Well this was one HELL of a week from Marvel. The Dark Reign story arc running through Marvel, headed up by the seemingly limitless brilliance of Brian Michael Bendis, is reaching Dark Knight level intensity and moments that got my blood boiling, arm hairs standing and reactions I actually had to spout out loud.
From comics.
And I got one DC book this week (and one from last week), sadly no stand out indies for me this week (if I missed something good, let me know!). Marvel dominated this Wednesday's Stack.
Lets' get to it.
MARVEL:
The New Avengers #56
Currently this title seems to be handling some back burner action with all that's going on with more eventful conflicts between Mutant kind and Osborne but we're still getting a solid book. Several "ten time loser" villains have secured, built or bought one hardcore peace of equipment that drops powers like an EMP does electric devices. The tool is used as a bargaining chip with Norman Osborne. Osborne doesn't bite and pays a heavy price. While this title is not currently rocking the front lines of the DKR arc, this is a fun and well written read with some fantastic art right now. And I'm sure the New Avengers will be on the front lines with Osborne, if not in the next issue, very soon. They're still mighty pissed at his little team of impostors smearing their good names.
Dark Avengers #8 (Utopia Chapter 5)
On to one of Osborne's little puppet empire's more pressing problems: Mutants. We're finally treated to some answers as to just what Ms. Emma Frost is doing heading up an Osborne overseen mutant team claiming to be "X-Men". The mutant riots are squashed and the end of the issue, which I will not spoil, had me honestly laughing out loud for the sheer brilliance of what Scott "Cyclops" Summers has done to Osborne's ego and public image. I was never the biggest Cyclops fan and I'm sure I've flat out said I hate the guy over the years, but ever since Grant Morrison built the foundations of a bad ass in Summers way back in New X-Men, writers seem to be jumping at the chance to keep the trend up and growing. What Summers achieves by the end of this issue might infuriate Xavier but thrill Magneto. Mutants got a brand new bag. If you haven't picked up Utopia (running through alternating issues of Uncanny X-Men and Dark Avengers) its time to get caught up before the big finale issue X-Men/Dark Avengers Exodus coming out soon.
Secret Warriors #7
Johnathan Hickman (read Nightly News to figure out why he's one of the best writers of comics possibly ever) continues to give Nick Fury his greatest portrayal yet. Fury has gone so far rogue as to be taking on HAMMER (formerly SHIELD, basically Marvel's version of a CIA type group) with an army of former SHIELD agents and his own personally trained team of young superhumans. Normally, I hate the grizzled old guys trains smart mouth recruits plot lines because they tend to land in god awful cliche territory in no time. Hickman is not that kind of writer. Hickman is capable of managing multiple plot threads, characterizations, his own additions to the Marvel U and established canon like its a walk in the park. The new issue gives readers a glimpse at just how exactly Fury plans to fund such an outrageous endeavor. Osborne also appears, shortly, in the current issue and I eagerly awate the moment Fury gets to stare down a barrel pressed firmly against Osborne's wrinkled forehead. Despite how slighted the Avengers currently feel, or the Mutants or even the Fantastic Four, its Fury who has ultimately had it the worst: watching the organization he built since WW2 be warped and twisted into what it was designed to stop. And Fury, militant idealist that he is, is going to have some serious fun reclaiming his property... and I'm going to have some serious fun reading it. I have not been thrilled by or emotionally invested in too many titles like I am in this one.
Wolverine #77 (Dark Wolverine arc)
Wolverine continues to cover the current schemes of Wolverine's son Daken, a character I once figured would end up a throw away plot devise. Not in the hands of Daniel Way. Way introduced Daken in his Wolverine Origins title that I'm certainly going to have to pick up trades for. Daken, posing as his own father for Osborne's nasty little "Avengers" continues to push his plans to thwart Osborne (which seems to be motivated simply by Daken's desire to show Osborne he ain't the smartest man alive). Despite Daken's extreme hatred for his father and rather dumb brute portrayal in most Marvel books, Way writes him as incredibly intelligent. He's a fun character to read. He possesses the thug like capabilities of his father BUT ALSO the sort of political maneuvering usually given to characters in the realm of super villains/heroes... not newly established characters without much pull or page time. Daken is proving himself to be quite the likable anit-hero. The current issue depicts how he almost managed to stop Osborne altogether, in between genius mind fucking amongst his fellow "Avengers" and establishing an interesting partnership with the Fantastic Four, Daken is one busy boy. All of this AND the art is spectacular in its complex simplicity.
X-Force #18
Following their trip through time and space, the team is dropped back almost to the second they left, allowing them to finish the job they were forced (literally) to leave behind. Those events lead to the capture of Laura (X-23) and Wolverine is not happy to find that his daughter is missing. Logan's reaction is downright awww, what a good father... except its in perfect Wolverine fashion. Marvel's new trend of hiring hard hitting, unflinching writers continues in X-Force where we see a captured X-23 tortured by her own creators with a chainsaw. We're talking Scarface level torture here... only in X-Force they actually show it. Its damn brutal. As the team tries to figure out just where Laura is as they reel from their return to their own time, some action ensues and most of the team ends up covered in blood. This is not a book for the Silver Age fan sipping on cream soda under a Norman Rockwell. This is a team of good guys that make a lot of the baddest bad guys piss themselves. The book has been and continues to be a favorite and highly anticipated book for me every single month.
DC COMICS
Yes, despite DC's refusal to attempt the levels of quality their own films possess (see current Nolan Batman films... like you haven't...pfff), I still read a few titles monthly. All Bat titles of course.
BATGIRL #1
The identity of Batgirl, both inside the comics and out, has been something DC seems perpetually lost in figuring out. Obviously the original Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, has been out of the game for a long time having been paralyzed by the Joker in the late 80's. Then DC cooked up Cassandra Cain, a very well written and loved character who just happened to be the daughter of two of Bruce Wayne's own trainers, David Cain and Lady Shiva. Now since Bruce had trouble defeating Shiva at times and Cassandra nearly beat her once, many believed it would be Cassandra who would be groomed to be the best replacement for Bruce. If not on her own, than at least in teaming with Tim Drake (Robin III and currently Red Robin). She was certainly one of my favorites. However she was essentially and unceremoniously dropped for quite a while. Then she was a villain. Now she's back for a couple pages to hand the suit to yet another lost in DC continuity nightmare character: Spoiler. Spoiler was a teen girl who decided to become a costumed vigilante and was on again/off again with Tim Drake throughout his title and Bruce, after Tim once quit, even hired her as Robin for a whole two weeks, at which point Bruce fired her for incompetence. She was then killed in a very important scene following a massive gang war in Gotham that she herself inadvertently started trying to win back Bruce's favor. T'was fitting for her to die in the end of it I thought. Good epic tragedy. Then she was back, no real explanation (or one buried in some throwaway side title I skipped). The NEW Batgirl title is funny, well written and well drawn. However, when rebooting a character identity, especially Batgirl, perhaps it would have been wiser to NOT have it involve two (now) c list characters with confusing and horribly explained continuities? Way to open the market up to new readers DC. Such is the genius planning they seem fit to give us lately. Its still a good book, and with all that I've just covered, one should be able to follow it. If you want a far better version of a Batgirl character however, check out Rucka's Batwoman... that's how you take a nearly c-list character and make her just as fascinating as your big guns. But its hard to compete with Rucka.
BATMAN AND ROBIN #3
My favorite book right now because its the only really good REAL Bat-book currently ongoing. Most of the Batbooks (with the exception of Batman and Batwoman strangely enough) are throw away filler that will not take their characters into anything we have not seen before over and over and over. In Batman and Robin however, we get the more in depth look at just what its like for Dick Grayson (OG Robin) to have to become Batman. He's spent his whole life trying to do the opposite. And worse, he's faced with training an apprentice, Damian (Robin IV... V if you count Spoiler's two week stint) who happens to behave worse than Bruce ever did at his most solemn/pissed/stand offish. Morrison creates genius characters and takes established ones into new territory. Here we continue to follow Batman and Robin on their hunt for the gang leader known as Pyg. Pyg is one of the most terrifying baddies I've seen (and in a Batbook where crazy is always today's special, that's saying something). He puts these horrible masks on to the faces of his kidnapping victims. And of course, he can't just use some Krazy Glue... he uses acid. Its horrible and creepy. The victims are then drugged and end up serving him in a henchmen capacity. They look like that old Outer Limits episode where everyone has hideous pig faces and the hot blonde is considered ugly. Morrison is very up on his classic sci-fi and I'm sure that's the gag. His Batman and Robin, according to an IGN interview I read, is sort of his take on the 50's series if that series was given the Dark Knight treatment. Its brighter than you expect, but the subject matter is far darker than you can imagine. And, as of issue 3, its beginning to show signs of tying back in to Morrison's last arc on Batman, "RIP" (the one where Batman either died or took off aka DC's excuse for all of these crappy filler books polluting the Batman racks). When all is said and done, Morrison's run on Batman/Batman and Robin will no doubt be remembered as one epic and redefining ride. Which is great, that's what the man does. What I'm terrified of however, is that DC will (almost guaranteed) do to him what Marvel did following the New X-Men arc: practically negate everything he started in the guise of yet ANOTHER reboot. Marvel has clearly corrected their behavior but DC is a slow learner (like... retarded slow) so we shall see. Its only on issue 3 and there are reprints of one and two galore out there. Catch up and keep reading! Its a great book (and I didn't even get into how crazy good Frank Quitely's pencils are!).
Showing posts with label DC comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DC comics. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
COMIC OPINION: The Current State of the Bat Universe
The Batman universe has been a giant clusterfuck of a place lately. Depending on what you've been reading (or not), Bruce either took off after an explosion and some serious psychological wear and tear perpetrated by a man claiming to be Thomas Wayne. He might be dead. He might've taken off. No body was ever found so we can guess where he is: taking some well deserved personal journey time. I like that one.
Or you read Final Crisis and Batman was hit by some weird ray gun thing of Darkseid's and is now adrift in time. This sounds like a 70's plot line and I could honestly take it or leave it. I'm completely unmoved by that story. Every "Crisis" is an even less impacting publicity fueled move than the last.
The odd thing is that both of these solutions were written by Grant Morrison. Now personally, I love Grant Morrison. His run on the X-men entitled "New X-Men" was nothing short of amazing... until Chris Claremont and that Buffy guy had to come and shit all over it (essentially negating Morrison's work). Morrison is known for his mind bending plot lines. He likes to play with his audience and blow your mind as often as he can without ruining his credibility (read: he's not M. Night Shyamalan). He's done this many times and I've eaten it up most of the time.
In the case of Batman, I have no idea what DC is doing and I'm pretty sure they don't either. First off, we have two completely different explanations as to where Bruce may be. One the result of Morrison's building up a huge, year long emotional breakdown for Bruce, which was nicely done. Sometimes brilliant, sometimes eh, sometimes over the top in all the right ways, but it offered captivating new situations and characters that kept me glued to it. And then there's the one where Bats is just hit by some time ray gun and sent off because DC can't figure out how to handle real drama lately. I've always considered myself more of a DC guy until recently when I realized its pretty much just Batman that keeps me there. I have no problem with DC characters and, when written well, they're all fascinating mythologies.
Lately, however, with Marvel's fantastically well oiled Brian Michael Bendis helmed machine, DC has picked the worst time to mishandle their biggest property. A year after the "Dark Knight" almost becomes the number one film ever and they decide to pull their core character out of his mask and replace him with a former side kick. That's ballsy and could have really paid off for them. IF they'd handled it well.
DC must be getting trampled in sales. Marvel decided they wanted massive character/universe altering material, they let Bendis unleash this multi-year story arc maelstrom in the form of Civil War (turn the heroes against each other) to Secret Invasion (Skrulls exploiting this weakened state and causing large scale damage to the Marvel U) and finally the current Dark Reign (in which former Green Goblin, Norman Osborne exploits the Secret Invasion to become a national hero and take Nick Fury's old job in the process). That whole wave from Marvel has just astounded me. They continue to up the stakes on situations that I'm already shocked they can top in the first place. And EVERY one of these arcs have had lasting effects that not only last, they SET UP the next major event. That's brilliant and I can't remember a time in mainstream comics where the huge universe changing cross over has ever been so masterfully handled and, most surprising of all, sustained for as long as they have (with no signs of stopping).
DC has some of the most epic mythologies in comics backing up and defining their characters but they don't own it. They keep trying to modernize them at the expense of who they really are. If you want the squeaky clean heroes who don't kill, OWN IT. Bringing them into the modern age can only happen if DC stops being so damn self conscious. Or stuck. Seriously, the only way I can even begin to explain it is that they seem to be stuck in some horrible nostalgia for themselves. They create these cartoon quality story arcs that have a lasting effect for maybe six months, the fans don't bite, they let their writer's off the leash and they all do their own thing. A lot of great stories have come out of these periods. But inevitably, DC decides they need to circle the wagons with their characters again and create a "Crisis" to bring them all together and (supposedly) re define continuity for a renewed and singular voice.
Well its not working DC. Maybe no one will say it to you directly so I will. Its not working. Stop it. I say that without joy. I love many characters in your lexicon so how bout you start doing the Justice League some damn justice?
