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10/12/2003: comments on a few recent Batverse comics
Batman: Tenses #2 (written by Joe Casey, pencils by Cully Hamner, inks by Dexter Vines)
Wow, that turned out to be even creepier than I expected. The villain became really scary, not simply because he deteriorated from having visions of dead people to crazy serial killer, but because last issue I still had some sympathy for Ted Krosby. And that panel when he wears the skin/scalp of his father, whom he just killed, as a mockery of a cowl in reaction to Batman's costume, and says "I feel empowered by this thing. Is that why you wear it?" that made me shiver, that scene really worked for me. And I agree with 'rith that the plot with the tenacious reporter who also comes on to Bruce was cool. I would have liked to see Wayne Industries transformation explored just a little bit more, a clearer hint maybe that it's Bruce who steers it towards technology and things that benefit Batman, but overall I'm really happy with this. (Except that I still think they could have done without glossy cardboard and sold 64 pages for slightly less than $6.95, but hey, you can always read it before lunch, loose your appetite because of the gory serial killer bits, and even out the budget that way... ;)
Batman: Death and the Maidens #3 (written by Greg Rucka, art by Klaus Janson)
Is it me or is getting this story progressively slower? I like character driven plots, and I certainly don't mind the relative lack of action, and as I said in my comments about the last two issues it still has me hooked, but the one flashy cliffhanger didn't really made up for not much else going on. Okay, there was some backstory on Nyssa, and -- once again -- R'as and Batman talked, but especially in that scene nothing really new happened, that they didn't say already in their previous confrontation. I just hope its pacing will speed up some in the next issue.
Detective Comics #787 (written by Brian K. Vaughan, pencils by Rick Burchett, inks by John Lowe)
The main story is a standalone featuring the Mad Hatter, and though he's not my favorite villain, he can be rather neat in the right hands. And I liked this story. With Burchett's art I always have to get over my dislike of how we draws Batman first, I don't like his kind of cartoony, there's too much emphasis on a really huge square jaw, though I have less problems with the other characters, and the art isn't bad, just not my thing. I liked the Lewis Carroll theme, and here the Man-Bat appearance made sense, unlike in the recent Gotham Knights story. Anyway, this story was fun, and I enjoyed that it had Bullock in it (it's set before Officer Down).
