Content

This trade paperback collects issues #8-12 and #0, that’s six comics in total. The very first TPB of the Birds of Prey series featured an arc that was great at developing these characters and giving readers a complex story with plenty of action. It was also a tale that seemed to hint at even bigger things to come, but in Your Kiss Might Kill, I found a collection of mostly unrelated stories that felt as though they were from an entirely different series.

With issue #8 we get plenty of action and the mysterious murder of Black Canary’s husband is addressed as well, but even though it’s the closest we come to capturing the look and feel of Volume 1, it’s far too chaotic. Most of the issue is spent watching the Birds of Prey battle a group of no-name villains of the week inside a burning building while a hologram barks orders. It didn’t do a very good job of easing the reader into what was happening. I read and liked Volume 1, but even I had trouble recalling exactly what was going on and how we got here in the first place. And truthfully, it’s not worth your time to dig back in the previous volume or catch-up on Wikipedia because after issue #8 the Birds of Prey series of I knew ceased to exist. Everything gets tossed out the window as soon as the original artist Jesus Saiz exits the book.

When Saiz leaves, Animal Man’s Travel Foreman joins the series for a Court of the Owls tie-in that’s very good, but very out of place in this collection. Issue #8 had such a dramatic ending and you’re ready to get answers, but when you turn the page you’re confronted with owls. It’s one of the very best Court of Owls tie-ins and if you’ve read Foreman’s run on Animal Man, you know he can draw horror well, but this story simply doesn’t fit with what we saw in issue #8 whatsoever. This would have been forgivable had we returned to Black Canary’s drama in the following chapter, but that never happens.

Instead we get what makes up the bulk of Your Kiss Might Kill, a Poison Ivy story that had all the ingredients to be very good. I’m all for seeing her return to straight-up villainy but the story is very jumpy, the reasoning behind much of the action is ludicrous, SHOW SPOILER ▼

As soon as the greatest consequences of Poison Ivy’s plot should go into effect, we are interrupted by a the #0 issue, which is good but just like with the Court of Owls tie-in it’s not what you want to see at this point in time. I want the story to stay on task. It’s bad enough that we’re being asked to forget the huge thing that happened at the end of the first chapter, now we have to wait until volume 3 to find out what happens next to the Birds of Prey?

Besides the half-hearted writing, it seems that no artist had any interest in illustrating this book. First Jesus Saiz left and was replaced by Travel Foreman. Foreman is great, but this isn’t the book he should be illustrating .He was awesome at capturing the gritty, gory details for Animal Man and it was a damn shame to see him leave that series. His pencils were a perfect fit for the tone of that book. And while his style worked well with the horror themed Court of Owls chapter, it didn’t lend itself to the adventure in a jungle chapters at all. Everyone looks too scrawny and twisted and then in the final pages there are some panels that look hastily sketched and I had to flip back to the credits to make sure it was still Foreman doing them. Timothy Green II had to take over on pencils for the second half of the following issue and we never saw from Foreman again.  Green’s pencils were far cleaner and captured movement and expression better. His pencil suited these ladies surprisingly well and I thought he was a much better fit here than in his brief stint on Red Hood & the Outlaws. And then in the next chapter we have Cliff Richards showing up! Yeah, another artist with a different style. This time, we see more detail but we also get a lot of unnecessary lines on the character’s faces and a Poison Ivy who uses vines like Doc Ock uses his arms and one shot in which she is having a full conversation with the Birds while they parachute– only she’s not wearing a parachute. Finally there’s Romano Molenaar, who drew issue #0 and in my opinion he wins this massive artist mash-up. His work fits the series very nicely and from what I understand he stuck around for a few more issues after all of this ended.

Bonus Material

8 pages of cover sketches and one character design for the highly forgettable character Napalm.

Value:   Dirt Cheap

I wouldn’t give $14.99 for this or the $11.86 price that Amazon is currently offering. It would take a drastic clearance to make this book worth it. I would recommend that you pick up the stand-alone issues #9 and #0 as they are both very enjoyable reads. The rest of this stuff should just be forgotten about. And as far as re-read value goes? Let me put it this way: when I started this review I read half of the book and then cast it aside to go do something else.  I ended up forgetting that it existed for a full week and began reading other graphic novels instead.

Overall

It just doesn’t feel like a book that anyone had their heart in. Duane Swierczynski’s first arc of this series was full of ambition with developed characters, a complex plot, and terrific action that was well illustrated by Jesus Saiz. This was an absolute mess of poorly thought-out concepts, one of which had the potential to be a really great Poison Ivy story. And the artwork is woefully inconsistent due to artists constantly coming and going. I can’t recommend that you bother yourself with the entire volume, but I will say that it is worth your time to seek out issues #9 and #0, which were stand-alone episodes and the only highlight of this collection.

SCORE: 3/10

The post Birds of Prey, Vol. 2: Your Kiss Might Kill review appeared first on Batman News.

Content

Getting to read both Batman Beyond‘s first arc in full and Justice League Beyond‘s arc in full really puts in perspective how different these two books are. Batman Beyond is far more plot driven and focused on character development whereas Justice League Beyond is more about fan-service, character histories, and amazing artwork. The pacing is inconsistent, there are also some weird logic gaps and plot holes throughout that are a lot more obvious when you read it without the month long gap between every ten pages, but as much as I can slag off the story (and I will in a bit) these team-up books aren’t usually where you go for a rich story. This is something I’ve said in my reviews before. These books are capable of having great narratives, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that they are few and far between. For the most part these character crossover/team-up extravaganzas are just about having fun seeing all your favorite heroes on the same page fighting something way bigger than you would ever see in their solo titles. And in terms of having great character interactions and incredible artwork for you to ogle this book is a roaring success.

But the story? Well, it isn’t much of a story. It’s instead writers Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs having a hell of a time playing with as many toys in the DC toybox as they possibly can. It’s really fun and DC fans have a lot of easter eggs and fun anecdotes about the Beyond Universe history to dissect  but the overall tale being told isn’t that great. When you’re done reading the book and sharing it with your friends (as you should do with all your comics) the conversation you have won’t be about the plot, it’ll be about how character X’s life turned out since Justice League Unlimited ended. It’s still enjoyable, just on a different level. You see, the story begins (and this is all in the opening 10 pages or shown on the back cover so no major spoilers) in Gotham with Terry teaming up with the Justice League to fight the Jokerz and the Splicers when suddenly there’s a call from Bruce stating that a horde of GOLeM robots is attacking Terry’s high school and there’s another call from Aquagirl saying that the Justice League needs to come back to Metropolis immediately for briefing. Since JLB takes priority, everyone heads back to Metropolis and we are left to assume Bruce took care of the GOLeM’s with some Ro-Bats (which sounds wicked awesome and we should’ve seen that happen). Back at the JL tower we get a briefing about Micron, who was discovered on an espionage mission regarding Kobra, who are trying to awaken a giant snake.

First off, pulling everyone away from an immediate threat in which multiple giant robots are attacking a high school is ridiculous. Superman’s chat could’ve waited. At this point the team didn’t know about the greater threat Kobra posed, they just knew Micron had been brainwashed. Secondly, how in the heck did Micron get caught on his spy mission? He is apparently an imbecile.  His job was to not be seen and his ability is that he can shrink down to the size of a MICRON, yet when he’s in Kobra territory he remained full-size and, wouldn’t you know it, he got caught! How…wha…why wouldn’t you change into the size of a mote of dust for a job like this or at least a mouse? You had one job, Micron. One job!

After all of this we get to the greater threat of the book, a giant snake that eats worlds. And the goofy thing is, it’s not like it’s even attacking the earth at first, no. Kobra apparently loves the prophecy of the apocalyptic snake, but wants to take it on a test-run first to other worlds to make sure it really can totally eat planets. This of course, is just an odd plot device to give us even more cameos from DC’s outer-space related characters and it works well at that.

