Two months down, one to go. Here is a recap of the second month of the storyline destined to crown a new Dark Knight. Battle for the Cowl will end next month with the revelation of a new Batman, following the disappearance of Bruce Wayne. This will be a week-by-week recap of the past month’s worth of books. There will be short”capsule reviews for each book.

WEEK ONE – 4/01/2009

Batman: Battle for the Cowl – Man-Bat: This tie-in to Battle for the Cowl really only has a fleeting connection to the main story. It is, however, a fascinating portrait into the mind                                             of Dr. Kirk Langstrom, a.k.a. Man-Bat. It does a good job of depicting the constant war going on inside the mind of Langstrom, as he struggles to keep control of his emotions.  When his wife,                              Francine, is kidnapped by the villain Dr. Phosphorus, which by the way is a great use of a seldom seen villain, Langstrom goes on a frantic search for her. This ultimately leads to a                                       confrontation with Dr. Phosphorous and a run-in with the Outsiders. Langstrom, burned and confused, flies away at the end of the issue. 3 out of 5.

WEEK TWO – 4/08/2009

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2 of 3: The second part of the main story begins to ratchet up the action. It beigns with Penguin and Two-Face, who have been pitted against                                                           each other by Black Mask. Meanwhile, Nightwing and Damian come face-to-mask with the armored Batman imposter. After a chase through the rooftops, the armored Batman                                                               is revealed to be Jason Todd. As Damian attempts to help Nightwing subdue Jason, he is shot in the chest. Black Mask begins the second part of his plan to bring Gotham to it’s                                                            knees. This part involves the mysterious Jane Doe, Firefly and a new villain called Adam Bomb, who appears to be hideously disfigured, as he wears some sort of containment suit.                                                Searching for information about Black Mask, Jason attacks a priest who is consorting with several of Black Mask’s henchmen, who he decides to torture for the information. Robin,                                                    wearing the old school Batman suit he “borrowed”, has tracked Jason to his hideout, which is revealed to be a twisted replica of the Batcave. After, setting off one of the explosive                                                      security measures, he is rescued by Catwoman. In the Batcave, Damian has been stabilized. Alfred continues to assert his belief that Dick must be the one to assume the Mantle of the Bat.                                   At Police Headquaters, Commissioner Gordon meets newly appointed District Attorney Hampton (anybody else think taking THAT job was a bad career move?). Hampton believes, like                                       many others, that Gordon relied too much on Batman. As this is taking place, Zsasz murders a cop and Jane Doe, wearing his skin, takes his place. The Jane Doe/Cop appears at Gordon’s door                            and shoots the new District Attorney and Gordon, saying it is in the name of Two-Face. At the same time, Police HQ explodes. Gordon is left unconscious, but alive. Dick finds Tim’s note about                                                                 “going hunting” on the case that held the Batsuit he “borrowed.” Catwoman and Robin are looking around Jason’s Batcave when the master of the house abushes Catwoman, knocking her out.                                                                       The battle between Tim and Jason begins. Jason is brutal, striking from the shadows. In an interesting nod to past events, Tim hits Jason with a nearby crowbar several times. Jason                                                                                        suddenly begins laughing. It is then revealed that Tim has been impaled in the chest with a batarang. As Jason leaves, he muses to himself that there is “Just One More to Go.”  The final showdown                                                            for the Mantle of the Bat between Dick and Jason will take place next month. The survivor will likely be the new Batman. This is a great issue and a great storyline. 4 weeks to go until the end and                                                           I can’t wait.  5 out of 5.

WEEK THREE – 4/15/2009

Oracle: the Cure #2 of 3: The storyline spotlighting Barabra Gordon and the next chapter of her ongoing conflict with Calculator is starting the heatup. After the shocking                                                                ending of Issue #1, Oracle has travelled to Hong Kong, where she hopes to find assistance in her quest to stop Calculator, who is looking for the remnants of the Anti-Life Equation.                                                  Calculator believes the Equation’s power can be used to save his daughter’s life. Calculator has discovered fragments online and is seeking out people who are also searching for                                                           the Equation online. Last issue, he killed one of Oracle’s online contacts by subjecting her to Anti-Life Equation feedback through the online game Alta Viva. The feedback was so                                                        extreme, it caused the woman’s head to explode. Upon arriving, Oracle is attacked by a group of thugs who believe her to be an easy target. Using her conbat training however,                                                          she quickly and painfully subdues the men Oracle meets with a group of hackers, who believe Oracle is a man. They believe her to be his scout. Oracle asks the hackers to                                                                         show her the remnants of the Anti-Life Equation on the net. She views the information using a new Virtual Reality headset which creates a truly breathtaking display. Oracle                                                                communicates with Chaos Larry, another of her online researchers. She informs Larry that Cheese-Fiend is dead and that she was killed by the man known as Babbage. She tells                                                          Larry to go off-line and disappear for a few days. Larry reveals that Babbage has sent him an invitation to meet in the game. Calculator, meanwhile has altered s portion of the game,                                                 converting it into his own personal lab for mining data. He has created an army of cyber daemons to process data searching for remnants of teh equation. He then turns those fragments                                                                                into simulated crystals in the game, which he then turns into real crystals. Meanwhile, Chaos Larry has decided to ignore Oracle’s warning and goes to confront Babbage. He attacks                                                                                        Babbage, who then morphs into Calculator. Oracle has the hackers download all known fragments and tehn delete them from the net. Calculator notices the data disappearing and                                                                                             realizes Oracle is responsible, taps directly into the hackers’ system, promising to kill Chaos Larry and then tear her apart. The thrills and suspense are definitely at their height in                                                                                            this one. Some parts are slow and confusing, but the endgame of this one will probably be one to watch. 4 out of 5.

