Batman #22 - A Review

Following the trail of The Reverse Flash back in time, Barry Allen and Bruce Wayne find themselves in the alternate timeline Barry dubbed Flashpoint. The problem is that Flashpoint shouldn't exist anymore - a fact that is doubly worrying to the Batman of that reality, Dr. Thomas Wayne, who is rather annoyed by the fact that he still exists...



The plot thickens in this third chapter of The Button but it still feels like we're largely running in circles regarding some grand, epic reveal regarding the nature of Life, The Universe and Everything in the DC Rebirth Reality. Thankfully, there's some wonderful character material in Joshua Williamson's script. The best moment involves the touching interaction between the two Batmen, as father and son see the depth of their love for each other.

The artwork by Jason Fabok and Brad Anderson looks amazing throughout. There's little in the way of action apart from a battle with the allied forces of Atlantis and Themyscira. This fight seems to occur only because there needs to be -something- to add urgency to Barry and Bruce trying to leave Flashpoint apart from the universe falling apart but it's brilliantly depicted in spite of that.

Final Analysis: 8 out of 10. Another solid issue, though most of the material in it is extraneous in terms of plot.

Batman #21 - A Review

Returning to his investigation of the mysterious blood-soaked button that materialized in The Bat-Cave shortly after the return of the first Wally West, Batman makes a shocking discovery. Summoning Barry Allen to ask for assistance after he detects the influence of The Speed Force at work, Batman quickly finds himself facing a new foe - one who claims to be an old enemy!


Those hoping for quick answers to the mysteries posed by DC Universe Rebirth #1 in this issue will be sorely disappointed. Batman #21 ultimately does little but give us more mysteries to ponder. It must be said, however, that those mysteries are well-presented and that Tom King's script - based on a plot by Geoff Johns - does a fine job of setting up the story to come.

Apart from the titular Button, there is little obvious connection to Watchmen in the main plot of this issue. Subtextually, there is a mirror story, seemingly unrelated to the main action, which parallels the battle between Batman and the apparent villain of this issue in a way similar to the stories within stories of Watchmen.

The influence of Watchmen is more obvious in the artwork. Most of the pages - saving a few splashes - display the three-by-three grids utilized throughout Watchmen. Jason Fabok masterfully constructs surprisingly detail-driven pictures within the confinement offered to him, with Brad Anderson utilizing a perfect palette to finish it all.

Final Analysis: 8 out of 10. A solid start.

Batman Eternal #3 - A Review

At this moment in time, there seems little point in my maintaining any aura of mystery in discussing Batman Eternal.  The story is moving at a quickening pace and many things I thought would be a drawn-out mysteries have been quickly exposed and revealed.  Suffice it to say, this comic is one for the ages and will be held up as one of the greatest Batman stories of all time.

So what can I say?  How about that this comic formally introduces Stephanie Brown into the New 52 universe?  Or that, while she's not yet The Spoiler - much less Batgirl - she quickly proves that she is no passive damsel in distress while still coming off convincingly as a terrified teenage girl, who just learned that her father is a supervillain involved in a plot to bring down the society of Gotham City.  


What can I say about the splendor that is Jason Fabok's artwork?  I can say that I think his design for The Penguin is the greatest I've ever seen - a character who is grotesque yet not so distorted as to seem a more fitting enemy for Dick Tracy than Batman.  I could easily see Alfred Molina playing this Penguin.


What else can I say?  This is a great book and you should be reading it.

Batman Eternal #2 - A Review

I've complained in previous reviews of the main Batman series that Scott Snyder seemed to be have been taking his sweet time in telling his stories since City of Owls.  Zero Year in particular seemed to have been drawn out, with the promise of a revamped and deadlier Riddler being held ever out of reach until recently.  Well, I can make no such complaints about Batman: Eternal.  


The first issue kicked things off with a bang and this issue continues the trend, as Batman mobilizes his allies in the wake of a major disaster in Gotham City.  A disaster which Jim Gordon seems to have caused but nobody in the Bat Family or the GCPD can honestly believe he is responsible for.  There's a lot of good character moments throughout the book and we know what villain is responsible for Gordon's fall by the issue's end.  I won't spoil it here but it was an honest surprise and a true indication of how things have changed for Gotham City in the New 52 universe.


The artwork is uniformly excellent.  Jason Fabok's matches Bryan Hitch for the ability to fit amazing amounts of detail into a panel but I think Fabok's line-work is neater and more precise.  The inks are surprisingly sparse for a Batman comic and colorist Brad Anderson highlights the artwork with multiple shades of black and grey.

Batman Eternal #1 - A Review

I will say this for the writing team of Batman Eternal - they do not do things by halves.  There was a hint of this in the preview for this series, which depicted Harper Row (a supporting character from Scott Snyder's Batman) as a masked crime-fighter working alongside Batman, Selina Kyle as the new kingpin of the Gotham underworld and - in a shocking twist that saw fans across the Internet cheering - Stephanie Brown as The Spoiler.  And then we have this first issue, which opens with Gotham City in flames and Bruce Wayne all but crucified on the broken remains of the Bat-Signal.


Okay, book.  You have my attention.

