This is a guest post while I’m away overseas. This is by Kent. He blogs here.
4 out of 5
Purchase: Amazon
Pastors also need to undergo overseas missions! So here we are, a Batman comic book review from another superhero fan! And talking about missions, the Batman (extended) family has two, so let’s dive in from the top of the tallest Wayne skyscraper down to the streets of Gotham.
We begin with the first few panels of a man running from someone. This scene is reminiscent of the opening title of “Batman: The Animated Series” and Pastor Jim has two recent comic book reviews that can be found here and here. That someone is not Batman. It’s Jason Todd—the Red Hood and formerly, the 2nd Robin, after Richard Grayson. The Red Hood shoots the man. As we know Batman uses fear as a tool to stop villains and their operatives, but he never uses a gun, and he wants his family to follow the same don’t kill code. Luckily, it was just a rubber bullet and the man lived to give Jason the information on a new drug circulating Gotham called Cheerdrops—a euphoria-generating drug that makes addicts hallucinate they are invincible in front of cars and jumping into buildings. This has the opposite effect of the fear gas used by the Scarecrow, one of Batman’s main rogues. In a flashback, a young Jason accidentally opens a room filled with guns in the Batcave. His surprised gesture meets a bigger surprise when Batman was just right behind him. The mentor explains to the mentee that he needed the guns for forensic work, and he still finds it a coward’s weapon and they are not one of them. Both the writer and the artist hinted at Jason’s future use of guns as the panel shows him looking back at the lot (this reminds us of a Biblical character who turned into salt). At the present, Jason assaulted the Cheerdrops factory with rubber bullets while searching for Andy, the father of the kid he met earlier whose mother was also addicted to the same drugs and went into a coma, leaving the crying kid closely behind. This situation reminded Jason of his past when his mother was also an addict. When he encounters the boy’s father who happens to be heavily involved in this trade, he informs him of the situation, only to get angry when he was told by the father that he does not care for his wife and the boy whether they live or otherwise. Adding to Jason’s rage is the fact that the father also gave drugs to his son. Jason picked up the person’s gun and gave him three lethal shots in the chest. And talking to Oracle (Barbara Gordon), in the situation, he was shocked at what he just did.
Among Batman’s three adopted sons/former robins (Richard, Jason, and Timothy), Jason has an uncontrolled rage and is more violent. He has a murderous past just like Batman’s biological son, Damian Wayne. Bothered, guilty, and concerned for the kid’s future, he assures the boy that his parents are recovering and allows him to use his mask. The kid informed him that his mask is talking and alerted Jason of Batman’s presence. While Jason looks at the door and the windows, surprisingly Batman appears near the curtain; it is so typical but still, an effective writer’s choice complemented by the artist. Batman asked if Jason was responsible for the body found by the police, to which Jason replied, he is. Batman reminded Jason of his earlier warning not to use guns and kill, to which Jason elbow-punched his adoptive father in the face. But ultimately, the former boy wonder can’t beat his mentor. The kid intervened and told Batman that Jason is a good guy (the artist’s depiction of Batman’s surprised look is a good one) as the kid hugged the Red Hood in front of Batman. What does a stoic Bruce Wayne do in this situation? He pulls something from his utility belt and gives the kid a lollipop asking the kid to sit there while he talks to Jason. Yes, it is confirmed, the lollipop is now part of Batman’s gadgets “for distracting children at emergency scenes.” The father and son had “the” talk. They decided to temporarily join forces against a villain named Cheer and an old foe who they found out later as Mr. Freeze. Batman even rescued Jason in the process and vice versa when Batman was held captive and exposed to a stronger version of Cheerdrops. Riddle me this, “what would Batman become if he was truly happy?” Anyway, just a spoiler in the ending part, Spoiler (the only female Robin in the past and a former Batgirl) and the rest of the cavalry/family arrived at the scene. At the end of the story arc, Batman gave Jason a new Red Hood costume, accepting him again into the family despite his reluctance to adhere to the no killing rule of Batman. This is already a good reboot on Jason Todd’s character, not as dark as previous storylines.
