Batman

Batman and Red Robin #19

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Batman and Red Robin #19Damian may be dead, but he won’t stay that way if Batman can help it. Batman and Robin begins anew with Batman getting a different member of the Bat-Family filling-in for the recently departed Robin. That doesn’t mean you can classify Batman and Red Robin #19 as a team-up by even the loosest definition of the term.

Overcome with grief Batman has sought out Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. in an attempt to learn what keeps the undead creature alive and find a way to resurrect his son. It’s certainly an unexpected cameo, and the first time we’ve seen the New 52 version of the Dark Knight driven to such extremes. That said, the story worked for me (especially as the New 52 has been vague about both the existence and Batman’s knowledge of Lazarus Pits leaving that option, at least for now, off the table).

Carrie Kelley, the young woman who would become Robin in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is given new life as a Gotham City College student who had been tutoring Damian before his death. Bruce is unlikely to forget his first face-to-face meeting with the spunky young woman as she opens her door dressed in a Robin costume.

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Detective Comics #19

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Detective Comics #19At $8 Detective Comics #19 is overpriced for anyone who isn’t a huge fan of Man-Bat. All but one of the stories (involving Bane created a Venom-powered army to continue his vendetta against the Court of Owls) contained in this issue deal with Batman responding new a Man-Bat outbreak (which includes a Man-Bat version of Zsaz) started by Emperor Penguin to steal Gotham blind during the chaos or its consequences.

In an inexplicable chronological snafu set by the launch of the New 52 (and Grant Morrison‘s insistence to keep using Man-Bats as Talia‘s soldiers), we get out first introduction to Kurt Langstrom (the scientist who invented the Man-Bat serum) and, in the New 52 version is far, far, far from being the first to transform into a half-man/half-bat hybrid.

Other stories involve Emperor Penguin’s soldiers bilking Gotham out of millions, the Penguin planning his escape from prison and revenge against his former assistant, Mrs. Langstrom’s plans to save her husband, and a disagreement between cops, one of whom was infected by the Man-Bat virus, over Batman’s proper role in the city. For fans.

[DC, $7.99]

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The All New Batman: The Brave and the Bold – Small Miracles

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The All New Batman: The Brave and the Bold - Small MiraclesSmall Miracles collects six comics from the two series inspired by the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series. The highlight of the collection is the inclusion of The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #13 which features all six Robins (Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, Damian, and Carrie Kelly) brought together through time by the Phantom Stranger to save Batman‘s life by taking on Ra’s al Ghul and The League of Assassins.

Also included in this collection is the entertaining adventure involving Batgirl fighting off the infatuation of Bat-Mite while helping Batman fight crime, Batman and Mister Miracle working to escape Darkseid‘s trap, and the Dark Knight Detective in a race with the Flash to solve a crime in Keystone City. The collection also includes the well-meaning but hamfisted true meaning of Chanukah, and several cameos from DC heroes.

It’s not a must-have but the inclusion of the Robin story, and a pair of fun team-ups with Flash and Batgirl made it worth adding this to my collection.

[DC, $12.99]

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News and Notes

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news-and-notes-batman-and-red-robin-19The New York Post has revealed the Robin on the cover of next week’s Batman and Red Robin #19 is Carrie Kelley (the character created by Frank Miller for The Dark Knight Returns) who will be introduced as an ongoing character in the New 52 (although it has yet to confirmed she will take up the role as Batman‘s new partner)

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting actress Zoe Saldana is in talks to play Gamora in Marvel Studios Guardians of the Galaxy

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Batman Incorporated #9

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Batman Incorporated #9As Batman, Alfred, Nightwing, and Red Robin lay Damian Wayne to rest Grant Morrison’s craptastic Leviathan storyline continues. Talia, her overgrown clone of a son, and the Leviathan troops are in control of Wayne Enterprises and issue demands for Batman to be banned from Gotham City and all of Batman Incorporated’s operations around the world to cease immediately.

Sure I could sit here and rip apart Grant Morrission’s “plot,” such as how Leviathan could ever make good on their threats, or the near-impossibility of removing all likenesses of Batman from a city in eight hours. Or I could simply point out the writer’s usual brand of mumbo-jumbo that the writer uses in place of actual plot.

Or I might mention how ridiculous the events covered in this storyline appear when (aside from Damian’s death) are completely being ignored in EVERY OTHER BATBOOK. You’d think Gotham under siege of a terrorist organization run by Batman’s former lover might be something that would effect other Batman-related comics.

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