CoW: Cover of the Week 2/28/13

Batman Inc. #8

There isn't too much to say about this cover, outside of the obvious. But it's taking home a Golden Udder for what it represents, more than the artistic skill and sweat that created it. It's very Spectre-esque.  Damian, floating there like an angel and an open view into the darkness. It's poetic. As is the lettering on 'R.I.P.' If that doesn't get you to look into this issue. I don't know what will outside of a few spoilers.

Laid Back Comics: Batman Inc. #8

To say that below my following review will be full of spoilers is pretty redundant at this point seeing as we got the new from the New York post about the big moment in it. We will get to that a little bit later as there is a good amount of story that happened as well.

Batman Inc. has seemed like a slow beast getting to this point of the Leviathan Story line but we are soon getting to the end and here is one of the, if not the darkest chapter in it. Do not be fooled by the title of the series, this is a straight Damian story from start to finish. While the rest of the Batman Inc group is struggling to fight their way to get to Batman, currently trapped, it is Robin who comes flying in to suddenly even the odds, taking the fight straight to the tower. And while this is going on, it shows how far Damian Wayne has gone as a character in the books. He might have first shown up and pushed the idea he was ‘the proper’ person to become Batman and take control of his legacy, here it is more about wanting to save his father and call off his mother in her actions.

The best scene in the whole Book is when Nightwing and Robin get to work together again even for the briefest of moments. They lay down the feelings on how much they meant to one another. It is a wonderful written scene harking back to the period of time Nightwing was Batman. Times almost forgotten now save for Morrison who wrote it. It also has this wonder action quality to it all with them sitting and talking this out while hail of gunfire is upon them, before moving out with smoke bombs and classic 60’s style fight sound affects right out of Adam West show.  But, with the knowledge we knew going into this, it was bitter sweet as we knew what would be coming very soon.

Everything this issue had leaded up to was Damian fighting against his much larger self, The Heretic. And it is a brutal one at that. It was more than really just a drawn out fight, this move was enough of a distraction for the group to grab what Heretic was holding and stop Talia if only for a brief moment. And Damian went down swinging and insulting his mother’s followers. And hopefully in this last effort try and convince her to stop this brutal fighting between this and his father, though that may have cost him his life in doing so.

The art work put forth by Chris Burnham in these last few pages is what sells this as not just some would be comic stunt, but a genuine moment in the history of Batman. Yet another tragedy in an already tragedy filled world of Bruce Wayne. And while the cynics of the world may have this off as another Robin dying, we soon forget this was a blood relative of Bruce, and the last time he lost one of these was when his parents died on that night in Crime Alley.

While the artwork though out by Burnham was all around wonderful, there is a credit to Jason Master who did a few pages as well. And while there is a moment where he tries to use the same style, it is slightly noticeable in the two change overs. It isn’t bad art work in any shape, but if you are flipping through it would be little jarring.

The whole series and death is very sad, Damian when introduced was an unlikeable character at first, but the more he was used and groomed under Alfred, Dick, and then later Bruce he was a fresh voice to the Batman Family, he was accepted as well by the fans slowly. So for him to be ‘gone’ is a sad one even it was planned for a while. Will he stay; well I don’t want to be one of the few who says it will only be a matter of time before his return happens. But, never can really say in the world of comics anymore. Though if this is the finale story of this Robin, then it would be a fitting one.

-TT-

OVERALL 8.5 out of 10

Bryan "BAC" Clendening

Twitter: BAClend

Comic News: Robin Damian Wayne Will DIE!

  Funny thing happened on the way to writing a storyline. Damian Wayne had been introduced at the beginning of his run on Batman about 7 years ago now. Time has flew by. Initially, Morrison had stated that he was gonna kill Damian at the end of his run. And that will come to past.

   Leaked by DC Comics themselves, Morrison will kill Damian Wayne, the current Robin, in Batman Incorporated # 8, also finishing off his run with the Dark Knight. Damian Wayne, who is Bruce Wayne's & Talia Al Ghul's son, will be MURDERED, according to multiple sources. And this will not end the Batman & Robin title. It will merely switch up to a team up book for a while.

   Confirmed by Batman & Robin writer Peter Tomasi, Bruce Wayne will go through the 5 stages of mourning. Fresh from the end of Death of the Family, Bruce's own allies have decided to keep their distance from him ... even Jason Todd having a burned face. Damian Wayne will die at the age of 10 years old.

