Written Taylor Bowne
Batman #8, the fourth part of the current Bat-verse crossover “Night of the Monster Men,” does a good job keeping things interesting and entertaining but doesn’t do as good a job with moving the plot along much.
The main conflict of this issues focuses on Batman and Batwoman’s battle against the newly mutated Nightwing and Gotham Girl.Tom King and Steven Orlando do a great of fleshing out a fight that could have been very generic with creative battle tactics from both Batman and Batwoman. Exposition is sprinkled throughout the battle but it doesn’t detract from the clever way the writers have Batman and company work their way out of a sticky situation using what little they have.
Artist Riley Rossmo really shines in these sequences and creates some very kinetic panels. He’s able to balance both actions and character moments all while sticking to a fairly simplistic panel layout. It’s a joy to see an artist that’s able to simultaneously draw your eye from panel to panel and reward you for not turning the page too quickly. I hope to see this guys work more in the future.
The highlight of the issues for me, and I won’t spoil it here, comes towards the end of the issue. All I’ll say is that it’s a Batman team up I never thought I’d see. It’s just another illustration of the creative mojo going on in this book. This team up would make for a great issue of The Brave and the Bold for sure (bring that book back, DC!).
Batman #8 doesn’t move the plot of this crossover along much and probably won’t change the mind of any crossover haters out there. However, where it succeeds is in the art department and it’s sharp insight into Batman and his crew and how they operate. They don’t break new ground but, like Batman, they work exceptionally well with what they’ve got.
Rating:8/10 rating
