Batman: Urban Legends #10 – Meghan Fitzmartin, Sam Johns, Dan Watters, Tini Howard, Writers; Alberto Albuquerque Jimenez, Karl Mostert, Nikola Cizmesija, Christian Duce, Artists; Nick Filardi, David Baron, Ivan Plascencia, Sarah Stern, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: It’s a special holiday-themed issue of this anthology, with two ongoing stories and two new one-shots. But the focus here, of course, is on the follow-up to Tim Drake’s highly publicized coming-out story a few months back.
That main story, taking up close to half the issue, is set after Fear State. Tim and Bernard have been dating for a month, but Tim is having trouble letting himself loosen up and enjoy it. And any stress he’s feeling is magnified by Bruce, who is more isolated than ever and seems to have given up hope for Gotham. This is a good look at just how much of a toll the constant crises are taking on Gotham. A case involving churches and other houses of worship brings Batman and the former (current?) Robin back together, as Tim tries to pull Bruce out of the void. This has a few great scenes about how Bruce is slowly trying to do things differently, and I particularly liked how it portrayed Bruce and Tim’s bond. Bruce isn’t easy, but he’s definitely not a bad person. The coming-out scene was subtle and not really dwelt on, which is important in its own right. Even better, we get the promise of more Tim Drake stories in 2022.
Distinctly less cheery is the second part of the Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum story by Johns and Mostert. With Dee becoming increasingly sick, Dum makes a desperate play to save his brother. This turns into a nasty scene at the hospital, but Batman surprisingly plays hero and shows, once again, that he never turns his back even on his villains. This is one of the darkest stories that have been in this series, with Dum facing a terrible choice to save his brother even at the cost of losing him. I’ve always been a sucker for stories that humanize low-level crooks.
The third chapter of the Azrael story, tying in with current events in the Arkham City series, finally pits Azrael against his mysterious nemesis. This assassin has ties to the Order of St. Dumas and seems to be a flip side to one of Gotham’s most iconic villains. The short length of this story means a lot of it is devoted to exposition, but this new character seems to be an intriguing adversary. The story doesn’t really hit a high until the last few pages, which provide a poignant coda to the way it all began.
Finally, Tini Howard makes her DC debut alongside Christian Duce for a Christmas story featuring Nightwing. Scarecrow acolytes are attacking a department store in Bludhaven, the customers are ready to riot, and Dick is dodging Christmas dinner with the Batfam. This turns into a fear-gas induced hallucination of the three Batgirls paying him visits—a la three iconic ghosts, showing him scenes from his past, present, and future. Sure, the countless Christmas Carol pastiches are a bit of a well-worn trope by now, but I think this one actually did a really good job of making it reflect the character and show the trauma that Alfred’s death has had on the whole Bat-fam. I think in a different genre, the last lines would have hit very differently, but I’m automatically going to love any story that has Cass getting to be a spooky spirit in full costume.
Overall, the two main stories were excellent enough to make this one of the best issues of the series.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
