2 out of 5

God I fucking hate crossovers.  There are ways to do them successfully, but by and large they amount to throwaway books; if it’s crossing into a title you’re reading, then it’s an interruption to the plot, and almost always in a way that feels 100% inconsequential, and if you’re following the crossover itself, it suffers a similar “inconsequential” fate, unless given its own series to actually take care of business… But then that’s not a crossover, is it?

I’ll allow this a couple of stars because Steve Orlando worked with his crossovered-title’s writers to weave in his plot, so Batman dropped some “Monster Men” hints leading up to these issues, and though I don’t think the writing is all that strong, I appreciate the sort of goofball throwback vibe of the story, which has Hugo Strange mutating folk into monsters.

But: That same vibe is in such deep contrast to the tone of King’s other issues that it immediately triggers the throwaway thing, and seeded details be damned: Part 1 still drops us in the midst of some team-up nonsense that feels way out of left field.

Riley Rossmo’s character and monster designs are fantastic; his sketchy style gives straight-on panels a lot of verve, but Monster Men had several big ol’ creepos that require big scale action and, alas, the artist isn’t a great match for that.

Fucking crossovers.  Mr. Orlando: I sincerely appreciate the gist and your attempts at sliding this into the existing stories. but DC should’ve given you a mini series.  This tip-toeing into my ongoing feels like nothing but an interruption.