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Geek Dad
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Batman and Robin #22: Sympathy for the Demon
Batman and Robin #22 cover, via DC Comics. Ray: The mystery of Memento has been lurking around the fringes of this title since the first issue of this run, but we might finally know the identity of the killer – Atticus Blye, the elderly mentor of Bruce and Detective Lautrec back in France. He was accused of the killings back then and died in prison – so how is he still standing in front of Damian Wayne, dead-eyed as he keeps the boy locked up? It's been clear since the start that the villain was not a natural serial killer, but this issue reveals fully that he is in fact a supernatural being. Batman and Lautrec investigate the killer's history – and discover that there were other killers carried out by completely different people, each claiming that a supernatural force made them do it and targeted those they love until they cooperated. And when dealing with the supernatural, Batman is forced to bring in an unlikely ally – Jason Blood. Dead and buried. Via DC Comics. It's always fun when Batman is forced to deal with magic, because he's perpetually annoyed by it. But there's something deeper going on here – a threat that Batman truly doesn't understand, with his son's life at stake. Etrigan, summoned through Jason Blood, lets us in on a truly eerie tale of occultist brothers well over a century ago who tapped into something they shouldn't have and may have unleashed an ancient evil. But this issue also introduces some other interesting elements – including the return of the Gotham City Irregulars, a band of young delinquents who were cut a break by Batman years ago and help him out on occasion now. Their investigation takes them into the strangest parts of Gotham left behind by No Man's Land, right into a deadly encounter. This series has a great central mystery, and a lot of intriguing subplots that are likely leading to a powerful conclusion only months from now. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Geek Dad
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Batman: Dark Patterns #7
Batman: Dark Patterns #7 cover, via DC Comics. Ray: This has been a fascinating series, tying together three diverse and creepy cases early in Batman's career. First, Batman faced off against a mysterious villain named the Wound Man, who was a horribly scarred victim of a terrible chemical leak caused by corrupt businessmen. Then, he went up against the residents of a condemned tower who seemed to all be in thrall to Scarface – who had taken over the whole tower. And now, as he grows increasingly paranoid, Batman heads into the eeriest place in Gotham – the Rookery. This new location is fascinating – a Gotham shantytown that was built out of temporary supplies after an earthquake, and has become the permanent home for the city's most downtrodden and disturbed. It's easy to get lost in there – and even easier to be completely forgotten, as happened to a mysterious woman who was found deceased inside a dryer in a burned-down laundromat. Haunted. Via DC Comics. This kicks off an intriguing mystery, as Batman is called in by Gordon and discovers that even the police largely fear to tread here. There's a darkly funny segment involving a down-on-his luck man in the shanty, but it's not long before the evidence starts to pile up that this wasn't a standard murder. In fact, it may have been committed by the very first incarnation of the infamous Red Hood Gang – known for its colorful execution methods. As this unfolds, Bruce becomes increasingly paranoid as he starts to see odd connections between the cases that may or may not be there. This is peak classic Batman content, and it's elevated to the next level by the brilliant Hayden Sherman art – their style always had an eerie and surreal edge, and it's perfectly suited for bringing Gotham City's darkest secrets into the light. It might not be as immediately disturbing as the first two arcs, but this is a great start to the finale. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Geek Dad
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Robin and Batman: Jason Todd #1 – Robin's Rage
Robin and Batman: Jason Todd #1 cover, via DC Comics. Ray: Jeff Lemire is making a big comeback at DC, and part of that is his return to the stories of Batman and Robin. In this second chapter, he turns the focus on the second Robin, Jason Todd – and to say it's a bumpy start would be putting it lightly. Lemire's Jason is an angry, haunted child – he lost his mother to illness and his father to Two-Face, and he's thirsting for revenge. When we first see him and Batman in the field, he breaks from Batman's orders, hunting down a D-list villain named the Cuckoo and trying to beat him severely. But his overconfidence sabotages him, the villain gets away, and he and Batman have a nasty falling-out back at the cave. Even Alfred starts to wonder if this is what Jason needs, but Bruce is confident he can reach the boy. A brilliant