Batman: Urban Legends #6 Review

 

Urban Decay

Writer: Meghan Fitzmartin, Matthew Rosenberg, Joshua Williamson, Chip Zdarsky

Artist: Eddy Barrows, Scot Eaton, Trevor Hairsine, Beln Ortega, Chris Sprouse, Marcus To

Cover Price: $7.99

Release Date: August 10, 2021

Since it began, I have enjoyed Urban Legends, but I am worried about going forward with the Grifter story over and the Red Hood story ending here.  That's future Jim problems, though, because I still get to talk about the final issue of Chip Zdarsky's Batman/Red Hood story and, you know, some other stuff. So let's see how it goes...

I will tell you right off the bat, I was a bit underwhelmed by how Chip Zdarsky ended his story. The overall narrative has been a bit scattered, things were finally coming together.  Maybe this might have been better with one more issue, but I expected some more feels, especially with Tyler and his mom.  Plus, everything seemed to lead to Jason and Batman having a similar "cheer dream", but in the end, there wasn't as much progression between them as I'd hoped.  Sure, Jason decides to do things differently, but he still killed another person, and that kind of gets swept under the rug.  Plus, everything just kind of ends in a way that felt too abrupt. Although it looked good, and I liked the story overall, I was disappointed by the ending.

Mathew Rosenberg sticks with the WildCats and Halo stuff with a one-shot Zealot vs. Wonder Woman story.  It was pretty much one long fight as they both are going after Maxwell Lord, and while that's fine, the timeline and continuity in this one seemed way out of wack.  Maybe this was taking place before Death Metal (it felt like Rosenberg grabbed it from Mariko Tamaki's Wonder Woman run), but it felt off.  Besides that, nothing happens but a fight, and while I didn't hate it, I didn't love it either. 

Next up is the finale to Meghan Fitzmartin's Tim Drake story.  This story has been a slog and only here to change up the status quo of Tim, and while I have already seen people losing their minds about it, I have no problem at all there.  I wish it were a more memorable and well-written story, is all.  Fitzmartin had the potential to give fans something special, but the story and its villains were poorly set up, and never felt like a threat, and only felt like set pieces to get to the ending.  Plus, the ending was a bit too ambiguous for me.

Finally, we get a Black Canary story by Joshua Williamson that sets up his upcoming Deathstroke Inc book.  I didn't mind it once I got past the idea that this was just a preview for another series.  Again, some of the continuity felt wonky, but I loved the characters involved, which made me more intrigued about the series.  Plus, it looked damn good, and that never hurts!

Because I didn't love the ending to the Batman/Red Hood story, this was a down issue for me.  It didn't help that I wasn't a huge fan of the other three either, and now I am apprehensive about this book's long-term appeal.  However, the next issue is pretty much a clean slate, and that can be a good thing or a bad thing... I guess I will have to wait to find out.

Bits and Pieces:

Batman Urban Legends #6 was a down issue for me.  The Chip Zdarsky Batman/Red Hood story didn't end with the bang I was hoping for, and the other three stories didn't win me over either.  The issue looked good overall, but this was my least favorite since it began.

6.0/10