[[“value”:”Batman ’89: Echoes #4 cover, via DC Comics.
Batman ‘89 #4 – Sam Hamm, Writer; Joe Quinones, Artist; Leonardo Ito, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: This series has had massive delays, but each issue has been worth the wait. The main mystery, focusing on Bruce Wayne being deep undercover in Arkham Asylum to uncover a conspiracy involving the death of his friend Hugo Strange, has been fascinating as it introduces not one but two major Bat-villains to the ‘89 verse – Scarecrow and Harley Quinn. Both are much more fleshed-out as villains here than they usually are, having a strange relationship and links to some other villains. The Arkham setting is highly tense, with Bruce being more vulnerable than he usually is and other characters like Riddler and Blockbuster making cameos. It’s also great to see Drake Winston, the first Robin in this universe, come into his own as a hero in this breakout-themed issue. These books are very much paced like a movie, so it feels like we’re about to hit the epic final showdown – but there are a lot of villains to get through.
DC Vs. Vampires: World War V #2 cover, via DC Comics.
DC vs. Vampires: World War V #2 – Matthew Rosenberg, Tyler Boss, Writers; Otto Schmidt Miquel Muerto, Artists; Pierluigi Casolino, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: Last issue kicked off the second year of this bloody vampire war saga with a big twist – the new queen of the vampires, Barbara Gordon, was assassinated in her castle and a vampire civil war began. This ups the scales quite a bit, with Damian Wayne being blamed and the truce between the humans and the vampires being thrown into danger. Aquaman and Wonder Woman seem to have taken command of the vampires, but it’s far from clear if that’ll continue. There are some crazy twists this issue, including Alfred continuing his pattern of having unexpectedly big roles in post-apocalyptic AUs, but this issue’s best segment focused on a mysterious figure carrying a baby girl. This story plays out slowly through the issue, but when it hits and his identity is revealed, it indicates that the nature of vampires may not be as clear-cut as we thought.
The backup, by Tyler Boss, takes things in a bizarre direction as Bat-Mite arrives on this world and tries to figure out why everything is so grim. He quickly finds out that Batman is dead – and decides on a sudden rebrand. This story has a lot of hilarious little gags brought to life by Miquel Muerto’s cartoony art, and it was probably my favorite bit in this issue.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
“]] Enter darker worlds in Batman ’89: Echoes #4 and DC vs. Vampires: World War V #2. Read More