Batman’s a jerk. He badmouths Poison Ivy, saying she’s a villain, says he can’t trust the Birds of Prey (do they really refer to themselves by that name? How dumb) and then doesn’t apologize when he finds out he’s wrong.

But it’s not just Batman making the mistake. Jenkins and Finch mention this Gotham PD lieutenant doesn’t have a detective rank. So he’s a plainclothes lieutenant? Not sure they understand basic rankings. Or maybe they’re trying to have Batman tell a joke. They fail.

There are lots of attempts to bring the series into continuity. They seem pretty silly once Batman forgets the Joker doesn’t have a face… not to mention them having a previous relationship. I thought Detective established they weren’t bantering nemeses yet.

Finch’s Bruce Wayne art is bad. It makes the costumed stuff seem okay.

Still, it could be worse. Not a lot worse, but definitely worse.

CREDITS

Catch Me If You Can; writers, Paul Jenkins and David Finch; penciller, Finch; inker, Richard Friend; colorist, Jeromy Cox; letterer, Sal Cipriano; editors, Rickey Purdin and Mike Marts; publisher, DC Comics.

So Finch opens ripping off Blade Runner and ends with an homage to Tim Burton’s Batman.

Finch has got some really dumb ideas. I wonder if he ever thinks about them logically. He mixes the Burton Batmobile with the one from the new movies. Not that it makes any sense whatsoever, but I guess Finch thinks it looks cool so who cares.

Right off, he shows himself to be incapable of committing to a cliffhanger. The hulked out Two-Face is just a tease. It’s over in a couple pages, with some terrible Batman narration about being lonely. We then discover all of Batman’s foes have been injected with the Hulk venom so they’re all getting overgrown.

Besides a scene with Gordon, a lot of intercuts with Alfred and some non-Batman action scenes, there’s not much else in this issue.

It’s not even creative enough to be truly awful.

CREDITS

A Rush of Blood; writers, Paul Jenkins and David Finch; penciller, Finch; inker, Richard Friend; colorist, Alex Sinclair; letterer, Sal Cipriano; editors, Rickey Purdin and Mike Marts; publisher, DC Comics.

So DC hires a big name artist (or co-plotter and penciller) away from Marvel and then he turns in a talking heads book for their big relaunch?

It’s not all talking heads, it’s actually more talking bodies because David Finch apparently doesn’t want to try to draw too many faces. His Bruce Wayne has an argument with a cop who looks suspiciously like… Bruce Wayne, only with blond hair.

There’s barely any action. Even when Finch goes to Arkham, it’s boring and somewhat hard to follow. He doesn’t do establishing shots very well.

Wait, I forgot to mention the big twist… Two-Face has been pumping iron in Arkham and now looks like he’s got the Bane juice or whatever.

As for Paul Jenkins’s scripting? His Bruce Wayne narration sounds… old. Like Dark Knight Returns—not plain Dark Knight—old. He sounds about forty-two.

Still, could be worse.

CREDITS

Knight Terrors; writers, Paul Jenkins and David Finch; penciller, Finch; inker, Richard Friend; colorist, Alex Sinclair; letterer, Sal Cipriano; editors, Rickey Purdin and Mike Marts; publisher, DC Comics.