Monday, January 3, 2011

Batman: The Dark Knight #1

Review: Back in Gotham as Batman for the first time in a while, Bruce Wayne finds himself digging into the disappearance of an old flame of his named Dawn Golden. Bruce's investigation leads him to a Venom-using Killer Croc, who Bruce manages to defeat and tie-up after some difficulty. Bruce demands that Croc tells him what he did with Golden, and after some threats, Croc tells Bats that he sent her to some scuzzy friend of his named Lars Beck. Bats looks into Beck and discovers that he was a small-time club owner, and that he was discovered floating in the Gotham river, meaning he'd be offering no clues. Bats decides to search Beck's club anyway and discovers Dawn's necklace in a safe. While he's searching around the building, somebody takes the Batmobile off-line and disables all of its security systems. Alfred alerts Bats to this, and smelling a trap, Bats turns to leave, where he runs headlong into... *sigh* The Penguin and a bunch of his gun-totting goons, which ends this issue.

Thoughts: First things first, the Penguin appearance automatically deducts 1/2 from the final score of this comic. Before Penguin stuck his ugly, misshapen nose into things though, this was a very good, old school mystery/detective based story. I've always liked the detective side of Batman's adventures, and all too often we get Bats beating up some thugs, fighting super-villains, but not showing off his detective skills. So for that reason alone, I enjoyed this one. Sure, it was a set-up issue, meaning there were a whole bunch of little scenes that as of right now don't make any sense, but I'm sure as this storyline unfolds, it'll make sense down the line. For a first issue though? This was a promising start.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Dude, you're a giant crocodile... Do you really have rights?

12 comments:

  1. Lol @ your penguin insults. Well I'm glad you reviewed this, I picked this up because I miss reading my Batman. I don't follow Batman and Robin OR Streets of Gotham, so I'm glad to see it received an average score from the great X-Man!! I'll have to give it a read soon.

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  2. What can I say... I just hate that ugly, big nosed, umbrella-waving midget! :P I'll be interested in hearing what you thought about this one when ya get to it, Lisha.

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  3. I'll definitely let you know X. I start back to classes tomorrow so I'll probably take a couple comics to read in between classes.

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  4. You've got classes already!!! Ouch! That sucks! Not to rub it in or anything, but I'm free until the 19th. Sweet, whatever books you want to talk about, feel free to bring up here.

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  5. Hey X, thanks for the review! I'm on the fence about this series, given that issue #1 was already super delayed.

    And say what you want, the Penguin is a staple of the Bat universe. At least they haven't tried to replace him with Penguin II or "Femguin" or something.

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  6. Great review man, I just came across this blog and I think you do a great job. So I just read this one yesterday and I thought it was a very good opening issue.
    I'm loving the Penguin hate lol; I know he's a classic villain and I respect that, but it doesn't mean I have to like him.

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  7. Lol Suuuuure you didn't want to rub it in!! You're so cruel!! Lol. JK. BUT I was ready to go back to school. Last semester ready to get it done with.

    And you know you're my No. 1 guy to come to when it comes to comics. ^_^

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  8. No problemo, Kello. I live to serve/fill the Internet with shoddy reviews! Yes, Penguin IS a staple of the Bat-universe, but really, does he have to be?! I mean he's a short, fat, unusually ugly guy with an umbrella! I think Bats rogue gallery would survive even without ol' Pengy fouling it up!

    Thanks for the comment, Josh. It's always great to see some fresh blood around here! And I couldn't agree more! There are like at least 15 better Bat-villains out there, I honestly wouldn't mind seeing them, and not Penguin!

    Ah cool, Lisha. I'm guessing your schedule this year is better than last year with that horrible early class. I know my schedule is WAAAAAY better this semester! I'm your #1 guy when it comes to comics? JT must never find out! :D Thanks, Lisha!

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  9. Yeah the schedule is pretty good this semester. Only two days of classes instead of 5 and I'm out by 12:15. So Plenty of time to read comics, be artistic and chill. But I'm glad to hear you have a good semester ahead of you. And JT will never know muahahaha!! :)

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  10. Guess who just found out, ya TRAITORS. Lol, funny thing is I almost skipped these comments... :P

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  11. No hablo ingles!! lol. I have nothing to say.

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