Detective Comics #23.3: Scarecrow – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Szymon Kudranski (art), John Kalisz (colors)

The Story: There’s a war out there, and you’ve got a pick a side—evil or other evil.

The Review: To be frank, I’ve mostly been unimpressed with Villains Month, both in concept and on execution.  I tend to dislike these company-wide gimmicks in general, mostly because they reek of editorial mandates thrust upon unprepared or, worse, unwilling creators.  That lack of preparation and enthusiasm has often come through in the various issues I’ve read.  Plagued by stilted writing and sloppy art, it’s no wonder this has been my lightest DC month yet.

But the law of averages dictates that there shall be gems among the rubbish.  Finding one is a bit like winning a small sum from the lottery, in the sense that you can’t tell if your excitement is from the prize itself or from the fact that your losing streak is finally over.  As a writer who emphasizes character over plot, Tomasi can generate good material from the thinnest stories.  In this case, he manages to do more than simply make lemonade out of lemons; he makes you look at lemons in a whole new light.

Batman ’66 #1 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Jonathan Case (art)

The Story: Bam!  Pow!  Zap!  Here come Batman and Robin!

The Review: Scoff all you want, but Batman has become such a part of our pop culture that even if you never watched an episode of the show in your entire life, like I never did, there are still fragments that have a hold on your consciousness: Adam West and Burt Ward, the goony sound effect blurbs flashing on the screen, the frenetic theme song that recalled an auditory whirlwind, Robin’s “Holy ________!” exclamations, and over it all, the major camp factor.

Parker brings back, even revels, in all these familiar elements, and the result is equal parts parody and credibility.  Ultimately, your enjoyment depends on complete acceptance that this world is merely inspired by the Batman mythos, but operates according to an entirely unique set of rules and values, one that reflects a more innocent, enthusiastic, confident era.  Embracing this title thus requires a sense of self-aware humor equal to that of the series itself.

Batman: Li’l Gotham #4 – Review

By: Dustin Nguyen (story & art), Derek Fridolfs (story)

The Story: In Gotham, Easter egg-hunting may go the way of trick-or-treating: too risky for the kids, even sword-wielding ones.

The Review: Although the digital format does seem like the most digestible place for a super-sweetly innocent series like this one, it does come with its downsides.  The fact Nguyen-Fridolfs must constantly plot ten pages at a time, landing on a neatly wrapped conclusion each time, results in a rather stilted printed product.  Not that any of the premises we’ve seen thus far can support a long arc, but surely they can benefit from more than half an issue of exploration.

Taking our first feature as an example, the idea of someone framing Batman’s rogues is a promising one, one that can really only work in Li’l Gotham, but there’s simply not enough space to stretch it to its full potential.  By the time we discover the true culprit, we only have a single page left to finish on a typically cheesy ending (the falsely accused rogues loosed to exact their revenge) and we never get a good sense of the mastermind’s true motivations—or, for that matter, why the St. Patrick’s theme.

Joker’s Asylum: The Riddler – Review

By Peter Calloway (writer), Andres Guinaldo (pencils), Raul Fernandez (inks) Tomeu Morey (colors) and Patrick Brosseau (letters)

The Story: From his cell in Arkham, the Joker tells us a story about Edward Nygma’s attempt to solve one of the greatest riddles of them all: what makes a person fall in love?

What’s Good: I’m of two minds about this book, but before we dive into the details, let me answer the most important question right up front by saying that this book is quite good, and it’s worth the $2.99 if you’re any sort of fan of the Riddler (or the Joker, for that matter.)

Now here’s the thing about this story: it’s tremendous fun (and quite moving to me, but then I’m a sentimental sap at heart), but calling it a Riddler story is something of a misnomer. Joker (in full forth-wall breaking mode) is the one telling this tale, after all, and so the book becomes less about the Riddler himself and more about the Joker and his unreliable narration. We are ultimately left having no real idea what parts of this story are truthful; in fact, we have no real assurance that the whole thing isn’t simply a tall tale spun entirely out of the Clown Prince’s own deranged imagination—an elaborate joke on the reader, if you will.

With that established, the key question now becomes how it affects the quality of the reading experience. I will say that if you’re coming to this hoping for a straightforward Riddler story, you may be disappointed in ambiguous nature of the story’s reality. If you are willing to roll with it, however, and look beyond the plot, I think any Riddler fan will find plenty of (surprisingly deep and astute) characterization that will stand and endure well past the narrative itself.

In addition to being very well written and lovely to look at, the detail-oriented reader will have a fantastic time picking up all of the little details and references in the panels. As one who has a thing for riddles and visual puzzles, that aspect of the book made it well worth the price of admission alone. If you have a similar proclivity, I recommend it even more highly. (And just how many card references ARE there in the Riddler panels? I’ve managed to count six so far, but I’m sure there are more than that.)

Gotham City Sirens #10 – Review

By: Paul Dini (writer), Andres Guinaldo (pencils), Raul Fernandez (inks), Ian Hanin (colors) & Sal Cipriano (letters)

The Story: Doctor Aesop has resurfaced and is trying to frame the Sirens for murder.  Will the girls and Edward Nigma have any luck stopping him?

What’s Good: Well, for starters, Paul Dini wrote this issue.  Since Gotham City Sirens was launched last summer, Dini has missed a few issues on both this and Streets of Gotham.  New series need to establish their story pretty fast, especially when they are a secondary title like GCS.  So, it was nice to have Dini back at the keyboard telling his story.

One of the main story points I’ve enjoyed on GCS has been the tale of the Riddler.  He’s been “good” for awhile now and you just know that he is going to revert to form at some point.  It’s almost like waiting for a character to come back from the dead.  Eddie isn’t too pleased with how the Sirens treat him in this issue and you have to wonder if this is going to make him flip.

The art is a huge positive in this issue.  Guillem March has been the regular artist on this title, but I found I much prefer the less cartoony style of newcomer Guinaldo.  This seems to be his first work for DC and it looks like he went all out to impress the new bosses.