Battle for the Cowl issue two has been released and I am at a crossroads in terms of how to write a brief review about it. I’ll cut to the chase. On a scale of 1 star (*) to 5 stars (*****) I have to give it ****1/2 because it truly is an excellent issue. However, if I were to review the things I like about it, I would have to reveal major components of the story that would ruin it for anyone that reads it. So, I won’t. I will say this: they strongly “name” the person that is the new (murderous) Batman. However, I am not yet convinced he is who everyone says he is. Sure, I could be wrong but we’ll probably find out all in due time.

I will take this opportunity to mention something. When I was a little kid, my three favorite superheroes were Spiderman, Batman, and The Incredible Hulk. These days, I still read Batman and Hulk stories, but my Spiderman reading is limited to Ultimate Spiderman. And, while there have been many, many phenomenal Batman and Hulk tales over the past two decades, I have to say that very little has come out of the Spiderman line of books that piques my interest. And, quite honestly, while I have every issue of Ultimate Spiderman, I rank it as a solid and very good book…but there has not been a great story to come out of it. (That’s not a knock on it. To me, great would be something along the lines of Batman Year One) The traditional Spiderman comics, however, have been completely dull, formula driven, and rarely worthy of note. Batman Comics, however, have delivered us a great many memorable and powerful storylines. What is unique here is that the characters continue to evolve in unique and interesting narratives. You would think they would run out of gas with the Batman storylines. Well, they aren’t and that is because they made many conscious decisions to create unique and interesting characters. Because of the depth and human emotion present in the Batman series, the characters can always be counted on to drive the action in their stories as opposed to reacting to it.

One of my favorite Batman story arcs is one that “doesn’t exist” anymore. It was wiped out of continuity after Crisis on Infinite Earths and it dealt with Batman’s 500th appearance in DC Comics. This was the storyline the debuted Jason Todd with his original origin as well as Gerry Conway’s brilliant original version of Killer Croc. (In today’s Batman books, Croc is a wasted throwaway villain. In his original appearances in the 1980’s he was devious, sadistic, and frightening) Yes, that is a completed forgotten storyline and was stunning. Sure, Batman has suffered from a number of “villain of the month” problems now and then. But, overall, I have to say that the vast majority of Batman storylines have been tops.