Well I should’ve realized that you can only do so much with a comic when you have to rush to get an arc out. The first issue of this Cornell/McDaniels run was horrid, worst issue of the series in my mind. Then when #18 came out, it was a pretty decent read with some nice care to the writing and art. Now we have this issue and while it’s not horrible or even a ‘bad’ comic, it just doesn’t seem worth it.

I really like Paul Cornell as a writer, he can make something either amazing to read or something down right ridiculous (and also great to read). But this issue just has nothing really worthwhile to mention. I was annoyed that Cornell immediately pulled back the ‘Girlfriend Body Parts’ bag from last issue. Sure it’s down right insane, but this is an insane character and stuff like that makes issues memorible. Here, her ‘payback’ to Bruce and the ultimate twist at the end was dull at best and brought in no reaction to me at all. Cornell does seem to have a good handle on Damien and the relationship with Grayson. But considering it’s barely in here there’s nothing to grasp on with that notion either. I don’t even want to mention McDaniels artwork because it’s so not worth critiquing. Not as bad as the last two issues, but still pretty bad to look at.

In the end, I pretty much wasted my time with this issue and the arc overall. If Paul Cornell was given more time to work on this series, I would be all for it. Cause the idea of The Absence is an interesting one and if he didn’t have to rush it, it could’ve made a better read overall. As it stands, I’m just hoping Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason can bring some sort of relevance back to the book. Considering just how amazing Gleason’s take on the characters are on the cover (look at the detail with Robin’s boots!) then we at least have only half of the book to worry about.