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BATMAN #595
"Out of the Past"
Recommended (7/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Pencils: Scott McDaniel
Inks: Aaron Sowd
Colors: Roberta Tewes & Wildstorm FX
Letters: John Costanza
Editor: Bob Schreck
Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN |
There are elements of this story that feel contrived, and interesting notions pushed aside, but overall, I'm enjoying Brubaker's take on Batman as usual. The Lew Moxon arc has been nicely structured, such that you got more out of it if you read all the issues but you could read most of the issues separately, and though I think Brubaker has a somewhat single-minded approach to who Batman is at times, he does seem to get the character and his motivations and methods of operating pretty well. In addition, McDaniel, while not wowing me like he did on Nightwing, is a solid artist who seems to have meshed fairly well with Brubaker's style. There is a qualified level of enjoyment of Batman for me, not the level of appreciation I had for Brubaker's Scene of the Crime or Catwoman backups, but I have to say I'm still enjoying
it.
Brubaker raises some interesting points
right at the beginning of this issue, talking about Bruce Wayne and his fixation
on "no guns." This has been a defining factor of Batman for a long time, and it
is fairly simple-minded and silly, but no moreso than the single-minded
dedication he has to other aspects of his crusade. I actually would have loved a
full issue of seeing Sasha and Batman debating the issue, rather than having it
shoved into the bookends and left with a rather unsatisfactory "agree to
disagree" status quo, but I suspect that wouldn't go over well with the general
Batman readership at large.
There are some terrific story points here,
but it often seems as if there were troubles getting to them. For instance,
while I loved the flashback story of Thomas Wayne and Moxon in its entirety,
having Batman just happen to remember a thug who knew the truth seemed awfully
contrived. Rather than act like a detective or even use his intimidation to any
great degree, he just gets a full story handed out to him. The funny reason
given for Angelo's loose lips is cute, but it doesn't completely satisfy.
Honestly, before I read the letter column, I had utterly forgotten that the Lew Moxon story had existed in pre-Crisis continuity. I'm even more impressed with the
story's accessibility on that level now, since Brubaker has managed to make it
enjoyable to readers without relying on the "wink and nudge" familiarity of
re-invented characters. I also appreciated that he didn't tie Moxon into the
deaths of the Wayne family, as the notion of the crime being a random event is a
large part of what drives Batman, and having Moxon responsible for the Waynes'
murder never felt right previously.
Because we're seeing Batman from Batman's point-of-view, this book doesn't have the leeway that Detective (cop POV) or Gotham Knights (varying POV) have. It sometimes feels overly familiar as a result, and I think that's one of the reasons why it doesn't excite me the way Detective has. However, given that they're working with a 60-year-old character, you have to respect Brubaker and McDaniel for continuing to create an interesting read every month in Batman.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
