BATMAN ETERNAL #1 (REVIEW)

Batman Eternal #1

Writer: Scott Snyder
           James Tynion IV
           Ray Fawkes
           John Layman
           Tim Seeley

Artist: Jason Fabok

Cover: Jason Fabok
          Tomeu Morey



The Rundown:
The story begins where it is set to end. Batman beaten and battered, tied to a broken Bat-signal, as the city burns around him. Flash forward to the present where Harvey Bullock is picking up a new recruit who was heavily sought after by Jim Gordon himself, Jason Bard, from the train station. Elsewhere, Gordon is in the middle of a gun fight with Pyg and his henchmen, protecting some children while waiting for Batman to make his entrance. Which he does just in time to save Jim and the kids from Pyg's gun totting airplane. Batman and Gordon pursue Pyg and his men, with Gordon taking the stray and Batman focuses on apprehending Pyg. Jim Gordon follows the man onto the subway tracks and has him cornered while ordering the perp to drop his weapon. After a count of three, Gordon fires a shot, but it passes through the man, hitting an electrical box behind him. This causes an explosion and a fire to start on the tracks, quickly followed by the derailment of the approaching subway train. Batman is able to save Jim Gordon, and warn Bullock and other officers who arrived at the scene.
The damage is massive, and the death toll will be enormous. Acting quickly, Hady calls for the arrest of Commissioner James Gordon. An act that is carried out by a hesitant Jason Bard who's on his first night on the job. But, is put at ease after Jim gives him his blessing to place him under arrest. Flashback to the "end" of the story, where we once again see a bound, broken Batman with a voice asking him if he can see the grand design in it all.

The Review:
An extremely well done initial issue for the new weekly Batman series. The story felt like it was the beginning of something huge and eventful. It left us with tons of questions and of course anticipating the next issue and how all of this plays out. From page one we are left wondering who was able to get the drop on Batman and engulf Gotham City in flames. Is it a new villain? A returning villain coming back in a huge way? Even the events involving Commissioner James Gordon left us with quite a few questions. Is Jim losing his mind? If not, then who is working him this way? And even with Jason Bard, are we about to watch Jim Gordon groom his future replacement? Or is he a part of what is happening? The appearance is given, but even Bard's backstory is very similar to that of Gordon.
The art work was top notch from start to finish. With almost every single panel telling the story nicely and being visually appealing. With it being a weekly title there runs the risk of having to speed through the work, here is hoping that upcoming weeks are just as good as this one was.
Overall, it was an amazing issue, with a team of writers (although three of them are consultants) that big it is expected that the story would be up to par, and in this case went above and beyond that. As did the art, and they complimented each other nicely. What is even better, is that we won't have to wait a month to see what happens next!

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DETECTIVE COMICS #30 (REVIEW)

Detective Comics #30

Writer: Francis Manapul
           Brian Buccellato

Artist: Francis Manapul

Cover: Francis Manapul





The Rundown:
Story begins with two females on the pier as we read "Welcome to Gotham City. This place has the potential to be great...for both of us." Batman is prowling the rooftops at night. In pursuit of a group of thugs using children to deal their drugs. He is able to save the kids, but one of the thugs gets away ironically with the gang that he recently stole drugs from. Batman pursues them, but is unable to catch them.
At an Extreme Motorcross event, Bruce Wayne talks business with the woman from the pier, Miss Elena Aquila. Her daughter, Annie, is a four time champion and is participating in the event. Elena pitches her proposal of Bruce and his company joining her in re-developing Gotham City's East End Waterfront. She gets him to agree as it is an attempt to restore hope to a decaying part of the city he loves. As news of the venture spreads, it appears that it will receive some corrupt political pressure. Down at the Waterfront, Mr. Squid, is dealing with the thug that stole from him and escaped Batman earlier. We get an idea of his namesake as he hoists his victims by the chain around their neck using a crane and then drops them into a tank with what appears to be a man-eating squid.
Back at the Batcave, Bruce is working on Damian's motorbike as he converses with Alfred. Discussing how he misses his late son, and how much Damian loved his bike. The alarms begin to sound as an intruder makes their way onto the grounds of Wayne Manor. As Bruce rushes to face to assailant, he discovers that it is Elena Aquila. She is engulfed in flames, and falls into his arms to the ground.

