Bruce Wayne: Murderer, Brubaker and Rucka Batman

Batman 591-598

Ed Brubaker/Scott McDaniel.  It’s not a good sign that I remember very little of these issues only two days after reading them.  New baddie Zeiss isn’t as interesting as Brubaker thinks he is, and my primary memory is of Batman in the same diving pose issue after issue:

Why even have this scene if you're not going to show the present?

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Detective Comics 755-765

Superman 168

Greg Rucka’s side of the Batman titles are a lot better than Brubaker’s.  A lot has to do with Sasha Bordeaux, Bruce Wayne’s new bodyguard.  Telling things from her POV adds a nice dimension to these stories.  That and the GCPD stuff.  Such a smart idea to spin them off into their own title.  

A shout out to mostly-regular artist Shawn Martinbrough.  I would definitely not have picked him as a suitable artist for Batman, but he somehow pulls it off wonderfully. 

Love that spoon-hanging image.  So perfect.

Nice little crossover with Superman, too.  Jeph Loeb writes a great relationship between the World’s Finest.

Great, great image by Ed McGuinness.

After the disappointment of The Jacobian, the next couple of backup features have been spectacular: Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke team up for the setup to the new Catwoman series, followed by Judd Winick and Cliff Chiang on the horribly underrated Josie Mac.  Why hasn’t there been more of her???

Check out the motion in the last two panels.

Oh.  My.  God.

No one does femme fatale like Cooke.  Not even Frank Miller.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Batman: 10 Cent Adventure 1

Detective Comics 766-767

Batgirl 24

Nightwing 65-66

Batman: Gotham Knights 25-26

Birds of Prey 39-40

Robin 98-99

Batman 599

Bruce Wayne: Murderer.  A fine concept, but I hate that multiple parts of this are useless filler.  (The Robin issues in particular.)  It’s all part of DC’s ploy to get people to buy lesser-selling issues.  And I fell for it like a sucker.  Wasn’t the first or last time, but hopefully present me is a lot wiser now.  

Nice backup story from Mike Barr and Alan Davis.

Love that Babs is a lawyer.

I never thought about how unrealistic it is that anyone can stroll up to the front door with no security checks.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice