Batman #388

"The Round-Trip Looking Glass"
writer: Doug Moench
pencils/inks: Tom Mandrake
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Len Wein

Grade: D+

It was an odd choice to have Batman fight Mirror Master and Captain Boomerang this issue, both of whom explain that they are moving on from Capital City and trying out Gotham as a new stomping ground. Since Wein provides no explanation as to why they are leaving Capital City, I'm assuming this is not the fall-out from a Flash storyline. It seems more likely that DC is trying to find a new home for Flash's classic rogues since he's going to die in Crisis on Infinite Earths next month. Perhaps they hadn't decided that Wally West would replace him yet? Anyway, it's an odd decision to have based this issue on the events of the Crisis since, once again, it fails to acknowledge Batman's involvement in the Crisis. He fights the Flash's villains and briefly mentions The Flash while discussing these villains with Robin, and yet he still never brings up how haunted he was by a dying Barry Allen appearing before him and warning of the end of the world. While this vision was at the forefront of his mind in Crisis, it simply doesn't register here. Bad continuity in my book, especially in light of the fact that the Crisis ends up being all about tightening continuity.

So, I suppose I should discuss the merits of the issue itself. This is essentially a silly story for Flash fans (I assume). I know nothing about Captain Boomerang or Mirror Master and didn't find that their brief origins (provided by Batman's crime computer) nor their roles in this story made me like them any better. They were presented as ridiculous villains in a ridiculous story designed to amuse without taking itself even remotely seriously. I began by noting all the lapses in logic occurring throughout the issue, but by the time Captain Boomerang quickly and spontaneously cut a piece of Mirror Master's glass into a special glass boomerang complete with remote control and two way audio communications system (man, he sure is the master of impromptu micro-technology assembly!) I realized that it was a moot battle, and I should probably just sit back and enjoy it. So, rather than being bothered by Captain Boomerang traveling around town by holding onto a flying magnetic boomerang, I just tried to find it amusing.

The problem is that the issue wasn't all that amusing. I thought about chuckling once when Bullock commented to Robin:

"That's the good thing about real police work--it's never like the movies, and sometimes it's actually easier."

when (and I can't seem to find the issue where it happened) I'm positive he recently said something to this effect:

That's the good thing about real police work--sometimes it's just like the movies."

Really wish I could find this quote! I just checked the past five issues and had no luck. For some reason, I was sure it was in the last Detective issue, but I just don't see it there.


Anyway, there's really nothing else clever, amusing, nor entertaining about this story. I wonder if it would come off differently to fans of The Flash. Last time Captain Boomerang appeared in Batman (#321, written by Wein), Wein made him sympathetic and really compelled me to like the guy. Moench takes it in a different direction, but it just didn't work for me.

Mandrake is beginning to lose me on the art. He draws well, but sometimes the faces just look completely wrong to me -- awkward, even. Take Jason's face on the bottom of page 9, or Julia's face all throughout page 13. They just look weird, and I'm not sure Mandrake adds enough power to the rest of the issue to make it an even trade-off. Somehow, I enjoyed his work a lot better last issue. Maybe he just isn't as comfortable penciling a more lighthearted story. He seemed to suit the darkness of the Black Mask saga much better.

The plot (do you really want it?) in one ridiculously long sentence: Captain Boomerang and Mirror Master decide to start committing crimes in Gotham at the exact same time and beginning with the exact same job, Batman tries to stop them and fails (this really surprised me), they get into a fight and decide to work against each other, Bruce shows their origin stories to Jason, Black Mask's remaining henchmen ask Mirror Master to be their boss (this made sense on so few levels if you really stop to think about it), Bruce invites Julia over and thinks about Vicki as Julia drones on about wanting to write a book about Black Mask, Bruce is called away and refers to what he left as a "soap opera scene" (seriously, does Moench just hate women, or what?), Batman inexplicably decides to call Gordon ahead of answering the Bat Signal and can't get through, he randomly runs into Bullock (what a coincidence) who is headed to a different crime, so Batman goes to stop Boomerang while Robin and Bullock go to stop Mirror Master, they end up at the same crime (again, though this is not presented as being silly or funny at all), they both get away, and Boomerang ends up hypnotizing Mirror Master with his own hypnotizing glass.

Man, do I really have to read the second part of this?

