The Good

I wasn't the biggest fan of the first two chapters in The Big Burn, but the last issue was a solid step in the right direction, and I'm beyond happy to say this issue keeps up the quality as well. First and foremost, Peter J. Tomasi certainly knows how to make a Batman fan happy. There's some serious fan service with the Dark Knight as he unleashes two different gadgets and simply put, it's just cool. There's much more to this issue than badass Batman moments, though. Tomasi takes huge steps to flesh out the plot, too. We jump into the past yet again and it's finally revealed what was going on between Two-Face and the McKillens'before he turned on them. Telling the story in reverse made the story suffer at first, but now things are really spicing up and it further sells us on the sheer hatred these two have for one another.

Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray and John Kalisz dropped my jaw multiple times in this issue. Firstly, their close-ups of Two-Face are ridiculously good. The amount of detail put into his distorted face is absolutely twisted and looks incredible. Then there's at least three panels of Batman that just ooze awesomeness and really impress. There's one moment where Wayne gets to unleash and they decide to frame the panels with moments from the five stages of grief storyline. It was a nice little way to remind us that he's sort of moved on, but when push comes to shove, these memories still linger and can create a slightly more intense version of Batman. I know some people thought he was acting out of character or taking too long to recover, but come on, his son was killed. This should stay with him.

The Bad

As much as I loved some pages, the artwork with characters was inconsistent at times. For example, there's a handful of moments where there's heavy shading instead of giving characters eyes. It's distracting because it gives these individuals a somewhat lifeless look.

I'm a little surprised Batman relied on luck with Harvey's coin flip. Maybe if it didn't go as planned, he would have knocked Dent out and carried him? And speaking of Dent, there's yet another change to the character's origin. It takes away from the "good guy turned bad" angle, so if you're a huge Dent fan, odds are you won't be too pleased.

The Verdict

It took The Big Burn a couple of issues to get rolling, but now the story is definitely winning me over. Tomasi's crafting a legitimately interesting bond between this trio and he's filling the script with some seriously satisfying Batman moments for Gleason to create. BATMAN & ROBIN is most certainly back on track.

I'm wondering if I should pick this up

You should.

I've read every previous issue in this arc. Tomasi and Gleason still got the stuff. Ready to read this one.

Feels like it took forever for this issue to come out.

Havent really cared for the changes to Two-Face

They should just rename this series Batman and the dc universe lol

I gotta be honest…I love Bats and I love Two-Face (I really wanted him to get an Anti-Hero ongoing after his Villains Month issue) but this arc really just can't catch my interest. I'm so torn between dropping the title until the Aquaman issue or keep going since theres like an issue or two left.

Loving this. Two-Face is such an awesome character.

Dat Gleason art.

I think I liked it more than Snyder's Batman this week. Less awkward monologues.

@k4tzm4n: At first I wasn't a big fan of this angle of Two-Face when I read the first two issues as well. But after this and the last issue I'm actually loving it. I also think it's a bit more believable for Two-Face to have always been a person with two sides of a coin even when he was just Harvey Dent. It really humanizes him and doesn't feel like a drastic change from good to bad which I realize was a flaw of the original Two-Face origin. Funny thing I was a big fan of the original origin and ticked off when they changed. Now that continued reading, my opinion has totally changed. I guess you and I and maybe some others here have lucked out.

I liked this issue but I'm still not digging Two-Face's new origin. It's random, emotionless and honestly just plain boring. It takes away what makes Harvey's character interesting, how he was a guy trying to help make Gotham a better place but ultimately loses his mind in the process. There's always a part of me that feels bad for Harvey, but this new origin just takes all of that away and simply makes Harvey just another corrupt person in Gotham who goes from bad to worse.

• • So batman survived that Mask of the Phantasm style "angel statue falling on someone inside an open grave" bit?

Yeah.

@war_killer: goddamn it

Anyone else notice the picture of Hitman with his friends in the background of Noonans bar?

@eagle_vision11454: Did you really think Batman was gonna die from that?

@war_killer: No more like him being out cold for a bit

Thank you for pointing out that there's NOTHING wrong with Batman taking as long as he needs to mourn the death of HIS SON!! So tired of hearing people whine about that and saying he should get over it by now. Maybe those people don't have kids, I don't know. I have kids, and if one of my sons got killed and I felt responsible, it would haunt me forever. That's why I really LOVED all those issues showing Batman still in mourning - SO humanizing it breaks your heart.

I'm loving everything Tomasi is doing Batman-related. Can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'm liking his Batman work more than Snyder, who I think has just been awesome from issue 1. A close call, but why choose? Glad we have them both!