What I Bought Today – Talon #4, Batman Incorporated #7 (WARNING – SPOILERS)

Well, luckily the bad taste of Injustice: Gods Among Us #1 is outta my mouth, thanks in no small part due to…

Oh, and I also bought Batman & Robin Annual #1, but I’m doing a separate blog entry for that so I can give it a proper review. But before I take a look at Talon and Batman Incorporated, I’d like to take a moment to apologize for missing something important in Batman Inc. last time, and as well, I would like to say a fond farewell to a long lasting character in DC since 1950, Cyril Sheldrake, AKA the second Knight, who died at the hands of The Heretic near the end of Batman Incorporated #6. I really have no excuse for not realising he was dead, what with his neck snapping and all. Anyway, Cyril was the second Squire, later taking on the mantle of Knight when his father passed away, and then taking on Beryl Hutchinson as his new Squire. He was a prominent member of the Batmen of All Nations and Batman Incorporated, with he and Squire acting essentially as Batman & Robin’s counterparts in England. Indeed, a legend has fallen within the Bat Family…

Anyway, I suppose I might as well start with Batman Incorporated #7…

The most dangerous army in the world is the kind that can kill you with ease, and you can’t bring yourself to kill them.

Batman is captured by Talia after The Heretic kinda beat the shit out of him. Nightwing looks over the evacuation of the Batman Inc. members that were in the building, and Beryl is a WRECK after what has happened to Knight, blaming herself. They don’t have much time to grieve, though, when all of a sudden a bus full of kids brainwashed into serving Leviathan arrives, attacking with weapons as the police are unable to fight back due to them being children. Wingman, who as you’ll recall is actually Jason Todd, heads to Batcave East when he’s tasered down by The Hood, who declares that Batman Inc. is over and he’s getting out while the getting’s good. Red Robin is nearly blown up, Traktir and Spidra may be about to die, but through all of this, Damian learns the truth about Batman’s visions of the future: The Batman of the future is not Damian. Piecing together what he’s seen and learned over the past few years worth of comics (pre-Flashpoint Batman & Robin and Batman Inc.), he deduces that The Heretic is his clone, created by Talia to replace Batman at the right given time. As Talia puts Batman through a death trap that will either kill him or leave him unable to stop Talia in time, Damian decides enough is enough and becomes Robin to go out and try and save his father, the city, and the world. Overall, great story, though hampered by the death of Cyril, who we hopefully either find out isn’t really dead, gets raised again, or his death serves a higher purpose like turning Beryl into the next Knight.

Again, doesn’t bother me too much that this doesn’t happen since it’s supposed to be symbolic.

Dammit, I love Talon. Seriously, someday I hope to see this guy join either Batman Inc. and/or the Justice League. He’s THAT good. I’m still pretty sure Sebastian Clark is gonna turn heel at some point, Casey and Sarah and their group are all awesome in their own ways, and of course, Calvin Rose remains a badass. Sadly, when a monster of a Talon known as The Gotham Butcher, comes looking for them, Casey has to scramble her networks, but after they give the Gotham Butcher the slip and wash him down the Hudson, Calvin and Casey decide it’s time to go to Gotham and stand against the Court of Owls together like they should have in the first place. However, Calvin makes one mistake: He says the words “We’ll never see him again” in relation to the Gotham Butcher, which of course leads to the last image being the Butcher’s fist emerging from the Hudson in a major WTF moment, since Talons brought back from the dead are vulnerable to the cold, and he got flushed into the Hudson IN JANUARY! This guy really IS a monster! :O

Anyway, that’s it for those two comics. Next up, I give my review of Batman & Robin Annual #1. Ja né!

What I Bought Today – Talon #3, Batman Incorporated #6 (Warning – Spoilers) + Interesting News Concerning Red Hood

Well, it’s Wednesday, so let’s go ahead and check out…

God, I love the new logo. Anyway, let’s kick off with Talon #3.

