With the recent “death” of Batman, Gotham City has descended into a level of madness not seen before. At least that’s what writer/artist Tony Daniel wants you to believe when you read his new limited series designed to choose a temporary Batman until the inevitable return of Bruce Wayne. Problem is, we’ve seen this all before. Gotham has gone in the crapper so many times I’ve lost count and while Daniel’s art is strong and dynamic, its tough to overlook the lazy storytelling that sets up the villainous side of Battle for the Cowl. On the plus side, I was pleased with the characterization of Tim Drake. Daniel really seems to have a handle on Robin III and his narration keeps this issue from failing completely. Also well done is the mystery of where this will all end. While we can all guess who the gun toting Batman will turn out to be, the identity of the temp Batman is really up for grabs. After the well-written scene between Alfred and Nightwing, I’ve got my money on the butler. Given the frenetic pace of this first issue and the fact the series is only three issues long, I’m willing to come back next month just to see if Daniel can keep this up on the artistic side and improve on the writing side. For now though I can only half recommend this.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the DC editorial board deserves a special award for outstanding achievements in poor marketing for their final page blurb about Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s Batman and Robin. The announcement about the new series from the All Star Superman and New X-Men team is enough to make any fan boy soil themselves but it also severely distracts from Battle for the Cowl. Essentially I felt like I’m reading this book for three months until the real show starts. Nice job DC.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment