Welcome back to Upcoming Comics! I don’t know how many of you play tabletop RPGs, but I just finished running my first D&D campaign after 2 years. It only had 38 sessions (in case you wanted to know how difficult it can be to line up the schedules of five people in their late 20s), but it was so much fun building the world and seeing my friends bring it to life. I’ll be running Curse of Strahd next, so I’m excited for that. Anyways, let’s look at some comics:
Upcoming Comics
Batman #140
It’s Batman versus The Joker in their most brutal fight of all time. But wait…Batman is also battling a legion of himself! What has Zur done? And who will walk away? The brutal “Mindbomb” continues!
- Written By: Chip Zdarsky
- Penciled By: Jorge Jiménez, Mike Hawthorne
- Inks By: Jorge Jiménez, Mike Hawthorne
- Colors By: Tomeu Morey, Ivan Plascencia
- Cover By: Tomeu Morey, Jorge Jiménez
Thoughts: Is this Joker battle “the most brutal fight of all time”? Is it really? Because I feel like you told me that the last dozen or so times this happened.
Batman News Critic: Jackson
Batman – Santa Claus: Silent Knight #1
SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN! The four-part crossover event of a generation begins when a not-so-jolly St. Nick hits Gotham City to investigate a brutal crime in the days leading up to Christmas…What manner of man or beast could have committed such atrocities?! With the help of his former student, Batman, Santa will team up with the heroes of the DC Universe to right this wrong-or the world wakes up to coal in their stockings! A brutal, two-fisted holiday tale of hope, wonder, and monster hunting is the perfect treat to ring in the holidays-it’s Claus in canon!
- Written By: Jeff Parker
- Penciled By: Michele Bandini
- Inks By: Michele Bandini
- Colors By: Alex Sinclair
- Cover By: Dan Mora
Thoughts: This sounds absolutely ridiculous. I love it. I can only hope it will live up to the gold that was the Batman/Elmer Fudd team-up.
Batman News Critic: Cam (Full series review 12/26)
Birds of Prey #4
Chaos reigns as the first mission for the Birds of Prey has (unsurprisingly) gone sideways. Even with the collective battle prowess of her hand-picked team, did Black Canary bring enough firepower to fight their way off Themyscira?!
- Written By: Kelly Thompson
- Penciled By: Leonardo Bastos Romero
- Inks By: Leonardo Bastos Romero
- Colors By: Jordie Bellaire
- Cover By: Leonardo Bastos Romero, Jordie Bellaire
Thoughts: What I really like about this series is how well it handles everyone’s personalities and their team dynamics
Batman News Critic: Jeremy
Poison Ivy #17
The victims of Ivy’s parasitic contagion have begun to converge. As the clock begins to tick down to an explosive confrontation between Pamela Isley’s past and present, the verdant villain finds herself embroiled in a life-and-death battle to survive. And what’s more, her deceased friends aren’t the only ones creeping through Slaughter Swamp.
- Written By: G. Willow Wilson
- Penciled By: Marcio Takara, Luana Vecchio
- Inks By: Marcio Takara, Luana Vecchio
- Colors By: Luana Vecchio, Arif Prianto
- Cover By: Jessica Fong
Thoughts: I’m surprised to see the plot elements from way back in issue #1 still showing up, especially when that was originally planned as a self-contained mini.
Batman News Critic: Theresa
Beyond the Bat
Welcome to Beyond the Bat, where we take a quick look at the rest of DC’s comics coming out this week.
Graphic Novel Watch
Sometimes you need more than floppies. Sometimes you want something that can sit nicely on your shelf that proudly displays your favorite stories. That’s when you turn to graphic novels. Let’s see what bat collections are coming out this week:
Ratings
Most Excited: Birds of Prey #4– Thompson has proven she gets these characters, and I want to keep reading more of them
Least Excited: Batman #140– Joker and multiverse Zur-En-Arrh are just two tired concepts brought together.
Wild Card: Batman – Santa Claus: Silent Knight #1– I’m either going to love this or dread it
Well that’s it for this week! Let us know in the comments what comics you’re looking forward to.
