BATMAN: SWORD OF AZRAEL #4 - January 1993

No One Is Innocent

Credits:  Dennis O’Neil (writer), Joe Quesada (penciler), Kevin Nowlan (inker), Ken Bruzenak (letterer), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist)

Summary:  Alfred is shocked by Azrael’s brutal assault on Harcourt’s guards.  Inside, LeHah murders Harcourt and flees.  Later, Nomoz chastises Azrael for pausing briefly to check on Harcourt’s body instead of pursuing LeHah.  Alfred questions Azrael’s bloodlust, but Azrael explains that he can’t help himself when The System kicks in.  The trio track LeHah to the oil refinery he owns in Texas.  Inside, Bruce tricks LeHah into taking off the Batman costume, but discovers that LeHah is now adamant about killing him.  Alfred, Azrael, and Nomoz arrive in time to stop LeHah.  Azrael’s battle with LeHah starts a fire; against Nomoz’s wishes, Azrael rescues Bruce, but refuses to spare LeHah.  Outside, Azrael tells Alfred that he now remembers his true name, Jean-Paul.

Irrelevant Continuity:  LeHah explains that he stole the Batman costume in order to “sow confusion and discord,” which is a responsibility of a follower of Biis.

Review:  Batman?  More like Fatman, amiright, folks?  (That’s a reference to the cover, of course.  That’s LeHah in the costume, and he really is getting fatter each issue.)  Okay, the Azrael introduction mini is over, and I think I can now make some sense out of those cryptic references in “Knightfall.”  I still maintain that the Jean-Paul we saw during that event isn’t quite the character Denny O’Neil introduces here.  This issue we see a savage Azrael unleashed by The System (he kills several security guards, and even a dog, which is a rarity in comics), but by the end of the story we discover that underneath it all, Jean-Paul is a decent young man who’s strong enough to fight against his father’s programming and do the right thing.  The fact that he allows LeHah to die in the fire indicates that he isn’t quite as respectable as the traditional superhero, but the implication on the final page is that Jean-Paul is on his way to learning about true heroism and becoming his own man.  

The Jean-Paul presented to us during “Knightfall” starts off as a Ken doll who seems to be chosen as Batman’s replacement based on his jawline, and within a few issues, he’s a raving loon that’s choking Robin and letting citizens be mugged because they need to be taught a lesson.  Azrael didn’t seem to struggle with right vs. wrong during his days as Batman; any internal conflict was dramatized by periodic “bad trips” involving medieval Catholic imagery that always ended with Azrael screaming into the heavens.  It is possible that the “Knightfall” trades skipped some of the issues that fleshed out Jean-Paul in-between this miniseries and his debut as Batman, I’ll acknowledge.  (I’m assuming some story established what happened to Nomoz, right?)  But based upon the story that DC is keeping alive in the reprints, Jean-Paul simply comes across as nuts.

As for the finale of the miniseries, let’s see…Quesada renders an Azrael that’s McFarlane-worthy, Kevin Nowlan’s distinctive faces are popping up again, there’s no payoff to Azrael losing his sword (based on the series’ title, I assumed this would be important), Batman has very little to do, and no one has acknowledged yet that Nomoz looks like something out of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.  We also don’t receive a real explanation for why LeHah turned against St. Dumas and worshiped a demon instead, leaving him more of a caricature than a legitimate villain.  I did enjoy his brief conversation with Bruce this issue, which has Bruce smugly telling LeHah that he’s been serving his own “demon” ever since his parents died.  Great trash talk that’s unfortunately not paid off.  I understand that Azrael needs to have a grand heroic moment at the end, this really is his miniseries after all, but Batman’s presence in the final two chapters hasn’t amounted to much.  I was expecting Bruce to participate in LeHah’s defeat in some way; ultimately, he’s merely a prop to be rescued in the finale.  Speaking of Bruce, why does he have Mad magazine-style rectangular word balloons throughout the miniseries?  I’ve never seen Ken Bruzenak do this before, which makes me wonder if perhaps Joe Quesada was taking an active role in designing the word balloons.  It’s just an odd design choice, and if we’re being honest, Quesada’s made a few of those over the years…

BATMAN: SWORD OF AZRAEL #3 - December 1992

Direct Action

Credits:  Dennis O’Neil (writer), Joe Quesada (penciler), Kevin Nowlan (inker), Ken Bruzenak (letterer), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist)

Summary:  Jean-Paul’s life is saved when LeHah’s bullets hit his duffel bag, which contains his Azrael armor.  Bruce Wayne arrives with Alfred.  Bruce confronts LeHah inside the hospital, while Alfred escapes with Nomoz and Jean-Paul.  Bruce is drugged with ether and taken captive by LeHah.  LeHah’s attempts to interrogate Bruce fail, but he does steal the Batman costume Bruce was wearing under his clothes.  After killing the St. Dumas member Borgeron, LeHah travels to London to kill another brother, Harcourt.  LeHah dons the Batman costume just as Alfred and Azrael arrive outside Harcourt’s gates.

