Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6 (of 6) $3.99
Art by LEE GARBETT & WALDEN WONG
Cover by ANDY KUBERT
1:25 Variant cover by LEE GARBETT
Grant Morrison and BATGIRL artist Lee Garbett deliver the final chapter of this time-spanning epic! With Bruce Wayne just steps away from returning to present day Gotham City, the timestream might have a few more surprises in store for The Dark Knight! Do not miss this issue, as it paves the way for the shocking future era of Batman!
So, here we are. Morrison wraps this up, and we head toward Batman, Inc., even if that all seemed (according to the solicit) to happen in last week's Batman and Robin #16.
I dunno, I'm just so stuck on this idea that Batman, Inc. is just plain stupid. I could be wrong, I'll admit that, but it's such a drastic switch from the Batman, the Bruce Wayne, we've followed for at least the last 30 years. I can see working a switch in the OCD, "I'm always right, and you're all stupid" Batman we've had for about the last decade (Which Morrison kinda jump-started in his JLA run). Still, it's a huge leap from the loner with a tight-knit team to "hey, you wanna fight crime? He's a Wayne Foundation grant!" Not to mention the oddness of having Bruce Wayne so intimately involved in the enterprise.
I dunno, I just think the whole things sounds...dumb.
Booster Gold #38
Art by CHRIS BATISTA & RICH PERROTTA
Cover by CHRIS BATISTA
What do Booster Gold and World War II have in common? Not a lot. What do Maxwell Lord and World War II have in common? Quite a bit, actually. Join Booster, Skeets and (Heaven, help us) General Glory as they take on Nazis, mad scientists and whatever else we can throw in. Oh yeah, and Booster is forced to make a choice that could alter the DCU forever…
Fun, fun, fun. The return of General Glory? Sign me up!
One of the joys of this book, and I'm sure I've mentioned this, is that Giffen and DeMatteis have acknowledged that changes that Booster has gone through in the past few years. He's matured, and become responsible. The take they seem to have is that he sorta wants to be the goofball again, and part of his longing for Ted (Blue Beetle II) Kord, is that he represents a time in his life when friendship and misadventures was the order of the day. Now, as the guardian of the DCU timestream, there's too much riding on him to let himself go. It reminds me of the best of the Wally West Flash era, where the character's impulses were far less noble than they ought to be, and it was the feeling of responsibility that kept them on the straight and narrow.
That's real, that's a human impulse we all understand, and I love it.
Red Robin #17
Art and cover by MARCUS TO
& RAY MCCARTHY
How does the return of Bruce Wayne and the beginning of Batman, Inc. work into Red Robin's plan to initiate an international stranglehold on crime? If Batman approves of everything Red Robin has set in motion, what will he do when his protégé decides to release the gang-leader-and-maybe-undercover-cop Lynx from prison? And guess which surprise guest star you'll see when Red Robin takes a quick trip to Hong Kong!
Huh. It seems like quite a long time since I've gotten an issue of this book. The one thing that is interesting to be about where Batman, Inc. is going is what Tim Drake's ultimate role will be. He can't go back to being Robin, Damian Wayne's pretty firmly set in there, now. Dick Grayson looks to be the "Gotham City Batman" (which is so wrong to me, so, so wrong). and Bruce is apparently winging around the world recruiting international Batmen (again, using that word, so, so wrong...and yes, I know it was set up in the Silver Age, OK? I get it.), where does that leave Tim? Apparently in Hong Kong.
I like where Nieciza had positioned Tim, as the proactive member of the Bat-family (which doesn't bother me at all, funny enough), with his list of targets and plans to take 'em out. It was a solid way to establish how Tim would be different than the rest of the family, and felt connected to who the character was, way back even to his introduction, and his "plan" to help Bruce way back then.
I hope we don't lose that, or find the series mired in Morrison's Bat-concept.
Ant-Man and Wasp #1 (of 3) $3.99 [but the Marvel site says $2.99]
WRITER: Tim Seeley
PENCILS: Tim Seeley
Two of Marvel's smallest heroes must join forces and get over one BIG elephant-in-the-room! Eric O'Grady once STOLE the Ant-Man suit from Hank Pym. But now, Eric is the only one who knows about a secret AIM plot to steal Pym's greatest invention! Can the two men get along long enough to save the soul of the former GOLIATH, Bill Foster? Tim Seeley, creator of Hack/Slash brings us the big story of the two smallest Avengers! And make sure you check out this adventure before the astonishing events of AVENGERS ACADEMY #7 next month!
Now, this is a personal one. I'm an acquaintance with Tim Seely (I feel "friend" would be pushing it), and I've been a fan of his work. Hack/Slash is something that I've followed in trades.
I should really have a blog about series I follow in trades, as I'm just as much in love with those books, but find them easier to just get on a 6-month, or whatever, cycle. this either because I got on board late, or just because I think the story flows better that way.
One thing is, I'm not really a "horror" guy. It's a great testament to Tim that he's taken a book firmly set in the tropes of the "slasher" genre, which is really my least favorite type of horror, and made it sing with the two lead characters. So, if he can grab me in a genre I don't much care for, I'm looking forward to what he can do in the superhero vein that is my bread and butter.
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