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 Detective Comics #18 Requiem Review!

Batman Detective Comics #18 Requiem – was an interesting story as we continue to follow the fall of the Penguin from his position of power.  Though there seems to be a lot of history and criminality this story forgets what has happened since the new 52 began.  There was little here to merit a Requiem or Death of the Family tie in the title page claims.  In the end the Emperor Penguin owns all that once belonged to Cobblepot.  At least the backup story had the Joker show up and that must be the actual Death tie in.  Anyway it was a good main story and the backup story could and should have been part of the main story.  I am getting tired of paying for a full sized issue and instead getting several short stories that could not really support a full book.  In some cases the main story is awkwardly cut up to extend the story ark and sometimes not.  This is deceptive on the publisher’s part and needs to stop unless the two or more stories are mentioned on the cover.  Maybe if there are not enough Batman stories it is time to retire one of the many many many Batman comic books that are published each month.

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. 

Nightwing!

Nightwing 16 Death of the Family was interesting and could have been good if not stuck in this filler mode for the Death of the Family mega story.  The layout of the comic itself was annoying with an entire section with the left page an advertisement and if we were lucky the right page had some of the comic displayed.  I don’t know maybe this issue will make sense when the story is over but otherwise it was just another “crossover” that was just filler.  I mean seriously how did the Joker have the time even in a year to set this all up?

Red Hood and the Outlaws!

Red Hood and the Outlaws #16 another Death of the Family Story but unlike the Nightwing story Red Hood and the Outlaws had a nice flowing story from start to end.  There was a little foreshadowing of future stories beyond the Death of the Family mega story, those one page breaks were a little jarring to the main story.  But I am sure not everyone is happy when slaved to some other story you have no control over.  The creative team still did a good story that did not feel like total filler while being filler or a set up story.

Batman!

Batman #16 (Death of the Family) while the story started strong and interesting it ended predicable.  It is kind of sad that the Joker was chaos and yet everything was just predicable as always.  Oh well.

Detective Comics!

Batman Detective Comics #16 (Death of the Family) contained two good stories, they were excellent stories.  The first story really did not have anything to do with the Death of the Family story.  It was just Batman tracking down the Joker Fan boys and Fan girls.  There is nothing new here and nothing worth tagging as part of the uber story ark.  The second story with the Emperor Penguin taking over the Penguin’s operation and that story is more related to Death of the Family.  But in the end I’m tired of buying a comic with two half stories included.  Frankly I’m tired of DC being lazy and stretching crappy material over several comics hoping no one will notice.

Batgirl!

Batgirl #16 (Death of the Family) Meh – I don’t know how the Joker has time for all this side business.  The story was OK and had some good action, but in the end the story has to be saved and stretched out so there will be more and more Death of the Family) comics without end or connection to the main story.  So this issue ends up just being a reset to where we were on page one of this issue.

Batman and Robin!

Batman and Robin #16 (Death of the Family) well that was interesting, but seriously how long are they going to stretch out the Robin Ah Ghul VS. Batman dynamic.  The Joker did talk just a little too much but unlike what is happening in other Death of the Family stories this ending was actually clever.

Death in the Family! (Batman Mega Cross-over)

Death in the Family – Batman 15 – Oh geeze, blah blah blah blah does the Joker ever shut up?  Not sure what is up with the extended Batfamily but they seem to be falling for the Joker’s plot.  I am starting to think a real review of the Death in the Family storyline will only be possible once it is done.

Death in the Family – Batgirl 15 – more of the Joker going Blah blah blah blah I have a plan.  Not really sure why Batgirl is just giving in and this story really does not feel connected to the main story beyond the bigwigs said, “Write a Death in the Family Story!”

Death in the Family – Suicide Squad 15 – the Joker just never stops talking his random crap.  Oh he has a plan!  While it is kind of interested to see Harley Quinn not be the total Joker Fan Girl and that she has some growth it is sad to see no change in the Joker.

Death in the Family – Batman and Robin 15 – The story started out entertaining enough, then the story stops so that the Joker can go blah blah blah blah.  I think I spotted a trend there with just use the Joker rambling as filler because well a story spread over all these comics is getting kind of thin.

Catching up...

All-New X-men #3 – So weeks after the “Big Event” none of these super mutants (including Cyclops or Magneto) noticed that their power had changed?  Yeah at least the new and old X-men finally meet.

Avengers #1 – A long boring story off Earth.  So now I believe Captain America is currently in another dimension in his main comic, in another different dimension with several Black Widows and now he is (spoiler) on Mars.  It may be time for them to just fight villains I was not expecting or hoping for grand space opera.  The teaser for future episodes says there will be more weird extra dimensional travel and back stabbing intrigue.  I will be dropping this comic.

Thunderbolts #1 was entertaining, but I am not sure I recognize all the suspects.  This issue was a bit wordy, hopefully the story will move along.

The G.I. Combat featuring the Haunted Tank and Unknown Soldier #7 was really good.  Well the Haunted Tank portion of the comic was really really good.  The first two issues with the Haunted Tank were silly, but this issue was really good.  No not going to give away the story.  The Unknown Soldier story is not good and I have been un-happy that this is the character the book spends so much time following.  This incarnation lacks the spirit of the character unlike how well the Haunted Tank turned out.

The comic Legends of the Dark Knight continue to deliver good stories with issue number three.  This issue tells the story of the people Batman helped.  The Batman is having doubts and he is his normal driven self.  But thanks to the Gotham PD clearing out the files Batman gets letters like his was Santa.  Actually my only complaint about this issue is that the font used to show the text is from a letter is hard to read for my old eyes.  I had to break out the magnifying glasses to read that part of the story getting old sucks sometimes.

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.