman, that’s all I’m saying.

Red Robin #26 – Review

By: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Marcus To (penciller), Ray McCarthy (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Boomerang, you should know better than anyone: what goes around, comes around.

The Review: Boy, what to say about Captain Boomerang?  Conceived during an “anything-goes” era of comics, his stubborn fixation to his weapon of choice in lieu of any other skills or powers made him one of the wackier buffoons from the Flash’s rogues gallery.  He gained some prestige recently for a featured role in Brightest Day, but the story for which he’s most famous is almost certainly his murder of Jack Drake, father of then-Robin Tim Drake.

This incident brought about major changes in Tim’s life, including his adoption under Bruce Wayne’s name, and likely led to his current identity as Red Robin.  It’s thus fitting that for this final issue, Tim turns his eye on the man that arguably catalyzed his second life as a character.  Up until Identity Crisis, Tim had been thoughtful and intelligent, but resistant to the idea of becoming anything like Batman.  These issue shows things have definitely changed since then.

All of Tim’s schemes bear the Red Robin stamp of mindboggling foresightedness, but this last one takes the cake as he predicts, with stunning accuracy, the unpredictable: human nature.  Yet even at his most serious, Boomerang remains a simpleminded man (Batman remarks, “But you knew…Harkness would only make one decision.”), so manipulating him probably isn’t the hardest task in the world, but that doesn’t take away from the impressive number of variables Tim moves with meticulous precision to push Digger to seal his own fate.

All this chess-like play, just so Tim can get his revenge on his father’s murderer and still claim he kept his hands clean.  This just confirms his entrance into that murky area that frequently plagues Bruce’s methods, but in some ways, Tim’s actions this issue indicate he’s actually more entrenched in gray than his mentor.  Batman certainly has bones to pick with a lot of folks, but he’s not the type to carry out a personal vendetta with such painstaking obsession.

Batman: Gates of Gotham #4 – Review

By: Scott Snyder, Kyle Higgins, Ryan Parrott (writers), Dustin Nguyen & Derec Donovan (artists), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Dammit Tim, I’m a detective, not a historian!

The Review: With DC’s top creators on blistering track to launch their new lineup come fall and maintain a steady release pace afterward, it’s little wonder the current titles all have a rushed, cobbled-together quality about them.  You must have noticed the record number of fill-in writers and artists on everything, even on the three-issue Flashpoint tie-ins.  While some of these fill-in jobs have been acceptable, even praiseworthy, quite a lot more have been anything but.

For a while, Higgins as the executor of Snyder’s story worked out very well.  After it came out that Higgins would work on the upcoming Nightwing, Parrott came in as his backup. Gates of Gotham remained seemingly unaffected; last issue seemed on track for a great conclusion.  But, as in Supergirl #62, the grim effects of the lead creators taking less responsibility for the title sneak up on you, and here you get ambushed by any number of writing missteps.

For one, several principal characters experience dramatic personality changes.  While Nicholas Gates going into a very Gothamesque, homicidal bent makes some sense in light of his brother’s death, Alan Wayne revealing a sinister condescension feels inexplicable and forced, almost laughable.  Too bad his mustache isn’t a bit longer, because he might as well be twirling it as he haughtily tells Nick, “…secrets are influence…and influence is power.  But I don’t expect you to understand that.  After all, you aren’t one of us—and you never will be.”

Batman: Gates of Gotham #3 – Review

By: Scott Snyder, Kyle Higgins, Ryan Parrott (writers), Trevor McCarthy (artist), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: We’ll cross that bridge when we get there—providing it doesn’t collapse first.

The Review: Business is a dirty field; even with the best intentions, it’s pretty difficult to wade into it and come out as clean as you started.  Traditionally, DC has portrayed the Waynes as an almost saintly exception (perhaps a consequence of the somewhat martyred circumstances of Thomas and Martha’s deaths), but recent writers have started digging the dirt on the illustrious Gotham family, revealing their history hasn’t all been as honest as previously believed.

