Monday, August 17, 2009

Comic Review: Batman #689


Well here we are with Batman #689. What did I think? Do you care? Why was there a Batman: Arkham Asylum ad in my Spider-Man comic? All of these questions (not actually all of them) and more will be answered in my review.

Our story opens with Batman's raid on Penguin's 522 Club. It's a place for the who's who of the Gotham Underworld to party like they do in Vegas. Dick feels the need to narrate to himself everything that he does differently than Bruce during this sequence, which I wasn't too keen on. Still, I like seeing the different approach that Dick takes and what he get's out of it. I just hope it doesn't continue to be hammered into us as seems to be the trend with the recent flood of Batman titles.

We jump to Two-Face for a bit and see that he is still thrilled about the "new" Batman. He obviously has something planned, and am sure that it leads to the confrontation that was seen in the previous issue. While we don't really get any light shed on this, we do see that he still plans on screwing with Penguin's own plans. Back at the "Batcave" we see some pleasant conversation between Dick and Alfred. Things are getting better for the two as Alfred is somewhat eased knowing that Dick is at times, enjoying the business. Something "Master Bruce" couldn't seem to do very often.

Penguin on the other hand is not enjoying his work at the moment. Due to Two-Face's works, Batman is closing in on him. But we see that as any worthy villain, he has a plan of his own. All thanks to the mysterious masked figure. Who is this new threat? I'm sure we will find out soon enough, but we do know that his "provisions" will cause our Caped Crusader some major headaches.


We cut back to Batmobile in the city. It seems that Dick is running some tests with the vehicle when he comes across a large fire. He uses a foam projectile to put out the fire (very similar to the gun he used in Streets of Gotham.) But this is the least of his worries as a very familiar face shows up to be the cause of this mayhem. Interesting indeed.

Overall, the story didn't have anything major happening, but it was a solid, enjoyable read this month. Sometimes, that's all you need. The art was well done, though a bit too"'cartoony" at times, but Bagley still managed to capture a good balance of the action and story portions. I also, wanted to at least see some mention of how Dick came to be beaten in the Batcave. As I mentioned though, it will most likely be answered soon enough and may just flow better overall when you read the issues in succession.

Final Score: 8/10

-Amputechture

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