Comic News: Nicieza Reigns Over BATWING

   Long time comic book scribe Fabian Nicieza recently took over the writing duties for leaving scribe Judd Winick on Batwing. The new Batwing scribe is currently wrapping up Winick's storylines with December's Batwing # 15.

  Nicieza's first full storyline starts with Batwing #16 as new regular artist Fabrizio Forentino take over the book and start the new story arc "Acceptable Corruption" which deals with the police in Tinasha letting a killer go free, according to Nicieza.

Nicieza talked about his first arc to Newsrama:

 A murderer walks free because his rich father greases the right palms. The punk kills again and David has had enough. He pressures to protect a witness who can identify the spoiled punk while he uses Batwing to intimidate the industrialist father. But success in the short-term might mean long-term problems for both David and Batwing.

When the industrialist father is not all too happy with David and Batwing's interventions, he decides to bring in some heavy guns to take down both of them (not knowing they are one and the same).

David's police precinct will be fleshed out a bit more with new characters, as will his partner Kia. She'll be heavily involved and not all too happy with what's going on. Batwing's operations engineer, Matu, will also play a big role... if he survives the ass-whoopin' David brings down on them.

Batwing #16, the first issue with new creative team of Fabian Nicieza and Fabrizio Forentino, will hit stands in January. 

REVIEW: Batwing # 1-8

BATWING
Issues #1-8
Story arc: Massacre/The Kingdom Storyline
Writer: Judd Winick
Artists: Ben Oliver, Chriscross & Dustin Nguyen
DC Comics


BACKGROUND:

   Welcome back folks. Been a while since I did a whole storyline. But, let's get down to business. Batwing first appeared as a part of Batman's new Batman Inc venture about a year before the relaunch. Fast forward to around last summer when DC announced the New 52, Batwing was one of the titles that was to be bolstered. And that came with both positive and negative press. Yet, Batwing was just one of the many characters that were going to give diversity alongside Mr. Terrific, Static, Voodoo, Blue Beetle & Batwoman. I just want to point out that the first 2 titles were canceled a few month ago and Voodoo gets her last issue this month. Yet, the other two are going strong.

  So, what is making Batwing a title that keeps going? Part of it may have to do with the Bat-family. The other part of it might be the fact that it is being sold as "the Batman of Africa." But, let's examine the truth behind this title and see if it really  measures up.


LOW DOWN:

  Batwing # 1 opens to ... narration while our hero is fighting the villain in question, Massacre. It looks brutal. The background definitely feels like a different place. Our hero tells us how brutal Massacre with on very little armor in comparison to him. Yet, for the first time, we hear a phrase that will haunt readers and our hero: We Honor Them  All in Blood.

   Wow. What a colorful ... line.

  We go through a flashback of Batwing, where we are outside of the city of Tinasha as Batwing takes down a drug lord known as Blood Tiger. After scaring the crap out of Blood Tiger with some narration from Batwing being told by Batman to be theatrical in order to instill fear into the hearts of criminals; we go to an investigation being done by Tinasha officer Kia Okuru and our hero's civilian identity, David Zavimbe. Earlier, David left a clue while in his Batwing gear. David subtlety tests Officer Okuru who finds the wallet. Back in Batwing's lair, The Haven, he and his Alfred, known as Matu Ba, connect with the Bat Computer and figure out the identity of Massacre's first victim . . . a hero known as Earth Strike; a hero in African's super hero team known as The Kingdom.

 We find out that the Kingdom has disappeared and David goes back in civvies to his police job ... only to be met with a machete stabbed through his back to his chest after walking in a room full of severed heads and bodies. YAY. I like Tinasha.

  It seems as if Massacre came to leave a message to the Tinasha police. And he did. While David was dealing with his recent impalement, Officer Okuru brought reinforcements ...only for her to get hurt and the rest of the reinforcements to be killed by Massacre. Boy ... the guy is living up to his name.

We find that Massacre left little survivors among the police and has decided to attack  . .. an ELEMENTARY School. Okay. You know, I know we want to show how dark and gritty this new city in Africa is but DAMN! Of course, this is two weeks after Massacre' s glorious first confrontation with the Tinasha PD.

