Customer Reviews

Battle for Bludhaven (Infinite Crisis Aftermath)

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In the DC universe, the city of Bludhaven is basically the super hot bed for all things criminal and nasty. During the cataclysmic events of Infinite Crisis, the Secret Society dropped radioactive villain Chemo on the city, killing nearly everyone living in it while leaving a few survivors. Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Bludhaven finds a cadre of DC heroes including the Teen Titans as well as the Green Lantern teaming up as a new mystery unfolds over the remains of the city. What is it? Well, you might have a hard time swallowing everything considering how disjointed, confusing, and just plain hard to follow this TPB is. Writers Jimmy Palmiotti (he's a better inker) and Justin Gray (both of whom struck gold with Jonah Hex, but strike pure drivel with a few Punisher one-shots for Marvel) appear to possibly not even be sure of what's going on either judging by the schizoid directions the story goes into, while the art (including Dan Jurgens, AKA the man who killed Superman) ranges from decent to nothing spectacular. This TPB isn't all bad, as there are some nicely done action scenes, and it's always good to see Hal Jordan in action, but in the end, Battle for Bludhaven is better left on the shelf.

CRISIS AFTERMATH: THE BATTLE FOR BLUDHAVEN is yet another addition to the number of confusing trade paperbacks that support DC's Infinite Crisis. If, like me, you are attempting to follow IC via trades, you are in for a headache. By spreading these trade releases so far apart, it's next to impossible to get the big picture, especially when so many of the supporting trades have been released before the main Infinite Crisis trade. THE BATTLE FOR BLUDHAVEN is a twisted mess of numerous lesser heroes and villains descending on the quarantined toxic wasteland that was Bludhaven. Some want their homes back, others want to discover the source of the mysterious radiation that is emanating from behind the wall, and still others want to stop all of them. The problem is that writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti do a horrible job of structuring the story. There is so much happening, and so many characters making it happen, that it's next to impossible to keep it straight. Who are friends and who are enemies? Why is so-and-so doing such-and-such? Beats me. All I know is that by the end of the story, some of my questions were answered, but most weren't. The art by Dan Jurgens, Gordon Purcell, and Palmiotti is nothing special, especially when compared to the beautiful covers by Daniel Acuna. There are two nice points to this story, in the form of a twist with Captain Atom and another excellent IC-nod to Jack Kirby; however, as both are contained in the last issue, they really weren't worth the hassle. This book can certainly be skipped.

I was generally pleased with the Infinite Crisis storyline as well as the pre and post Crisis books. But it seems when they failed, they all failed for the same reasons. First, the storylines all tried to do too much and ended up severely disjointed. Second, and probably the main reason they failed was because they featured 2nd, or even 3rd or 4th tier characters. This was the case with Villains United and it is unfortunately the case with The Battle for Bludhaven.

During Crisis, The Secret Society of Super Villains dropped the living toxic giant Chemo on the city of Bludhaven, killing thousands and leaving millions more without homes. A wall was constructed around the city and now people live in makeshift government housing, and are on the verge of rebellion because they want to return to their homes. The security within the walls of Bludhaven is being handled by the Freedom's Ring formery the Force of July(uggh,as if that was a better name!) who are working for the mysterious Father Time who is conducting questionable experiences on possible meta-humans and is also keeping a secret source of radiation.

The Society send in the Nuclear Legion to find out the source of the radiation and they soon come into conflict with both Freedom's Ring, and the Atomic Knights, who run an underground railroad in an attempt to smuggle citizens out of the city. Add to all this the Black Baron and a new hero calling himself Firebrand, and toss in the Teen Titans for good measure and you need a scorecard to just keep track of all of the players. You reach the point about halfway through where you're not even sure whom you're supposed to root for. I mean the Teen Titans are heroes but they are unwilling to go against government policy and enter Bludhaven to find out what's going on. Eventually a few major players show up and somewhat rescue things but by then it's just to late and the story has spun wildly off the tracks.

The art by Dan Jurgens and Gordon Purcell is solid if unspectacular, certainly not enough to make up for the fragmented storyline. As Post-Crisis storylines go, The Battle for Bloodhaven falls to the bottom.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

I can honestly say I have never struggled to finish a trade like I did with this one. This is the exact reason why people view DC Comics as inaccessible and corny. There was no reason for this story. Its completely unoriginal (Batman & Green Arrow had eerily similar storylines) and contained no one of interest. Corny villains and heroes with too much power to be interesting and tons of characters no one will care about. Ever. The art was cookie cutter generic. This was sad. Skip it.

I should have paid attention to the reviews on Crisis Aftermath: Battle for Bludhaven and saved my money. As much as it is consistently focused on the control of a Bludhaven, the novel is a busy mess. It presents too many characters to keep up with and offers too much action for one to read and digest in one sitting. Even worse is that the superheroes, the Teen Titans, seem to be more of a lure for readers to be interested in the story; within the first chapter, the group appears on two pages only. The other characters -- who possess cheesy names like Lady Liberty and Father Time -- are from at least two other groups who come to Bludhaven in the name of the U.S. government or in the pursuit of power. Their verbal sparring is even cheesier, being nothing but a distraction from the main story.

"The Battle for Bludhaven" is a surprisingly disappointing comic. The art is solid if not particularly spectacular. But the plot sinks this book. There are too many characters with no focus or even development in some cases. Even worse, there are too many narrative threads. Even the most epic of works can focus the spotlight on a few characters. "Battle for Bludhaven" shines it all over the place-now on the Titans, now on the reformed Freedom Fighters, now on Father Time and here's Captain Atom and a cameo from the Green Lantern and these guys are the Atomic Knights and here comes the Force of July and here's Firebrand who is hearing voices, and here is some kind of gang and there is a golem hanging out with two young women. Confused? You should be. There are simply too many characters on stage, all doing their own things with little besides the geographic location to tie it all together. There could be an interesting story here. There certainly are some solid characters and some of the minor characters (namely the newest versions of Phantom Lady, Firebrand and the Human Bomb) shine through. But this book is a mess that simply does not hold up.

Another piece to the Infinite Crisis storyline. It's an entertaining read, though I'd have to say, some time after reading it, it isn't that memorable.