This is one of the books that got swept up in DC relaunch.  It only began a few months ago and already it gets a reboot.  I guess they had to restart everything, even those that just began.

Finch is a very popular artist, so DC gave him his own Batman book to play with.  He isn’t tied to continuity so much as other Batman books.  In the past he has mostly told stories that he wants to draw, and since most people are buying his book for the art, that makes sense.

In the previous Dark Knight book, he did the writing alone.  At San Diego Comic Con he stated that he found it difficult to write new stories by himself, so he now has a co-writer.  And, I think this has benefited the book greatly.  The story runs smoothly, and the dialogue is much more natural.  The story involves a break out from Arkham.  That has been done before, and even has been done in another DC book this month.  But it lets Finch draw lots of crazy villains, and that  is a good thing.

The most distracting part of the story is his art.  Sometimes I stop and stare, and before I start the next panel I’ve forgotten what was going on.  For years he has done outstanding work and only recently has been recognized for his great talent.  I think he has actually gotten better.  Picking out outstanding work would be hard as most artist would be ecstatic to draw even his worst page.  But there is one panel of policeman in a transparent helmet.  The detail of the man’s face and clothes all shown through a sem-transparent, semi-reflective helmet.  Many artists would scrimp on such an unimport scene, Finch did not.

A-    Don

If you were following this title before the relaunch, not much has changed, save for the addition of Paul Jenkins as co-writer. Jenkins’s work is always solid, but the primary draw of the book has always been Finch’s art. Hopefully a co-writer will help him to avoid the common trap of writer/artists avoiding scenes that might be difficult to draw (not that Finch has been guilty of this) in favor of something easier that might not work as well.

The art is indeed worth it, and the story is pretty average for a Batman book. Arkham has been busted open (again), Bruce meets another beautiful woman (again), and there is a new(ish – I’m reminded of that brief fling the Riddler had with the venom drug) development with a villain. You can tell if this is a book you want just from looking at it, and if you do, the writing inside won’t detract from it at all. If you’re looking for the most compelling plots, there are other Bat-books ahead of this, but this is just the beginning of a storyline so anything could happen.

B  — Ed