So now we have the Bat Universe in its current state. Dick Grayson has replaced Bruce Wayne as Batman. I'm not opposed to this, it was always a possibility in the Bat world so its kind of fun to get to explore that finally. Morrison is doing a fine job of this in the core title right now Batman & Robin. That title is great. Its different, we're getting a taste of how Dick Grayson learns to become Batman while being shadowed by Batman's own son and new Robin, Damien, who is himself an even more intense mini-Bruce than you'd think Bruce himself capable. Damien, for the uninitiated, is a son created from the DNA of Bruce Wayne and Ra's Al Ghul's daughter (one time Batman lover... biblically) Talia. I was opposed to the character at first, but he's grown on me (which was no doubt Morrison's intention, like I said, the man knows how to play with the reader).
Then we have the slew of other books DC has built up to surround Batman & Robin, supposedly to further explore and delve into this fascinating concept. At least in theory anyway (there are two exceptions, however). We have Streets of Gotham and Gotham City Sirens both written by Batman Animated Series scribe and Harley Quinn creator Paul Dini. He's done some great work in the past but neither of these books has even a fraction of impact on this totally re-invented Batgame. In Streets we get random adventures of the new Dynamic Duo doing (and acting) almost exactly as Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake (most recent Robin) did. It has throw away dialogue that is on par with what the mainstream THINKS comics read like. Gotham City Sirens should have been great, the team up of Catwoman, Harley and Poison Ivy. Only it too reads like a re-run offering us little more than Spice Girls movie quality GIRL POWER! that's clearly written by a man.
Then we have Red Robin. Red Robin is the new identity of pre-all this shit Robin, Tim Drake. Drake is convinced Bruce is still very much alive and travels the world in search of his former mentor, trainer and adoptive father. And again, could have been fascinating. So far Red Robin has done very little investigating and instead spends time getting into "adventures" with locals where ever he goes for mere sentences of info that won't ultimately matter because we all know that when Bruce does come back (please DC, sooner rather than later!) it will be in Morrison's book as this is ultimately his baby.
What perplexes me most is that it seems like the only real meat we're getting from this story arc is IN Morrison's title. We have to wait for his book monthly before we can feel we've taken a step forward. I honestly believe this is precisely what the other writers are being forced to do. None of the writers on the current Batbooks are by any means bad writers. What I think is happening is that DC won't let them delve into the action too hard because it IS Morrison's baby and Morrison is not Brian Michale Bendis. And that is in no way a pro or con directed at either. Bendis is clearly a planner type artist and Morrison a more organic "do it on the night" sort of artist. I love their work precisely for these individual traits. But surely DC knows this... so why give us such filler crap? Why not something new? Marvel has their "filler books" too. The current Dark Wolverine arc about Wolverine's son and current Dark Avenger, Daken or Sinister Spider-man which is actually a title about Dark Avenger Venom, who is posing a Spider-man. Are these books required reading of Dark Reign as a hole? No. Do they add character development and different dimensions from which to view the bigger picture? That's a big enthusiastic YES.
Why can't DC achieve this?
Their filler feels (insultingly) like filler. I've already dropped all of these side books after their second issues. I usually go 3 with any series to be respectful and acknowledge that there's always the possibility I'm just not getting it. I've seen EVERYTHING DC is doing in the Bat titles right now so many times I just can't read them. They're white noise to my ears.
There are the two exceptions I spoke of. The first being Judd Winick's Batman. Its the actual comic title Batman and here we have all of the 'Dick Grayson has big Bat boots to fill" related struggles for him as a character replacing a respected mentor who is also his polar opposite. So how do you become what you set out to purposely avoid becoming? That's a solid book concept there and its being handled with competence and respect for the current impact of such a big change as removing Bruce Wayne from every current Bat title.
The other is Batwoman, which is the one I most lauged at initially. Batwoman is the new lesbian Bat side character. Before a gay and lesbian group gets on me allow me to clarify my reasons for laughing: I'm all for diversifying characters and their worlds. Marvel has that in droves and always has. But somehow, when DC does it, it always feels so forced and cheap because they tend to invent some third string side character to just dump into their comics every time they catch some bad press for not having modern enough heroes who live in a modern and diverse world. Luckily, this character was created and is being written by Greg Rucka. Greg Rucka writes some of the best modern noir you will ever get your hands on. And Batwoman, I must say, feels the most like a real Bat book out of this whole mess. Batman and Robin being exempt from that comparison as Morrison has said its not meant to be what we're all used to. And the best part, Rucka does not treat this new "minority" addition to the DCU as if that were her only purpose for existing. She is a well thought out character with realistic motivations and problems without just being a well thought out (PR move) lesbian character.
