Battle for the Cowl #3

One thing that kept popping into to my head while reading the ongoing series of Batman's death and replacement is, "How does it compare to Captain America?" Well Cap's was by far superior to Batman's. I won't talk about the mess that led to Batman's demise though. Battle for the Cowl is about someone taking the reigns and sadly, it does not have the emotional substance of Brubanker's work on Cap. In case you couldn't guess, this review will contain spoilers.

No surprise here. Every one knew it would happen and it finally did. Dick Grayson, Nightwing and the original Robin, decides at the end of the issue to become Batman. The lack of surprise isn't a big deal though. Nightwing promoting himself made total sense. The same can be said about Bucky becoming Captain America too, so no complaint there.

The main problem with Tony Daniel's writing in this series is that nothing felt organic. Battle for the Cowl only moved us from point A to point B. There was no substance to it. It only existed to introduce a new Batman. We barely get to see Nightwing's reaction to the loss of Batman. We hardly see him struggle with the decision to replace his mentor. As a matter of fact, the only reason he finally decides to take up the mantle is so someone else doesn't. He saw Jason go crazy and Tim get hurt when they tried. Captain America's entire run felt like an epic that naturally led to Bucky becoming Cap. He fought with himself about whether he was worthy of such a symbolic and heroic position. Nightwing just up and decides to be the Bat.

Black Mask's plot is pretty lame too. He causes all this chaos, but I'm never sure how. What did he blow up? If I can't remember, then Daniel didn't do an effective job making the proper impact last issue. If it was never explained, then shame on him. Everything happens too quickly for the Black Mask. In the span of one night he turns Gotham City into a war zone that Commissioner Gordon compares to Final Crisis. Give me a break.

Another huge flaw in this book is Damien. He's the kind of annoying character that can deter readers. I almost skipped every panel that had him in it. I didn't, however, and feel like a worse person for it. Hatred filled my soul with every act of teenage angst, arrogance, anger, defiance, and girl-fearing emotion he displayed. Apparently, he's the new Robin now. This makes me wonder two things. What is going to happen to Tim Drake? And do I want to read the new Batman and Robin series that stars this brat?

Tony Daniel handles the art in this series as well. He does an adequate job. Nothing amazing to speak of, besides his awesome covers. They make a cool poster and he handles bunches of characters very nicely. His interior art was only mediocre though. Action panels flowed nicely. His use of shadows was effective. Squire was easy to look at. Daniel drew Jason Todd a little disproportionately evil though. There's no way he could have red eyes, jagged teeth, and a snake jaw.

Battle for the Cowl was just a means to an end. DC needed a new Batman and so they came up with this concept. I would have liked to see this series be a self-contained story, but I suppose the threat of the Black Mask will be resolved another day. It also would have been nice to see Nightwing actually act as Batman once but the issue just ends with the narrator, most likely Bruce Wayne, saying "You are Batman," with Nightwing in the new outfit. This series was intended to build interest in the ongoing Batman titles without Bruce Wayne, but it only reinforced the notion that without Bruce there is no Batman.