Batman Annual #4
Writer: James Tynion IV
Artists: Roge Antonio and Dave McCaig
Cover Artists: Sean Gordon Murphy
Publisher: DC
Batman unquestionably has the best villains in comics, so it is always a treat when the writer pairs up some of the villains who generally don’t interact with one another. Riddler, Mr. Freeze, and Clay Face are an unexpected wonderful trio. They play off each other’s strengths and for the most part were remarkably successful in their plans. What made this issue even better is that it felt like a classic Batman story. Even though it was amnesia-Bruce Wayne at the center of things, this issue still feels like a Bruce-Batman book. The robot Batman took a backseat this week and it was for the better. 4/5
Grayson Annual #2
Writers: Tim Seeley and Tom King
Artists: Alvaro Martinez, Raul Fernandez, and Jeromy Cox
Cover Artists: Mikel Janin and Jeremy Cox
Publisher: DC
Sometimes it is just nice to know that characters outside the Bat-family do care. Even though Superman is generally Batman’s contemporary, this issue does a great job of demonstrating the type of character Dick Grayson is. Like Superman mentions in this issue, Dick has always been the light to Batman’s darkness, and that’s pretty much the moral of the story. This issue wasn’t anywhere near as emotional as Grayson #12, and to be blunt that issue probably deserved the $4.99 price tag, but this issue was still fun nevertheless. Dick has always worked well with others and that extends to Superman. Unlike his adventures with Gordon-Batman, this adventure with Dick operates very smoothly. The two of them, especially with Clark’s powers missing, make for a very good pairing. While the issue itself isn’t a particularly deep story, it is a nice fun standalone issue. 3/5
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Arnab Pradhan
arnab@comicattack.net
