Fearless part two
Brubaker, McDaniel, Story
Reviewed by bluedevil 2002.

It's been hyped for months, and it has finally gotten here: Ed Brubaker's first story arc. And he didn't disappoint.

Last issue, if there was anything that the reader had a problem with, he or she could just say it was because Ed was new to the Bat mythos, or because it was a two part story. Now that part two is out, we all know that it was the latter.

I think I'll start with the art this time. Scott McDaniel is a great artist. It's amazing that he is able to put out this quality work, especially since it is known that he has not had a month off since Nightwing started.

The cover is excellent, a reverse of the previous cover (as stated by Scott McD). Inside, the art was great, except for one minor detail. Robin did look too young this issue. However, since Scott does the Robin costume really well, and since Robin was only in for 2 pages, it's something that can be easily overlooked.

There was also one little detail in the art that really impressed me. On page 7, Oracle is sitting at her computer, and on one of the moniters, there is a note to "Call Dick." (The dot above the 'i' is a heart.) I thought this was a great nod to some of the stuff that has happened in Nightwing recently, and something that adds some realism to the characters.

Ed does a great job wrapping up this story. We see everything that led up to the first scene of Batman #582, and beyond. Everything that we thought was odd in part one is explained.

And another good thing is that we have a new villain - Zeiss. From what I saw in this arc, is that he can memorize the fighting abilities of his opponents. Hopefully we can see more of him later, but not too soon.

So, this was one of the best Batman stories this year, and has made me switch from Detective Comics to Batman (nothing to do with the stories themselves, I can only afford one Batman comic a month). I'm glad that Ed got the regular gig.

Grade: A