Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, Supreme: Blue Rose

Detective Comics 768-775

Batman: Gotham Knights 27-28, 31

Batman 600-607

Birds of Prey 41, 43

Batgirl 27, 29

Nightwing 68-69

Bruce Wayne: Fugitive.  I hate these crossovers with issues that only touch on the main plot for a few pages.  I’m cutting Birds of Prey and Gotham Knights 28 as complete wastes of time.  (I’m also going back and cutting BOP and Robin from the last Murderer arc for the same reason.)  Detective also takes a plunge in quality with a lame Triad drug gang story with some mutated guy with wings.  I’d totally cut it if Josie Mac wasn’t the backup story.  

Things get a little better towards the end of the arc as things come into focus and the team finally figures out who the real murderer is.  It all ends rather anticlimactically, and the Sasha Bordeaux wrap up is a let down as well.  (I never bought that either of them was in love with the other.)  

At the end of the day, neither the Rucka or Brubaker runs are as good as I remember.  It’s okay, they’re about to move on to Gotham Central.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes (Except for the ones I’m cutting)

Rating: Anywhere between Didn’t suck and Nice.  (Boring/Disliked for the ones I cut)

Supreme: Blue Rose 6-7

I’ve been sitting on the trade since my old comic shop closed down at the beginning of the pandemic.  (I bought it on the cheap.)  Now I can see how the cryptic but alluring first five issues finish up.  

Wellllll...It’s still weird.  I still don’t really understand it.  But I still like it.  I definitely want to come back to this in another few years.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

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

Batman: Officer Down, New comics

New comics!

Old Guard: Tales Through Time 1-2

Anthology series telling tales of our heroes’ pasts.  Good, solid, fun stuff.

Beta Ray Bill 1-3

I’ve always loved Beta Ray Bill.  He exudes an innate nobility and combines it w/ a badass character design and awesome hammer.  In this new series from Daniel Warren Johnson, he proves to be just as badass, even without the hammer.

It is so beautiful.

I originally passed on this series, but I came back after some iFanboy recommendations and I discovered just how funny it was, especially with the introduction of Skurge.  He’s excellent here.  

Batman 587

Robin 86

Birds of Prey 27

Catwoman 90

Nightwing 53

Detective Comics 754

Batman: Gotham Knights 13

Officer Down.  Jim Gordon gets shot by a corrupt cop.  Gordan retires.  Bullock kills the bad guy in cold blood.  It’s not bad, but I don’t know if it merits a seven-part crossover.

No way Alfred quits working for Bruce over this, it feels so contrived.  I can’t believe the Pander brothers are still getting comic gigs.  The Harlan Ellison/Gene Ha Black and White backup has a hilarious ending.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Batman/Huntress, Batman/Deathblow, Gotham Knights

Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood 1-6

I wish Rick Burchett stuck with his animated style for this series.  He opted instead for a hybrid between that and a more ‘traditional’ comic look.  The result is a muddled mess that doesn’t really succeed on any front.  

The story by Greg Rucka is pretty good.  The origin of the Huntress isn’t the most original, with plenty of Godfather references, a martial arts training interlude, and a “despite all my growth these past six issues, my inner demons are too strong and I’ll never be fully redeemed.  This is who I am, *angst*” ending.  That said, it’s still executed rather well, and I was entertained the whole time.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Batman/Deathblow 1

A completely unnecessary crossover with decent art by Lee Bermejo and a forgettable plot from Brian Azzarello (once again making me question why I own as many of his comics as I do).  Welp, no longer owning this one.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck

Batman: Gotham Knights 17, 18, 32

Some random single issue stories by Devin Grayson, who has definitely got a handle on the human side of Bruce Wayne.  Here we’ve got Bruce naming Dick Grayson as his heir, moping around all alone in his huge mansion, and spending a day doing good as Bruce Wayne (and Batman).  These are all charming studies of the man behind the cowl, and a nice change of pace from the other stories I’ve been reading.

A glimpse into what someone with that much money could do.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine for 17, Pretty good for the rest