Batman Vol.3 #5

Nov 2012. Cover price £2.99.
76 pages. Full colour contents.
Titan Magazines.

Cover by UNKNOWN.

Contents:

 2 Digital Comics Now Available!

 3 Contents Page

 4 Batman pin-up; p: PAT (Patrick Gleason), i: Mick Gray, colouring by John Kalisz.

r: cover from Batman and Robin (DC Comics) #07 (May 2012).

 5 Driven w: Peter J. Tomasi; p: Patrick Gleason, i: Mick Gray, lettering by Patrick Brosseau, colouring by John Kalisz.

r: Batman and Robin (DC Comics) #07 (May 2012).

25 The Fall of the House of Wayne, part 2, w: Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV; a: Rafael Albuquerque, lettering by Dezi Sienty, colouring by Dave McCaig.

r: Batman (DC Comics) #10 (Aug 2012).

32 All-New Superhero Sagas! In the DC Universe! in-house advertisement.

33 The Fall of the House of Wayne, part 3, w: Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV; a: Rafael Albuquerque, lettering by Dezi Sienty, colouring by Dave McCaig.

r: Batman (DC Comics) #11 (Sep 2012).

37 Missed an Issue? back issues

38 Batman poster; a: Andy Clarke, colouring by Tomeu Morey.

r: variant cover from Batman (DC Comics) #11 (Sep 2012).

40 Subscribe

44 Batman pin-up. p:

r: UNKNOWN.

45 Ghost in the Machine w: Scott Snyder & James Tynon IV (p22-28 only); p: Becky Cloonan (p1-21) & Andy Clarke (p22-28), i: Becky Cloonan (p1-7; p12-18; p21) & Sandu Florea (p8-11; p19; p20) Andy Clarke (p22-28), lettering by Richard Starkings & Comicraft's Jimmy Betancourt, colouring by FCO Plascencia).

r: Batman (DC Comics) #12 (Oct 2012).

73 A Mark Millar Mindgasm in-house advertisement for CLiNT.

74 Batman Letters readers' mail

75 Next Time!

76 Batman: The Dark Knight in-house advertisement.

Ah - I knew there was a reason I persisted with this title. Damian Wayne being tortured by Nobody is one of the highlights of the series so far, but unfortunately Batman arrives in time to save him from something worse than a few fractures - if we ask nicely, DC might give us a monthly "lets torture Robin" series, so I wait in hope. Actually, this version of Batman isn't quite there for me either, so seeing him tortured issue after issue would be welcome as well.

The first story collected here at least manages a decent line of dialogue to end the issue, and there's enough room for the "character" of Damian to develop some... well, character, mainly. His portrayal throughout the various reprints thus far has lacked a believability which is still undercutting any sense that this is an actual child. Even the most stoic character has to have a moment where the facade cracks slightly, otherwise they are forever held apart from any understanding of their inner life. Damian is extremely difficult to understand as a living, breathing person.

The best story is Ghost in the Machine, with some superb artwork by Becky Cloonan. Harper is the first character (in all five issues) to feel even remotely real, and is thus, by far, the most interesting individual to appear in the title - no mean feat for a single appearance. I'm still unimpressed by the relentlessly grumpy Batman, but with the poster and pin-ups at least there is some value to be had here, though the artwork is far from the heights of the Marshall Rogers run in the seventies.

While I hope the title keeps improving, there's simply too much baggage being dragged along to see things changing dramatically.

#04

Batman Vol.3

06