It’s a depressing issue, but Moench’s ambitious in that depression. He plays some of the thriller scenes like a melodrama–a guy storming over to have it out with the murderer of his girlfriend–while having Batman moon over Catwoman.
Most interesting is the scene where Bruce Wayne, cowl off, calls Catwoman on the phone and comes off desperate. Moench’s trying real hard at it.
He doesn’t make it. Not with that scene, not with the two or three breakup scenes in the rest of the issue, but he tries real hard. It’s too bad because it feels like Moench doing a course correction for the series, which had toyed with bringing a female compatriot in for the boys.
Sadly, no, Moench just wasted months hinting at it.
As his run winds down, there’s not much left for him to resolve. Batman’s going from pre to post-Crisis very quietly.
C+
CREDITS
Strike Two!; writer, Doug Moench; artist, Tom Mandrake; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterer, Albert De Guzman; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.
Moench finally starts dealing with some things this issue–Jason finally stops being such a little turd and Catwoman finally stops letting Batman treat her like half a partner. There’s a big showdown between Batman and Catwoman; what’s unspoken is how Bruce Wayne figures in. Batman gets to know Selina’s life, she doesn’t get to know (or share) his. It’s a good scene.
Mandrake draws Two-Face’s head a little wide–probably to give himself room–but otherwise his art has gotten rather refined. There are some excellent panels this issue; Mandrake is able to do the more outlandish superhero ones too, which is nice. Moench doesn’t write many of them, but they’re there.
Robin is such a little punk this issue Gordon finally yells at him. Moench has given up on Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd the past few issues–given up on any Robin characterization besides him being impertinent–but it doesn’t actually hurt the comic much. Moench wasn’t good at the regular people stuff anyway.
Moench tries for way too much this issue. First, he’s got a new villain for Batman to deal with, then he’s got Batman and Catwoman smooching at the Bat-signal. Robin’s jealous so he teams up with Harvey Bullock. So both teams are investigating, Robin’s being nasty to Catwoman, but then it all turns out it’s a Hitchcock homage with Vicki and Julia.
I’m not sure how I feel about Jan Duursema inking Mandrake. Somehow the vibrancy of the art is gone; the action scenes feel static. Maybe the best sequence is a car accident, just because of the motion has to be included.
I could kind of guess the finish. Not all of it–Catwoman coming into play is a surprise, especially after Moench gives her a nice farewell with Batman at the open–but it’s predictable. I wonder if it was editorially mandated or if it was always Moench’s idea.
I think Mandrake draws Robin like a chimp in his scenes with Nocturna to show he’s a kid. Or he just draws really ugly expressions for kids. Everyone else has great expressions–this issue is the height of soap opera, yet incredibly effective. The whole “red skies” thing and how it plays into the daily lives of the extraordinary….
Mandrake is getting better. The first half of the issue, except maybe some of the Batman stuff–the proportions are off–it’s good and Mandrake’s got some interesting expressions. They give the comic a lot more depth.
It almost doesn’t feel like Moench is writing the comic. He is, obviously, since there’s the avoidance of any new plot for Jason and an awkward comment about Alfred’s daughter. Jason calls her a honey or something. But the comic has Flash villains visiting and Moench writing about how incapable Batman is against them.