BATMAN INCORPORATED SPECIAL #1
by Various
Batman Japan and Canary try to stop the Russian Sleep Experiment. Mexican Batman invites Dark Ranger and Nightrunner over for tacos. Bat-Cow gets his own story. Yeah, it's a good time.
Batman Incorporated's going out with a huge bang. DC is bidding farewell to one of its best titles in grand fashion, by giving us an anthology with multiple stories that conclude the adventures of the many agents of Batman Inc.
First up, is definitely the craziest tale in the entire issue, a story featuring Batman Japan by Chris Burnham. Now, Burnham is one hell of a writer. This is a very manga-inspired chapter of the book, and it's absolutely INSANE. Now, despite being a light hearted romp through neo-Tokyo, it's the bloodiest, and grisliest story DC has put out all year, and well, we've already gone through Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Death of the Family and I, Vampire so that's saying something. Burnham uses a more manga-like art style to go with the story, and I got to say, it looks good. This would have been my favorite story in the whole book, if it weren't for....
Not this one. The second story is a Squire story by Joe Keatinge and Emanuel Simone (something like that, correct me if I'm wrong), which I think was actually rather unnecessary. I think it could have been replaced with a story about Squire's first actual adventure as Knight, but I will admit, it's still a pretty interesting story, with some nice art.
The best story out of the whole bunch, is that of Red Raven's, in which colorist Nathan Fairbarn takes on the role of writer, and John Paul Leon cranks out some great art. It has both, high octane action and a nice little story about Red Raven's smaller acts of heroism.
My least favorite story is one that features El Gaucho, Nightrunner and Dark Ranger. It's a really boring story with meh art, and it could have been told better.
And now, the best thing Dan DiDio has ever given us: Bat-Cow. Not only is just awesome, but it's only told in 5 pages and surprisingly, it works.
Batman Incorporated Special #1 is a good time worth the price of admission. It comes with 3 great stories, 1 good story, and 1 very underwhelming story. When it comes to collections, that's actually pretty good.
STORY: 4/5
+ Good work from Burnham, Keatinge, Fairbarn and DiDio
- One unimpressive story
ART: 4/5
+ Every story looks great
- Except... one.
VERDICT: 4/5
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