Last Sunday I walked to the train station and it started to rain five minutes into the journey. I kept going. Then I missed the train by a minute and had to wait another 20. My resolve wasn't weakened. I was on my way to the city, to buy Batman & Robin. I had seen it on the shelf the last time I was in the comic shop, and would have bought it then if I had had enough money on me. 'Batman & Robin, The Deluxe Edition: Batman Reborn', how could I have not wanted it? I'd read all the reviews for the new series, and was interested to read Dick Grayson as Batman, and so far, i'm really enjoying the series. But recently I read that Frazer Irving (my nemesis from The Return of Bruce Wayne #2) will be taking over art duties on Batman & Robin from #13, and i'm really hoping I can still enjoy the series after just discovering it.
It didn't help that I got the Gam of the Year Edition of Batmn: Arkham Asylum last week either. It quickly became my favourite game, even though those fights with Scarecrow started to get annoying towards the end. And throwing three Batarangs at once? Yes please. I'm stoked that the sequel is coming out later this year, and it's going to be set in Gotham City which is going to expand the game play area immensely. Seeing the inside of the asylum was great, and fighting all of Batman's old villains was a fantastic way for me to stretch the old brain muscles. On a side note I almost crapped myself while playing the Killer Croc level and my phone rang when it was right next to me. To have five minutes of tense silence shattered in mere seconds, it nearly killed me.
And speaking of Arkham Asylum, I picked up issues #864 and #865 while I was at the comic shop and they were really great, something I wasn't really expecting. Not that I have anything against DC or Detective Comics, I just thought that a series that has bee going for that long must have lost some of its appeal, and I was dead wrong. The art was nice and simple, the story was engaging (even though i didn't know half of the characters, especially Alyce Sinner?) and the two issues lasted me the whole train ride home. Once again, i've added another title onto my ever growing list of comics to buy every month.
Of ocurse this all staretd with the great review of 'Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne' issue one, and i'm sticking with that intriguing miniseries. To see Bruce Wayne flying through time and still being an awesome fighter and detective is a bit of a thrill, I must admit. Of course Batman #700 comes out tomorrow, so i'll be getting that as well, and it'll give new readers like me a good insight into the history of the Bat. Next week the Joker's Asylum II one-shots continue with Harley Quinn's installment, and i'll be getting that too.
Batman is good, but the amount of merchandise available surrounding him isn't good for my wallet.
Sounds pretty good to me, and it looks like the writing duo of Williams and Blackman are jumping right in at the deep end with plot lines. This series looks to be one of the stars of 2011.
