Batman: Gates of Gotham #1

 

Bought at Dollar Tree in Enfield CT USA.

Title: Batman: Gates of Gotham
Issue: 1
Date: June 2026 (reprint from 2011)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Scott Snyder, Kyle Higgins
Artist: Trevor McCarthy
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Mike Marts, Janelle Asselin. Katie Kubert
Cover: Trevor McCarthy

Opening with a flashback to 1881, and then moving foward to an attack on three of Gotham's original bridges, this story focuses on deep connections between prominent families of Gotham. With the Batman in a race against time to find the person responsible for bombing the bridges, the first clues lead to the Penguin.

This is a good classic-feeling Batman story that's in the regular continuity, and rooted in the past history of Gotham City. It's nice to see multiple members of the Bat-Family involved, and Penguin has a nice scene.

Not all of the art was as effective as it could have been, but a lot was good, especially in the flashback to the 19th Century. This was a fun start to what looks to be a satisfying story.

Rating: 7/10

Mockingbird #5

Third in the stack of five recent comics I bought on my brief trip back to the US. These were purchased at Newbury Comics' Braintree MA location.

Title: Mockingbird
Issue: 5
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: September 2016
Writer: Chelsea Cain
Artist: Ibrahim Moustafa
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Katie Kubert
Cover: Joelle Jones, Rachelle Rosenberg

I'd heard good things about the Mockingbird series and issue #5 happened to be the one in stock at the store I visited.

The basic idea here is that SHIELD agent Bobbi Morse is has been infected with a virus that gives her superpowers. Well, really it's the virus itself has superpowers and it lets her use them.

The virus also reanimates corpses into zombies, which is a problem because Agent Morse is in the SHIELD medical facility, which happens to have a good supply of donated-to-science bodies.

Also, Spider-Man (Miles Morales, I think) and Howard the Duck. No, really.

This was very witty. Good joke density too. It was absolutely loaded with snark, and the creative team didn't let the plot get in the way of opportunities for more snark. Seriously, there was an entire page devoted to Bobby going off on an illustrated tangential rant about bad ideas in history.

This was pretty entertaining, even if it was mostly a throwaway story up until a final plot twist that seemed like it was going to shape the direction of the story moving forward.

Did I mention there is a page of paper dolls that includes a severed zombie head?

Funny stuff. I enjoyed this.

Rating: 7/10

Batgirl #27

Got an unexpected gift of a Barnes & Noble giftcard, so I headed to the mall tonight and picked up a couple of books I'd been looking at, along with a random DC comic. I thought the cover of this issue looked interesting, so, why not?

Title: Batgirl
Issue: 27
Date: March 2014
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Robert Gill
Colorist: Blond
Letterer: Dezi Sienty
Editor: Katie Kubert
Cover: Alex Garner

As mentioned above, this issue was pretty much a random grab. Alex Garner's cover, featuring a new, grey costume for Batgirl was gorgeous, and Gail Simone's writing is usually good, so it seemed a nice issue to check in with what's going on in the DC Universe.

Except that it turns out this issue does not take place in the DC Universe. Welcome to Gothtopia, an alternate universe in which Gotham City is the happiest and safest city in the country, and the superheroes seem to spend their time rescuing people from burning buildings when they're not saving cats stuck up trees.

Barbara Gordon patrols the streets as Bluebelle. Her sidekick (who seems to be an alternate version of Spoiler... um... I think...) is Daybreak.

It's a beautiful day, and things are about to go horribly wrong in a city where crime is almost unheard of, courtesy of one employee of the Joker Ice Cream Company who has gotten a glimpse of a Gotham that is a much darker place.

On its own, this is a pretty simple story. The real fun here is the mirror image version of Gotham. In spite of the emphasis on sunshine and happiness, the setting is still handled realistically. The cops still carry guns, and Batgirl still knows how to fight.

The interaction with the villain is intense and effective, and I also like the interplay between Bluebelle and Daybreak.

Apparently, this story continues in Detective Comics #27, although this issue stands on its own as an interesting Elseworlds-type tale.

Rating: 7.5/10

Batman #8

More from the backlog. And more "Night of the Owls".

Title: Batman
Issue: 8
Date: June 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV
Penciler: Greg Capullo, Rafael Albuquerque
Inker: Jonathan Glapion, Rafael Albuquerque
Colorist: FCO Plascencia, Nathan Fairbairn
Letterer: Richard Starkings, Patrick Brosseau
Editor: Katie Kubert, Mike Marts
Cover: Greg Capullo, FCO Plascencia

The Court of Owls sends an army of Talons to attack (stately!) Wayne Manor as the "Night of the Owls" begins.

I liked the opening sequence, as Bruce Wayne broods over his arrogance after failing to see the threat of the Court of Owls until it was too late.

From there it's all action as the assault on Wayne Manor begins. The pacing is good, and the Talons are presented as a serious threat. I wasn't too thrilled with the attempts at taunting by the Talons, which came off as somewhat halfhearted.

The main story ends in the middle of the fight, and then, oddly, the backup story picks up exactly where the main story left off (except with a totally different art style). I'm not sure what the point of that was. Maybe just a deadline pressure issue, or an attempt to get more artists involved in the big crossover.

Overall, though, this was a well-written and entertaining story.

Rating: 7.5/10

Nightwing #8

Well, I haven't done a mainstream superhero comic in a while, and I certainly have plenty lying around.

Here is one.

Title: Nightwing
Issue: 8
Date: June 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Kyle Higgins
Penciler: Eddy Barrows
Inker: Ruy Jose, Eber Ferreira
Colorist: Rod Reis
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Editor: Katie Kubert, Bobbie Chase
Cover: Eddie Barrows, Rod Reis

This is a prelude to "Night of the Owls", and by prelude, we're going all the way back to Gotham City in 1910.

Actually, what we get is parallel stories. One is an origin story for one of the Owls, which is a nice way to put a human face on what has been essentially an army of faceless monsters.

Meanwhile, there is the present story, with Nightwing attempting to rescue the Mayor of Gotham from an attack by an Owl. This is mostly one big fight scene. Unfortunately, the near-indestructibility of the Owl actually detracts from the tension of the fight scene rather than adding to it, as various attacks on the Owl fail rather arbitrarily until eventually page count runs out and one doesn't.

Then it's time to move on to the shocking finale and the ending cliffhanger. The main story is unresolved, and the flashback story in also unresolved. The ending builds tension nicely, and the flashback story was intriguing, although I would have liked to have gotten a few more plot developments in that story.

Rating: 6/10

Justice League #12

Title: Justice League
Issue: 12
Date: October 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciler: Jim Lee, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, David Finch
Inker: Scott Williams, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, David Finch, Sandra Hope, Jonathan Glapion, Mark Irwin, Matt Banning, Rob Hunter, Joe Weems, Alex Garner, Trevor Scott
Colorist: Alex Sinclair, Gabe Eltaeb, Tony Avina, Sonia Oback, Pete Pantazis
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau
Editor: Katie Kubert, Brian Cunningham
Cover: Jim Lee, Alex Sinclair, Scott Williams

I've totally fallen behind on my New 52 reading, and this one generated a bit of buzz with the Superman/Wonder Woman kiss on the cover, so I skipped ahead to it.

This issue begins a transition into some membership changes for the Justice League that will go along with the release of a new Justice League of America title.

It also wraps up a plotline involving David Gray, who has abducted and possibly killed Steve Trevor as part of a scheme for revenge against the Justice League, who Gray blames for the deaths of his wife and children.

The final battle takes place on Mount Sumeru, which is conveniently labeled via caption as the "Mythic Valley of Souls". Not quite sure how it can be a mountain and a valley at the same time.

The battle pits the League against what appears to be the spirits of their deceased loved ones. It's well-handled, but nothing exceptional. This sort of thing has definitely been done before. A lot. Once the actual brawling starts, things proceed at a nice pace to endgame and about half the book ends up getting devoted to epilogue material, all of which is pretty good.

Most noticeably for me in these scenes is the fact that somewhere between issues 6 and 11 Hal Jordan stopped being a complete jerk. His scene here is great, and a lot more in keeping with the hero that Hal ought to be. Maybe the memories of the awful Green Lantern film are finally being put to rest.

Wonder Woman's scenes with Steve Trevor and with Superman were also good. Clark and Diana's  kiss (not really a spoiler here, since it's on the front cover) comes somewhat out of nowhere, but the lead-in dialogue worked well, and the earlier scene involving Steve was genuinely powerful.

Not disappointed I picked this issue up.

Rating: 8/10

Birds od Prey #5

Title: Birds of Prey
Issue: 5
Date: March 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Artist: Jesus Saiz, Javier Pina
Colorist: June Chung
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Bobbie Chase, Katie Kubert
Cover: David Finch, Richard Friend

The team finds themselves under attack, but even worse, they are all missing several hour of memories.

Left to figure out what happened in the missing time, they go their separate ways with plans to regroup after doing their own investigations. But can they trust those around them or even each other if they can't even trust their own memories?

The opening fight scene didn't seem to serve any purpose, but in a subjective reality scenario like this, it may just be that the significance has not yet been revealed. The same goes for pretty much everything in this issue.

In spite of the fuzzy reality of the scenario, this issue left a pretty decent amount of space for character development, and there were some good scenes. I particularly liked the training scene between Dinah and Tatsu.

By the end, we're not too far along from where we started, but I didn't mind the chance to let the characters have some individual and one-on-one interactions.

Rating: 7/10

Batwoman #5

Title: Batwoman
Issue: 5
Date: March 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: J. H. Williams III, W. Haden Blackman
Artist: J. H. Williams III
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editor: Harvey Richards, Rickey Purdin, Mike Marts

Batwoman has her final confrontation with the Weeping Woman, and the battle is absolutely gorgeous, and incredibly detailed. I loved the changing face of the Weeping Woman, which shifted from panel to panel.

From there it's on to a confrontation of another sort, as Kate gets a visit from Mr. Bones and Cameron Chase. What follows is an offer that Kate can't refuse. And one that might just put her on a collision course with the Batman.

The first half was more interesting and creative than the somewhat generic spy-dealings of the second half, but this was still a good effort overall, and the concluding two pages were powerful.

Rating: 8/10

Batman #5

Title: Batman
Issue: 5
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Scott Snyder
Penciler: Greg Capullo
Inker: Jonathan Glapion
Colorist: FCO
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Editor: Katie Kubert, Harvey Richards, Mike Marts
Cover: Chris Burnham, Nathan Fairbairn

Layout gimmickry abounds as a drugged Batman fights to stay alive and stay sane in a maze constructed by the Court of Owls.

The odd layouts manage to accomplish their purpose thanks to the excellent artwork by Capullo and Glapion. I like the use of story as a theme and the concept of the Batman's story as something that he needs to cling to and fight for, something that can be taken away from him.

The Court of Owls continues to be built up into an extremely powerful enemy, and that buildup continues to be effective.

Rating: 8/10

Batman And Robin #4

Title: Batman And Robin
Issue: 4
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Peter J Tomasi
Penciler: Patrick Gleason
Inker: Mick Gray
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau
Editor: Harvey Richards, Katie Kubert, Mike Marts
Cover: Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray, John Kalisz

We open with our heroes (Batman and Robin, AKA Bruce and Damian Wayne) tied up in the front seat of a junk car and an abandoned drive-in theater.

Nobody (who, if you recall, is somebody; specifically, he's Morgan Ducard) proceeds to try to lecture the Batman about the foolishness of his code against killing.

And you know what? It's boring.

The moral dilemma of why the Batman doesn't just kill the Joker (or whatever other villain is sure to escape and cause more mayhem every time they are thrown in Arkham) was interesting around 1988 in stories The Killing Joke and Ten Nights of the Beast. It has ceased to be interesting, not because it's been resolved, but because it's obvious that it never will be. The whole thing is based on the patently ludicrous assumption that the legal system is incapable of ever keeping these psychos in jail, and thus the entire argument boils down to a thought experiment that has long since grown tiresome.

In this particular instance, the Batman really has nothing to say, and in fact makes the (valid) point that Ducard isn't worthy of an explanation.

Then things commence blowing up.

The Dynamic Duo makes it back to the Batcave and Damian argues with Bruce about the fact that Bruce is holding back information. Damian is probably in the right here (scratch that; Alfred sides with him so Damian is definitely in the right).

Damian leaves in a huff and displays a bit more of his cruelty to animals tendencies, although this time he's just squishing fireflies. On the bright side, Damian is actually taking a liking to his dog, and displays an interest in Shakespeare when choosing the name Titus for the pup. I'm hoping this will end well, but I don't think it's likely.

And speaking of not ending well, here's Nobody to try to seduce Damian over to the Dark Side. We end with the kid considering it.

Too much rehashing of old issues without any real creativity. A clever escape from the opening imperilment isn't enough to save this.

And Damian is still annoying.

Rating: 4.5/10

Birds of Prey #4

Title: Birds of Prey
Issue: 4
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Artist: Jesus Saiz
Colorist: June Chung
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Bobbie Chase, Katie Kubert
Cover: David Finch, Richard Friend, Sonia Oback

Great opening as Canary tries to sacrifice herself to save innocent lives, and Sparrow comes up with an alternative plan in an awesome splash page shot. We jump forward and then flash back and get the conclusion of last issue's train battle in fast-paced recap form narrated by Sparrow, which includes just the right touch of humor.

I think I'm starting to "get" Sparrow. She's definitely the most entertaining character in this issue.

From there, Batgirl gets added to the team makes a guest appearance. Okay, that was a bit of a bait-and-switch, and there really isn't much explanation given for Barbara's arrival at this juncture except for the need for "extra muscle". This just seems like an excuse to put her on the cover.

Also, they decide to split up the party. That NEVER works! (Actually, they get away with it here; it's just an excuse to show the team members crawling around in ventilation shafts and such).

Weirdly, the bad guys' lair uses the exact same gimmick that the Court of Owls uses over in Batman: hidden spaces between the floors of buildings secretly built into the original design. It was so similar that I kept waiting to see if it's an actual crossover. If it isn't, then it's a pretty blatant failure at the brand editing level to be running essentially the same idea in two unrelated books (especially since this particular detail was pretty crucial to the plot in Batman). If this does turn out to be a crossover with Batman, then I'm all for it.

The infiltration appears to lead to a dead end at first, but of course things are not as they seem, and the ending cliffhanger is actually pretty clever.

This was the best issue so far in this series, in spite of some (hopefully; we'll see) minor flaws.

Rating: 7.5/10

Detective Comics #4

Title: Detective Comics
Issue: 4
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Tony Salvador Daniel
Penciler: Tony Salvador Daniel
Inker: Sandu Florea
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Katie Kubert, Harvey Richards, Mike Marts
Cover: Tony Salvador Daniel, Tomeu Morey

When I did my review of last issue, I said that this title needed to show some improvement if I was going to keep spending my money on it.

Well, it did improve. This conclusion to the Dollmaker storyline spent a lot of time explaining and filling in gaps, and it spent a lot of time setting up future plotlines, and it did all of that fairly smoothly.

The Batman came off looking strong (as did Bullock and Gordon), and the stage is now set for the return of one the classic Batman rogues. Dollmaker is also still available as a future threat, and a number of smaller plot threads have potential to grow into major stories.

This didn't completely make up for the nonsense that preceded it, but it was a big help.

Rating: 6/10

Batgirl #4

Another DC issue for tonight. I'll be heading to Queen City Kamikaze tomorrow and to Boskone on Sunday, so I may pick up some comics to review at those shows.

Title: Batgirl
Issue: 4
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Gail Simone
Penciler: Adrian Syaf
Inker: Vincente Cifuentes
Colorist: Ulises Arreola
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Editor: Katie Kubert, Bobbie Chase
Cover: Adam Hughes

It took a few issues, but this one finally gets it right.

Opening dream sequence was effective, tying in nicely with the current ongoing plot while also filling in some background and giving insights into Barbara's emotional state.

This was followed up with a good scene between Barbara and her roommate that finally felt like a natural interaction. Then Barbara gets to win one. Okay, so it was a jobber squash of some muggers, but it was necessary. And it also featured one of the cleverest little details I've seen in a while: A batman-tracking smartphone app in use by the criminals (and it actually made pretty decent sense and even hinted at a possible future villain).

Then the final confrontation with Mirror, which saw Barbara use some downright nasty psychological tactics in a fight where she was physically outmatched.

Ending surprise came out of left field, but after a bunch of really good scenes I'm not complaining. This is the level of quality that this series really needed to start out on, but I'll definitely accept it as better late than never.

Rating: 8/10

Batman #4

Slowly catching up on the DC backlog. Today I start the #4's.

Title: Batman
Issue: 4
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Scott Snyder
Penciler: Greg Capullo
Inker: Jonathan Glapion
Colorist: FCO
Letterer: Richard Starkings, Comicraft's Jimmy Betancourt
Editor: Katie Kubert, Harvey Richards, Mike Marts
Cover: Greg Capullo, FCO

Dick Grayson visits the Batcave, concerned that the Batman has been pushing himself too hard on the Court of Owls case. Interestingly, Bruce is the skeptical one. He is not convinced that the Court is real, even after finding evidence that they have been active for centuries. Dick and Jim Gordon are open to the possibility.