  David figures out that Massacre is gonna attack an elementary school as Massacre attacks one . .. mostly,a teacher in one. But this teacher actually happens to be former member of the Kingdom, Thunder Fall. The electric Thunder Fall takes on Massacre ... only to lose an arm in the process. GEEZ!

 Batwing, against Matu Ba's wishes . . . okay, okay ... Batwing shots Matu with a sedative, knocking him out . . .goes and joins the battle against Massacre. Batwing is able to fend off Massacre but the damage is done. Thunder Fall succumes to blood loss, dying. Yet, before he dies, he is about to tell Batwing that they should not be forgiven for what they did.

  As the mystery gets deeper about The Kingdom and Massacre, we get a look back at David's childhood ... as a child soldier for a warlord named Keita. Both David and his younger brother Issac were the two best child soldiers of General Keita's army. They would kill who he asked to kill ... except women and children. And they would not hesitate to beat up older soldiers. They were the Dragonflies and they were vicious. Yet, their moral stand against Keita lead to their defection ... and Keita seemingly killing Issac after beating him up  and throwing him off a cliff side.

  For his trouble, young David kidnaps Keita, ties him up near an enemy camp and let's them known Keita is there.

Ah ... the joys of youth.

After that ... we find that Massacre kills another member of the Kingdom, off panel and it is now time ... for a fundraiser. It seems that there is a fundraiser at The Kingdom's former headquarters, known as The Citadel. The Kingdom's old pilot and weapons mechanic, Josiah Kone. And wow ...  he's at the Citadel, alongside Bruce Wayne who have transformed The Kingdom's old headquarters into a museum. Yet, Massacre ... with help this time, is able to destroy   The Citadel and kidnap a group of people with him.

  Batwing manages to corner and stop Massacre, saving the people and Josiah from certain death. Yet, as Batwing continues to dive into the mystery behind  The Kingdom ... he learns of their greatest shame and secret.


 SPOILER ALERT

 The Kingdom allowed for a genocidal maniac to team up with a group of warlords to fight the peoples army ... and let them kill each other. The maniac, General Okuro, was exiled from Africa, led by the Kingdom themselves.


  It is from this one event which lead to the break up of the Kingdom and the events that are currently happen with Massacre. Batwing and Batman track down the remaining members of The Kingdom to Gotham City and ...

 I will stop here.


BREAK DOWN:

Art:

   We have 3 very distinct art styles here. Very distinct and very different. Dustin Nguyen's issues were good and really captured the grit of Gotham and the mood for the story during those last two issues of this first storyline. It was a dark tone with a fast pace and the art conveyed the urgency really well.  The emotional parts were a 50 50. The major reveal of Massacre was done extremely  well but his benefactor being revealed seemed to lack the energy that the previous reveal had.

   Chriscross had done the pencils on issue #4 and I loved it. Going into David's past for the first time really needed to be vivid, painful, colorful and gruesome all at once. Chriscross succeeded with that. The tormented, blood-soaked history of David and his brother Issac with General Keita was rendered in a beautifully grizzy fashion. The backgrounds where vivid, the colors were vibrant. Everything fit where it was supposed to fit. It was a strong issue.

  Ben Oliver has some mind-numbingly beautiful art. Oliver penciled most of the issues of this story and they look amazing. His fusion of realistic and comic book art really makes the book a pleasure to the eyes. The characters are distinct in the way they move and look. The one flaw to Mr. Oliver's art ... which may not be his fault ... was the lack of backgrounds. There are times where no backgrounds are fine. Yet, with this being a launch title and introducing us to a brand new original locale, we didn't see much of it.

  There were some backgrounds that were just well done as we saw small areas around Tinasha. Yet, there were others that were just very plain. The citadel looked very majestic but then there were a lot of panels with nothing but Batwing, or Bruce Wayne or just people. I think the lack of backgrounds hurt the book a little bit.


 Writing:

   Judd Winnick gives his A game in this book as we are introduced to a brand new character. Batwing is very multi-faceted and it makes him such a compelling and different character than from  Batman that it makes you want to watch him more. He knows he has blood on his hands. He knows there is a lot of corruption and down right gruesome things that occur in Tinasha every day.

  Officer  Okuru and Matu make solid first impressions. Both characters are likable and give strong connections to our main hero. Matu's past is shrouded in mystery which leaves a lot to open with him. And the interesting dynamic between David and Okuru make their interactions interesting.

  The story is a strong start for Batwing. My only problem is how the story ends in Gotham. While I give the writer points to help set up Night of Owl's crossover issue (issue #9) after this story, it just seemed like the Bat Family  didn't trust Batwing to handle the situation. While it is nice that they helped each other, this is supposed to be David's first  foray and I saw Batman in 4 out of the first 8 issues. That's half. Sales strategy or not, not a great first impression on our hero. Otherwise, Winick wrote a very effective and wonderful character that I hope we see thrive in the years to come.


Final Verdict:

   Batwing's first outing was full of adventure, mystery, philosophical debates and gave us a taste of the world of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and it great city, Tinasha. Though, I feel we didn't see enough of Tinasha and there was too much Batman in these first 8 issues, the story and characters were really great. You read these books and feel invested on David and his crusade. A strong first outing for the Batman of Africa, Batwing.


I give this story a 3.5 out of 5. While the problems are a fair size, the storyline and art will keep you interested. Kudos to the creative team.

Batman: The Eye of the Beholder

            And after dealing with Marvel’s iconic web-slinger, we go over to the latest DC Comic’s Dark Knight. We take a look at Dick Grayson as Batman in the beginning of the Batman Inc. Era as we review:

BATMAN

Issues #704 – 707

Story (arc) Title: Eye of the Beholder

Written & Penciled by Tony Daniel

DC Comics

by Frankie Rodriguez

            Unless you don’t collect comics or just completely out of time with Batman, Dick Grayson took up the mantle of Batman (again) once we thought that Bruce Wayne had died at the hands of the evil Darkseid. Bruce was actually thrown back in the past till he got back to the present recently. Yet, instead of Bruce having Dick return to his Nightwing persona, he insisted that Dick stay on as Batman to protect Gotham City and train Damian Wayne, the latest Robin, while Bruce franchises Batman all over the world in order to make an army against crime. Yes . . . this is not something out of some crazy fanfic; this is from the genius of Grant Morrison. Cause of this, the Bat titles have split with whichever Batman to being the leading man; Detective Comics, Batman & Batman and Robin have Dick being the leading man while the new titles Batman Incorporated and Batman: Dark Knight has Bruce being the main bat there.

            So Dick protects Gotham City as Batman and we look at the jump on point for the changes brought about with Bruce’s return. And if you figured that just having Bruce back didn’t give creators a chance to add on to Dick Grayson’s Batman, you are sorely mistaken. So let’s see how Batman #704-707 measure up as now Tony Daniel is now both artist & writer of the title; much like he was for Battle of the Cowl.

            Batman #704 opens up with some kind of mysterious call, dealing with what seems to be a group of people charged with protecting something. A person on one part of the phone says he is not going to give anyone information and has what seems to be a . . . swastika . . . that he beats through then reveals some kind of Asian lettering. The other man who was asking to give out information and help a mysterious visitor seeming dies. And that is just in the first 2 pages.

            Next we open up to see Batman (Dick Grayson) swinging with Robin (Damian Wayne) have a small exchange to a splash page of a character named Reaper & Catgirl fighting each other. After a brief fight with Reaper, who seems to be a bit loco about right and wrong and willing to kill heroes cause they get in his way; we see Batman looking for Catgirl, who slipped away. Before Batman & Robin give chase, they get stopped by a familiar face . . .Batman. Yes. Batman. Batman meet Batman.

            Bruce came to Dick telling him that he needs to get rid of Catgirl. Dick says he would. We go back to where the guy with the swastika (?) is to find him with his head . . . falling off. WHAT?! Then a bomb that goes BOOM!!

            Dick and Lucius Fox are in Wayne Tower doing business with a beautiful asian business woman known as Sasha Lo and her little brother, Luki Lo. She asked to buy the Crime Alley, particularly the eight block radius where Bruce’s parents were killed and was the main catalyst for the birth of Batman. Dick says he can’t.

            We then see Selina at a benefit dancing with a . . . nerd (?) . . . when Dick came in underdressed. Dick told Selina that she needed to get rid of Catgirl. Selina demanded that if Catgirl goes, so should Damian. When Dick told her this came from Bruce, Selina mocked Bruce and calls him the “Ultimate Hypocrite.”

