A Ghost From The Past
The Story:
The Black Mask has become Gotham City's new crime lord. A new face in Gotham begins to sabotage his operations. He's calling himself the Red Hood. Black Mask hires Mr. Freeze to stop the Red Hood and retrieve the Kryptonite he stole. Batman and Nightwing enter the fray as they attempt to discover the identity of the mysterious Red Hood. Batman's suspicions are confirmed when the Red Hood takes off his mask revealing himself.
My Thoughts:
Writer Judd Winick delivers a knockout story. An excellent balance of action, suspense, drama and detective work culminating in an impressive and entertaining story sure to please all Batman fans.
The character of the Red Hood is easily likable. While his motives are questionable to say the least, you can tell he wants to rid the streets of people fitting his definition of "evil" and he's willing to do whatever it takes. I think people will like him even more once they find out who he is.
As Batman begins to put the pieces together, he turns to Zatanna, Green Arrow and Superman for answers relating to death and rebirth. I really enjoyed the writing during these parts. The interaction between Batman and Green Arrow was tense and dramatic.
The chase scenes with Batman and the Red Hood were awesome. The artists did a great job capturing everything. It was like poetry in motion. The final showdown with Batman and Red Hood where he took off his mask to reveal himself to Batman was chilling.
The art is by Doug Mahnke and Paul Lee. Their combined efforts do justice to Judd Winick's script. The inkers and colorist pitch in and really help bring the script to life. Matt Wagner's covers were beautifully done with a painted effect.
This is something long-time Batman fans should definitely have in their collection. Even if you're new to his character you can still appreciate this well-crafted work of art.
Rating: 5/5
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