Detective Comics #839

The final chapter of "The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul" comes to a close here and my reaction was "is that it?" Writer Paul Dini keeps the action moving in this issue with the Batman Family coming together at Nanda Parabat. The art team lead by penciller Ryan Benjamin and inker Saleem Crawford does a fine job of translating Dini's story to the page. The action is laid out nicely and never gets confusing. Although, at times, both the art team and Dini are channeling Frank Miller's "All-Star Batman & Robin" Batman in this issue.

The question I have to ask is after 7 issues plus two prologues did this story really go anywhere. I'm not too sure it did. It just wasn't a very grand tale and didn't capture my interest. I'm not sure I would recommend the TPB when it comes out in 2008. The bigger question is did this make me want to get the Batman Family of books. Well, I'll have to talk this out with my son, but I just wasn't impressed enough to add them to my pull list.

Detective Comics #838

Paul Dini continues where Fabian Nicieza's "Nightwing" left off and does a good job of moving the story forward bringing the principal Batman Family members closer together. Dini has a lot going on in this issue and moves the chess pieces around in a logical manner. We are almost halfway through the story and we have Batman and Ra's in the same room. The art by Ryan Benjamin and Saleem Crawford is descent. I like Benjamin's layouts and use of space on the page. He captures action quite well. The only thing I really don't care for is his Batman. He draws him just a little too big and the head is too broad with a couple of shots looking like he was going for a John Byrne style of drawing.

A few nitpicks about continuity. I am far from a continuity freak, but there are two points in this issue that even I noticed. First off was Damian's uniform. From the prelude to "The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul" through part 2 in "Nightwing", Damian has been wearing a modified version of the Robin uniform. In this issue, artist Benjamin leaves Damina in a white and grey body suit. Another error is is when Ra's knocks Robin out cold with a slap. In the previous part of this story, Ra's karate chopped one of his ninjas and broke his hand. Given that he is decaying in the dead body that he resides in, he shouldn't have been able to do that. Does the fault lie with Dini or Benjamin? I think this is an editorial issue that should have been picked up in proof by either Jeanine Schaefer or Mike Marts who also edited "Robin" #168 and "Nightwing" #138.

I really liked this issue as Dini propelled the plot forward and provide the ultimate choice for Batman on the final splash page. Hopefully the last four parts of the story provide a good payoff and that the editors get it together and maintain continuity on both visuals and story elements across the various titles.