Irrelevant Continuity:  LeHah discovers Bruce’s secret identity because he’s wearing the Batman costume under his clothes.  Meanwhile, Alfred just casually reveals to Nomoz and Azrael his connection to Batman.  

I Love the ’90s:  Socks the Cat appears again in the alley behind the hospital.

Review:  In retrospect, it’s obvious that Dennis O’Neil wrote this miniseries with the intent of introducing Jean-Paul into the main titles as the new Batman.  This issue sees Jean-Paul stand up to his brutish mentor Nomoz and spare Alfred’s life (Nomoz declares that Alfred knows too much about the Order of St. Dumas and should die), just a few pages before he cracks the case and correctly deduces LeHah’s next move.  It’s amusing to read these passages today, because as I’ve mentioned earlier, the creators actually working on the monthly titles didn’t seem concerned about following the lead established by O’Neil in this series.  Not only was Azrael portrayed as a particularly lousy detective, but he was also much closer to Nomoz’s persona than the young idealist he appears to be in this issue.  O’Neil edited those comics, so if he had a real problem with their portrayal of Jean-Paul he could’ve done something, but it’s just odd to look back on this series and see how quickly Jean-Paul’s existing personality was tossed out in order to make him a strawman argument against vigilante anti-heroes.

There is a danger in this story of turning Batman into a bit of chump, and while I doubt O’Neil pleased everyone, I think he’s been able to prevent Batman from being totally overshadowed by Azrael so far.  Batman does lose the fight this issue, but O’Neil at least has him put up a respectable fight against LeHah, and the botched interrogation scene reads like classic O’Neil Batman.  It’s one thing for a drugged Batman to lose a physical fight, but there’s no way a punk like LeHah is going to break Batman’s will.

Every issue so far has had some excuse for a hallucination scene, presumably written with Quesada in mind.  This chapter has Batman hallucinating in the hospital after LeHah drops a shelf full of ether bottles on him, which is probably the best use of the gimmick so far.  Drugging Batman provides a credible excuse for him losing the fight, and allows Quesada a few pages to go even crazier, presenting a hazy Bruce vs. Demon action sequence.  Even when the story doesn’t require exaggeration, Quesada can’t help himself.  Azrael now appears to be ten feet tall in costume, while LeHah is growing shorter and fatter each issue.  Some of the signs of Quesada’s later excesses are already here, but I think he’s still at the stage where his overindulgences aren’t a major concern.  Looking over the issue, I do wonder if Quesada ran into deadline troubles during this month.  Some of the pages aren’t as heavily rendered as the ones in the previous issues, and it certainly seems as if Kevin Nowlan is doing more than standard inking on several pages.  Almost every panel of Bruce Wayne that isn’t a close-up looks like a Nowlan drawing, for instance.  I’m not complaining; Quesada and Nowlan don’t seem to be an obvious match, but I think the combination is interesting.  The panels that have Nowlan overpowering Quesada do take me out of the story, however.

BATMAN: SWORD OF AZRAEL #2 - November 1992

Azrael Does Not Protect

Credits:  Dennis O’Neil (writer), Joe Quesada (penciler), Kevin Nowlan (inker), Ken Bruzenak (letterer), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist)

Summary:  Batman and Alfred crash into the snow, while Nomoz leads Jean-Paul away from the remains of their chalet.  LeHah attempts to escape with his lackey, but the avalanche created by the rocket blast causes their helicopter to crash.  During the crash, LeHah becomes convinced that he is now the servant of the demon Biis.  After they recover, LeHah kills his assistant as a sacrifice.  Nearby, Jean-Paul attacks Batman on Nomoz’s orders.  Nomoz saves the outclassed Jean-Paul from the fight, leaving Azrael’s sword behind in the snow.  Later, Batman and Alfred continue to investigate the Order of St. Dumas while LeHah compiles a list of brothers to murder.  Nomoz and Jean-Paul, in his new Azrael armor, travel to a hospital where one brother is being treated.  Before Jean-Paul can don his armor, he’s shot repeatedly by LeHah.

