Puppets! They are All Puppets! 3 reviews

Detective Comics #872 The Black Mirror part two of three. Written by Scott Snyder with art by Jock. Skeleton Cases part 2 of 3. Written by Scott Snyder with art by Francesco Francavilla. I love that Snyder is taking the time to write about Dick and not just about a Batman story when Dick and Babs are talking about Dick having the circus blood in him and needing to be “mobile.” The look of the Black Mirror auction is just very cool with everyone in gas masks, making it just that much more sinister. Also, auctioning off the “crowbar” was a nice touch too. I continue to enjoy Jocks art in this book, the edginess of it works well. The second story in this issue is really taking off! The basic two-tone, red and blue, of Francavilla’s art give it a very dark and creepy feel to it. I know next to nothing about this Junior so I’m really curious to see what is going to happen.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #18 The House of Hush: Chapter three: the Bedbug’s Bite. Written by Paul Dini with pencils by Dustin Nguyen.  Ragman in Ashes to Ashes: Part Two: Smoldering Embers. Written by Fabian Nicieza with art by Szymon Kudranski. The Bedbug starts to make his move and Batman takes a picture for the trophy room. Hush meets up with Dr. Death to truly start is attack on all things Wayne. The next couple of issues of Streets are going to be really interesting to see what kind of damage Hush will do and how Bruce will stop it when I don’t think he even has a clue that it is happening yet. The back up story of Ragman continues to be a great read and makes be really want there to be an ongoing of this character. Nicieza and Kudranski create a wonderful feel of a dark and disenfranchised part of Gotham that Rory Regan lives in and is trying to save. If they aren’t going to give these characters their own books it’s a shame that the back up stories are going away because they have been a real treat in this book, whether it be this story or the Manhunter at the beginning or the last Two Face story. All gems and will be missed.

Zatanna #8 Pupaphobia. Written by Paul Dini with art by Cliff Chiang. Cliff Chiang doing the art on a Zatanna book! How can the book get much better than this? Zee’s dad is a serious bad ass in this when his baby girl was being threatened. Also, he nets out some serious punishment on those that cross him and his family. The last panel of this issue definitely had me going “oh, crap!” for Zatanna.