Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Batman Annual #2Batman Annual #2
DC Comics
Snyder, Bennett & Craig

The Batman annual presents an entertaining one-and-done story about Batman locked up in Arkham. The story actually involves a bit of a supernatural villain, which I found to be slightly odd in a Batman story. The comic tries to tie in to the Zero Year storyline but it is certainly not an essential component to that story at this point. This is a good but not great comic book, but there is something to be said for opening up a comic and getting a complete read these days and that is what we have here.

Batman is trying to show the good folks at Arkham just how easy it is to escape from there. I found these few pages to be the highlight of the comic book. The way Batman breaks down every situation and outlines what he thinks others might try and then demonstrates his solution is fantastic. These types of deconstruction of situations are never tiring in a Batman story.

Of course something goes wrong and Batman squares off with Arkham's oldest resident, The Anchoress. She's got an axe to grind with Batman and he gets himself in a bunch of trouble as a result.

The Anchoress just isn't that interesting of a character. Possibly because she has a super power that allows her to pass through solid objects. I've never been a fan of super powered Batman villains and even if it's of the magic sort I find them to be kind of an odd match for Batman. Batman solves this problem with some help from an interesting source.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe artwork is fine but definitely suffers from six inkers in terms of consistency. I'm not sure who inked what but there is an obvious turnover page to page and in some cases on the same page. The story being of the supernatural nature helps with leaving the main character in a shadow form. To this point the artwork seems to be more on target. The book is serviceable in terms of a visual story but it is nothing too special unfortunately.

The Batman annual is a good read. I liked the setup even if it isn't too original. I think the issue would have worked better if the villain didn't have this phasing power that she seems to possess but it did make for a different read in the Batman world. Overall, this was a fun read and that's what its all about.

3 out of 5 Geek Goggles