Irrelevant Continuity:  

• Nomoz reveals that LeHah was once the treasurer of the Order of St. Dumas.  LeHah looted the Order's accounts months earlier, which is why Nomoz sent Jean-Paul’s father to deal with him.
• I have no idea what’s happened to Nomoz’s assistant, Heinreich.  He doesn’t escape the chalet with Nomoz and Jean-Paul this issue.
• Quesada’s interpretation of LeHah doesn’t match his appearances during the later chapters of “Knightfall.”  Based on those comics, I assumed LeHah was thin with blond hair; in this story he has a massive build and gray hair.  (It’s hard not to notice he looks like Cable, right down to the scar over his eye.)  Or maybe the character Azrael thought was LeHah in the later stories wasn’t him at all…he was going insane in those issues.

Not Approved By The Comics Code Authority:  LeHah’s rampage at the hospital is pretty bloody.  Also, we see LeHah nude from the back during one scene as he rants into a mirror.

I Love the ‘90s:  Cable LeHah, after taking the form of Biis, whips out a giant Chiclet gun.

Review:  I’ll admit that I was confused by the opening sequence of this issue, and even after rereading it, I had to go back to the previous issue to make certain I could follow what was going on.  The sequence of events has LeHah and an unidentified associate launching a rocket from the ground, acquiring a helicopter off-panel, and then being caught in the avalanche created by the rocket blast minutes earlier.  Intercut with their story are two other plots involving Batman/Alfred and Nomoz/Jean-Paul escaping the chaos.  Most of my confusion stems from the fact that a) Quesada kept LeHah in the dark for the majority of the previous issue, so it was difficult to place him this time, and b) O’Neil doesn’t seem to identify LeHah by name until the issue is half-way over.  The fact that a gratuitous Batman/Azrael fight is thrown in during LeHah’s descent into madness doesn’t help matters, either.  

After clarifying that the character I kept calling “Cable” was in fact LeHah, the rest of the issue seemed to be straightforward enough.  LeHah has betrayed the Order of St. Dumas, a secret organization with connections to the Crusades that avenges evil to this day.  Jean-Paul is destined to replace his father and adopt the role of Azrael, while LeHah has convinced himself that he is now the living embodiment of the demon Biis.  What this has to do with Batman isn’t clear, but whenever he does appear in the story, Quesada does make him look cool.  Okay, in fairness, O’Neil also provides a respectable amount of cute Batman/Alfred banter throughout the story.  I can’t say that Batman feels totally shoehorned into the plot, but it’s hard to pretend that he isn’t coming across as a guest star in Azrael’s story, either.  

The title of the issue eludes to something Nomoz tells Jean-Paul during the final scene.  Nomoz hasn’t brought Jean-Paul to the hospital to “protect” its inhabitants from LeHah because “Azrael does not protect.  Azrael avenges.”  That brief line sums up the difference between Batman and Azrael, a point the Bat-titles spent almost two years trying to make.  And yet, even over the course of dozens of comics, I don’t think this aspect of Azrael’s backstory was ever explained clearly during “Knightfall.”  Azrael just comes across as unhinged during the storyline; I don’t think the concept that he was literally created to serve vengeance and vengeance only was truly addressed during his time as Batman.  It’s obvious O’Neil had this idea from the beginning, but the writers of the monthly titles seemed far more interested in exploring Azrael’s mental instability than the concept of justice vs. vengeance.  

BATMAN: SWORD OF AZRAEL #1 - October 1992

Vanishing Angels & Sudden Death

Credits:  Dennis O’Neil (writer), Joe Quesada (penciler), Kevin Nowlan (inker), Ken Bruzenak (letterer), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist)

Summary:  Azrael confronts weapons dealer Carleton LeHah, and is shot repeatedly.  He stumbles into a nearby parade and accidentally causes a riot that kills several people.  Near death, Azrael reaches the apartment of his son Jean-Paul.  Azrael leaves Jean-Paul a cryptic message before dying.  Following the directions left by his father, Jean-Paul travels to the Swiss Alps.  He meets his tutor Nomoz, and Nomoz’s burly assistant, Heinreich.  They train Jean-Paul to follow in his father’s footsteps, while Batman investigates Carleton LeHah in Gotham.  His investigation leads him to the ancient Order of St. Dumas, and to the Swiss Alps.  As Batman and Alfred fly overhead the Order of Dumas’ chalet, LeHah fires a rocket that destroys the building.

