Batman: Long Halloween, New comics

New comics!  I am so far behind on writing.

Human Target 1

It’s weird.  This story feels SO Tom King, it’s like there’s nothing new here at all, even though there’s not much that I can directly point to as evidence.  There’s the mystery, the narration, the jumping around in time.  Maybe it’s the coldly distant tone of the story.  I’m not sure.  The other thing that’s nothing new is that this is darn good.

Dark Knights of Steel 1

Another Tom Taylor Elseworlds special.  Here, Jor-El and Lara take the shuttle to Earth, where they form their own fantasy kingdom and Kal-El is the heir apparent.  Bruce is his bastard half-brother, an inspired twist.  Per usual, Taylor’s sucked me in from the get go.  Excellent art by Yasmine Putri, whom I’ve never heard of before.  (Looks like she’s done a few DC covers that I own.)

Batman vs Bigby 2

This may be written by original Fables writer Bill WIllingham, but it reads like poor fanfiction.  What if Batman and Bigby worked the same mystery!  Blech.  I could barely get myself to read this fresh from the comic book store shelf, I can’t imagine how painful it would be the second time around.  Cutting my losses and dropping this now.

Batman: Long Halloween Special 1

This is a new comic, but I’m reviewing it now because it’s immediately going into the Batman box along with the original limited series.  I like seeing Gilda return, her disappearance at the end of Long Halloween is a loose end that’s a great starting point for the followup.  

Unfortunately, Jeph Loeb doesn’t do much with it from there.  Calendar Man kidnaps her, Two-Face teams up with Batman to save her.  Along the way Batman discovers that Gilda was the original Holiday killer (I think.  It’s a little murky) and Robin goes trick or treating with Barbara Gordon.  

It’s all very nice, but it lacks substance and ultimately feels like a cheap cash grab.  Which I fell for, obviously.  I don’t regret it, but I wouldn’t buy it again.

Absolutely brilliant use of mirrors by Tim Sale.

Just beautifully done.

Though I do wonder what ends up happening to Gilda.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice