Reviews, ruminations, and (occasional) ramblings.
Batman #406 – “Black Dawn” – Frank Miller/David Mazzucchelli
This is the third chapter of the Year One storyline that redefined Batman’s origin. Last Issue, Batman ended up in an abandoned building and police commissioner Loeb (who’s crooked) ordered his SWAT team (also crooked) to firebomb the place and kill Batman, who’s declared war on corruption in Gotham. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman 406, Detective 573, Outsiders 18”
Batman #405 – “War is Declared” – Frank Miller/David Mazzucchelli
This is part 2 of the Year One storyline, which redefined (and solidified) Batman’s origin post-Crisis. It starts with Lieutenant James Gordon still trying to clean up the corruption in the Gotham police department. That’s an uphill battle, since the police commissioner (Loeb) is corrupt himself. Gordon gets involved in a hostage situation where a nutcase named Blume has grabbed a kid. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman 405, Detective 572, Outsiders 17”
Batman #404 – “Who I Am, How I Come to Be” – Frank Miller/David Mazzucchelli
This is the first chapter of the famous Year One story, which established a new origin for Batman. Most of the elements of this origin seem to have stuck, with a few minor details getting retconned later. This tells us how Bruce Wayne first became Batman, but it’s also an origin story for Commissioner Gordon, showing how he became who he is and why he and Batman trust each other so much. Much of the story is told in parallel, contrasting Batman and Gordon, but also showing the similarities between them. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman 404, Detective 571, Outsiders 16”
Batman #403 – “One Batman Too Many” – Max Allan Collins/Denys Cowan/Greg Brooks
This one starts with Batman fighting Joker and Two-Face, killing both of them at the end of the fight. We soon find out this isn’t the real Batman, it’s Tommy Carma, the rogue cop who was killing criminals last issue and was caught by the real Batman. Carma is so deluded, he actually believes he is Batman and his fight with the two villains was actually him killing a couple of orderlies at Arkham Asylum, thinking they were Joker and Two-Face. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman 403, Detective 570, Outsiders 15”
Batman Annual #10 – “Down to the Bone” – Doug Moench/Denys Cowan/Alfredo Alcala
This one starts with three different men being pressured in three different ways to sell some stocks they own; one (Carstairs) is threatened (using a dead cat to reinforce it), one (Hersch) is beaten, and one (Hammond) is haunted by a ghost. All three of them decide to sell the stock, which turns out to be in Wayne Enterprises. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman Annual 10, Outsiders Annual 1”
Batman #402 – (No Title) – Max Allan Collins/Jim Starlin
This one starts with a young couple getting mugged by a couple of scumbags. Batman shows up to deal with them, but we soon realize this isn’t the real Batman, since he breaks the punks’ necks. That’s confirmed as he heads home and we see some other guy under the mask, who thinks it’s his mission to rid Gotham of criminals. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman 402, Detective 569, Outsiders 14”
Batman #401 – “A Bird in the Hand” – Barbara J. Randall/Trevor von Eeden
This is definitely a post-Crisis story, and the first Batman comic for the last few years that wasn’t written by Doug Moench. The villain in this one is Magpie, a new character introduced in John Byrne’s Man of Steel mini-series, and supposedly the first villain Batman and Superman fought together as a team. There’s also a tie-in to the ongoing Legends limited series, with G. Gordon Godfrey appearing here. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman 401, Detective 568, Outsiders 13”
Batman #400 – “Resurrection Night” – Doug Moench
This is a special anniversary issue of Batman featuring multiple chapters, each illustrated by different artists. (I’ll list each artist for each chapter, but Doug Moench is the writer for all of them.) The basic premise is that someone has released a bunch of Batman’s villains (almost all of them) and he ends up fighting them all (with a little help from Robin, Catwoman, and Talia). This ties into the note Batman received last issue that told him to “Know Your Foes”, a note he’s still pondering as this story begins (which is also the anniversary of the night Bruce Wayne first became Batman). Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman 400, Detective 567, Adventures of the Outsiders 38, Outsiders 12”
Batman #399 – “Strike Two” – Doug Moench/Tom Mandrake
Last issue, a nutcase named Spivey killed his ex (Mona Lamont) in a fit of jealousy, decapitating her and taking the head as a trophy. Batman is certain of Spivey’s guilt, but couldn’t find any evidence in his apartment (because Spivey took the head to the basement, where he put it in a bucket of chemicals to shrink it). Batman has been staking out Spivey’s place for over a month, getting Catwoman to cover his nightly patrols. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman 399, Detective 566, Adventures of the Outsiders 37, Outsiders 11”
Batman #398 – “About Faces” – Doug Moench/Tom Mandrake
This one continues from last issue, with Catwoman pissed off that Batman won’t trust her with the details of his plan for Two-Face and how Circe fits into it. She not really jealous of Circe, just mad that Batman won’t give her 100% of himself. They argue for a while about who has the bigger trust issues, and Batman admits he loves before revealing that he wants to try and change Two-Face back to the good person he was before his face was scarred. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman 398, Detective 565, Adventures of the Outsiders 36, Outsiders 10”