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BATMAN #594
"Sanctuary Part Two of Two"
Recommended (7/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Pencils: Scott McDaniel
Inks: Karl Story
Colors: Roberta Tewes & Wildstorm FX
Letters: John Costanza
Editor: Bob Schreck
Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN |
I was worried that the "Our Worlds At War" crossover might derail Batman for a couple of months, and while Brubaker does his best to work it into the ongoing story, I think he would have been better off ignoring it, as Rucka has done over in Detective. Because while I'm interested in the
Moxon/Thomas Wayne/Zeiss story, it's starting to feel a bit long in the tooth,
and having it interrupted by a lost alien fugitive story hasn't helped that.
This is certainly an issue that's entertaining, and it features a terrific use
of Batgirl, but I can't help feeling that now that the alien story is out of the
way, the book will get back on track once again.
Brubaker has contributed Zeiss, a new
villain, to the Batman mythos, and despite a somewhat uninteresting visual, he
is shaping up to be an interesting new adversary. He's a strange mix of ruthless
enforcer and honorable criminal, and what we've seen of him indicates a sort of
detached, possibly sociopathic, view of the world. His actions in this issue
range from mild threats to cold-blooded murder to a rather shocking act of
personal sacrifice, and yet they all fit in with the character we've seen, and
he's got an established personal connection to Bruce Wayne/Batman through the
first storyline in which he appeared. I'm not sure he'll ever be up there with
classic villains like Joker, Penguin or even Ra's Al Ghul, but I wouldn't be
surprised to see him join the roster of favorites.
The notion of a peaceful alien in Gotham is
an interesting story, but really doesn't tie in to what I know of "Our Worlds At
War" and really does seem like a distraction for Batman. Something even the
character himself notes, and while I could have appreciated it's use had that
distraction stopped him from doing something, it's mostly seemed to be little
more than a nuisance that extended the storyline around Moxon and Wayne's father
further than it needed to go. However, having the alien holed up does provide
the best scene in the issue, where the near-silent Batgirl crashes a corrupt
federal team and kicks butt, displayed in fine style by the action-oriented
McDaniel.
There are many things to recommend about
this issue, from the further development of Zeiss to the internal conflict that
Batman has when trying to maintain his Bruce Wayne front, but it never quite
came together for me the way the best of Brubaker's run has.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
