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Fables #129 – Review

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

FABLES #129

By: Bill Willingham (story), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Steve Leialoha & Andrew Pepoy (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: With that, Snow officially has the worst love life of all the Fables.

The Review: I find it quite interesting that for this arc, Willingham has chosen Ambrose to narrate the last few issues.  I don’t know if this will be a permanent thing, seeing how his destined role is to judge the past through his journalistic histories, but I do wonder why now, for this particular story?  In some ways, his hindsight vision ends up stealing some of the suspense from the plot, as he hints at the chain of events to come.

Perhaps allowing Ambrose to serve as narrator is an act of compassion on Willingham’s part for a character doomed to be sidelined.  In Ozma’s prophecy, all the Cubs are fated to do great things (and some already have), all but one, who is merely to judge the actions of the rest.  He promise of survival is his doom; he exists to observe, rather than participate, in Fables’ great events.  “My life in a nutshell,” he muses, with no small hint of ruefulness, “insignificant bits and pieces of other stories.”
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Age of Ultron #8 – Review

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Matt Sargeson

AGE OF ULTRON #8

By: Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Brandon Peterson (Artist), Paul Mounts (Color Artist), VC’s Cory Petit (Letterer)

Review: How crazy is Age of Ultron #8? “It’s insane. It’s—it’s a fantasia of insanity,” according to future/alternate Tony Stark. I’d say that’s pretty conservative. R Kelly would call it “crazier than a fish with titties.” Amanda Bynes would just do this. Though as good as those descriptions are, do any of them really do justice to the image of Morgana Le Fey flying into battle backed up an army of Dragon-riding Asgardian Doom-Bots!?!? Nah, not really. This ish is bugnuts.
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Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Vibe #4 – Review

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

VIBE #4

By: Sterling Gates (story), Manuel Garcia (pencils), Fabiano Neves (art), Sandra Hope Archer (inks), Brad Anderson (colors)

The Story: It’s not every day you meet a cute girl while chasing after extraterrestrial travelers.

The Review: From the moment Vibe agreed to work with A.R.G.U.S., we always knew shis collaboration would end in bitterness and disappointment at some point.  No relationship can function without trust, and A.R.G.U.S. has never been upfront with Cisco about much of anything.  But once the truth comes out, as it inevitably must, what can he, the least experienced and most naïve member of the Justice League of America, do about it?

The title has done Cisco a favor by speeding up that inevitable conflict.  Given how obvious both Gunn and Waller have been in their deceptions, our hero would look pretty dumb if it took a couple arcs for him to catch on—especially with his brother, Kid Flash, and now a mysterious dimensional breacher (named Breacher, confusingly enough) all telling him A.R.G.U.S. isn’t to be trusted.
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Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #23 – Review

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Matt Sargeson

ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #23

By: Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Dave Marquez (Art), Justin Ponsor (Colors), VC’s Cory Petit (Lettering)

Review: Ultimate Comics Spider-Man is enjoying some well-deserved attention at the moment. And about time. It’s surely been one of Marvel’s best ongoing titles since…well, since #1 pretty much…and yet it’s hardly been given the same levels of praise and publicity as the company’s other top tier books – your Hawkeye’s and Daredevil’s. This is probably down to a combination of two things: 1) it has ‘Ultimate’ in the title, and 2) this Spider-Man ain’t Peter Parker. A shame, as it’s a consistently beautiful-looking book that draws the best from Bendis each and every month. With the last issue seeing an end to the Venom War storyline and, with it, the death of Miles’ mother, there’s been a surge of interest in the series that’s seen it hesitantly take centre stage. But it’s what it does under the spotlight that matters…and luckily this issue puts on a pretty good show.
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Batwoman #20 – Review

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

BATWOMAN #20

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Sandu Florea (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: If you start thinking you can take the Batman alone, you need an intervention.

The Review: My favorite thing about this title is its willingness to allow all its characters to have a voice in the story, to make decisions and have a life that isn’t dictated by Batwoman’s actions.  That’s not to say the series doesn’t take on an additional burden with that.  The more rounded and independent characters you have, the more attention and development they demand.  By taking on a life of their own, they can shift the story in ways the writer didn’t intend.

