REVIEW: Batman #95

Batman #95

And so begins the Joker War, I just wish it was more memorable. I practically forgot this issue as soon as I finished reading it. You would think with something called the “Joker War,” there would be more going on. It’s almost like they’re playing it safe, or, similar to most comic “events,” they are going to stretch the small amount of story so far that it becomes completely diluted. You’d think they would have learned their lesson by now, but we have both major publishers making the same mistakes simultaneously.
The issue starts out well enough, with a flashback of Alfred (miss him already) talking to Batman as he races off in search of the Joker while trying to stop a killing spree that he’s on. Batman makes a deduction that I quite like. He believes the Joker sees all of his victims as already dead, he’s just helping them along and Batman is one of the few he sees as “alive.” I found that analysis very intriguing.
Then we march into the problems with this story as I stated in my review of the last issue. Wayne Enterprises is on the verge of a “hostile takeover” and somehow the press discovered that Batman’s arsenal was created by Wayne Enterprises and is being forced to “hand everything over.” I guess there’s some kind of assembly line at Wayne Tech that’s just churning out Batman gear. But come on, that makes no sense. Bruce would not be that stupid to keep that going 24/7 where any employee (or villain) can just walk right in and see it. And how is the Joker performing a hostile takeover? Did he suddenly become Gordon Gekko? (If you don’t understand the reference, my apologies. That’s what Google is for.)
Luscious has been infected by grin gas and Punchline is interrogating him while standing over the assembly line I previously mentioned. Meanwhile the Joker (who is not sitting in an office buying up Wayne Enterprises stock – which is how you’d normally perform a hostile takeover) is at a movie theater, where he has a bunch of Joker serum-induced hostages sitting in the audience. Did I mention he has them rigged with explosives? No? Well he does.
The Underbroker (reminds me a little too much of the Underminer from the Incredibles) has a little standoff with Commish Harvey Bullock (I’ll probably never get used to that). Harvey is not buying any of it. He knows a criminal when he sees one.
While fighting Punchline, Batman is affected by a gas that Punchline is immune to (so now she’s Poison Ivy). Then there’s an explosion, but I’m not going to tell you what caused it. It’s all a mystery.
Even from my description of the story points within this review, you can see that the story is all over the place. You would think that Batman would have some kind of plan and would have done some research on Punchline and would be ready for something that she’s made herself immune to. Well, this story is just beginning. Let’s see if it becomes more memorable as it goes

About Author

Frank Zanca

…began working in local television at the age of 22 when he became a Promotional Producer for Channel 9, the Orlando ABC affiliate. During this time he wrote and produced thirty-second spots for the newscast and syndicated shows such as Geraldo and Sally Jesse Raphael. Later he worked as a Production Assistant on NBC’s Gonzo Games and Dick Clark’s Sea World Summer Spectacular. Frank created and wrote his first comic book, which was distributed internationally under the name of Shadow Raven. For a number of years, Frank worked in Sales and then moved into Marketing where he became CFO and later President of two Independent marketing firms that were later sold for several million dollars. Recently Frank helped design Shadow Raven: the Combat Card Game, which was distributed internationally and has written the Shadow Raven novel (to be released next year). Frank is currently producing Shadow Raven: Fading Thoughts, a thirty-minute pilot, which is designed to become a feature film or television series.

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