nightmare segment shows Jason's trauma from a new perspective, and is one of the best pieces of Nguyen art I've seen in a while. Ghosts. Via DC Comics. While Bruce was more of a stern taskmaster when it came to Dick, this issue shows he's trying to be more understanding of Jason – and ironically, that may be what he doesn't need. Jason's pushing the limits doesn't come from exuberance but from trauma, and his obsession with the villains makes him a danger. The ending of the issue is brilliantly tense, as Bruce chooses to trust Jason to track down the Cuckoo, who is drunk and currently harmless. And as Jason stalks him, we can tell this is going to go terribly wrong – and it does, but not the way many people thought. Instead, this issue brings in an obscure but very significant Bat-villain who makes a fantastic foil to Jason. With fantastic art and great characterization, this could be the reinvention of Jason's early years that DC has needed for a while. But I'm already excited for this creative team to work on Tim Drake's origin next. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Geek Dad
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Absolute Green Lantern #3: Hunger in the Dark
Absolute Green Lantern #3 cover, via DC Comics. Ray: Al Ewing has turned Green Lantern into a full-fledged horror story, and like every horror story, it has some classic inspirations. Fans of Stephen King will obviously see the influence from Under the Dome here, as the mysterious alien judge Alan Scott has created a green energy field over part of the city – trapping Jo Mullein, Hal Jordan, John Stewart – and John's friend Todd Rice, who enters the story this issue. While the story jumps back and forth in time, we see more this issue of the earlier segment, as the crew tries to figure out the strange new world they find themselves trapped in. It's John who takes the lead here, with his strategic mind discovering that the field reacts a certain way to metal – or anything it perceives as metal – and starts trying to break it down. But this attracts Abin Sur's attention, and the inscrutable alien proceeds to cast his judgement over John. Lockdown. Via DC Comics. We know from the earlier issues that the power will wind up vested with two of these characters – Jo with the Green Lantern ring, and Hal with the Black Hand. What we didn't know until now is that those powers are diametrically opposed, with the Black Hand trying to consume the green automatically – and anyone it's attached to. This is the first take on Green Lantern that portrays these powers not as superpowers, but as something terrifying and bizarre, that would be beyond the average person's ability to comprehend. Al Ewing has worked a lot with cosmic powers before, and his books are often deeply haunting, but part of the credit here goes to the great Jahnoy Lindsay. Their art is deeply unsettling in places, creating a sense of just how powerful these elements are. This is the most mysterious of the Absolute line so far, and it has me incredibly intrigued by what comes next. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Geek Dad
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Absolute Superman #8: Showdown in Smallville
Absolute Superman #8 cover, via DC Comics Ray: For the last few issues, we've been teased about what happened in Smallville. One emotional issue showed us the few weeks Kal-El spent in the small town, being found by Jonathan and Martha Kent when he was a teenager. You could see that they would have shown him the same love they did if they found him as a baby – but then Lazarus Corp came, hunting him, and Kal was forced to flee. And all these years later, that's still the only place he ever felt safe. But this isn't the Smallville he left. The town has been fully taken over by the shadowy corporation, turning the farmers into modern serfs. Jonathan Kent is long gone, and Martha Kent languishes in a memory care center. Kal tries to visit, but she doesn't recognize him. And so he prowls the streets of Smallville – along with Lois Lane, and Omega Man Jimmy Olsen. Put to the test. Via DC Comics. The three main players have been in opposition from the start, with Lois not sure she can fully turn her back on her father's army yet and Jimmy not trusting anyone associated with them. And Superman, of course, stuck in the middle. But now, the Peacemakers are about to enter the fray, led by the mad and cybernetically-enhanced Agent Smith, turned into a raging monster. The action in this issue is intense, but as usual with the Absolute Universe, there's a great emotional underpinning to every issue. And then there's the main villain, Ra's Al Ghul. Whether he's the true big bad of this series or Brainiac is, it's hard to tell. But after last issue's spotlight for Brainiac, what we see of Ra's here is no less terrifying. Here more a mad warlord than the utopian we often see him as, he's further gone – and plays a key role in introducing Kryptonite to the world of Superman, raising the stakes even higher. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
