Batman #657 - Writer Grant Morrison, Artist Andy Kubert, Inker Jesse Delperdang, Colorist Dave Stewart
Premise - Part 3 of Batman & Sons - Wonderboys. Batman has taken in his supposed son from a long ago dalliance that he had with Talia. He brings Damian back to Gotham and tries to intergrate the boy into a more normal life. Damian has been trained by the League of Assassins.
What I Liked:
1) The art. Comics are strongly a visual medium and the art is the first thing that I always notice. Andy Kubert has a great style (the Kubert's are the Mannings of the comic book world) and I loved the two page Batcave spread. Between the six page spread in All Star Batman and this it appears all artists want to draw the cave. Great artwork, strong inking and great colors. Love the layouts usage, six panels, five panels, one panel, two page spread, just really well done.
2) Character bits. Morrison has done a great job of having Robin and Alfred in the book, but still keeping the focus on Batman himself.
3) The return of the Spook. A very minor villain, but a fun use of the character. Loved the undercover cop infiltrating the Spook's gang.
4) The fight scene between Robin and Damian in the Batcave.
What I Didn't Like:
1) That Batman just brings an obviously highly dangerous person into his domain and then runs off on a case.
2) That Robin was beaten by Damian in a fight. To be fair Robin was holding back and suckered by the kid, but still if felt like we lessened Robin.
3) That an apparent 10 year old (at best) kid pulled all the crap off he did in the book. I suspend my disbelief at the door of a comic, but expect some level of internal realism and this stepped over the bounds for me.
Grade - B
Side comment - since the One Year Later jump DC has put great talent against Batman and Superman and I'm glad that the two biggest and most well known heroes are being treated the right way by DC.
You know, I really can't stomach Kubert's art. I've always despised everything the brothers have done. No different here. It's Morrison who saves teh book for me. This isn't Morrison at his best, but it's still pretty good. A bunch of wacky ideas all put into motion with fun being the primary objective. But at the end of the day, I doubt anyone remembers Morrison's 15 issue run. I've heard from insiders that Daiman is not Bruce's son at all. Could he be Ra's Al Ghul returned from the grave? Guess we'll see next month.
ReplyDeleteJeff - What don't you like about the brothers work?
ReplyDeleteI like Poppa Kubert's stuff a lot, but the son's stuff looks juvenille and way too Image circa 1995 for me. Just looks really ugly to my eyes. It's kinda the way you feel about John Romita Jr.'s stuff.
ReplyDeleteJoe is the best and today is still an artist of true talent. I can see you critique of the boys. I wonder if they will change as their original styles were very similar to their Dad's style.
ReplyDeleteI liekd the issue, though I am ready to be done with this kid and get back to "love-God" Batman.
ReplyDeleteTrue Story.
I refuse to like this book until Morrison shows respect for Son of the Demon. That is all.
ReplyDelete