Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Batman #671
DC Comics
Morrison, Daniel & Glapion
Part Four the Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul is a nice little battle. Thus far, we’ve seen all the Bat-team fight extensively. In this issue we finally have Batman throw it down. He gets his cowl handed to him.
We begin, not with the cliffhanger we left off in the previous issue, but with Sensei already in Nanda Parbat. He wants the keys to the fountain of youth and is executing the monks who hide the key.
Back at Ra’s hideout, Batman is faced with a choice to make. Let Ra’s kill either Robin or his son, Damian. Instead, Batman offers to escort Ra’s to Nanda to get him into the fountain of youth, thus, he wouldn’t need the fresh youthful body of Robin or Damian.
Now, why Ra’s and Batman just head off alone I don’t quite get. Anyway, the two climb the mountain to Nanda Parbat. I find it interesting that Sensei needed a series of pieces to a map to find the place and Batman just needed a small pair of binoculars. Another interesting aspect is that the monks try to burn the bridge for entry into Nanda Parbat. Now, how silly is that? Sensei is already in the temple and now you want to burn it? That would be just a tad too late, no? Also, didn’t we see a helicopter overhead on page one rendering the bridge moot?
So Batman fights. First, he fights all the Sensei’s assassins and then Sensei himself. In the interim Ra’s is stabbed by Sensei. At this point we learn that Sensei is Ra’s father. This is bothersome because we learned in the Batman Annual that Ra’s was all into his pops and the old man died a long time ago. I would venture to guess there will be some more explaining on this matter.
Sensei cracks some of Batman’s arms, fingers and then stabs him in the stomach. I haven’t seen Batman take a beating like this since Bane. Batman doesn’t quit. I mean, the guy is Batman after all. Batman sends Sensei into a pool (fountain of youth?) to which Sensei cries about it burning like Gollum whined on about the Elvish rope around his neck.
In the end, Batman emerged and cries out for Ra’s. Is he mad at him? Is he upset that Ra’s is perhaps dead? Did Sensei take over Batman’s body? Or was he just screaming out his name like Rocky screams out for Adrian? I didn’t understand it.
All of my questions didn’t take much away from this story. I liked it a lot. I liked that Batman took a beating. I liked that Batman fought back. I liked that Talia wasn’t in the issue. The comic entertained me and for the middle piece of this arc it didn’t disappoint at all.
The artwork really hits it off with me. I like the way all the characters are depicted and I especially liked the life in the character’s eyes. The fight sequences were very detailed and easy to follow. Add in the array of colors used and I couldn’t ask for a better set of art.
My main complaint with this issue is there is no reminder of Ra’s past with the father. If you didn’t read the Batman Annual, which came out two months ago, you wouldn’t have any details about him. I feel like I have to have all of my past Batman issues sitting in front of me to check for some background. It annoys me.
Still, I like that there are the other characters still floating around out there, like Nightwing or I-Ching. The funny thing is I really don’t know what we get next. We go back to the Robin title, so does that mean we find out what Robin, Damian and Talia are up to? It should be interesting to see where we end up.
This is another great issue to this arc. I felt the Nightwing issue was the best, but this one was close.
4 out of 5 geek goggles.
 Batman #671 DC Comics SEP070178D |
