I try to be as open minded as possible, and even, or especially when I encounter something I don't like, I try to give it a fair chance, and understand why I don't like it if I still don't like it after giving it said chance. It was the case with post I Am Bane Batman series by Tom King, which I grew to dislike only more and more with every passing issue. Enter Batman/Catwoman, which made, to say the least, a very unfavourable opinion on me with its first two issues. And here I am - giving it the last chance to capture my attention and imagination, make me see something more in it, because as of now, I'm completely conscious about what I dislike about it.

All my good will was gone when Catwoman says "I became a cat. I met a bat". I shaked my head asking myself in disbelief why am I even exposing myself to this trash? But yet, I proceeded. I continued reading this comic, just to find some action in it. Yeah, that's new, isn't it? Action. Too bad it features more inarticulate meowing, growling and hissing, making me shiver in disgust and cringe, and rather comically oversexualized fight sequence, which whilst not bad, reminds me of the infamous panel from Heroes in Crisis featuring half naked Lois Lane being half naked for the sake of being half naked. 90's called, they want their porn influences back.

I'm done with this series, it's time I stop wasting any second more on it. I've seen too much already. Screw the bat. And the cat. And my life as well, because I could have read something half decent instead. more

Who the hell are these critics on this site that give 90% of everything they read 10 stars? Everything can't be a 10. Its hard to take the critic reviews on here seriously sometimes. But this was a solid comic and series. Definitely not a 10 but was worth the read. But I am so glad this event is finally over. These huge events that span for months and have multiple tie ins and effect every storyline is really starting to turn me off in both dc and marvel. Sorry for the negativity but these events lose so much of their potential by dragging it out into nothing but a cheap cash grab. more

someone else on here said it well - it feels like Snyder slapped the word "hope" on a dialogue balloon for at least one character every other page, and crammed the book with....stuff. From that we're supposed to ignore the messy, stretched-out storyline over two similar events, and all we get at the end is a reinforcement of Morrison's "Multiversity" (which was great) by saying there are other multiverses out there to explore.

Well, let's just get on with it. This book could have been done as an oversized special/conclusion to the original Metal. more

Overall this event was a 2015 Secret Wars parody, that repeated the plot of Convergence and had similar consequences as Doomsday Clock.

Did Scott Snyder, the writer of the COURT OF OWLS storyline, just kill DC comics? I don't see anything good coming out of this event, man. The guy's career at DC began with a bang and ended with a whimper. You can slap the word 'hope' on each page and insert a thousand heroes but that doesn't make it a good comic book. Especially if the consequences are flat which this event has in droves... Also, the interactions between the heroes are hella dry.

Stick with Doomsday Clock. At least that event was WAY more consistent than this... :/

Congrats to Capullo and the art team for putting up with Snyder's antics... This gets a 4.

P.S. Why are outlets giving this comic a 9-10 score? Their opinion, yeah, but a 9?

C'mon...
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This whole thing feels unearned and inconsequential with its over-the-top story. It's a discombobulated mess! It leaves one both underwhelmed and unfulfilled by the end :/ Honestly, is Snyder 5 years old? Because the script certainly feels that way. Juvenile and callow. It's a rushed and crammed filled event with no clear goal except to kill off DC, I think. If you're into that kind of thing, great. But if you're a fan of superhero storytelling, yeah, this ain't it chief...

Art is fine. The colors and inks are stellar tho ngl. more

I don't get it.

I understand little to nothing what happened in this issue. It is so stupid and over-the-top I don't know should I take this seriously. The art is excellent as always but... what. I haven't read every one-shot there is because there is too many and most of them are bad.

How on earth the two guys who reintroduced me to Batman 7 years ago during their awesome run have made the worst event I've read in a long time? (I pretened HiC didn't happen.) more

I would have loved this back in 7th grade.

This is just too much. It feels like all of these past issues has been constant set up and exposition with little happening. The only cool stuff has been in the tie-ins (especially Speed Metal and Multiverse's End).

Snyder tries to fill the book with cool and deep metaphors to add some kind gravity and eloquence to the constant stream of so called edgy in-your-face "dumb fun" (look at Robin King if you think I'm lying).

The worst thing about it; its boring. more

Both overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. It’s hard to believe that it was written by the same Scott Snyder who wrote The Court of Owls.

Cons: Too much exposition (Scott should've opted to write a novel) and Lex feels rushed. The writing is just absurd, man. No way this series should've been 7 issues. This should've been 12 issues at least (with no tie-ins).

