1314 ( )

Since Little, Big has done that thing to my brain where I don't feel like starting another novel because I'm still digesting the last one, I'm playing catch-up with comics reviews that I meant to write and never did.

Streets of Gotham launched as one of the post-Final Crisis Batman titles with Dick Grayson as Batman and Damian Wayne as Robin, and was intended to be a "street-level" look at Batman (i.e. stories that would take place from the perspective of people who didn't have "Bat" or "Robin" in their names). The book doesn't entirely follow this premise (there's plenty of portions that take place from Dick or Damian's perspective), but it sticks to it pretty well.

I can't really complain about the art, because I love Dustin Nguyen with all my heart. (Just look at that cover!) My one quibble is that he draws Commissioner Gordon looking much skinnier than I imagine him.

The first two stories in the book, "Reconstruction" and "Catspaw", are pretty much contrived to set the pieces in place for everything else and have a fridging, so I've gotta ding Paul Dini for a star there.

The rest of the book, though, is pretty solid. "Ignition" and "City on Fire" make up a solid two-parter with Batman tracking down Firefly (and having a pretty funny run-in with a gone-straight Harley Quinn) while Hush schemes his way out of captivity in Wayne Tower (see contrived point from earlier) to cause mischief in the titular "Hush Money" and "Business". "Ignition" and "City on Fire" introduce a new vigilante in the city, Abuse, although Dini doesn't really do anything spectacularly interesting with him.

I'd also like to note that the latter mini-arc contains one of the creepier depictions of Victor Zsasz, a villain that I had always written off as being pretty dumb (Dini gets a major assist here with some jarring, scary art from Nguyen), and (finally!) answers the question of where the hell all of the abandoned amusement parks/casinos/zoos in Gotham City came from.

All in all, it makes for a pretty solid start. Nguyen hits it out of the art ballpark on the regular, and Dini is as sure a hand as ever at blending mystery, horror, and comedy in a Batman title. ( )

This is primarily a collection of vignettes, but somewhat interesting ones. In particular, I liked the storylines involving Black Mask slowly building control of Gotham (though I suspect that this isn't the same Black Mask who tortured Stephanie Brown), along with Batman taking down Hush & Firefly. Also, the character of Mr. Fine is an interesting character, and definitely one who I'm considering snitching for a supers campaign. ( )

The art was okay, not bad, not great, and the stories were okay too. Hush is back, with Bruce's face still. Unfortunately he's one of my least favorite villains. He's going around, still trying to destroy Bruce Wayne by draining his fortune.

There are also some other small Batman Villains that turn up and a newish sort of vigilante as well (Oh, and Black Mask is still orchestrating stuff a bit too).

I'm warming up to the 'new' Batman and Robin. I've always liked Dick Grayson, but it's taken awhile to even just stand Damian, but, he as Robin is growing on me. A solid TPB. ( )

Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne's son, Damian, have taken over for the fallen Batman. Here, they contend against Dr. Tommy Elliot, a.k.a. Hush, who has become the twin of Bruce Wayne and is intent on taking over his identity. Some interesting guest characters here, and Damian seems to have accepted his role as Dick's second, more or less. I am curious how the status quo will be eventually restored when Bruce Wayne inevitably returns. ( )