Batman: Urban Legends #12 Review

 

Not so Legendary

Writer: Vita Ayala, Mohale Mashigo, Mark Russell, Ram V

Artist: AnandRK, Nikola Cizmesija, Arist Deyn, Karl Mostert

Cover Price: $7.99

Release Date: February 8, 2022

I will be quite honest with everyone.  I would have dropped it from my pull list months ago if I weren't reviewing this book.  I have never liked every story in any single issue, and at $8 a pop, it doesn't make sense hanging on.  I am reviewing it, though, and we have a rarity of sorts this month.  Every story continues from last month, so you are in for a treat if you enjoyed everything.  If you didn't?  Well, things might be rough...

Batman: Urban Legends #12 starts with Vita Ayala's Batman / Zatanna story, and while there is a lot of exposition going on, there isn't a ton of solid explanation coming from it.  I get that it's a mystery, but I need more to care about solving it.  The last issue set up a yearly event where they try to close a rift they opened as teenagers, but things "really go wrong" this time.  I put that in quotes because we don't know how wrong things went before, just them saying it did.  Some mysterious characters are involved as well, and Constantine shows up to possibly help by the end.  After two parts, I don't have much of an opinion except that I don't think Ayala has a good voice for Batman at all, and overall, this story is just dull.

Next up is part 2 of 3 of Ram V's Wight Witch.  It plays off as the secret origin nobody asked for about the character nobody cares about.  Ram V tries hard (maybe to hard) to make things feel intelligent and essential, but it just feels like a Black Widow ripoff.

Mohale Mashigo's Eternity story is next.  I liked the start of this story last month, but this middle part didn't impress me.  It was cool to see Chris use his powers more, but the mystery of who killed Hannah and why isn't that interesting.  Maybe it's because Chris spends most of the issue talking to a scrambled-up ghost Hannah.  However, the cliffhanger is interesting enough, though it does end up seeming a bit too convenient.  

Finally, we get Mark Russell's Ace and his Superpets story.  I saw many people praising the first part of this, even though it seemed like Mark Russell was taking credit for Tom King's "Good Boy" story from Batman Annual #2.  This second part is all him, though, and it's not good at all.  I would have laughed aloud while reading if it didn't have so much animal cruelty, and while I know that's the point, mixing it with humor isn't for me.

Bits and Pieces:

Batman: Urban Legends #12 was a big miss for me.  Overall, I was not too fond of much of anything in this issue, and as I said earlier, if I weren't reviewing it, I wouldn't be buying it.  It's up to you to decide if it's worth the price of admission, but I don't think it is.

5.0/10