Irrelevant Continuity:  

• According to Nomoz, Jean-Paul’s father has been preparing him to become Azrael since childhood.  His secret conditioning (“The System”) would go on to play a major role in many “Knightfall” stories.
• Carleton LeHah debuts this issue.  He’ll also become important later during “Knightfall,” even though the stories reprinted in the Knightfall trades never get around to really explaining who he is.
• A reporter named Sherri Port is killed during the riot.  Batman claims that he knew, and liked, Sherri.

Dramatic Exits:  After receiving information on the case from Commissioner Gordon (Azrael had a sword that no one’s recovered), Batman disappears in the middle of their conversation.

I Love the ‘90s:  Quesada sneaks a Socks the Cat balloon into the parade scene.  I guess Socks was going to be Quesada’s Felix the Cat for a while there.

Not Approved By The Comics Code Authority:  Like most of DC’s special miniseries projects of the day, this doesn’t appear to be Code approved.  Aside from a few bloody panels, there’s nothing that would cause any problems with the CCA, however.

Review:  Unless something snuck by me, Sword of Azrael has been out of print for over twenty years now.  I have no way of knowing why, but the only reasonable explanation I can think of would be a simple desire to prevent Joe Quesada from earning reprint royalties.  It’s not as if this miniseries is a forgettable, gratuitous cash grab from the salad days of 1992.  Sword of Azrael is the basis of a multi-year Batman event that’s still inspiring material to this day.  By all rights, it should’ve been included with the phonebook Knightfall trades; its absence is impossible not to notice if you sit down and try to read those books.

My memory is that Sword was one of the few breakout hits from DC during the early ‘90s.  There was Lobo, “Death of Superman,” and the Batman miniseries by that hot new Quesada guy.  In the pre-Image days, DC’s mainstream titles tended to resemble Jim Shooter’s (or more accurately I suppose, Mort Weisinger’s) platonic ideal of superhero art -- midlevel shots, plausible anatomy, and simple page layouts that any kid could follow.  Sword broke that mold, presenting a Batman comic that could easily compete with any of the wild visuals seen in those Image books.  Quesada’s art is certainly tied to this era, but it’s not embarrassing in the way a second-tier Extreme Studios book might be viewed today.  Quesada’s pencils take elements from everyone from Mike Mignola to Michael Golden to Bart Sears, and his panel layouts are reminiscent of Todd McFarlane’s more imaginative pages.  Anything that can be exaggerated is, which leads to another obvious McFarlane comparison -- Quesada’s Batman is almost identical to the Batman we’ll see a year later in Spawn/Batman.  I don’t know if Quesada extrapolated this look from Todd’s early Batman work in the ‘80s, or if Todd saw this miniseries and was inspired, or if it’s all a massive coincidence.  Nevertheless, this Batman has the longest cape in the world, a chest wider than a Mack truck, and a tendency to literally become a shadow when he steps out at night.  Needless to say, Wizard loved this series, and the entire run became a hot collector’s item a few months after its release.

Written by Dennis O’Neil during his days editing the Batman line (this specific mini was overseen by the legendary Archie Goodwin), I’m sure most Bat-readers had some idea this story would pay dividends in the future.  I doubt many people knew it was the first step in a lengthy meta-commentary on just what Batman is supposed to represent, but surely you had to know this Azrael guy was going to be important if Denny O’Neil is plotting his debut story arc.  The first issue is mostly setup, establishing Jean-Paul’s origin while slowly drawing Batman into the story.  Quesada certainly runs with the visuals; a riot during a parade might be a chore for many artists, but Quesada seems to enjoy the chaos.  And while Azrael (the senior Azrael, not the one who’ll soon replace Batman) is a fairly dull vigilante cliché this issue, the outrageous visual is more than enough to sell him during the opening scene.  

