We're back with more comic reviews! This time finishing catching up with Scott Snyder's Batman series, and the beginning of a new storyline involving the Joker!
LEGGO
Batman Annual
This was released in May and ties into the Night of the Owls storyline. The one-off basically retells the origin of Mr. Freeze established in Batman: The Animated Series; Victor Fries is a cryogenic scientist working for Wayne Enterprises trying to find a cure for his frozen wife Nora, but his project's funding is shut down when his emotions begin to take over, and he winds up in an chemical accident that freezes his skin, forcing him to wear special survival gear, and he becomes the villain Mr. Freeze. In a cool twist here, we learn that the serum the Court of Owls gives their soldiers to reanimate them was developed by Mr. Freeze, thus tying him in with the story. We get ALL of Freeze's backstory here, including an interesting plot twist involving Nora. This was a great one-off that I was actually kind of sad to see end, as it would have served as a great jumping off point for a new Freeze storyline once the Owl storyline finished, but the creative team chose to go in a different direction, as you will read about below.
Batman #0
This was part of some sort of weird September project by DC to celebrate the first year of the New 52, in which every issue during the month was numbered #0, and the issues are hyped with those lame "New Origins! Secrets Revealed!" hype jobs that reveals no secrets nor creates new origins. Anyway, this is a flashback to Bruce Wayne's first days as Batman where he infiltrates the Red Hood Gang but doesn't do enough research on the man he is imitating, and is caught. Bruce also tests out new technology and has his first meeting with Lieutenant James Gordon regarding a masked vigilante, and that's pretty much it. Lame, lame, lame, as this just felt like filler so the creative staff could have more time to deal with the new storyline involving the Joker. The "bonus" story included after the end is pretty cool, however, showing future Batman partners such as Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, etc. going about their pre-Bat lives when at the same time they witness the first lighting of the Bat Signal. Again, nothing really offensive in this one, just pointless filler.
Batman #13
The Joker is back! In a cool intro, Joker makes his return to Gotham by shutting off the power in the police headquarters and killing pretty much every officer on duty except for Commissioner Gordon, who is taunted with threats against his family. Joker's reasoning? He needed to retrieve his face that was cut off waaaaaay back at the end of the New 52 Detective Comics #1 last year. Gordon briefs Batman on the situation, and Batman concludes that Joker is reenacting every one of his major crimes from scratch, leading Batman to the chemical factory where the Joker was created, but finds Harley Quinn in disguise while Joker kidnaps Alfred. The bonus story afterwards tells us why Harley Quinn was being set up; Joker needs her to distract Batman so Joker can begin prepping for his "huge party." I liked this one. It had a creepy beginning, and everything kind of clicked together in a way that you know where they are going, BUT you don't know how they're going to get there, if that makes any sense at all.
Batman #14
Batman is able to escape from a chemical vat that Harley Quinn throws him in and returns to the Batcave where he discovers that Alfred has been abducted, and is being tortured. He goes to meet with Commissioner Gordon, Joker's apparent next target, but the Commissioner begins bleeding uncontrollably through his pores. Gordon is rushed to a hospital and is expected to pull through, but Nightwing meets with Batman and voices his concerns, especially about Alfred being a target. Batman has a plan, however, and meets Joker at an aqueduct that he plans to blow up. But Joker has already done most of the work - killing people and poisoning water - because he simply wants to talk to Batman. Joker traps Batman and reveals that he knows the identities of he and his friends, and that they will soon be dead, with Batman killing them. Interesting. The bonus story here has Penguin walking into a meeting to discover multiple mob higher-ups killed by umbrella. Joker appears and claims he will confess if Penguin does him a favor involving his mega event. An intriguing issue yet again that kind of ended with a twist.
Batman #15
Gotham cops arrive at the aqueduct to stop Joker, but his hidden henchmen assault the cops. meanwhile Batman breaks free and demands answers, but stops beating the crap out of Joker when he realizes his punches are infecting his fists with Joker Venom. Batman passes out and awakes in the Batcave where his associates demand answers as to how Joker knows their identities. Batman explains that the second time he stopped Joker, he returned home via Batboat but found a joker card floating in the water, hinting that Joker had followed him. Batman is still in denial saying it was impossible due to his boat submerging, traveling at high speeds, being able to detect weight, and other things, but the associates remain unconvinced, and are ticked that Batman would keep such a secret from them. Batman then heads to Arkham Asylum after receiving another clue. The bonus story has Joker forcing the Riddler to escape from Arkham in order to assist Joker with his party. Another good issue, although I'm starting to get worried since it's all build so far. Hopefully the conclusion doesn't disappoint after all of the hype!
Overall Thoughts: Welp, all caught up, finally. Really the only stinker here I thought was the Batman #0. It just felt like filler even though the ending hinted that we would hear from the Red Hood Gang in the future. The Annual issue was probably my favorite, as it had a satisfying build up AND conclusion, and added a unique twist to a story I've seen over and over again by way of Batman: TAS.
Lots of people hate this new Joker storyline so far, along with his look, but I'll only agree with the look (a sawed off face held together by a belt and safety pins... ewww). I'm digging the story's buildup so far, although the Court of Owls storyline had awesome buildup as well, and the end result was highly unsatisfying.
NEXT UP: Amazing Spider-Man #700 and Superior Spider-Man #1!
No comments:
Post a Comment