Worst Comic of the Week

OK, it's clearly not THE worst, but it is pretty damn bad, and it's bearing the brunt of my disdain for the annoyingly terrible and inept "Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul" arc.

Among the...ahem...finer points of this story line, we have:

• Batman donning a ridiculous new outfit, which serves no apparent purpose (other than to justify a new line of action figures/busts)


• Absolutely no communication between the writers/artists, as situations we are shown in one issue do not sync up with what we are shown the next. Another fine example of DC editing in action


• Artwork that makes it difficult to know who is who and is doing what to whom (not helped by several misplaced dialogue balloons). I'm looking at you, Ryan Benjamin...


• Fatuous mischaracterizations of people, especially Robin


• Insipidly inconsistent use of technology, especially for "globe-trotting" Batman. In chapter 2 (Nightwing #138) Dick is able to use an emergency override on the JLA teleporter to travel from a random Chinatown alley in NYC to Wayne Manor. But they have to fly to Tibet? And fly back, and even have a wounded Dick piloting the plane?


• The remarkably unsatisfying and laughable plot device used to end the story line: God intervenes. Seriously. (OK, Rama Kushna, but still). I wish I were making that up. I had thought that DC was no longer in the 1970's "having God save the day" mode--but I guess I was wrong.


• Absolutely no story resolution whatsoever. SPOILER ALERT. At the end of the day, Talia is still off somewhere unknown with Damien, who is still a brat. Robin is apparently never going to even mention again his temptation to work with Ra's or his throw down fight with Nightwing. Dick's not going to mention it, either. Nothing much has changed for Bruce. We did find out that pretty much every male character who has appeared in a Ra's Al Ghul storyline ever is (surprise!) a relative of his, and he's now got a new body. Wow. That was real important stuff there, DC. Really justifies the 7-part crossover.

So, was this the price we had to pay for not having Batman involved in Countdown or Sinestro Wars? Sigh....

BONUS PANEL:

I know you can't tell from artwork (sigh) but the dude up front flying the plane is Dick Grayson. I know Don Kramer is incapable of drawing normal human emotions on faces, but c'mon, now--did Alfred slip Dick some Joker venom or what?

Cover and panel from the regrettable Detective Comics #839. In which absolutely zero detecting is done. I'm just saying...