Batman and Robin #34
Writer: Peter Tomasi
Artists: Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray, and John Kalisz
Cover Artists: Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray, and John Kalisz
Publisher: DC Comics
While Scott Snyder’s run on Batman has been amazing, and his “Death of the Family” arc was excellent, the lingering effects on the Bat-Family have been unfortunate. The Bat-Family has always worked better as a team, even if they tended to be slightly anti-social when it came to the rest of the DC Universe. With this issue, Peter Tomasi not only brings the family together in one room, but he also begins to fix what was once broken. Naturally, the Dick Grayson secret will cause some friction later on down the road, but for now the family is back together again. Meanwhile, Batman is able to distract most of the Justice League in order to make his way back to Apokolips. The only problem to be found here is Batman’s willingness to let Luthor alter his suit. History shows that Luthor always has a backup plan, and this feels like step one of his plan. Robin Rises started off with a bang, and while the action dies down a bit with this issue, Tomasi uses the downtime to write a great story. 4.5/5
Batman Eternal #20
Writer: Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, John Layman, and Tim Seeley
Artists: Emanuel Simeoni and Blond
Cover Artists: Alex Garner
Publisher: DC Comics
Gotham Eternal would have been a more appropriate title for this series. Much like with Streets of Gotham, the events in this book are more directly connected to the city of Gotham than Batman. The bulk of the story is split into three parts: Batman and Croc, Batgirl with Batwoman and Red Hood, and James Gordon. For the most part, each story was well written and executed, and while they all seemed like disconnected stories, each plot thread had the potential for massive repercussions based on the outcomes. With Batman Eternal nearing its halfway mark, many of the loose ends are slowly wrapping up, while others are just beginning. 4.5/5
Teen Titans #2
Writer: Will Pfeifer
Artists: Kenneth Rocafort and Dan Brown
Cover Artists: Kenneth Rocafort
Publisher: DC
A reboot was exactly what this series needed. Will Pfeifer continues writing an exciting, energetic story. Like with any good team book, Pfeifer doesn’t feel the need to have each member suffocatingly living their lives around each other 100% of the time. Rather, he takes the time to show the team doing things on their own, whether it’s interrogating a witness, or going to a concert, or even watching the news. Pfeifer is doing a great job writing this team and giving the individual team members their own voice and personality. The only character that’s been a little off is Bunker. With the start of the new series, Bunker has dropped the goofier, light-hearted, optimistic persona and is being written more as the edgier, rebellious teenager, gay rights advocate, which is an admirable effort, however, it would be nice to see him be all that but also maintain that energetic, optimistic attitude most of us have grown to love. 4/5
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Arnab Pradhan
arnab@comicattack.net
This Robin Rises arc is turning out better than I expected it would though I was pretty shocked that Bruce let Luthor “improve” on his suit. Hope it doesn’t come back to bite him in the ass later on. But if it does it better make a good story.
I also think that Bunker is just fed up with things and so he’s a bit more angry now. Hopefully it’s just a phase and we get to see the character traits that we were introduced to but for now I like this take charge attitude