The Monster Men are Coming...Already?
Written by: Tom KingArt by: David Finch, Matt Banning, Danny Miki, Jordie Bellaire and John Workman
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: July 6, 2016
After that crazy 5th Wednesday we just had to suffer through, it is so nice to get back to all of our Rebirth favorites. I know that everyone has their picks for best Rebirth book and I think that Tom King's Batman has gotten a bit of a bum rap so far. It's been really good, but it's Batman and people expect more from Batman. What? Urban surfing on a crashing airplane isn't enough for you? Are You Not Entertained?!? I have enjoyed it so far, but I'll admit, I'm ready for Tom King to kick it up a notch and give us more of Gotham and Gotham Girl and put the New 52 catch up completely behind us. Do I get my wish this week? As you'll see, sometimes getting your wishes granted isn't always a good thing.
If you are like Eric and myself and have gotten tired of the same old, tired villains in the main Batman book, you are sure to have a smile on your face as you open this issue. Solomon Grundy is in the house and he's fighting Gotham and Gotham Girl at the Statue of Justice. I hate the Statue of Justice, but I love Grundy so much and he's holding his own and saying his rhyme like a boss...until Batman shows up and ends the party. Boy, what a way for Tom King to start an issue and also show that once again, Batman always trumps superpowers.
If you thought that Gotham and Gotham Girl were going to show up all evil-like and cause problems right away, you're going to have to slam on the brakes, at least for now. Gotham tells Batman he wants to help THEIR city with Batman's blessing, of course. As if Batman doesn't have enough on his plate that he is going to be interested in training...what? Oh crap, it looks like he is going to train them.
I am so interested in learning more about Gotham and Gotham Girl and while I joked about it in my preview for this issue, why aren't we getting more Gotham Girl? I understand she is a sidekick, but she kind of just disappears at points.
Back at the Wayne Manor, Bruce obviously is still worried about both mortality and the city's well-being all while Alfred is kind of being a prick. I get that he needs Bruce to attend to the guests upstairs (another one of the Wayne benefits that is such a tired trope), but he just comes off nasty here.
We then head downtown to the GCPD where Jim Gordon is burning the (almost) midnight oil. His night gets more interesting when a man confesses to helping Grundy escape before slicing his own throat. The big thing here are his final words..."The Monster Men are Coming!" If you aren't aware, the Monster Men is the name of the crossover coming at the end of September, so seeing it already coming into play actually shocked me.
Of course, Gordon calls Batman right away (why can't we have the red phone?!?) and he decides to take Gotham and Gotham Girl along, much to Duke's chagrin. After some introductions, Gordon tells them the what's what and if Gordon doesn't think that the two newly arrived crime fighters aren't involved, then he could have fooled me. Batman still seems to trust them, however, and leaves them with Gordon after pulling his usual disappearing act. Speaking of which, Tom King is really forcing the issue here with Gotham and Gotham Girl perplexed with how Batman can totally drop out of their super sight. If he isn't setting something up for later, again, he could have fooled me.
The issue ends by showing us who the villain of the story is (Observe the clock, Batman), but it's who he is with that has me both excited and perplexed. It really throws a wrench into any theories I had.
Like I just said, the cliffhanger has me wondering what the hell is going on and I want to find out more right now! However, the rest of the issue did not wow me. Maybe I am still getting used to Tom King's pace or the story is being stretched a bit to fit the new publishing schedule, but it still feels like this story is dragging it's feet a bit. We do get a couple of big moments, but with each new issue of Batman, I am losing interest a little bit more. I don't want that to continue!
David Finch's art is another thing that has failed to wow me. It's good, it's just not great and after all the hype about him being on Batman, I wanted and expected great. Everything this week just comes off as bland and that does not help the story one bit,
Bits and Pieces:
Since Rebirth started, Batman has been a good, but not great book. This issue doesn't change things in that department and may take a tiny step backwards. Maybe I'm expecting too much right out of the gates, but I am struggling to find reasons to love Batman right now. The cliffhanger may hold that promise, but right now I very underwhelmed.
6.0/10
Man, Batman is really bumming me out...
ReplyDelete-RepairmanJack(Got tired of always saying I'm not a robot to comment)
lol...i think Alfred is mad he only got his hand chopped off and is taking it out on the world
DeleteI'v really been enjoying batman, sure Tom King has not been as fantastic as everyone was hoping but it's still a good book and it has the one thing that was missing from Snyder's run that made it a chore to read, humor. Not a huge amount but when bats dissappeared on the roof, Goth Superman and gordon were fun
ReplyDeleteI just felt that the disappear thing was overdone setup...it will certainly come into play later
DeleteI liked this a lot still. I do want more of gotham and gotham girl though I'm have a feeling maybe issue 4 might be our info dump on them for some reason, but I don't think there on the up and up 100%.
