Batman the Dark Knight #21

Batman the Dark Knight #21 is finally the end of the way to long Mad Hatter storyline.  Batman’s girlfriend died in the previous issue.   So for some reason Batman wants vengeance for her death and believes that Mad Hatter had something to do with the death.  So we see Batman “go crazy” he hunts down and beats up the Mad Hatter. Unfortunately this is not Frank Miller’s Dark Knight.  I have to say that nothing in this story needed to be covered over so many issues of the comic.  Not only was the story not original but it ended up as not mattering since the comic re-set in the last pane of the comic.  Anyway I hope no one else wasted their money on this comic the last few issues.

Batman the Dark Knight Annual #1

Batman the Dark Knight Annual #1 – I have seen that often annuals are afterthought comics with stories squeezed into the schedule of a regular comic production schedule.  Sometimes this results in really crappy and painful to read comic books.  Other times an annual is an epic story full of comic world shaking events that change the comic book universe as we know it.  Then there is this comic and it is neither as it is a good story.  The Mad Hatter, the Penguin and the Scarecrow are invited to a home with the promise of an intriguing business proposal.  The usual suspects show up at the location and find out that they were invited into a trap; it also turns out the location chosen was the Arkham youth facility now long closed down.  Oh and it is Halloween Night – the night of trick and treating.  We then get to watch the three villains minds go wild with fears of the Batman gone crazy again and out to get them.  This leads to all sorts of interesting actions.  But in the end it turns out that the Batman just wanted one night that did not require him to run around in costume.  I was amused and entertained.

Batman the Dark Knight #19!

Batman the Dark Knight #19 was interesting but this Mad Hatter storyline is getting old.  The Mad Hatter is trying to reproduce some part of his life before he became a villain.  In fact after all this time no one has been able to figure out how the Mad Hatter has been taking his victims even though hundreds of people walk off at the same time to the same meeting place.  I realize that lots of people die in Gotham every day but if hundreds of people drown themselves in one go as we see in this issue it seems maybe someone would notice.  But in the end it just feels like sloppy writing and editing.

Batman the Dark Knight #18!!!

Batman the Dark Knight #18 was rather disappointing.  The story has been developing rather well with the Mad Hatter even if the story was disjointed at times.  But it turns out all this setup was so the Mad Hatter could have a do over with his High School Prom.  Considering the number of bystanders being killed in this story growing very large and is starting to match the number of people killed in the Death of the Family story you would think more interest from the police and other Heroes would have happened by now.  Instead all we get is Catwoman looking for a quickie after hitting Batman with a hubcap.  I’m seriously disappointed in how this story is turning out.

Legends of the Dark Knight #6 !!!

Legends of the Dark Knight #6 contained three short stories that were of good quality.  The first story is more of a traditional Batman hunts thugs who knocked over a convenience store.  There was something about sound and enhanced hearing that was the point of the story.  The second story was Batman tracking down and fighting what appears to be a dragon.  The dragon turns out to be the pet of Killer Crock.  It was an interesting story, Batman saved by luck and a search for humanity.  The final story was a spooky tale that could have been saved for the Halloween issue.  We have a spooky villain working for the Penguin and then inevitable betrayal.  While the story is resolved, it would have been nice to see a little more background (origin story) of the mysterious man with the scary van.

Batman the Dark Knight!! #17

Batman the Dark Knight #17 was really a disappointing comic.  The writer and editors seemed to have forgotten what happened in the previous issue and the plot spent a lot of time recapping what had gone before.  I am disappointed that the recap story ended up as such a bad use of the Mad Hatter.

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. 

The Dark Knight!

Legends of the Dark Knight Issue number four contains’ three short stories.  All the stories are interesting, but none are as good as previous stories in this comic.  I guess it is just hard to have a constant flow of great stories all the time.

Batman!

Batman: The Dark Knight is up to number fifteen now.  Batman is still dealing with scarecrow.  I hope the story ark is over now.  Though I thought this was one of the better issues of the set.  Not to spoil anything but I would recommend saving the fake Death for the end of the issue and not the half-way point.

Batman!

Batman Inc. should be interesting.  But the “plot” is erratic and does not seem to have a focus.  While the “flashback” “dream” or whatever the middle story was supposed to be was interesting.  Frankly I do not know how much longer I will continue to read this book.

Batman the Dark Knight number 14 is a good issue, just some action and moving on.  None of that badly acted “fear” dreams.  I am not sure how many more “Super Fear Poisons” the Scarecrow can really keep making.  Batman is just immune at this point and that might include all of Gotham City as well.

Batman!

I just finished reading the latest issue of the new comic book, Batman Legends of the Dark Knight #2.  This issue had a single entertaining story.  To avoid big spoilers I am just going to say the Joker is trying to help out.