Family AffairWritten by: Tim Seeley
Art by: Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, Mick Gray, Jordie Bellaire and Dave Sharpe
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 30, 2018
Okay, there are not going to be too many people out there who will claim that these Preludes are not just money grabs as we get closer and closer to the wedding issue in July. Still, that doesn't have to mean they are bad, right? Of course not and with Tim Seely at the helm, I have hopes that we will at least get a couple of nice little diversions to keep our interest peaked. Funny thing about that...I have been looking forward to these preludes more than the wedding issue itself. So was this first one any good? Let's find out...
Well, Seeley starts us on the good foot as we see Selina joining Damian for a wedding fitting. There is more than meets the eye (no, there aren't Transformers involved!) going on, but with such little interaction between Damian and his future Step in the main book, I just wanted them to talk the whole issue! However, what they end up talking about made me think a bit about why this book (and possibly the other preludes) even exist.
What am I talking about? Well, Damian jumps right into his origin story and that's when it hit me...because Tom King has completely avoided having any real interaction between Batman and his son, a lot of King's fans will have no idea who Damian really is. Seriously, in this entire run we've probably seen Damian in only a handful of panels and Tom King seemed intent on making him the butt of jokes instead of giving us any real character work. So, Tim Seeley is here to do some work for those who need it. If you already know Damian, however, there isn't much new here.
The story continues as Damian heads into the Gotham night and we get a Cheese Viking callback and a forced bit of story showing us that Damian is a little nervous that the wedding will eventually make him obsolete. Yea, Ra's is involved, but it's such a surface level story that it really could have been anyone.
The whole thing ends with a nice little bit with Selina making Damian feel better and if anything, the way Tim Seeley writes Selena here is almost worth the price of admission if you are a Catwoman fan. Now, if you are a Helena Wayne fan you may not like what you hear!
Yea, this is a money grab issue that is still a bit above average thanks to the art and a couple Selina moments, but I would have rather had an issue with Bruce and Damian talking, playing tennis...anything! ANYTHING!!! This issue just points out the gaping hole in Tom King's whole run when it comes to the Bat Family.
Bits and Pieces:
Tim Seeley gives us a prelude to the wedding that felt more like a Damian Wayne primer. I guess it's needed since Tom King has done absolutely nothing in his run with Damian and call me crazy, but with the wedding approaching, it seems kind of necessary to know a little bit about Bruce's son. Seeley does provide some nice moments with Damian and Selina, but even with good art from Brad Walker, I can only recommend this to anyone who knows nothing at all about Damian.
6.0/10
I actually enjoyed this quite a bit more than I expected. The voice for both Damian and Selena was very strong. My only negative is why Ras was here in the first place, and how Joker K.O ed like 20 ninjas with zero training in his life. But this was fun, and setup the Red Hood issue with the Bachelorette Party he's supposed to protect. Art was pretty good as Well.
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Don't worry Tom King will explain that Joker knows Krazy-Fu, a martial art inherent in insane psychos in the next few issues of Batman.
DeleteBest Batman issue from Kings run I've read in a year
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