            Dick drove off only to run into Sasha Lo again, with her begging to buy Crime Alley, even offering a bribe to Dick. Dick says no then asks way before an arrow comes their way; and Sasha stopped it . . . with one hand. As she ran off, Dick went the other direction, ordered a drone, got a Batman costume and changed. As Batman (Dick) arrived on the scene as a woman dressed in a blue outfit, peacock feathers & a mask appeared to trying to find Dick & Sasha’s attacker. As an assassin prepared to strike the woman with an arrow, Batman came in and knocked down said assassin. Batman gazed at the woman fully and if anyone with a brain has been following, you know that this was Sasha . . . introducing herself to Batman as Peacock. Before readers get any more in depth information on Peacock, there is another attack . . .from Sensei. Wait . . . wasn’t he killed off during the Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul crossover from a few years ago?

            Apparently not as the next issue opened with how Sensei came back to life as he was given water from Nanda Paradat, which has its own Lazurus pits and has more mystical abilities that was seen in 52. Sensei was back and after Peacock for they are both after something called the Beholder . . . which we find out some of its origin here to Gotham City and a secret society called Jade Compass Society when Peacock & Batman got another ally from I Ching, who told them the origin. Peacock reluctantly takes Batman help (at I Ching’s request) as they try to follow where Sasha’s limo, with her brother Luki, in it was going to. Alas, when they get to it, the limo’s been blown up. I-Ching rejoins them and they try to figure out where Luki is and the rest of the Jade Compass Society when Dick figured out that the society had another member . . . Lucius Fox.  Dick ran over to the Fox’s place to check to get stuck by a bomb. After Batman landed onto a car and come to find out that the bombs were set by . . . The Riddler. Oh and NOT just the Riddler . . . but his daughter, Enigma too? Wait . . .What?!

            Yes. Last seen during the Teen Titans “Titans East” arc, Enigma (aka Riddler’s Daughter) returns with her daddy to cause Batman trouble . . . and ??? wait. WHAT?!  Not sure as to why he shows up but it has to do with the Jade Compass Society. Riddler and Enigma have Batman on the ropes till Robin came in. Batman and Robin quickly deal with Riddler’s men as the Enigma family makes a break for it. Sensei is torturing Luki and Lucius for information and our heroes find out about it . . . through a weird telepathic like connection between Luki & Peacock. For those of you reading, if you hadn’t figured out that Peacock is Sasha, then you are clearly not paying attention.

            Speaking of Luki, after he’s tortured by Sensei, Lucius gets tortured as well. Sensei eventually gets the location of the Beholder, a mask of immense power. I-Chiang gives back grown on how the mask went from Asia to Gotham decades ago and why Sensei wants it so badly. Batman, I-Ching and Peacock all split up once more. Batman returns to see Reaper, who gives him one clue while a visit to Kitrina Falcone aka Catgirl gives him the last clue he needs. I-Ching enters an abandoned building only to fall to a trap. Batman soon goes to the same building and seemingly is trapped as well by Sensei. It looks as if Lucius, Luki, Lucius’s daughter Tamara & Dick are drowning towards their deaths yet we see Dick jumping into action, getting them out, and with I-Ching’s help, defeats most of Sensei’s assassins.

            Meanwhile, Sensei find the Beholder and is about to put it on. He is stopped, seemingly by one of his own henchmen who turn out to be Sasha in disguise. Sensei says he plans on killing her but recognizes her face as the woman who gave her the water in Nanda Pardat. This pauses Sasha long enough for Dick to swoop in but Sensei puts on the mask, enjoying its power. Yet, sooner rather than later, the mask begins to start killing. Sasha and I-Chiang explained that Sensei, in his own hubris, was NOT worthy of the Beholder, only Luki was. A battle ensued in which Batman held his own against the powerful Sensei till Luki takes the mask then Sensei tries to kill Luki but only breaks the Beholder into pieces. Batman tackled Sensei through a window only for Sensei do a disappearing act. Sasha and Batman say quick goodbyes as Luki gets a flash of Dick & Sasha making out. The storyline ends with Riddler and Enigma reporting to the person who hired them to the job, who wanted files on the Jade Compass Society. We see a female’s lips but then she flips a coin stating she had another job for the father-daughter team.