This issue suggests hopes for a better Gotham may not be the sole motivator of Alan Wayne’s investments.  After all, is it really a coincidence he’d like to change the partner location for the newest city-building bridge to land he owns?  Possibly.  After all, other than Cameron Kane’s avarice and Edward Elliot’s suspicion, you have no evidence of Alan’s duplicity.  But then again, how could you?  He’s a businessman, after all.

But loyalty, not business, encourages Nicholas Gates to choose Wayne’s land, not Kane’s, as the end site for the new bridge, a choice spun from his eagerness to accept Alan’s declaration they are now family.  The raging bitterness he later levies against his employers thus seems sudden and somewhat unjust.  It’d make more sense to blame the tragic events on Kane, but you also have to remember Nick himself admits the Wayne land is less ideal for the bridge’s construction.

These intriguing questions and more make the past sequences the strongest parts of the issue, partly because the Bat-family’s investigation in the present stalls a little.  It offers no major revelations, nor even much in the way of enlightening facts.  Instead, it’s mostly a reactionary interlude from last issue’s explosive events, allowing each character to deal with their failures in their own way, sparking some fun exchanges (Red Robin: “You don’t trust anyone…”  Damian: “And your eagerness to trust makes you weak.”).

Red Robin #25 – Review

By: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Marcus To (penciller), Ray McCarthy (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Anyone who says a figurative backstabbing is worse than a literal one talks crazy.

The Review: Most of us have at one time or another had a moment where we wondered how everyone else could be oblivious to what seems to be such an obvious conclusion.  Now imagine being in that position day-in, day-out, a constant bombardment of possible scenarios you see so clearly and no one else does.  It’s consuming, I imagine.  But what do I know?  The only hypothetical that consistently plagues my mind is what sort of sandwich I should get next.

For Tim Drake, his ever-ticking mind is a terrific asset, but as we see in this issue, it also poses a fairly gnarly risk.  Sure, the instant assessment of situational variables and the determination of the most logical response are handy virtues for a nerd who decides to take up vigilantism.  But give into that mindset a little too far and you, like Tim, will begin to weigh everything according to quantifiable values, a means-end philosophy that reduces humans to mere x’s and y’s.

Sure, when it comes outsmarting the ladies out to kill (and get preggers by) you, or gaining entrance to an ancient cabal of assassins that requires you die first—one heck of Catch-22, if you don’t mind me saying so—a Machiavellian mind can get the job done in stylish fashion.  And nothing ices that cake more than a slick, just ever-so-cocky explanation: “Collapsible katana blade.  Blood pack on my harness.  A pint of my blood mixed with glycerin water.”

Batgirl #23 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Pere Perez (artist), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Honestly, Steph, this wasn’t the girls’ night out I was expecting, so…

The Review: Last we left Batgirl, she was in a hotel room about to tear into what I presumed to be some Milk Tray under the disapproving cowl of Batman, on the eve of her big British mission.  So it was surprising to find this week’s issue opens with her back in business in Gotham.  Then I remembered that in two months, Steph Brown as Batgirl would be no more, so Miller likely had to work some time-jump magic to let the title finish its course in her hometown.

It can’t be said the skip in time does much for the Reapers plotline.  You keep getting the sense that Miller had to nip and tuck away at certain details he might have otherwise fleshed out, just so he can truncate the conclusion into two issues.  Certainly this explains why we still know almost nothing about the Reapers beyond their underage henchmen in nifty suits.  It also explains why we learn of a fairly important featured character’s death after the fact.

Besides the disappointment of not getting to see Steph’s first major team-up with Bruce since they both returned from the dead and the rushed pace of Batgirl’s showdown with the Reapers, there’s a certain dissatisfaction in the villains themselves.  Since all we’ve seen has been well-equipped college kids committing semi-sophisticated heists, the Reapers’ motives have always seemed small-scale and vague.  There were hints of a much bigger picture at work, but now it looks as though that story will have to be left to our imaginations.