So there you have it. Your head spinning? Mine too. I wait patiently every month for Morrison to drop more awesome onto the local comic racks while DC tries desperately to give it some marketing support in the form of very lost and forced side stories/re-runs despite being surrounded by what could (and should) have been the biggest Batman upset story arc ever. Luckily we have Judd Winick and Greg Rucka involved in two of those titles or I would literally be buying only one DC book right now, instead of three.
Or you read Final Crisis and Batman was hit by some weird ray gun thing of Darkseid's and is now adrift in time. This sounds like a 70's plot line and I could honestly take it or leave it. I'm completely unmoved by that story. Every "Crisis" is an even less impacting publicity fueled move than the last.
The odd thing is that both of these solutions were written by Grant Morrison. Now personally, I love Grant Morrison. His run on the X-men entitled "New X-Men" was nothing short of amazing... until Chris Claremont and that Buffy guy had to come and shit all over it (essentially negating Morrison's work). Morrison is known for his mind bending plot lines. He likes to play with his audience and blow your mind as often as he can without ruining his credibility (read: he's not M. Night Shyamalan). He's done this many times and I've eaten it up most of the time.
In the case of Batman, I have no idea what DC is doing and I'm pretty sure they don't either. First off, we have two completely different explanations as to where Bruce may be. One the result of Morrison's building up a huge, year long emotional breakdown for Bruce, which was nicely done. Sometimes brilliant, sometimes eh, sometimes over the top in all the right ways, but it offered captivating new situations and characters that kept me glued to it. And then there's the one where Bats is just hit by some time ray gun and sent off because DC can't figure out how to handle real drama lately. I've always considered myself more of a DC guy until recently when I realized its pretty much just Batman that keeps me there. I have no problem with DC characters and, when written well, they're all fascinating mythologies.
Lately, however, with Marvel's fantastically well oiled Brian Michael Bendis helmed machine, DC has picked the worst time to mishandle their biggest property. A year after the "Dark Knight" almost becomes the number one film ever and they decide to pull their core character out of his mask and replace him with a former side kick. That's ballsy and could have really paid off for them. IF they'd handled it well.
DC must be getting trampled in sales. Marvel decided they wanted massive character/universe altering material, they let Bendis unleash this multi-year story arc maelstrom in the form of Civil War (turn the heroes against each other) to Secret Invasion (Skrulls exploiting this weakened state and causing large scale damage to the Marvel U) and finally the current Dark Reign (in which former Green Goblin, Norman Osborne exploits the Secret Invasion to become a national hero and take Nick Fury's old job in the process). That whole wave from Marvel has just astounded me. They continue to up the stakes on situations that I'm already shocked they can top in the first place. And EVERY one of these arcs have had lasting effects that not only last, they SET UP the next major event. That's brilliant and I can't remember a time in mainstream comics where the huge universe changing cross over has ever been so masterfully handled and, most surprising of all, sustained for as long as they have (with no signs of stopping).
DC has some of the most epic mythologies in comics backing up and defining their characters but they don't own it. They keep trying to modernize them at the expense of who they really are. If you want the squeaky clean heroes who don't kill, OWN IT. Bringing them into the modern age can only happen if DC stops being so damn self conscious. Or stuck. Seriously, the only way I can even begin to explain it is that they seem to be stuck in some horrible nostalgia for themselves. They create these cartoon quality story arcs that have a lasting effect for maybe six months, the fans don't bite, they let their writer's off the leash and they all do their own thing. A lot of great stories have come out of these periods. But inevitably, DC decides they need to circle the wagons with their characters again and create a "Crisis" to bring them all together and (supposedly) re define continuity for a renewed and singular voice.
Well its not working DC. Maybe no one will say it to you directly so I will. Its not working. Stop it. I say that without joy. I love many characters in your lexicon so how bout you start doing the Justice League some damn justice?
So now we have the Bat Universe in its current state. Dick Grayson has replaced Bruce Wayne as Batman. I'm not opposed to this, it was always a possibility in the Bat world so its kind of fun to get to explore that finally. Morrison is doing a fine job of this in the core title right now Batman & Robin. That title is great. Its different, we're getting a taste of how Dick Grayson learns to become Batman while being shadowed by Batman's own son and new Robin, Damien, who is himself an even more intense mini-Bruce than you'd think Bruce himself capable. Damien, for the uninitiated, is a son created from the DNA of Bruce Wayne and Ra's Al Ghul's daughter (one time Batman lover... biblically) Talia. I was opposed to the character at first, but he's grown on me (which was no doubt Morrison's intention, like I said, the man knows how to play with the reader).