The Review:
Detective Comics has a new creative team, and after this issue, they are a welcomed addition. The first part of the story arc "Icarus" was a very nice beginning, taking things back to a detective based story. Which of course leaves questions to be answered. What is this new drug hitting the streets of Gotham? Who is this Mr. Squid character? Is he a main player or just another pawn? And what of the Aquila Family? Is Elena dead, critically injured or is it all a rouse? Some of you may even wonder if we were witnessing the beginnings of a future Bat-Family member. With what has been presented in this issue, Annie Aquila is in a very similar situation as Batman and some of the other Bat-Family characters. All of these questions will likely be answered in the upcoming issues, but it is definitely a sign of good writing.
The art, although usually not fan of that style, was done well and added to the required tone of the story. It also added to some of the mystery with only giving us a small glimpse of Mr. Squid's killer pet. How large and grotesque is this thing, we will have to wait and see, but am intrigued. Usually I would mention how it told the story well, and it did, however that is almost expected when the artist is also the co-writer. A skill in itself, but who better to translate your words to pictures?
Overall, it was a really good issue. The new detective focused direction is nice to see happen, given the title and all. Hopefully, fans of The Flash were given equal talent to follow the work of Detective Comics new creative team. As although only an issue into their run, things are looking to be really good. With it being the Year Of The Batman, that is another thing that is nice to see happening.

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BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #29 (REVIEW)

Batman: The Dark Knight #29

Writer: Greg Hurwitz

Artist: Jorge Lucas
          Ethan Van Sciver

Cover: Ethan Van Sciver
           Hi-Fi




The Rundown:
Things pick up where last issue left off (find review for #28 HERE), with Batman plummeting from the sky. Falling towards the city streets below after a battle with the Abraham Langstrom's version of Man-Bat. Although nearly ripping himself in half, Batman is able to save himself from certain death. He makes a quick stop at the Batcave and Jim Gordon's office before heading to Langstrom Mansion, to confront Abraham who is back in human form enjoying a meal. Purposely keeping his words in a theoretical manner as to not implicate himself, Abraham explains to Batman why he chose homeless people as his victims. Stating that nobody would miss them, to which Batman replies, that he misses them. Batman then heads to Kirk Langstrom's Lab to ask for his assistance in stopping his father, already having the antidote, he needs help administering it. Batman says that he thinks he has learned something from Kirk's actions in Detective Comics #19.
Abraham awakens and injects his form of the Man-Bat serum, transforms, and heads out into the city. He smashes his way into a homeless shelter looking to feed, when one of the homeless men takes charge and directs everyone out of the room to safety. Man-Bat attacks the man, sinking his fangs into the persons chest. While he feeds, it is revealed to be Batman, who has apparently ingested the antidote and sacrificed himself so that the antidote would make its way into Abraham's system. Batman is barely able to hang on long enough for the antidote to take effect, and reverts Abraham back to his human as the police arrive to catch him red handed.

At his trial, Abraham Langstrom is let go after pleading temporary insanity. He is proud om himself, joking with the media until a homeless child tells him that he killed her father. Abraham's demeanor changes quickly as he says no more questions and returns to his home. While home, Abraham Langstrom tells us of how he now waits and watches to make his move. While the city (Batman) watches him right back.

The Review:
The long story arc of Man-Bat, or Man-Bats, was brought to an end nicely. Using the events from Detective Comics #19 brought things around full-circle. At times it felt as though they were over saturating the Man-Bat character with the addition of She-Bat and an alpha form of Man-Bat. However, with a pretty good story by Greg Hurwitz, it all made sense  and added to the character of the New 52 version of Kirk Langstrom and Man-Bat. It helped that they kept the Man-Bat serum within the Langstrom family (with the exception of the al Ghul's army of them) and not some random character, as now there is room for future stories involving Kirk and Abraham, their father-son relationship problems and now Man-Bat issues.
The art was done by two artists, with Ethan Van Sciver continuing on his work from last issue in the first five pages, and Jorge Lucas taking on the rest of issue #29. Ethan's work was top notch, and preferred of the two. The title page was double-paged, and looked amazing. Almost looked 3-D. Now, Jorge's work wasn't bad, it was a touch rough, but it did its job and told this story well. It didn't help that the two styles were very different and did not transition into each other well. His final panel on the last page was top notch itself.
Overall, it was a solid issue getting a 4-out-of-5, and was a good ending to the Man-Bat story arc which I'd give 3.5-out-of-5. It will be interesting to see how soon they choose to involve the character, or even the newer version in Abraham Langstrom's Man-Bat, after almost over using the character within on story.

I thought that the series was ending on issue #30, however it looks as though this was the last installment of Batman: The Dark Knight. Perhaps it was simply a mistake over on DC Comics and there will be an issue 30. If not, they ended this story arc in a manner that works as a finale for the title. I don't really consider it the end, as more of a renaming with it is simply making room for the new Batman Eternal series. But overall, it was a decent title and was great for giving us some of the new origins for Batman's rogues gallery. Hopefully something that the other Bat-titles will continue on. For more Reviews, News and more on Comics, Movies, TV, Games and Wrestling be sure to check out The Non-Geeky Nerd! Until then...

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