2.246 (611) Batman New 52 #1 ...

I love the campy tv series with Batman and Robin for some odd reason and I love the Robin series with Tim as the third Robin but for some reason, unless there is something special in the Batman universe, I hardly ever even bother to flick through the comic be it Batman or Batman Beyond or Detective Comics or any other of his mini series etc

So when New 52 was introduced years ago, I decided to pick it up primarily because out of curiosity and artist Greg Capullo. Now while the story was highly entertaining Greg's artwork has taken a new turn with linework being more sparse and I am undecided if I actually like this new style

Anyway storywise we open up with Batman in another one of his beat-em-up adventures kicking many villainous thugs and what-not SPOILER ALERT before ending with a chat session with his fav police chapppie (guess who). At this point in his career, we see a Batman who has had his fair share of adventures in the form of trophies in his Batcave and he is joint in his civilian human guise by trio of Robins (yes you read that right). So none of that angst and what-not. Everyone got along which is a nice change for a first issue. Who are the Robins?

Dick Grayson the first and who looks like a teenager here in this series. Tim the third and who looks on the brink of teenager dom and finally Damian, Bruce's supposed real blood relative as his bratty but adorable self

For those in the know, you can expect that every writer tries to inject a bit of Detective work in each Batman saga and no different here. As we see, after a social event to lighten the mood but which also sets up point for the future storylines, Batman investigates a gruesome murder scene and one that immediately throws him in turmoil because of direct correlation to his human alter ego, Bruce. What that embodies and forbode is where the writer leaves us hanging and hopes that we are interested enough to pick up the next issue

Which means at the end of the tale while enjoyable we are not given an inkling as to who the master villain will be for this first arc. This is a high risk because for the casual fan, it may not be enough to pull them back just like us. We decided to wait for the TPB

Ratings: 6/10

2.56 (421) Batman vol 1 #612 ... DC ...

2 issues later and we see that the fight promised is delivered in spades and thanks to the cover you know you are going to get Supes. The big question is why are Batman villains like Ivy running off to Metropolitan to use as her base of operations? Could the baddie be someone tied to the Superman stories like perhaps President Luthor (yes crazy as that sounds)?

Anyway, the tale starts off strong with Batman and Catz finally confronting Ivy only instead of having just her plants to be wary off ... it appears that Ivy was smart enough to somehow put her spell on Superman and hence Superman is now on her team ... and when Ivy whispers to him to take down Batz ... it's one hell of a ride

We see here that Batz have to use all his resources including a Kryptonite ring to even marginally slow Supes down but the best part is that once more Jeph shows his understanding of the characters by letting Batz acknowledged the fact that he and Catz are even alive is that Superman is innately a good guy character and he must be in his own way fighting against Ivy's spell. Otherwise they would have been vaporized!

It's a great chase scene even minus the cars as we see the fight occurring from roof tops to sewers and everywhere in between. And in order to finally free Supes, Batz came up with an idea to tap into Supes ultimately good guy character NO SPOILER ALERT

But the best guest star is almost at the end ... a cameo of sorts ... someone I wasn't expecting to see in today's grim n gritty world of comics ... brought a smile to my lips NO SPOILER ALERT

Once again, we end the note with hints of who Hush is but at this point, half way through the journey we are no closer to the truth

Ratings: 8/10

2.55 (420) Batman vol 1 #610 ... DC ...

Over the years, like it or not, Mr Jim Lee has been pencilling less which is sad as many of us are huge fans but whenever he releases something new, it becomes a huge marketing program and if he is paired with a great writer, then it is a genuine success ... like this 1 year run on Batman!

I am glad I am not a regular collector of the DC and Batman comics. In that sense, I don't have to give a F about continuity and just enjoy the stories because they are sooooooo awesome. And the artwork? WOW!

This is part 3 in the year long saga of a new villain Hush and in this chapter, Batman comes to prison to interrogate a captured Killer Croc whose anger and murderous rages releases his human nature ... unfortunately for Croc, it's all a set-up. So that Bats can finally track down who Croc was in cahoots with ...

SPOILER ALERT

And the villains of the piece this time around are the popular villainess from the Bat mythos including Ivy and Catz. Well, well, well ...

Naturally to keep us guessing on who is really Hush, we get a surprise visit from an old friend who just in this story arc saved Bats via surgery i.e. he is a surgeon ... I am sure this is a retcon character created for the sake of this particular storyline ... see what we mean by good not being a regular reader so we can just enjoy?

Overall, a good chapter in a larger arc that you can read on its own without earlier chapters but the storyline and artwork is so good that will make you want to collect the entire series

Ratings: 9/10

2.27 (392) Robin Ongoing #2 ... DC ...

This version of Robin is my absolute favourite of them all ... even better than Dick (really?) Grayson, the first Robin in his underwear with no leggings ... hahahaha ... and I am so glad I didn't start with the early issues of this series because if I did (aside from 1), I doubt I would have been a fan

You see ... issue 1 is reintroduces us back to Tim after his previous 3 miniseries ... and a new artist is always a fresh take ... but the villain of the piece or rather the thrust of the tale is kind of weak ... car thieving ... and the worst part of it all is, it continues into this issue

Oh sure we have the detective bit but come on! We come here for a superhero in training kind of comic, not a detective noir style of tale and to me, this falls flat SPLAT!

