Look, there are a lot of comics out there. Too many. We can never hope to have in-depth conversations about all of them. But, we sure can round up some of the more noteworthy titles we didn’t get around to from the week. Today, Spencer, Drew, Michael, Patrick and Ryan discuss Batman Eternal 44, Detective Comics 39, Action Comics 39, C.O.W.L. 8, American Vampire: Second Cycle 6, Green Lantern 39, Grayson 7, Ant-Man 2, Avengers 41, Wytches 4, Spawn 250, The Woods 10, Operation S.I.N. 2, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 2 and Ms. Marvel 11.

Spencer: If you asked me what the weakest part of Batman Eternal has been, I would without hesitation answer “the Arkham ghost stuff.” Putting aside my own dislike of supernatural stories (especially in Gotham), there’s also the fact that this plot has simply dragged on too long — and sure, the Nanotech stuff went longer without resolution, but once focus shifted to it the story played out in two or three issues. The Arkham story, meanwhile, has taken up a huge chunk of issues, and every time it seems resolved it pops up again a few issues later and starts all over again. So, I was obviously a bit dismayed when I saw issue 44 again returning to this plotline, but fortunately, the issue has two things going for it. First of all, it seems poised to finally reveal what this plot has actually been about once and for all, but more importantly, it also plays out as a rather tense and satisfying one-off chase between Batman, Milo, and the GCPD. There’s something gritty about ACO’s art that suits the feel of the issue, even if the action can sometimes be rather hard to follow. Continue reading →