Man-Thing by R.L. Stine sounded like an awesome idea. An incredibly succesful horror writer doing one of the flagship horror characters in the MU. Unfortunately, Stine's debut in comics lacks a lot of comic book-style story. He does not take advantage of the medium and the freedom it gives: The story is abruptly interrupted by a flashback, and although it began with an interesting idea, it boils down to a cliched "fight with itself" at final pages. Also, Stine erases one of the most interesting character traits of Man-Thing: His lack of speech. The art, though, is pretty good and its combination with the colorizing fits the horror nature of the character. At the end, the artwork saves the issue, and stops it from being just a well of badly executed good ideas.

The greatest problem with this issue is the fact that it is a pretty rushed conclusion to a story arc. You get to know everything about Warhead's identity and arc in a feel pages of dialogue, jumping from 0 to 100 too fast to really feel the story flowing. It is, though, an interesting plot: Warhead's connection to two eastern powerhouses of old times (Bialya and Kahndaq) can be a good point to be further explored, and Warhead's own regeneration is worth being revisited in the future. But despite its rushed pacing, it has a solid artwork, without horrendous anatomy and shadowing mistakes, and a good color-palette, especially in the different telepathy scenarios. The more red-driven, brutal colors are used for war scenes and the lighter, blue-driven colors used in the Atlantis' scenarios. Ultimately, it's a regular issue. It has it's flaws, but it get good points for being a different kind of plot in a volume that is filled with things that had been already done somewhere in the character's history.

Going back into the end of the New 52 volume, Abnett brings back the good note in which the last volume and shows it up again to the (possibly) new readers in a way that's perfectly comprehensible for them. The story develops smoothly and without rough turns or rushed pacing like the last issue. Bringing back the characters from the Dead Water arc is also a great idea, especially the scarred Scavenger and the Agents Ajar and Irving. Unfortunately, we don't get to know the other Aquamarines as well, and I hope Abnett's writing, at the end, develop more about those characters. The artwork is a little stiff sometimes, but is pretty dynamic on the action scenes. The Dead Water design is terrifying, and artist Phillipe Briones really nailed it's movements. Coloring is also good, with some interesting palletes invested in quick flashback sequences. Ultimately, it's a really good issue. It got me hooked for a next one, and how that plot will develop. After a quick two-issue promising but not very good arc, a larger story might be of an awesome use for the overall quality of the volume.

King's new story arc is definetly an improvement to the I am Suicide arc, and so does this issue. The parallels drawn between Batman and Bane really works alongside the story to give depth to the rivalry, as well as raise Bane to even more a threat. But the issue still fall in a recurring problem of this volume (and, being bold, of a lot of Batman's writers) that is the utter control of the plot and how it evolves. All is part of his master plan, and this thins out the conflict of the story in various levels. The art is consistent and beautiful, and the panel configuration, especially on the Bat-Bane parallels, are really well-crafted. Is a really dedicated Fincher, since the book's start.

Now that's how you do comics. In this issue,King shows how much he has control over the flow and the pacing. Using the famous 9-panel grid, one of Watchen's narrative branda, Tom tells a story that is perfectly crafted and executed into the time barrier imposed by the story. I'm really trying not to enter the spoiler's zone, but it's almost impossible. So... Go read it. Probably one of the best issues of King's Batman, if not the best one.