Review: DC Comics Batman and Robin #8

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,

Rating: *** 1/2*
The past two issues of Grant Morrison‘s Batman and Robin have left me scratching my head - but in a good way. We discovered that Dick Grayson the current Batman has been keeping the body of the former Batman Bruce Wayne hidden in a sarcophagus in the Wayne Foundation building. His mission is to resurrect his former mentor by using a newly discovered Lazarus pit. Our last issue ended with Dick, Batwoman, and Kinght and Squire witnessing the supposed resurrection of Bruce Wayne from the Lazarus pit. Is this how Bruce Wayne returns to the land of the living? Thankfully, no.

It seems that the body that Dick Grayson has is one of the replicas created by Darkseid during the Final Crisis. All of them had been destroyed except one as Darkseid stated he could use the deceased body of the cloned Batman for some future use. This is a bit confusing as how could Darkseid have known that he was going to kill Batman and that he could use this clone body for evil purposes? Am I missing something here? Whatever the case the Batman that comes out of the Lazarus pit is a raving lunatic and begins attacking everyone in the room.

The clone Batman is able to escape thanks to a cave in and uses a Bat-copter to escape and head back to the Wayne Foundation. There he beats up Alfred and confronts a wheel chair bound Damian who thinks his father has returned to him. And we end there.

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DC Comics Review: Batman #688

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,

Rating: ** !/2*

This month’s issue of Batman is not as good as the previous issue.  I can’t put my finger on why that is, but I was left kind of with a whatever attitude after I read this story, where I was pumped after I finished reading Batman and Robin last week.  I think maybe the reason I felt this way was because of the way Judd Winick wrote the character of Dick Grayson.  He seemed weak.  I still don’t feel like he’s confident that he can do the job when he’s been fighting crime all his life.  I know DC wants him to portray him as if he’s not worthy, but he is worthy - more than worthy.  Which is why I was a bit upset by two scenes in this particular issue. 

One scene is the opening scene where we see Dick dressed as Batman fighting an unknown assailant in the Bat-Cave three weeks from now.  The assailant knows he’s not the real Batman and is telling him so as he kicks the crap out of him.  Dick lays defeated at the foot of his mentor’s cowl encased in glass with the assailant ready for the kill.  This scene screams you’re a loser and a pretender.  The second scene is comical, but again it seems like what we have here in Dick is a pretender to the throne.  Dick is talking to Alfred about the cape and cowl and how he can’t see and the cape is too heavy to move around.  I know that DC wanted to change the dynamic of Batman and Robin and have Robin be the dark figure while Batman is more light hearted, but it doesn’t seem to work here in this issue, where it’s been portrayed well over in Batman and Robin.

We’ve seen in the previous issue as well as in the Battle for the Cowl mini-series that the Penguin and Two-Face are both trying to take over the Gotham City underworld.  On a side note, I wonder what happened to the Black Mask.  Wasn’t he supposed to be involved as well?  Maybe he’ll show up later.  Anyway, Dick Grayson as Batman stops one of the Penguin’s shipments and is caught on camera.  Two-Face notices something is different about Batman.  He finds it interesting that the Batman would even allow himself to get on camera in the first place.  After watching the footage Two-Face says to his cohort that the man in the Batman costume is not Batman.

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DC Comics Review: Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,

Rating: *** 1/2*

This was another great issue of the “Battle for the Cowl” (BFTC) mini-series.  As readers know, Tony Daniel provides the artwork as well as the story for this mini-series and he continues to do a great job.  The story so far has not only lived up to the hype, but in my opinion it has surpassed what I thought we’d get here.  As I mentioned in my previous blog about the first issue, I thought giving Daniel the task of writing this story was going to be a mistake.  Most of the time big events tend to let me down, and I really get excited when they don’t let me down. 

This series is a must read for Batman fans.  Although Bruce Wayne does not appear in this story, he is here spirit.  The foundation of what Bruce believed in and what he stood for is the center of the story.  Who will continue his mission? 

The story hasn’t had any real surprises so far.  Its been pretty straight forward in the direction it’s heading with Nightwing becoming Batman and Damian becoming Robin.  It’s almost too much like getting hit over the head and saying that this is exactly what will happen.  However, you never know, there could be a turn coming and maybe Tim Drake becomes Batman.  Who knows.

The story picks up where we left off in the last issue with the gun totting Batman aka Jason Todd, attacking Nightwing and Damian. 

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