Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Batman #11

Hah! Scott Snyder knows his stuff. After all the wailing and crying last month about the mysterious Thomas Wayne being Bruce’s brother, Snyder has the last laugh. I mean, let’s all remember what villains do… they LIE.

This issue is packed with dialogue. It’s a long read just due to the amount of madness that Owlman spews throughout the issue. It’s honestly wonderful, seeing Owlman yell, rant, and explain all his innermost motivations, while Batman just takes it. Then BAM, Bats nails his “brother” with both a devastating one-liner and a solid body-blow each time. This is a believable, exciting final chapter for the series, and Owlman instantly belongs amongst Batman’s rogues. There’s no real reason to believe this guy is Thomas Wayne, he very clearly has been manipulated his whole life. But it’s a great mind-game.

And Batman doesn’t care! I mean, he’s going to research, sure, cause he’s Batman. But he doesn’t care while the fight is going, it honestly feels like Bats is just sitting there, getting pummeled so that he can pop out a great tough guy line during the fight. “Ooh, he said history; I can bust him on that one!” So awesome.

Greg Capullo is still doing neat stuff with the art. The battle is good, but I love the actual maze on the recap page, when Bruce is talking about the next steps. Capullo is doing original ideas here that make the book feel fun and new. I don’t love the white owl mask on Owlman, but I love the goggles underneath. The little plastic-explosive launcher is a neat gadget too. I hope Batman gets one!

Excellent

1 comment:

Newmie Newmz said...

I'm not going to recant my last statement regarding this arc. I still feel it was a bit choppy if you hadn't bought or read all the other titles in the crossover. And the reveal about Bruce's long last brother still left me rolling my eyes.

That being said Snyder has wrapped things up nicely. And I can admit that I jumped to conclusions about certain aspects of this tale.

Snyder left the mystery open. And sometimes that is the best way to end a detective story. It definitely works here. There is every indication that Owlman is not who he says he is (though he seems to very well believe that he is). But there is still a shadow of a doubt. With the coincidences surrounding his histroy and without DNA to prove otherwise Batman still has an open case file. Which leave plenty of room to expand on this story in the future.

I can live with the mystery.

Overall Scott Snyder has accomplished some great storytelling and I look foward to his run on Batman.

PS Tim, FU for the whining and crying comment.

Big hugs! Big kisses!