The list of cameos is exhaustive and turning the page and seeing a character you know and love return in the Beyond Universe is one of the most fun things about this book. Friedolfs and Nguyen dug deep into the DC lineup. Really deep. And they found characters you didn’t even know you wanted to check-up on again. Often times when a surprise character makes an appearance the entire Justice League decides to take a break from the impending doom of the universe to hear a super awesome story about how such-and-such ended up like this since the last time readers saw them. It’s fun, just go with it. I really think it shows that this first arc was made by a couple of guys who really love the source material and wanted to put as much of it in one book as they possibly could. The energy and nostalgia for the animated series radiates off every page. And they got the character interactions down-pat and that’s a very important thing they needed to nail. Bruce and Terry’s moments are great and there’s a really funny scene with Bruce and Superman, but many of the other characters have amusing dialogue as well. One of the only characters I felt was underused was Aquagirl who shouldn’t be the person behind the computer. Ever. I don’t understand why you would make the person who can control water your team’s version of Oracle. Luckily, she’s only handled like that for the first half of the book.

The artwork, as you can see, is amazing. It always is when Dustin Nguyen is involved. This is, without a doubt, the best-looking of all the Beyond comics. Just look at that image. If you take out the speech bubbles, you’d swear it was a cell from an episode of the animated series that you never saw. Not only does Nguyen capture the Timm designs precisely, but he handles action spectacularly and the faces on all these characters are incredibly expressive. It’s a book that I can recommend for the artwork alone, truthfully. The only instances of complaint would be with the coloring in the first trip to Metropolis and the size of the snake. It’s night when the League is in Gotham then daylight when they go to Metropolis. I tried to reason that they were out fighting crime really late in Gotham and it was nearly morning, but when you consider that a high school sporting event was going on at the same time, well, that probably puts us at around 7-10PM and it’s just a coloring mistake. As for the snake, its size is constantly changing like Godzilla in Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla movie, but on a way bigger scale. In one scene it’s wrapped around an entire planet and in the next, its jaw is being propped open by Aquagirl’s trident.

Supplemental Material

The Justice League Beyond Origins tales feel like bonus material so I’ll just count them as such. These three stories offer a glimpse at the early days of Warhawk, Aquagirl, and Barda. Each is written by Nguyen and Friedolfs, but features guest artists Eric Nguyen, James Brouwer, and Ben Caldwell. All of the artwork is really fantastic, but Ben Caldwell’s style didn’t fit the story of Barda well at all. It’s a chibi look that reminds me more of Li’l Gotham than a dark tale of Barda’s origin. The other two artists captured the look and feel of the animated series perfectly and the colors are even better than those found in the main JLB chapters.

You’ll also get full page covers of all 16 digital chapters and it’s really great to see them in their entirety without being cut in half for the digital market or cluttered with cover copy for the floppy version. After you’re done perusing the covers, Dustin Nguyen included a 4 page sketch gallery with minor notes. Overall it’s pretty good bonus material and if you see the origins section as a bonus then it’s definitely a book with incredible supplemental material.

Value:   Full Price!

You would have to buy around 10 issues of Batman Beyond Unlimited to get this complete story on your shelf and at $4 bucks an issue, that would cost you a pretty penny. Unlike Batman Beyond: 10,000 Clowns, the entire epic from beginning to end is included so there’s no problem there. $16.99 is a great price for fans of the Batman Beyond animated series and this is indeed a must read for fans of that universe. If you’re not a huge fan of the cartoon but just curious about seeing some good artwork then I’d say pick it up for the sale price. Amazon is offering it for $12.16 at the time I write this article. I’m not so sure that the re-read value on this is all too high though. You’ll mostly be revisiting it simply to flip through the artwork again.

Overall

Are you a big fan of the Batman Beyond episodes The Call, part 1 & 2? Then this is a must-buy for you. It has art that perfectly captures the tone of the animated series and an overwhelming amount of character cameos and back-story that expand on the Beyond Universe. It’s really light on plot and the villains are rather unmemorable, but if you’re just looking for action and more insight into the world of one of your favorite cartoons, this is worth picking up.

SCORE: 7/10

The post Justice League Beyond: Konstriction review appeared first on Batman News.

I couldn’t put Batman Beyond: 10,000 Clowns down and I’ve read the thing before. That says a lot. So why didn’t it get a higher score than 7/10? (7/10 is still very good, by the way. That’s almost 3/4 stars when you think about it and as we all know, stars are fantastic) Because it failed to include the epilogue! Once 10,000 Clowns was over, a story focused on Terry’s girlfriend, Dana, was published. That issue, while rather horribly drawn by a fill-in artist, resolved everything from 10,000 Clowns. It covered Terry and Dana’s relationship, the fate of our main villain, wrapped up Bruce Wayne’s subplot, and set up a new status quo for the entire series. Not including that chapter in this trade paperback was a huge mistake and it makes the book end really abruptly and not in a good way, like Road House. SHOW SPOILER ▼

Content

10,000 Clowns is by Adam Beechen and Norm Breyfogle. I have a soft spot for Breyfogle because he drew the Batman I grew up with. If you’ve read Knightfall, as I imagine every Batman fan has even if they don’t venture to far back in the mythology, you know Breyfogle’s work. In Batman Beyond, however his style goes under a bit of a transformation as he tries to capture the Bruce Timm designs of the animated series. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. His page layouts are also quite restricted because the series was created as a digital first comic, which means that it’s released 10 pages or so a month and those 10 pages are cut in half to accommodate a computer screen. Truthfully, if you want good digital comics you need to look to sites like Thrillbent, where they’ve figured out that the form should follow the function, not the other way around. These digital firsts that go to print are trying to please both markets by just splitting the page in half and I think both digital and print mediums suffer for it. The one big problem I think everyone will have with Breyfogle’s art on this book is his design for the main villain, the Joker King. In my opinion’s it’s just an awful, non-threatening look and takes a lot of the punch out of what’s otherwise a really disturbing story. Also, there are some pages in which the faces of Bruce or Terry seem kind of off as if we’ve reached this Uncanny Valley between Timm designs and Breyfogle style that’s kind of unsettling. Terry looked a bit like the Big Boy restaurant mascot in some panels. But for the most part the book looks nice. A two-page spread in particular in which the batmobile is flying over the lower streets of Gotham is so stunning that it still sticks with me. There were also some coloring mistakes on the character Vigilante in which he gains red accents on his armor during the middle of a battle.

Adam Beechen has written the adventures of Terry McGinnis before in the mini-series Hush Beyond and Industrial Revolution, which was comprised of the first 8 issues of the short-lived ongoing Batman Beyond title that was pushed aside when the New 52 began. I honestly didn’t care much for either of these stories, but I highly recommend you check out what he’s done here with 10,000 Clowns. It’s thrilling. However, even though I didn’t much care for Hush Beyond or Industrial Revolution, if you can find those cheaply then I suggest you pick those up and read them beforehand. The building blocks for much of what happens in 10,000 Clowns is laid out there. In a very short period of time, Adam Beechen made a pretty major impression on the Beyond universe.

Some of these changes you’ll love and some you’ll hate, but either way you have to salute the fact that he had the balls to push the series forward instead of trying to repeat old episodes. While I like to see what became of Dick Grayson, I also feel uncomfortable about Beechen retroactively changing the origin of Terry McGinnis. I didn’t like it when Justice League Unlimited did it either. That’s twice that Terry’s origin has been doctored and he’s a character that’s not even been around for 15 years. But while Beechen does put his own stamp on things he still handles the material with a great deal of respect and manages to capture the look and feel of Gotham (I refuse to call it “Neo Gotham”) and all the characters within. I think he does an especially good job with old Bruce.