Batman #389

"Red Skies"
writer: Doug Moench
pencils/inks: Tom Mandrake
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Len Wein

Grade: B


I've been looking forward to this issue for a while now. Judging from the covers of the issues that follow, this is the beginning of Nocturna's final story arc, and possibly the beginning of Moench's final major story arc before the reboot takes effect.

Unfortunately, this issue didn't meet expectations. It's certainly a million times better than the Captain Boomerang/Mirror Master storyline it follows, but I had major issues with just about every page of the first half of this story. So much was wrong.

It got better toward the end and, in many ways, redeemed itself. I still think this can end up being a good storyline, but this was a mixed issue, at best:


The Good:

1. I'm impressed with how meaningfully Moench allows the red skies from Crisis to affect this issue. It disturbs, and seems to pervade the core of, nearly every major character.

2. Once again, Moench has managed to develop and enrich the complex relationship between Jason and Nocturna. At the end of the issue, each clearly needs the other more than he/she ever did before, and I fully understand why. This has the potential to make for a great storyline.


The Bad:

1. Mandrake's art completely goes down the tube in this issue. Clearly, he has the ability to draw these characters exceptionally well (just look at the cover and page 11), but the rest of the issue is TERRIBLE. Nocturna and Catwoman, in particular, look amazing on the cover, but have never ever looked more horrendous throughout the issue. Catwoman on page 2 and Nocturna on page 7 are truly drawn to be so ugly that it was nearly impossible to focus on the story.

2. When Gordon explains that, "Public sentiment is turning against Goetz," I have absolutely no idea what he means. Is this a person, a reference/figure of speach, etc? I have absolutely no idea, and it's the line that sets up the entire action of the story.

3. Why is Julia back working for Vicki? She clearly moved up in the world, getting her articles published as front pages in actual newspapers, so why would she still be working at a photo-reporting magazine run by a woman who hates her and sometimes opts not to speak to her?

4. Page 4, Bullock spills ketchup all over himself and Gordon. Seriously, is the clumsiness an act or not? If so, who is he trying to convince--the guy who owns the diner?

5. On page 7, Nocturna effortlessly disarms a thug with a knife with a precise high kick to his wrist. Since when is she trained for physical combat, and how does she manage that kick in an evening gown, anyway?

6. Batman drags Catwoman back to his cave just to show her a stalagmite that looks like a cat and use it as a symbol for how they belong together...and then tells her it will never happen. I know he's conflicted about her, but this is ridiculous.

7. While taking her to the cave, Batman insists that Catwoman be blindfolded. How quickly we forget that she suddenly and randomly revealed that she knew he was Bruce Wayne way back in Detective #521. Apparently we're now ignoring this. If only we could ignore the rest of the damage Conway did to Catwoman in that issue and restore her to Wein's vision of a confident, independent, and capable vigilante -- though maybe I'm speaking too soon. After all, Moench did give us this promising exchange in the issue:

Batman: But for Gordon's sake, I'm still asking you to stop this "vigilante"--

Catwoman: Are you saying what you do is wrong, Batman?

Batman: No, but--

Catwoman: Then you're saying I'm not good enough to do what you do?

Batman: No, I'm just--

Catwoman: Then you're saying nothing worth listening to. Thanks again for the parachute--but not the stalagmite.


Maybe Wein's Catwoman is coming back...


8. It felt really good, a few issues back in Detective #553, when Gordon and Bullock knocked the new Mayor down a peg or two. They made it abundantly clear that the ball was in their court, and they knew it. Now, suddenly, the mayor has all the power, and they fear his wrath. Wait...when did this reversal happen? Bullock correctly states "Shades of Rupert Thorne an' Hamilton Hill, huh, Commish?" and even though Gordon tries to explain how it's different, it's not. We're getting the same damn plot for the third time, and I'm sick of it. Both of those previous victories were hard earned, and it seems wrong to revoke them for the sake of needing to provide more story.

9. How many pages did we really need about the worried wife of the security guard Nocturna enchanted? Unless Moench is planning on making him a key part of the storyline, this was a waste of my time.

10. Oh no. Robin and Bullock randomly arrive at Nocturna's hideout at the EXACT same time in order to get teamed up by Moench yet again. Amazing that neither felt the need to alert Batman or Gordon.

11. Why had Catwoman taken it upon herself to track down the remainder of Black Mask's gang? What is her motivation in wanting to be a vigilante, and how is she paying her bills if not resorting to a life of crime again? Moench doesn't seem interested in answering these questions and just seems to be using her as another love conflict for Bruce.

