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Mild Mannered Reviews - Superman/Batman

Superman/Batman #77

Superman/Batman #77

Scheduled to arrive in stores: October 20, 2010

Cover date: December 2010

"Fright Night"

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Penciller: Ale Garza
Inker: Ale Garza

Michael Bailey Reviewed by: Michael Bailey

Click to enlarge



Supergirl arrives at the scene of a grisly murder and is horrified by what she sees. One of the police officers tells her that she should stick to the super powered menaces and leave the more down to earth crimes to them. Supergirl refuses and flies off to find help.

In Gotham City the new Robin, Damien Wayne, is busy with Killer Croc. The battle is going well for Damien, which is why he finds it annoying when Supergirl busts in and takes Croc out. It turns out that Damien is already aware of the murders and when Supergirl suggests finding Dick Grayson or Tim Drake a very defiant Damien tells her anything they can do he can do better. Supergirl agrees, adding that he needs to find his own way to Metropolis.

Damien arrives and after annoying Supergirl some more it is revealed that all of the victims apparently died of heart attacks and were buried after they died. He also finds that all of them were students at the University of Metropolis and part of an intern program at Lexcorp. They head over to Lexcorp and after talking to a man named Spalding, who doesn't know anything about the murders, Damien hacks into the human resources computer to get the names and addresses of the remaining interns. As luck would have it all of them were invited to a Halloween party that very night.

They go undercover at the party where Supergirl uses her super hearing to see what the interns are talking about. She picks out one of the costumed party goers who is not talking about it and against Damien's warning grabs him and demands that he tell her what happened to the dead interns. The pumpkin headed man hits her with something and suddenly she is seeing a Black Lantern Reactron though in reality it is Damien. Supergirl's hallucination continues as Damien evades her attacks. Finally she snaps out of it and the villain is revealed to be the Scarecrow, who has developed a new, stronger batch of his fear toxin, which is how it affected Supergirl. Turns out Scarecrow has a mad on for Lex Luthor because Luthor stole his yellow ring.

Supergirl and Robin turn the Scarecrow over to the authorities before Supergirl gives him a ride home. Dick Grayson gives Damien a hard time about the team-up and as Damien admits that she was a fair and adequate partner for an alien, Supergirl flies off thinking that he was a little jerk.

4Story - 4: I hate Damien Wayne.

HATE Damien Wayne.

After reading the first three issues of BATMAN AND ROBIN I had one thought and that thought was the last time a Robin was this obnoxious we voted to kill him.

I honestly don't see his appeal. I've read comments stating this Damien is on a journey and that at some point he won't be an obnoxious know it all. I hope that happens but for the moment I have to deal with the Robin in front of me and this issue did nothing to make me tolerate the character much less like him.

Here's the thing; at some point years ago it was decided that at the beginning of Batman's career he distrusted Superman to the point that he would warn Dick Grayson to stay away from "the alien". I never liked that. I enjoyed the healthy dislike the two had for each other as established by John Byrne but by the end of the nineties this was fading away but some writers still clung on to this and then we went through the whole Batman has figured out a way to defeat everyone in the DCU from Abel to Zauriel. I found it annoying. I still find it annoying.

This brings me back to Damien because in this story he is the living embodiment of all the mistakes made with Batman before INFINITE CRISIS. He is just so arrogantly annoying and his lack of respect for those around him bugs the crud out of me.

I don't care who his grandfather is. I don't like him.

Having said all of that this was a decent story. In spite of Damien's attitude I liked this team up and it was interesting to see him work with Supergirl. There were only two real problems I had with the issue, the first being the scene in the morgue where Supergirl tells Damien to stop using her as a tool in his arsenal and Damien responds that Batman did it all the time. That's not how it worked, though Damien didn't have all that much time with his Dad so maybe that could be explained away easily. My other problem was the fight between Damien and Supergirl. I am pretty much sick of the whole Batman (or his son) being able to take on a Kryptonian and last more than a few minutes. Sure Supergirl was not at the top of her game but it seems to me when writers have a Bat character last so long in a fight with a Super character it is to prove that the Bat character is the superior one. I don't like that. Is there bias involved? Sure, but at the same time it smacks of a fan turned writer trying to make Batman the most awesome thing ever.

But maybe that is just me.

In any case this was a fun issue and well worth the read, especially with the hard time Damien was given at the end of the issue.

4Art - 4: The art was solid throughout the issue. Both Damien and Supergirl looked good and the action flowed well. No complaints here.

4Cover Art - 4: This is a pretty basic cover but I like it. It's got a bit of humor to it with the pumpkin on Supergirl's head and looks solid.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2010

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2010

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