Batman #691 Review

I have been a big critic of Judd Winnick’s work over the past few years but I have to admit I have been enjoying his first arc back on Batman. This issue finishes up the Two-Face story arc. The last time Dick Grayson fought Two-Face was in the last arc of Nightwing. I should be interesting to see how Dick gets himself out of the situation he found himself in the last issue. Let’s hit this review for Batman #691.

Creative Team
Writer: Judd Winnick
Artist: Mark Bagley
Inker: Rob Hunter
Colorist: Pete Pantazis

Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: The issue begins with Batman get the hell beat out of him by Two-Face, who is wearing a red and black Batman costume. Two-Face yells at Batman who he thinks he is since the real Batman is dead. Batman then figures out that he has been drugged and is hallucinating Two-Face wearing a Batman costume. We then see Two-Face in his regular appearance wearing a pair of Batman gloves.

Nola asks Two-Face if he still needs her. Two-Face tells her just to stay out of the way and again asks Batman who he is. He says he is Batman which only angers Two-Face. Two-Face kicks and starts choking Batman saying who he thinks he is fooling with the costume because he knows Batman.

We are taken through a few flashbacks of Two-Face looking at footage of the current Batman saying the one thing that the one thing set him off to this being a new Batman is that he was smiling in the footage. Batman says that he has changed. Two-Face does not believe him saying that Batman does not change, at least not until recently.

He then talks about how he has finally been able to enter the Batcave. He talks about how he spent years trying to use various teleporters to enter the Batcave to no successes because Batman always had some sort of defense blocking any way of entering the Batcave. He then again yells that the new Batman left it open for him to finally get into the Batcave and, yet again, yells that he is not the real Batman.

Batman yells at Two-Face “I am Batman. And as always…I will beat you.”

Out of nowhere Batman is shot in the ribs. Two-Face turns around to see who is responsible for shooting Batman and sees an unconscious Nola being held by another Batman with a gun in his hand. Two-Face again turns around to see that the Batman that was next to him has disappeared. The other Batman disappears as well leaving Nola on the ground.

All of a sudden Batman’s voice starts coming out of some speakers. Batman says he will not tolerate someone breaking into his house. He continues to say that Two-Face should know that there is no place where he is stronger than in the Batcave and Two-Face is trapped with him. The big coin (Abe) falls down next to Two-Face and Batman punches and then kicks Two-Face, sending him flying.

Batman grabs Two-Face by the collar saying that unlike the confused personality Two-Face has that he, Batman, can change and he is still Batman.

Two-Face becomes unconscious. With both Two-Face and Nola out cold Alfred reveals himself to be the second Batman, using one of the cowls in the Batcave to fool Two-Face. Dick thanks Alfred for pumping him full of adrenaline to counter the tranquilizers Two-Face shot him with. Dick than says they have been lucky on too many fronts and they can’t rely on luck to get them out of every situation.

The scene shifts to a few hours later in an armored police truck that is taking Two-Face back to Arkham Asylum. The two cops driving the truck talk about talking about all the crazy people in Gotham and about Two-Face’s situation. Suddenly a light shines on them and a bunch of criminals start shooting at the truck and throw a grenade to blow it up.

The blast breaks Two-Face free and as Two-Face makes it outside Black Mask confronts him saying that he has two choices: 1)Join Black Mask’s crew or; 2) Leave Gotham. Two-Face decides to leave Gotham which disappoints Black Mask.

Back in the Batcave Dick and Alfred start taking out everything in the Batcave in order to turn the Batcave back into just a regular cave, like Bruce originally found it as. The two of them finish up taking out everything except Bruce’s Batsuit and Jason’s Robin suit that are in cases next to one another. Alfred leaves Dick to take care of putting the two suits away alone.

As Dick starts to take out the case with Jason’s Robin suit he notices the bottom is hollow. He gets some welding equipment to open up the bottom part of the case. He looks inside and finds a USB inside. He goes over to one of the old Batcars to see what the USB has inside. To his shock he sees that it contains secret files about his parents’ murder. End of issue.

Commentary
The Good: Batman #691 was a good ending to the first arc on this title with Dick in the role of Batman. Though this was nowhere near being a perfect arc Judd Winnick impressed me by turning in a solid story of Dick Grayson’s transformation into becoming the new Batman.

