Here are today's "Guest Reviews" by Jeremy Sims from Batwatch. Included are DC's; Batman Incorporated #7, Batman: The Dark Knight #16, & Talon #4. I have also added my rating after each review. If you have any questions about my rating or want to discuss anything just leave me a comment.
Batman, Incorporated #7 - Belly of the Whale
The fight to reclaim Gotham City begins!
Batman, Inc., takes the offensive against Talia and Leviathan!
It’s Damian vs. Heretic — and if Damian loses, the city dies!
Preview
Last month's
Batman Inc. had tons of mystery and the death of Knight to keep fans on their toes. Does this week finally give us some answers to readers' burning questions, or are we left scratching our heads?
In this issue,
Nightwing,
Red Hood,
Red Robin and
Batwing try to clean up after last month's battle,
Damian discovers the origin of The Heretic, and
Talia plots over a captured
Batman.
Too Many Irons
This is the first issue I've read that really made me feel like Morrison may have bit off more than he can chew. Much like Final Crisis, this story simply has too much happening to really give a satisfying narrative in such a compact package.
Essentially, this issue spends a couple pages on every character moving forward their part of the story, but by dividing up the comic into so many pieces, each part of the story only gets a tiny amount of development, and for me, it was not enough development to make me feel satisfied. Despite the small amount of progress the story made in this issue, it still felt like it was leaving out important scenes. Nightwing gets into a fight which takes place off panel, and he is somehow subdued by a force that really does not seem like it should be capable of taking down Dick Grayson. As another example of characters that needs more face time, Batman is barely seen in this issue.
Read the rest of Jeremy Sims' Review on Batwatch
My Rating
Cover & Solicit - 2/5
Art, Colors & Inking - 2/5
Layout & Flow - 3/5
Story - 4/5
Verdict - 3
Batman: The Dark Knight #16 - Touch of Crazy
Welcome new series artist Ethan Van Sciver!
Do you dare journey into the twisted world of the Mad Hatter?
Batman has discovered a trail of bodies but no leads as he realizes that this is unlike any Mad Hatter case he’s seen before.
Preview
I've been a harsh on Gregg Hurwitz recently, the writer of
The Dark Knight. He just concluded his previous arch on the Scarecrow, and though it wasn't awful, it also wasn't good. Apparently, many others share my dislike for the series since not one of twenty people thought he was the best current Batman writer on the BatWatch poll. Still, he has a chance to redeem himself now with his current arch. However, its going to be an uphill battle as he uses the Mad Hatter as the prime villain of the piece, a character some say has never had a good story. Does Hurwitz manage to prove his writing chops by making the
Mad Hatter an A-list villain, or is this arch, much like Hatter, difficult to take seriously?
In this issue, Batman attempts to intervene with a rash of kidnappings.
I Don't Even Care
Maybe it is just because I am on testosterone withdraw, (I stopped producing testosterone a year or so ago. Nobody has no idea why, and now I've run out of testosterone ointment for a couple of days. It's a whole thing. Very weird. I'll stop oversharing now) but I just can't make myself give a crap about writing an in depth review of this one. However, I suspect it has less to do with the lack of testosterone and more to do with the lack of issue substance. Truly horrible issues are fun to mock while great issues usually have a lot to unpack, but this is just “meh” through and though.
The basic plot of the arch appears to be that Mad Hatter is kidnapping people who he will no doubt use for some twisted purpose relating to Wonder Land. As with the
Scarecrow story, this seems like like a reimagining or expansion of the character than simply a rehash of past stories. The Mad Hatter only has two gimmicks; he can control minds with hats and he is obsessed with Wonderland. This story seems to be relying on those two tropes and nothing else.
Read the rest of Jeremy Sims' Review on Batwatch
My Rating
Cover & Solicit - 4/5
Art, Colors & Inking - 4/5
Layout & Flow - 4/5
Story - 4/5
Verdict - 4
Talon #4 - Nightmares
Talon battles his past and future in New York!
Things are getting tense for Calvin Rose as he tries to escape New York without losing the reason he left the Court of Owls in the first place. But standing in his way is one of the Court’s most lethal weapons!
Preview
I've really been enjoying
Talon. So far, there has not been a bad issue. There have not been some less than stellar issues, but all of them have been at least fairly good, and some, like last month's have been great. A lot happened in
Talon #3 with Calvin reuniting with his old girlfriend and tangling with a crew of ex-villains before coming face to face with a talon awakened just for the sole purpose of killing Calvin Rose. Does this issue deliver another high quality tale, or does this series plummet to an untimely demise?
In this issue, everything goes wrong for Talon and his crew as Calvin faces down with a monstrous threat.
Lights, Camera...
This issue is almost all action, so it is fortunate that the actions is high quality. This new villain, Felix Harmon, is a formidable threat boasting amazing strength and bulk advantages over Calvin while also having a significant intellect to go along with his physical threat. The art department does a great job of conveying the action making you feel every broken and dislocated bone as Talon gets thrown around like a rag doll.
Read the rest of Jeremy Sims' Review on Batwatch
My Rating
Cover & Solicit - 4/5
Art, Colors & Inking - 3/5
Layout & Flow - 5/5
Story - 5/5
Verdict - 4.3
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