Batman

Pictured: A thing that does not happen until the next issue.

Bluebird attacks, Hatter's back on the rack, Batman gives a smack, and Steph fades to black in this forty-second (don't panic) issue of DC's weekly Batman hootenanny. We discover that Mrs. Brown has awful taste in decor, vigilante action is harder than it looks, Batman's had enough of his rogues piling on, and Tim's pity party isn't bullet proof. Bluebird's action debut is a comedy of errors... or is it action of errors? Whatever it was, it was still very awesome. Who can keep track of all those pouches? Not me.

Hey, Tim... Tim... uh, you got a little something on your face...

A bird of blue debuts, nanomachines imbue, the Bat-Family looks screwed, and Steph gets out-kung-fu'd in this forty-first entry in DC's ongoing weekly Batman parade. We finally see what that final push that makes Harper Batman's newest partner is. We get the inclusion of yet another Batman rogue (who I should have seen coming), the comradarie and contentions both between Tim Drake, Barbara Gordon, and Jason Todd, and Harper's fateful decision. What we don't see, however, is Batman! Eh, it's all right, we've seen a lot of him lately.

Batman plays in the snow, Selina's car blows (up), there's something Warren knows, and Corrigan makes Maxie glow in this fortieth issue of DC's weekly Batman series. Even though the direction the story has taken is a major improvement, I still can't help feeling the writers are dragging their feet here and there to fill in 52 weeks of content. They really could have combined most of what happened from this issue and the last one into one issue that was just a couple of pages longer, if at that. But this could just me being impatient while waiting for the big reveal of who's behind it all (Lincoln March).

"Ever since they opened up that second Applebee's, it's been absolute bedlam."

Subtle.

There's a fight in a pit, Bane gets bit, and the artwork is awful shit in this thirty-eighth issue of DC's weekly Batman (dis)appointment. Batman takes on several of his rogues gallery at the Willowwood Home for Future Villains, Croc gets vengeance for a previous slight, we see that Jim Gordon and The Lion still exist, and I die a little inside reading this once great series now completely in the shitter because of the meandering plot and horrendous artwork.

Selina needs new drapes, Batman hunts down the escaped, and the story loses shape in this thirty-seventh installment of DC's weekly Batman jamboree. Batman's just now getting to tracking down the Arkham inmates that remain at large after the asylum collapsed. I guess you can only look at Hush in that big fish bowl for so long before getting bored. Meanwhile, Selina is living the high life of criminal kingpin, Jason Bard is too little too late, and Batwing's armor is haunted (yawn). It's all very impressively unimpressive.

Dripping with blood, Bard's relationship's a dud, and his plans landed with a thud, even though Batman's name's still mud. All this and more in the thirty-sixth issue of DC's weekly Batman series. It's gratifying, satisfying, illuminating, and aggravating! Harper and Cullen! Red Robin! Red Hood! Babs' new threads! And speaking of threads, what super villain burns at both ends, and counts Joker, Two-Face, and Scarecrow amongst friends? It's our hipster-fashioned Sphinx as crafty as any lynx, Edward Nygma!

"It doesn't make sense... why aren't we getting more coverage? Look at how sexy we are!"

Jason Bard becomes a destroyer, Lucius Fox has a new employer, the Batmobile plows through a foyer, and Bruce Wayne could use a good lawyer in this thirty-fifth episode of DC's weekly Batman serial. Things are crashing down badly for the Caped Crusader, who, despite help from Julia, is having a hard time keeping his head above water. Hush might be defeated, but his Bard is worse than his blight. They do a little Batman Returns retread and the Batmobile is remote controlled for chaos leaving Batman going fast and furious into oblivion.

"That's not true! Red Robin is doing just fine! Er, well, no, he's in a crappy Teen Titans book. Good point, Bard."