Comic Book Reviews: Batman Eternal #8, Samurai Jack #8 and Nightwing #30

I can't believe I talked for 20 minutes and still have two reviews to go.

Batman #31 was delayed at my comic store so I have to wait on it, so I'll pair Superman #31 with it. For now, I've got three other issues to check out.



As I've already exhausted myself lambasting Nightwing #30 in the video, I'll just do a quick summary of the reviews here.

Batman Eternal #8: 8.2/10

The biggest issues I had with Batman Eternal was that Batman's course of action after learning Gotham PD didn't arrest ANY of the people he caught was to go up to the roof to talk to the new commissioner without any sort of plan.

I feel like the World's Greatest Detective would have some type of an escape route or would have at least scouted for the full armed SWAT team that was on the roof. I was really baffled as to how little he seemed to plan this moment out. Good thing the only person with a clear shot was the only non-corrupt cop on that roof.

Outside of that, though, there was some follow-up to the Stephanie Brown storyline, awesome art and a trip to Hong Kong for Batman and Catwoman. Overall, fun issue.

Samurai Jack #8: 8.8/10

This issue was notable for being a silent issue. Only sound effects were written out, and I had a lot of fun with this being a strictly action-based issue.

The only downside is that the heavy use of shadows made some of the action hard to see, and in my view, a silent issue that is hard to see has to lose some points since the visuals are the only element that a reader can use to follow the plot.

But it's not enough to kill the issue, and I had a lot of fun with the quick read.

Nightwing #30: 4.8/10

As a series finale, this was embarrassing.

The narrative was disjointed, the art was lackluster, and the whole thing focuses too much on the plot of Forever Evil instead of honoring Dick Grayson's Nightwing career or life as a whole.

Yes, he survived, but the Bat-family outside of Batman doesn't know that. It would have been nice to see reactions besides one from Alfred EIGHT MONTHS after Forever Evil ended.

The whole thing is a misnomer; this is a lead-in to Grayson, which to me seems kind of dumb. DC could have easily made a Grayson #0 to set up the first issue, but they chose to tack on an issue to the Nightwing series.

Make no mistake: Nightwing #29 was the true finale for the character. This had no connection to the character besides the fact that Dick is in the book.

All this book did was confirm that I don't want to buy Grayson, and so I won't.