The story here centers, as you can imagine, around the Jokerz. Beechen realized that Joker is such a larger than life character that if his infamy were to cause the youth of Gotham to form gangs, it would surely spawn even more gangs around the world. In 10,000 Clowns, there is a mass exodus of Jokerz to Gotham and it’s up to Terry to figure out why before something really terrible happens. It plays out like a much darker episode of the classic animated series. However, some things are way too obvious early on (the identity of the Joker King), slightly annoying (the revised origin of Terry) SHOW SPOILER ▼

While the story centers on the Joker’z we do take some time to visit other Batman Beyond characters as well. Dana is greatly strengthened as a vital part of the Batman Beyond story, Maxine has her own subplot and Henry Rollins’ character Mad Stan takes up about a quarter of the book before things turn into absolute chaos. Maxine’s plot will make little to no sense to those who haven’t read Industrial Revolution and it serves mostly as an annoying distraction here. I mean, it’s a plot that was started in 2011! I could’ve done without Maxine in the story completely. As for Mad Stan, he’s great! Remember how I said this was like reading a completely different book? When I first reviewed the short snippets that were released in Beyond Unlimited, I was bored to tears by the Mad Stan chapters which took months to finish and held no real weight at all. Collected in the TPB one-after-the-other, however, Mad Stan’s story is a necessary step toward the Jokerz finale and some nice lighthearted fun before we get into the heavier stuff that comes in the final act. It was terrible as a single month’s episode, but wonderful as the opening chapters of a larger work. And that seems to be the story of 10,000 Clowns. I saw it as being rather mediocre for the first 7 or 8 months of publication in the Beyond Unlimited series but now that I can take it all in at once, it’s an awesome ride.

Preview images courtesy of DC Comics

Supplemental Material

3 pages of Joker King character designs, none of which are very good. I had hoped that there would be one in there that I could say “Awww, they should’ve stuck with this!” but none of the sketches deviate far enough from the finished product, which was a pretty terrible look for our main villain in my opinion. You’ll also get the covers for each of these issues in full, which is fantastic. Many of these illustrations have never been seen by the print crowd or they have but they were cluttered with cover copy. All in all though this it doesn’t add up to much in the bonus department. For real bonus material, and I mean better bonus material than you can possibly get from just about any graphic novel in the store, go to writer Adam Beechen’s Youtube channel for 8-10 minute videos offering creator commentary on all chapters.

Value:   Full Price!

If you loved the Batman Beyond animated series then I think you’ll really get a kick out of this. It captures the look and feel of the series and it gets really intense in the second half. It might lack in the bonus material department, but it has a high re-read value. Amazon is currently offering it for $13.06. I say go out and get it. Yes, it’s disappointing that you won’t get to see the aftermath in the Dana epilogue, but you should still enjoy the ride.

Overall

This is the best Batman Beyond story that Adam Beechen has written and now that it’s in a TPB and not spread out over 15 months of digital firsts and printed anthologies it should finally get the attention it deserves. However, I can’t help but shake my head at the folks who put this book together because they neglected to include the INCREDIBLY important epilogue that ties up ALL of the narrative threads from this arc. You’ll still have a great time reading it, but the ending is abrupt and you won’t get all the answers you need to feel 100% satisfied. It’s a hell of a shame that that chapter wasn’t added.

SCORE: 7/10

The post Batman Beyond: 10,000 Clowns review appeared first on Batman News.

Content

The War of the Owls collects issue #7-12 along with the backup stories that those comics included when they were originally published. The amazing thing about volume 2 of All-Star Western for me is that it was able to disappoint me on 2 fronts and yet when I finished it I still felt entertained and willing to recommend it to others. That just goes to show you how great of a job that Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti did writing these characters. I like Jonah Hex, I like Amadeus Arkham, and I really loved that they brought Tallulah Black into the series. These three characters have a great dynamic that leads to a lot of laughs and some really fun action scenes. The members of the Crime Bible all made for really colorful villains and the cameos by Nighthawk and Cinnamon were really well done as well. In fact, the back-up story detailing their origins was one of the highlights of the entire graphic novel.

What disappointed me, however, is that the previous volume built more and more toward the capture of Thurston Moody who had fled to New Orleans. The book ended on a cliffhanger. For months now I’ve been waiting for volume 2 to arrive so I can see our heroes bring this villain down once and for all and bring closure to what began when Hex first set foot in Gotham City. What I got was extraordinarily anti-climactic. The hunt for Thurston Moody takes a back seat. Way back. And instead The War of Lords and Owls gave the reader a team-up with Nighthawk and Cinnamon to stop a band of anarchists called The August 7 and another story about Hex teaming up with Tallulah Black to battle the Crime Bible. Thurston Moody is given maybe 7 or 8 pages of attention and he only utters 24 words. As for the other element of the book that disappointed me, that would be The Court of Owls. After seeing them so prominently featured on the book’s cover and given top billing in the title of this volume, I expected quite a bit more. They are featured perhaps a 5 or so pages more than Moody and the attention is instead placed on the Crime Bible. It feels like false advertising to cash in on the Batman cross-over craze when really the stories we do get are good enough that such a gimmick wasn’t necessary. By so heavily implying that the Owls are what the reader will get, the reader will of course have expectations that need to be fulfilled. I expected to see the Owls as a major threat or to at least learn more about the group’s history. Heck, even the series Talon (which I highly recommend) has failed to give satisfying answers as to how the Court got its start or what their motivation really is other than the fact that they are evil and want more control over things. What do they want to do with Gotham once they “take it”?

That all said, the two stories we do get regarding the August 7 and Crime Bible are very entertaining and move at a much faster pace than what we saw in Volume 1. Watching Hex fight his way through opponents in a battle arena is terrific fun, as is the team-up with Nighthawk and Cinnamon. Even better than that is the confrontation with the Crime Bible, which featured many wonderful nods to the Wayne family and future Batman stories. Amadeus supplies the necessary comedic relief, but it’s really Tallulah who steals the show in the latter half of the book. Her chemistry with Hex really kicked my enjoyment of the book up to another level and made me want to seek out Pre-New 52 graphic novels featuring the character. I definitely want to see more of her and Hex outside of Gotham, but I don’t see that happening in this series anytime soon. Hex doesn’t have much reason to be in Gotham anymore and while I enjoyed the novelty of him being in such a vastly different setting at first I wish that the trip to New Orleans had taken longer. The trip to Louisiana was totally skipped over as was the return journey and it’s these voyages that usually make for some of the best Western tales. Just look at Lonesome Dove! There’s so much that can happen when traveling great distances like that in a genre like this and I think it was a missed opportunity to not show Hex and Amadeus on a road trip. It could’ve been Lonesome Dove meets Planes, Trains, and Automobiles! And then when they got to New Orleans, the story could’ve stayed focused on the Moody plot while occasionally veering off into the fun August 7 side quest and it would’ve been a phenomenal Western adventure. Instead, it felt like the writers got bored with the Moody plotline and decided to do something else entirely.

The artwork by Moritat is also much sketchier this time around and this will surely divide people. On one hand it gives the book a gritty style all its own and Moritat is able to render an environment with loads of details so the world the characters inhabit comes to life. On the other hand, these details are not cleaned up enough for many to fully appreciate these little details because they so easily get muddled together. The effort is there, but the time to realize the images in all their glory likely wasn’t. Also, most of the female characters look almost identical except for their hairstyle and that was a rather noticeable problem. Overall though, I like the look of this book and applaud Moritat’s attention to the clothing and architecture of the age the story is set. I also like the color choices that are made on the book, which also add to the series’ unique look. Readers who want sharper, more vibrant imagery, however, should enjoy the backup stories which were illustrated by a variety of different artists, inkers, and colorists and they also offer tales that show more of the old west.

Supplemental Material

In addition to the three back-up stories starring Nighthawk & Cinnamon, Bat Lash, and Dr. Terrence Thirteen that many will view as bonus material, the book also includes 6 pages of character sketches by Moritat. These early designs include the original ideas he had for Cinnamon, the Court of Owls, Tallulah, and more. It’s not quite as rich as the bonus material from volume 1, but it’s still quite good and a great way to show naysayers just how much work Moritat puts into these pages. The reason volume 1′s bonus material feels so much better is because it was page upon page of Moritat figuring out the clothing and weaponry of the late 1800′s and now he seems to have that all figured out so all we see are a character designs.