The cover itself tells you everything and it's not good. Robin goes against the gang and someone decides to stick a mask on himself, someone big and strong but not super strong like Solomon Grundy or Bane ... sigh ...

But hey the issues after these early starts? Awesome!

Ratings: 5/10 (only because we are prejudiced hahaha)

296. GCPD #2 ... DC ...

Honestly, this is a hard issue to review and we are not just talking about the themes and diverse characters because this book ... though is about the police officers in Gotham where Batman lives and operates ... reads more like adult-oriented or a Vertigo slice of life book

As this is issue 2 in the series (that lasted more than 3 years) ... I didn't pick it up owing to its "average" covers ... and only tried one issue that had Robin on the cover ... but when it came out on digital and I sampled issue 1, I was hooked

It is great reading!

We have the entire squad of GCPD as potential main stars for each issue along with all others including the coroner, ambulance drivers, etc

And in issue 2, we start off with a crime ... or a murder ... and all evidence points to Mr Freeze. The only challenge here is that Mr Freeze kills his victims now by freezing them ice-solid. But why? He is not a petty criminal. So what is he after? And as it is a supers type of crime, should they call in the Bats or not?

Some are agreeable, others not so and want to prove that the GCPD is equipped to handle all sorts of crimes. Raveling or rather unraveling alongside the clues comes the lives of a few selected officers. We get more hints in each issue as stuff like lesbianism, corruption, drugs etc move to centerstage

And finally because it is early days in this series, we get the bits and pieces of Batman as if he is merely one of an ensemble cast

All in all, a good read

Ratings: 6/10

210. Justice League new 52 #1 to 6 ... DC ... Jim Lee ...

Can Jim Lee still draw? Yes

Is his work still relevant and up to the times? Yes

Is this work awesome? Yes

Okay. So I am not a fan of DC but I have to admit that a few years ago, when JLA was relaunched, I actually followed it for 2 years enjoying both stories and artwork. So when new 52 states that there was going to be a new Justice League, I waited and waited for the TPB to arrive ... no onlines please ... and finally couldn't wait anymore and decided to splurge on the hardcover edition

First up, if you are not a DC fan like me, or you have given up on comic continuity like me, then you will, more or less enjoy this series because this first story arc has it all. It checks on every tiny square box on that checklist: good story, good pacing, enough action, enough villains, enough drama, good artwork, good colouring and good origin story where relevant

Sure we know from here, if you read the new 52, some of the timelines do not make sense. But forget about it

Basically it is about a boom tube appearing on Earth and depositing alien warriers in humanoid forms. What are they after and why are they here? Well Earth's heroes have banded together to find out. Note that in this series, they may or may not know each other but generally have never worked as a team and some like Cyborg are totally new having his origins happen in the course of this series

Who is the baddie?

None other than DC super-baddie Apokolips! And what a show. We see the team fighting with each other as they try to confront Apokolips ... only to realize that inspite of their crazy super powers, none of them are a match for the bad guy not even Supes!

So while they thought they were so hot, Apool showed them all and managed to trounce them one after the other

SPOILER ALERT

Ummm ... nah we better not. Suffice to say action takes place on more than planet Earth. And that there is reveal after reveal until we reach the awesome me-punch-you-me-blast-you ending!

AWESOME!

Ratings: 10/10

170. Psyba Rats #1 to 3 ... DC ...

Pssst for those who do not know, in the world of Batman, there have been tons of Robin ... some you can say are "canon" ... and some are "alternate realities" ... anyway the main few (please don't PM for those who will say I miss some because this is not meant to be exhaustive listing) are Dick Grayson (1st chap), Jason Todd (the one who got killed via phone call survey back before the internet), Tim (the one with the longest running solo series) and Damian (Batman's son) ...

This limited series is during Tim's era

And Tim is one of those non-super-powered but seemed like super-powered type of character. He is smart at everything, intuitive, super athlete, super agile and super fast at picking up fighting styles! I kid you not. If you meet him in school, you will hate him. Hahahahaha!

I am not sure why they did a limited series when it could have easily been slotted into his then ongoing series but this series focuses on some of the "lucky" people who have gained their abilities overnight and what they did with them

So here are 3 persons, youthful who decided not to be altruistic but to make a living. As the cover shows, the girl has arms that are metallic. Her mates inc the chap on the left typing away and another that is inside the screen!

As for the military chaps, basically they stole some info to sell to others and naturally the bad guys do not want to leave evidence behind. So they are attacked viciously and in comes Robin to save the day. While I bought the 3 issues, I have to wonder ... although the bad guys are bad guys ... but these 3 kids are not angels either ... Robin should have thrown their asses in jail or brought them to the law!

Still, the workmanlike artwork ... works ... and the storyline is decent enough (although nothing special) for an afternoon's read

Ratings: 6/10