By: Tony Daniel (writer, artist, inks), Sandi Florea (additional inks)
The Story: The Eye of the Beholder, Part Two, See No Evil: Batman (Dick Grayson) and Peacock are fighting Sensei, the great-grandfather of Damian Wayne (I’ll get you a family tree later). They kick some ass, but are nearly overwhelmed and get away, to try to find where the Sensei’s people have taken Peacock’s brother.
What’s Good: Tony Daniel did a pretty awesome job with this issue. Visually, I love how he does Dick Grayson as Batman. The action is fast-paced, with intriguing layouts (check out page 3 or the double-splash on pages 4-5 for great examples of cool layout work). The gratuitous posing that gets into some of Daniel’s work at times, to make his heroes look cool, is kept to a minimum because the story really moves. Swinging through the streets. Throwing poisoned weapons. Charging away on horses. Motorcycles. Explosions. I’m serious. Don’t believe me? Well, we also run through a Chinese festival, do two cool flashbacks (the resurrection of Sensei and the origin of the Mask of the Beholder, which take us to rural, early-modern China), a crime scene and a junkyard. Visually worth the price of entry.
The writing is fun too. I had been a bit confused about where all the pieces were last issue, but the set up page at the beginning really oriented me to what was going on. The introduction of I-Ching was paced well, done dramatically, with conflict, and still provided useful information that drove the story forward without drawing attention to itself. The dialogue does a lot of work in this issue because the plot and the characters are relatively convoluted, but Daniel set up the characters so that the dialogue was natural and the information they gave each other relevant and the way people really would talk in these situations. Tony Daniel is also doing a good job of catching the bits of Dick that make him different from Bruce. Dick has exuberance for life that shone through in a double splash-page on horseback you really have to see.
What’s Not So Good: I get mildly put off by Batman’s diction when Dick Grayson is wearing the cowl. When Bruce was “dead” and Dick had to pretend to be him, he was darker and grimmer than his normal self. Now that Batman Inc. is out there and he can be Batman while Bruce is around, he’s letting more of his personality out. Dick is playful, funny and optimistic, for all that he can become the Dark Knight. However, occasionally his word choice gets a bit too fun-loving for the tone the book is setting. This is a very minor point in an otherwise excellent book.
Conclusion: I really enjoyed this one. Out of a raft of good DC books, Batman by Tony Daniel is really standing out. Go pick it up, whether you’re following the series or not. Even though this is part two of the arc, it’s good for non-experts.
Grade: A
-DS Arsenault
Grade
Conclusion