Batman #42
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artists: Greg Capullo, Danny Miki, and FCO Plascencia
Cover Artists: Greg Capullo, Danny Miki, and FCO Plascencia
Publisher: DC Comics
All eyes are on Gordon as he continues to try his hand at being Batman. With Gordon’s transition into being Batman continues, the issue focuses on what type of role he will be playing as Batman and whether or not he is going to be able to handle it. Scott Snyder does an excellent job of showing Gordon’s struggle in his new job, but also highlighting his strengths. While he has been a cop for decades, being Batman takes a completely different level of physical and mental determination and exertion, so it’s great to see the dichotomy of him struggling to physically be Batman while being somewhat on par with the mental, critical thinking aspect. The only thing that stuck out as being rather peculiar about this issue is that apparently Bruce Wayne is walking around Gotham, working, and not even bothering to use an alias. It seems like a particularly odd, if not stupid, way to go about faking one’s death. Unless it’s not actually Bruce, but instead one of the Bat-Family members keeping up the Bruce Wayne charade. 4/5
Batman/Superman #22
Writer: Greg Pak
Artists: Ardian Syaf, Vicente Cifuentes, Dean White, and Beth Sotelo
Cover Artists: Ardian Syaf and Ulises Arreola
Publisher: DC
A government funded Batman is a peculiar thing when it comes to the rest of the world. While Batman has always centered himself in Gotham, he has also always been a worldwide hero because of his relationships with other heroes as well as the Justice League. Batman Gordon’s unwillingness to work with Superman is just the tip of the iceberg really. Eventually, there will be situations where Batman’s government ties will cause problems for him. That being said, this issue was actually quite well done. The interaction between Superman and Batman was particularly well written and almost echoed Superman’s first interaction with Bruce, however the roles were reversed then, with Batman being the voice of experience and Superman being the one making the rash decisions. It is a nice change in their dynamic, however, this series could have used a couple more arcs of Batman and Superman trusting each other, before being thrown back into the cycle of them not trusting one another. 4/5
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Arnab Pradhan
arnab@comicattack.net
