Batman One Bad Day Ras Al Ghul #1 cover a

What did Lazarus say about death?

"It's the pits."



Tom Taylor comes close to making excellent bookends of the 'One Bad Day' set of issues. In the end, he falls short because of Lazarus Pits. The biggest moments in the otherwise fine Ra's Al Ghul story are undercut because Ra's lives in a world where death can be reversed. Dramatic underpinnings go out the door at that point. If this had secretly been Damion's 'One Bad Day', it could have been great. If Taylor had set this story AFTER his Riddler One Bad Day story, with a significant change in Bruce's philosophy, it could have been great.


Instead? Lazarus pits.


The best thing about it is the Ivan Reis artwork. He's been like an updated Neal Adams since he started on Superman, and if anyone's style was going to work best on the Al Ghuls, someone who can play in the Adams sandbox was the right choice. Clean, easy to follow action in every panel, combined with classic movement thru each page, making visual notes clear with every turn. Really grand stuff from Reis. But just Reis.