hosted by popgeeks.com | Forum DC Comics Solicitations June 2024 DC Comics Solicitations May 2024






A Bat in the House / The First Time



Main Story
Written by Dan Slott
Pencils by Rick Burchett
Inks by Terry Beatty
Colors by Lee Loughridge
Lettering by Nick Napolitano
Cover by Kelsey Shannon
Asst. Editor Harvey Richards
Editor Joan Hilty
 
Back-Up
Written by Ty Templeton
Penciled by Rick Burchett
Inked by Terry Beatty
Colored by Zylonol
Lettered by Nick J. Nap
Asst. Editor Harvey Richards
Editor Joan Hilty
Issue #07 - A Bat in the House / The First Time
Cover Date - December 2003. Released October 15th.

The Phantasm from the animated film Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm returns! While Batman’s off spying on Gotham’s mobsters, it’s up to Batgirl to face the deadly Phantasm on her own!


Review
 
There are many women in Bruce Wayne’s life, and it’s to the credit of the Batman Adventures team that all of them are dealt with in some capacity in the series’ brief seventeen issue run. Talia, of course, played an important role in the last arc. Julie Madison’s character arc reached a surprising and logical conclusion in #5. We’ll get to Catwoman later. This issue is perhaps the most important when it comes to examining Bruce’s relationship to the women in his life, however, as it analyzes both Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) and Andrea Beaumont (Phantasm) though the time-tested dramatic device of… the catfight.

Batman is still waist-deep in the affairs of his Matches Malone persona, and is now being actively assisted by Batgirl. When the Black Mask gang gets proactive, however, Barbara is forced to take on Phantasm, demonstrating her skill and drawing attention away from Bruce’s infiltration.

Credit goes to Rick Burchett for an excellent job on a fundamentally action-centric issue. Much of this is an extended Batgirl/Phantasm fight scene, and it’s very well-done. Dan Slott crafts a fun tale with an amusing opening, and some extremely tense moments when Batman’s cover is nearly blown. Unfortunately, he misses some of the opportunity inherent in the Batgirl/Phantasm fight. Though it’s a perfectly good action sequence, there’s little verbal sparring between the two characters that both share overlapping close, personal relationships with Bruce Wayne. Phantasm is a credible threat, and Slott nicely sells Batgirl as someone both somewhat flighty and incredibly capable and resourceful, but actual development of the relationship between the two, and the sparks that would presumably fly on that front, is missing. It feels like a bit of a copout, all things told. The conclusion to this arc, which would come next issue, is well set-up, however, and the issue succeeds in being exciting and involving. The backup, detailing the first stirring of trust between Batman and Batgirl, is well-done and nicely highlights the developing bond between the two.

Overall, the issue feels like a bit of a placeholder. It’s clearly building up to a great resolution, and the tension is ratcheted up another notch, but little of consequence occurs, and there’s definitely some lost potential. The art and script are great, though, and there are strong character moments, so this is definitely a back issue worth tracking down when all is said and done.
 


 

 

DC Comics on popgeeks.com