Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes – Review

By: Grant Morrison (writer), Cameron Stewart & Chris Burnham (artists), Nathan Fairbairn (colorist)

The Story: Now that’s a boat ride you’re not bound to forget.

The Review: While it’s unclear where Batman Inc. fits into this refreshed DCU, with everyone still in the youth of their vigilante careers, it’s obvious Morrison’s grand idea for the next step of Bat-policing will stick around for a while (note that the final word of this issue says “to be continued” in 2012, not “to be concluded”).  But to stay on the safe side, it’s probably best to consider most of this story out-of-continuity, lest we run into unexplainable paradoxes later.

In fact, we could very well run into in the first act of this oversized issue (which, at seven bucks a pop, requires a major leap of devotion to take home), as it stars Stephanie Brown as Batgirl.  With Steph’s existence in the new 52 is still up in the air, fans will be glad to see possibly her last appearance under the cowl, especially since Morrison writes a pretty terrific version of her.  She comes with all her liveliness and charm intact (“…kiss my kung fu.”), and by infiltrating a finishing school for privileged girl assassins, she shows almost more competence than in her now-defunct solo title.

By itself, the Steph-as-Batgirl tale is great fun (with some tenderness in the background as Batman shows up as backup, giving her some much-desired praise as only a father figure can), but included as a finished product with the rest of the issue—it feels very disjointed, to say the least.  You have to remember, though, Morrison never intended for his story to be packaged in this way; the DC relaunch made the mash-up an unavoidable necessity.

That doesn’t entirely excuse the thoroughly confusing nature of remaining story, however.  Like with most Morrison tales, the surface of the plot is straightforward: Batman and his many Robins (with Dick Grayson still wearing a bat on his chest) arrives at a Leviathan freighter for a final showdown with Dr. Dedalus and take down his invasive organization for good.  The moment Bruce actually confronts the ex-Nazi mastermind, however, things go off the loopy end but good.

Outsiders #24 – Review

by Pete Tomasi (writer), Fernando Pasarin, Jay Leisten (art)

The Story: Yup, it’s another Blackest Night crossover as super-villainess Terra drops by Outsiders HQ to visit her half-brother, Geo-Force.  Meanwhile, Katana is confronted with the family she lost years ago to tragedy.

What’s Good: Like most comic fans, when I heard a few months ago that DC’s Blackest Night event would be crossing over into several of their ongoing series that didn’t have “green” in the title, I was wary.  We’ve all had the unfortunate experience of picking up a book we normally wouldn’t even glance at because it crossed over into some larger story-line that did interest us, only to discover that we’d been hoodwinked.  Not only did the comic in question, well, suck, but it also had only the most tangential connection to the main uber-plot.  Well, with their fair share of ups (Civil War) and downs (Final Crisis), the Big Two have mostly figured out how to handle the blockbuster events and their effects on individual series.  Despite an iffy initial entry (Yes, I’m looking at you Doom Patrol #4), DC continues to demonstrate this with this latest installment of the Outsiders.

Much like last week’s Booster Gold and R.E.B.E.L.S, Outsiders #24 manages to smoothly move forward the ongoing story-lines of the title, while still servicing the needs of those readers just dropping by because of Blackest Night.  Tomasi gives you all the super-zombies you’d expect, but also gives you good reasons to want to come back beyond this particular tie-in.  While mainly concentrating on Geo-Force and Katana, he injects just the right amount of personality into the other members of the team to make them feel just as fully-formed and real as the leads.  Whether it be Looker wanting to ride shotgun instead of fly because of her feeling bad for the bugs who are slamming into her at 70 miles per hour or Owl-Man’s wise detachment at Terra’s sudden resurrection and the implications of her arrival, Tomasi expertly conveys who these people are and why you should care about them.

Extra kudos go to the writer for a wonderfully engaging re-introduction to the Terra character.  While her appearance here continues directly from Blackest Night Titans, I thought this issue served as a much more successful taste of what she is capable of, what she’s about, and more importantly, why she’s this way.  In three pages, we’re shown the highlights of her history, while also getting a very clear picture of the kind of person Terra has always been and continues to be in death.  And it’s not pleasant.  Not one bit.

Fernando Pasarin is probably not a name that you’re familiar with.  He’s been an under-the-radar mainstay of DC for the past couple of years and it’s always a pleasure to see his name in the credits when I open up a comic book.  He falls into that category of artists that I am extremely fond of and vocal about: the dependable, solid storytellers.  He makes Tomasi’s story here work quite well, and keeps the eye moving down the page with ease.  In an issue that is heavy on the talking heads, especially in the first half, the artist keeps the visuals interesting, which is not always easy to do.  The fact that he does this while also communicating the strong emotions present in the characters is impressive.  In a story that depends so much on the reader sympathizing with the heroes’ emotional reactions to their deceased loved ones return, it’s imperative to get that across in the visuals.  Pasarin accomplishes that feat nicely.

What’s Not So Good: Tomasi, from the outset, sells this as a Terra story.  I mean, she’s even on the cover.  However, the character only shows up for eleven of the thirty pages, and that’s including the three-page history lesson at the beginning.  If anything, the real action and focus is on the Black Lanterns connected to Katana.  While that confrontation is interesting and full of emotional punch, I found I was disappointed.  I’m sure it was more about my expectations of the story than it was about anything lacking in the story itself, but it still stung a bit.  Also, Tomasi very clearly has Terra state that she has nefarious purposes in the opening of the issue, but then spends the next several pages trying to convince us that she’s got nothing but the best intentions instead.  It was a minor problem, but the disconnect still bothered me somewhat.

Conclusion: DC’s continues to land the majority of their Blackest Night crossovers in the win column.  Tomasi and Pasarin not only deliver a solid story that entertains plot-wise, but it also looks great.

Grade: B

-Joe Lopez

 

Outsiders #18 – Review

By Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Lee Garbett (artist), Trevor Scott (inker)

The Story: We open with the origin of Vandal Savage (one of my favourite DC villains) and the Outsiders’ mission to find him. They use the fact that part of Rex’s power comes from the same meteor that empowered Vandal Savage to light him up in orbit like the Staff of Ra to point to where Vandal Savage is. In the meantime, Alfred is doing some hunting of his own and finds an old friend not aged at all. After he leaves, Alfred’s old buddy and Vandal Savage get the shit blown out of them by Deathstroke.

What’s Good: For starters, the art is great, as the detailed work can’t be ignored. Each character has their distinct look and when shown posing, you simply  get a powerful image. I also like the way Garbett laid out his panels in some pages in odd sizes that added to a disjointed and uncertain mood. The shot of Halo lighting up orbit by shooting light through Rex as if he was a lens is absolutely stunning.

Tomasi also took us through three compelling separate plotlines (Alfred after the old buddy, the Outsiders after Savage, and Deathstroke after Savage) without rushing the story. Furthermore, the dialogue was crisp, never failing to differentiat each character’s voice.

What’s Not So Good: Tomasi needed some explanations around what the Outsiders were doing. Unfortunately, he chose to do this through a lot of talking heads telling each other things they already knew. It was a small point, but it took away from their scenes.

Conclusion: This was a solid book in the middle of an arc. Great characters were featured, and solid artwork fairly accompanied the multiple storylines. The next issue might jsut be worth picking up.

Grade: B

-DS Arsenault