Hello again GEN readers! It’s Jill a.k.a. The Nerdy Bird back with this week’s installment of DoubleDCoverage. I’m beginning to realize there are no bounds to Grant Morrison’s mind. Check out what he’s done this time and catch sight of the wild action going down in Gotham lately. Reviews for Batman and Robin #5 and Batman Annual #27 are ahead. Also, check out my star ratings for my other pulls from last Wednesday!
BATMAN AND ROBIN #5
Batman and Robin is definitely in a league of it’s own. Even though it’s centered around a Batman who isn’t nearly as dark as his predecessor, we’ve definitely got a bit of the ultra-violence going on here. The last arc featured a pig man placing deforming masks on people’s faces, this one has someone EATING faces. Is there a deep metaphor at work here or is Grant Morrison just wild about weird?
So the Red Hood is Jason Todd, not much surprise there really. I didn’t expect a curveball and I’m glad Morrison didn’t give us one because I think the hood fits. Speaking of the hood, is that not the dumbest mask anyone’s ever worn? I’d really love a writer to give an explanation for that one day because it’s a solid, hard shell and Jason is right to complain about it. However, it doesn’t stop him and his new sidekick Scarlet from one-upping the dynamic duo and making a clean getaway. Red Hood and Scarlet are now making a name for themselves in the news by killing criminals and, in Gotham at least, not everyone thinks it’s such a bad idea.
Jason compares himself and Scarlet to the i-Pod killing the Walkman (the Walkman being Batman and Robin). He’s trying to brand his new team into popular thought one slogan at a time. One of the villains left alive after Jason and Scarlet’s attack warns of an even worse evil on his way to Gotham. He goes by the ever-so not intimidating name of Flamingo, and the police find his handiwork soon enough. A plane full of strippers are left with their faces skinned and yes, eaten by this Eduardo Flamingo and now he’s after the Red Hood.
I can’t tell if Philip Tan is trying to emulate Frank Quietly’s style or mix in his own but it’s only half working for me. His version of Scarlet is far inferior to Quietly’s and I liked how he was drawing Damian until the mask came off and he turned into a 70-year-old man. However his Penguin, Batman and Red Hood (while masked coincidentally enough) were better. At first, when Jason Todd took off the hood I thought it was Jason Blood instead. Red hair with a white streak in front, what else would I think? Well Morrison has explained away an old Crisis continuity quirk by having Jason explain to Scarlet that Batman used to make him dye his hair to look more like Dick. The gray streak is from the Lazarus Pit he was resurrected in. All visuals aside, this issue fell back a bit from the four that preceded it for me. More violence and more insane villains can be interesting but only if there’s a point to it.
BATMAN ANNUAL #27
The Batman Annual serves as a continuation of the recent Azrael mini-series as well as his upcoming ongoing but there’s a lot more packed into this issue than that. The main story centers around Azrael but there are also two smaller tales to enjoy, or not enjoy as the case may be, plus a look into Batman’s new headquarters.
A priest is murdered and a grave is desecrated but no one’s quite sure why. Detective Harvey Bullock is on the case with a new partner, Josie MacDonald, as well as Batman and Robin. The priest turns up clean, he was just in the way of what the murderer really wanted – something inside the gravestone. Said gravestone belonged to one Marco Cantonini, an entrepreneur whose descendants, the Canton’s, became one of the wealthiest families in Gotham after the Wayne’s. Knowing the killer didn’t get what he wanted from the grave, Batmand and Robin stake out one of the Canton family’s homes. A man dressed to resemble a demon from hell called Amon attacks the young boy there but fails to apprehend him.
Working with the police, Dick dresses Damian up like the boy to lure Amon into a trap. It’s then that Azrael shows up, allowing Amon to escape with Damian. Dick contacts the Order of Purity to get more information on Amon and to team with Azrael in order to stop him. He’s from a fanatic cult called La Saligia and he’s on the hunt for seven keys which will open one lock. Turns out those keys are actually people, children to be more precise and Amon plans on sacrificing them to restore the eighth deadly sin. This story, to be continued in the Detective Comics Annual this week, felt a bit busy, like too much was going on for just an annual sized story. Fabian Nicieza did a very good job of placing subtle references to the current Batman storylines that make it feel in-step with them.
The first smaller story was indeed smaller. “Off Rogue Racing: A Lil Gotham Tale” by Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen features miniature versions of our favorite Gotham villains and the dynamic duo drag racing. It’s adorable in every way, shape and form and I demand to see more of this immediately! The third story in this issue by Mandy McMurray and Kelley Jones has a bit more meat to it. A creepy burglary at the Gotham blood bank has the police and Barbara Gordon looking for a possible psychopathic culprit with a genuine disease. The story could be mildly intriguing depending on where it goes from here (this one will also continue in the Detective Annual), but I’ll be brutally honest, the art was painful to look at. Everyone looked like a schlub and Barbara got the worst treatment of them all with pointy elbows, no chin and fluctuating breasts. The two-page look into the new Bat “cave” was too similar to something we’ve seen recently in another title and was basically just a throwaway afterthought.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE #4 – Pretty much everything still feels off about this book but Robinson’s extras in the back are consistently interesting.
SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #8 (OF 12) – I feel like I’ve missed something and this issue was very predictable but I still found it enjoyable.
My pull list for this week:
ACTION COMICS #882
ADVENTURE COMICS #3
BATGIRL #3
BATMAN #691
BLACKEST NIGHT: BATMAN #3 (OF 3)
BOOSTER GOLD #25
DETECTIVE COMICS ANNUAL #11
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #41
RED ROBIN #5
SECRET SIX #14
Which two should I review for DoubleDCoverage #30?
October 14th, 2009 at 5:40 am
Being a Superman fan, my picks would be ACTION COMICS #882 and ADVENTURE COMICS #3.
October 14th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Since Detective is the second part of the story that Batman Annual started, I think that’d be ok to at least give a few words on. Otherwise I say Secret Six because everyone loves it and I have only read one issue.