Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween #4 – Jeph Loeb, Writer; Cliff Chiang, Artist; Dave Stewart, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Every issue brings a new artist and a new tone on this series, and this one goes to the masterful Cliff Chiang, who recently did the Catwoman Black Label series as a solo writer/artist. So clearly, he’s not going to have any issues with drawing Gotham, and things move fast this issue. After a near-death experience including a gunshot while interrogating the last Falcone, Batman has gotten into the Batcave – and passes out midway, letting the autopilot steer the massive machine right into the Batcave and interrupting Alfred and Robin’s board game. This issue is told from Robin’s perspective, and we see his response to quite a few things – Bruce being seriously injured for the first time, how stern Alfred can get when lives are on the line, and the uncertainty that comes with every day on this job. Dick is very young here, younger than he was when he became Robin in canon now, so this is unsettling to say the least.
The characterization of Robin here is very strong, although sometimes the themes here coincide a little too much with the work Waid and Samnee are doing on their own Batman and Robin title right now. Lots of common grounds, but Loeb maybe has room for a bit more humor. With Bruce languishing in a coma for the better part of a week after emergency surgery and Alfred starting to lose hope, Dick heads out of the Batcave and back to Arkham – to kidnap a certain cat. He needs someone to give Bruce a reason to live, and if Bruce’s adoptive dad and son aren’t enough, might as well get the current outlaw girlfriend! It’s a pretty funny sequence of events, but it does surprisingly work and Bruce is so enamored he doesn’t even get made at his son’s criminal streak. Despite the near-death experience, it’s one of the lighter issues of the series – but that’s going to end fast based on the cliffhanger.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
