Graphic Novel Reviews: Batman 008

In this issue the Talons attack Wayne Manor, and make their way into the batcave, where Batman confronts them with a suit of powered armor. In the meanwhile Alfred manages to find all the Talons' targets on the disk drive they took from the dead Talon. He discovers that all the important members of high society are being targeted. Alfred sends out a distress signal to all members of the Bat Family, alerting them to the threat, and sending them to the nearest targets.

And now it begins. The past few months have been setting this moment up, and while Batman 008 is still just the preliminaries, it's a good opening for what is to follow over the next few months, across several different books. Since this is the first time that I've followed a cross-over while it was being published, I can see why they're so popular. Besides giving readers a reason to buy more books, they're also very exciting to follow. And while I normally would complain about a story being spread over several books, forcing me to spend more money, when they should be focused in just one book, at this point I'm already reading most of the Batman books anyway. Though I probably should catch up on the Birds of Prey. Not sure why I haven't yet, it's a series affiliated with Batman and the main characters are all hot women. Why am I not reading this yet?

There are a few parts of this issue that I thought were worth discussing. First of all, I'm enjoying how Scott Snyder is using the Talons. He's set them up as being basically undead, or at least animated bodies of some kind. It would be easy to have them be mindless automotons, but if Snyder went that route he would be ignoring a whole facet of danger these assassins pose. Namely, if they were mindless automotons they would only pose a physical danger. There would be no danger of them revealing Bruce's secret identity. However, they are show to be able to communicate, and are hence intelligent. So when they make their way into the batcave we are not only faced with Batman having to fight dozens of assassins, but dozens of assassins that now know his secret identity, and are very much capable of revealing it.

I'm a little iffy on Batman's exoskeleton. Sure it's an awesome moment when he comes out wearing the thing, but if he has the technology to build one of those, then why wouldn't he wear one all the time? I can understand that this thing is too bulky for everyday use, but DC Universe technology seems about equal to Marvel Universe technology, so I can imagine he'd be able to get the giant mech suit streamlined into something more useful for everyday use. What I'm asking is, "Why do we not have Iron Man Batman yet?"


This is nothing but good ideas.

Yes, yes, "costume is meant to intimidate, strike terror into the hearts of criminals," etc, etc. But look that picture and tell me you wouldn't piss your pants if you saw that in a dark alley. Or you'd be fanboying long enough for him to incapacitate you. Actually...what did you do to make Batman angry in the first place?