Batman: Gates of Gotham #2 – Review

By: Scott Snyder & Kyle Higgins (writers); Trevor McCarthy (artist); Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: This city’s getting way too hot for me—it’s freaking on fire, man!

The Review: It’s a well-known phenomenon in fiction that the more effort you put into giving your story background and depth, the more life it takes on.  You can tell a perfectly adequate tale without all that work, but it won’t immerse the reader into its world the way one with a fleshed-out history will.  It’s all the difference between enjoying yourself and coming away feeling like you’ve really been transported somewhere else.

It’s been a long time since Gotham has felt that tangible; that it now largely comes down to Snyder and Higgins’ thoughtful work in laying out the city’s historical roots.  The narration takes on an almost literary quality in the opening sequences that let us into the origins of the “Gates of Gotham”, but never do they seem superfluous or forced.  Dense as it is, it reads very naturally, taking care to let you infer some facts for yourself.

Though at points during this five-page sequence the narration gets a little too luxurious with its time, you can’t help feeling that all these developments—the partnership of the Gotham architect brothers, their grandest commission, and the venerable families who commissioned them—will have a vital role to the story.  It’s a testament to Higgins’ craft that he makes each line and detail worthy of your attention.

In fact, some of these details get some quick payoff once we return to the present action, where the Bat-family is trying to get ahead of this steampunk mastermind before his plot affects any more innocent lives.  When Wayne Tower becomes victim to the mystery villain’s attack, you actually feel its loss more than you would with any other comic book building.  Thanks to seeing its conception and construction earlier, you empathize with what it represents, and its fall takes on added levels of symbolic significance.

Batgirl #22 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Pere Perez (artist), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: An American Batgirl in London.

The Review: A downside to the vast concentration of American-based heroes in the DCU is you’ll rarely get the chance to see foreign characters show up, regardless of how great they are.  Among these unfortunate foreigners are Britons Knight and Squire, reconceptualized and popularized by Grant Morrison.  Despite starring in a recent miniseries by Paul Cornell and their obvious potential for stories, their appearances are sadly limited to the occasional guest shots.

Emphasis on sad, as Miller uses Squire, spunky sidekick to Knight, to great effect this issue.  He has no easy task following Morrison and Cornell’s lead in portraying the unconventional heroine and the quirky version of Britain she operates in, but he does a pretty superb job here.  He both captures the wacky spirit that makes K&S stories so fun (our villain du jour: “Calls himself the Orphan.  Always wants some more.”), and enthusiastically embraces the English way of things.

Thankfully, the issue never reads like a mishmash of clichéd Britishisms, as it likely would under your typical writer.  After Scott Kolins’ dreadful interpretation of Scottish talk in Flashpoint: Citizen Cold #1, it’s a tremendous relief to see Miller’s tasteful take on Squire’s dialogue.  She speaks in that wondrously understated, lucid way which clearly ID her as British, without ever going over the top—well, except for saying “Oy” a little too habitually for one issue.

Red Robin #24 – Review

By: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Marcus To (penciller), Ray McCarthy (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: I’m telling you, Tim, she wants you to put a baby inside her!

The Review: When people see a tightly woven, layered plot, they tend to wonder how the writer manages to foresee how little, early details can wind up playing a huge role in the final outcome of a story.  The truth is things usually work the other way around; when it comes time to figure out the big fat middle and ending, a strong writer will usually look to the details they already laid down to help them develop their story.

In this issue, Nicieza takes threads and characters he established from several previous story arcs (Red Robin’s escapade in Russia, his first encounter with Scarab, and most recently the threat on Lucius Fox’s life) and winds them all together into a cohesive storyline, and the twists never stop coming.  Crazy as it sounds, the Assassination Tournament merely serves as a cover for an even more intriguing plot, one with ancient, possibly supernatural roots.

