New Comics!: The Bat-Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

OK, now, we're moving onto the #11s.  I'll cover the Bat-family here and the rest of my DC comics in my next post.

Batgirl #11:  Huh.  I'm not sure what to think about this issue.  The story itself is fairly tight, in terms of the way that Simone lets it unfold.  Detective McKenna unexpectedly saves Batgirl from Knightfall and her minions, brings Batgirl to her house to dress her wounds, and, after the requisite moment of mistrust, exposits her darkest secret.  McKenna seemed pretty irrational when she blamed Barbara for allowing her partner to be killed in issue #1, but we learn here that it was her own inability to save the life of her husband during a riot at Arkham that obviously fueled that anger.  Is it a little pat?  Sure.  But, Simone still does emotions better than anyone else writing comics right now, so I'm willing to overlook it.  My problem is that, when you take a moment to think about the story, you realize that we still need a lot more in the way of explanations.  First, we still don't have a definitive view of whether Charise Carnes actually killed her family.  But, Simone makes that point more or less moot (even though it would be nice to get an answer) by making it clear that, either way, her current state of crazy has more to do with her presence in Arkham during the riot a few years ago.  Simone and Syaf imply that Carnes was brutalized by the inmates running amok, and it was that experience that turned her into Knightfall.  (I'm not sure, by the way, if Simone is referencing one of the many riots at Arkham that we saw in the DCU or creating a new one.  It seems to be the latter, since McKenna refers to it as "the breakout," and I can't really remember a definitive Arkham breakout in the DCU.)  The "Knighfall" part also needs more clarity, though I'm intrigued by the direction that Simone is going with it.  Carnes' MO seems to be to kill all mild bad guys before they can become really bad guys, and Simone ups the intrigue factor by revealing that she's recruiting cops, detectives, and judges to help her do it.  The unknown part of that equation is whether McKenna is involved.  She knew Knifghtfall's identity, as well as the real names of her three minions, so it implies that she's at least somewhat involved.  But, Simone doesn't really clarify whether she's involved because she's sympathetic to Carnes' crusade or whether she's trying to infiltrate the group to stop it.  Since we don't know her motivations, we also don't know why McKenna suddenly decided to turn on Carnes.  We also don't know why McKenna following Batgirl.  I was OK with those questions, since I'm pretty sure that Simone intends to answer them.  But, then, BAM, we get the D.E.O. and everything went to pot.  Why the hell is the D.E.O. involved?  McKenna equates the D.E.O. with Medusa, which confused me, since, at least in theory, the D.E.O. is good guy-ish.  I can't for the life of me think of a reason why the D.E.O. would care about Knightfall or about Batgirl and McKenna being in the same house.  I guess we'll learn more next issue, but that development totally took me by surprise and not in a good way.  It seems like an pat plot device to force a Batgirl vs. Batwoman fight, and I feel like that just cheapens the title.  One of the saving graces of this issue was Barbara's compassion as McKenna told her the story of her husband, even though she was listening to a woman who's repeatedly tried to arrest her.  Simone finds a way every issue to remind us who Barbara is as a person, something that I wish other authors would do more frequently.  I'm really hoping this Batwoman business blows over quickly, because I dropped that title because I was tired of hearing about the D.E.O.  More Barbara, less conspiracy.

Batman and Robin #11:  To be honest, I had kind of forgotten about Terminus.  As I mentioned last issue, I actually really like the idea of him, because it raises some interesting questions about Batman.  After all, Bruce just finished telling his son that they don't kill in "Batman and Robin," but Terminus reminds us that shattering someone physically in the pursuit of justice isn't exactly all that upstanding, even if you're leaving the perpetrator technically alive.  (Simone also echoed this point in "Batgirl," where she had Barbara contemplate how fair it was of her to go against a bunch of simple car thieves, given all the advantages that she has in terms of equipment and training.)  But, Tomasi puts Terminus front and center here, sending his minions into the city to brand people with the Bat insigna, turning it into a symbol of fear rather than hope for the average Gothamite.  It's really a brilliant twist and I can't believe no writer has thought of it previously.  Terminus also "dies" in this issue, to be reborn as an enormous robot and, although enormous robots are somewhat outside Bruce's wheelhouse, I'm excited to see what toys the new tech-savvier Batman employs to level the playing field a bit.  My only criticism of this part is that Bruce seemed to be really excessively rattled when Terminus set off explosions in the shape of bats in Finger Square.  I mean, sure, I get that he's upset over the use of the Bat insignia as a symbol of fear, and not hope, but I really don't think that he'd stand there bellowing, "LEAVE MY CITY ALONE!"  In fact, the whole lesson that he learned in the Court of Owls arc in "Batman" is that Gotham isn't his city, so it's weird that he refers to it that way here.  It's essentially a writing problem compounded by bad editing.

