Batman Inc #2 Review

This issue concludes the first regular story arc of the Batman Incorporated era. It was pretty sweet. First off I loved the dynamic between Bruce and Selina. The first issue had a pretty unsubtle moment that without showing it, which would put this issue in the "for mature readers" category, let the reader know that currently Batman and Catwoman are having regular casual sex. At the time it seemed a little on the nose for my tastes but I really like where this relationship is going. I think that this is something that will develop over a long time through all of Grant Morrison's books and I think that is a good thing. Lord knows Morrison is the master of the long play. The story centers on Jiro Osamu's journey from the assistant to Japan's Mr. Unknown to the new Japanese Batman. The villain of the story, Lord Death Man was visually pretty cool. He was reasonably bad ass and Jiro's battle with him is made cooler because of that. He was no Joker certainly but driving a car through a noodle restaurant just to up his body count is pretty cold. Again this book was pretty unsubtle on that count as well. Yanick Paquette's artwork was pretty blatant during this scene. In that one panel I count two people dead from gunshot wounds and one spread between the bumper and the wheel well of the car. It even get's a, "YOU SICK, TWISTED MONSTER!" from Batman himself. This book pulls no punches. Because of that I am giving it my highest rating so far. It gets a 4.25 stars out of a possible 5. My only major disappointment was the lacking of a defining moment for Jiro. Their were a few shots at this but these seemed to be more like field goals then a good long bomb touchdown. I am looking forward to his development as a character in the future as well as the rest of the emerging Batman Corps. Good art and great story that develops both main and ancillary characters makes for a great book and I can't wait for the next issue.