DC COMICS
WRITER: Frank Miller
ARTISTS: Jim Lee, Scott Williams
COVER: Jim Lee, Scot Williams/ Frank Miller

Batman and Black Canary get into a lot of fights while Barbara Gordon dons the garb of "Batgirl." There is a lot of action with special emphasis on teeth being knocked out. The story is pretty thin. In fact, there may not actually be a story at all-- just heroes beating on baddies. Maybe that is why this is one of the more enjoyable issues of this series so far. Batman's internal monologue--cum-narration is still overwrought, almost like a bad parody of a tough-guy, noir detective. But the upbeat, eager narration of Batgirl is a nice contrast. The art is nice, not groundbreaking, not mind-boggling but it gives the story a sense of excitement and motion that hide the shortcomings of the text. At least in this issue, there is a minimum of over-the-top scenes that made previous issues look silly or offensive (like Batman trying to force Dick Grayson to eat rats.) For the most part however, this series is being written very haphazardly. Frankly, it really looks like Miller is just phoning it in. At least we know that he can still do action and adventure correctly. Two and a half stars.