To me, though, the storyline that I most remembered going into this issue is the "War of the Robins," and Tomasi really ups the ante here.  I mean, he's really, really doing everything he can to make Damian unlikeable.  After all, Jason seems even less psychotic than Damian, telling him that he's not going to wail on a ten-year-old boy.  Jason's restraint is impressive, given that Damian announced his presence by leaving the crowbar that the Joker used to kill him on his bed.  (Gleason's decision to put images from "Batman:  The Killing Joke" in the background of Damian and Jason's fight was inspired.)  It doesn't help that Damian is right, that Jason's still angry at Bruce for failing him, when, in fact, it really was Jason that failed himself by defying Bruce.  (Of course, you could argue that a teenage kid probably shouldn't have been put in the position to decide whether he should reveal his secret identity to his birth mother to help her escape being blackmailed by the world's greatest homicidal maniac.  But, I digress.)  Damian's also right that Jason's not over the hurt that his sense of betrayal brings him, and I'm actually glad to hear that, since it holds out hope for Bruce and Jason to hug out their feelings at some point in the future.  If Jason were over the betrayal, he would also be over the feelings he has for Bruce, which would mean he was beyond redemption (at least in terms of the Bat-family).  I'm glad to hear that it's not the case.  All in all, it was a pretty great issue.  We're clearly going to get Damian's attack on Dick next issue, and it's obviously that one that will really lay all the cards on the table.  Right now, it's hard to empathize with Damian, even if it's clear that he's acting from a great sense of insecurity.  (I mean, the crowbar?  Really?)  If anyone is going to get to him, it's Dick.  I can't wait to see how it goes.

Nightwing #11:  OK, so, I pretty clearly completely missed some stuff last issue.  First, Paragon isn't the "escrima killer."  I thought that he was the escrima killer because he delivered a whole speech about needing to take down the "false idol of yesterday," leading me to believe that he had killed the Strayhorn brothers as part of his plan to frame Dick.  Nope.  The Strayhorn brothers were instead part of the group of vigilantes that Paragon runs.  Its purpose?  They plan on taking down the heroes who Paragon blames for the plight of Gotham.  Sucks that Dick just happened up on them, huh?  What are the odds?  Sarcasm aside, I'm willing to give Higgins some time on this one, because it's pretty clear that he has more in store for Paragon than we currently know.  But, I found this entire plot twist suspicious.  First, the escrima killer just happens to kill two guys who just happen to be affiliated with a vigilante group that just happens to view itself responsible for taking down costumed heroes?  Suspicious.  Of course, the whole point may be the fact that it's suspicious, because someone planned it that way, hence why I'm giving time for Higgins to develop it.  But, in the end, I'm going to need to see a clear link between the escrima killer killing the Strayhorn brothers specifically to lead Nightwing to Paragon for me to buy it, and I'm not really sure how that link is going to present itself.  (After all, it's not like Paragon killed his own men just to lead Nightwing to him since he could've just gone after Nightwing if he had wanted.)  Moreover, it's pretty clear that Paragon isn't all that motivated by saving innocents since, as one of his underlings said, he had no problem throwing a huge clock into a crowded street.  So, we're also going to get a better sense of Paragon and his motives for me not to be ragey.

(Before I move onto the next point, it's a little weird to me that "Batgirl," "Batman and Robin," and "Nightwing" all currently feature groups that have a mad-on for costumed heroes.  Both Knightfall in "Batgirl" and Paragon here believe that they are protecting innocents in part by taking down costumed heroes and Terminus wants revenge on behalf of all the criminals who Batman permanently scarred.  It's starting to feel repetitive, and I wonder if the group editor might've been better off encouraging one of them to postpone his or her storyline until at least one of the other ones was finished.)

Now, let's talk about Detective Nie.  Last issue, we learned that Detective Nie was previously accused of trying to frame Batman for a murder.  Here, we learn that he's not framing Nightwing; he's going after him because he blames Nightwing for his lover's death.  I understand that part, but it raises the question why he tried to frame Batman in the first place.  The only thing that makes sense is that he blamed Batman for being affiliated with Nightwing, so, after his lover was killed, he went after him as part of a general vendetta against costumed heroes.  But, it seems unlikely, since his lover died in issue #1 and he was suspended for at least three months while Internal Affairs investigated him.  I'm pretty sure the eleven issues of this series happened in less than three months.  Why would he want to frame Batman before his lover died?  What beef did he have with costumed heroes before his lover was allegedly killed by one?  I'm just really confused by the time frame here, and I'm worried that Higgins isn't going to have enough time to clarify it, particularly since we still don't know who is framing Dick and Higgins still has to explore Nie's connection to Paragon.

Finally, in the "good" column, if I didn't mention some great character work that Higgins did this issue.  First, Dick's conversation with Sonia Branch was great.  Dick often gets portrayed as some goody-goody saint, and it was fun to see him realize that he was being an asshole when he (incorrectly) accused Branch of voting against his loan to re-open Amusement Mile because he reminded her of her criminal father.  I think it's probably a good thing for Dick to ponder the fact that he isn't considered a good risk.  By not going to Bruce, he's putting himself out there in a way that doesn't really work for people like them, and I really applaud Higgins for that insight.  He's essentially reminding us why Bruce has to work in the shadows, because, slowly but surely, he just can't operate as a person in the real world.  His life is too complicated for that.  Dick's always better about trying to do so, but, as we see here, even he has limits.  The Damian/Dick conversation was also great, particularly Damian's comment about being the "foremost authority on disregarding ancestors' wishes for bloodthirsty killing."  Given that Tomasi portrays Damian as nothing short of a psychotic asshole, it's nice to see Higgins use a softer touch with him here, reminding us of the time when these two were the Dynamic Duo.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #11:  A dry-cleaning business.  During their date, Jason told Isabel that he owned a dry-cleaning business.  He did NOT tell her that he was a real-estate agent, as Lobdell claims here.  I could write more in this review, but, basically, if Scott fucking Lobdell doesn't care enough to bother getting his story straight, why the fuck should I even take time to discuss it?