Grifter #10

This title used to be one of my favorites from the new 52 but since Cafu and Nathan Edmonson left it has been going downhill pretty darn fast.

the plot by Rob Liefeld has not really changed much since last issue mostly shooting Daemonites and some talk of Grifter being the chosen one.

The problems are putting Niko in a superhero looking costume that is similar to the one piece swimsuit that Scarlet Witch used to wear, while the rest of the male team members are dressed in military garb she looks like she is heading to a comic con in a cosplay costume and stands out completely from the rest of the team.

especially considering they are in a cold climate and she doesn't seem to have any powers it's a strange choice.

The other problem is out of the blue Grifter is showing major league telekinesis powers out of the blue. when that has never been shown before and makes you wonder why he didn't use them earlier and the fact that noone else seems bothered by this or even mentions it is also a head scratcher.

The pencils by Scott Clark are equally inconsistent most of the time it looks a lot like Cafu's sleek realistic line work and then there are a few panels that look like something out of a bad 90's comic book with tons of unnecessary cross hatching.

 If this comic can just figure out what it wants to be it might be a lot more consistent read. tho i have my suspicions that this comic has already jumped the shark thanks to the new creative team for some strange reason i still want to read it even tho a lot of it is completely predictable.

Legends of the Dark Knight v2 01

While I'm not sure why we need another Bat book  relaunching Legends of the Dark Knight as an out continuity  digital title makes some sense for new readers who might get confused about continuity and characters.

Unfortunately this is not the way to kick things off with a bang instead it's more like a kick to the groin !

Lost writer and creator Damon Lindeolf oversees the first story and fortunately and it's a one shot that somewhat seems to take place in Batman's early years while this era has been overrun numerous times there can always be a fresh perspective taken on this but instead what we got here is cliched dialogue that seems ripped from other comics (bits and pieces of All Star Batman with some year one mostly) and it seems that everyone who writes Batman has to start off with an overly ham handed noir dialogue that has gotten increasingly stale with every decade.

The story of what there is of it has Bruce getting drunk (!) and disrespecting other superheros who have powers but also have weaknesses like Superman and mostly Green Lantern and then telling his butler Alfred that he has no weaknesses and that somehow makes him the best.

 of course by then end of the story we find out that Alfred sets him up for a trap by using a couple and a child in an alleyway that is about to be robbed and when Batman intervenes he gets ambushed by the child who actually turns out to be a midget with a baseball bat(???)

So then he gets a good beat and by the end figures out who set him up and of course lesson learned and all is forgiven ..

There are numerous things wrong with this idea 1. Batman does not get drunk even as Bruce Wayne at social events he takes a few sips of champagne and that's it
2. Batman would not be going on about how he has no weakness's for a person with no powers to say that even in a non literal sense is pretty out of character and makes Bruce look like an idiot.
3. Batman getting the snot kicked out of him by a midget with a baseball bat is pretty embarrassing move even if Bruce is still new to the game.
4. Alfred would never set up a trap so Batman could be ambushed just to teach him a lesson it's so completely out of character it's almost laughable.
5 of course the fact that Bruce immediately forgives him of course is another head scratcher.


To make things worse Jeff Lemire is probably the least suited to a Batman comic ever his characters tend to be scrawny and anemic and of course this is true here and Batman's costume tends to look ill fitting and his cape is tattered.

There have been other Books that featured indie creators doing Batman and while it can lead to some interesting changes and differences it usually feels desperate as much as it does here.


And unfortunately this maybe one of the worst Batman books I've read and i can only hope the next issue brings a fresh perspective especially considering how many Bat books are already out there.