Good news, everyone, we are close to the end of the world. Wait a minute. That’s bad news. Oh well. The books that we are going to review today are: Batgirl Birds of Prey #2, 3, and 4; All Star Batman #4; Detective Comics #944, Red Hood and the Outlaws #4, Gotham Academy Second Semester #3, Superman #11, Batman #11, and Nightwing #9. Let’s get this disaster on the way.
The reason I haven’t been covering Batgirl Birds of Prey is that I forgot to put it on my subscription. That changes today with a triple dose of the comic with issues 2, 3, and 4. When Batgirl, Black Canary and the Huntress have to protect a criminal in order to learn the identity of Oracle. Things couldn’t less smoothly if they wanted it to. What I like about these comics is they are adding new chapters to the 3 characters origin story while progressing the current story line very fast. There are a ton of flashbacks in these issues but it does not detract from the main story. Also, unlike other origin stories, all the origin stories in these comics are new information.
Just when I thought I understood this story, All Star Batman #4 put me back into super confusion land. Batman and Two Face get captured by three Gotham crime lords. To make matters worse, the person that sells them out is someone that they would never suspect. While this comic was confusing I enjoyed what I could understand. I keep holding for the chance that the last issue of this story will explain everything. I hope it does, but I am not holding my breath.
The Victim Syndicate members attack Batman because they believe that their mutations are Batman’s fault in Detective Comics #944. While this is not a new idea, the way that this issue tells the story is fascinating and I enjoyed every page of this chapter. The one thing that I’m concerned about is if this will tie in or not to the other Batman stories because lately all the Batman stories have been connected and I don’t see a connection in this story line.
The Red Hood finally befriends Bizarro in Red Hood and the Outlaws #4. While I like parts of this issue I have to admit a lot of the pages were fillers. I don’t like filler issues and half of this chapter was a filler issue.
Olivia and gang try to break Maps out of a dangerous witch cult in Gotham Academy Second Semester #3. This is the conclusion to the story that began in the last issue. While I enjoyed the story as a whole the biggest I had was the fact that the ramification did not make any sense to me. Maybe I was tired because this was the comic I read out of 20 yesterday but I just did not like the ending and the book says “to be continued” at the end but I could not possibly fathom they could continue this story.
Batman and Superman send Robin and Superboy to boot camp in Superman #11. In this issue the sons of the two heroes have to work together to overcome the obstacles that their fathers laid out for them. The issue is more of a comedy than an action story because the two boy absolutely hate each other. I enjoyed this story a lot and I can’t wait for the Supersons Comic to be released.
Batman and his group of villains make their assault on Bane’s fortress in Batman #11. While I like this story, I do not like this issue. I felt like it was unnecessarily prolonging the plot. We had zero character development and no questions answered. I’m hoping that the next issue will have a lot more substance to it.
Nightwing has to fight for his life in his dreams and the only one that can help him is Superman in Nightwing #9. Read this issue carefully because it can get very complicated. As complicated as it is, I really enjoyed this story. Most of the time it feels like a single issue story but at the end you realize it is a set-up issue to the next multi-issue story.
