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A Bat in the House / The First Time
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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
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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.
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