Then we have the slew of other books DC has built up to surround Batman & Robin, supposedly to further explore and delve into this fascinating concept. At least in theory anyway (there are two exceptions, however). We have Streets of Gotham and Gotham City Sirens both written by Batman Animated Series scribe and Harley Quinn creator Paul Dini. He's done some great work in the past but neither of these books has even a fraction of impact on this totally re-invented Batgame. In Streets we get random adventures of the new Dynamic Duo doing (and acting) almost exactly as Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake (most recent Robin) did. It has throw away dialogue that is on par with what the mainstream THINKS comics read like. Gotham City Sirens should have been great, the team up of Catwoman, Harley and Poison Ivy. Only it too reads like a re-run offering us little more than Spice Girls movie quality GIRL POWER! that's clearly written by a man.
Then we have Red Robin. Red Robin is the new identity of pre-all this shit Robin, Tim Drake. Drake is convinced Bruce is still very much alive and travels the world in search of his former mentor, trainer and adoptive father. And again, could have been fascinating. So far Red Robin has done very little investigating and instead spends time getting into "adventures" with locals where ever he goes for mere sentences of info that won't ultimately matter because we all know that when Bruce does come back (please DC, sooner rather than later!) it will be in Morrison's book as this is ultimately his baby.
What perplexes me most is that it seems like the only real meat we're getting from this story arc is IN Morrison's title. We have to wait for his book monthly before we can feel we've taken a step forward. I honestly believe this is precisely what the other writers are being forced to do. None of the writers on the current Batbooks are by any means bad writers. What I think is happening is that DC won't let them delve into the action too hard because it IS Morrison's baby and Morrison is not Brian Michale Bendis. And that is in no way a pro or con directed at either. Bendis is clearly a planner type artist and Morrison a more organic "do it on the night" sort of artist. I love their work precisely for these individual traits. But surely DC knows this... so why give us such filler crap? Why not something new? Marvel has their "filler books" too. The current Dark Wolverine arc about Wolverine's son and current Dark Avenger, Daken or Sinister Spider-man which is actually a title about Dark Avenger Venom, who is posing a Spider-man. Are these books required reading of Dark Reign as a hole? No. Do they add character development and different dimensions from which to view the bigger picture? That's a big enthusiastic YES.
Why can't DC achieve this?
Their filler feels (insultingly) like filler. I've already dropped all of these side books after their second issues. I usually go 3 with any series to be respectful and acknowledge that there's always the possibility I'm just not getting it. I've seen EVERYTHING DC is doing in the Bat titles right now so many times I just can't read them. They're white noise to my ears.
There are the two exceptions I spoke of. The first being Judd Winick's Batman. Its the actual comic title Batman and here we have all of the 'Dick Grayson has big Bat boots to fill" related struggles for him as a character replacing a respected mentor who is also his polar opposite. So how do you become what you set out to purposely avoid becoming? That's a solid book concept there and its being handled with competence and respect for the current impact of such a big change as removing Bruce Wayne from every current Bat title.
The other is Batwoman, which is the one I most lauged at initially. Batwoman is the new lesbian Bat side character. Before a gay and lesbian group gets on me allow me to clarify my reasons for laughing: I'm all for diversifying characters and their worlds. Marvel has that in droves and always has. But somehow, when DC does it, it always feels so forced and cheap because they tend to invent some third string side character to just dump into their comics every time they catch some bad press for not having modern enough heroes who live in a modern and diverse world. Luckily, this character was created and is being written by Greg Rucka. Greg Rucka writes some of the best modern noir you will ever get your hands on. And Batwoman, I must say, feels the most like a real Bat book out of this whole mess. Batman and Robin being exempt from that comparison as Morrison has said its not meant to be what we're all used to. And the best part, Rucka does not treat this new "minority" addition to the DCU as if that were her only purpose for existing. She is a well thought out character with realistic motivations and problems without just being a well thought out (PR move) lesbian character.
So there you have it. Your head spinning? Mine too. I wait patiently every month for Morrison to drop more awesome onto the local comic racks while DC tries desperately to give it some marketing support in the form of very lost and forced side stories/re-runs despite being surrounded by what could (and should) have been the biggest Batman upset story arc ever. Luckily we have Judd Winick and Greg Rucka involved in two of those titles or I would literally be buying only one DC book right now, instead of three.
