Sunday, March 29, 2009

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1 - DC

I finally get to this issue. I thought it was fantastic. It was everything I expected it to be and more. All of the 'wanna-be's' are in this issue. Dick and Tim are fighting because Tim thinks that Dick is the natural progression for the mantle. However, Dick doesn't want to replace Bruce. He doesn't think that anyone can. However, as Alfred points out to him, he'd be replacing Batman . . not Bruce. The Bat family has rallied all the troops in their attempt to not let Gotham become a seething cesspool of crime and corruption. They've even called in Knight and Squire. You remember from Grant Morrison's first story-arc where Batman and Robin are on the island with all the 'wanna-be's'? Squire has teamed up with Tim and is helping him patrol the streets. While Knight is working with Dick. Meanwhile, everybody else is out there trying to put a cork in all of this violence also. Bat-woman, Catwoman, Man-bat, Black Canary, Oracle and the Birds . . even Damian is out there doing his part . . reluctantly. And Tim has come across evidence that there's someone out there already trying to assume the mantle. Nobody knows who he is, but he seems to be using all of the Batman's old tools. Tim tries to find him, to confront him, and in doing so don's one of the old Batman costumes himself. Also the Black Mask seems to have returned, and he wants to take over everything. He wants all the gangs, and all the criminals, behind him and 'he' will be the king of Gotham. This issue he already captures most of the inmates of Arkham and burns the building to the ground. Near the end of the story, Dick and Damian end up in his cross-hairs. That's when, on the final page, the unknown Batman 'wanna-be' shows up . . guns blazing. "Black Mask didn't get the memo. I AM BATMAN!" I thought Tony Daniel, who did the story and art on this issue, did an incredible job. The whole issue was perfect. Tony had the perfect grasp of these characters, and he's intimately weaving a story where anyone could step in to the void created by Batman's disappearance. The question is . . who's gonna stick?

1 comment:

  1. I was also floored by just how great this issue was... Who knew Tony Daniel had it in him? Like you said, this issue was pretty much perfect. The conflict between Tim and Dick was excellently written, and I even liked Damian for the first time EVER in this comic. If Tony keeps this up, this mini has the potential to become an instant classic!

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