Batman Confidential

For over 200 issues, if you wanted diverse out-of-continuity Batman stories by a wide range of writers and artists, you read Legends of the Dark Knight. That title was launched just after the Tim Burton Batman film hit screens, and was trumpeted at the time as "the first new solo Batman title since 1940!"

But Legends of the Dark Knight has faded into the sunset of cancellation, and taking its place is Batman Confidential, a title that essentially explores the same ground, but with a new name, and one presumes, a new #1 that has helped DC pocket a nice little wad of new cash, because every fanboy loves a new #1.

This is all fine in theory--the big problem so far is that the stories haven't been all that great. Not that Legends featured perfect comics from its first issue to its last, but one would think the launch of a new Batman title like this one would lend itself to lining up some absolutely mind-blowing stories that could get the book going with a bang.

Instead, we get okay-to-pretty-good Batman stories, and all the Batman nerds like myself stumble out to buy it every time it hits stands, just because we get a twitch in our collective left eye every time we try to NOT purchase a Batman book. (Or maybe that's just me.)

It's moments like these when I start to feel just a little bit used by the comic book industry.