Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2 of 3
DC Comics
Daniel & Florea
Batman versus Nightwing then Batman versus Batman then Batman versus Nightwing is what you get in this issue. In other words, there is a ton of action. The comic is so dense with story ideas that some of the plot threads do seem to show characters simply for the purpose of including them while they have no real role in the plot. Overall I liked this issue but I was left a little confused as to what the villains are really doing in this series. We’ll see how it all shakes out in the finale.
The crazy Batman is bent on killing the bad guys working for Two-Face and the Penguin. Nightwing figures out who is behind the mask and during a battle with him Damian gets shot. Now, I hate Damian as a character. He was forced into the Batman series and it seemed so far out of left field that I would have preferred Batman just got a dog instead. However, his sudden personality change in this series and the way Nightwing has taken responsibility for him makes him an interesting character.
The crazy Batman then gets ambushed by Tim Drake dressed as Batman. Tim holds his own but while this is going on Nightwing takes Damian back to the cave for some Alfred tender loving care. Alfred gives Nightwing a pep talk and the end of the issue sets up the big battle royale finish.
Notice I didn’t mention the villains much? Well, they are in this issue but all we really see is them blaming the other side for the problems that they have instead of looking out for the Black Glove. Even Gordon doesn’t realize there are three factions. It’s an interesting storyline that is getting almost no page count or development. Perhaps it’s meant to be a plot introduction for the next relaunch or series arc.
This story draws obvious comparisons to the 90s storyline called Knightfall. Dick was stepped over as Batman by Jean Paul Valley. This series has someone else running around as Batman while Dick wavers about whether he wants to be Batman or not. The problem is that this story isn’t nearly as long and not nearly as deep in terms of character development. In Knightfall, Jean Paul was given time to meltdown while Dick was given time to decide about how he could claim the cowl, though he eventually couldn’t overcome Valley or Bane. In this story, in a matter of a couple of pages Dick switches his stance on the whole Batman idea. It just feels so forced.
One piece of this comic that doesn’t help matters is the appearance of epic image after epic image. It just feels like we are being told, “hey this is the biggest Batman story, see look at this page and this page….” Instead of just letting the story stand on its own with some cool art to help tell the story. I felt like too many of the pages were meant to show drama as if it were the end of the issue.
The comic does have something that is unique and that’s the general feeling of despair for Gotham. The crazy Batman and the supporting cast have managed to paint a convincing picture that Bruce is not coming back. This is different from Knightfall because all throughout that story we knew that Bruce Wayne was alive and in a wheelchair. In this story we truly don’t know if he will ever return.
The story is good with fantastic artwork. However, the underdevelopment of the villain’s plot and the characterizations on steroids for the various Batmen make the comic have some flaws to overcome heading into the final issue of the series. So far I’m enjoying the series but not loving it.
3.5 out of 5 geek goggles