RATING SYSTEM:

Once again, here is the break down of how things are rated. Look at the ratings as if 1 was the worse to 5 being the best:

Ubersuck Crown – Run away from the story &/or book. It is bad. Treat it like the plague. Think of it as a 1 or 1 star. Pretty much VERY BAD.

Cruiserweight Contender – A book that has some great flash and ability to entertain for a while. Not a definite buy but still not too bad. It’s ok. Aka 2 stars.

X Division Contender-  Something that is out there. Brings out something a little different. Something entertaining and over all enjoyable but still not enough to make a huge impact.  3 stars or Average.

Intercontinental Contender – Something polished, some what thought provoking. Great story telling. Fair characterization but things not completely utilized to the best of their ability more than it should. Something that is on the verge of greatness but just falls short. Good or 4 stars.

World Heavyweight Contender – Outstanding. Great art. Great characterization. Great storyline. Excellent plot. Outstanding use of characters, area. Great use of new concepts or old concepts in a new way. Frellin’ awesome or 5 stars.

So you got it? Good. Onto:

CLASH TACTICS:

            This wasn’t the first time Tony Daniel was writing  & drawing the Batman books but is doing so this time on an ongoing basis. With that said, Tony has done a good job. Tony introduces the world of Gotham City today and while it may not seem too different from the Gotham that Bruce Wayne protected, it is radically different. Gotham City now is much more violent then it was before Bruce Wayne had “seemingly” died.  Dick Grayson has grown as a character and Tony Daniel has shown that in a variety of ways. He is not trying to be Bruce, which is evident in his quips and how artistically how Tony draws lots of aerobatics on Dick’s part to show that this Batman is different. Tony does an excellent job of showing Dick being able to handle Batman throughout the storyline . . . with one MAJOR exception.

            Having Bruce show up after Dick and Damian deal with Reaper was kinda of a reminder to readers that there was 2 Batmen. Great. Fine. Yet the fact that Bruce felt the need to make a personal visit and tell Dick to get rid of Catgirl, who he and Dick agree is being reckless was kinda of a slap to the face. While I understand that this is a new era, the Batman Incorporated era, that fact that Dick had his “dad” show up and personally tell him something was kinda of bull. There have been plenty of other issues and books that had Bruce “evaluate” Dick & Damian. This whole Bruce coming to see them personally felt kinda like . . . yeah, I trust you to mind the store but only so much. And honestly it wasted time that could be used to develop Dick more.

            That wasn’t my only problem with the storyline. Another issue was the inclusion of Riddler & Enigma. I did like the fact that the 2 were together. I liked that fact that Ridder was now again a villain. What I didn’t particularly like was that it seemed to be a hiccup. Considering that this is set up to other storylines was fine. Yet it was confusion with the actually main storyline with the fact that it seemed to show up in the middle of Batman’s investigation of Lucius Fox. And that wouldn’t have bothered me so much if it didn’t come so . . . abruptly in the middle of the main storyline. I like having future storylines set up. And I can understand the whole Jade Compass Society thing would lead to more stories. What I found a probably was that Riddler & Enigma showing up how they did then disappearing til the end of the storyline. I read the storyline twice and both time it just felt awkward having them there in the MIDDLE of the main plot line. I originally thought that Sensei had joined with them; and was disappointed that they didn’t show up again till the end. It almost felt like filler. There have been other writers who have done similarly things but at least the inclusion of other storylines with the main plot seemed to flow a LOT better than when it did here. But it did make me intrigued about them and an eventual show down.

            My final problem was that there was just so much focus on the storyline and the world of Batman, we have not really seen the world of Dick Grayson. The only real moments of Dick Grayson time we’ve seen was him at Wayne Enterprises with Sasha and his little warning to Catwoman. Let me talk about the latter before I get into the former.

            The fact that Bruce ordered Dick to get Catgirl gone was pretty damn wrong. And then Tony set up one of the best scenes in #704. Selina Kyle aka Catwoman flat out called out Dick and Bruce’s hypocricy.

            Dick: She has to go, Selina. She nearly got herself killed chasing down the Reaper . . . for the reward money the Feds put up.

            Selina: I wouldn’t approve of that behavior.

            Dick: It’s what a younger Catwoman would have done.

            Selina: If she has to go, then so should your pompous little brat.

            Dick: Kitrina (aka Catgirl) needs to be in school. Not playing superhero with homicidal maniacs. Bruce made it clear  .”