Pros: Last few pages are pretty awesome (but it all hinges on how the next issue will look like). But, overall, Capullo's pencils are OK--but that's only because Snyder's writing nearly covers every darn panel... Colors, inks, and lettering are on-point.

But man... I've tried having fun, tap into my inner 5-year old self, but this event feels forced. Even for the avid DC fan, this feels more like a cookie-cutter thrash song than the metal ballad it should've been. Stick with DC: Metal and/or Doomsday Clock.

This whole series reminds me of the bad/goofy stories of DC's silver age...

Lost potential all around. more

This is hot shit.

Tusk Darkseid makes me want to stop reading comics.

It feels so messy. I really don't like the idea how DC makes more and more one-shots that are required to read so that you understand the main book. Why not make them part of the main series?

I don't know what happened to Snyder. I really liked Metal but I really dislike this "EXTREME EPIC METAL WITH WTF MOMENTS AND CRISIS AND WATCHMEN". This book clearly tries too hard and fails miserably.

Especially with the main villain. I liked Doomsday Clock but this? This is just wrong. BWL is terrible and as much I hate to use that term, Robin King is just cringe. Pure cringe that should not exist.

I also liked BWL. But now? He is just bad. There is nothing in him that resembles Joker or Bruce gone mad. I don't even know what he is. more

This just might be the most heinous event story out of DC lore.

Scott, what happened?

The best song to listen to while reading this is 'Harmonielehre: II. The Anfortas Wound' -- this entire issue is drenched with eeriness. Best to read on a rainy night, with the lights off, a lamplight on... Chilling.

The ominous tone set by Geoff Johns and the cinematic work done by Fabok, paired with the nauseating color palette of Brad Anderon... This is a daunting comic to approach. It has an almost scholarly feel to it--like this is a culmination to Batman's long and bloody history with Joker, which includes Jason and Barbra, fittingly. At its core, it's an examination of trauma done right *cough* Tom King *cough*. It's serious, gothic, dirty, and feels like a bronze age comic book in all the right ways before the superheroes fell into the modern era.

When there are shelves of superhero comics exploring some new crisis event this is a rare gem that stands out from all those "pure fun" comic tropes. This is shaping up to be an ace in the hole. more

Look, i get that the point of this event is to be crazy camp for the sake of it, but a lot of the writing and concepts are just so fucking bad. The whole New Apokolips scene triggered me immensely because Scott Snyder clearly didn't understand Final Crisis and blatantly messed up one of the climaxes of the book (Batman vs Darkseid). The Anti-Life Great Death Drive was stupid as hell, Darkfather is beaten with ease (you would expect a Darkseid/Batman analogue to be unbeatable) and they find their allies on the next page just in time to set up the tie-in series. Robin King is edgelord crap (but the Speed-Force repellent is ridiculous enough to get a chuckle). Lobo's parts were interesting and we finally get some hinting as to why this series is called "Death Metal", as with the first Metal we had the whole dark numbered metals theme, now we have Lex Luthor gathering the 5 death metals to get his revenge of Batkek and Perpetua. Most of this issue was just tie-in setup, and DC even released the checklist with their new titles this week. This event is 24 parts long, and the next few are going to be the deciding factors as to if I still give a shit about any of this overexposed hodgepodge of mundane event-bait. more

“Fool me once, strike one. But fool me twice...strike three.” - Michael Scott. Yeah, I should have stopped with the event back when I rolled my eyes upon seeing the last panel of Issue 1. I have this impression that this isn’t Snyder’s story at all–that someone from the top is pushing this down his throat. This just doesn’t feel like the Scott Snyder I grew up admiring back when he wrote the first issue of the New 52 Batman series. However, if it IS Snyder’s story… What happened? Does he only want money out of this with all these new “Batmen” he keeps creating through sheer whim (batman toys)? After all, this is his LAST gig before he opts out of DC. Is he milking as much as he can out of this? Speaking of the various Batmen, I’d argue that even Capullo’s pencils (and panels) are lacking when it comes to drawing these various Bat-thugs, and the entire DC pantheon. Wonder Woman, for example, when she first appeared in this issue, her face looked…off. Heck, this whole series seems off. I was expecting a Wonder-Woman driven story as Scott said but this is more of the same of what METAL was but in doses that would answer this question in affirmation: Is too much of a good thing a bad thing? Yes. Yes, it is. This issue alone proves it. What with all these Batmen and a storyline that a 6-year-old would create with his toys. By far, though, the biggest casualty out of all this mess is Batman’s reputation. This series has turned him into a cliché. I love me some metal, you know, but you can only go so far before it turns into screamo–and I have nothing against screamo–but, yeah, this series is too rich for my comics taste. I’ll pass. This is the opposite of what ‘Doomsday Clock’ was and, far as I’m concerned, DC is what changed DC. Not this…thing. This unholy aberration of a ‘superhero comic.’ I'd pick Geoff's Superman over Snyder's 'Death Metal' version of the character any day of the week. The critics love this series, though, so am I missing something?

