Batman #688

This was a much stronger effort from Judd Winick than last issue. Maybe is is the new penciller, but the story picks right up and has a lot more good characterization and action than what we saw last month. Dick Grayson is his own Batman, appearing on camera, smiling, leaving evidence for the cops. Bats' villains recognize there is someone else behind the cowl, which is a nice statement on just how well Penguin and Two Face know their nemesis. Grayson goes into a hissy fit about his costume too, but I didn't mind since it led to a nice scene about Alfred having to handle a different set of neruoses with Grayson than he did with Bruce Wayne. I totally don't see where the Commissioner Gordon thing is going. It seems he's flipping the bat-signal on and off and bringing a new cop up on the roof regularly. I am not getting any sense of what that story is about, but I assume it will be revealed. I don't know if I like Penguin as a villain who beats his underlings, but I did enjoy Two Face taking one of his hechmen under his wing as more of a trusted aide, it's a side we don't see often.

Mark Bagley's pencils pack a lot of punch. The story seems to just move more quickly now, and the fight scenes are nice and dynamic.

Fair

Red Robin #1

Nicely done, Christopher Yost. It wasn't an easy task to explain why Dick Grayson chose Damian to be the new Robin over Tim Drake, but this issue explains it perfectly. Grayson sees Drake as an equal, someone who needs no help with either morals or crimefighting. But Damian needs mentorship to avoid turning into a villain, so Grayson is going to take on the lesser sidekick. Tim Drake is understandably upset by this, and he goes off to Europe to seek out his old boss, Bruce Wayne.

It's a neat idea, and I love the casual way Red Robin is traveling the continent solving crimes. He is a hero by habit here, he's not emotionally invested in what he's doing, but he still stops crime because that is what he knows. I'm not sure I like seeing Tim taking out baddies so brutally, but it makes sense because he is mentally switched off. I am surprised that the Red Robin identity is as compromised as Tim states. Jason Todd did bad stuff in it, and now Tim is in brutal mode further demeaning the costume. For something Dick Grayson wore in Kingdom Come, the uniform has certainly come to mean something very different than the idealized sidekick we saw in the classic limited series.

I'm looking forward to seeing Tim deal with more super-villains, but I do like the idea of Europe being a little bit of a different environment for him to explore. I haven't read the Return of Ra's Al Ghul yet, so I'm not exactly sure why Ra's is interested in Tim at this point. But Ra's is a great villain, so I'm keen to see it.

Ramon Bachs isn't one of my top artists, but he tells the story cleanly enough. I don't care for his uber-muscular take on Tim Drake though. Tim looks like a huge adult here, not like the athletic kid we usually see him as.

Fair

Batman & Robin #1

When Grant Morrison is on, he makes some of the best comics on the shelves. I knew I was in for a treat one page 1 when a new villain, Mr. Toad, yells out "Seat belts, gentlemen. Remember, safety first!" That's such an odd thing to see in the middle of a heist, it was great. Mr. Toad has a great design, and his use of European carny-talk after his capture was another nice bit of character development. Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne seem to make an effective crime-fighting duo, even if they don't get along all that well. The relationship between them is a fascinating one, and I'm especially enjoying the sense of entitlement that Damian has and his annoyance that he has to be Robin to Grayson's Batman. Morrison has these two voices down. Grayson seems like a nice, well-adjusted dude while Damian is already an annoying brat.

Alfred actually gets a fair amount of page time in this too, and he's pretty amusing in his interactions with the two vigilantes. I really dug how Damian calls him "Pennyworth" and is pretty rude to him, all the while saying "thank you" and other required niceties. Morrison introduces another villain, a ringleader named Pyg who seems pretty scary judging by his first appearance. Pyg seems to melt doll-masks onto his victims, then he exerts some type of mental control over them making them into some kind of doll-drones. The art really sells the spookiness of that fate. The new flying batmobile is a little... grander than we're used to in Gotham, but obviously this is a new era and Morrison is sci-fi'ing things up.

Frank Quitely does a fantastic job with the art. His character designs for the new creations are flawless: the hi-tech batmobile, Pyg and his dolls, Mr. Toad, they all look wonderful. I wasn't immediately sold on his take on the dynamic duo, but they look good enough. Quitely incorporates sound effects into the panels too, and the effect is specatular, especially in the opening sequence.

