Someone is killing off the soldiers of Gotham City crime lord Black Mask. A series of these murders has Batman on the case and his investigation involves trying to develop new relationships with the original Batman's sources of help. From learning how to handle himself around Jim Gordon or convincing Catwoman why she should help him, Dick Grayson is still fleshing out how his position as Gotham City's leading crimefighter has to be handled. His enemies aren't wasting much time either. Black Mask has plans of his own that include Professor Hugo Strange and some experiments that do not bode well for the good guys.
For the first time since the death of Bruce Wayne and the changing of the guard, this one really feels like a Batman story. Murders, bad guys assembling behind the scenes to plan mayhem, crime scene conversation with Commissioner Gordon and some honest to goodness detective work to tie it all together. Writer/artist Tony Daniel has blended the old with the new very well in this issue and it reads like many classic stories while the setting and people remain current. Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin book is doing it's own thing and Detective Comics is centered around the new Batwoman so this hits all the right notes that fans of the classic Batman style have been missing.
Daniel's artwork here is not his best work of late. His drawing was a little more solid in his Battle For The Cowl series where here it seems a little inconsistent in spots, but just barely. The art is still totally solid but there were a couple of panels that came off not as good as others.
Cover art to BATMAN #692 by Tony Daniel
After his fine handling of the characters and plots involved in Battle For The Cowl, Tony Daniel has come back and proven that he not only deserves to be handling this book on a monthly basis but that he also has a great understanding of the tone of the book as well. From the dialogue moments to the setup of the master criminal plan, everything is executed very well and any fan of Batman should find this a perfectly entertaining read with a thirst for the next issue. This one gets a B grading and looks to be leading down some interesting paths with the story and brings back the anticipation to see what comes next. It's that anticipation that's really been missing from this title in recent months and it's nice to have back. Very solid book and it's still holding on to that $2.99 price point so there's not a whole lot going wrong here.
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My only gripe is that they seem to be taking too long to get Dick in a comfortable place as Batman. By the time the writers of all the Bat Books get past this, Bruce Wayne will return and all we'll have of Dick's tenure are stories of him "getting used" to being the Bat. While this issue may be a step in the right direction, it's taking to long to get there.