We move past this scene set in a vague future, heading back to "Now".  It is here that we are introduced to Jason Bard - a good cop hired into Gotham by Commissioner Jim Gordon, who is unable to meet Bard for his first day at work as he is busily chasing down the mad scientist Professor Pyg alongside the Batman.  The action sequences there are thrilling but the true focus of the story is upon Bard, who is quickly introduced to just how bad Gotham City is and why Jim Gordon was so anxious to get an honest man like Bard into a command position in the GCPD.  By issue's end, we see a major change to the status quo of things in Gotham City and our first sign that someone is out to bring down Batman, one ally at a time.


Jason Fabok's artwork is as enthralling as the script.  I greatly enjoyed his work on Batman Annual #1 and the pencils and inks here are of similar high quality.  The figures are all clear and uniquely designed, with even the scenes of characters just talking to one another being well-blocked and far from static scenes of talking heads.

This book is a promising first issue.  I'm not sure yet if I'll stick around for the whole year-long saga, but it has my attention.  For now.

Batman Annual #1 (2012) - A Review

It is a rare thing for me to come across a comic which is technically well-executed  yet leaves me wanting to throw it against the wall because of the story it tells  The last story I can remember having such a reaction to was Identity Crisis - a mini-series which had many wonderful character moments but ultimately proved to be horrible due to some ludicrous action sequences (i.e. Deathstroke takes on the entire Justice League single-handed), many gratuitous deaths and a climax that revealed the reader had no real chance of solving the mystery that was meant to be the core of the plot.  Yes, Identity Crisis was one such story.  Batman Annual #1 is another.

There will be spoilers following this paragraph so if you wish to be surprised but still want to know what I thought of the book, let me say this.  This book is surprising.  It is shocking.  It is well written and the artwork is wonderful.  Yet I fully intend to pretend this story never happened in my own personal mental continuity because the main conceit of the story is too far at odds with how I feel certain characters should be portrayed.  You have been warned.  Now read on if you wish to know the fine details.



First Snow, as this story is titled, details Mr. Freeze's activities during the Night of Owls.  We find out that it Mr. Freeze's technology was used by the Court of Owls to preserve and revive their Talon assassins.  Armed with the knowledge that his theoretical formula for reviving the cryogenically frozen works, Freeze escapes from Arkham Asylum and makes for The Iceberg Lounge.  His mission?  Recover his weapons and his cryogenically frozen wife, before getting revenge on the man who turned him into what he is today.

The artwork by Jason Fabok is quite lovely.  If I may wax poetic, it is crisp and clear as a cool winter's day.  The palette chosen by colorist Peter Steigerwald is perfect, full of muted blues, pale grays and off-whites throughout - all the colors of winter.  Every page in this book is a treat to look at.     

There are many wonderful scenes here, too.  Freeze's brilliant escape from Arkham Asylum is a wonderfully well-paced action sequence.  And Freeze's interaction with The Penguin is a treat, playing up the quite menace of both villains to good effect.  But everything starts to fall apart in the flashback sequences in which we learn who the heartless mogul responsible for ruining Victor Fries' life is... Bruce Wayne!    





Is it unbelievable Bruce Wayne, given the way he usually carried himself as a buffoon in the early days, would be so hands-on in running his business?  Yes.

Is it unbelievable that Bruce Wayne, as a business man, would turn his nose up at a revolutionary procedure for saving lives that could make his company millions... just because it wasn't what he was looking for?   Yes.

Is it unbelievable that Bruce Wayne, as a person who lost his loved ones through tragedy and knows full well the lengths one can go through to try and save others, would be so unsympathetic to someone who was driven to extreme measures in the name of saving a life?  Yes.

Thankfully, this turns out to be a fake out.  Or does it?  The final pages, in which Batman confronts Freeze reveal something shocking about Mr. Freeze's past.  Something that is meant to drive him from the realm of sympathetic villains and anti-heroes and push him firmly back into the collective of unreasoning Arkham Asylym inmates but only serves to make Batman into an even greater monster.



 

Even if we accept that the previous scenes are the imaginings of a mad Mr. Freeze and that he is an obsessed stalker who has been kidnapping the same cryogenically frozen woman with the hope of curing his "lost love"... how does this justify any of Bruce Wayne or Batman's actions?

The only word we have that Mr. Freeze isn't trying to save his wife comes from Batman.  Freeze's shrink at Arkham certainly seems to believe that Freeze is a married man trying to save his wife and that sort of delusion is precisely the sort of thing they would try to cure first.  And even if Nora Fields isn't any relation to Mr. Freeze, she had a family that froze her wanting her to be cured of the condition that threatened her life..  Who is Bruce Wayne to deny her a chance at life, even if her cure comes at the hands of an obsessive stalker?  There's nothing to stop him from taking Freeze's work and trying to use it to help others.  Nothing, save his own greed and disinterest.

Many Batman stories have suggested that, on some level, Bruce Wayne is as crazy as the villains he fights.  But to my knowledge no story has ever seriously suggested that Bruce Wayne was as callous as the criminals he has devoted his life to fighting.   With this story, Scott Snyder has done the impossible and the unthinkable - he has turned Bruce Wayne into a hypocrite and a being more cold-hearted than Mr. Freeze.

It is a well-written story and I hate it all the more for that.

If anyone needs me, I'll be rewatching Heart of Ice.