Why is Bruce unconvinced? Well, the answer is revealed in an incident from Bruce's childhood, right after the deaths of his parents. It might be considered his first attempt at detective work and it turned into a hard lesson and one that the boy who would become the Batman never forgot.

The flashback seemed a bit contrived, but it still held my interest as most additions to the origin story do. It's interesting how writers always seem to come up with gaps in the Batman's past that are in need of stories.

Other than the flashback scene, this issue was mostly transitional, bridging the gap between the closing peril of last issue and some new imperilment to end this one. The interaction between Bruce and Dick seemed a little bit forced. And the action consisted mainly of the Court being one step ahead of the Batman in the way that ancient and powerful conspiracies often are.

Rating: 6/10

Batman And Robin #3

Title: Batman And Robin
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Peter J Tomasi
Penciler: Patrick Gleason
Inker: Mick Gray
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau
Editor: Harvey Richards, Katie Kubert, Mike Marts
Cover: Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray, John Kalisz

Bruce Wayne is busy upgrading the Wayne Manor defenses (like THAT is going to help), and he's not letting Damian go out on patrol (which actually would have been a good idea if he'd done that from the start).

He's also bought Damian a dog, and Damian is getting repeatedly outwitted by Alfred.

Eventually, Damian heads out anyway, lays a severe beatdown on a couple of muggers, and then gets mugged himself by Nobody (AKA Morgan; can you explain to me again why the we know the identity of a villain named Nobody?).

The Batman shows up, mayhem occurs and we end with Batman and Robin waking up locked in a junk car in an abandoned drive-in theater. No, really! The only thing missing was a narrator to tell us to tune in "Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel!"

This was a lot better than the previous two issues, mostly due to Alfred, who was awesome in all the right ways.

Unfortunately, the attempt to humanize Damian is handled in a clunky and inconsistent way. The boy-assassin is suddenly hesitant when Nobody tells him to go ahead and finish off one of the muggers. Sorry, not buying it. Not the way it was handled here. Accusing Nobody of "cold-blooded murder" is just about the most idiotically out-of-character line that Damian could possibly be saddled with. I realize the objective is to get Damian to be one of the good guys, but it needs to be done in a way that is consistent with the character as established.

Some improvements here. Still a long way to go.

And did I mention that Damian is still annoying?

Rating: 4.5/10

Batgirl #3

Title: Batgirl
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Gail Simone
Penciler: Adrian Syaf
Inker: Vincente Cifuentes
Colorist: Ulises Arreola
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Editor: Katie Kubert, Bobbie Chase
Cover: Adam Hughes

This is basically split into two parts. First up, in something that was a bit reminiscent of the film Speed, Batgirl chases down a subway train carrying a bomb planted by villain Mirror. Barbara tries to out-mindgame mirror, and it works about as well as her attempts to brawl with him, which is to say, not well at all.

Unfortunately, Mirror still comes off as needing all sorts of trumped-up contrivances in order to "outsmart" Batgirl. His overly-complex plans don't actually make much sense, and they only end up working because that's how the plot needs to advance.

The whole train scene is also full of logical flaws from atrocious physics to gaping holes in the continuity. I'm still not exactly sure what happened with the trains.

The second half of the story involves Batgirl in a confrontation with Nightwing. This is a lot better, even if it falls back on some cliches in places. There is some good intensity to their relationship, and I really liked the dynamic between Barbara's need for respect and understanding and Dick's love for her. The brawling was a bit silly in that whole "whenever two superheroes meet they need to fight" sense, but there was enough emotion in the dialogue to give the scene some punch. The use of flashbacks was good too.

Looks like we're done with Mirror after next issue, which is probably about three issues longer than he needed to appear.

Rating: 5.5/10

Detective Comics #3

Title: Detective Comics
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Tony Salvador Daniel
Penciler: Tony Salvador Daniel
Inker: Sandu Florea
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Katie Kubert, Janelle Asselin, Mike Marts
Cover: Tony Salvador Daniel, Tomeu Morey

The Batman has to do battle with Dollmaker's "family" while fighting the effects of a paralyzing drug, and that's just the start of things in an issue that was pretty heavy on violence and mayhem.

