Batman and The Signal #2 Review and *SPOILERS*

Don't Forget The Sun Screen

Written By: Scott Snyder, Tony Patrick

Art By: Cully Hamner, Laura Martin, Deron Bennett

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: February 21, 2018

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Like I said in the first issue of this series, I've been waiting for a solo Duke Thomas book for awhile and even though this title has Batman in it, this really is a solo Duke Thomas book........... the only problem is, this doesn't feel all that much like Duke Thomas.  Now don't get me wrong.  We have Duke, we have him rocking The Signal name and going around and doing the whole "superhero" thing, but with his powers being so new and only seen briefly in two issues previous to this series...... and the fact that Dark Nights: Metal isn't finished yet and we don't know what may come from that.... I feel kind of lost in this.  I don't know if it's over written or under explained, but something is going on here to the point where I'm just having a hard time following the narrative of this meta-human crisis going on in Gotham and even after reading this and the previous issue, I really don't understand Duke's powers or anything really going on in this series.  Maybe that's just me though.  Let's jump into this issue and see the further adventures of The Signal as he goes up against other meta-kids, who claim that their powers come from our hero.  Let's check it out.

Explain It!:

Our issue begins with Duke getting his butt kicked by a bunch of new meta-kids in the the new Arkham Juvenile Center and it's only through sheer luck....... and the intervention of Detective Aisi that this series didn't end right here with Duke's death.  Once Aisi is on the scene though, brandishing her weapon, the meta-kids are controlled telepathically by whoever is the man behind the curtain of this whole thing to return to their cells and while this was going on, Duke could feel a charge in the room....... a symptom of his own powers.  Duke quickly vanishes from the scene and with that, our issue really begins.

Once back at "The Hatch", we see that Riko is calling it quits in helping Duke and there doesn't seem to be anything that Izzy or our hero can do about it because Riko believes that Duke is just too wrapped up in himself and not qualified enough to be pulling this Signal bit and she's not hanging around to watch him die.  While all of this is going on, the mysterious puppet master is watching and is disgusted that Duke would side with Batman after everything that he's setup for Duke to be his "Dial"........ whatever that is, but it seems that this villain isn't about to let his pet project be a part of the Bat Family.

In the end, Duke gets Detective Aisi's trust and she shows Duke a piece of metal that was found in a new meta-kid, who spontaneously combusted when his powers were activated and Duke learns that not only does this have something to do with a lesser form of Nth Metal, but it is also connected to Bruce Wayne's housing project.......... and the sun.  That's right, the sun is activating powers and the villain behind the curtain has somehow turned everyone in the Narrows into uncontrollable metas who are just going rampant with their powers.

That's it for this issue of Batman and The Signal and while I enjoyed the art in this issue, I just feel like there's so much information thrown at us in this issue that is never really spelled out.  Characters react to things that they know, but never say anything and by the end of this issue I still don't know what is really going on in this three-part series.......... which is nonsense because we only have one issue left.  Everything is just still so new and not defined that I think if you ask three different people what's going on here, they're all have a different answer and it's also possible that all three would be wrong.  Like I said though, I like the art, but that's about it besides for a few character interactions because I have no idea what's really going on in this story.

Bits and Pieces:

This series may have benefited if Metal would have finished before it came out.......... or if we really knew anything about Duke's powers because as of right now...... I feel completely lost in this series and I really don't know what it is trying to convey to me.  The art is decent and I enjoyed some character interactions, but I really have no idea what's going on in this story.

4.5/10