Value: Sale Price

It’s an enjoyable read, but not good enough that I would give full price at $16.99. I don’t think that the re-read value is all that high and it’s definitely not as memorable as Volume 1, even if it reads at a faster pace and Tallulah is a nice addition to the cast. There isn’t that much weight at all to the events that unfold, unlike what we saw in the previous installment. Look for it to go on sale at Amazon or your local comic shop. Amazon recently listed it for $12.51 and I’d say that that’s an alright deal for six comics that would’ve cost you $4 bucks a piece had you picked them up month-to-month.

Overall

Tallulah is a welcome addition to the cast, but I the story itself is far less memorable than volume 1. Those looking for more on the history of the Court of Owls will be disappointed to find The Crime Bible taking center stage and for the most part our characters are running out of reasons to stay in Gotham. Someone is always running up to Hex with an important case to solve right when he’s saddling up to leave and it’s getting tiresome. This book starts out quite fun with Amadeus and Hex traveling west to Louisiana, but the journey was short lived and we were back in Gotham in no-time. Luckily, Tallulah joined the team when we we returned to the east coast and that made for some funny and action packed moments. I think it’s a fun book, but there was a lot less on the line this go-round. I said it last time and I’ll say it again, I would like to see Hex get out of Gotham more often or permanently so All-Star Western can actually go west.

SCORE:   6.5/10

The post All-Star Western, Vol. 2: The War of Lords and Owls review appeared first on Batman News.

I gave the book back, we argued, he sold it for a couple bucks, and I went back to reading text books, never visited the Gotham of 2039 again…until now. It’s been seven years and ever since I started reviewing comics for Batman News I’ve always wondered if my fondness for Year 100 was just because I was so thrilled to be reading a Batman comic in the hustle and bustle of my college years or if it was indeed an amazing adventure for The Dark Knight.

Well, here we are. I’ve read Batman: Year 100 again and I’m happy to report that it is absolutely a must-read. In fact, I was going to review All-Star Western, Vol. 2 first and just casually began to flip through this as I moved some books around on my desk. I couldn’t put it down. The action is non-stop.

Content

The new edition of Batman: Year 100 not only includes the 4 issue mini-series, but it also comes with Paul Pope’s other Elseworlds tale “The Berlin Batman” from issue #11 of The Batman Chronicles (1998). I’ll talk about each of these.

Batman: Year 100

While not an official Elseworlds story, Batman: Year 100 certainly takes place outside of continuity and showcases a very unique interpretation of Gotham that hasn’t been seen before. However, what sets Batman: Year 100 apart from other Elseworld tales is that while it does take place outside of traditional continuity, it still acknowledges it! In fact, it adheres to it so rigidly that the story times the first ever Batman sighting in May of 1939, the publishing date of Detective Comics #27. Classic stories such as The Dark Knight Returns, which isn’t considered canon, are also prominently featured in the the Year 100 timeline. It’s a world where everything that happened in the comics happened when those comics were published.

You’re likely asking yourself how this could be possible. How could Batman begin in 1939, still operate in 1986 for The Dark Knight Returns, and then rise again in the year 2039. Well, that’s a question that lies at the very heart of Batman: Year 100 but rather than give us a clear answer, writer and artist Paul Pope leaves our hero’s identity ambiguous so that we are left to wonder, just like the citizens of Gotham. Is this the same Bruce Wayne? Has someone new donned the cape and cowl to keep the legend alive? Is this all simply history repeating itself? After all, the cast is made up of characters filling the archetypes of Robin, Jim Gordon, Oracle, and there’s even a Leslie Thompkins in there for good measure. All of these important supporting roles are re-invisioned except for Alfred Pennyworth. This is likely because of the story’s emphasis on plot over character and its focus on the legend more than the tortured soul behind it all. To get at the heart of Bruce Wayne (or whoever it really is under the mask) and explore his motivations you need an Alfred to anchor him back to the life he lost. Batman: Year 100 isn’t that kind of story though. Our hero literally hits the ground running, with no regard as to why he’s here to save us other than he’s Batman and that’s what Batman does. He’s back and he’s got a case to solve. There’s no time to reflect on falling pearls or answer questions on how legends can never die.

The closest thing to equate this Year 100 world to would be Batman Beyond but with Orwellian themes. It’s a bleaker, more dystopic future where the government knows everything about everyone, it’s a police state. You don’t see Batman catching purse snatchers or gangsters, hell you don’t see that many regular people walking around at all due to strict curfews. Instead we are fighting the overwhelming authority and Batman is the only “Double U” or Unclassified Undocumented person whom the powers that be have seen in quite some time. The Batman is something completely out of their control and that terrifies them. Gotham itself still looks old and rundown because its citizens cannot express themselves and therefore there is no progression in the landscape. The advancements we see are primarily in the weaponry, computer technology, and transportation that the police alone utilize. There’s also mention of telepaths and individuals who have implanted “enhancements” to make them faster or stronger. Batman: Year 100 is absolutely a sci-fi story, but oddly enough it’s one of the most believable depictions of Batman you will ever see.

The thing that I love most about Batman: Year 100 isn’t its mystery over the identity of Batman, nods to past Batman stories, or its winding conspiracy story, but its focus on the imperfections. No other book has done as good of a job of recapturing the gritty feel of Batman: Year One like this. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Paul Pope’s Batman is even more realistic. He’s a Batman who hits harder than everyone else but when he gets hit in return, you can tell that it hurts. His movements are faster than cameras can register, but he can still be struck by a bullet. When he outruns dogs and police on a rooftop chase he sweats, he pants, he bleeds. He’s the most dangerous man in the world, but he is most certainly a man. A man who can die if he makes one wrong move on any given night. Paul Pope never forgets this and it gives every action scene (of which there are many) far more weight. He even deliberately drew the sleeves on the suit to be too short to reach the gloves, leaving a hint of skin exposed so that the reader never forgets that it’s just a man in a suit. And don’t even get me started on the utility belt. Pope meticulously laid out how many pockets there would be, what equipment could fit, and how those pieces would be organized. The Batman trained himself to physical and mental perfection, but he never became a god in the process. He still has to work to stay alive. As I read this book it’s never far from my mind just how hard what Batman does is. All too often in other stories he always looks too clean, too iconic and untouchable and the feats he achieves fail to awe me because he’s portrayed as more of an ideal than a mortal man. I want to see the wrinkles in his face as he struggles to lift the heavy objects. I don’t want to read about a Batman that can’t break, I want to read about a Batman who can, but won’t.

Of course, the details don’t stop with Batman’s design. The city itself has a unique look as I said before and the advanced technology has an interesting feel to it. The whole book has a very manga-style about it that I can understand many will find off putting, but I like it. It’s different. One of the only things I didn’t really care for was the jerseys on the SWAT teams but that just seems to be a part of the strange police-state culture that the new Gotham has, which, by the way, if you love scenes of Batman outsmarting SWAT then you’ll love this. Different police divisions wear armor and then cover it with a football jersey showing the call sign for their unit. It’s an interesting idea, but it still plays kind of silly and undermines the overall grittiness of the tale. I think that if an animated film were made that the jerseys would definitely go– and yes, I think that this would make an excellent DC Animated film (as would Gotham by Gaslight).

Light trails and smoke are often used to create the illusion of movement and sound effects are always visualized within the illustrations themselves. It’s beautiful pop art at its finest if you ask me. And I love the colors by Jose Villarrubia. As you may know, I’m a huge fan of Sweet Tooth and think that Villarrubia is one of the best colorists in the business. The palette used for this 4-part story (which flows seamlessly without any noticeable breaks, I had no idea where one issue ended and the next began) is incredibly versatile with colors that really make the panels sear into your mind. Gotham itself is dark and dirty but any time some sort of advanced tech would show up there would be the most vibrant neon colors and digital effects that really dazzled the eye.

After reading this book again I called up my friend who trashed it all those years ago and started a seven year argument all over again. I think this is a gorgeous comic through-and-through made with extraordinary attention to detail, love for the Batman mythology, and untamed imagination. In the long list of must-read Batman graphic novels,  this is not the one that gazes the most deeply into Batman’s soul, it’s not the one that has the best villains, and it’s not the one that will make you feel the most emotions. This is the one that most excels at illustrating Batman’s method in the most realistic ways possible.

