This Week in Gotham #70

Another week, another step in the descent to madness.  Funny I thought I would be seeing pink elephants by now.  This week we are reviewing Detective Comics #943, Batman Beyond #1, and Batgirl #4. 

Batman and Batwoman go undercover to recruit Batwing in Detective Comics #943.  This issue has a ton of drama in regards to the team grieving over the death of Tim Drake.  The parts where they are using drama to progress the story line are extremely well done.  However, the set-up to the new villains of this story is extremely weak and I hope that in the future issue to put a bit more focus on the over-all plot of this story. 

Grab your favourite heavy metal album and crank the volume up to full blast as Batman Beyond #1 is one of the best Batman Beyond issues ever.  This next chapter in Batman Beyond is mostly just a giant fight scene but it is done so well you can’t help but be amazed.  While the story line was all set up for future issues but it needed these bits of set-up to make the reader understand the story.  The biggest thing I am curious about how is the bad guy going to resurrect the Joker.  On the side note, I don’t even remember this bad guy’s name.

Batgirl #4 is kind of a repeat of Batgirl #3 and I can’t wait for this story to be over.  We learn nothing in this issue.  There is no character development and no story progression.  Why was this issue even written? 

This Week in Gotham #69

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Batman

This week the two comics we have are the first chapters of two new story arcs.  The two books that we are looking at this week are Batman #9 and Nightwing #7.

Batman is recruiting his own suicide squad to fight the villain, Bane in Batman #9.  This is an amazing first issue of a story.  It leaves you with so many questions that I can’t wait for the next issue.  The downside of this issue is most of the people Batman recruits are B grade villains that no one cares about.

Finding out you have a stalker is a creepy thing.  Finding out the stalker has returned from the grave is even creepier.  Nightwing #7 provides a conspiracy-like thriller story that should be appealing to fans of the Grayson comics.  The only issue I have is the story ties Dick Grayson’s dead parents into the mix which we have seen a ton of times.  I wish that they could have picked another aspect of Dick Grayson’s life that would have been different.

This Week in Gotham #68

This blog is coming a day late due to the fact that there was a family emergency.  This week we have four good comics which consist of Detective Comics #942, All*Star Batman #3, Red Hood and the Outlaws #3, and Gotham Academy Second Semester #2.

It is the final chapter of Night of the Monster Men in Detective Comics #942.  I have to admit that I was kind of disappointed with this ending up to the last third of this comic I was really engaged.  If you enjoy psychology this is great story about someone trying to unravel Batman’s mind.  Unfortunately when you get past that part the story becomes anticlimactic and solely focuses on the set-up of the next story arc.

Batman and Two-Face hunt to find a doctor after a losing battle with a mercenary in All*Star Batman #3.  Finally we have an issue of the series it is not all over the place and I finally can understand with the heck is going on.  If you have given up on this series by now, give issue #3 a try and then decide.  What I liked about this issue is it cleared up the question of whether or not Alfred was still on Batman’s side or not.  Another great thing about this issue was the pace of the story was spot on.

The Red Hood has to find a way to break his two new friends out of a criminal fortress in Red Hood and the Outlaws #3.  This issue focuses on a lot of time on the human side of Jason Todd, the Red Hood.  We also have a proper reintroduction of a character from the Superman Universe, Barzaro.  Barzaro is exactly how you remember him and I love the writer for not changing the character.  Barzaro is a very simple character and changing any aspect of him would be a very bad idea.

Olivia and Maps discover a cult-like witches club in Gotham Academy Second Semester #2.  Unlike the previous issue this second issue felt more like the Gotham Academy that I grew to love.  This current issue seems like the start of a new story but the book says it is the second part of a story that started in issue #1. 

 

This Week in Gotham #67

Tags

Batman

This week the Night of the Monster Men continues.  We get the next two chapters in the tale in Batman #8 and Nightwing #6.  For these two issues I am going to review them as one single issue due to the fact that Batman #8 is chapter 4 of this story while Nighwing #6 is chapter 5.

Nightwing and Gotham Girl have been turned into monsters as the rest of the Bat Family try to rescue them.  These two issues tell a unique story that we would usually see in a series like Superman or a Godzilla movie.  I’m glad that we finally get some Batman stories that feel very unique.  That being said, the author in an interview claimed that this was trying to be a horror story. If that’s the case, it failed miserably.  I don’t fear for any of the characters because I know that there is a good chance that we won’t lose anyone.  Rather than this being a horror story, it’s more like a monster movie which does not need to be scary.  It fails as a horror story but is a great monster story.