By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Jonathan Glapion (inks), FCO (colors), Richard Starkings & Jimmy Betancourt (letters), Katie Kubert (assistant editor) & Mike Marts (editor)
The Story: After defeating the Talon (or at least a Talon), both Batman and the Court of Owls retreat to their lairs to make plans.
A Few Things:
1. This book/team is hard to review. – I’ve said this before, but the quality level of Batman by Snyder/Capullo/Glapion/FCO is so high that it’s hard to review and grade. I’m sure this is a better comic that others that I’ve given a similar grade to. I constantly find myself trapped by not having enough room at the top of the grading scale, like I’m an Olympics gymnastics judge who has boxed himself in by giving too many 9.8s and suddenly wishing that scores could go up to 20. But, the other thing that happens is actively looking for flaws, because sometimes there aren’t any. Do I love that Snyder added another item to the Year 1 story with the bat getting eaten by an owl? No, but only because that pivotal night has gotten crowded over the years. Did I love Dick Grayson showing up in an all-time-classic Bruce Wayne story? No, not really. But the rest of the issue is so good that it seems silly to harp on little quibbles and I feel bad for seeking them out, but if I don’t do that, these reviews end up with me just pouring accolades and who needs that? 😉
2. Finally, a story worth of a longer arc! – Usually, when a superhero story arc gets up to issue #7, I start thinking that some writers and editors need to get over themselves. Very few stories are big enough and good enough to soak up 6+ months of a comic book. A good example might be Ed Brubaker’s Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire arc that ran for 12 issues in Uncanny X-Men ~6 years ago. If you didn’t like that story (and almost no one did), tough shit. That was your Uncanny story for the year. But in this case, not only are we getting to see extremely gifted creators showing off how talented they are from a pure craft standpoint, but the story merits this time too. I mean, this is a story about how Batman doesn’t really understand Gotham at all. It’s an epic story and a perfect story to tell coming out of the New 52 reboot. This story lays out the nature of Bruce Wayne and all the supporting characters in a way that should have binding implications for years and years of Bat-stories… Long after Snyder and Capullo have left the title. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
3. Enjoy Snyder’s use of narration boxes. – Lots of writers use narration boxes to bridge two scenes. Snyder does something that always impresses me. His narration boxes always make some sense for both scenes; hence, they are good bridges. But, they always make a little more sense for the second scene, so they carry the story forward. This is one of those little things where Snyder excels as the craft of comics. Even if the story was some tepid, reheated Joker tale, I’ll bet those narration boxes will still make the action flow wonderfully from scene to scene.
4. Capullo doing quiet stuff well. -We all know that Capullo excels at action scenes, and he does get one awesome panel of Bruce DECKING someone close to him (complete with blood spatter that makes me wonder if Capullo secretly hates his inker). But, this is a quiet issue and here Capullo shows his mastery of panel layouts. Do you realize how dull this issue could be with less visually appealing art? I’d almost bet that Snyder wouldn’t have written this issue in this way if he was paired with a mediocre artist. Capullo gives us this huge riot of little panels: tight shots, overheads, lights, shadows… And, of course, everything is detailed as hell. There’s also never a depth problem in these panels and Glapion and FCO get the credit there; no matter how long you stare at a panel, it never does that Magic Eye thing where suddenly objects from the background are lunging into the foreground. Great stuff (again).
5. New character? – Hmm… I wonder who this new young lady is. New characters are always kinda fascinating and I’m (personally) a huge fan of hardscrabble, teenage girl characters who are tough, smart and streetwise. That seems to be what we have here. It also doesn’t hurt that Capullo can actually draw a girl that looks like a girl.
Conclusion: Another very strong issue. Probably not as powerful as issues 5 and 6, but for the sake of drama we needed a calm moment before whatever crazy finale the guys have in store for us this summer. Isn’t it splendid to just know that it’ll be awesome?!?
Grade: B+
-Dean Stell
Follow Dean on Twitter.
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