While Williams-Blackman obviously have an interest in explaining how the D.E.O. came by Batwoman’s sister in the first place, I’m not sure that merited a six-page long, somewhat rambling narrative from Chase.  It really opens up more mysteries than it closes, as we don’t know how the Religion of Crime got their hands on Beth or even how she was revived.  Bones admits that where the sarcophagus in which she was found is concerned, “Hell, we still can’t figure out if it’s magic, or alien tech, or something else entirely.”
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Wonder Woman #20 – Review

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

WONDER WOMAN #20

By: Brian Azzarello (story), Cliff Chiang & Goran Sudzuka (art), Matthew Wilson (colors)

The Story: Diana versus Diana—round two.

The Review: I don’t believe I’m the first to compare the kind of intrigue that goes on in this title to that shared by any good mafia story, where family affections and attachments are ultimately subordinated to ruthless power plays, suspicion, and constant backstabbing.  This free-for-all is made even more interesting by the building of alliances, their eventual dissolutions, and the new ones that take their place.

In Wonder Woman, we’ve got a few set camps and their dear leaders: Apollo with Artemis and Dionysus representing the current Olympian regime; Hermes partnered with Demeter in a mission from some undisclosed higher power; Poseidon in cahoots with the First Born, who plans to retake Olympus for himself; and then Diana with her merry little crew.  Although all of these folks are related in some manner, only Diana’s group functions like a family—a “weird, wonderful family,” as Zola says.
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Avengers: The Enemy Within #1 – Review

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

AVENGERS: THE ENEMY WITHIN #1

By: Kelly Sue DeConnick (story), Scott Hepburn (art), Jordie Bellaire (colors)

The Story: It’s a pretty sweet life when you can call upon a god for lizard control.

The Review: I always find it rather irritating when instead of continuing a storyline in its own title, from which it originated and where it rightfully belongs, it carries over into a different title or into a new series altogether.  Seems like a mean way to force a reader to fork over some extra money to buy into books he wouldn’t ordinarily ever consider getting.  It’s only ever worth it if the story is truly big and critical enough to require extra page-time elsewhere.

At this point, it doesn’t seem like DeConnick’s story of Captain Marvel’s latest crisis fits that bill.  This issue doesn’t have any significant difference from a typical issue of Captain Marvel, either in tone, substance, or structure.  It simply follows from the events of Captain Marvel #12 and does little to expand the scope of the plot any further.  In fact, there’s no reason for Marvel to split this story into a mini besides taking advantage of the Avengers brand to boost sales and attention to an ever-weakening property (Captain Marvel ranked #120 in March, compared to #42 when it first debuted in July 2012).
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The Regular Show #1 – Review

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

REGULAR SHOW #1

By: KC Green (Writer), Allison Strejlau (Artist), Lisa Moore (Colorist) with Brian Butler (Writer/Artist)

The Story: It seems like there are certain rules on how to establish a mosh pit, as not following them might have dire consequences…

The Review: I have a confession to make: I don’t watch The Regular Show at all. I don’t have cable or any channels in my home, as I have grown with the years a habit of just not watching it at all, so there are plenty of shows I’m missing out on. I have no idea what this show is about, who the characters are and what are the themes or the recurring jokes. Since I am a fan of the Adventure Time comics, one of the persons working at the LCS I usually go to told me I should try this, as the humor is pretty close in tone to this comic, as in it is a show that does have subtle adult humor. Trusting his judgment, I just bought the issue and went on to read it.

At first, it seemed like a standard comic, with anthropomorphic creatures working in what seems to be a park, as we are introduced to some of the characters, like Rigby the racoon and Mordecai the blue jay. Taking its time to set up the mood, we see that they are ‘’hard’’ at work while there is some kind of concert given in the park. With the tone of the music being quite calm, they are met by a green man with some kind of ghost hand as they claim that the show right there is absolutely boring. With the green man, named Muscle Man, deciding to liven things up by creating a mosh pit, our two heroes watch as they see him try to do so with so calm an audience.
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Star Trek: Into Darkness – Movie Review

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS

By: Far too many to list, of course.  IMDB it.