The next story arc is about another antihero named Cole Cash, also known as the Grifter. He is a marksman and hand-to-hand combat expert who happens to have passive telekinesis, telepathy, and healing powers. For those who watched cartoons in the early 90s, we recognized him as the cool member of the WildC.A.T.s who fought against the Daemonites. Originally, Grifter belonged to a different publishing house, but DC Comics acquired it in 1999 and incorporated the characters in the main DC Universe. In this story, he is the bodyguard of Lucius Fox—Bruce Wayne’s associate and supplier of technology in Batman’s crusade. The organization known as Leviathan is hunting down Lucius and has talked with Cole Cash to help them. Grifter, in one of his free times, met Batman in the dangerous streets of Gotham, with the latter spying on the former. The fight between the two made Grifter acknowledge that Batman is stronger and that he lost this round to which Batman advised Grifter to watch himself from being used by the Halo organization. Grifter also had a run-in with Jason Todd. This was when Jason was hunting down the “murderous” Toyman and Grifter trying to defend the latter. The two antiheroes fight each other with Jason having the upper hand at first, until a train passes by, which knocks Jason off. Grifter had another run-in with Batman when he was ambushed by the henchmen of Black Mask. The two are helping each other fend off the goons. Following his code, Batman also disassembled Grifter’s guns in the process, and Grifter had no choice but to incapacitate their opponents without killing them. Talking about the no-kill rule, Grifter also met Superman whom he trapped earlier thinking it was Batman. This occurred simultaneously with some operatives attacking the Wayne building where Bruce and Lucius are. Luckily, Zealot—a member of the WildC.A.T.s was able to save Lucius when he was surrounded by the operatives. Looks like the Wild Covert Action Team is back! Moving forward with the timeline, the Leviathan agents have cornered both Lucius and Grifter in the building while Batman and Nightwing are still way down below. Guess which team rescued the duo? Your mom! This story arc shows us that the WildC.A.T.s are still present in the main DC Universe.
And in the next chapter, we have Katana, Black Lightning, and Metamorpho (The Outsiders and Batman’s extended family) battling a horde of ninjas. But wait, this is the next volume already.
The comic art (by Eddy Barrows and Ryan Benjamin) and the storyline (by Chip Zdarsky and Matthew Rosenberg) are classic; they did not inject a manga-style artwork nor include the fourth wall-breaking Bat-Mite in this serious-tone graphic novel. I like the subtle humor where Griffin and Deathstroke are punching, kicking/slicing each other in a (mock) battle on the streets until Griffin receives a call and tells his elite mercenary opponent to pause their fight. After the call, they resumed their clashes especially when the bystanders took videos of them. This too is classic, as a superhero team movie of a rival comics company has that similar scene; still, it is fun. Overall, this is a good introduction to the Urban Legends series that fans should not miss reading.
Kent thank you for this comic book review! Wow the stories sounds great and the first one really caught my interests especially with the theme of batman killing. I got to watch the new batman movie on my flight back to the US; the photographic element of the film was incredibly good. HOw are you Kent?
Pastor Jim! Glad to hear your back! Also, it is good to know that you had time to watch what seems to be a Batman Year One/Long Holloween adoptation movie. I’m looking forward to read your Urban Legend reviews in the near future. Actually, I’m curious which Asian country you minister. My apologies that in the rarest article of the blog, there were no comments other that ours (its the topic and the guest writer). Yep, still doing DRM stuff; grateful to GOD for His faithfulness! Thank you for this Jim! Blessings to you, Nancy, and your kids!
Good point about the movie seems to adapt Year One and the Long Halloween! I am glad you are doing DRM. What a joy to read the review though I hoped more commented! Maybe this weekend when I share on social media there be others that can comment! Did you like the new movie more than other Batman movies?
DRM is needed in these times. We are grateful to GOD that He sustains us even in this changing climate.
Maybe, just a little bit for this reboot movie. Actually, it is hard to tell if I like it more than one of the Nolan films or the 90s or Bats v Sups; yes, especially when compared to the 2nd Nolan film or the 2nd Keaton movie. There is a rumor that there will be a 2nd Patterson movie and an Affleck one at the same time in these DC multiverse. Something to look forward.
It be interesting to see all of Wild CATs team up with Batman’s family
Don’t know much about Wild Cats but I agree. Be cool to see that
They had Wild Cats cartoons when I was a kid. The comics were so much better though. Go check it out
Good review! Very engaging and I enjoyed it!
Thanks RG! I am glad Kent wrote this review. I imagine you are busy with artistic projects??
Way busy! After launching “Allegorian Prince”, I’m working on “Glymyre Tales” until Wednesday!