Comic Review: Batman #690

Since I started collecting every title under the Batman: Reborn banner, it's been a joyful and intense exercise in my part. Truth be told, It's never easy collecting multiple titles all at once, as you'll find yourself royally screwed over with the amount of bucks you'll have to spend just to see a story from beginning to end. Multiple tie-ins and crossovers don't help matters either, and then you eventually realize that things could've been cheaper had you waited it out and let the publisher collect things into a single trade or hardcover, with the exact same contents and more inside that compilation. That, I believe, will be the future of comic collecting as far as I'm concerned, and while I'd like to start ASAP, I find myself STILL drawn to the weekly bonanza of comic reading goodness. Every month breaths anticipation, and the tales in Reborn have been pretty decent so far. While we all miss the original Bats in action, the new one is doing a bang up job for his part, giving his best to fill his mentor's shoes for the meantime... but is it really quite enough, especially when old threats become more menacing than ever?


Batman # 690
Written By: Judd Winick
Illustrated By: Mark Bagley

After unwittingly walking into the middle of a setup, the new Batman has to deal with two unexpected threats, namely the shape shifting Clayface and an Ex-Special Forces Wacko named Lyle Blanco. The duo come off as no mere pushovers, but fortunately for Dick Grayson, his experiences in the field will get the job done... as long as he's careful and two steps ahead of the matter. The attack, however, is nothing more than a diversion, set up by a mysterious individual helping out Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin. The plan helps Oswald clear his mind from bat worries... but bigger troubles are ahead of him just yet. Meanwhile, Two-Face has found the perfect way to get to the new Batman, and this time, it's going to be a personal confrontation the Dark Knight will never forget.

If there's one thing I like about Judd Winick's writing, it's that he knows how to get into the mind of the characters he's doing, and in this case, he's doing a sweet job with Dick Grayson. The previous issues have already explored the fact that he doesn't want to replace his mentor, but honoring his memory and becoming his own version of the Batman can be a tedious exercise, especially when he's already out in the field and exercising that cause to the best of his abilities. The initial fight between Batman and the unlikely criminal duo shows just how much Dick relies on his past experiences, skills, as well as improvising the situation when things become hasty and too critical for him to handle. He constantly criticizes himself to become a better crimefighter with each mistake he makes, and that attitude has served him well... for the most part at least. Each flaw and action he takes separates his take on the Cowl from that of Bruce Wayne's, and it's this dynamic flow of restructuring that makes me excited to read about his exploits as the Batman.

The various bad guys flooding this title also make their move... in a big way. The obsession Two-Face has over the new Batman has already reached the point where he takes action to uncover answers. Honestly, the way he goes about it is pretty convenient, and if all the villains followed his "short cut method", then what's the point of presenting challenges the Dark Knight could overcome with conventional means? I know anything can happen in comics, but come on, THIS IS BATMAN for crying out loud. As for the Penguin and his "mysterious benefactor", I find this angle interesting, and the shit hits the fan literally when Ol' Oswald finds himself in the middle of a double cross... he's in hot water now.

Art is just as spectacular as always by Mark Bagley. I'm liking the fact that his take on Dick's Batman is just as energetic as his previous work on Spider-Man. For a book that has dark undertones, he sure can make things energetic enough to call it a proper fit most of the time, especially when it comes to the action scenes. As dynamic as Winick's writing is to the book, Bagley's art feeds life to that and supplies the ammo that readers can bite on and come back asking for seconds. It's simply that good, I tell you.

Overall, "Long Shadows" continues to impress me by making the Batman: Reborn thing an exciting read. Once this arc is resolved, Battle For The Cowl writer AND artist Tony Daniel will take over for a six issue stint with the book... and I wonder how things will turn out there. Unlike the previous issue, this one redeems itself with more action, despite certain plot devices that raised more eyebrows than putting a smirk in my face. However, the final page of this issue brings things full circle to the first few pages of issue #688, where Dick Grayson takes a massive beating at the hands of the now fully-revealed assailant. One can only wonder just what the outcome will be once #691 hits next month.

Score - 8/10