Batman Incorporated #10 – Ed Brisson, Writer; John Timms, Michelle Bandini, David LaFuente, Artists; Rex Lokus, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: As Joker Incorporated makes its move around the world, Joker has left Ghost-Maker with a disturbing choice—kill his minions one-by-one, or let the bombs he’s implanted in them go off and potentially kill thousands. This pits Ghost-Maker, who was always agnostic at best about Bruce’s mission, against some of his team—and there will be casualties. They come fast and furious this issue, with one already being teased at the end of last issue. This character always felt sort of marked as they were a hold-over from another series with a not-so-great reputation, but Brisson manages to build tension effectively throughout the issue. While the three different artists sort of break the immersion in this issue a little, it does have a great sense of theater thanks to the very different international Jokers—one potentially even switching sides. This has always been an action-driven comic, and it’s sticking to its strengths.
WildCATS #9 – Matthew Rosenberg, Writer; Danny Kim, Tom Derenick, Artists; Elmer Santos, Colorist
Ray – 7.5/10
Ray: With a large cast and a lot of different villains, this series has been doing a solid job of capturing the spirit of the old Wildstorm titles—for good and bad. The action this issue is mostly split between two narratives—the original team trying to figure out their next move, and Cole Cash in an alternate world. The former story is mostly the characters arguing with the overtly sinister John Lynch, who wants to keep them alive at the cost of them working for him. There are a few funny bits of dialogue here, but overall the Grifter story is the stronger one of these. There’s a distinct tragic edge to it as Grifter makes his escape while saying goodbye to elements of the life he could have had. While all this is going on, characters like Backlash and Voodoo go up against the Court of Owls, who spend most of their time lurking in the background. This isn’t a bad series, it’s just overstuffed and VERY 90s.
The Batman and Scooby-Doo Mysteries #10 – Ivan Cohen, Writer; Dario Brizuela, Artist; Franco Riesco, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: This nautical-themed adventure finds the Mystery Machine crew boarding a massive new cruise ship equipped with a new ocean-scanning technology built by…Bruce Wayne, who’s taking the cruise in his civilian identity. The cruise is set up as a mystery-themed party – something Velma and co. are a little too good at solving – but the mystery soon takes on a new level as a group of ruthless teleporting pirates board, terrorizing the passengers and commandeering the ship to a mystery location where a treasure can be found. There are a few clever little details about how everyone finds out the villain’s identity, but this is one of those issues that feels very much like a traditional Scooby Doo mystery – just with Batman on board as well. It’s fun, but it doesn’t quite have the levels of DC mythology this series can hit when it’s at its best.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