12. Anton Knight is back. It's not the issue of how Moench handled him; he's just a terrible, terrible character. I truly hope he can be heavily revised or at least take on a more significant meaning for Nocturna in this final storyline for the two of them.


The plot in one ridiculously long sentence: Catwoman is back in town and trying to track down the remainder of Black Mask's gang, but someone else is killing them and leaving her with the blame, the acting mayor is blaming everything on Gordon (once again), Nocturna returns to her observatory and takes down the Savage Skull gang residing there (are they intentionally referencing Moench's forgettable villain from the beginning of his run, or is Moench merely nodding to himself?), Jason is feeling the absence of a mother to the extent that he's calling that troublesome social worker just to have a motherly figure to talk to, Bruce tries to make up with Vicki and fails while she continues to push her eerie new addiction to working out, Nocturna charms a security guard who went to check out her observatory, and we spend far too long with Bullock interviewing the guard's wife, Batman brings Catwoman to the Batcave just to tell her he loves her and doesn't want her, Bullock and Jason both figure out Nocturna's at the observatory at the same time and run into each other there, and Jason and Nocturna end up sitting on the roof, holding each other and watching the red sky while Jason addresses her as "mom."

All in all, I like where this story went, but I had a lot of trouble with the steps it took along the way.

Batman #390


"Women, Dark and Dangerous"
writer: Doug Moench
art: Tom Mandrake
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Len Wein

Grade: A-

...And it all changes.

Last issue was a climactic moment, as Batman and Nocturna found each other even as they were losing their very world. Only seven bi-weekly stories left before Crisis on Infinite Earths ended, taking the entire universe with it, and the despair and sense of hopelessness in these titles was so rich you could cut it with a batarang.

And yet, as soon as Batman and Nocturna finish their kiss at the beginning of this issue, it's back to work as usual. Nocturna needs to get back to trying to figure out how to fix the sky (last issue, she'd already given up and was just watching/moping), and Batman's all concerned with justice and pining over his romances again. The red skies, though still present and joined by hail and earthquakes, no longer seem to matter. Even the dramatic cover, in which Nocturna appears to be dead, ends up being misleading, and I'm convinced this was less an intended misdirection and more a change of plans.

You see, I think there's an explanation for this abrupt shift. It seems to me that this must have been the point when DC had a certain conversation with Moench that probably went something like this:


DC: Uh, Doug...?

Moench: Yeah.

DC: So...like...you know how you've been carefully plotting this storyline where we watch Gotham slowly tear itself apart, climaxing with the multiverse's destruction three months from now, and only to be followed by a rebooted universe?

Moench: Yeah.

DC: Yeah, so...ummm...we're kinda behind schedule.

Moench: Yeah?

DC: We're gonna need you to stay on the title and drag things out for a teency bit longer

Moench: Yeah?

DC: Maybe seven months....eleven tops.

Moench: Oh.

DC: Don't worry. It's only an additional 14 to 22 bi-weekly stories before the universe ends.

Moench: .....


And there's the best explanation I can come up with for this issue, in which the red skies are still there (they've been there for the past half dozen issues!), but the threat is less pronounced. Characters are suddenly moving on with their lives and no longer waiting for the end. And someone else who roughly resembles Nocturna nearly "dies" instead of allowing her to reach her intended climax.

It would be impossible for this issue not to be a let down in those respects, but it still works as far as Moench's soap opera stories go. We get a sort of climax in that respect, instead. Batman finally and truly lets go of Vicki Vale (YES!), Julia seems to let go of Batman (YES!), Nocturna finally clues Batman in on his bad-girl complex (ABOUT TIME!), and Batman's down to only caring about Catwoman and Nocturna now (YES!YES!YES! They're the ONLY interesting ones!).

Mandrake is doing a better job on this issue, though it still isn't Newton or Colan level. A few times, he makes it very difficult to follow the proper reading order of a page, and that annoyed me. Otherwise, pretty good stuff.

I still don't understand why, months later, The False Face Society is still remembering Black Mask's reign like some sort of golden age for them. He was never a crime boss, just a flipped out ex-CEO offering money in exchange for criminal deeds. At no point was it suggested that he did anything to organize them or build up a criminal empire of any kind. This still bothers me.

