If anyone was going to be Scott Snyder's successor on Batman, Tom King had to be on a lot of people's short lists. The former CIA operative turned comic book writer has a handle of good comic book action, as well as an intriguing story. This issue marks the conclusion of the first story arc, and it ends on such a great note. The idea of Gotham's powers is brilliant, and the heights he goes to in his battle are amazing. Batman's voice is fantastic, it fits King like a glove. The final resolution to this arc is also great, really casting Gotham in a sympathetic light, and showing how far Batman will go to save his city. Also, he hits Gotham with the Batplane - that's just objectively awesome. The one flaw of this arc has been the lack of characterization for Gotham Girl. She gets a bit more panel time in this issue, but it doesn't make up for four issues of not knowing much about her. Hopefully there's more to learn. David Finch deserves credit for drawing every single issue of this arc, as the biweekly schedule has to be a bear to meet. His art is great, much better than his work on Wonder Woman from the New 52. more

This series is off to a slow start. Nothing about it really stands out as wrong, but nothing stands out as right, or as great, or as memorable. Batgirl, Black Canary, and Huntress (I'm less familiar with the last one) all read like themselves, they don't seem poorly characterized. The art is pretty good, and the villain is... well, present. I think that's actually the main problem with this issue - nothing is memorable, or makes we want to know what's going to happen. That's a bigger problem than some might think - you can have the best of everything going for you, but if there's no reason for me to care, there's no reason for me to come back. I want this book to work, I want it to succeed, but this was not a good first issue (especially after an average at best Rebirth issue). Hopefully next month's issue will be better. more

Dan Abnett's story of Atlantis being seen as an enemy nation to the US is an interesting one, and it's fairly well executed. Aquaman sounds like a hero, an elder statesman, a man trying to bring both of his worlds together. His struggle works on every level - there's the high octane superhero action, the intriguing political dialogue, and his commitment to a peaceful resolution to the issue. The US government's hesitancy to align with Atlantis makes sense, especially when considering Geoff John's run on Aquaman, and the "Throne of Atlantis" storyline in particular. The main issue I have continues to be with Mera's characterization. She's very one note, and not particularly intelligent in her reasoning. She just wants to fight and attack everyone and everything around her. I get the idea of her true love being in danger, but she doesn't show any kind of common sense. It's just such a shame when so much of the story works so well. The art in this issue is pretty good too, nothing standing out too much as great or as terrible. more