Batman #711
Writer: Tony Daniel
Artists: Steve Scott and Ryan Winn
Cover Artist: Tony Daniel
Publisher: DC
Two-Face’s luck continues as he claws his way out of the grave. Seconds later, he is kidnapped by his old pal the Riddler and his daughter, Enigma. Riddler reveals to Two-Face, as well as the readers, that Gilda Dent is trapped in her relationship with Falcone and has asked Riddler for help. With help, Two-Face rallies his old goons to make a stand against Falcone. Meanwhile, Catgirl, who had been ordered to leave town, gets in a bit of trouble as she tries to prove to both Batman and Catwoman that she belongs in Gotham.
Obviously Two-Face is not going to die soon (even if he had, DC probably would have just rebooted him in Sept.), but even though it was expected, I thought the story behind it all was well done. Tony Daniel is doing a great job of drawing connections between his story and The Long Halloween, and it’s making the story as a whole better. I’m gonna go ahead and admit that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Catgirl’s character since she was introduced. I think she makes a great protege to Catwoman, and I think she’d make a great foil for Damian. The art looked great as well. Overall I’d say that this was a good issue. 3.5/5
Teen Titans #96
Writer: J.T. Krul
Artists: Nicola Scott and Doug Hazlewood
Cover Artists: Nicola Scott, Doug Hazlewood, and Jason Wright
Publisher: DC
The Teen Titans are still stuck in an alternate dimension, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, only Beast Boy and Solstice are free to save them. Solstice takes somewhat of a backseat, as Beast Boy, veteran Teen Titan who’s no longer a teen, takes the spotlight. Seeing just how badly his friends needed him, he changed into a gigantic monkey and was able to free his friends. While that didn’t end up weakening Rankor, it did even the playing field just a little bit.
If there was one thing that would sum up Krul’s entire run, it would be that the arcs are too long. It’s weird, because I think Krul has done an excellent job with the pacing on Green Arrow, but with this book everything feels unnecessarily drawn out. Working with such a large group doesn’t help either, especially when they’re in multiple locations. Where he does a great job, though, is when he focuses on a singular character. He did a great job with Gar in this issue, and that’s what I would like to have seen more of throughout. For the most part the art was exceptionally bad. While I’ll admit Gar’s animal transformations looked great, the rest of the book was not. There was one scene in particular where the proportions were just so way off it was comical, but in an unfortunate way. 2.5/5
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Arnab Pradhan
arnab@comicattack.net
I was hoping that Two Face was really dead, at least for a while.
I was hoping Two-Face was dead as well (for at least a while). There’s only so many times he can claw his way out of the grave before it gets annoying.