Bullock seems to add a little more clarity to his double life in this issue, explaining to Robin, "Maybe (a klutz is) the way I really am--and I'm just more careful at home where it's quiet--until jokers like you bang on my door." He goes on to explain that he can't help presenting himself differently to outsiders--it isn't a choice. I can understand this a lot better than what Moench had previously offered. He's still a clumsy oaf, but he takes himself seriously at home and struggles to respect himself in the company of others. I like that.

Okay, if Nocturna is a wanted criminal, how does no one notice her enormous hot air balloon (with the trademark moon and stars on it) tied up to the roof of the secret meeting place of the False Face Society, nor notice its regular trips back to the observatory (Nocturna's secret hiding place)? Granted, Batman and Robin are looking the other way, but it took Catwoman forever to notice it, and where are the police?

I really enjoyed Catwoman's role in this issue. Though hurt by Batman's recent rejection, she is independent and over it. Her motives in this issue are the most practical and reasonable of anyone's in the story. She is wanted for murders committed by Nightslayer to get back at Nocturna so, by capturing Nocturna (who is a criminal anyway), Catwoman will stop the murders and also be able to clear her name. It's quite ironic that Batman and Robin end up protecting Nocturna out of self interest against allowing Catwoman to do what's right, and you can sense her frustration and their guilty silence as she attempts to fulfill her mission. It makes what happens next even more potent. I guess it's time for the plot summary...

The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: After a long kiss, Nocturna still wants to go back to stealing and Batman still can't accept that, so Nocturna lectures him about his bad girl complex ("you love me because I'm dark and dangerous...yet if I do something dark and dangerous, you can't love me), Nightslayer is still killing members of the False Face Society, Batman witnesses Vicki falling in love with her personal trainer and doesn't mind, Bullock and Robin get another unnecessary heart-to-heart, Julia gives up on Bruce ever falling in love with her, Catwoman tracks Nocturna back to the observatory and tries to bring her in, but Batman and Robin try to stop her, a battle ensues, and lightening strikes the telescope just as Catwoman is standing on it, seemingly killing her, leaving Batman to flee with her body,realizing how he feels for her, as well as the predicament he put her in.

That ending is quite evocative. Even though I'm not sure how I feel about this revision of a revised revision of Catwoman, I like the realization it brought to Bruce:


Why did he not realize how much he cared for Catwoman, for Selina Kyle? How could he forget her so quickly?

Is it because...she changed?

Because she was no longer dark and dangerous?

Because, God help him...she reformed?

Because she actually did what he has tried to convince Nocturna to do?



Granted, the truth is that he stopped loving her because Conway turned her into a crazy stalker chick and Moench kept that characterization long enough for it to disgust Bruce, but in typical fashion, it seems we're now pretending that Catwoman was always characterized the way she's being characterized now. Maybe Superboy Prime punched some inter-dimensional cave walls or something. Still, this was powerful in terms of what it showed Bruce about himself and his stupid romantic engagements. At least Moench is finally taking all this romantic intrigue somewhere worthwhile.

Batman #391


(Untitled)
writer: Doug Moench
art: Tom Mandrake
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Len Wein

grade: B+

The conclusion to the final Nocturna storyline; it was great at moments and fell short at others.

For one thing, Mandrake's art was phenomenal in this issue...truly incredible work (particularly on pages 9, 17, and 20)...until it wasn't. Pages 12 and 13 looked completely phoned-in in contrast, and key moments, like Anton stabbing Natalia, or Jason sending Natalia away in the balloon (perhaps forever), just weren't as strong as they should have been.

Plot-wise, this issue was positively loaded with action, and yet this conclusion lacked a sincere conclusion. Is Anton dead or just knocked out, how did Catwoman survive in contrast when she literally just stumbled out of a hospital that same day after coming out of a coma after surviving being struck by lightening, and (most importantly) what happened to Nocturna?

You see, this was supposed to be Nocturna's big exit. We get a moment in which Robin sends a severely injured, critically bleeding, and unconscious Nocturna off in her balloon in order to escape Anton (who they cannot stop), but the moment isn't particularly poignant, and I still don't understand why Jason wouldn't have gone with her. It's not like she's going to wake up on her own and steer herself to a hospital. But finally, we see the balloon she'd just been sent off in, ripped into shreds, with the basket still traveling chaotically through air currents, and Selina proclaims "I'm sorry for you, Batman....so sorry...for both of you..."