Excellent

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3

Ugh. What was the point of this? Tim Drake was just fine after getting a batarang to the chest last month. Damian's bullet wound is no biggie, since he spends this issue ridiculing the Squire and being a jerk. Nightwing goes one on one with a totally insane Jason Todd. In fact, I'm shocked that Jason Todd was used like this, I mean, there is really no redeeming the guy at this point. I don't care for the ret-con of some childhood trauma that Tony Daniel includes here, but there is no way to ever use Todd as a 'tweener again. He's a villain now. I also found it odd that Nightwing makes no reference to the previous time that he acted as Batman, has that been retconned away too? And was Jason Todd supposed to be Black Mask, or is that just an unresolved plot thread? It seems the US military is taking over police actions in Gotham, will that be the new status quo or is that a one-off? Overall, this book really confused me.

Jason Todd is a vampire. I didn't realize that before I read this issue, but his bloody grin after he thinks he killed Tim Drake proves it to me. I also love how Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, and even Damian all have the same hair and face. Amusing. The cover looks nice though!

Poor

Azrael: Death's Dark Knight #3

Fabian Nicieza writes a good Nightwing. This three-parter was just a set up for a new ongoing Azrael series this fall, and while I find myself missing Jean-Paul Valley, this new guy could be fun too. I think the highlight for the issue is the opening fight with Nightwing and Azrael. Nightwing is joking and funning around while the humorless Az is busy taking himself seriously. The "It's complicated" complaint followed by Nightwing's succinct summary of the story so far was great and really condensed things down to what we need to know. The rest of the issue was moving things into place for the ongoing series. The Order of St. Dumas provide Az with a new home and HQ, Ra's Al Ghul expresses his interest in testing this new champion, Nightwing sets himself up as a monitor/possible mentor, and Az gets a girlfriend and a cop buddy on the force. It's all set up nicely and seems like it could be pretty entertaining. It's hard to judge this on its own, since it is kind of an incomplete story, as it really is a preview/pilot for the new ongoing. But there are some nice elements here that will make the new series worth checking out.

Frazer Irving's art is so stylized, it either looks perfect or really off. His Azrael looks ominous and cool while his "normal" people have somewhat exaggerated figures that make them easy to recognize and distinguish. His Nightwing looked a little odd, especially his eyes (I thought you couldn't see them through his mask?) Overall, this is a good foundation for the new book.

Fair

Battle for the Cowl - Oracle - The Cure #3

It's a good thing Oracle fell down with her top button open so she could still breathe (and give the reader a nice cleavage shot too). Man, comics really are something, aren't they?

This issue concludes the Calculator and Oracle's race to find the anti-life equation that had been hidden on the internet. Oracle meets up with the programmer of Alta Viva, the online game where Calculator has been re-writing code and killing hackers. I liked the reveal that the programmer recognized Oracle from her librarian days, it was a nice little nod to the type of heroics normal people can perform. Kevin Van Hook makes an interesting choice in how he resolves the story. Oracle corrupts the equation and stops Calculator from using it to heal his daughter Wendy. Only Wendy happens to wake up from her coma at that moment anyway. The catch is, she's paralyzed. Now I had expected the equation would "fix" Oracle's paralysis, but it doesn't. So color me surprised: not only is the paralyzed character still in that condition, there is now a second genius-level heroine paralyzed from the waist down. It seems this is continued in the upcoming Batgirl title. I kind of wish I knew more about who was starring in that book since I have no interest in Cassandra Cain and will only pick it up if it is Barbara Gordon (or maybe Wendy, I suppose). It was interesting how Oracle retains a fear of both cameras and guns after her abuse from the Joker. Pretty darn upsetting if you think about it. Let me just throw out my plea once again, Batman, I know you don't kill, but the Joker is a worthy exception.

Fernando Pasarin's art is a little cleaner than Julian Lopez but they keep enough of a house style to keep things looking good.