Quesada’s so over the top, it’s hard to tell when he should or shouldn’t tone things down.  For example, is Nomoz supposed to look like the creature Billy Barty played in the Masters of the Universe movie?  As far as we know, there’s no supernatural element to the Order of St. Dumas, outside of a flaming sword.  If Nomoz isn’t supposed to be inhuman in some way, then why does Quesada draw him like this?  If there’s no need in the story for this character to resemble a troll, rendering him that way makes no sense.  (Then again, maybe Nomoz is supposed to resemble something out of Tolkien and I’m just getting ahead of myself.)  At any rate, for an issue that largely consists of cryptic hints and exposition, there’s enough here to keep the reader going to the next chapter.  Jean-Paul will go on to become an insufferable character, but thankfully there’s no hint of that in this issue.  Right now, I’m curious to see if Jean-Paul’s already a crazed loon by the end of the miniseries.

ROBIN #13 - January 1995

 

Wings over Gotham

Credits:  Chuck Dixon (writer), John Cleary and Phil Jimenez (pencilers), Ray Kryssing w/Phil Jimenez (inks), Albert DeGuzman (letterer), Adrienne Roy (colorist)

Summary:  Robin attaches a line to Steeljacket, and finds himself dragged through the sky with the Gotham police force in pursuit.  Meanwhile, Dick and Bruce discuss Bruce’s decision to have Jean-Paul replace him, and whether or not Bruce will resume the role of Batman.  After the Gotham police overwhelm Steeljacket in a hail of bullets, Robin returns to the Batcave.  He discovers Dick wearing his Nightwing outfit, while Bruce is lurking in the shadows in a new Batman costume.

Irrelevant Continuity:  

• Robin’s suspicion that Steeljacket isn’t human is given dramatic emphasis.  I have no idea if this was ever paid off.
• This new Batman costume is essentially the Tim Burton movie outfit.  All black, with no trunks on the outside.  Dick and Tim act as if this is a dramatic change, which is just ridiculous.  I believe Chuck Dixon has stated that Batman was supposed to get a more dramatic make-over following “Prodigal,” but DC backed out at the last minute.

Review:  After three volumes and around 2,000 pages, we’ve reached the end of the Knightfall trades.  And if you think this isn’t much of a conclusion, you’re right, but this is the last comic with “Prodigal” on the cover, so it must be the last comic reprinted in the collection.  Those are the rules and we all must accept them.  If there's another way to do research while compiling a trade outside of scrolling through the comics.org cover gallery, I don't want to hear about it.  Unfortunately, the final volume is going out on what’s likely the weakest artwork from the entire event.  For reasons I’ll never understand, an editor decided to pair John Cleary and Phil Jimenez as artists this issue.  Phil Jimenez is still doing a George Perez pastiche at this point, while John Clearly is a sub-par McFarlane double.  Remember Boof?  (How could anyone forget Boof?)  No sane individual would pair these guys on the same story, but that’s what happened somehow.  Not surprisingly, the issue looks like an absolute mess.

While there are numerous plot lines that remain unresolved at this point, there is at least some sense of closure, as Bruce and Dick finally discuss why on earth Azrael was hired as the replacement Batman.  Dixon plays their partnership as a father/son relationship, strained over the years as Dick entered adulthood.  The creators are still going with the “he’s his own man now” rationalization for why Bruce didn’t ask Dick to replace him, but Dixon is now putting more weight behind the argument.  And Dick is also able to voice the readers’ complaints and call Bruce out on his lack of faith; Dick didn’t want to become Batman, but of course he would do it if Bruce needed him.  It’s hard to deny that DC always had a flimsy excuse for bringing in Azrael instead of Dick at the start of this event, but Dixon does about as good a job imaginable justifying the decision. 

DETECTIVE COMICS #681 - January 1995

 

Knight without Armor

Credits:  Chuck Dixon (writer), Graham Nolan (penciler), Klaus Janson (inker), John Costanza (letterer), Adrienne Roy (colorist)

Summary:  A masked, armored figure is terrorizing the Gotham underworld.  Batman is certain Jean-Paul Valley is the culprit, while Robin is skeptical.  They agree to split up the investigation.  Batman finds Jean-Paul living in a shelter, too emotionally fragile to hurt anyone.  Robin, meanwhile, investigates the mobster most likely to be hit next.  After Robin takes out his guards, he’s confronted by the real killer, Steeljacket.  Meanwhile, Batman returns to the Batcave and finds Bruce Wayne waiting for him.

Irrelevant Continuity:  Detective Mackenzie Bock is introduced as Lieutenant Essen’s new assistant.  This is treated as a significant introduction, but I don’t know if he ever amounted to more than just a minor supporting cast member.

