Batman the Dark Knight #20!!

Batman the Dark Knight #20 ugh that was terrible.  The artwork was bleak and stark it would have been kind of cool and stylish but instead it just looked like a lazy artist not able to make one person look different from the other.  Then we are still dealing with the Mad Hatter unable to deal with the fact he had a bad high school.  The police and Batman are still unable to figure out where all the dead people floating in the river (or ocean or sewers) came from.  This despite Batman is able to have Alfred hack into top secret government files in just a few hours yet for some reason he can’t figure out where all the people died.  It is just so lame.  Frankly the big finally is lame I mean seriously lame and well frankly the bleak artwork foreshadowed the event that I was more disappointed that the creative team stretched out the torture and abuse of a woman so long.  The people who wrote and approved this story and artwork are just sick women hating fucks if they think this is somehow being creative or good.  They should be ashamed of themselves and I hope their parents never see this horrible evil work.  There is also the problem that there was such a long story block set up for the Mad Hatter and obviously there was not enough creative people on the team to stretch the story out this many issues and we are still not done.  Just Ick.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #18 Requiem

Red Hood and the Outlaws #18 Requiem actually has nothing to do with the Death of Robin.  Robin is not mentioned or his passing is not noticeably mentioned.    This is Jason Todd recovering from the acid attack left by the Joker for after the Joker was “defeated”.   Basically this is a post Death of the Family story and not actually a Requiem story.  The Red Hood has a bad dream telling a version of a re-birth story or possibly an introduction for those people whom had avoided this comic book until feeling forced to buy copies because of the Death of the Family mega story.  It feels as if the creative team is hoping that with a cool re-birth story readers will forgive them for the terribly sexists treatment of Starfire.  Unfortunately the only time we see Starfire she is dead and still nearly naked so no I’m not really interested in buying more of these comics.  Frankly this fake Requiem tie in makes it even less likely that I would ever buy a comic book in this series ever again (so lucky for the DC comics I might have bought the next issue because I am still a few weeks behind reading comic books as they come out). 

Batman and Robin #18

Batman and Robin #18 Requiem was interesting as it lacked typed or spoken dialog of any type.  The story was told entirely in the graphic form that is possible with comic books. While I am tempted to be flippant and say this was simply a writer being lazy and a big company deciding not to pay a letterer.  I have to say the art work was excellent with several very worthy frames.  There is little to else to say since there is not much development beyond that which was displayed.  I liked this issue.

Red Hood and the Outlaws! #17

Red Hood and the Outlaws #17 was more Death of the Family aftermath.  It was a very interesting recap and review of the Red Hoods life.  It was interesting to the interaction of the different characters, Arsenal, Starfire, Robin (ah Ghul), Alfred, Nightwing and Batman.  I was kind of surprised at the ending I did not expect a cliffhanger.  This makes me grateful I was not paying attention to the list of Death of the Family comics coming out next or the plot summaries.  This is first time in a number of issues of this mega story that I have been surprised.  Good comic.

Batman!!

Batman #17 Death of the Family and the big climax which to this old reviewer  is just another letdown as there was nothing really new in the end.  While the characters might or might not change really this Super Mega Story was just another piece of good publicity.  The story could have been grand and it would have been amazing if the Family had actually been harmed.  I thought maybe Batman’s solution to the Joker problem was going to work.  But it was a bluff at least when we see the aftermath.  This was the chance for the New52 the Batman writers to do something new and special and instead they just reset the story which is just a typical copout that chased me away from comic books in the first place.  I am very disappointed in this story, very disappointed. 

The Dark Knight!

Batman the Dark Knight number sixteen – was kind of long and a bit boring.  This was the introductory issue of a story that will cover more than this single issue.  I’m all for adding the Mad Hatter to the current new52 world.  But what I did not need was the Spider-Man like dating drama from the life of Bruce Wayne – besides which did the Piano Lady not dump him already before the Death of the Family story?  Oh well – DC sure is convinced continuity is not a top concern of the Batman readers. 

Batman & Robin Annual!

Batman and Robin Annual #1 – A New Dark Knight Rises!  Well that was an interesting story where Damain leads Bruce Wayne on a scavenger hunt across Europe.  The story starts out typical Batman fighting someone who was not really a bad guy despite a bit of Gotham City being set on fire.  Then Bruce heads out of country and Damian takes over the family business on his own so to speak.  The little Batman manages to solve the crime and save the day from a crazy man in fiery armor.  The adventure of Bruce Wayne finding his parents past was really well done.  I was impressed with the short little stories being so well done.  It was downright cute.   This issue also managed to show how much alike the two Wayne men have turned out.