Review of Batman Incorporated #4
“Some blood was spilled. I didn’t kill anything or anybody.”
***Contains Spoilers***
I did not review Batman Incorporated #3 or #0, my bad. Batman #0 told the story of Batman gathering his various representatives from around the world; England, Japan, Russia, and several others. It was a good issue, but I am not going to go over all of the details. Batman #3 continued the story of Batman Inc vs Leviathan.
Issue showed us that Leviathan had infiltrated pretty much everything, everywhere. School teachers, police officers, even judges were all part of Leviathan. We also get to see one of Bruce Wayne’s most common street aliases, Matches Malone. Matches tries to get intelligence on Leviathan. He even has Dick dress up as Batman for extra intimidation. The world thinks that Robin is dead and Bruce is forcing Damian to hide out in the cave until Leviathan can be stopped. Matches(Bruce) is captured by Leviathan is going to be executed, they don’t like people that ask questions. Meanwhile Damian decides to create a new identity, Red Bird.
Which brings us to issue #4. We open to Talia who explains her plan to take away everything that Batman values and loves, because she feels he took her son away from her. I thought she introduced the two of them because there were certain things Damian needed to learn from Bruce. Talia always did have her mental issues.
Meanwhile Matches has excaped his iminanite death at the same time that Batman Incorporated attacks the safe house he was being held in. When I saw Batman Incorporated I mean everyone(excpet of course Ravil, who was killed in Batman #1) El Guacho and the Hood lead the charge(phase 1) as Wingman heads for Bruce where he bumps into Red Bird. Wingman immediatly recognizes Damian and Damian is convinced he knows WIngman from somewhere. Bruce is not happy that Damian is there, but decides to let him help with phase 2. Phase 2 invloves Nightwing, Red Robin and Knight crashing through some windows while Batwing watches the perimeter and Squire cuts the lights. I approve of phase 2. “No one in, no one out until we’re done.” Batman Incorporated easily deals with Leviathan’s assassins, and Batwing takes out a squadron of man-bats with a sonic weapon.
Batman calls Gordon to come pick up the captives. Bruce tries to call Talia and asks her to end this war. She of course, refuses. All the while Damian is obsessing over how he knows Wingman. Finally, it is revealed that he is Jason Todd. Damian is angery that he was kept out of the loop and is even more angered when Bruce tells him that for the safety of Gotham he has to go back to his mother.
There were a lot of things I loved about this issue. I thought the dialogue was great. El Guacho and the Hood bickering was hilarious and Damian trying to figure out how he knew Wingman was also funny. The art work was also good, plus I always like seeing Dick and Tim swing by to help out. I do have some thigns I am not fond of, plot wise. I don’t quite understand why Bruce is trying to send Damian away. He says he is doing it to save lives in Gotham, but it seems like he is giving in too easily. With all of his resources and contacts there has to be more he can do.
As far as timing I am assuming this takes place before Red Hood #10 and shortly before Batman #13 and Batman and Robin #13. This is based on the fact that Jason is there and there is no talk of Joker. However in Batman and Robin #13 it is mentioned that assassins are after Damian. SO, I guess he doesn’t go to his mom, or at least he doesn’t stay long.
All in all I thought it was a good issue. I like the series, but I don’t love it. I would really like to see it be more of an anthology of stories of the different members of Batman Incorporated. We shall have to wait and see.