This issue was, for the most part, a very well written issue that involves Dick’s first adventure as Batman to be against Two-Face. What I liked about this arc is that we can see a good arc of Dick’s character as he starts getting accustomed to his new role as Batman. Even though we have seen Dick as Batman in other titles for the past few months this is the first chronicled adventure of Dick as Batman. Unlike in the other Batman titles were Dick has already become, mostly, accustomed to being Batman here we see how he has had to transitions from his former roles into being Gotham’s new protector.

Dick has spent almost his whole life as Robin and Nightwing, were he was able to be light hearted and banter with his opponents. In many ways Dick was DC’s version of Spider-Man. But now with him taking up the mantle of Batman we see how he has had to slowly change the ways he did things in the past and adopt more of Bruce’s way of doing things. This is not to say that Dick has become a second Bruce but we see that in this issue, as well as the last issue, he has toned down the amount of banter and be a much more aggressive fighter than he was in the past.

The flashback to Two-Face watching the footage of Dick as Batman smiling while taking out a gang does a nice job paralleling the changes Dick has gone through. Unlike the second issue of this arc we see Dick be much more serious and use more of the aggression Bruce used when he was Batman against Two-Face to convince him he is Batman. It should be interesting how many of Bruce’s ways of doing things that Dick adopts now that he is Batman as we have seen him slowly changing the way he fights criminals in this title, as well as in Batman and Robin and in Streets of Gotham.

Also I like the whole father-son relationship Dick and Alfred continue to show. Winnick does a nice job exploring this and showing the reader that these two have as close of a relationship that Bruce and Alfred had before Bruce’s death.

I like that the two of them come to the conclusion that they should take out everything from the Batcave and turn it back into just another cave like Bruce found it. It shows just how well the two of them understand Bruce. Even though Bruce has kept various trophies of his exploits as Batman the Bruce did not mean the Batcave to be a museum and it would probably have been his decision as well to take everything out than leave it as a museum.

While the fight with Two-Face did not match the same level that we got in the final arc on Nightwing last year I did like how it is Two-Face as the first villain to question the Batman in front of him not being the real one. After the Joker Two-Face has the deepest history with Batman and he would be the one to point out the differences between the new and old one.

The ending with Dick discovering that Bruce keep a secret file from his parents’ murder case was a good hook ending. It should be interesting to find out what secrets Bruce was keeping from Dick and the murder of his parents.

As always Mark Bagley provides some solid artwork. Bagley’s artwork throughout the issue is very consistent and keeps the story moving in a steady pace. And he shows a great range we having characters display different emotions without making it feel forced.

The Bad: With all that said there are quite a few problems that face this issue that keeps it away from being great. The first thing is that I can see how some people might not enjoy this story as it is more of a straight forward Batman story. There really isn’t much to this arc and is more for casual fans and not for those expecting a deep story.

One of the things I did not like about this issue, and story arc, was some of the characterization of Two-Face. The last time Dick faced off against Two-Face it was shown that Two-Face knew that Nightwing was the first Robin and I don’t see why he does not realize he is the new Batman.

Especially with having spent so much time watching footage of the new Batman I am surprised he didn’t easily point out that the first Robin and Nightwing is now Batman. It makes it look like Winnick did not do much homework going into this story as it would have helped further the rivalry between the two even more and make it feel more.

Also I continue to care less and less about Black Mask with each issue that he appears in. I just have never been a fan of the character. And I am tired of the whole blowing up something and then making a dramatic appearance thing that writers keep writing when Black Mask appears. It is just not very creative as it only feels like a forced way to make him look like a badass villain. And with how poor of a job the Batman writers have done convincing me Black Mask as a viable mob boss I don’t even care who the new Black Mask is anymore.

And while I am interested to learn what is on the files Dick found it is disappointing that we probably won’t be finding out in a while as Tony Daniel comes on to this title with issue #692 for a story arc. I wasn’t too impressed with Battle for the Cowl and I don’t like that it is going to disrupt finding out about what was on the USB as it slows down any momentum this sub-plot has built.

Overall: Batman #691 was a good read. Winnick and Bagley combined to tell a fun story even though it had its faults. This issue and story arc will not appeal to all fans. If you enjoy reading a solid Batman adventure than I recommend picking this up. For fans looking for a bit more I recommend picking up Batman and Robin or Streets of Gotham.
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Kevin