Professor Pyg (minus Mr. Toad for some unknown reason) has planned three jobs on one night. Batman uses Alfred and Katana to go to two of the locations; and they complete their missions successfully. Batman encounters Pyg at the Gotham Arms hotel, just as Burt Preston is checking in with his wife and young son (a Batman fan) who have just flown into Gotham moments earlier. Preston, whose oil company caused a spill in the gulf (shades of BP anyone?), turns out to be the target of Pyg. Pyg forces the family to the roof at gunpoint and orders Preston over the ledge. Batman swoops in to take out Pyg and rescue the family. A moment later, from a nearby rooftop, Katana tells Alfred that she can see Pyg's point, but not his methods. Alfred counters that Batman always knows what side he's on. Cleverly woven in the story are brown and black toned colored one page "origins" of Alfred, Katana, and Batman with no dialogue or captions.
I found this to be a decent, but not great story aimed at younger readers. I did like that first issue had a decent battle of wits between Anarky and Batman and was educational tossing in a reference to Guy Fawkes. The tv series hasn't shown us a lot of familiar faces in Batman's rogue's gallery, so I wonder if the comic will expand on it. (I recall when Batman: The Animated Series aired, the comic based on the show had the Penguin in it's very first issue before the Penguin actually appeared on the tv series.) While the show is not currently airing as of this writing, the title is still listed with DC's advanced solicitations through next February. I confess that of the other ardent Batman fans that I know personally, no one seems to like the series or has warmed up to it. Yes, the title is aimed at kids and will likely only be around as long as the series airs. I note that a few comic book shops have a separate section for younger readers (my local shop is no exception) and copies tend to be strictly ordered or underordered. Hopefully, young Bat fans reading this title will go on to explore the history of Batman and eventually take the stories they see here not as canon, but as a different take on Batman.
Beware the Batman #2:
Reviewed by Chris Karnes
