My pick for week 3/22

So I thought since tomorrow new comics come out I would come in under the wire and give my feeling on the best comic out there this past week. I'm finding it hard to really give a "best comic of the week award" because I really just love reading comics to the extent that in some way each comic is my favorite. But you guys don't want to read that, you want me to pick a best, a favorite. So here it is...Batman #651.

I am loving seeing Batman make the Batbook circuit and not being a jerk. His talk with the framed Tim Drake in "Robin", his midnight teddy bear drop off in "Catwoman". Here is the Bruce Wayne we know and love. Sure he is dark and obsessed and really in some need of serious therapy (anyone who thinks it's better to enter a woman's apartment to give a newborn a present in costume rather than in person has issues) but he is no longer the OMAC making asshole that I've been dealing with for years now. He cares about his friends and allies, he puts their well being ahead of his own and for the longest time we haven't been seeing this. But now he's back and Batman #651 really hits that home. So let's take a look.

Writing: James Robinson is a fantastic writer who has a sense of history and character. Anyone who has read his Elseworld's "Golden Age" or his amazing run on "Starman"knows this. Robinson turned Jack Knight into one of my favorite characters of all times. He has a sense of a hero's place in this world that accepts change but also isn't above going back to its roots. We have some great bring backs; Gordon back as Comissioner, Bullock back on the force, Robin back in Gotham, great stuff but Robibson has written in a definite feel of change, of these characters have been through hell but are now stronger than ever for it.

The opening pages of #651 with the bat signal and the cheering crowds and getting into all these Gothamite's heads, I was done. I just sat there and was all, "Now this is what a comic should be! This is what Batman should be!" Then he and Robin do this.



They shoot the gun! Such a non-chalant move, such a little thing but it conveys so much, there is such humanity behind it. It lets us know that the Dynamic Duo are back fighting crime because they have the means and when you have the means you do it. I'm not sure I was that big a fan of adding in a supplicant Poison Ivy but every great story has a speed bump. Look at all three Starwars prequels.

Art: I'm a big fan of more stylized art. Amanda Conner, Matt Wagner, even Keith Giffen doing "Trencher". I like a little simplicity in my faces, not every crease and wrinkle and I think Kramer and Champagne do a great job conveying emotion while not getting into every nose hair. The shadows are deep and perfect for a Batbook, the action flows smoothly, the page layout is great, and characters shoot the gun. I'm just going to say it one more time, Batman shoots the gun to Robin who shoots it back. Sorry. Good art is supposed to accentuate the story being told and I think it does.

Covers: O.k. so I hate to say it I have never been one to really pay attention to a cover. Unless it's done by Alex Ross I really don't notice. I'm even embarassed to say that I had never even heard of Simone Bianchi. Nevertheless these covers are fantastic. The detail in the drawings (my feeling on cover details are opposite of my feeling on interior art), the shading and who doesn't love covers that fit together to form bigger pictures? I know I do.

So all in all Batman #651 is my thumbs up for the week