Batman #692 Review

Tony Daniel’s writing on Battle for the Cowl was very unimpressive. Still, since the end of Battle for the Cowl I have been enjoying the new direction of the Batman universe with Dick Grayson as Batman and where all of the other Batman related characters are at. So let’s see how Daniel’s does in his second chance at writing Batman with Batman #692.

Creative Team
Writer: Tony Daniel
Artist: Tony Daniel
Inker: Sandu Florea
Colorist: Ian Hannin

Story Rating: 5 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Ratings: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: The issue starts somewhere in Gotham City were Batman has taken out some guys in gas masks who are working for Black Mask called False Faces. Batman searches through all the bodies and is only able to find a red pill (guess Dick has chosen to exit the Matrix) and a fedora.

Commissioner Gordon comes onto the scene and hands Batman a bunch of mug shots of other False Faces that have been imprisoned at Arkham. Gordon tells Batman that Dr. Arkham has not had any luck breaking the mental block of all these False Faces yet. Batman looks at all of the pictures and says these are all normal people who have had their mind wiped by Black Mask.

Batman asks Gordon what he is telling him. Gordon tells him that the National Guard are coming to Gotham and that District Attorney Spencer (Manhunter) is working out some sort of negotiation with them. Batman asks if he can take one of the masks with Gordon replying that Batman does not need permission.

Two days later at Wayne Manor Dick meets with Selina Kyle (Catwoman) by the mansion’s pool. Selina comments on how Dick almost looks like a younger version of Bruce but that while he may have the keys to the mansion, Wayne Tower, and the Batmobile he is not entitled to all of Bruce’s possessions. Dick says there is a rumor that Selina killed Black Mask to which Selina retorts by saying she hears he is still alive and walks off.Dick runs after her saying he knows that Selina is hanging out with Poison Ivy lately and that Ivy should know something about Black Mask. Selina says she is not going to put her neck out for him. Dick says while he never understood her relationship with Bruce she owe’s it to the mantle to help him. Selina says she will help but only for $25 thousand to which Dick begrudgingly agrees.

The scene changes to an unknown location with a bunch of people locked in cages were Hugo Strange is talking to Fright about his new experiment. He says he has taken a 50 year old man to make him much stronger than men half his age. Fright wonders about Hugo’s record saying the guy is delusional. Hugo says the man is a delusional but also a genius in his own way, unlike the ex-Arkham inmates they have in the cages. Fright asks what will be done with the caged prisoners. Hugo says that Dr. Death has plans for them much to Fright’s shock.

Black Mask appears behind the two of them with Dr. Death next to him saying the doctor has joined his Ministry of Science along with Hugo. Fright face starts turning red and gets slapped by Black Mask. Black Mask then comments that Hugo’s experiments’ with the False Face Society is not working well. Hugo smiles and says it is good that the doctor is here.

Batman meets Catwoman in the rooftops of Midtown Gotham. Batman asks Catwoman if she was being tailed as she changed the location of their meeting three times. She comments that it is because she is a perfectionist. Dick thinks to himself that Selina is just testing him. Catwoman says that she was unable to find out anything from Poison Ivy but she does have other information for him and tells him to follow her.

The scene shifts to one of the Falcone Family’s former estates were two guys are standing outside. Dick goes through the Falcone Family history and then out of the shadows knocks both men out. He walks towards a house that has its lights on but trips a wire that causes an explosion.

Mario Falcone, son of Carmine Falcone, comes out with his men. Batman attacks them while again going through the family’s history and saying that Mario is the only living child of Carmine. After taking out some of his men Mario asks Batman what he is doing in his new home. Batman says he is not welcomed in Gotham and throws some smoke pellets on the ground to make his escape.

We then see Catwoman is inside the house stealing all of the diamonds, pearls, and gold in the estate along with some maps. She hears that Mario told his men to release the dogs so she makes her escape out the window.

As she is leaving Kitrina Falcone is standing out of her window with some Catwoman like gear on her head. Mario enters her room and asks if she is going somewhere. She tells her uncle she wasn’t going anywhere.

Back in Devil’s Square Hugo is running his experiments on the old man mentioned earlier with Black Mask and Freight watching the experiments. The old man is dump outside and Dr. Death then makes the man relive the WWII era with visions of the concentration camps.

Black Mask appears and hands the man a Star of David saying it belonged to his father. He then hands the old man a scythe saying it also belonged to his father and it is no his. End of issue.