SCORE: 10/10

The Berlin Batman

Officially published under the Elseworlds label, The Berlin Batman tells the “What if?” story of a Jewish Batman in 1938 Germany. Baruch Wane is an effiminate, cubist painter and socialite who, as a child, saw his parents beaten to death. Swearing vengeance on all evil-doers, Baruch trained himself to physical and mental perfection and donned the cape and cowl after a bat flew in the window of his study in a moment of inspiration.

Since it was originally published in The Batman Chronicles, which typically featured 3 short Batman stories per issue, The Berlin Batman is quite the short read. It’s also a rather simple one because it’s styled to read exactly like the original origin story of our own Batman first presented by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Some shots during the montage origin scene are almost identical and the design of Batman himself is very reminiscent of Bob Kane’s pencils. One of the only major differences between Baruch and Bruce’s stories is that Baruch had a weird looking “batmouse” stuffed animal that he swore to and I think that the book could have done without that panel.

As excited I was to see Batman punching Nazis, that’s not really what you get here. Yes, he’s taking a stand against the party, but it isn’t until the end of the story that he swears to do whatever it takes to crush Hitler’s regime. All we are treated to is a slightly clumsy assault on a train where the police kamissar is trying to abscond with the notes of Austrian economist and Jewish sympathizer, Ludwig von Mises. It’s disappointing, but at the same time it ignites your imagination with a world of possibilities. I just think it’s a shame we’ll never see Paul Pope realize any of them. The Berlin Batman instead suggests a bigger, far more interesting story that we will never see.

With it being written and drawn(it looks almost nothing like Year 100 even though it is still drawn by Pope) like the old 1930′s comics, there isn’t a great deal of depth to the characters or natural sounding dialogue to be found. It’s there for you to simply appreciate how perfectly Paul Pope recreated the structure of the old pulp and to spark your imagination about what a Nazi-fighting Batman could possibly have gotten himself into long after this particular story ended.

It’s an admirable effort, thought-provoking concept, and a very short read, but not one that I will need to revisit again anytime soon.

SCORE: 6.5/10

Supplemental Material

Some of the best bonus material I’ve seen in all the graphic novels I’ve reviewed. There are:

• 8 pages of densely written documents made to look as if they came from the Gotham FPC headquarters during their investigation of the Batman.
• 5 pages of sketches and detailed notes by Paul Pope where he describes how he designed this incarnation of Batman and how the suit and all of the gadgets function.
• A half-page introduction to The Berlin Batman written by Paul Pope. He looks back on the early days of his career, the idea that sparked Berlin Batman, and shares an anecdote about the time he showed Batman: Year 100 to Frank Miller.
• The 4 original covers for each chapter of Batman: Year 100.
• And I think of the very brief The Berlin Batman as being bonus material

Value

$19.99 cover price is a good deal for a book that’s so re-readable and features not one, but two entertaining stories. I do wish DC would come out with a Deluxe Edition already. The only reason I could see someone holding off on buying this is if they are waiting in hope that DC will eventually give it the extra-large hardcover edition that it deserves. You can save about $3 bucks on this over at Amazon, by the way. Rating: FULL PRICE (I’m going to start rating the value as “full price” if it’s worth cover price, “sale price” if it’s only worth it for an amazon price or any other discount, and “not worth it” or something like that for the ones that aren’t worth buying).

Overall

Conspiracy, action, dystopian future setting, and highly stylistic artwork make this a must-read. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a Batman comic that’s more impossible to put down or one that does a better job of showing you a gritty, realistic Dark Knight.

SCORE: 10/10

The post Batman: Year 100 review appeared first on Batman News.

CONTENT

The first volume, Faces of Death,  wasn’t a great read by any means but it at least featured the much-talked-about issue in which Joker has his face removed. In Scare Tactics, however, there is nothing of great importance. Nothing that sent ripples through the rest of the bat-titles. That is unless you count its atrocious interpretation of Black Mask, which, thankfully, no other bat-titles have pursued further.

Now, I know I could sit here and make snarky remarks about this book all day but I truly don’t want to. I’m not in the mood for it. I’ve vented enough about Tony Daniel’s run already when these issues were published the first time around. In fact, whenever I get a hardcover or paperback collecting comics I’ve reviewed before, I always like to re-read it all again before doing a graphic novel review. But I couldn’t with this. I thumbed through the pages and struggled to find anything that conjured up any positive memories. It’s a large hardcover that bundles issues #7-12, Annual #1, and issue #0 and in that selection I recall enjoying these elements:

• The artwork by Tony Daniel. Jaw-dropping action panels, an emposing Dark Knight, and stunning splash-pages
• A somewhat competent Scarecrow story told in a single issue
• Issue #0, written by Greg Hurwitz, showing a young Bruce learning an important life lesson high up in the Himalayas
• 2 backup stories by James Tynion IV, Szymon Kudranski, and Henrik Jonsson. One was about the GCPD in the days leading up to Joker’s return and the second, taken from issue #0, had Alfred alone in the manor awaiting a young Bruce away traveling the globe.

Those are the highlights and they account for 2/7 or 29% of the book. The rest is really awful. It pains me to think about it. There’s the bastardization of Black Mask by turning him into a magical hypnotist, a nonsensical plot about a hadron collider being built in secret in the upper level of a skyscraper, and even Two-Face shows up to get kidnapped by ninjas! That last bit isn’t even the strangest thing about that Harvey Dent story. If an image comes to your mind when I say “Quaid, start the reactor.” then you have an idea. Poor Harvey, outside of a couple lines in Snyder’s Batman in issue #1 and issue #16 he really hasn’t been given any respect in the New 52.

I would rather get you excited about reading Batman comics. I love them and that’s why I pretty much only write reviews for books rooted in the mythology of Gotham. But this collection is not a good example of what Batman stories should be. Tony Daniel is a phenomenal artist, his latest work on Action Comics #19 was breathtaking, but he shouldn’t be writing Batman and he sure as hell needs to stay away from Harvey Dent. If you’re a big enough fan of Tony Daniel’s pencils then this might be worth picking up just so you can admire the illustrations, but it’s not enough for me. I think that Detective Comics should be the sharpest, most complex series of all the bat-titles and Daniel’s run was big on action and short on ideas.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

Issue #9 variant cover by Jason Fabok. That’s it. It’s a nice cover, don’t get me wrong, but some more extras would’ve been nice. Pretty weak sauce.

VALUE

The price of this comes out about even to what you would have paid for the monthly floppy issues. At cover price it’s $29.99 for 6 issues plus the over-sized Annual #1. That’s six $4 dollar books and one $5 dollar book , which would be $29.00 not counting tax so… you’re probably saving a little, but nothing substantial. Amazon has it for $19.97, which is more reasonable for something of this quality, but in the time it took me to write this article I saw that Amazon at one point offered it for about a buck cheaper. Look for it to go on clearance. Plus we should take re-read value into account and I don’t think I would ever want to re-read anything from this collection. Most of the community around here would agree that Tony Daniel’s run is something best forgotten.

OVERALL

I would rather forget these stories ever happened, truthfully. Tony Daniel’s artwork is brilliant and the brief contributions by other writers like Hurwitz and Tynion IV are a good read, but everything else is quite bad. Sometimes rage inducing. Daniel’s Detective run and Finch’s Batman: The Dark Knight issues are easily the worst Batman stories to come out of the New 52. I can’t recommend that you pick this one up unless you’re just a big fan of Daniel’s pencils. At least with Volume 1 Daniels showed some ambition what with the surprise of Joker’s face being removed and the gruesome Dollmaker storyline, but Scare Tactics is aimless and its Two-Face backup story is one of the worst things I’ve read in my time as a reviewer.

SCORE: 3.5/10

The post Detective Comics, Vol. 2: Scare Tactics review appeared first on Batman News.

