Batman #5: Holy fucking crap. I don't even know what to say about this issue. I'm going to re-read it, because I'm sure it has all sorts of moments I missed. It's hard to describe how brilliant it is, because its brilliance lies in the fact that it's hard to describe the issue. Bruce is stuck in the Court of Owls' labyrinth, surrounded by reminders of all the people the Court has destroyed or killed over the years. We're told he's been in it for eight days, and, by the time we see him, he's clearly on the verge of losing his mind, a pretty significant feat given that we're dealing with the guy who created a whole back-up persona to prepare for just such an eventuality. His crazed race through the labyrinth is gripping, from changing the page orientation to sideways and then backwards to highlight Bruce's disorientation to the flashes of Talon stalking Bruce at every turn without him knowing. The point of the labyrinth, as we learn from Bruce, is to stress to Bruce how little he matters, how the Court runs the city. He notes that they didn't even bother making him take off his mask, and it's probably the first time I've ever read such an excuse in a comic and actually bought it, because it's part of the psychological campaign the Court is against him: the Court didn't take off his mask so that it could stress how irrelevant he is. The denouement -- Talon stabbing him -- is totally unexpected, and Capullo totally nails the splash page. Capullo also has some other amazing moments in the issue, from showing Bruce's reddened eye through the broken lens to his parents' terrible metamorphosis. (I liked how Snyder threw in Bruce's parents, continuing to drop hints that the Court of Owls was somehow connected to them and, possibly, their murder.) Snyder not only just focuses on Bruce, though: he also shows us the panic of everyone around Bruce as they try to find him. Commissioner Gordon is clearly losing hope as he keeps the Bat-Signal burning for an eighth straight night, and Damian is so desperate as to beg him to find a new one when the bulb in the Bat-Signal eventually overheats and explodes. It's actually more emotional than the events surrounding Bruce's death, making me wish Snyder had actually handled that task instead of Morrison. I am, needless to say, absolutely riveted and saying I can't wait for the next issue seems like an inadequate understatement.
Nightwing #5: OK, so, from the start, I pretty much figured Raya was bad news and that Saiko would return. But, Higgins has actually done a good job of distracting me from that, with Raya becoming more of a fixture in Dick's life (and thereby reducing my immediate suspicions) and this issue focusing mostly on a one-and-done plot, with Dick saving one of Haly's Circus' clowns from a demon-controlling ex-girlfriend. As such, I was surprised by the last page, where we discover that, well, Raya is bad news and Saiko has returned. We also learn that Saiko is Raymond, one of Dick's former circus buddies, and that Reya and he are responsible for planting the Book of Names (or at least somehow connected with it). I'm going to have to re-read "Nightwing" #3, which, if I remember correctly, reviews Dick's time with Raya and Raymond, because I'm not sure why exactly either would really hate Dick enough to want to do whatever they're planning on doing to him next issue. But, it was a solid issue and, in truth, got me more interested in this plot than I have previously been.
Red Hood and the Outlaws #5: OK, I enjoyed this issue, but I'm not entirely sure where Lobdell is going. He seems to be dedicating A LOT of time to Jason being involved in the war between the All Caste and the Untitled and, truthfully, it's not really what I expected from this book. I'm not saying this book has to fit some sort of rigid construction, but spending this amount of early time on shape-shifting demon assassins fighting a seriously ancient monastic order just seems a little odd to me. But, that being said, it's a decent issue. Jason has a bit of an epiphany about life, and Lobdell fleshes out Kori and Roy a bit more, moving them past the fairly shallow portrayals we've seen of them in this title. I'll consider that a win.
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