And Then I Read: RETROACTIVE BATMAN, GREEN LANTERN

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

These are the other two Retroactive titles I chose to read. Len Wein always wrote a pretty good Batman, and this story is no exception. It brings in many of the characters from Batman's world in the 1970s, as well as three new villains patterned after even older villains from the 1950s I think. The villains are not the real focus, though, it's the relationships that make the story interesting. Tom Mandrake does a nicely moody and mysterious Batman, though I didn't like his Bruce Wayne as much. The coloring is again too dark for this absorbent paper, but in all, a fine effort by all involved.

Recommended.

I didn't like the writing by Dennis O'Neil as much on this one, and unfortunately the second story is one of his gems with Neal Adams, making for a tough comparison. I thought the motivation of the villainous arrow-shooter was pretty weak, and the emotional connection it was reaching for didn't work for me. Then there's the scene where Dinah Lance, the Black Canary, is shot in the chest with an arrow, and turns up bandaged but smiling a few pages later. Huh? The art by Mike Grell looks good, though I thought not as good as his recent work on THE WARLORD. Still worth a look.

Mildly recommended.