All-Star Batman #12

Written by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque, and Rafael Scavone

Art by Rafael Albuquerque and Sebastian Fiumara

Colours by Jordie Bellaire, Trish Mulvihill, and Lee Loughridge

Lettering by Steve Wands

This was yet another enjoyable issue. Scott Snyder is able to infuse so much fun and energy in these issues that its astounding. I only wonder what he and Greg Capullo will conjure up for Metal…

While I enjoyed the first section of the story, the second section lacked energy and I felt my interest slightly faltering, and I don't refer to the back-up. I refer to Snyder's main story. It isn't bad by any means, but it simply wasn't as engaging as I thought the entire issue was going to be.

The issue is peppered with a few hilarious moments, a few jokes that greatly aided with the impossibility of the situation Batman found himself in. Snyder is clearly having fun here, with one joke in particularly giving me a laugh-out-loud moment. The villain and Alfred's backstory is given a lot more time here, which slightly contributes to the pacing problem I had with the second half of the story.

The back-up was slightly more enjoyable than usual this time around, until it got back to the Russian family story which I don't find interesting at all. The best part about this issue is Sebastian Fiumara's out, which is absolutely stunning. Give this man a run on Batman, because his work here is gorgeous, coupled with the excellent colouring work by Trish Mulvihill and Lee Loughridge. The fun aspect of the story was simply seeing Batman kick ass, and I've finally understood why I didn't like the dialogue in previous issues, which I appreciate now: this is a younger Batman, who makes some mistakes here and the Batman we know wouldn't have. It's an interesting romp but ultimately not worth it. Even the ending doesn't have me excited for it.

In a somewhat down issue, the back-up outshines the main story in some respects, but not all. The art on both fronts is pitch perfect but the story for each felt a bit lacking, despite the excellent fun to be had in the initial pages.