Single-Issue Reviews, October 2010, Part One

Short-but-sweet reviews! On tap: some Bat-related books, the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Unwritten, and X-Factor in Vegas. Read on to see what's what.

Batgirl #14

• Written by Bryan Q. Miller
• Art by Lee Garbett & Trevor Scott
• Cover by Stanley "Artgerm" Lau

Supergirl visits for a girls' night out with Batgirl, but a science lab mishap causes “hard light” Draculas to pop out of a movie screen, terrorizing the populace until our two heroines put an end to the madness. I picked this up because it seemed like it would be fun, I'm interested in Stephanie Brown's character, the cover is awesome, and I'd heard some really good things about it. And I was not disappointed. This issue is just an all-out good time. There's jokes, fancy butt-kicking, and two young superheroes having fun amidst it all. I haven't been able to keep up with this series, but that's not needed here. If you want a nicely drawn, fun, done-in-one, you cannot go wrong with this issue.

Detective Comics #869

• Written by David Hine
• Art by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens
• Cover by Peter Nguyen

A big lull in the “Imposter Wars” and a big lull in this story. Batman figures out who the Imposter Joker is, and still nothing happens until just before the end of the issue. The plot creeps forward just enough to justify making this issue, but unless the next issue is slam-packed from cover to cover, they could've just thrown that in the beginning of the next issue (or let me pay an extra dollar for the extra quarter- to half-issue it would take to get the same points across). I had hope at the end of the last issue, but the interesting themes presented there are almost entirely absent here. Let's hope it finishes well.

Red Robin #16

• Written by Fabian Nicieza
• Art & Cover by Marcus To & Ray McCarthy

Red Robin, the master planner, realizes he cannot plan for everything and incorporates that into his plans. Because he is that awesome. And probably a bit OCD, which is probably one of the big reasons I love him so much. This is, yet again, an excellent issue of Red Robin, and yes, you should be reading this. And if To and McCarthy stop drawing this comic, I will probably cry, just so you know.

Time Masters: Vanishing Point #3

• Written by Dan Jurgens
• Art & Cover by Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund

This is a big “talking heads” issue. Very little happens, unless you count everyone explaining their plans and motivations. I'm used to comics with tons of text — I love reading some Silver-Age comics, and those are chock-full of words — but the extreme verbosity in those comics is balanced with tons of action and tons of story. This has neither. It's all setup — this issue feels like filler. I've really been enjoying this series, but this issue's a disappointment.

The Unwritten #17

• Written by Mike Carey
• Layouts by Peter Gross
• Finishes by Ryan Kelly
• Cover by Yuko Shimizu

This series has been about stories, how they affect our lives, and how our lives affect them. So, it seems inevitable (now, anyway) that there would be a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure issue. The way they did it means you essentially get over 60 pages of content (at half size) in a $2.99 comic. (Thus, the special guest finishes by Ryan Kelly.) And all of it is at the same excellent level this entire series has been. There is no way you can beat that deal. Seriously, if you haven't been reading The Unwritten, get caught up with the gist of the story thus far and buy this issue. Or just buy it, anyway. You should be able to figure out enough to understand this issue, and then you can kick yourself for not having been reading this from the start and then you can get yourself caught up with the rest of the story.

X-Factor #209

• Written by Peter David
• Pencils by Emanuela Lupacchino
• Inks by Sebastian Fiumara
• Colors by Jeromy Cox
• Cover by David Yardin

Longshot in Vegas. I mean, do I need to say more? Okay, how about Shatterstar picking fights with pirate-ship actors? This issue is what I've come to expect from X-Factor: lots of fun, some butt-kicking, and some serious issues sprinkled in. (And the art's pretty decent this time!) This is the third issue of this arc, so it's not a great place to jump in (but that's why they have recap pages, right?) but any time is a good time to start reading X-Factor, I say.