Red Robin has largely been more of a down-to-earth kind of comic, with all its emphasis on technology and fighters using their wits, fists, and weapons to get the job done.  You’ll run into the occasional metahuman, but mostly Nicieza avoids any flashiness in the action department.  When he brings in this apparently otherworldly force to the table, the suspense feels that much tighter as you can’t imagine how Tim’s brains or martial artistry will get him out of this one.

The situation really calls attention to how much fun you get out of seeing Tim think his way through obstacles and enemies.  There’s definitely something very satisfying about seeing him take down an entire mob of Scarabs with the press of a well thought-out button.  But it’s also rather fun to how Tim can be a little too clever by half.  His own foresight winds up losing his target, as the flash mob he sets up to cover his escape actually covers Scarab’s instead.

It reminds us that Tim, for all his experience and prodigiousness, still hasn’t reached the peak of his prowess just yet.  With Batman, it takes a fairly substantial challenge to put him within believable danger, but almost every issue you feel Tim getting in just over his head.  It does credit to his opponents.  These are, after all, trained assassins; you wouldn’t take them too seriously if they can be taken down that easily by a kid whose martial artistry isn’t all there yet.

Batman: Gates of Gotham #1 – Review

By: Scott Snyder & Kyle Higgins (writers), Trevor McCarthy (artist), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: How’s that song go again?  “Gotham Bridge is falling down…”

The Review: One special, endearing feature of the DCU is the multitude of fictional hometowns for its heroes.  As the characters have grown in stature, so have their cities, to the point where they have as much of an iconic status in our culture as the heroes they host.  While Metropolis will always be the shining city of tomorrow looking to the future, Gotham is a city mired in its past, with little hope of escape.

Snyder opens the issue and follows it up with exactly that premise in mind.  The Gotham of 1881 already has as many shadows as its modern-day parallel, but Alan Wayne and architect Nicholas Anders’ concept for the city shows how at that time, there was still hope Gotham could reach the brilliant heights of Metropolis.  It makes a commentary on the value of architecture: the building of bridges and skyscrapers, beyond their practical uses, symbolize the promise of better things.

And when those structures fall, so too does the city’s pride.  In this case, the destruction of Gotham’s major bridges preludes an attack on its proudest, oldest families, obviously including the Waynes and therefore giving Batman a personal stake in this story.  But this mysterious vendetta also intriguingly targets some unexpected Gotham bluebloods: the Cobblepots and Elliots, whose infamous successors are the Penguin and Hush.

In making these connections, Snyder shows us how world-building can be so valuable to a story.  When you can take the threads of this fictional history and wrap them together, the current action takes on that much more life.  And the fact Snyder ties these threads so tightly to Gotham really makes the city itself a kind of omnipresent character in the plot.  Note Dick’s personification of the town: “I forget how much the city’s been through—how few things rattle it anymore.”

Though Gotham at large may be untroubled by the recent tragedies, the Bat-family can’t let them go.  These disasters are exactly the kind of thing our only too human heroes are least equipped to handle.  They dedicate much of their vigilantism preventing such things from taking place, so it’s no wonder they take a failure to heart—especially with a firsthand view of the casualties, as Dick gets seeing the bodies of victims drowned and suspended in the river’s dark waters.

Batgirl#21 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Dustin Nguyen (penciller), Derek Fridolfs (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: So long, and thanks for all the data-hacks.

The Review: It’s very easy to classify Batgirl as essentially a humor title.  Case in point: it’s hard to imagine any other series that would include in its supporting cast a stalker-nerd posing as an antiquated television hero to be our titular heroine’s sidekick.  Add to that the constant stream of witticisms the characters spout off and yes, calling this a humor title would make much sense.