            Selina: Bruce, the Ultimate surrogate, the ultimate hypocrite.

            That was one of the best exchanges, showing how times and everyone had been changing. Dick following orders and getting his own personal life neglected seemed to be a bit much. Dick had his own identity and some much of it is now part of what Bruce had designed. Not him being Batman but him being Dick Grayson. And that is something that I hope that Tony can touch on more soon.

            Otherwise, Tony being both writer and artist really was spectacular. Seeing how much Tony Daniel has evolved over the years has been great and he really did a great job with writer & art for the storyline. It opened lots of new elements. And Tony established what could very well be Dick’s Selina or Talia to Bruce’s. Peacock aka Sasha Lo was both an interesting fighter with an attitude but understandably so. Particularly enjoyable was Peacock’s exchange with I-Chiang and Batman after the first escape in #705. Peacock states that he is not the real Batman and that he speaking juvilen is one of those indicators. I-Chiang replies with a simple fact that this was indeed Batman and she’s benefit from his help. The chemistry between Batman and Peacock was well develop and continued to grow during the storyline. Again, Dick and Sasha’s chemistry is hot and look forward to more Batman and Peacock in the future.

            Tony wrote us a very confident Dick Grayson. He was used to being Batman and while he and Bruce were both Batman now, Dick was more than up to the task. Dick didn’t flinch when he was ordered to look after Gotham and that Bruce personally gave him Gotham. There was no doubt. Not in any of the narrative did we see Dick Grayson doubt himself as a hero and that made a great impression on me. This wasn’t the person who was very against taking the mantle nor the man trying to live up to Bruce’s shadow. Dick Grayson here was indeed a man who is confident and comfortable of being Batman . . . but being Batman his own way. These issues showcase that perfectly. Another example of that was when Batman when into Arkham to speak to Reaper and Batman easily convinced the Doctor to let him see Reaper.

            The colors were grim enough to show the grit and grime of Gotham but did a great job showing that this was indeed a whole new era as this was the Batman Inc era and Dick was fully taking charge of himself as Batman. As hookey as Sensei’s resurrection was written out, it was done well. The backgrounds were all amazing and the characters were full of life. Luki was a little stiff in my opinion but still, artistically a great job for the beginning.

            Tony Daniel artistically and verbally added much to the new mythos of the Dick Grayson Batman. Gotham is a very dangerous place but the new Batman was more than up for the challenge. Dick seemed made for it. Kudos to Ian Hannin for his colors in all 4 issues as well as the assist inks by Sandu Florea & Ryan Winn for their great inks on the storyline. Each character seemed to have defined faces that matches their personas. This was a great introduction artistically.

            Overall, while this wasn’t a grand slam for Batman Dick Grayson, it was still a great home run. The Beholder, the Jade Compass Society, Peacock, Sensei and even Riddler & Enigma all became part of Dick’s new rogues gallery and made welcoming first impressions. Tony Daniel takes the reigns aggressively in this new run with a solid introduction. It is just said that we don’t see more of the Dick Grayson side of life. And Tony needs to work on making sure the flow of the overall plot line is not so interrupted by his foreshadowing the future. It is more a matter of over all flow. Still, it was a solid read with great dialogue, action, adventure and a look into Gotham City at the beginning of the Batman Incorporated era. There were lots of introductions and even set up for both Dick and Damian that this should be an enjoyable run.

            Given all this, Eye of the Beholder gets placed in the Intercontinental Contender bracket. A very good start but could be better. Still, read it and enjoy the Peacock. 

And Now CLASH:

               VS.

MY WINNER:

            Amazing Spider-man Big Time! Slott gave us a new beginning . . .not just for Spiderman but also for Peter Parker. And the fact that the new Hobgoblin is a dark mirror of Spiderman really helped. While Dick gained a bunch of new rogues and mythology, we barely got to see Dick Grayson. Slott balanced between both while Daniel was very Batman heavy. That is why Big Time beats out Eye of the Beholder in my opinion. 

While I gave MY OWN ratings . . . What do the rest of you think? Who should come out on top?

BATMAN’s Eye of the Beholder or AMAZING SPIDER-MAN’s Big Time. Post your comments and votes on here. The winner will get to advance to the Summer Tournament in July.  Next Week, I will post the results of the winners in both your opinion.