"The Batman Strikes!" #11 Talkback (Spoilers)

[Clayface]

The Batman Strikes! #11
http://www.dccomic.com/media/covers/3784_180x270.jpg (http://www.dccomic.com/media/covers/3784_400x600.jpg)


Written by Bill Mathen.
Art by Christopher Jones & Terry Beatty.
Cover by Jeff Matsuda.

Synopsis: Reflecting the hit cartoon on the Kids' WB! The Penguin's got Batman on the ropes, and the Dark Knight's last hope is…Alfred?! The keeper of the Batcave may be the only hope Batman has, but even this newer, stranger dynamic duo may not be able to save Gotham City!

Comments?

[James Harvey]

The Ozzmeister returns in this fun issue of The Batman Strikes! We also get a bit more focus on Alfred's role in the Dark Knight's life, providing some satisfying material and an interesting, if brief, showdown between Alfred and a bad guy in the final pages of the issue.

In Issue #9, I gave writer Bill Matheny credit for providing an interesting, The Batman-take off on celebrity trails. He did this great story where the Joker was deemed fit to hold trial, resulting in a media circus. This month, he provides Gotham with it's own spin on the recent exhibit "The Gates" that was placed through New York City Central Park just a couple months ago. I couldn't help but chuckle as I saw blue umbrella's lining the various paths in the parkway, an obvious take on New York's orange equivilant.

The Penguin, as well as an accomplice and his two female ninja enforcers, are responsible for driving the plot of the issue. A found the scenes between The Penguin and his ninja aids to be really well done, giving us a bit of insight into the twisted relationship he shares with them. We haven't seen this on the animated series, so I felt the information provided here to actually be useful in fleshing these characters out a bit more. The cartoon still has a long way to go in making them fully realized characters, but this issue is a step in the right direction.

Christopher Jones pencils, teamed with the always reliable Terry Beatty's spiffy inks, really seemed to be a step above his previous work on the title. While his work on Issues #8 and #9 will probably remain my favorite, he really stepped it up with this issue. You can really tell the leap in quality from his first Penguin story to this one.

Overall, it's an entertaining visit to The Batman's world. It's a fun story with an interesting twist and some stellar artwork. I wish more The Batman viewers were reading this comic and providing feedback on it.

[Batman Fan]

I thought this issue was pretty good. The artwork was great as usual, the story was ok, and I liked the pages where Alfred's tending to Bruce's wounds, while he recaps to Alfred what happened and it divides the page in half, I thought that was neat. Still not to fond of the Penguin though.

***1/2