comic books

Hush taunts, Harper vaunts, and Bard plays commandant in this twenty-fifth chapter of DC Comics' weekly Batman affair. With Alfred hospitalized and the city in chaos, our Caped Crusader makes a bold move, but his emotional state causes him to slip up. Meanwhile, Julia discovers how frustrating playing Bruce's operator is, Tim and Jason come this close to bonding, and Babs is confused as to why her father hasn't been cleared yet. The Bat-Family is gathering in Gotham, but is Hush too many steps ahead by now?

Gotham's pickin' up bad vibrations, buildings are getting excitations, Julia has a shocked sensation, and Hush is feeling such elation in this twenty-second installment of DC's weekly Batman yarn. The crazed suited terror, The Architect is back to his old "Got to destroy Gotham landmarks for my dishonored family's honor!" using what is essentially the Patlabor: The Movie scheme. Julia is shocked and dismayed that Bruce Wayne is, in fact, the vigilante called The Bat-Man, and Hush does another "stepping out of the shadows" thing that makes me think he's just desperate to ape Batman's style at this point. What's next, the Hush Signal?

There's mysterious ghouls, Harper breaks a rule, Joker's Daughter is cruel, and a villain's renewal in this sixteenth issue of DC's weekly Batman epic, which, as usual, has very little actual Batman. In fact, for the second week in a row, it's mostly the adventures of Jon Corrigan and... uh... whatshisface. You know. Batman Beyond. No, that isn't Batman Beyond? Oh. Uh... you know, Lucius Fox's kid, Batborg, I think. Really, who gives a damn? He's fairly irrelevant, save for his fight with Maxie Zeus.

Jim's tempted by a son who's demented, Bard's plan is attempted, Steph's friend is lamented, and a comic preview's presented. Issue 13 of DC's Batman weekly book shows us that there's at least one cop as competent as, maybe even moreso than, Jim Gordon, with his plan to trick Forbes into whittling down Falcone's forces. We get plenty of Vicki Vale, just a little of Harper Row, and a minority character introduced and then blown up in the same page. Oh, DC.

This issue sees the feathers really hit the fan in the Gotham City gang war, especially for poor Ozzie, who seems to lose everything in a matter of pages. But this Noah's ark of an installment also includes a cat, a pig, a tiger shark, an orca, and for a short flash, a bat. Old MacDonald would be all hot and bothered by this issue, friends. This is Batman Eternal #7, and an empire crumbles into the deeps of Gotham harbor here.
 

"It was either you or Captain Stingaree. I couldn't afford him."

So yeah, banned from another message board. Maybe the problem is me.

But also, maybe the problem is sycophantic Grant Morrison devotees who will do anything to stamp out even the most reasoned dissension, or even the possibility of it.

You be the judge. (And then I'll overrule you.)

Cast out of paradise! Cursed to walk the Earth, ever marked and alone, reviled and chased!  What do you do when you're branded and you know you're a man(child) ?

So, yeah. A week late with this. As you might've noticed, I had a week's worth of rage building up inside of me for that previous entry. Forgiveness, please.

I can't imagine why I didn't jump right on the review for this issue. It opens by highlighting a long-time supporting character for the Batman franchise that hasn't been seen or heard from in a very long time. The anticipation for this character's return was staggering, and I waited with baited breath to see them in the pages of this weekly series.

I'm talking, of course, about Lock-Up.