You know a title has hit hard times when it’s the first in your pile. Usually I rank my comics in order from ‘least interested’ to ‘most interested’ to read. So when this series is first in my pile then I know it’s not good. Paul Cornell is a good writer but it’s obvious from the start last issue he was rushed to do it. Then you have Scott McDaniels who’s style looks even worse when rushed. I don’t know why I picked this up again, maybe it’s just to have it so I can get the Tomasi/Gleason run. In the end though, I am sorta happy to actually pick this up again.

Maybe Cornell got a better idea of the villain Absence and the plot while getting this assigned. I actually was intrigued on how this villain works and just why she is so pissed at Bruce. It makes sense that someone who once dated Bruce would be so hell bent on ruining his life. Again it makes no sense on how this lady is living with such a big hole in her head (even with a ‘scientific’ explaination for it) but the writing sorta excuses the ridiculousness for it. It’s also funny how sick Cornell can get at this story. I especially loved what Absence’ was holding in her hands at the end of the issue. (I wanna know who exactly wrote on the bag and had no problems with it for some reason)

Even Scott McDaniels art looks better here, even though I am still not a fan of the style. The pencils look much tighter and it’s easier to tell what exactly is going on. There are still some weird panels in this and the ending does look a bit rushed as well. Weird how in the beginning of the issue the pencils look strong but it gets somewhat weaker towards the end. Also, McDaniels sorta has a weird Neal Adams vibe going when Batman and Robin are out of costume. It took me out of the end of the issue a bit and I hope we don’t see them out of costume next month.

So yeah, this is a strange arc indeed. The first issue was obviously rushed as hell and it showed with horrible writing and pencils. Here though, with a little bit of time both Cornell and McDaniels made this a much better issue to read. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised with having more time on the last issue it will be even better. So chalk this up as ‘Most Surprising Issue of the Year’ for me.