Batman: Battle for the Cowl
All the greats have to face it eventually and at the end of DC’s latest epoch-shattering event Final Crisis, it was Batman’s turn to “die.” Gotham City’s various do-gooders and goons scramble to either fill or exploit the void, but the focus here is on Nightwing’s showdown with the psychopath who’s claimed the coveted cowl. Relative newcomer Daniel supplies art from the Jim Lee school of sinew and scowl, and applies atmospheric shadows in all the right places. His writing doesn’t add anything surprising to the characters’ psyches, but does admirably balance the chaos, setting up the Batman universe’s new status quo. Grades 10-12. --Jesse Karp