Review:  I like the basic premise of the story, but I don’t think the “falsely accused” angle really goes anywhere.  Jean-Paul’s return to the book probably should feel like a significant event, but instead he’s cleared with one dumbfounded look and the story moves on.  Plus, it’s Dick Grayson who meets him face-to-face, and the two of them have barely interacted in the past, so there’s not much going on in the scene.  Regardless, there are some decent action sequences in the issue, and Klaus Janson inking over Graham Nolan just looks amazing.  There are a lot of big, dramatic images this issue, and while they contribute to the unusually short read-time, there’s a sense that the creative team is utilizing Janson to the best of his ability.  I’m relatively certain that Steeljacket never went on to become an A-list villain, and there’s not much to the mystery, but this issue has to stand out as one of the best-looking Bat-comics from the era.

SHADOW OF THE BAT #34 - January 1995

Prodigal: Ten

Credits:  Alan Grant (writer), Mark Bright (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker),  Todd Klein (letterer), Adrienne Roy (colorist)

Summary:  Batman falls for a trap set by the Tally Man, who then chains him up and fires a revolver loaded with one bullet at his head.  As Tally Man teases Batman about the inevitable fatal bullet, Dick Grayson reflects on his life.  Eventually, he finds the strength to break the bonds.  Batman pursues Tally Man and eventually captures him.

Review:  In response to likely no demand whatsoever, Tally Man has returned.  This time, he’s rendered by a competent artist, which settles the issue of whether or not he’s supposed to be some kind of ghost or smoke creature.  He isn’t.  He’s just wearing a dress.  I’m glad that’s settled, and it’s always nice to see Mark Bright show up in the credits.  He draws a very traditional Batman that I’ve always liked, and he's a welcome break from the kind of artist who normally shows up as fill-in pencilers in this title.  The emotional arc for the issue is Dick Grayson’s insecurities, a theme that hasn’t been explored in-depth in “Prodigal” so far.  I’m not sure if Alan Grant is on the same page as the rest of the writers, because he seems to be working from the premise that Dick views himself as a failure in every aspect of his life, which is much angst-ier than I’ve seen in the other titles.  Grant actually handles the character work rather well, even though having Dick reclaim his self-esteem as he magically finds the strength to break Tally Man’s bonds is borderline cheese.

 

The major problem with the issue is the mere presence of Tally Man, who isn’t a memorable or interesting antagonist at all.  Grant plays up the idea that Dick getting kidnapped is “doubly ironic” since Tally Man first attacked Jean-Paul thinking he was Bruce, and now he’s targeted Dick thinking he’s Jean-Paul, but none of that makes Tally Man himself any more tolerable as a villain.  He’s just someone the reader has to suffer through before Dick can have his emotional catharsis and end the story. 

BATMAN #514 - January 1995

One Night in the War Zone

Credits:  Doug Moench (writer), Ron Wagner (penciler), Joe Rubenstein (inker), Ken Bruzenak (letterer), Adrienne Roy (colorist)

Summary:  Robin provides Batman with a list of the three worst offenders released during Two-Face’s scheme: Strake, McCone, and Cheung.  Strake targets his former partner in the drug trade, McCone invades the home of the man who testified against him, and Cheung searches for people who cheated him out of gambling profits.  All three are located in Battergate, an area of Gotham nicknamed “the war zone.”  One by one, Batman locates the fugitives and incapacitates them.  Sirens continue to blare after he’s finished, reminding him that Batman’s work is never done.

Irrelevant Continuity:  I thought the worst neighborhood in Gotham was supposed to be called “the Hub,” as seen in the earlier chapters of this crossover?

Review:  The emotional hook for this issue is Dick Grayson’s struggle to truly become Batman, a job he knows he isn’t suited for and doesn’t expect to keep for much longer.  This would seem to be a better avenue to explore than the previous arc’s relentless pushing of Two-Face as Dick Grayson’s personal boogey man, but the story doesn’t really make being Batman seem like such a bad job.  There are no moral quandaries, nor are any of the fugitives pursued by Dick particularly challenging threats.  On the bright side, the issue has solid artwork by Ron Wagner, and there’s more than enough action to distract from Dick’s half-baked character crisis.  Judged mainly as a one-issue action story, this is fairly entertaining.

