Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Batman #670
DC Comics
Morrison, Daniel, Glapion

The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul - the Prelude. As stated in other reviews, with World War Hulk and Sinestro War wrapping up I am looking for the next crossovers to keep me warm in the cold months ahead. I got Messiah Complex from Marvel and I got Ra's Resurrection from DC. Edge goes to Messiah in the early rounds.

This issue sets the pieces for the crossover to come. Batman is sniffing around to see what Talia has been up to lately. He finds some guys asking about Nanda Parbat when he goes to see I-Ching. He runs into Tiger Moth, Silken Spider and Dragon Fly while he is still hunting after Talia. Lastly, more council with I-Ching leads him to believe Ra's has returned.

Intermixed with all this, a Seisei of some sort is involved and preparing for war. This appears to upset Ra's in some way when Talia explains this to him. Ra's is bandaged up like a mummy and is seeking some new skin. Damian, the targeted body for Ra's, rebels and escapes before Ra's can take him over.

This issue is a real good story. Especially if you know your Batman-Ra's world inside and out. Which I do not.

I happened to read the Batman Annual which dealt with the rebirth of Ra's so I understand how he came about living again. If you didn’t pick up the Annual, well then shame on you.

However, it seemed odd that in that issue Talia and Damian escaped and prevented Damian from being sacrificed to bring Ra's back. Now, they seem to be hanging out with Ra's, running over the same ground of needing to escape. What made them trust him now? That mummy look doesn’t invite too much comfort I wouldn’t think.

Also the additional characters, such as Sensei and I-Ching obviously have some importance, but that was lost on me. Perhaps they are new altogether and we will learn their story in issues to come. Somehow I doubt that. My guess is the Batman faithful know these characters well and can recite the wikipedia page entries for each of them to me.

I liked the pace of the issue. I liked the art. Damian in his Robin-suit looked great and Ra's with his creepy green eyes looked outstanding. Even the Sensei dude looked really cool.

I also liked Batman investigating and tracking. This is generally a staple for a good Batman story and it is in here.

My only real issue is I was lost on some of the dialog and characters. I wouldn’t mind if some of the issue held mystery, but I felt like two thirds of it was like that and if I didn’t, by chance, read the Annual, the issue would have been near 100% lost on me. It's a prelude issue to a major crossover. You want people to "jump on" not get run over. Messiah Complex gave some pages in the back explaining each of the groups in one or two sentences. Would that have been so freaking hard to do? Sure, I could read your wikipedia pages for these people but that isn't cool.

I liked the issue despite the confusing aspects of it that I am sure the life-long Bat fans loved. I fear for any newbie entering this crossover. Just be prepared to be a little lost in this issue. On again off again Bat-fans, like me, will need some help to get us started and then we should be ok. Beyond this, a good first step from my perspective. Dazzling art, fast pace and plenty of character placement for the coming issues. Bravo good show.

3.5 out of 5 geek goggles.


Batman #670

DC Comics
AUG070228D