This is a lousy conclusion. It sure seems like this would mean the end of Nocturna, but it's left so ambiguous. In the comic book world, a character could come back from this. So we're neither left with a convincing death that makes us feel sadness nor any suggestion that we should be filled with hope for her return. In fact, Bruce is still swearing that he's over her and loves Catwoman (who seemingly died AGAIN in this issue, leaving him to mourn over her again before coming back), so we don't even know how Bruce feels about this. This is a completely emotionally ambivalent ending. Nocturna's final exit ends up ranking as one of her least touching stories. What a waste. Maybe a better penciling job could have made the emotional undertones a lot more clear. As it stands, the end of this issue falters after a mostly amazingly powerful 21 pages leading up to it.

This is how the story of Nocturna ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper.


Not much else to say about this issue other than the fact that a character's ability or inability to survive traumas in this issue seems entirely arbitrary. Selina survives being struck by lightening and returns to perfect health almost immediately, Robin survives hitting the back of his head hard on jagged rock without even fully losing consciousness (and Nightslayer decides not to kill him for some reason, even though he promised to only a few panels earlier and took unnecessary pains to kill everyone else he confronted over the past few issues), Nocturna survives three direct stabs to her left breast, Batman survives a stab to the gut with only minimal blood loss, falls off a cliff, and then swims across white water, still in perfect health, and Selina survives the same plummet, yet Nightslayer gets hit in the head by the giant telescope, takes the same fall, survives long enough to make the same swim to shore, and then either passes out or dies. It all feels a little arbitrary.

The plot in one ridiculously long sentence: Nightslayer attacks Robin and then inexplicably leaves him alive, Selina tries to convince Batman that he still loves Nocturna (delivering the exact same kind of lines Nocturna fed him last issue...I swear Moench writes them as the same woman), Robin alerts Batman that Nightslayer is at the observatory, Robin smashes a store window to get a hang glider, rationalizaing that the end of the world makes looting okay (you've gotta love how overlooked this section of the story is!), Selina knocks out a couple of orderlies and leaves the hospital, Nightslayer comes for Nocturna, she allows herself to be stabbed but doesn't die, Robin takes a desperate hang glide across the cliff to get to Nocturna and takes on Nightslayer, Nocturna decides that she can't allow Robin to be hurt and so chooses to live, she does an impressive job of taking on Nightslayer, Batman intervenes to save her and gets stabbed, Robin sends a comatose Nocturna off in her balloon in order to escape, Catwoman arrives and takes on Nightslayer, lightening destroys the observatory around them, Robin manages to make the telescope come down on Nightslayer, he falls off the cliff but takes Catwoman with him, Batman and Robin fall off the cliff and swim to shore, they find Nightslayer and Catwoman unconscious or dead, Batman is stricken by grief, Catwoman wakes up and is okay, they see Nocturna's balloon ripped to shreds, and Catwoman comforts Batman.

Really, it was a great story up until that disappointing ending. From a plot perspective, it did everything right, but the art and writing just didn't connect at the end -- it wasn't a concrete ending for Nocturna, neither clearly presenting her as dead nor clearly intending to leave a lingering doubt.

Added to the "highlights" section in the first post of this thread:

Batman #389-391 and Detective Comics #556-557: The final Nocturna storyline. Powerful art, action, and tone, as the Red Skies from Crisis on Infinite Earths pervade a sense of the world ending in each character's soul, bringing hidden fear and desires to the surface throughout this intense storyline.

Pausing to reflect / look ahead


It's funny. I look at the remaining issues in Moench's run as a sort of lame duck session -- the run out the clock stories that Moench penned while waiting to lose control of the Bat Office. Maybe that wasn't the mindset at all, and he believed he'd be sticking around, and I have to remind myself that 15 issues is a substantial/meaningful run for most writers, hardly just leftovers. Plus it looks like there's a major four(?) part Two Face storyline coming up later, but so many of these covers (no matter how impressive) suggest relatively unimpressive plot lines. Each of the covers is so vague as to what it's promising -- they actually look like the products of good artists trying to conceal weak stories.

I certainly hope I'm wrong. Admittedly, I'm kind of psyched to see film freak, and while I feel Two Face has been done to death, I don't think Moench has let me down on any of his major story arcs yet.

So I could use some encouragement here. Tell me something good is coming in this run. Make me want to read on!