All around, Batman: The Brave and the Bold #8 is still struggling to justify its existence. Even with a couple half-decent stories, it overstays its welcome and fails to justify its inflated shelf price.

Anthology books are difficult because even one middling story can drag down the whole product. The stories in Batman: The Brave and the Bold #9 are mostly strong but a deeply frustrating opener makes the book hard to recommend wholeheartedly.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #11 sees a fun continuation of last month's Man-Bat story and the return of two iconic DC legends, but still struggles to hold its consistency over all five stories. Maybe it's time to drop the second Batman story (which is rarely good) and re-orient the book as more of a DC showcase for lesser used characters like Bat-Lash, Sgt. Rock, and Wild Dog.

This is one of the strongest collections of stories yet. This issue shows exactly what the series can do at its best: provide a core thematic framework (such as dealing with regret and redemption) using a variety of eclectic DC comics characters. Or to put it another way: all killer, no filler.

The beats are undeniably familiar, and there are some major red flags that pop up in this re-telling of Poison Ivy's origin. Nevertheless, I have faith in G. Willow Wilson's writing, and I'm curious to see where the story goes. This, on top of it being one of the best looking comics on stands today, makes Poison Ivy #19 well worth picking up!

Wilson, Takara, and Prianto continue their strong run on the series even if the middle chapter can sometimes feel more like setting pieces in motion than telling an organic story.

The decision to split up Isley's origin into three parts and include recent elements such as Bella Garten indicated an exciting take on the story. Unfortunately what we got was unfocused, episodic, and full of repeated ideas and frustrating dead-ends. If you're unfamiliar with Ivy's origin or want to see a more in-depth blow-by-blow then this is a serviceable version. Otherwise, it's gonna be a no from me dog.