The Story: The U.S.S. Enterprise considers starting a tab a the repair shop. 

The Review: Hold on to your keyboards, because I’m about to make a pretty big confession, a shocking one in our proudly geeky world.  I like Star Trek better than Star Wars.  There—I said it.  Mind you, I’m not saying that one is better than the other.  For whatever reason, I just resonate more with the spirit of Star Trek and the values it embraces.  Corny as this sounds, I love that it tries to give us a vision of humanity at our very best, of a brighter future ahead.

The last movie, delightful and entertaining as it was, didn’t quite capture that spirit.  Instead, it went for balls-to-the-wall action, fueled by youthful energy, warm humor, and deeply touching emotions.  It was a great film in its way, opening the franchise to a wider audience than any Trek film could previously imagine, but in the process it minimized the higher calling and mission of the series.  The critical question for its sequel, then, is whether it will continue to capitalize on the spectacle that renewed its reputation or will it return to the principles that made the original premise culturally relevant.
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X-O Manowar #13 – Review

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

X-O MANOWAR #13

By: Robert Venditti (Writer), Cary Nord (Artist), Moose Baumann (Colorist)

The Story: Aric tests his connection to the Shanhara armor and defends the Visigoth settlement against the vine.

The Review: As the Planet Death storyline went on, I had problem with the pacing and the characterization of Aric, being bored at his stubbornness and his general attitude toward his goals. The comic had some good idea, but seemed to spin a bit on its own wheels as some new elements were being introduced, but not thoroughly explored in a satisfying way.
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Bloodshot #11 – Review

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

BLOODSHOT #11

By: Duane Swierczynski (Writer), Barry Kitson, Stefano Gaudiano (Artists), Brian Reber (Colorist)

The Story: We delve a little bit further into the Harada protocol as Bloodshot fights Toyo Harada. Meanwhile, we see how Kara tries to take care of the psiot kids.

The Review: Tie-in issues can be both blessing and curses sometimes, albeit it is unfortunately much more frequent to see the latter than the former. While it is a possibility to see a book regain focus as it takes advantage of a greater situation in the universe they are set in, it can also unfortunately kill the momentum that a book had by injecting various elements that don’t quite match up with what was going on before the event was launched. Thankfully, this event was brought up with what went up in both Bloodshot and Harbinger, which makes this crossover quite organic to the growth of both titles.

However, it seems that all the important plot advancement is set in the Harbinger Wars title as we get to see some more details of particular events from the crossover in the titles connected to it. It is a risky move that can actually pay off as we get some deeper analysis on how these characters think and feels through these scenes from the main comic, yet here it is mostly wasted, as it brings close to nothing new to the table, unfortunately.
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Arrow S01E23 – Review

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

ARROW S01E23

By: Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg (story)

The Story: Sometimes it feels like your whole world is tumbling down around you.

The Review: Phew.  Let me tell you: covering a TV series from start to finish requires quite a bit of commitment, and the task is made even more difficult by a show like Arrow, which is still, even here in its first season finale, trying to find itself.  It’s a show that’s got so many genres and elements mixed together that finding the right balance among them all could take another season or so yet.  But here, it proves itself worthy of investing in its evolution, however long it takes.

This episode works because while it has the same over-the-top energy that defeated the show’s credibility in other instances, it channels that energy in all the right places.  Malcolm’s speech to a trussed up Ollie starts as a drag of a villain’s monologue, crowing and condescending at the same time: “You can’t beat me, Oliver.  Yes, you’re younger, and you’re faster, and yet you always seem to come up short against me.”  But after all that’s out of the way, he reveals his choicest lines: “You want to know why?  Because you don’t know in your heart what you’re fighting for—what you’re willing to sacrifice.  And I do.”
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Katana #4 – Review

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

KATANA #4

By: Ann Nocenti (story), Alex Sanchez (art), Art Thibert (inks), Matt Yackey (colors)

The Story: No use crying over broken swords, Katana.  Don’t try huddling in a heap, either.