Comic Stack 8/13/09
So this week's stack... not a huge one.
Still waiting on my shop to get Veil #2... not sure if this is because they didn't order it or they just missed it. Diamond said LAST Wednesday it should have come out so who knows. Got an order in for it now at any rate.
DARK HORSE:
BPRD 1947 #2
It got weirder. Its hard to explain a Mignola comic past issue one without completely ruining it for people. And I just talked about it in a recent post. Good story, good characters, great art... if you are into Hellboy, jump on it. Its good stuff.
DC:
BATMAN #689 (The Bat Universe in general has its own piece this week cuz my review got long and detailed. Read it here.)
Review of the new issue itself: Batman (the title) has at least remained interesting. Two-Face is damn sure the new Batman roaming Gotham is NOT the one he's used to dealing with and is doing his best to study him for... probably some plot to take him on directly and see who this punk thinks he is. Its a good read. Its dealing mainly with how Dick Grayson actually BECOMES Batman. Sure he fits into the suit, but does he suit Batman? Modifications to both tech and demeanor reflecting the new Not So Dark Knight are brought up and implemented. Its a great companion piece to Grant Morrison's Batman & Robin which seems to be the book we the audience (and I'm starting to wonder if not the other Bat writers as well) must wait for to get any meat around here. But as far as the new Bat direction, this book is still on a well done and interesting course. Good time to jump in for anyone looking to get their Dark Knight reading on.
MARVEL:
DEADPOOL #13
Still written by Daniel Way (thank you very much) but a new artist that makes me scared Marvel isn't going to take this book as seriously. Or the other guy was so awesome (and he was) that he got a great offer he couldn't pass up and this current artist was a last minute replacement. Filler art I guess I'd call it. We left Deadpool rich as HELL after his pseudo stalemate with Bullseye (a stalemate it was obvious Bullseye would have to lose being mortal and all). And what would Deadpool do with so much money? Start his own gig as a pirate! Sounds dumb? You haven't been reading or you'd be on board. Trust me. Its funny. If you haven't jumped on Deadpool yet, perfect time as this new arc has JUST started with issue 13. And you can get by without knowing continuity to get onto Deadpool unlike...
UNCANNY X-MEN #514 (Utopia Chapter #4)
Here, you need your background. It's X-Men! The greatest long running soap ever, of course you need your background! So Osborne exploits volatile situations to gain power and start his own franchises of various factions of super teams. We know this. But now he's exploited the X-Men, even started his own team led by Emma Frost... who's been dating Scott Summers for many years now and just accepts this position? And wait, Scott's not even pissed at her? I read this and I'm screaming 'what the hell writers? I want some s'plainin'!' I'm sure they will. Its all a part of Brian Michael Bendis' (once again) opus, Marvel Universe wide storylines: Dark Reign. Osborne has missed a very important detail in the mutant news feeds as of late however: Cyclops became a bad ass a few years ago after the Mutant population was nearly wiped out (as in under 200 known mutants at this point, the rest are either dead or depowered). Scott Summers does not take shit anymore. Neither do any fellow mutants in his X-men. In this issue, Cyke makes moves to take these "X-Men" head on. A young mutant asks 'but what about Osborne's Avengers?" Cyke says don't worry about it, they're not our concern. Who's concern are they? Enter the new Wolverine led X-Force! (Which has its own ongoing title right now and I HIGHLY recommend it; its a whole team of the most dangerous mutant assassins doing Cyclop's black ops dirty work, its amazing). A throw down between X-Force and the Avengers? Trust me, its gonna be hard to get better than this.
The writing in this book is handled by Matt Fraction who isn't Brian Michael Bendis and he leaves a lot skimmed over in my opinion, but he writes a solid, entertaining book. He hasn't been around that long (to my knowledge) and seeing how this book is a cross-over series with Dark Avengers (which is Bendis helmed), the juggling of such a ridiculous amount of characters must be insane. I can't be too harsh when taking that into account. So far it reads a lot like Secret Invasion did (in the sense that it moved in broad strokes you had to keep up with and ask questions later on certain details). The art is handled by the very welcomed Terry Dobson. The man has a talent and I've enjoyed his work for quite a while. I was glad so see his pencils on this book.
Overall this is a very exciting plot, even if little details are getting clipped a bit more than they should. If you haven't been following Dark Reign at all, you'd probably be ok...? Definitely get your local shop to help you grab Utopia Chapters 1-3 though.
