Comics Reviews

Forever Evil: Arkham War #3 review

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Two things to note:

  1. The Talons have been hyped up quite a bit but they’re still aren’t unthawed yet
  2. The brawl between Bane and Killer Croc looks WAY cooler on the cover than it does in the actual interior of the comic

All in all, there’s really not a whole lot of substance to this issue. It can be fun watching the villains fight, but that’s pretty much all it is. A few cameo-stuffed pages of recognizable villains punching here, a couple panels of conspiring villains reciting the plot back to us again over there… it’s a comic that gives you exactly what you’d expect. Except thawed Talons. Who knows when those guys are finally going to show up! Some of the characterization is also quite questionable. Mad Hatter definitely doesn’t seem like Mad Hatter, but I suppose he was shown with more anger management issues in Gregg Hurwitz’s abysmal arc that had Tetch slaughtering thousands. Killer Croc is far too eloquent of a speaker. Bane’s reasoning just isn’t what it used to be

Spoiler
“The bad guys were all afraid of Batman, therefore I should dress as Batman” just doesn’t seem like something Bane would do, does it? He’s worked too damn hard to be what he is today just to throw on a cape and cowl and hope for the best now. It just seems really desperate! On the plus side it is a pretty crazy development that could hopefully lead to some unpredictable moments much like the apparent death of Killer Croc– I’m willing to bet a Man-Bat or two catches him in the next issue.
and Emperor Blackgate is still being called “Emperor Penguin.”

No, what you’re here for is some really cool, well-illustrated fight scenes between characters who rarely get to throw down. There was more of it in the previous issue, but Scot Eaton gets to draw a few new baddies entering the fray in this issue and that’s fun to see. I was certainly fond of the way he drew Clayface with a second row of teeth much like how Capullow drew him back in Batman #19 & 20.

Recommended If…

  • You just want to watch a few Batman villains hit each other
  • You’re a big fan of Scot Eaton’s artwork
  • You want to see Bane do something crazy

Overall

My interest in this tie-in series is waning. Big time. Like I said, it’s basically a feature that shows us all the villains duking it out each month and I like something with a little more substance than that. And when you’ve got 9+ Batman related comics coming out on the same day there are just too many better options out there. Speaking of which, I have more reviews to write. Did I mention I haven’t slept in 36 hours? 9+ Batman comics in one day, seriously? Nine plus?

SCORE: 6/10