The Review: Have you ever read a comic and halfway through thought to yourself, I can write a better issue than this?  Yeah, me too.  It’s an inherently arrogant sort of thought, we can all agree; after all, we are basically throwing down with writers who are actually getting paid to have their work published—not to mention the fact that we just put down our own good money to purchase this product we’re now disparaging.

I don’t want to overstate my own writing abilities here, but I’m pretty sure if I had Katana on my plate, I could at least deliver a coherent, focused plot.  Nocenti, on the other hand, is all over the place.  There’s really very little excuse for that kind of distraction in this case; it’s not as if she’s obliged to tie in the title to any event or story arc going on elsewhere.  Yet these four issues have given us four rather different conflicts which have only the most tangential connection to each other and which Nocenti barely manages to develop before moving on to the next one.
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Avengers Assemble #15 – Review

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Matt Sargeson

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #15

By: Al Ewing (Writer), Butch Guice (Penciler), Tom Palmer with Rick Magyar (Inkers), Frank D’Armata (Colorist), VC’s Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

Review: Jesus, is Age of Ultron still going on? Feels weird to think so sometimes…and I’ve been reviewing each and every issue. The thing is, it lacks a sense of importance; and some of that can be put down to the lack of tie-ins. Sure, there are many justifiable grievances held against Marvel’s usual approach to tie-in culture (gumming up the flow of our favourite series mid-run etc.) but one thing’s for sure: in the case of Secret Invasion, Siege et al, you at least felt like the events of those books were dramatically affecting the breadth of shared continuity. Not so much with AoU and the feint corona of books that illuminate it.
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Demon Knights #20 – Review

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

DEMON KNIGHTS #20

By: Robert Venditti (story), Chad Hardin (pencils), Wayne Faucher (inks), David Curiel (colors)

The Story: Another day, another sacred quest for the relic to end all relics.

The Review: If you’re a fan of this series—and let’s face it, if you’re even reading this review, you must be a real fan of the series—you’ve already heard the news about its cancellation in three months.  Considering that in March, it ranked at #160 on Comichron, the fall of the axe isn’t too surprising, but it does signal the end of all sword-and-sorcery titles out of DC, making it an even less diverse market than it started out as after the relaunch.

When these things happen, I always wonder how much the creators knew before we did.  Venditti probably didn’t agree to sign onto a doomed title, so when exactly did the higher-ups spring the news on him?  If I had to take a wild guess, it was probably just before he finished writing the first arc.  As eventful as the battle against Cain was, it did feel a little straightforward and truncated, a sign that maybe Venditti was forced to accelerate his plot faster than he planned.
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Private Eye #2 – Review

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

PRIVATE EYE #2

By: Brian K. Vaughan (story), Marcos Martin (art), Muntsa Vicente (colors)

The Story: Lord help the mister who comes between a gal and her sister.

The Review: I have to admit, I do love reading a story written by a master storyteller, someone who’s a veteran at all the fundamentals of good narrative work.  Even when the story itself isn’t anything new, if you have someone at the helm with enough experience to get his points across efficiently and to switch up the pace at the right moment, then you’ll get a much more enjoyable read out of it.  Certainly it beats an interesting story poorly done.

With Private Eye, Vaughan displays how honed his chops have become over years of writing top-notch comics.  His first issue set up the series’ world, protagonist, antagonist, and premise in short order without overtly feeling like a set-up, as if Vaughan has gotten so used to this basic kind of work that he can drum it off without thinking.  Here he introduces supporting characters and scaffolds upon the foundation of plot he laid down last month, proving as adept at second issues as he is at firsts.
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Threshold #5 – Review

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

THRESHOLD #5

By: Keith Giffen (Writer), Tom Raney, Phil Winslade, Scott Kolins (Artists), Andrew Dalhouse, John Kalisz (Colorists)

The Story: In The Hunted, Jediah Caul gets back his lantern battery as he prepares to save everyone from the situation they are in. In Larfleeze own backup, we get to see just how and why he has lost all of his stuff.

