Batman Adventures: The Lost Years Book 4
by Bader and Hampton
published by DC, color, $1.95
rating: Keen.
So, tell me, why is it that almost all of the Batman Adventures writers can nail Batman and his supporting cast nearly every time out of the gate, while the regular Batman writers seem to flounder helplessly in a morass of half-baked interpretations and overblown events (I've promised myself that I'd steer clear of referring to the current goings-on in the Bat-titles as "Crapaclysm"--and I've succeeded until just now).
At any rate, Hilary Bader has succeeded where every Bat-writer so far has failed: in making me care about Tim Drake as Robin. Next issue we get to see almost the full Bat-family (still missing: Ace, the Bat-hound; Bat-mite; and, of course, Bat-woman, but I confess I've never actually read a story in which she appeared, unless there was one in that huge black-and-white Encyclopedia I read when I was a tot). I'm looking forward to it.