For what its worth, if you’re an aspiring inker or colorist–or even a letterer–pick it up. That’s why this is getting a 3, at least. The colors are lush and vibrant and the inks are sharp–and are contrasted nicely to make those colors pop. The lettering is fine, too. more

The series is seriously treading through some ground I'm not sure I'm comfortable with. On one hand, there's the JSA (who are there only for a few freakin' pages and then, once again, vanish without giving Wonder Woman any advice) but on the other hand, DC is (yet again) taking something of elegant design (Dr. Manhattan) and using it as a plot device to bolster the BWL's power. I mean, dude? Doesn't Snyder have an ounce of respect for Alan Moore's creative mind? At this point, the BWL has become a caricature for badly-developed villains found in comics--which is a shame (or maybe the point?). It just had so much potential to tread the comic book avenues as a xenomorph-like villain but now the BWL is nothing more than a gag, honestly. I'm buying issue 3 but, man, DC should have seriously gone with Doomsday Clock for its "change" and not this over-the-top, bloated event. But this IS barely the second issue, that's why I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt... more

If this is really the end of snyder and capullo on Batman, I must say bravo. I loved it, Snyder may have fallen off the wagon since metal with batman, but this series cemented at least for me, his love and great knowledge of the character. It's about Batman being human and not an automaton, cough cough Tom king. Batman is not a depressed maniac who fights an endless war on crime, he is happy, his choices in life may not be the greatest nor end in the a happy ending, but he makes the most of his situation and continues the good fight, while opening his life up to others. This book made me really emotional about that and now that Snyder is apparently ending his story on Batman with this, it makes me even more emotional. Great stuff. And this might be my favorite stuff this art team has ever done, in my opinion this is the most consistently amazing Batman art team ever, huge credits to Capullo, Glapion, and Plascencia. Just amazing visuals ever since 2011 more

What, you want to know why I gave it a 10? Read it yourself first :) This is a once-in-a-lifetime type deal that deserves your attention only. In other words, stay off of everything until you get your hands on this issue. After the biblical confrontation at the end of issue 11, this issue will... Nevermind.

But hey, DON'T expect a fight. Just don't. Expect, instead, a debate about what makes us human.

Read it, and savor every panel. And for those who have read it and want to offer their opinion, keep it vague, or don't say anything at all. This thing has been nearly 3 years in the making. Let's let those who haven't gotten the chance to read it have an experience unlike any other found in literature. more

To give you a scope regarding the deeply intense intimacy found in this issue: Re-read issue 51 of Scott Snyder's run (if you can) and then read this monster. It's a fully-fledged swan song celebrating Snyder's run, Batman + Joker, DC, and superheroes in general. And that's the tip of the iceberg because I don't know where to even begin concerning Greg's insane pencil-work. Then you have the colors, the ink-work, the letterer...

This is a pure superhero comic (with an edge, of course (Black Label)) through and through. What a way to end the decade. Seriously. Now to wait for the absolute edition...
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A detailed and SPOILER-FREE Review

The issue debates the forces of faith and disbelief. I haven't seen a world brimmed with so much darkness since Moore's Watchmen. This isn't what DC stands for BUT that's what Johns WANTS us to see. His thesis in this issue is that superheroes are there to breathe through that darkness, that is, to inspire; and it's up to us whether to have faith in them OR to have disbelief. The events that transpire throughout the issue begs one to question the understanding of what it means to have superheroes in the world, and if they are efficient--and worthwhile--truths for us to better comprehend the world and each other. Johns writes these characters with such human stark and grace that you'll find yourself feeling and confronting sentiments you've never experienced before in reading a comic-book. The perfect song for this issue is Mozart's Introitus. It's a very beautiful and sinister issue. Needless to say, this type of material is sure to be taught in academia (a few examples where you'll find this stuff being taught: English Interpretation, Positive Psychology, Cultural Philosophy, and even Social Politics).

