The Ultimate Mastermind

Nightwing (Volume 4) #18
Written by Time Seeley
Art by Javier Fernandez

Okay why did they have to show sweet little Robintron’s ripped off face – especially after I was starting to find him endearing? That was nasty. And it doesn’t look like this Deathwing is related to the ’90s Deathwing after all but maybe just a dollotron of Professor Pyg’s. That being said, the surprise villain behind the villain turns out to be Dr. Simon Hurt – the evil mastermind behind Batman R.I.P. I love that Seeley is willing to play with Morrison’s creations. Final Crisis was suppose to be the be-all, end-all of New Gods stories but DC keeps bringing them back but ignoring creations Morrison wanted to come back, this seems to be changing as Dr. Hurt was one of Morrison’s greatest villains in the Batman run. He is both the Devil, incredibly evil, brilliant. The ultimate mastermind for Batman. I can’t wait to see what Seeley does with him here.

The Return of Professor Pyg

Nightwing (Volume 4) #17
Written by Tim Seeley
Art by Javier Fernandez

Nightwing and Robin head to France to search for Nightwing’s missing girlfriend and have a fight with Deathwing and a Death-Robin. During the fight, Nightwing is hit with a sword and sees himself in other realities. It is unclear to me whether this is the ’90s Deathwing or someone different although one of those alternate realities showed the ’90s deathwing. It turns out the big bad behind this is none other Professor Pyg! I like how Seeley is building on Grant Morrison’s Batman run here including a reference to Simon Hurt and now Professor Pyg. Morrison always sets up these great concepts and then writer don’t follow up on them. I am glad Seeley is. This was a great issue of a great series.

Bruce is Back!

Batman and Robin #16
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Cameron Stewart and Frazer Irving

 

Bruce Wayne is back everyone! Damn this issue was pretty much perfection. I loved everything about it as Batman is the character that brought me to comics I was so happy to see the return of my hero it such an awesome way. My favorite part was probably Bruce punching the Joker just as Joker was seemingly accepting that he was gone for good. The only real problem with this issue was probably the fact that the two art styles are so different, but it didn’t bother me all that much. The final scene has Bruce announcing to the world that he has been funding Batman for years and now plans to take Batman Incorporated global! I’d say that is the biggest change to the Batman world in many many years and I can’t wait to see where Batman goes from here.

Bat-God

Batman and Robin #15
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frazer Irving

 

Unless I am wrong about who this Bat-God is, the final moments of this issue were downright awesome for any Batman fan! This was an intense issue from the moments between Joker and Damian to Simon Hurt revealed to being taken in by the Waynes – the pieces are all starting (but not quite) to fit together. As much as it has given me a headache sometimes, I have a good feeling that the mystery of Simon Hurt will in retrospect will be one of the all-time greats in comics. Kudos to Morrison and Irving for a fantastic issue.

Terrifying

Batman and Robin #14
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frazer Irving

 

Holy Shit does Irving draw a terrifying Joker. In fact, he draws a pretty terrifying Professor Pyg too. As a villain, Pyg is a great creation and I hope other writers will still use him after Morrison. Buy yes every scene is rather frightening in this as the villains are getting the upperhand. I love that the Joker is kind’ve on Batman and Robin’s side here – or at least kind of and I did not expect him to get Robin with the Joker toxin. This is by far the best this book has been yet and I am loving it.

Stumped

 

Batman and Robin #13
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frazer Irving

Ummmm hmmm I have no idea what the hell is going on with all of this. Simon Hurt is claiming to be Thomas Wayne back from the dead, Robin is beating the crap out of the Joker, apparently Pyg led by hurt has poisoned the entire city with his addictive virus thing and someone has shot down the Batmobile. Irving’s creepy art works for this story I guess but I would have preferred something different I guess. I don’t know how I feel about all this just yet.

The Defeat Of Professor Pyg

Batman and Robin #3
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frank Quitely

This issue concluded the first arc of this series. It was good. It wasn’t as good as the first issue but it was still good and creepy. Professor Pyg is a villain I hope lasts a long time. People tend to not use Morrison’s great characters after him, which is annoying, but I hope they do with this character because he is just creepy as all hell. I think I am going to have to go back and re-read this arc because some things really confused me here. Where did all this stuff about spreading germs and addictive viruses come from? I don’t remember that being part of it at all. And what is going on with the girl the Pyg tortured? Why is she killing those police officers? Quitely’s  art is fantastic to look at, but there were some parts where the storytelling was just off and I was confused. This will probably read better in trade.

Mr. Toad R.I.P?

Batman and Robin #2
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frank Quitely

It took me a while to get to review this because during my initial read I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I should and wanted to re-read it. I am happy to say that I must have been in a bad mood when I first read it because this issue was damn good. Sure it’s not as exciting as the first issue was, but it is still good. Quitely’s art while I always think it is overrated, it was definitely not as good as last issue. I just wasn’t in to the fight at the police station nor thought the facial expressions were as good as they could be. Story-wise I loved Dick’s conversation with Alfred and the Circus of Strange are really cool. I really hope Mr. Toad isn’t really dead cause I definitely enjoyed him. So ya this was a good issue but I think I just expected more, especially since next issue is the last issue of this arc.

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride

Batman and Robin #1
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frank Quitely

Wow! I can not believe how amazing this was. Morrison’s prior run on Batman left me less then enthused; but this was just fantastic! This is Morrison at his best. He brings in crazy silver age sound effects and a flying batmobile but at the same time keeping it in sync with modern DCU sensibilities and creating a rather scary group of villains all in one issue! I love Mr. Toad and Professor Pyg. The best thing about this issue has to be the fact that Morrison writes the new Batman as Dick. He could have easily had Dick in the costume but take on Bruce’s persona but instead he talks like Dick Grayson talks. That is some good writing. Sadly, I doubt Winick will be doing that over in the main Batman book but we will see. I actually like Damian instead of downright loathing him as usual. I can’t believe I am saying this but if these stories stay this good, I don’t even care if Bruce comes back as Batman!