ROBIN #12 - December 1994

Bullies

Credits:  Chuck Dixon (writer), Phil Jimenez (penciler), John Stokes (inker), Albert DeGuzman (letterer), Adrienne Roy (colorist)

Summary:  Tim Drake is harassed by two punks while at the movies with Ariana.  In order to protect his secret identity, Tim allows the punks to embarrass him in front of his girlfriend.  That night, as Robin, he tries to make himself feel better while taking down hoods with Batman.  The next day, he runs into the punks again.  He easily defeats them when alone in an alley, but is later upset to learn the store belonging to Ariana’s family has been vandalized by gangsters seeking protection money.  Later, the heads of the Troika meet.  An assassin enters, declaring he will kill Batman and Robin.

Irrelevant Continuity:  

• I don’t believe this assassin appears in any future chapter of “Prodigal,” which means his identity is never revealed in this reprint collection.  I suspect he’s supposed to be an update of the KGBeast, or NKVDemon.
• Tim Drake’s future stepmother, Dana Winters, is introduced as his father’s physical therapist.

Review:  There’s no obvious reason for this story to be reprinted, aside from the “Prodigal” logo appearing on the cover.  The reprint collection has currently reached an awkward stage, now that Two-Face has been defeated but Bruce Wayne hasn’t returned yet.  Ideally, there should be more of a character arc for Dick Grayson to go through, but he really doesn’t have that much to deal with by this point.  That means this issue of Robin reads like almost any other issue from this era, except a different guy is playing Batman during his brief appearance in the issue.  And that’s not to say it’s a bad issue of Robin at all; in fact, I first read this as a random back issue years ago and have always enjoyed it.  Dixon captures a teenage boy’s fear of being embarrassed in front of his girlfriend remarkably well, and he manages to make Tim thoroughly likable throughout the ordeal.  Dixon always knew how to handle the teen superhero drama during this run, and I have to reiterate that it’s a shame DC doesn’t realize what a great Robin Tim Drake made during the ‘90s.  From the perspective of putting together a truly complete trade paperback, however, I have to say that Robin #0 should’ve taken this story’s place several chapters ago.

DETECTIVE COMICS #680 - December 1994

 

A Twice Told Tale

Credits:  Chuck Dixon (writer), Lee Weeks & Graham Nolan (pencilers), Joe Rubinstein (inker), John Costanza (letterer), Adrienne Roy (colorist)

Summary:  Batman deals with the crime wave that’s been fueled by Two-Face’s mass release of prisoners.  Gordon’s refusal to rely on Batman’s help continues to create a rift in his marriage.  Meanwhile, Robin consults Oracle and deduces that Two-Face is hiding out in the Hall of Records.  He leaves Batman a message and investigates.  When Batman arrives, Robin is already held captive with Harvey Kent, with both strapped underneath two thousand pounds of paper.  Batman commandeers a forklift and rescues both of them.  Confident in his abilities, he easily defeats Two-Face.

Irrelevant Continuity:  The opening narration of the issue claims once again (erroneously) that a computer glitch, a typo, is responsible for Two-Face’s release.

Total N00B:  Robin #0 is once again used as the crux of Batman’s insecurities regarding Two-Face, and I’ll point out again that there’s no footnote referencing it in the actual issue, nor is that story reprinted in this collection.

Review:  Six issues of build-up to a Two-Face fight probably wasn’t the best move, given that Two-Face isn’t that intimidating physically and the scheme he’s hatched this time never really comes together.  Two-Face using computers to cause chaos in the city is a decent idea, but the execution has been all over the place.  In this very issue, we’re told that computer glitches have caused dozens of cons to be released early from prison, while at the same time the prisons are being overcrowded.  Which is it, then?  If there are enough freed criminals to cause a crime wave, how could Two-Face also arrange for Blackgate to be overcrowded?  And how long would it really take the authorities to just forget the computers and manually figure out how many prisoners each facility can hold, especially if a large portion of them have already been released early?

Overlooking the villainous scheme, there’s also a problem with Batman’s big catharsis this issue.  Batman’s allegedly overcome his adolescent anxieties regarding Two-Face by deciding not to play by his rules, which apparently means stealing a forklift and just picking his hostages up out of harm’s way.  I understand the idea is that Dick’s learned from his mistakes in Robin #0, but as I recall the events of Robin #0, it’s not as if “grab a forklift and just ignore Two-Face” was really an option for young Dick in that story.  It’s taken Dick all of these years to finally realize that Two-Face is running a crooked game and that he shouldn’t fall for it?  This just doesn’t work.  As I’ve said earlier, the basic ideas behind this storyline aren’t bad at all, but the execution just feels mangled.