Fair

Batman: Battle for the Cowl: The Network #1

The Battle for the Cowl 1-shots seem pretty random and unnecessary. Fabian Nicieza's story opens with some Batman-garbed villains kidnapping some random people and then challenging the new Batman to save only one. When this message is intercepted by Oracle, she dispatches the Birds of Prey plus Batgirl and Ragman to deal with their "mystery" kidnapper. It doesn't take long for Hugo Strange to reveal himself, but I really didn't care for him being used this way. Hugo has been behind some of the best and most mind-bending adventures in the Batman history, so this seemed distressingly straight-forward for him. Other than the setup, he doesn't really affect the outcome of the story at all. Batgirl is all over this book as the uber-hero, and I was totally bored by it. I don't care for the character at all and I found myself rooting for Huntress most of the time. I don't buy that Huntress would be ok with killing someone either, Gail Simone spend years making Huntress more heroic, so I'm not digging this take on her. It was kind of amusing seeing Misfit used as a normal hero too. She even goes so far as to team up with Ragman, making her essentially into another pretty generic hero. Misfit always worked best for me as a comedic character, but there isn't any of that to be found here. So a generic story starring characters who aren't acting in character... not exactly my thing.

Don Kramer and Jim Caliafore are fine. I've liked both of them better on other work, but they do a good job on the costumed heroes here.

Average

Secret Six #9

What a great issue. This is another done-in-one, but this time we focus on the other three members of the team: Bane, Catman, and Ragdoll. Since Bane is one of my favorite villains, I absolutely loved the spotlight he gets this issue. The Secret Three are out to stop a rash of kidnappings all over Gotham, since Batman is dead and can't do it himself. The central premise is that both Bane and Catman respected Bats so much that they are going to help protect his city for them, and of course since Bane has his twisted sense of honor, protecting children fits nicely into that too. There are some fabulous moments in the story. Bane rescues one girl and tries to sing to her to comfort her, making him even more terrifying. Another great part of the chemistry between the Six is how they mock each other's good tendencies. I loved how none of the leads could stop accusing the others of trying to be the new Batman. Only Ragdoll was comfortable stepping in as the new Robin. Heh. While I liked Ragdoll's combat and normal conversation, sometimes the running gags with him don't do it for me. The random phrases he tests out throughout the issue were ok, but I was much more amused by Bane puzzling out why Catman rhymes with Batman.

Nicola Scott is back on art, and I'm really glad to see it. These are her characters now and they look perfect. I especially loved the wall-climbing homage to the old Batman TV show. Well-played!

Good

Battle for the Cowl: Arkham Asylum #1

David Hine has written some strong atmospheric work for DC over the last few months, and he keeps it up here. He's telling the story of Jeremiah Arkham, the asylum's current director. Much of the issue is spent introducing the most crazy of the inmates, the ones that Dr. Arkham makes special time for. I enjoyed the new characters, they were all spooky and they all have potential as a new rogues gallery for the new Batman. That said, when they are competing with the Joker, Scarecrow, and Poison Ivy, I'm not sure what these few inmates have done that warrants them being put in solitary. Surely those other well-known murderers are more deserving of being closeted away in a secret branch. The rest of the issue seems to be re-establishing that Dr. Arkham is insane. He's finding bits of burned text and odd drawings lying around that he thinks are coming from the mad founder of Arkham Asylum, but I'm certain this is just more of his slow descent into madness. As with most of the Battle for the Cowl stories, this isn't really a story that needed to be told. The new psychos are entertaining, but I question the need to add them into the story now.

Jeremy Haun does a nice job on the design of the new characters. The classic villains all look neat too, with the close set panels in that beginning sequence being pretty spooky. Scarecrow looks like a maniac. At times Haun's faces start to distort a bit, but for the most part everything looks decent.

Average

Oracle: The Cure #2

I don't think I like Kevin Van Hook's take on Oracle. She was a likable big-brain character, always 2 or 5 steps ahead of the villains, her operatives, and often her readers. Now she's getting jumped while daydreaming and losing control enough to zone out while smashing some dude's head into the pavement. Oracle is certainly being humanized in this series in every way. She's not as clever in her dealings with other hackers and the Calculator. She's getting sex-ed up quite a bit with those covers, the shower scene in issue one, and this issue where her new hacker buddies are commenting on her hotness non-stop. She is still a capable fighter, but the viciousness of her attacks seem a little much based on what I know of the character. There are aspects of the story that are pretty interesting. The Alta-Viva online life plot is pretty fun, I especially enjoy seeing the different ridiculous avatars people are using. The time Oracle spends looking at the internet was wasted time for me, though, since it seemed like a bunch of MacGuffin techno-babble. The Calculator is a good foil, and having him out to help his daughter gives a nice contrast to his bloodthirsty nature. He's a pretty ruthless guy now, and that shows in how quickly he's willing to kill Oracle's allies. As for Oracle's... failings is too strong a word, but having her not as smart and competent is probably a set up to make her Batgirl again, which I think is a huge mistake. She is a great character and a good role model as Oracle, there is no need to move her back to a status-quo from 20 years ago. But I'm sure that's what we're going to get.

