Most people that know me are aware that I don’t read a lot of DC books, it’s only recently that I’ve been delving into this company. There are two reasons I decided to pick up this new issue of Batman: First off it’s Batman, who doesn’t like Batman? I mean Batman is easily one of the greatest comic book heroes ever created. Second, I hate Grant Morrison, it’s insane how much I hate him. In over fifteen years he is the only writer that made me stop buying X-Men comics, he made Beast a cat and I will never forgive him. So when I heard Morrison was leaving Batman and someone else was taking over, I thought I might as well do my part to give them a sales boost and pick up the issue.

Issue 703 is written by Fabian Nicieza and drawn by Cliff Richards it’s a decent read. I didn’t regret reading this book, but it wasn’t anything spectacular. This issue was mostly a self-contained story which is nice for someone just jumping on to the series. The story revolves around Batman (Dick Grayson) and Robin (Damian Wayne) chasing after an art thief on a crazy glider. The thief escapes and the duo head home where Damian goes off on how Batman should have been able to catch the thief. The incident reminds Dick about an old villain he and Bruce used to fight known as the Getaway Genius. Then Red Robin comes into the story showing a news article about how Batman and Robin failed, the article is written by Vicki Vale. Everybody figures it’s a pretty big coincidence that Vale just happened to be at the same event that the thief would strike at, so Dick decides to pay her a visit. The visit doesn’t go so well, but Dick as able to stick a tracking device on her purse. Thanks to this little trick Batman is able to find out that the thief has been tipping off Vale and they now know where the thief will strike next.

The book cuts to the Annual Gotham Historical Society’s Victorian Event, there Batman finds the thief, he and Robin chase after the thief again. Batman is easily able to punch out the thief who turns out to be the daughter of the original Getaway Genius. She takes off and attempts to escape, but is stopped by Red Robin who disables her car. The story ends with Dick explaining to Damian about how the last time they caught Getaway Genius Bruce let him go because he was stealing Chemotherapy drugs. Bruce then set up Health Insurance for the criminal so he could live long enough to see his daughter grow up.

I did really enjoy the interaction of Dick and Damian, the two counter each other so much that they end up working well together. It’s kind of cool to see Dick grown up and trying to fill Bruce’s shoes. My favorite part about the book was the story of Bruce forgetting about Getaway Genius’ criminal past and doing everything he can to help the guy. I always liked how Batman was the superhero, but when he was just plain old Bruce Wayne he still did everything he could to help people no matter what. The art is okay, not bad by any means, but there’s a few panels where the character’s faces just look weird. I haven’t decided if I’m gonna keep up with Batman, but I’ll probably pick up the next couple of issues just to give it a shot.

Ken Zeider
Ken@ComicImpact.com