: (2 of 5 cowls)

Andrew Robinson's cover doesn't do a whole lot for me. It does reflect the story within in a manner of speaking. I don't know of heroin being sold in pill form, I thought it was injected (I may just be naïve speaking as someone who is not a drug user herself), but the pills indicate the drugs, the Chinese dragon behind Batman indicates the Lucky Hand Triad, and of course the Bat himself. He gets a few points for that. However, the figures themselves are lacking, I think due to the very light linework in defining musculature on the Bat opposed to the heavy black shadow areas of Batman's cape, and a rather un-dynamic pose. The dragon looks to be intentionally unfinished but it feels like the artist was perhaps lacking in studying oriental dragons before drawing this one. (I'm a bot of a dragon aficionado myself, so it's a sticky point. The coloration of the cover ws lacking any type of shade variation, except some slight gradiation in the dragon. Batman's colors were very flat and the overall image was too 2 dimensional for my tastes. The red background against the yellow "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive!" banner was a nice contrast though, and easy to spot on the shelves.

Story: (3 of 5 cowls)

The Purity story itself is not doing a whole heck of a lot for me, but there are parts running within it that have kept and piqued my interest. Rucka is a great detective writer, and as such, he works best making you curious about mysteries, and keeping your attention focused on police-related investigations. The questioning of Alfred was perhaps the high point of the issue, showing the intellect and wit of the butler in a difficult situation. He truly made Montoya and Allen look like junior badges scrambling for conspiratorial crumbs, and proved a tough nut to crack. Of note Sasha was mentioned here, though not by name. Allen implied that if Alfred lied to them, he would end up rotting in Blackgate like Wayne's bodyguard for misguided loyalty to a murderer. Another aspect of interest is the whole David Said sub story. I am curious to know who his superiors are, and the addition of a seeming religious aspect to his order makes me again think he might be tied to the Order of St. Dumas, who spawned Azrael. The story with Ekin Tzu is all right, though I'd personally rather be more focused on the whole Fugitive storyline, which I think Rucka has the best grasp of over all the other writers involved. I am very sad that he is departing in a few months.

Artwork: (3 of 5 cowls)

Steve Lieber is still showing a lot of potential, but I think I've discovered a consistent flaw in his work. You can see he LOVES to draw Batman himself. Just look at the images on page 19 and you'll see that clear. He draws a really good Batman. However, everything else he draws he doesn't seem overly attached too. Other characters have less of a personality showing through, and characters in a background are very loosely sketched and relatively featureless. Of course this could be due to the very light-handed inking done by Mark McKenna. I'd like to see what a bolder inker could do with Lieber's pencils. I think the effect of a good inker on pencil work is underestimated. The coloration in this book was good on figures, but poor on the backgrounds. I've caught on to the single color scheme per page he's been doing, but it isn't complementing the art itself very well. It needs to be…less color thick and let the artwork be what draws the eye. Right now it's a bit overpowering.

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