I have heard all that I want to hear of the gripes and complaints concerning the fact that this current storyline is pre-War Games. I know that many of you are eager to see Bats get on with resolving the whole JLA problem, but shut it already. What you are failing to recognize is a dark and brilliant tale which is unfolding in countless directions before your eyes. The writing, by Lapham, is excellent. Lapham is pulling no punches, refusing to take this book into the realm of lightweight humor and triteness. Though the layouts are confusing from time to time, they are generally well done, and can only be counted as a credit to an obviously successful working relationship between Lapham and penciler Bachs. Bachs himself is no one to snob off. His artwork, though occasionally sketchy, is very talented and adept at drawing the Dark Knight, and especially Gotham City.

One funny side note: When Batman is fighting the beaked bad guy, who is one of the multitude of mask wearing whackos, he pulls off the mask to reveal the bird-face’s identity. However, the chicken headed mask was only concealing a more fiendish looking chicken headed man. But then the chicken headed man’s chicken head melts away leaving only a real chicken. So, this seems extra spooky, right? Like, it makes you wonder what kind of bad Juju is going on in Gotham. But, wait. If you stop and wonder about the other masked fellas, things get interesting.

I mean, there is another animal guy – a pig head. So you figure he probably is a pig. But then there is the baby guy, fully equipped with a pacifier. There is a Luchador looking dude, a tribal looking guy and sewed-up pumpkinish man. Al of these can be various different things, but there are other, more complicated bad guys. For one, there is a man running at Bats with a knife at the ready. He is wearing a business suit and seems to not even be wearing a mask. What heinous face or creature lurks behind that civilized looking exterior? Then, on the first page, there is the George Bush guy. Now, it is funny for one of the bad guys to have a George Bush mask, but when you start thinking about what happened to the chicken head, you begin to think to yourself, hmm, wonder what’s underneath that mask? Or, at least, I did.

So, before I call it quits on this inane little piece of buffoonery, I should talk briefly about the piece published at the back of this month’s Detective Comics. It is entitled Mud and masterfully done by Kimo Temperance and Zach Howard. This little short is awesome. I am thoroughly impressed by how well these two produced such a fun little story in such a small arena. It is a story of an infantile replica of Clay Face. And, not only is the story cool, but it’s also hilarious.

Big applause for all those involved in Detective. Be on the look out for more Bat stuff by Temperance and Howard, they have the character downright perfect. Oh, yeah. For those of you who are still limpwristing around all frumpity-frump because this book doesn’t gravitate around Countdown or Identity Crisis, I want you to go close your fingers in your car door. After the healing, come back to Near Mint Minus, and await further instructions of the torturous and pain-dealing sort.

 

-Peblee