The Review: In a strange way, it is a good thing that I had decided not to review this title first, as I can now write it in knowledge that this title will meets its demise come August, in its 8th issue. While this does not influence the actual quality of this issue, it does mean that this kind-of transformed into an ongoing to a mini-series of some sort, as now Giffen will have to tie and conclude everything in three issues after this one.

Here, we get to see the fallout from what just happened to a good chunk of Tolerance, thanks to Brainiac. As the series had been built slowly in its inception, it has started to move much faster now, as we get to see bigger things happening, such as the death of certain characters and the accomplishment of certain goals first introduced a few issues earlier, one of them being the retrieval of Caul’s green lantern battery. It also has improved a bit in delivering the goods, so to speak, as we get plot advancement, twists, action and some actual goals for some characters. While it had been nice to see The Hunted and how it affects Tolerance as a game, the arrival of Brainiac did some good for this series.
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Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Star Wars #5 – Review

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

STAR WARS #5

By: Brian Wood (Writer), Carlos D’Anda (Artist), Gabe Eltaeb (Colorist)

The Story: Han Solo has to find a way out of Coruscant, as Leia and her squad fight some Tie-Fighter as per her plan to guess just who might be the rat in the rebel army.

The Review: I finally understood something about this comic and myself, something that came as some kind of realization as to why I rather disliked some of the scenes while I enjoyed others. I once said that I preferred the Han Solo scenes in general, while I found the space battles to be rather boring, but gave a rather vague assessment of just why I felt that way about those.
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Secret Avengers #4 – Review

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

SECRET AVENGERS #4

By: Nick Spencer (Writer) Luke Ross (Artist), Matthew Wilson (colorist)

The Story: S.H.I.E.L.D needs to take care of a platoon of sentient Iron Patriot armors, cue Bruce Banner.

The Review: I had another idea on how to summarize this story, one that would not have actually told what essentially happens, yet it would have been perfect in tone: ‘’S.H.I.E.L.D strikes back’’. In the two past issues of this title, we had seen how A.I.M had become a whole new thing, as we were presented to an organisation with a completely new and more focused vision, spearheaded by Andrew Forson, the scientist supreme.

Taking just where the last issue left us, we now get a fascinating concept about giving personality to a suit of armor, giving it sentience in order to accomplish some goals. With A.I.M having done so with the help of Mentallo, they try to create a situation in which S.H.I.E.L.D could look disastrous. This then leads to some scenes that shows just how Spencer can handle this title and how much it differentiates itself from other titles with ‘’Avengers’’ in their name.
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Ultimate Comics The Ultimates #24 – Review

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Matt Sargeson

By: Sam Humphries (Writer), Joe Bennett (Penciler), Ruy José (Inker), Matt Milla (Colorist), VC’s Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

Review: I’ve taken a l’il sabbatical from my Ultimate Comics Ultimates review duties of late. Partially this is the fault of Bioshock Infinite and Injustice: Gods Among Us – both of which give Heroin and Marshmallow Fluff a run for their money in the addiction stakes – and also because I thought it best to give Sam Humphries a break. Most of his issues I’ve…well, ‘savaged’ is a strong word. I’ve ‘lightly rebuked’ them? Yeah, that sounds better. However I honey-coat it though, here’s the main gist; this has not been a good run. At its best Humphries’ Ultimates has read like a parody comic flirting dangerously near Robot Chicken territory while at its worst it’s been one of the most depressing uses of a Marvel licence since *dry-heaves for a few minutes* that Hasselhoff Nick Fury film *vomits all over his keyboard*.
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Constantine #3 – Review

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

CONSTANTINE #3

By: Ray Fawkes & Jeff Lemire (story), Renato Guedes (art), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)

The Story: Constantine has always had an eye for choice magical relics—unlike some people.

The Review: Never having written any serial fiction, I can’t say I have any firsthand insight into the medium, but from the outside looking in, I’ve noticed one thing: once you get locked into certain habits, it’s very hard to course correct afterwards.  I imagine it’s a little embarrassing to do so, too.  Making radical changes early on clearly signals poor initial choices, and who would ever want to admit that?