WEEK FOUR – 4/22/2009

Azrael: Death’s Dark Knight #2 of 3: The new Azrael has encountered Talia, who is looking for the Suit of Sorrows. Azrael has a brief fight with Talia, who then offers to tell him the                                           origins of his suit. She explains that the suit is cursed and will ultimately kill anyone who wears it. She hopes to give to Damian to “toughen him up” as she expects him to be the new                                         Batman, calling it his birthright. Meanwhile, the police have arrived at the church and Bullock suspects Azrael is resposible, he orders another officer to pull the traffic camera footage of Azrael.                       Oracle monitors Azrael’s movements, telling Nightwing she can’t tell if it’s Jean-Paul or a new guy. The rest of the Order of Purity views Brother Leland’s body at the hospital. Suddenly,                             Azrael appears and demands answers. He is shown a precious wearer of the suit, who has gone insane and has been confined to an institution. Michael visits his mother in the hospital,                                 telling her that he has the chance to do good work, but at the cost of his life. Officer Farelli views the security footage and recognizes Michael.  He takes the footage. Azrael infiltrates                                                the Batcave, where he is met by Nightwing. It seems a showdown is brewing. This is one of the slower moving series in this event. I am interested to see where it goes, though I don’t                                      know how invested in the character I am. The series seems to have a cool noirish feel to it, but I have not heard of any future plans for this character…yet. 3 out of 5.

Batman: Battle for the Cowl: Arkham Asylum: This is definitely one of the more intersting one shots. It is the story of Jeremiah Arkham and where he goes from here,                                                    since the asylum has been thoroughly destroyed. It also the story of three previously unseen Arkham inmates, who were incarcerated in the “Solitary Confienment” section.                                                      They are: Alessio Morandi, whose face was damaged when his Father ripped a mask he had glued to his face off . Alessio now paints his face on, literaly. The Mirror Man,                                                                 who came from the jungles of Haiti, does not speak and loves looking at himself in the mirror.  And, the Hamburger Lady, who reportedly has a hideous face, which makes anyone who                                           views it go mad. Arkham returns to his office after meeting with these patients and finds his Grandfather’s blueprints for a new Arkham. Jeremiah decides to devote himself to                                                 building the new Asylum. Suddenly, the Black Glove takes command of the Asylum and we travel though recent events in Gotham. Arkham goses back to the ruins of the asylum                                                        and, finding his three “special cases” unharmed, Arkham takes them and leaves the asylum. Before leaving tAlessio uses his brush to draw the Joker’s face on him. This was                                                                   a great tie-in, with an insight into the motivations of a rarely touched on supporting character. Though, admittedly, it’s not terribly importnat to the main story. 4 out of 5.

WEEK FIVE – 4/29/2009

Batman: Battle for the Cowl: The Underground: This tie-in spotlights some of Gotham’s more famous rogues. The issue is narrated by two different people. First up, is the Riddler                                     , who is hired by Penguin to find Black Mask. Well, ordered, is probably a more appropriate description. While walking the streets looking for clues, Riddler runs into Harley Quinn, who                              decides to accompany him. Riddler is off to find Catwoman. Meanwhile, Two-Face is parked outside a burning building. Suddenly, Catwoman drops onto the roof of his car. At this point,                                the narration switches to Catwoman. She throws out Two-Face’s driver. Harvey begins wildly shooting at her. Her narration monologue reveals how hopeless she believes the situation                                      in Gotham is without Bruce. Penguin’s men are moving cargo out of a warehouse, when they are ambushed by Firefly, Killer Croc and Poison Ivy. Ivy laments the toxins that Penguin is                                 bringing into Gotham. Firefly tells Ive she is only doing this because of the injection Black Mask gave them, which will explode if they disobey. Ivy is trying to burn away the chemicals                                      as Firefly flies away. Penguin is travelling in his convoy when he hears about the latest victims of Jason Todd’s Armored Batman rampage. His convoy is attacked by Firefly. Suddenly,                                    Catwoman jumps on Firefly’s back. Penguin orders his driver to get them out of there, while questioning her motives. She is knocked off Firefly’s back and sees Black Mask. She can hardly                                 believe that he’s back, being that she is the one who shot him in the head, killing him. Suddenly, she sees what she thinks is Batman’s cape. It’s Jason and he fires on her. The Riddler and                                 Harley meet with Holly, Catwoman’s former roommate and Harley’s current roommate.  She doesn’t know where Selina is.  There is a knock at the door. Riddler hears Harley say “You’re                                                                               Back!” and the next thing he knows, Poison Ivy has her arm around his throat.  Riddler feels Ivy can fill in some blanks, since she was at Arkham when it blew up. Meanwhile “Batman”and Catwoman                                          are still battling. “Batman” knocks her off the roof. She lands on a car roof. She is approached by Harley, Ivy and Riddler. This tie-in leads directly to not just Battle for the Cowl #3, but                                                                                   also to Gotham City Sirens #1, which will be on sale in June. I have to say, I really enjoyed a number of things about this isue. First and foremost, the Penguin in this issue has been drawn to  look                                                like Danny DeVito’s “Batman Returns” incarnation. Also, Two-Face, in this issue, bears more than a passing resemblance to Aaron Eckhardt. This is a weel written one shot that sets up                                             not just the endgame of Battle for the Cowl, but events in it’s aftermath. 4 out of 5.
That’s it for the second month of Battle for the Cowl. Next month, the Battle for the Cowl ends and a new Batman is chosen. All of the questions will be answered. Are Robin and Damian ok? Is Black Mask defeated? Who is the new Black Mask? What happens to Azrael? Does Oracle stop Calculator? and, finally, who wins the Battle for the Cowl? The endgame beins this week with Batman: Battle for the Cowl – The Network. Join us back here, week by week as we head towards the unveiling of the new Batman.