Books Good and Books Not as Good

First, a holdover from last week's comics.

World's Finest 10
This issue deals with Robin's death as Huntress mourns her almost brother, Damian. The cover is very nice. Kevin Maguire did the art for the whole book and I really love his facial expressions. And PG continues her quest to find out what's behind the attack on her island. And Michael Holt is alive, or so it seems. This is a fun book and I'm really enjoying the camaraderie between Helena and Karen.

Nightwing 18
Dick deals with Damian's death and not well at first. Between losing Damian and losing the circus, he's in a funk, but Sonia is ready and willing to offer comfort. But she's got a secret, and trust issues, but she decides to trust Dick with some news that....
SPOILER!
Her father is still alive. Well, that should make things interesting.
Overall, the book came across as filler to transition into the next arc, which would've been more tolerable to me if the art had been stellar. However, the art was merely okay. I do not like how everyone looked, especially Dick. What's with his lips? He looks like he's had Botox injections. The shading lines and dots looked weird, too. Sonia looked rather masculine in some panels.

Red Hood and the Outlaws 18
Minus the Outlaws, in what was an amazing issue. This had Requiem across the cover, same as the Nightwing issue, but there was no dealing with Damian's death. Instead, this seemed to take place prior to his death, continuing the arc with Jason struggling to recover from the Joker's last mad attack/prank in burning his face. Alfred is, well, Alfred, caring for Jason, and talking to him despite the drug-induced coma he placed Jason in. Alfred has been and remains the heart and soul of the Bat family and never has that been more in evidence than here.

And Bruce? While Jason struggles with emotional turmoil, being counseled by Ducra's spirit while in that coma, Bruce is by his bedside, keeping vigil. The look of horror on Jason's face when Ducra shows him how his anger will end up hurting the people he loves, including Roy and Kori, was a revelation, as when she explains that they love Jason openly yet he's merely going through the motions. He denies it, but can't escape the truth. Clearly, everything Lobdell has set up in the book is reaching fruition here where Jason is concerned. When Jason wakes up and Bruce is there, well, that last page brought a tear to my eye. Now I want to see Dick and Jason really talk.

A case could be made that this issue was just filler, but unlike other issues in the Death of the Family arc, or even Nightwing 18, this has a lot of emotional impact. Not much happens, action-wise, but for Jason, the issue is an epiphany. I can't wait to see what comes next.

DC Presents 18: Starfire
Could someone tell me what this was about? I assume, perhaps wrongly, that it's setting something up for the future. It's told in a somewhat disjointed style, time-wise, without a true beginning and for the life of me, I have no idea what the point is. I followed the action well enough, but how it relates to anything is beyond me. Kori's been captured by her former slavers. She's helping an alien community. It seems to tie in perhaps with the last issue that focused on Roy. Maybe. I could've managed quite well not having read this. At least Kori looked good and was wearing more than usual.