Batman #706 – Review

By: Tony Daniel (story and pencils), Sandy Florea and Ryan Winn (inks), Ian Hannin (colors)

The Story: Eye of the Beholder, Part Three: Speak No Evil: Lucius Fox is getting his ass kicked in interrogation by Sensei. Batman (Dick Grayson) is getting his ass kicked for the fun and profit of the Riddler. Robin pulls Batman’s chestnuts out of the fire, but that doesn’t help catch Sensei.

What’s Good: We’re in Act II, alright: high stakes, high danger, fast-paced action, lots of moving parts. I’m enjoying the frenetic detective chase on for Sensei and the Beholder, and there are enough characters involved for this to be a farce. Lucius Fox is connected to the Beholder through his father. We don’t know how the Riddler is connected. Catgirl is connected because she saw the Reaper staking out a Chinese butcher. Reaper is involved because he’s insane….no, wait…he’s also out to stop Sensei’s plan….but his elevator doesn’t make it even halfway to the top floor. Batman’s after Sensei and the Riddler, because this is his town.

Daniel’s dialogue works well, especially on the subtler character moments and the back-and-forth between the characters. Batman accusing Robin of hitting puberty was funny. Catgirl’s burning need for acceptance and approval was like watching Batman talk to a girl-Damian. I-Ching was cool as a cucumber, and mysterious while going out on his little sortie. All in all, a well-written piece of a fun adventure.