Well I have good news for you! Gotham by Gaslight is considered a Batman classic and one of the finest Elseworlds tales ever released. Originally published in 1989, Gotham by Gaslight tells the “What if” story of a 19th century Caped Crusader who comes face to face with the Butcher of Whitechapel. It’s Batman vs. Jack the Ripper written by Brian Augustyn and illustrated by none other than the creator of Hellboy, Mike Mignola. But that’s not the only story you’re getting when you purchase A Tale of the Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. No, you’re also getting its lesser known sequel, Batman: Master of the Future written, again, by Brian Augustyn but illustrated by Eduardo Barreto, who recently passed I’m sorry to say.

I’ll be taking a look at both stories. Each one will have its own review and score and then in the end I’ll figure out a worthy number to assign the collection as a whole with the price and presentation of the book taken into account just like I how I do with any other graphic novel review.

Content

Gotham by Gaslight

I have saved a few “classic” Batman stories for myself to enjoy and Gotham by Gaslight is one of those that I had never touched. Now that I’ve actually sat down with it I can say that it did a good job of living up to all the hype. This was really entertaining. It’s a Victorian era Batman unraveling the mystery of Jack the Ripper, so how could it not be a fun read? And it’s a real testament to how great the concept of Batman is that Augustyn could take such an iconic character, translate him to a vastly different setting, and still have it work so effectively! I was also impressed by how understated the story was. It didn’t try to push its concept too far by introducing a steam powered batcomputer or throw in a bunch of over-the-top swashbuckling heroics into what should be a dark and disturbing mystery, nor did it attempt to showcase every member of the Gotham City cast when they weren’t germane to the tale at hand. It’s a story that strives to do only what’s necessary and to reach its climax in an economical fashion. However, that’s not to say there aren’t a couple of Easter eggs here or there that readers can keep an eye out for. Just look at these pages:

I rather like the Teddy Roosevelt-esque Jim Gordon but truly I could throw complements at the designs all day. Batman: Gotham by Gaslight is a perfect example of writer and artist working in perfect harmony. Mignola’s Batman looks appropriate to the time, as does everything else. The architecture, clothing and hair styles, etc. are all fitting to the period. Be sure to pay close attention to all the little details in the background. But most of all it’s Mignola and inker P. Craig Russell’s use of shade and shadow that give the book the moody tone it deserves. Colorist David Hornung also did a terrific job complementing these drawings with equally dark hues and really distinguishing colors for the various flashback segments. It’s a Batman book that has a unique look all it’s own. You can show a fan any single panel from Gotham by Gaslight and they’ll know exactly where it came from.

So I liked the concept of Gotham by Gaslight and the art of Gotham by Gaslight, but what about the actual story? Well, it’s great as well but a bit too brief. Call me greedy but I really wanted more from this world. It’s a great concept that I don’t think was explored as thoroughly as it should have been. Look at the sequel that’s also collected in this graphic novel. It’s about 50% longer than Gotham by Gaslight but only has a quarter of the substance! An 1800′s Gotham functions surprisingly well and the author really took care to perfectly set up the death of the Waynes, the arrival of Bruce in Gotham from his travels, and his relationship with Inspector Gordon in a fantastic example of perfectly paced world-building but once the Jack the Ripper slayings began to occur in Gotham things started to hasten. While that made for a very intense and thrilling read I really, really wanted it to be stretched out longer than it was. Perhaps it should have had a few red herrings before Batman found his #1 suspect?

Jack the Ripper’s identity (the real Jack the Ripper’s identity) is one of the greatest mysteries of all time and when you take just a second to look at the cast of characters in this book there really was only one legitimate suspect all along and it makes for a rather predictable end. The idea of Batman hunting down Jack the Ripper is just too juicy to sum up in so few pages. It’s the “World’s Greatest Detective” hunting down arguably the most notorious murderer in history. There’s more than enough substance there for a book twice this size. While I loved this story and think it alone is worth the price of you picking up this graphic novel, I wish it had been an even larger story with more of the detective work and midnight patrols of Batman rather than jumping straight into the finale…but maybe that’s the point? In a world where Batman exists, Jack the Ripper wouldn’t have had a chance to operate for long.

Score: 9/10

Master of the Future

“The world needs a champion for a brutal new age” Is a great line from Master of the Future and it would make one hell of a tagline, but the content itself doesn’t live up to that idea. Master of the Future represents a lot of the negative elements I praised Gotham by Gaslight for not doing. It’s longer by over 20 pages and that’s good, but we actually get less Batman. Less of that classic Gotham atmosphere! Whicle Gotham by Gaslight took place in the late 1800′s, it still felt like Gotham. This absolutely does not. It’s really vibrant and colorful and clean. The artist, Eduardo Barreto, did an excellent job drawing a lighthearted adventure story but it’s not a good depicitoin of the world of Batman. Not at all. And when I said that Gaslight was understated, this is rather flamboyant. Master of the Future cranks up the steam punk with flying machines and robots and the main villain really is a swashbuckler, he’s a sky pirate!

Now, that’s probably where the biggest problem lies. How does one follow up a story about the Worlds Greatest Detective vs. History’s Most Notorious Serial Killer? Jack the Ripper is an almost impossible act to follow and he ceratinly shouldnt’ have been followed up with the fictional Alexandre LeRoi. LeRoi is one of the lamest villains I’ve seen in some time (and I just reviewed Batman/Deathblow yesterday!). Gotham is going to have a big, family-friendly fair celebrating the turn of the century and Gotham’s future. Well, LeRoi hates the idea of the future and wants the event stopped (his true motivations are revealed in the final pages in a pretty lame twist that arguably makes him more pathetic) or else he and his robot best friend will torch the city from their metal aircraft!

Of course while all of this is going on we get a subplot about Bruce’s own personal conflict over whether or not he should continue being the Bat-Man or settle down with the lovely Julie Madison (Batman’s first significant love interest who was introduced to the comics in 1939, a nice surprise here and not the only one), a young woman who thinks Gotham needs Bat-Man now more than ever. This was good and it led to our only flashback scene which showed Batman fighting baddies at night time– everything else that occurs here is shown during a spectacularly sunny day. And as far as historical figures go, there are a couple that I won’t spoil for you. None of them are portrayed as villains, just neat little cameos for those who know their history.

Master of the Future is really well illustrated…but not as a Batman story. It’s a fun and campy swashbuckling adventure…but it’s totally not what I was in the mood for after reading the dark and gripping Gotham by Gaslight. You just can’t follow up Jack the Ripper with a story about a sky pirate who hates the fair! You just can’t. I think the best route to have taken would’ve been to keep with the re-writing history/serial killers motif and flash forward a couple of years. Gotham by Gaslight took place in 1891. Well, in 1893 we had the notorious World’s Fair murders (You even get to keep the fair backdrop!) of H.H. Holmes who, while not as famous (or infamous) as Jack the Ripper, was arguably a way more nasty and prolific serial killer. Show me the 1800′s Batman taking down a serial killer who built his own death maze outside the World’s Fair! Now THAT sounds like a great way to follow up Gaslight.

SCORE: 5/10

Supplemental Material

None. No bonus content to speak of and I think that’s pretty pitiful. Both of these stories have been around for over 20 years now and they are worth reprinting so why not add some insight? Original sketches? Creator’s retrospective? Anything would’ve been nice. Of course, many will be buying this book for Gotham by Gaslight alone so in a way Master of the Future will be bonus material to many.

Value

$12.99 full price for one of the best Elseworld tales and most original Batman stories of the 80′s? Yeah, I say it’s worth it. It’s a classic and should be on your shelf. It’s only a buck or so cheaper on Amazon though, sadly.

Overall

This is absolutely worth picking up for Gotham by Gaslight alone. Yes, it’s an incredibly rich idea that should’ve been explored further than 48 pages but it’s still a highly entertaining read with a great atmosphere and I’ll want to revisit it again and again. Its sequel, however, is a tale that I read once and will likely never re-read again. It’s Batman vs. Jack the Ripper, it’s a cool concept that could’ve been a masterwork had it been given more attention. If you finish this and want something more in-depth (way, way, way more in-depth), I highly recommend you read Alan Moore’s From Hell.

