HOLY SHIT, THAT IS SOME FUCKING INSIGHTFUL, CLEVER AND COMPLEX POLITICAL COMMENTARY IN A BATMAN BOOK.
WHY CAN’T MODERN DAY CAPESHIT BE THIS SMART? TRULY ONE OF THE GREAT BATMAN COMICS, A REAL MILESTONE IN SEQUENTIAL STORYTELLING. JIM STARLIN IS ONE OF THE GREATS, THE PART WHERE BATMAN GOES TO LEBANON DURING THEIR CIVIL WAR DISPLAYED AN UNCOMMON LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING OF THE COUNTRY’S AND THE REGIONS’ HISTORY, THE UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE CONFLICT AND THE COMPLEX, MULTIFACETED NATURE OF THE WAR ITSELF AND ITS’ VARIOUS FACTIONS. STARLIN’S A DAMN GOOD WRITER WITH A GOOD GRASP ON THE ISSUES HE WRITES ABOUT AND RESISTS THE COMMON URGE TO PANDER TO READERS COMMON ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THEM. HE CAN DO ALL THIS PLUS A GIANT SPACE OPERA EPIC!?