Fernando Pasarin has a nice style reminiscent of Dale Eaglesham. His avatars are a lot of fun in the online game world, but I'm not sure I like the shower scenes and things like that for Oracle.

Fair

Battle for the Cowl: Man Bat

I'm not sure I was clamoring for a one-shot showing that Kirk Langstrom can turn into Man Bat without his serum. That basically makes him into a new super-dude, rather than a misguided scientist constantly dragged into the super-world. I must have missed something pretty big too, since Lynx was fighting off street thugs and trying to cover for Batman. I thought Lynx was King Snake's old right-hand lady and a bad girl? Joe Harris has some neat scenes where Langstrom is desperate to find his wife, and I was surprised that she survived, to be honest. It was a neat bit to have Oracle reach out to her after she figured prominently into Chuck Dixon's run on Outsiders a few months ago. I'm not exactly sure why Langstrom flew off in a panic though, did he kill Dr. Phosphorous? Phosphorous is a tough villain to use. He's so powerful that he really should beat most everyone. After reading the Gordon 1-shot, it seems that Black Mask only had plans for a few of the Arkham escapees, and a fair amount just get to go free and cause trouble. This whole issue seemed kind of unnecessary. The Outsiders were interesting too, I was surprised to see them show up and basically function as an audience in this one. What was the point of them appearing?

Jim Caliafore is a decent artist who has been tagged as a fill in type guy in Gotham recently. I like his work, but nothing here was tremendous.

Average

Battle for the Cowl: Commissioner Gordon

I wasn't aware that there was such a rich history between Gordon and Mister Freeze. In fact after reading this issue, I'm pretty sure there isn't one. There are some references to something with some students, but I'm afraid I don't really know what either of prime characters are talking about. I'm also getting lost in just who is who in the GCPD these days. We had the fantastic cast set up in Gotham Central, but every case seems to be handled by Bullock and this new rookie cop these days. Where's the cool folks from the other book? Heck, couldn't we see Josie Mac as Bullock's partner? I'm also a bit bummed to see Gordon smoking again, since it was a pretty major plot-point back in the Alan Grant days to have the Commish give up the cancer-sticks. But I suppose it is a little much to expect adherence to a 15 year old story (25 years and I'd have better luck though, thanks Barry Allen!) It was also interesting how the general message of this issue was that the Gotham Police have been taking it easy for awhile, letting Batman handle everything. Pretty depressing if you think about it. Royal McGraw does an ok job with the dialogue, but the main plot seemed pretty unnecessary.

Tom Mandrake is always good, and he can draw moody like nobody else. This looked nice.

Average

Battle for the Cowl #2

I totally don't understand the wildly inconsistent competence of the heroes involved in Battle for the Cowl. Robin is an idiot, Damian is basically a moving target dummy, Catwoman is ineffective, and Nightwing is still just lurching around the bat-cave with a mullet. How does this not weaken all those characters for future appearances? Jason Todd was the only character in this thing that seemed like he is capable of defending Gotham, so I'm starting to think he might actually be the best man for the job. I'm sure that my disdain for the whole Battle for the Cowl concept is coloring my read of this series, but it seems that the charaterizations are way off. Two Face makes some pretty big moves, including shooting someone, without consulting with his coin. Isn't that the whole point? I like the idea of teaming up a buch of C-list bat-villains like Zsasz, Jane Doe, and Firefly, but didn't Firefly get killed in Infinite Crisis? I'm almost certain that he did. This happened with Anima recently in the Prometheus 1-shot too. DC has killed so many people recently that they are just bringing them back blind.

This really is just an average comic and doesn't really tell much of a story, although I do kind of like the narration Tony Daniel gives Jason Todd. I'm also wishing we had some Knight and Squire action like the cover promises!

Tony Daniel has some nice looking pencils in this one, particularly how he draws the evil Batman suit worn by Jason Todd. I would have loved to see the yellow oval suit come back on a more regular basis. Since Tim Drake gets whupped on while wearing it here, I bet we won't see it again for awhile.

Average