The Hate Boat
Written by: Peter J. Tomasi
Art by: Ig Guara, Julio Ferreira, Andrew Dalhouse and Travis Lanham
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: October 23, 2015
There are times in life when something happens and it makes you feel "special". You know what I mean...like when you just know that a guy on television is talking directly to you, or a song on the radio was actually written only for you to hear. That's not crazy, right? Good, because I get that feeling every time I read Arkham Knight, but especially this issue. In the last bunch of reviews, I have mentioned that what makes this book so special and one of my favorites is the awesome guest stars. Calender Man, Scarecrow, Bane, Harley Quinn...the list goes on and on. Peter Tomasi has obviously crawled inside my brain and knows just what I want because he outdoes himself this issue.. It's okay, just make your self at home, Peter and everyone else...enjoy the review.
The issue opens with Bane kicking ass and shouting names. The ass he's kicking belongs to one Dark Knight, but we've all seen this before. It's the names that I was interested in...Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, Richard Grayson and Lucius Fox. While I would have been more impressed if Barbara Gordon was part of the roll call, it's still impressive and even scary.
In the meantime, Harley is having a little crisis of the heart and the Penguin is obviously wondering what he got himself into. Sure, Harley is probably a dynamo in the sack, but the whole "I'm going to kill you" thing might get old, real quick. Luckily, she stops shooting at him long enough for him to get a phone call from Scarecrow and agrees to meet him...with Harley and Poison Ivy. All right, threesome!
We then travel below ground to the Gotham Sewers to catch up with the Riddler and his assistant (who may or may not be Jared Leto). Of all the villains in this series, Nygma has been my least favorite. It has nothing to do with how he's written or how he looks...it's the reason he is here. He is planting his Riddler Trophies around Gotham and while I enjoy when this book doesn't forget it's a video game tie-in, this just feels silly. Luckily, it doesn't last long as Scarecrow shows up and invites him to the party.
As Bane continues beating the guano out of Batman, the last big named villain arrives to show his Two-Face. Yep, Harvey Dent is in the house and he looks so awesome. We've had a serious lack of Harvey since his untimely and tragic exit from the main DCU (by the hands of Tomasi, himself), so I love any time we get with him and hope he gets some serious "face time" in the upcoming issues.
The issue ends with a "The Gangs all Here" moment as all the villains are gathered around, watching the battle between Bat and Bane. It's such a cool ass full page that leads to Scarecrow introducing them to their new leader (whether they know it yet or not), the Arkham Knight.
Yes, I loved this issue. Surprise! This week I get to tell everyone that this is the type of issue that made me fall in love with this series and there is the added bonus of it being pretty new reader friendly. Sure, you'll want to go back and find out the full story and if this is your first foray into Arkham Knight, you will want to. Like the Men's Warehouse, I Guarantee It!
Ig Guara's art does some guaranteeing itself...that you will think this book is one of the best looking one's out there. He has already given us a great looking Bat Family and here he gives us a awesome looking Rogues Gallery. The highlight was the full page villain party I mentioned above.
Bits and Pieces:
Peter Tomasi continues writing the best Batman book coming out today. This week is a villain party and while most of Batman's Rogues Gallery watches, Bane gives the Dark Knight a physical and mental beatdown. While Scarecrow has appeared to be the man with a plan, it is in fact the Arkham Knight who is about to show who's boss. Ig Guara's art is great and if you haven't been reading this book, this week is a great time to start. If you have been reading, sit back and enjoy. I did...a whole lot.
9.4/10
I mostly agree with you guys ... Im not on board with this one anymore. Read the first 7 print issues (dont know what that works out to digitally) and played all the games. It just stopped feeling related at a point for me. The story wasn't progressing the way I wanted I guess and I gave up.
ReplyDeleteI loved Asylum and City, but didn't play Origins or Arkham Knight yet and I love this book...probably for the reason you don't - you don't have to know anything about the games to enjoy it. It's like Injustice (which I loved up until Year Four), I only played the game for about 5 minutes, but enjoy the crap out of the comic. It's odd, but maybe these style of tie-ins play better for non game playing readers
DeleteThe art is still top notch though ... and their take on Scarecrow is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI think Tomasi really understands the underpinnings of the Bat-verse, he seems to have all of these characters nailed whether they are in the regular comic or in these slightly-amended video game-adapted versions. Maybe he's just a good writer in general? It's a thought
ReplyDeleteYa i enjoyed my time with it before dropping it ... I follow pretty much all of the other Bat books so I just wanted this one more tied into the game itself. I dont see an ending the way its currently going which is not what I expected when it started.
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