Detective Comics #972
http://www.multiversitycomics.com/pr...ve-comics-972/
Detective Comics #972
http://www.multiversitycomics.com/pr...ve-comics-972/
Out of all the Robins, Jason Todd is my favourite
Weird that this cover got swapped from #973. And #971's variant cover hinted at Mr. Freeze tech, but that's only coming into play now.
Mega fan of: Helena Bertinelli (pre-52), Batwoman, Birds of Prey, Guardians of the Galaxy, Secret Six
Fan of: Batman, Cassandra Cain, Wonder Woman, Silk, Stephanie Brown, Captain America, Hellcat, Renee Montoya, Gotham Central, King Shark
Quasi-Fan of: Aquaman, Midnighter, Superman, Catwoman, Nightwing, Green Arrow, Squadron Supreme, Red Hood
Other likes: Low, Hush, Arkham Asylum: ASHoSE, Watchmen, A-Force, Bombshells, Grayson, Unfollow
Team Cap (both Rogers and Danvers)
I'm really disappointed that Tynion is reverting Clayface back to being a villain again. When his run started, it was a breath of fresh air to see a writer bring a reformed villain on the team.
This book went from being awesome with the original lineup to now still being very good, but Clayface looks to be out, Tim is acting weird and not himself. I also don't like the addition of Azrael to the team. They had a nice, small group of characters that really bonded. Now it's all getting shook up.
“Now faith, hope, and love remain, and the greatest of these is love.”--1 Corinthians 13:13
“You had a dream; I have a plan”--Cyclops
“There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes.”--The Doctor
As if the handling of the (seeming) end of Basil's excellent story getting poorly handled wasn't bad enough, it also plays into something I was talking about on the YJ thread earlier: Villains never being able to change no matter how much they want to seems to be a central theme of the DCU (and the MU as well as Frontier pointed out, although at least SOME of their villains have managed to stay heroes) and I think that's pretty horrible.
In its current state, this book is a dumpster fire IMO. That said, I do additionally disagree with the sentiment. Looking at the four arcs from before the book fell apart, the one arc that had the full original roster was good, but was an awful way to begin the series and the second arc, where it still felt like the OG team, while not bad, was still the weakest of the four. The next two arcs felt very different from the first two and as a whole, I preferred them. LoS was a mess that wasted a LOT of time and ended horribly, but when it was actually focusing on its protagonist, it was some of the series' best material, while Intelligence is the best arc overall, all of its problems surmisable in three words: Too much Zatanna.
On top of 1) Basil could have been an amazing long term addition to the Family, 2) This finale is to his arc is being completely botched and 3) Yet another case of DC saying villains can't change their ways, there's also 4) He was one of the only good things this book still had going for it! If he's gone, we're pretty much just down to Cass (assuming King's 'reason' she's not in any futures doesn't end up f**king her over), the solid way Bruce is written and the very occasional nice bromance moment with the wallpaper duo.
I obviously disagree since I love JPV, but even just as far as how the characters are written in this book, with Basil gone, I think he's the third best and only behind Bruce because of how rarely he gets to do anything.
Well that sounds wonderful, what book were you reading?
Mega fan of: Helena Bertinelli (pre-52), Batwoman, Birds of Prey, Guardians of the Galaxy, Secret Six
Fan of: Batman, Cassandra Cain, Wonder Woman, Silk, Stephanie Brown, Captain America, Hellcat, Renee Montoya, Gotham Central, King Shark
Quasi-Fan of: Aquaman, Midnighter, Superman, Catwoman, Nightwing, Green Arrow, Squadron Supreme, Red Hood
Other likes: Low, Hush, Arkham Asylum: ASHoSE, Watchmen, A-Force, Bombshells, Grayson, Unfollow
Team Cap (both Rogers and Danvers)
I knew it was inevitable, so I was just glad to see Tynion breathe some new life into Clayface as a character before Basil was forced to become the monster again.
He really brought the sense of tragedy and horror back to Clayface, even if this plot development is a tad clunky.
It reminds me a bit of Telltale Games' take on Harvey Dent/Two-Face.
That was probably my favorite part of the arc, so I can't say I minded (even if I felt bad for poor JPV) .
Just because something was built up well doesn't automatically make the pay off satisfying or well written. This isn't something that happens rarely in fiction.
Regardless of which parts one enjoyed more, I think it's pretty clear that, as Tynion's one to do, he tried to cram way more into the arc than there was room for. The reason it sticks out as the biggest flaw in this one is because unlike, say, League of Shadows where a lot of the material outside the central plot wasn't very good to begin with, here, if the JPV stuff had been kept on its own and then Zee got a two-parter afterword, I'd probably consider both legitimately great.
I've seen worse written returns to villainy.
I think separating the two storylines would probably have done both more justice, although I don't think that made it a weak arc overall, but your mileage may vary.Regardless of which parts one enjoyed more, I think it's pretty clear that, as Tynion's one to do, he tried to cram way more into the arc than there was room for. The reason it sticks out as the biggest flaw in this one is because unlike, say, League of Shadows where a lot of the material outside the central plot wasn't very good to begin with, here, if the JPV stuff had been kept on its own and then Zee got a two-parter afterword, I'd probably consider both legitimately great.
Mega fan of: Helena Bertinelli (pre-52), Batwoman, Birds of Prey, Guardians of the Galaxy, Secret Six
Fan of: Batman, Cassandra Cain, Wonder Woman, Silk, Stephanie Brown, Captain America, Hellcat, Renee Montoya, Gotham Central, King Shark
Quasi-Fan of: Aquaman, Midnighter, Superman, Catwoman, Nightwing, Green Arrow, Squadron Supreme, Red Hood
Other likes: Low, Hush, Arkham Asylum: ASHoSE, Watchmen, A-Force, Bombshells, Grayson, Unfollow
Team Cap (both Rogers and Danvers)
I have seen worse...but on top of the writing still being very shoddy, it doesn't do Tynion any favors for me that he used a character I love that he clearly doesn't understand to facilitate Basil's return to villainy.
I don't think so either. I may not think it's great like it could have been, but it's still best of the major arcs.
I really liked Clayface as part of Kate's team back during the otherwise horrid latter half of her first run, and was excited to see him back for Tec. I hadn't really read much batman stuff in between, so I don't know if he was a "bad guy" again between those two runs, but for me it felt like a natural extension of his time on The Unknowns to get grandfathered into the Bat Family proper. His apparent inevitable return to mentally unstable monster has me... disappointed. I do hope with the reinvented Ragman about we can have an Unknowns reunion, or at least acknowledgement, at some point. I don't think it's even been mentioned at all that Basil and Kate have worked together prior to this Tec run...
Mega fan of: Helena Bertinelli (pre-52), Batwoman, Birds of Prey, Guardians of the Galaxy, Secret Six
Fan of: Batman, Cassandra Cain, Wonder Woman, Silk, Stephanie Brown, Captain America, Hellcat, Renee Montoya, Gotham Central, King Shark
Quasi-Fan of: Aquaman, Midnighter, Superman, Catwoman, Nightwing, Green Arrow, Squadron Supreme, Red Hood
Other likes: Low, Hush, Arkham Asylum: ASHoSE, Watchmen, A-Force, Bombshells, Grayson, Unfollow
Team Cap (both Rogers and Danvers)