So yeah, you remember my two problems regarding Issue #2? How it’s hard to agree with Calvin Rose in his mindset when we haven’t seen anything of him interacting with Casey and her daughter Sarah, and how Guillem March was absent? Both of those problems are not present here. Guillem March is back for this, and we see LOTS of Casey (who pulls off ‘strong independent woman’ in a way relatively unseen in the New 52) and Sarah (Sarah is adorable, btw. Almost gave me ghostly flashbacks of Lian), and I have nothing to bitch about…well, save for one thing, and it’s not even really a problem so much as something that gets on my nerves: Sebastian Clark is so gonna turn heel. I can see it coming a mile away. He’s either gonna turn heel or he’s gonna find some way to screw with Calvin, be it on purpose or by accident. It’s one of the two things, but I can be sure it’s one of them. In the meantime, the chemistry is still good between him and Calvin. Also, we see the return of the mask that Dick Grayson wore in Batman #1, which is neat. And while we get a shit-ton of new characters kinda thrown at us, they all get their own time in the comic and we learn who they are and what their background is. Great stuff as always from James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, and of course, the returning Mr. March.

And no, my pet peeve is not called in for this, it’s meant to be symbolic. 😛

Batman Incorporated #6…Okay, I love this comic, I really do, but I have no idea what the fuck is going on! We still have not gotten to the point at the beginning of #1 where Bruce Wayne is arrested, and I’m pretty much left guessing what in the world happened and if it will EVER be addressed in any of the other comics. Also, despite what we saw a little over a month ago, there’s a line of dialogue near the end that suggests that Damian ISN’T the one who becomes the third Batman (second after Dick, remember). I have a theory on that, but I’d rather keep it to myself. Also, after the explosion from last issue, most of the members of the Batmen of all Nations are horribly wrecked, some are even dying, and I honestly got a little horrified for Squire in this one for a bit. I hope for the best, I’d hate to see ANY of them be killed off. Otherwise, this is still a good comic with Batman robots fighting Leviathan’s Man Bat legion and plenty of drama. I will also give this comic a major plus: Bat Cow cameo! That ought to make Gotham Spoilers happy. 😛 But seriously, somebody please tell me what the fuck is going on, or at least that it’ll get resolved soon because I hear tell that Grant Morrison won’t be writing for much longer, and I can’t see them continuing this book without him.

Oh, and the last thing I wanna talk about here: There’s this rumour on Bleeding Cool (same people that somehow knew that Gail Simone had been fired before she did) that starting with Red Hood and the Outlaws #18, James Tynion IV is taking over the comic…And when I heard that rumour, I started to cry tears of joy for a little bit…I’m starting to get a little choked up right now, actually. The only way this comic will not improve by a HUGE amount with this switch (if it DOES in fact happen) is if it turns out that editorial mandate is what makes the plot stupid. Tynion has earned my trust with this. I may or may not begin picking it up again if this change does happen, though, depending on what all changes. I’ll keep y’all posted.

Anyhow, that’s it for today. Next week, we learn about the last Amazon left on Earth-2 (PLEASE be Donna Troy), and much much more! Ja né!

Batman Incorporated #4, WARNING – SPOILERS

…Holy CRAP! Okay, I’m not gonna give a complete synopsis of the comic, just so you can read for the nitty-gritty details, and so I can talk about the bombshells dropped here.

Wingman & Red Bird – The New Dynamic Duo

So Batman Inc. #4 features a MASSIVE battle between Leviathan’s forces and a ton of Batman Inc.’s top members, including Nightwing, Red Robin, Batwing, Hood, El Gaucho, Wingman, and Damian under the alias of Red Bird. Meanwhile, Batman in the guise of Matches Malone, manages to free himself and is NOT happy to see Damian present and fighting alongside Wingman. However, they all pull together and stop Talia‘s group, ending with Batman demanding to speak with Talia and try to negotiate a stop to this.

Meanwhile, Damian has figured out who Wingman really is. I won’t say who it is, but let’s just say that at least a few people guessed it. Damian is pissed that Batman didn’t tell him and would actually enlist this man, but quickly pieces together that there’s something more he’s not telling him, something terrible. Batman finally relents, spilling the beans. He’s been trying to deny himself this truth, but the fact is that they’ve been put in an inescapable position where Damian MUST return to Talia, or something horrific will happen, not just to them, not just to Gotham, but to the entire world. Again, won’t say what, just gonna give this hint: 666.

But yeah, Batman Incorporated continues to be awesome, and we’re starting to get more hints as to what apparently happens to cause the events we see from one month in the future from #1. I can’t frigging wait to see where it goes from here, and it saddens me that I gotta wait a month for the next issue. Oh well, life of the comic book fan. Ja né!

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