Weekly Comic Book Review

By: Grant Morrison (writer), Cameron Stewart (artist), Tony Aviña (colorist)

The Story: Batman vs. Batman, Part Two: Bruce Wayne rises from the Lazarus Pit, but all doesn’t go according to plan. He’s confused and psycho and we get some tantalizing flashbacks that show us why. Problem is, he’s nearly unstoppable and not only drops the roof of the mine on Dick, Batwoman, Knight and Squire, but Batwoman is paralyzed! And then, things go from bad to worse.

What’s Good: This story could have been called “This isn’t the Batman you’re looking for.” It is a fun ride and benefits from Kate Kane’s guest-star role. The action is quick and forceful, with a raft of people trying to stop the newly-resurrected Bruce Wayne. The mystery deepens with great hints, and we get to see our favorite precocious 10-year-old out of critical care and under Alfred’s care as they both try to figure out how Dick has screwed this up.

Stewart’s art is moody and old-school. In fact, Stewart’s work reminds me a lot of Will Eisner’s original stuff on the Spirit: the thick, viscous drops running off resurrected-Batman’s cloak, the dynamic action poses when resurrected-Batman punches Dick and throws Batwoman and Knight off of him. The old school effect is strengthened by the lined shading on Dick’s legs on the first splash page – a style that was used a *loooong* time ago by Shuster in 1938. It’s a really cool feel and very different from most art that’s on offer on the comic stands right now. Aviña’s colors are also great, both the lurid green back-lighting around Batwoman’s flashback and the speckled colors of the cave wall to show texture where other artists might have used inked lines. Basically, Stewart and Aviña pass my art test: Did my appreciation of the art slow down my read? Yes.

What’s Not So Good: Morrison blew my suspension of disbelief for a while when Batwoman tells Dick about a religion nobody has ever heard of, dating to the dawn of time, worshipping gods of evil, reading a bible of crime, proclaiming the dawn of the age of crime. A lot of this sounds ridiculous when you say it out loud and goes against the idea that everyone is a hero in their own mind. Did Hitler or Stalin ever pause to call themselves evil? Did any of their countless memos get titled as Operational Instructions of Crime? No. This type of lazy creative choices, where the writer gets to use unmotivated or insane stock villains just diminishes the heroes that oppose them. A more sophisticated creative choice is how Marvel imagined the Hellfire Club or the rise of Norman Osborn, or even the way DC did up the League of Assassins. These people or groups are bent on the acquisition of power and influence and wealth, are involved in many unsavory activities, but never call themselves evil or criminal.

The Batman versus Batman fight at times was confusing (because they’re dressed the same) and I thought that Stewart could have given Bruce something more than a rip in his suit to distinguish him from Dick. And speaking of Dick, I’m not even going to get into how silly I found his approach to speaking to a confused, resurrected Bruce. Needless to say, if Bruce wasn’t crazy before, Dick’s approach would have done it….

Conclusion: This is a solid Batman adventure with a lot of fun moments and some unexpected twists and turns. You should be following DC’s flagship Batman book, especially at $2.99.

Grade: B-

Personal Note: I’m sad to report that I’m not going to be able to review for the next four weeks – I’m off to Haiti for work, but I’ll be back at WCBR by mid-March for sure!

-DS Arsenault

Filed under: DC Comics, Other Tagged: | Alfred, Batman, Batman, Batman and Robin #8, Batman and Robin #8 review, Batwoman, Cameron Stewart, Comic Book Reviews, comic books, comic reviews, Comics, Damian Wayne, DC, DC Comics, Dick Grayson, DS Arsenault, Grant Morrison, Knight, Lazarus Pit, Marvel Comics, Norman Osborn, Reviews, Squire, Tony Avina, WCBR, Weekly Comic Book Review, weeklycomicbookreview.com, Will Eisner