Batman Incorporated #6 – Ed Brisson, Writer; Michele Bandini, Artist; Rex Lokus, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: After the emotionally-packed first arc, which revealed Ghost-Maker’s dark past in the form of Phantom One, it’s time for a new mission. The infamous Gotham villain Professor Pyg has been robbed, and has decided to tear his way through the Gotham crime scene to find the culprit. Pyg is… a lot, and I’m usually not a big fan. The David Lynch-inspired conclusion just adds to that, but what surrounds him in this issue is compelling. Ghost-Maker deputizes the team to find the stolen quarry before Pyg does, but this is complicated by his estrangement from Clownhunter, who refuses to work directly with him. Ghost-Maker is still rather officious and doesn’t seem to have actually learned much from the last arc—not that I’d necessarily want him to change—so this issue’s strongest suit is the quiet moments featuring characters like Raven Red and Clownhunter as they develop outside of his orbit. It’s a decent issue, but this arc doesn’t immediately seem to have the same hook as the first.
The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #6 – Ivan Cohen, Writer; Erich Owen, Artist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: This series has been great at using more obscure parts of DC continuity, including this issue’s guest star of Madame Xanadu. The mysterious fortune-teller is usually helpful—but this time her prophecy indicates that if Mystery Inc. continues fighting crime with Batman, Batman will die. So as a series of robberies plagues Gotham, Mystery Inc. dodges Batman—leaving Bats put out and kind of looking like a schoolkid who’s just been dumped by his best friend. As the two crimefighters try to solve the same case separately, Alfred gets in some good one-liners now that he’s Batman’s closest confidant again. The eventual reveal comes a bit out of nowhere and is a little silly, but this continues to be a fun issue. I was hoping that Alfred’s “British friend” would actually show up, because that’s definitely Constantine and all-ages versions of the character never fail to make me laugh.
WildC.A.T.S. #5 – Matthew Rosenberg, Writer; Stephen Segovia, Artist; Elmer Santos, Colorist
Ray – 7/10
Ray: The original Wildstorm comics were essentially fight books with some flashy art, so it’s not necessarily a bad thing that this book seems to be carrying on in that style. The problem is that it really doesn’t earn many of the more emotional scenes it often seems to be going for. The seeming death of Grifter early in the run lacks some of the emotional punch it was going for, owing to the fact that we really haven’t seen any of Grifter’s relationships fleshed out. The WildCATS having to split the cast with the new Seven Soldiers of Victory skews things as well, as the deluded Majestic takes up a lot of page time this issue. It’s not clear why he thinks he’s a Kryptonian, but his battle with Superman is probably the most dramatic scene of the issue. The reveal about exactly how Grifter might still be around is intriguing as well, leaving just enough interesting questions to keep me coming back to this over-the-top book.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