SCORE: 8.5/10

The post A Tale of the Batman: Gotham by Gaslight review appeared first on Batman News.

CONTENT

It’s superhero team-up time! That means we’ll see a couple of capes brawl for a few pages until they finally realize they’re on the same side and join forces to defeat the bad guy in the third act, right? Wrong. Although I didn’t care much for the story of Batman/Deathblow, I can’t praise the brilliant storytelling device that author Brian Azzarello employed enough! Rather than go the cliched route we’ve seen time and time again, this team-up took a different route by showing two different stories at two different points in time. These narratives (a present day detective story with Batman and an action/espionage thriller featuring Deathblow from 10 years ago) run parallel as a greater mystery unfolds with the different events adding one piece to the puzzle at a time. Our heroes never share the same page together.

Do you not know who Deathblow is? Don’t worry about it. You’re at this website so I’ll assume you’re a Batman fan and in this story Batman’s quest for the first half of the book is to uncover who Deathblow is himself so it’ll be pretty easy to get invested in Batman’s investigation. I’ll admit that I was hooked for the first half of the book. Learning about Deathblow’s past through Batman’s digging was compelling stuff. But once that was over and we learned more about our rather weak villain, a pyrokinetic hitman with wavering allegiances, and the story started to get knotted up in the politics of various clandestine government agencies…my interest began to wane. The double and triple crosses of these spies-turned-assassins and assassins-turned-spies never meant much to me and I can’t help but wonder if the story should have been a chapter longer to flesh the supporting cast out some more. The motivations of these secondary characters simply were not compelling to me. What had hooked me was the detective work of Batman and once Deathblow’s role was revealed I lost all interest.

And why did the villain have to have a mutant super power? It feels incredibly out of place when everything else in this book is so deeply rooted in reality. I mean it. The artwork is as realistic looking as possible, there are frequent references to real-life government organizations and they are treated like formidable institutions, Deathblows black-ops missions are not overly stylized, Gordon’s murder cases feel authentic, Bruce’s detective work is slow, thoughtful, and… EVERYTHING. None of the rest of this story is done in an over the top manner except for the zeppelins that still float above the Gotham skyline. I did some research of my own (I skimmed Wikipedia) and found that Deathblow’s comics do indeed deal with mutant characters like this from time to time but by simply judging this story alone (which I feel I should do since it’s a stand-alone graphic novel outside of continuity) it didn’t quite fit. Batman is presented at his most grounded and Deathblow’s own presentation is as very gritty black ops. Adding a baddie who creates fire with his mind has no business in a setting like this.

Once we dive into the politics of these black ops groups it stops feeling like a Batman story and starts feeling like an espionage thriller that just so happens to star a guy in a Batman costume who doesn’t quite understand what’s going on so everyone has to take turns filling him in. It doesn’t make for a very fun experience. Had the story been 4 chapters long maybe, just maybe we would’ve gotten to know these characters better and the answers would came more gradually than they did and the ending would’ve had a greater impact on me. As it stands, I was eager for the book to end 2/3 of the way through.

Something else I would like to mention about this before I get into the artwork is that it’s a story that was written in 2002, three years before the release of Batman Begins yet in it we see this scene…

Yep. Sorry, Batfans, but Batman didn’t say it first. I wonder if Nolan or Goyer read this book before writing the script for Batman Begins?

Now as you can see just by that shot of the cover and those couple of panels above that the real highlight of Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire is the artwork. I can’t get enough Lee Bermejo. Batman: Noel is a glory to behold and Joker (also written by Brian Azzarello) is equally brilliant. The man has a very realistic take on the world of comics and it doesn’t stop at Batman. Here is one of my absolute favorite images of Spider-Man and Daredevil that he did as a special variant cover a year or so ago:

The thing I love about that the most is that Spider-Man is a guy who made his costume himself and that image really does make it look like he’s wearing something that a guy could throw together on their own. That same level of detail is present in his Batman. You can see these little rivets in the cowl where the leather is pieced together, every flap on the belt (which actually looks like a functional belt that can hold things), etc. etc. It’s awesome. And if you haven’t read Joker then you’re missing out on a very creep and realistic take on the Clown Prince of Crime and several other notable characters as well. In fact, while I love the way this book looks it’s really evident in both Joker and Batman: Noel that Bermejo has only gotten better at drawing Gotham. You’ll be very hard pressed to find another Bat-book that’s as gritty and realistic looking as what Bermejo illustrates. The colors in this book are really great as well at setting the tone. I was often reminded of the movie Se7en. It’s that same sort of sickly green palette throughout the story. However, do think that the colors could have been mixed up some more between the flashbacks and present day to make those scenes more distinguishable. But overall it looked great and complemented Bermejo’s pencils and Tim Bradstreet’s inks well.

In short: this is a book that you pick up for the artwork first and foremost. I firmly believe that it’s worth owning for the illustrations alone. If you happen to like the story more than I did, well then that’s just a nice added bonus. And speaking of bonuses…

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

The bonus material here is terrific because it really is BONUS MATERIAL. What you get are several pages of original sketches, cover designs, and never-before seen unused pages from the original printing of this three part series. Each image is accompanied by commentary from artist Lee Bermejo who goes in detail about why this panel didn’t work or how he wishes another would have been included in the final product.

VALUE

$22.99 isn’t that bad of a price for this. Sure the story isn’t something I would personally ever re-read, but it’s at least a story that takes some time unlike Batman/Planetary, which you can finish in 10-15 minutes. The artwork is great and presented better than ever before thanks to the deluxe format and it all comes with some neat bonus material to boot. Even better, you can pick this up at Amazon for $15. 61. It’s not a must-read, but if you’re interested the price is fair.

OVERALL

It’s a really refreshing way to do the superhero team-up but with such a weak villain and unrewarding mystery the tale fell flat for me. However, as convoluted as the story may be, the artwork is Gotham at its best and the deluxe format presentation makes it all the more mesmerizing. If you read comics more for art than story then After the Fire is definitely something you should pick up. If you’re looking for something with a greater re-read value, however you might want to pick up the other Wildstorm/DC crossover, Batman/Planetary instead (the story itself is a 9.5 or 10/10 but it’s over $20 bucks for a 48 page story, that’s why I gave it a lower score in the review). It’s a shorter read and rather expensive for how many pages you get but it’ll stick in your mind longer than Batman/Deathblow will.

SCORE: 6.5/10

The post Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire (Deluxe Edition) review appeared first on Batman News.

Content

Here we have one of the books included with the goodie bag I received from my trip to the DC Comics offices a couple weeks back. And if you’re wondering why I haven’t posted any photos or written an article about what I saw there, it’s because DC asked that I not do either of those things. But anyway, when I saw that Batman/Planetary was written by Warren Ellis, I was intrigued. Having read Preacher and been hooked by it I was curious to see how the man who wrote that bizarre tale would handle something like Batman. (Note: as Andy Sherwin pointed out in the comments, I got Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis confused. Warren Ellis did NOT write Preacher but for whatever reason as I was reading/writing about this book this morning I thought that he did. I guess it’s because Ennis/Ellis are names that look alike so my brain misfired. Just ignore what I said here)

As much as I enjoyed Preacher it did have a knack of trying too hard to be edgy or shocking and that same attitude presented itself at the beginning of this book. Within the first four pages we are already treated to references of drug abuse and pornography and I was sure that those sort of R-rated elements would be seen the whole way through, but I was wrong. After you get past the gruff exterior what you get with Batman/Planetary is a surprisingly lighthearted and touching story that’s a love letter to all the different eras of Batman mythology.