Unfortunately, it's all a bit too much, and writer/artist Tony Salvador Daniel resorts to bad cliches like cannibal serial killers and evil kids all while ratcheting up the violence including a purposeless beatdown/torture session by the Batman on one of Dollmaker's surgically-altered minions that went on for two pages. And of course, another Gotham cop killed. Just put them in red Star Trek uniforms and be done with it, already.

Jim Gordon is pretty much the only bright spot in this. He's a captive of the Dollmaker and actually displays some reasonable intelligence as he deals with his situation.

We end pretty much back where we started, with the Batman brawling with more surgically altered minions and the promise of more "shocking" medical horrors to come.

I'll be shocked if I end up reading much more of this title the way things are going.

Rating; 4/10

Birds of Prey #3

Last bonus review for tonight.

Title: Birds of Prey
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Artist: Jesus Saiz
Colorist: June Chung
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Janelle Asselin, Bobbie Chase, Katie Kubert
Cover: Jesus Saiz, Nei Ruffino

Canary has invited Poison Ivy to join the team. That goes over about as well as could be expected, complete with all manner of pot-calling-kettle-black as trained assassins Starling and Katana suddenly get uptight because Ivy is "a terrorist and a killer". Which she has the audacity to just flat out deny! The inevitable fight-the-make-up follows, and in all of the grudging acceptance of Ivy by the rest of the team that follows, we don't get a single clue as to why Ivy would actually want any part of this.

We quickly move on to the clue-gathering portion of this issue's activities, which is made easier by the fact that the bad guys happened to leave a slip of paper with the names of their next two living-bomb assassin/victims in their abandoned hideout. Not exactly Batman-level detective skills needed here.

So the team mounts an "operation" on a train, and it very quickly goes badly as we finally get the rather contrived outcome of some odd moments in the main fight scene back in issue #1. At least there is some continuity here, folks, because not much else in this issue made any sense.

Writer Duane Swierczynski had to jump through some fairly ridiculous hoops to get to it, but the ending cliffhanger is really good. Sparrow continues to be entertaining. Otherwise, though, I had a too hard a time getting through the logical flaws to enjoy this one all that much.

Rating: 5.5/10

Batman #3

Title: Batman
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Scott Snyder
Penciler: Greg Capullo
Inker: Jonathan Glapion
Colorist: FCO
Letterer: Richard Starkings, Comicraft's Jimmy Betancourt
Editor: Katie Kubert, Harvey Richards, Mike Marts
Cover: Greg Capullo, FCO

The Batman begins to uncover the secrets of the Court of Owls, and their generations-old conspiracy to control Gotham.

This was a good issue for plot-thickening, both in terms of developing the backstory of the Owls and their connection to the Wayne family, and also in terms of developing some of the current post-New-52 Gotham underworld.

The actual gimmick of the hidden lairs of the Court (based on the idea that owls use the nests of other birds) was a bit implausible, but made for a fun revelation. There wasn't much action in this issue, but writer Snyder kept the pacing fast and I didn't find myself wishing for more fight scenes.

Rating: 6.5/10

Batman And Robin #2

One of the leftover #2's that I originally hadn't planned to buy. Probably should have stuck with that plan.

Title: Batman And Robin
Issue: 2
Date: December 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Peter J Tomasi
Penciler: Patrick Gleason
Inker: Mick Gray
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau
Editor: Harvey Richards, Katie Kubert
Cover: Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray, John Kalisz

Welcome to the world of Damian Wayne, where common sense is the most uncommon trait of all. You know, given that Damian Wayne's problem is that he was trained from in-utero to be the perfect killing machine, one would think that the solution would be to have him in art therapy or something, or at least to, you know, not continually take him into violent situations.

Apparently, this is not quite so obvious to the Batman.

There are only two ways this mess can end. Either Damian becomes a full-fledged villain, and the Batman looks stupid for putting up with him this whole time, or Damian really does turn into a good guy, in which case the readers still won't like him because this series has spent so much time making him unlikable.

I suppose that he could also meet a horrible demise, as Robins are wont to do, but that is probably asking too much.

And while I'm on the subject of logical plot development or lack thereof, does it seem a bit odd to give a villain the (dumb) name of "Nobody" and then reveal his identity in the second issue? Nobody, as it turns out is somebody after all!

In between Bruce bemoaning Damian's scarred soul and the big reveal of Nobody, there's, well, not much. A generic action scene followed by the revelation that Damian engages in cruelty to animals. Wonderful. That's really going to make us care about him. Not.

Can we have Tim Drake back now? Please?

Rating: 3.5/10