Batman: Death and the Maidens

(DC, 2003-2004)
™ and © DC Comics, Inc.

Leave it to writer Greg Rucka (Queen and Country) to give longtime readers a fresh spin on the Batman-Ra’s al Ghul conflict and bring new readers up to speed. The first installment of this nine-issue limited series examines the immortal mastermind Ra’s al Ghul’s mission as an elaborate eco-terrorist and probes his dependency on the Lazarus Pits that keep him alive.

The Dark Knight has been utilizing Bruce Wayne’s vast wealth to buy up and develop potential sites of Lazarus Pits, slowly killing Ra’s al Ghul, who visits Gotham City to discuss the issue with his longtime nemesis. Meanwhile, Batman is dealing with the twenty-fifth anniversary of his parents’ murders and the realization that he no longer has clear memories of them: that although he’s driven by his parents’ deaths, they no longer live in his memory.

It’s always good when storytellers can make something old new again, and that’s what Rucka and artist Klaus Janson (Daredevil) have done with this series.

— Thomas Moudry

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