So that's the stack this week. Don't forget to check out my piece on the current state of the Bat Universe.
Still waiting on my shop to get Veil #2... not sure if this is because they didn't order it or they just missed it. Diamond said LAST Wednesday it should have come out so who knows. Got an order in for it now at any rate.
DARK HORSE:
BPRD 1947 #2
It got weirder. Its hard to explain a Mignola comic past issue one without completely ruining it for people. And I just talked about it in a recent post. Good story, good characters, great art... if you are into Hellboy, jump on it. Its good stuff.
DC:
BATMAN #689 (The Bat Universe in general has its own piece this week cuz my review got long and detailed. Read it here.)
Review of the new issue itself: Batman (the title) has at least remained interesting. Two-Face is damn sure the new Batman roaming Gotham is NOT the one he's used to dealing with and is doing his best to study him for... probably some plot to take him on directly and see who this punk thinks he is. Its a good read. Its dealing mainly with how Dick Grayson actually BECOMES Batman. Sure he fits into the suit, but does he suit Batman? Modifications to both tech and demeanor reflecting the new Not So Dark Knight are brought up and implemented. Its a great companion piece to Grant Morrison's Batman & Robin which seems to be the book we the audience (and I'm starting to wonder if not the other Bat writers as well) must wait for to get any meat around here. But as far as the new Bat direction, this book is still on a well done and interesting course. Good time to jump in for anyone looking to get their Dark Knight reading on.
MARVEL:
DEADPOOL #13
Still written by Daniel Way (thank you very much) but a new artist that makes me scared Marvel isn't going to take this book as seriously. Or the other guy was so awesome (and he was) that he got a great offer he couldn't pass up and this current artist was a last minute replacement. Filler art I guess I'd call it. We left Deadpool rich as HELL after his pseudo stalemate with Bullseye (a stalemate it was obvious Bullseye would have to lose being mortal and all). And what would Deadpool do with so much money? Start his own gig as a pirate! Sounds dumb? You haven't been reading or you'd be on board. Trust me. Its funny. If you haven't jumped on Deadpool yet, perfect time as this new arc has JUST started with issue 13. And you can get by without knowing continuity to get onto Deadpool unlike...
UNCANNY X-MEN #514 (Utopia Chapter #4)
Here, you need your background. It's X-Men! The greatest long running soap ever, of course you need your background! So Osborne exploits volatile situations to gain power and start his own franchises of various factions of super teams. We know this. But now he's exploited the X-Men, even started his own team led by Emma Frost... who's been dating Scott Summers for many years now and just accepts this position? And wait, Scott's not even pissed at her? I read this and I'm screaming 'what the hell writers? I want some s'plainin'!' I'm sure they will. Its all a part of Brian Michael Bendis' (once again) opus, Marvel Universe wide storylines: Dark Reign. Osborne has missed a very important detail in the mutant news feeds as of late however: Cyclops became a bad ass a few years ago after the Mutant population was nearly wiped out (as in under 200 known mutants at this point, the rest are either dead or depowered). Scott Summers does not take shit anymore. Neither do any fellow mutants in his X-men. In this issue, Cyke makes moves to take these "X-Men" head on. A young mutant asks 'but what about Osborne's Avengers?" Cyke says don't worry about it, they're not our concern. Who's concern are they? Enter the new Wolverine led X-Force! (Which has its own ongoing title right now and I HIGHLY recommend it; its a whole team of the most dangerous mutant assassins doing Cyclop's black ops dirty work, its amazing). A throw down between X-Force and the Avengers? Trust me, its gonna be hard to get better than this.
The writing in this book is handled by Matt Fraction who isn't Brian Michael Bendis and he leaves a lot skimmed over in my opinion, but he writes a solid, entertaining book. He hasn't been around that long (to my knowledge) and seeing how this book is a cross-over series with Dark Avengers (which is Bendis helmed), the juggling of such a ridiculous amount of characters must be insane. I can't be too harsh when taking that into account. So far it reads a lot like Secret Invasion did (in the sense that it moved in broad strokes you had to keep up with and ask questions later on certain details). The art is handled by the very welcomed Terry Dobson. The man has a talent and I've enjoyed his work for quite a while. I was glad so see his pencils on this book.
Overall this is a very exciting plot, even if little details are getting clipped a bit more than they should. If you haven't been following Dark Reign at all, you'd probably be ok...? Definitely get your local shop to help you grab Utopia Chapters 1-3 though.
So that's the stack this week. Don't forget to check out my piece on the current state of the Bat Universe.
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