Commentary
The Good: Batman #692 was a much better read than I was expecting from Tony Daniel. His writing has clearly improved from when he wrote Battle for the Cowl during the summer. Daniel moved the story in a quick and clear pace to set up the rest of the issues in this arc on Batman.

Unlike his work on Battle for the Cowl Daniel was able to show he understands the characters he is writing without needing someone spell everything out with unnecessary internal dialogue. He did a very good job writing Dick as he has now become more comfortable wearing the cowl. Unlike in most of the stories we have had so far Dick actually seemed to fit more into the role of Batman while also showing the difference between him and Bruce.

It continues to be interesting to see how Dick continues to adopt more of Bruce’s way of doing things as he is much more aggressive in his fighting style. He now takes out his targets with a few hits than a bunch of quick strikes while showing off similar to a performer. Though we did see more of his acrobatic style of fighting in this issue there was a certain aggression and look on his face that was much different than when he was Robin and Nightwing. It is this evolution that is making Dick stepping into the role of Batman more interesting to read as we see what things he is changing about his fighting style and still maintaining what made him successful for over a decade, DC time.

I liked the way that Daniel used Dick’s internal dialogue to inform new readers about the Falcone Family. He made this very new reader friendly and for Batman, especially with the new direction, this is necessary as newer readers unfamiliar with the Falcone Family are quickly caught up with their history.

It’s great to see the Falcone Family back in a Batman comic. Batman: The Long Halloween is one of my favorite Batman stories and it is great to see them back with Mario Falcone leading his family back to Gotham. Unlike most gangs running around Gotham now the Falcone Family are true old school mobsters and I just love that old mobster feel they bring to Batman, which is probably why the Sopranos is one of my all time favorite shows.

Daniels did a very good job writing Mario as someone with a lot of authority. I hope that Mario does stick around in Gotham after this story arc is over as I think there plenty of possibilities with seeing how the relationship of the son of Batman and the son of Carmine Falcone is developed.

Also, what makes things interesting is Selina’s involvement in this arc. It has been mentioned in the past that Selina might have some family relation to the Falcone Family. And what makes things more interesting is that Mario’s niece, Kitrina, has an interest in Selina’s Catwoman persona. It would be cool if at the end of this arc Selina takes Kitrina under her wing.

I also liked how Daniel wrote the interaction between Dick and Selina. The scenes between the two of them were the best scenes in this whole issue. This is one of the first times that I see the two of them interact with one another without Bruce around. They had an interesting chemistry since even though Selina may accept the fact that Dick is Batman now, she still sees Bruce as the Batman since she shared a unique relationship with Bruce. I am actually surprised we haven’t seen Dick interact with Selina, or even Talia, since becoming Batman as these interactions can be the most interesting.

And as always I enjoyed Daniel’s artwork. He provides plenty of great artwork. Daniel does a great job showing the dark mode around Gotham and while there wasn’t much action he did a great job with the small amount of action he wrote. All the artwork had a good flow with very little to no inconsistencies in the art for this issue.

The Bad: With that said this issue suffers an automatic two point deduction from the story rating lowering it from being a 7 Night Girls out of 10 to being a 5 Night Girls out of 10 for the story. Like Rokk I have never been a fan of using Nazi characters. And unless it is the Red Skull with Ed Brubaker writing the character I have never liked the use of Nazi characters in a story set in the modern era.

Daniels use of a Nazi character with Dr. Death and the old man he brained washed for Black Mask was a complete eye roller. There are plenty of ways to use a brain wash angle to turn a man evil but to use a concentration camp reference to do it is just unacceptable. It is very poor and uncreative way of writing.

And as has been the case since the new Black Mask appeared I continue to find him a very boring and lame villain. Black Mask has appeared far too often since he returned. I am just not interested in the character and what he is doing and would prefer it be another Batman villain be used in his position.

Overall: Batman #692 was a good read. Other than the Nazi part of the story at the end Daniel actually impressed me with his writing in this issue. It was a vast improvement over his work on Battle for the Cowl. This was a very new reader friendly issue with giving the reader plenty of information not to get lost. Also with how this issue has built on other storylines that have been building since the start of the new direction from the franchise this has plenty for older Batman readers. So I do recommend picking up this issue whether you are new or a long time reader of Batman.
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Kevin