ReplyDeleteGordon smokes a pipe or cigerettes? Or both since he's off the gum and patches now
--------------------------SPOILER WARNING--------------------------------------------
ReplyDelete--------------------------SPOILER WARNING--------------------------------------------
--------------------------SPOILER WARNING--------------------------------------------
--------------------------SPOILER WARNING--------------------------------------------
--------------------------SPOILER WARNING--------------------------------------------
Just to check, because I'm not sure about this. The bit at the end, that was the Joker, right?
Also, personally I liked the fact that Alfred was being a bit of a prick. Come to think of it, in general King has got Alfred right I reckon. It makes a nice counterpoint to the Snyder version, and the sour, sarcastic "I'm amazed you're not dead" feels reminiscent (but not overly so) of The Dark Knight Returns. Crucially though, when Batman's about to die in #1, that's when you see him cracking and that's the important difference between a simple 1 dimensional dickhead and a plausible character. You get to see the internal parent, who has to watch their child deliberately throw themselves at death on a daily basis, making his general sourness in times of relative calm understandable as a defense. Wow, what a rambling. And all I wanted was crowd confirmation that what's his face (did they say his name was Brian?) looked like the Joker. P.S. I may be a bit biased here, I'm rather partial to Tom King so maybe I read nto his stuff too much. PS2: Also, the Alfred thing was just one of many nice bits I saw. PS3: I got the particular quote "I'm amazed you're still alive" from the Weekly Planet so don't say that's ripping it off. That's use of one phrase I heard elsewhere and only that.
The Joker thing may be Waller's attempt to get a Joker equivalent for the Suicide Squad since the real Joker would never join...it's all going to blow up in their faces anyway IMO
DeleteAlso how great are The Vision and Omega Men, huh? I'm worried though it'll be like with the Dark Knight and how because of it Nolan receives automatic forgiveness for Shyamalaning all his endings since Inception. Like what if King can only write outcast Green Lanterns and sociopathic synthesoids? Then again, could just be the fact that so far he's just proven himself to be a #1 writer on periphery characters. Not B listers,but not the leading man in either universe. And certainly not the most popular superhero of at least this half of the last century (If Superman had it for a while, he definitely lost if by the end of the 50s). Maybe Bats cramps his style. Hope not.Ether way, hopefully overall he'll turn out to be a great writer. It just remains to be seen whether he'll be a Morrison or and Ellis,I guess.
ReplyDeleteAfter actually reading the issue I actually really liked it. I don't know if it's because I went in with really low expectations or if what I was wanting from it changed, but I really liked the pace seeming fast but at the same time slowly setting up something more.
ReplyDeleteI really didn't like the first issue but that was mostly because of the Batman/Alfred/Parents stuff but after reading it again and reading this issue I think the overall attempt King is going for is having a fast paced book with slower developing bigger stories.
Now what does this change in Strange mean for Gotham Academy?!
Really liked this issue except for one thing: Bruce saying "I don't even trust Alfred." What's that about?
ReplyDeleteAlso, everyone is just waiting for Gotham and Gotham Girl to turn bad. Was this already confirmed somewhere?
I actually thought that was hysterical! I thought all the exchanges between Bruce and Alfred in this issue were funny as hell and loved it for that alone. I think these are two men who have lived with each other a long time, love each other, and know how to push each others' buttons. You'll note Alfred doesn't even bat an eyelash. He's not offended, and I don't think we're meant to be offended on his behalf. He then relates a story to Duke, who couldn't possibly know either of them well enough to judge from this one interaction alone, that illustrates that this is their version of banter.
DeleteI was sort of wondering the same thing about Gotham and Gotham Girl, but I think the DCU Previews book that came out in April says they are villains so... Maybe they're not real villains though. Maybe they're just nuisances that get in the way or cause trouble while believing themselves to be on the side of good, but then ultimately learn their lesson?
Ah, it was stated in the DCU previews book. Seems like an odd thing to do and spoil what could have been a great reveal.
DeleteEven before that, everything that first came out about the book listed them as the villains...also seems like the Snyder "Gotham is" was a sly reference to this start as well as a tie-in to his first issue of the new 52. That's why eric and myself were thrown off by them at first because of how they showed up.
DeleteI liked this issue a lot more than the first one, but I still don't love it. I'm waiting on Finch and King to sync up and have a moment that absolutely blows my mind and shows everyone why they got put on DC's most popular book. Hopefully it comes soon...
ReplyDelete