And yet, in its own way, Batgirl has no problem confronting some serious questions.  It’s as if in the midst of all the amusement the title usually indulges in, it’ll suddenly receive a moment of sobriety, like Steph’s reluctant agreement with Grey Ghost’s cynicism: “This city doesn’t want to be saved.  Why else don’t the people take back their streets?”  Miller mostly understates these moments, doing little to build on them to add some new dimensions to his story and characters.

But this issue shows he’s perfectly capable of doing so when he wants to.  Proxy had been in danger of becoming too vestigial an accessory to this title, with little purpose except to be a data-cipher for Steph, but Miller turns that around in a big way.  Not only do her lucid hallucinations of her dead brother reveal her troubled soul, they also tackle the difficulties of finding ways of healing yourself spiritually.

Miller uses the scene between Marvin and Wendy almost to work through his own awareness of her limitations as a character up to now.  Marvin challenges Wendy to do something with her life.  “Batgirl and I are doing what we can to keep this city safe,” she tells him, and he retorts, “Are you happy?”  Her ensuing silence implies as much use she gets out of helping Batgirl, it’s done nothing to help herself.  It’s a subtle realization for both Wendy and, perhaps, Miller.

Miller acts on this point immediately, having Wendy depart to Nanda Parbat to find inner peace just when we get an intimate connection to her.  It’d be nice to check in on her personal journey in future issues, both for the story potential and also to ensure her place in this title.  But her absence can also be a good opportunity for Batgirl to tackle the more intellectual side of things.

Unlike the rest of the Bat-family, who are very purposeful in all they do, Steph’s a devoted ad-libber, showing more cleverness than genius.  She may overcome that trend after all.  She may need it; as mercenary as the Reapers seemed at first (with the bank heist and all), their theft of a DNA sample from the corpse of a dead nun who could “remove maladies from the accursed” indicates a much bigger, weirder plot at stake.

Red Robin #23 – Review

By: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Marcus To (penciller), Ray McCarthy (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Seriously, Tim—what is up with all these women who want you dead?

The Review: The detective aspect in a lot of comics has faded in recent years, having become much harder to write on a lot of levels.  One: science and technology have advanced to the point where you need to put in some serious research to put out a credible mystery.  Two: a true-blooded mystery requires a fairly intense commitment to thoughtful and farsighted plotting.  Three: it’s just plain difficult creating suspense out of detective work in a comic.

In Detective Comics, Scott Snyder generates that suspense by instilling a sense of horror to Dick Grayson’s CSI-type work.  Here in Red Robin, Nicieza goes for a more action-thriller feel, building up the layers of Tim’s more FBI-like operations until they reach Mission Impossible proportions.  Tim’s a one-man unit out to take down whole networks of crime—that’s about as impossible as it gets.

Red Robin’s preference for going it alone really allows us to enjoy how meticulously he plans out everything.  With Batman, you take it for granted that a lot of prep-time is involved, but you actually get to see Tim’s thought processes, a fun mix of gumshoe narration and his own dry sense of humor (“So when I hit the apartment of Jimmy Li…the leader of the Golden Dragons took exception.  And then she took me out the window.”).  He lacks the physicality of the other Bat-guys (as he himself notes looking at Dick’s aerial acrobatics), but his clipping brainwork brings its own kind of excitement.

Tim does tend to handle his dirty work solo most of the time, but that doesn’t prevent Nicieza from using recurring characters as a revolving supporting cast.  As great as it is to see Bruce and Dick following Tim’s lead, even despite their doubts over his questionable decisions, it’s Lynx and her inscrutable loyalties that really spices up Tim’s life: tackling him out a multi-story window and then making out during the free-fall—talk about having it all.

The strength of Red Robin comes mostly from Nicieza’s crafty plotting.  He has a great handle on technology, or at least he makes it seem so to someone as technologically ignorant as me, and can use it to create and develop leads and clues for his story: the issue starts with a website giving backdoor access for kill orders; it ends with the revival of the Assassins Tournament, a kind of hit man’s Iron Chef with international CEOs being the theme ingredient of choice.