Batman/Superman #23
Writer: Greg Pak
Artists: Ardian Syaf, Vicente Cifuentes, Dean White, and Beth Sotelo
Cover Artists: Ardian Syaf and Ulises Arreola
Publisher: DC
It seems that Greg Pak is trying to recapture the magic from the first couple of arcs of this series, given how terribly the new Batman and Superman have been working together. While that worked spectacularly well at the beginning of the series, it just isn’t working quite as well here. Superman has either completely lost his mind, along with the loss of his powers, or in his weakened state he has become completely naive. There’s really no other explanation as to why he would go underground alone or why he would think giving anyone access to the mini sun would be a good idea. On the flip side is Gordon-Batman, who even though has been a cop for decades, still acts almost entirely on impulse. He attacks first and thinks second, which is unfortunately the reason they’re in this mess to begin with, not to mention the opposite of what being Batman is about. They are barely capable of being heroes on their own and are somehow even worse at working together. I don’t know if this is in fact the narrative Pak is going for or if he just can’t get a grasp of these two working together, but even though this issue was slightly better than the last, it’s far from being as good as it once was. 2.5/5
Red Hood & Arsenal #3
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artists: Denis Medri and Tanya Horie
Cover Artists: Howard Porter, and Hi-Fi
Publisher: DC
This series has somehow manged to leave all the seriousness and the doom and gloom from “Red Hood and the Outlaws” behind, and is left with a relatively entertaining series. The book follows our two heroes across the U.S., and maybe even soon to be the globe, taking down the bad guys, thanks to Arsenal who has rented out their services to anyone who has enough cash. Basically, this book is about two best friends who’ve decided to joke around, travel the world, and pretty much be overgrown kids, while getting paid and saving the world at the same time. The most peculiar thing about this issue, doesn’t really even have anything to do with either Red Hood or Arsenal, but rather the new Batman’s peculiar obsession with attacking every one of the former Batman’s allies, the minute their paths cross. Considering it is Gordon under the cowl, makes this an even more strange occurrence give his penchant for accepting help from vigilantes in the past. 3.5/5
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Arnab Pradhan
arnab@comicattack.net
