All the Bat Dudes

Batman and Robin #2

Dick Grayson is discouraged. He hasn’t been Batman long, the cops aren’t sure they trust him yet, Gotham PD just got attacked by a bunch of circus-freak ninjas, and someone used all the chaos to kill the Toad, the one link to the ominous Mr. Pyg. The new Robin, Damian al Ghul, Batman’s son, is out of control and runs off to try to get Mr. Pyg on his own.

Verdict: Thumbs up. I loved the circus freaks who attacked the Gotham cop shop — the brawling fat lady and the hyper-agile Siamese-triplets were particularly cool. But I thought the high point of the issue was, believe it or not, the conversation between Dick and Alfred. Alfred used to be an actor, and Dick used to be a circus performer, and they talk about dressing up as Batman as a show-stopping star performance. Just seemed like a really great moment for a couple of great characters, talking about parts of their lives that we always seem to forget existed. Nice issue, good fun, great art, great writing. Looking forward to more.

Detective Comics #854

I picked this one up because it got extremely good buzz, and I’m glad I got it. It’s the re-introduction of Batwoman, who got a high-profile entrance a few years ago in the “52” weekly series, then was mostly ignored when DC suddenly panicked about publishing a lesbian superhero. Anyway, Kate Kane is on the trail of the Church of Crime’s new leader and, in the process, meets up with Batman, who tells her to cut her long hair because it would be a liability in a close-quarters fight. Turns out the hair is a wig, and we get to meet Kate’s girlfriend — whoops, make that ex-girlfriend — and her dad, who assists her in the crimefighting biz. There’s a backup story in this one, focusing on Renee Montoya, the Question, as she tries to track down a kidnapped woman in L.A.

Verdict: Thumbs up. I like this Kate Kane a lot more than I did the closeted-socialite version of the character. This one is more of a tattooed punk-goth rocker, and it makes her about a thousand times cooler than before. Batwoman may actually be the new lead character in “Detective Comics,” which is fairly cool. The backup with Renee Montoya is pretty good, too. Wish the story were longer, but I guess that’s the point of backup stories, right?