What Happened: Batman's Black Lantern rogues gallery is running amok in Gotham, menacing the populace. A large group of the BL's have taken control of Gotham Police headquarters in an effort to draw Batman out. Batman(Dick Grayson), Robin(Damian Wayne)and Deadman head to the Army National Guard Armory and Dick and Damian grab some flamethrowers and head to GCPD HQ. Commissioner Gordon, along with his daughter Barbara(Oracle)Gordon are among the few cops still standing at GCPD HQ. While Gordon tries to keep himself and his daughter among the living, Dick and Damian attack the BL's who had taken control of the GCPD HQ rooftop. Deadman winds up taking possession of Babs' body and gets Babs and Gordon out of Dodge. Dick and Damian try burning the BL's on the roof, but they continue to rebuild from the damage. Red Robin(Tim Drake/Wayne)flies a Batplane into the ghouls on the rooftop, clearing a pathway for Dick and Damian. The Dynamic Duo wind up hitching a ride with Tim, and they wind up picking up Gordon and Babs before peeling out. This issue ends with the dead parents of both Tim and Dick attacking the plane, causing it to crash in a graveyard.
What I thought: There was actually a lot to like here, but there was still some stuff that bothered me. First the good. Peter did a great job with his characterizations of the Black Lanterns here. BL King Snake was awesome, and BL Blockbuster recognizing that it was his old nemesis Dick Grayson under Batman's cowl was equally great. BL Blockbuster(rightfully)blaming Dick for his death was also a sweet nod to those of us who were fans of the "Nightwing" series. As for the bad, the various heroes really didn't seem like they were trying to hide their identities at all. Deadman refers to Dick as "Grayson" within earshot of Gordon, Tim calls Dick by his first name, once again within earshot of Gordon, and the parents of Tim and Dick referred to their children by first and last name, all while Gordon was aboard the Batplane! So much for secret identities I guess!
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10
Tim's dad cracked me up here... Does that make me a bad person?
If Gordon hasn't at least got some inkling as to who Batman really is, he's a pretty bad detective. Kind of like Perry White not knowing about Supes.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was thinking the same thing actually. As a matter of fact, in Batman: Year One, it's practically established that Gordon does indeed know who Bats is, but still, shouldn't the members of the Bat-family at least pretend that he doesn't know? I thought these guys were supposed to be insanely protective of their secret identities!
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