Fawkes-Lemire better be careful, because they can easily fall into the same trap with these opening-page monologues of theirs.  Besides serving as less than subtle mini-recaps of previous events, they’re also strangely preachy.  This is John Constantine, after all; broodiness doesn’t suit him much: “Every single one of us is stupid enough to think we’re smarter than everyone else.  And how d’you think that works out for us?  On average.”
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Suicide Squad #20 – Review

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

SUICIDE SQUAD #20

By: Ales Kot (story), Patrick Zircher (art), Jason Keith (colors)

The Story: You will need to pay someone pretty well to head-shrink these folks.

The Review: It’s been ten issues since I Dropped this title, not so much from an egregious level of quality as for simply a lack of interest.  While Adam Glass had the right idea for the tone of this book, he seemed to lack a clear vision for the series and the characters never managed to take off under his pen.  For a cast criminals, each with their own psychoses, they were rather dull as a group.  Glass suffered more from a lack of inspiration than lack of talent.

So it’s pretty exciting to see what a new writer can do with the material, especially one who’s pretty new to the game.  Now, I’m sure Kot has his fans elsewhere, but as far as mainstream superhero goes, he’s definitely an unknown—so there’s always a chance you might get to witness firsthand what might be the start of a breakout run for the writer.  And from the get-go, things look very promising, as Kot displays an instinctive handle on the title’s unique qualities.
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Deadpool #9 – Review

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

DEADPOOL #9

By: Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn (Writers), Mike Hawtorne (Artist), Val Staples (Colorist)

The Story: Deadpool tries his very best to help Michael as he has to deal with Vetis and the fact that he has to kill several people for him.

The Review: Color me surprised. I was not expecting so serious an issue of this title, one that had always managed to balance the funny and serious bits in a way that made sense with the titular character himself. We could always expect a good number of jokes during the more serious moments, which were not the most striking moment, to lower down some of the more dramatic tone of the story and the character itself.
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Avenging Spider-Man #20 – Review

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #20

By: Christopher Yost (Writer), Marco Checchetto (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: Spider-Ock gets on a S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier in order to free the Chameleon from their prison, just as the Russian are getting ready to do the same. What are the odds?

The Review: I do have to say it’s a strange time to be a fan of Spider-Man. It’s even a stranger time to begin reading Spider-Man, like I did, just as a big controversial change had been put in the series. While the change from Peter Parker to Otto Octavius has been a rather weird one for a lot of people, it can’t be said that it hasn’t given us some quality stories in both the main title, Superior Spider-Man and its sister title Avenging Spider-Man. While it has been fun to see just how Otto acclimates to the life of being a webhead, it has been a blast to see just how he interacts with the larger Marvel universe as well. Having seen him with the X-Men, the FF and Thor, it has been fun to read how he sees them all and it has given us some surprisingly fun stories to boot.
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Batman and Robin #20 – Review

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

BATMAN AND ROBIN #20

By: Peter J. Tomasi (story), Patrick Gleason & Cliff Richards (pencils), Mick Gray & Mark Irwin (inks), John Kalisz (colors)

The Story: You can’t expect the prodigal son to come back if you don’t show you care, Batman.

The Review: While some people hated Damian when he first appeared simply because the idea of Batman having a surprise-child out of wedlock sort of cheapens the character, I was concerned about the implications for his adoptive family.  It’s how I imagine adopted kids feel when they discover the parents who took them in are about to have a natural child of their own.  There’s that fear of being overshadowed, marginalized, set aside, a trade of a knock-off for the real thing.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s been going on here.  Batman’s refusal to accept the finality of Damian’s death not only damages him, but it threatens the last remaining ties he has with the family he has left.  Last issue, we saw Tim Drake, still reeling from the revelations of Death of the Family, nonetheless come back to prevent his mentor-father from doing something he’ll regret.  For his pains, he gets cold-shouldered, straining their relationship even further.
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