Batman #710

         I went to the comic store recently and picked up a good number of comics. But four or five of the ones that I picked up were out standing. This is one of those. I picked this one up mainly because I was excited to see Two Face. He's always been a cool and interesting character, and I was very excited to see a comic with a classic villain in it.
        In this issue Two Face is interrogating/killing people trying to find where his coin is. The GCPD finds the bodies and calls in Batman. While they are investigating a congressman comes out and says this should not be handled by vigilantes, and Batman leaves. The scene goes to the Falcones and Mario is angry Two Face is back. Batman then goes to Katrina Falcone and again tries to convince her to go away to boarding school, this time even Catwoman backs him up, but Katrina refuses. Two Face is then gets kidnapped by the Falcones and a woman who I assume is Harvey Dent's ex wife (who is working with the Falcones and the Falcones have the coin) shoots him. Meanwhile Batman breaks into a club to try to interrogate people.
       I thoroughly enjoyed this issue. I am a huge fan of classic comic books, with the classic heroes. While this is not Bruce Wayne, Two Face is definitely a classic villain. Not only were classic characters used, but the comic had a very classic feel. It felt much like Batman: A Long Halloween. That might be because of the Falcones but it still had the feeling of the comic. The only thing that I was "miffed" about was the fact that Two Face died. That stayed with me for a couple of minutes until I came to the realization that DC would never actually kill off Two Face. He's too interesting. He has his whole thing with being good and evil, but every time he flips his coin I can't take my eye off the page. Batman's thing is that all of the characters in his stories are dark and have their own psychological problem. The two with the coolest are Two Face and the Joker. One who sees the joke in life, and the other one who's crime are completely based of chance. This was still a really good issue, but if Two Face is actually dead I'll drop the entire series.




Grade: 9/10
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Batman #709

          Batman is like Detective Comics in one way. The story quality varies from one arc to another. So far this has been a good arc. I don't really know much about Azrael, but it was still cool to see him appear in the arc. I didn't read the spin offs in Red Robin, or in Gotham City Sirens, so I was a tiny bit lost, and I might go back and read those later, but I was pretty much in the loop, and I still thought that it was a good arc.
       In this issue Batman goes to face Azrael since both Red Robin and Catwoman had failed. (That's the only part I was a little lost on. I didn't know how they failed, but it doesn't really interfere with the story) Batman meets Azrael, the Crusader and Fireball on top of a roof. Azrael brings the Prodigy forward. He explains that he was the best solo trapeze artist in the western hemisphere. But some guys didn't like him so they beat him up bad. Then Batman remembers. When he was little he didn't like the Prodigy either, and while people were beating up the Prodigy, Grayson just watched.  Azrael finds him guilty. But Catwoman and Red Robin bring Jenny and her kids to the roof hoping that this would persuade Azrael not to blow up the city. Jenny calls Azrael a monster , but the Crusader promises to protect Jenny. Then Batman convinces Azrael to use the sword of sin on himself. He does so and then no longer wishes to destroy the city. So when Fireball explodes the Crusader puts a force field around him, so that the city is safe.
     This was disappointing. I would have rather Batman defeated the Crusader, Azrael and Fireball then what happened. I'm all for happy endings when they are logical, but this seems like a sloppy ending for this arc. I've seen the villain seeing the error of his ways too many times now to enjoy this comic. This is the ending I had in mind, but it was too predictable. That's really all I have to say about the comic. Except that Dick Grayson was different because he wasn't as dark as Bruce and I liked that. But this arc and this issue made Grayson darker, and I don't want to see him  become Bruce Wayne. I like both characters, but Grayson should be Grayson and Wayne should be Wayne. So over all this ending ruined the arc making it predictable and also Hine did a bad job keeping Grayson from becoming Wayne. But since the quality in the arcs of Batman vary, I hope the next one will be better.





Grade: 6/10
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Batman #698

           THIS IS MY 50th REVIEW EVER
      

           This comic was very good, except one thing that I will bring up later. This story is about a villain, who later I think will be called the Copy Cat Villain, (named by the Riddler) and Batman and Riddler were tracking him down. I do hope that the Copy Cat Villain will show up later in the Batman series. People who have just been let out of Blackgate have been murdered in the different styles of the Batman villains. Tallies, pecked to death by birds, frozen. This comic also started out with a dream of  Dick Grayson's where he was in the flying Graysons again, but instead of his parents there is Catwoman, Jason Todd, and Oracle. The art was also exceptional the sketchiness and the sketchy collar worked in such a way that was very pleasing to the eye.
           What I really didn't like is that Edward Nigma (Riddler) figured all of the clues out before Batman, and he ended up just sitting their like a dolt. Batman is the smartest person in the DCU, he can't be outsmarted by one of his own (ex) villains. I hate that Dick Grayson is Batman, and this just makes it worst, if Robin (not Batman) is playing Batman and isn't even smart, how am I supposed to like him. Although the comic was still very good, and at least he was still physically fit.



Grade: B
buy at: www.mycomicshop.com