As I said, no spoilers here, but the ending of this issue is damn near biblical. It will convince those people that are calling Doomsday Clock "cheap fanfic" to question their verdict. Doomsday Clock is truly the "second coming" of a great comic book and a call to arms for another golden age of superhero comic books.

My only tiny negative is that A LOT of stuff happens in this issue. It's a tiny thing because I can see someone making the argument that Johns is commenting on what superhero writers always have to do every now and again, which is explain what's happening, what's going on, who are these characters--so on and so forth. Which isn't a far-fetched argument, honestly. Mainstream critics have caught on that each Doomsday Clock issue comments on a facet of society and comics--and so much more. To give a few examples: Issue 9 commented on this crisis that every comic book event must have and how it's just futile (and Dr. Manhattan proves that when he incapacitates every superhero who goes to Mars). Then there's issue 10 that comments on retcons... The list goes on and on.

This is high art

I have faith that Johns will deliver in issue 12 and if he doesn't, well, read the quote by Theodore Roosevelt, the one that appears at the end of issue 3 of Doomsday Clock. Whatever happens in issue 12 Johns can go to the grave being the one writer to have dared. That's his ace in the hole.

As for my boy Gary Frank...the dude is killing it in every single panel. Protip: Buy yourself a magnifying glass (I'm serious) because some panels are riddled with so much articulated detail that you'd be surprised by what you find.

Calling it right now: Next issue is going to be about love (Superman) versus apathy (Dr. Manhattan). But I'd recommend you don't read any user or mainstream reviews until after you've read the issue. It's the last issue and I think you'd want to savor every sense that comes with that notion.

Peace. more

This shit is bonkers.

Spoiler-Free Review

Wally West said--in the DC Rebirth one-shot special--that "there's going to be a war between hope and despair. Love and apathy. Faith and disbelief." The last three issues of Doomsday Clock, I think, are going touch on that war, that conversation (finally). After the epic battle that took place in Doomsday Clock #9, it seems fitting now to tackle the very essence of what DC stands for--which isn't a splash page of heroes fighting villains but a conversation of those things that Wally mentioned at the end of the Rebirth one-shot. This issue in particular touches on the topic of "hope versus despair." And it becomes apparent with the JSA (who represent hope) now in the mix, but (as you can see in the variant cover) Dr. Manhattan is there too and he acts as a rebuttal to that philosophy (which is despair). We begin to see a debate form. We also see a return of the hardboiled noir series featuring Nathaniel Dusk, and we start to see parallels now with how this story serves as a metaphor to the psychological/philosophical war between DC's heroes and Watchmen's characters. In a nutshell: Some people are going to get turned off because these last three issues are going to be about a war between ideologies rather than fists. And that's a good thing damnit!

This issue finally sets the tone for the ominous confrontation between Dr. Manhattan and Superman. Just don't expect a fight. It's clear that the impending confrontation will result in a debate about the very forces that make one a hero or a villain.

As for Gary Frank's art? What new things can I say about it, man? The guy is crushing it. more

After 14 years of waiting, we finally are able to read this issue, and damn it was worth the wait. Both Johns and Frank are at the top of their game, with so much happening. Things are still building, but it's happening, at last. And that one scene where all the heroes are attacking Dr Manhattan? Loved it. This is why I fell in love with comic books.

Non-spoiler review...

Issues 1 - 4 = Act 1
Issues 5 - 8 = Act 2

Welcome to Act 3, where Dr. Manhattan and every DCU hero imaginable (not exaggerating) head to Mars (not a spoiler since it's in the variant cover) to confront him. Some of you who are die-hard DC fans are going to get emotional, I think. I mean, these are heroes you love and have a deep attachment to. So when you see them confront Dr. Manhattan--a force that's beyond them, beyond any superhero universe, hell, beyond US--you KNOW that a fight ISN'T going to win the day BUT a conversation: One with Dr. Manhattan and (you guessed) the Man of Steel; and by the issue's end that pillar becomes erected. And to give you an idea of the scope of this issue: What goes down makes Marvel's Infinity War look inconsequential and trivial in comparison. This is a DCU v. Dr. Manhattan issue, ladies and gents. The start of Act III. P.S. The delays are torture but the quality (writing, pencils, ink, lettering, colors, panel layout) is just insane. Be patient!


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Beautiful character study.

A very deep character study.

Straight fire this is.