It’s a crossover that works perfectly. Planetary is a group that seems (again, I’m ignorant when it comes to this Wildstorm series so bear with me) to deal with the multi-verse rather frequently. Their Gotham is a very realistic one where there is no Batman to speak of but that quickly changes when this team of  three superpowered heroes arrives to track down a young man whose reality altering power switches this plane of existence between the various 196,833 other different realities. This means that once we’re transported to a universe where, once the Caped crusader can intervene, we can witness frequent transitions between the Bob Kane Batman, Neal Adams Batman, Frank Miller Batman, and numerous other interpretations of our favorite iconic character. These dimensional disruptions lead to some really funny scenes as the Planetary crew must wrestle with all these wildly different varieties of the World’s Greatest Detective as they all try to track down and detain the out-of-control young man whose powers are altering space and time.

It’s a short story but very good book that I couldn’t put down! If I was scoring this review on the quality of the content alone I would award it a 9.5 or 10/10 and a big part of that is due not only to the snappy dialogue, great characterization, and story, but largely because of the extraordinary attention to detail that artist John Cassaday brings to the table. His realistic illustrations are a pleasure to look at throughout the story as are the vibrant colors but I was really amazed at how perfectly the artist captured each unique depiction of the Dark Knight. Cassaday’s ability to alter his style to accurately portray the pencils of legendary artists who came before him is quite astounding. His Neal Adams Batman is spot-on and the Bob Kane Batman…what am I saying? It’s everything. Everything looks fantastic.

Supplemental Material

The complete Warren Ellis script. I like seeing this sort of bonus material. It’s always a treat to see how minimalist or overly detailed different comic writers are and what sort of style they use when writing their scripts. There should’ve been more supplemental material than this though. Original sketches by John Cassaday would’ve been nice. It’s a book that needs more extras to justify its expensive price tag.

Value

Here’s where I deduct the points. The artwork is phenomenal and the story is funny, fascinating, and emotional but in the end it’s a 48 page comic being sold for $22.99 and that’s obscene. Even if you go to Amazon it’ll cost you $18.77 and that too is asking a lot. Ideally, this book should’ve been around $10 bucks. I think the level of quality you get plus the script and deluxe format would’ve made this story totally worth around $10 dollars but not $22.99!

Overall

I loved this story and the artwork is perfection. It’s one of the most balanced crossovers I’ve ever seen where characters from both titles are treated with the utmost respect and we get a terrific celebration of many of Batman’s most iconic incarnations. But it’s only 48 pages long and costs $22.99! That’s absurd. Yes, it’s the larger “deluxe” format and you get the original script by Warren Ellis, but I still feel that I need to bring the score down because $22.99 is just asking too much for such a short read. I highly recommend every Batman fan read this but you can find it digitally on Comixology for a mere $1.99.

SCORE: 7.5/10

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After feeling like I was in the minority for my appreciation of the fun that was Suicide Squad Volume 1 I feel like I sunk right down with the rest of the crowd with Basilisk Rising. The laughs and surprises just weren’t there this time around and the bad guy left a lot to be desired.

Content

There’s a mole inside the Suicide Squad and the cult Basilisk that was hinted at in the previous volume is about to make their move. It’s not a bad premise but it wasn’t executed all too well. This book collects issues #8-13, #0, and issue #9 of Resurrection Man. Like Justice League International Vol. 2, Suicide Squad is bogged down by the shoehorning in of desperate characters from soon-to-be-canceled books. With JLI it was Batwing (who hasn’t been canceled but his character is getting a complete overhaul next month) and… I don’t even remember his name now (Hulk knock-off with blue fin on his head. His damn catch-phrase is “I Am ____!” He says his name for crying out loud and I still don’t remember what it was– that speaks volumes). Here in Suicide Squad’s new book we have a Resurrection Man popping up in a 2-part story that didn’t make a whole lot of sense because it required that I read Resurrection Man’s book. It’s since been canceled. Then there’s Team 7, one of the quickest series to be canceled so far in the New 52. Team 7 is mentioned numerous times throughout this comic and it gets pretty annoying. Nobody cared about Team 7, that’s why it went away. Of course the only instance in which Team 7 references mattered was in issue #0.

Unlike Batgirl or Red Hood and the Outlaws, this Suicide Squad trade didn’t kick things off with its #0 issue. Instead it saved it for last and that made for an immensely unsatisfying conclusion. For one, the first chapter here (issue #8) is a bit of a prequel itself that shows us how each member was brought into the squad and how there is indeed a mole in the organization. Great. But issue #0 shows us how Amanda Waller started the squad to begin with AND introduced us to Regulus, our main villain for the remainder of the book, AND gave us a very good reason to hate him and root for Amanda Waller. Saving that chapter for last was foolish. I had no investment whatsoever in what Regulus was up to or whether or not the team brought him down but there would’ve been at least a quantum of caring had I known what he did to Waller in the past. And if there’s one thing that Suicide Squad definitely needs, it’s a reason to care about Amanda Waller. I’ve always found it hard to give a damn about the diet-coke version of Marvel’s Nick Fury. I will say that I did like her more when she wasn’t just another idealized comic book hot chick. Seeing a Maya Angelou type boss around the likes of Superman was always entertaining. But so far in the New 52 I’ve found her to be nothing but annoying. There’s a lot of talk about how bad ass and smart she is but I have yet to see it. Her plan seems to always be “Send in EVERYONE. Send them in HEAD-ON. Tell them NOTHING even if it’s vital intel that could make the mission easier and it wouldn’t be a problem if the team knew.” The team of course always gets in over their head, the original plan fails until they stumble upon the vital intel themselves, and then they succeed while Waller yells incessantly.

SHOW SPOILER ▼

And that’s basically what goes on throughout Basilisk Rising. It’s the same formula again and again. The previous volume was rather unpredictable and I never knew what would come from chapter to chapter but everything here played out as expected. I even guessed who the mole is by looking at an extremely obvious clue in the first chapter. The cast never changes either. Last time around there were characters getting killed and replaced right and left but now we seem to have settled into a more permanent group. Well, there is one death that happens near the end but its given no importance whatsoever because rather than visit the aftermath of those events we are shown the #0 issue which ended things off with a whimper.

Since we’re a Batman site I figured I should address Harley. Oh, how I can’t wait for the day when we see a new character design for Harley Quinn. I hate this cape and perma-white nonsense so much it’s not even funny. And then in this book she has split-personalities. Harley and Dr. Harleen take turns speaking and it’s….I hate it. And when we take into account how unpredictable she is and how she almost got the entire team killed in the last volume it really makes no sense for Waller to keep her on this team.

While the story of Basilisk’s rise and the hunt for a mole never quite pulled me in, the artwork never quite elevated the material either. Matt Yackey’s colors were all great and some of the covers were good but the interiors on all these stories were all pretty straight forward. Fernando Dagnino does a fine job but I can’t say any of the imagery stuck with me. It’s odd how even in this book nobody can decide on how Waller should look. Some pages she’s a little chubby, some she’s model thin, others she has greying hair, etc. Carlos Rodriguez’s pages were easily the weakest. Many of the characters looked like they were hastily scrawled and their faces appeared muddled. One shot of Black Spider on a beach looked particularly odd because his leg was all twisted in an extremely odd way.

Supplemental Material

Several pages worth of early Regulus designs and cover sketches. As always there isn’t any illustrator commentary or anything. It’s just the pencils and thumbnails that led to the finished product. I was surprised at how committed Fernando Dagnino was to the Regulus design. He’s one of the more flamboyant looking villains I’ve seen in the New 52. I wasn’t a fan of his look at all. He’s really one of the least threatening baddies I’ve come across.

Value

Suicide Squad usually sells for $2.99 a book and this includes 8 issues plus a copy of Resurrection Man #9 all for $16.99 at cover price. That’s not a bad deal at all but the re-read value on this is quite low. I don’t feel like reading this story was a waste of time, but it’s not something I will need to read ever again.

Overall

Basilisk Rising never reaches the same level of fun, humor, and unpredictability of Volume 1. You get quite a bit of comic book for your money with nine comics at $16.99 but it’s not a book that warrants repeat readings. It’s just exciting enough to not be a slog, but not entertaining enough to be memorable. I can’t help but think it would have been a far better story if the villain was more interesting and the narrative had been structured differently.

SCORE: 5.5/10

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