Category: Batman comics
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The issue starts a humdrum cops chasing Batman, with lots of fast scenes of the cops (including Nightwing, Batgirl, and the Joker) coming up with ideas and then cuts to the Batmobile. It’s a little obvious, a little tedious. The action pacing isn’t right. Then the Burton Batmobile shows up and nothing matters for a…
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Watching grizzled Batman bicker with White Knight Dick Grayson almost feels like a grimdark version of early eighties Batman but not exactly. Murphy has definitely made White Knight its own thing–down to Harley Quinn being the voice of reason–and there’s only so much to do with it. Most of the issue has to do with…
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This issue of White Knight is pretty much what I was expecting from the book, best case. Murphy’s been excelling past this level and it’s a pretty significant drop. Especially since I couldn’t tell the mayor from Bullock. They’re both obese white men. Murphy draws them the same. There’s a lot of “politics” in this…
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White Knight is all right. Look, it rhymes. There’s less Batman brand reverence this issue, which is kind of too bad since Murphy does it so well (there’s a great panel with various Batmobiles), and there are some plot twists. There’s a big one and a smaller one. The big one is too much a…
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Two big things happen this issue of White Knight. Sort of two steps back from Murphy. First, he gets into the Joker’s sanity and gives him a thoughtful reconciliation with Harley Quinn. It humanizes the character a lot. Maybe too much. Harley’s sympathetic. Joker’s not, because the comic is about waiting for the reveal. Joker’s…
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Batman: White Night is ambitious. Writer-artist Sean Murphy, after years of drawing excellent Batman in middling Batman comics for high profile writers, is trying both hats. And he’s not going to do anything small. He’s going to do the Joker, because Murphy’s not going big and new, he’s going big and old. A deconstruction of…
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Gotham Noir is a Jim Gordon story. Only he’s ex-cop Jim Gordon, divorced ex-cop Jim Gordon, just trying to get by as a private investigator. Only he’s a drunk. It’s 1949 and Gordon had a bad time in the war. Bruce Wayne was there. Bruce Wayne knows the secrets. Lots of secrets in Gotham Noir.…
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I wish they had done a recap issue back when Colan was at the top of his game. This issue sets up the big anniversary special over in Batman, with he and Robin going over the villain files in the Batcave. Gordon got an ominous note. One might think Batman should do that work during…
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There’s some fantastic art from Colan and Smith this issue. Moench’s still got his weird relationship between Jason and Nocturna, but Colan sure does draw it well. When Batman finally shows up–after discovering Nocturna is a crime boss–and Moench’s script has him inexplicably drawn to her… the art is what sells the scene. The Nocturna…
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It’s an issue of amazing art. Klaus Janson isn’t doing a lot of detail on faces, which is not good, but his composition is breathtaking. The way he translates Moench’s script–sort of sapping out the sentimentality and enthusiasm–this issue is a mix between superhero idealism and melancholy cynicism. It’s beautiful. Janson’s also got the best…
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Moench goes a little too high concept for this one, especially since Broderick isn’t really the artist to do a protracted chase sequence. A small-time thug runs across the rooftops, Batman in close pursuit, and Moench flashes back to all the things in his life to bring the thug to this point. It’s a little…
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So Batman finds this rock Indiana Jones once lost and it turns you into a violent superman. While under its influence, he kills a helicopter pilot who’s being held hostage. Bolles is such a crappy writer, he doesn’t even seem to acknowledge it once the helicopter explodes. Moments later, Batman has the good old “no,…
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This issue doesn’t just have bad writing. Bad writing the art and pacing could probably surmount. Mike Lilly’s pencils aren’t the greatest, but Sean Parsons and Dan Davis give them a nice inking and it all moves pretty well visually. But Paul Bolles’s script? It’s exceptionally incompetent. He writes all this third person narration, very…
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I’m sure writer Gerry Conway wasn’t trying for a “Scooby Doo” homage, but he doesn’t quite come up with anything better. This issue features Batman and the mystery gang. Or something along those lines. Mystery Adventurers Club maybe. It’s a bunch of Gotham citizens and celebrities who solve mysteries together, with Batman sitting–in cape–on a…
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I try to be open-minded about Cavalieri and Cullins’s Green Arrow back-ups, but this one peeved me. Moench doesn’t get enough time with his Batman story–which is his fault for not pacing it out right–but come on. Who carries about Green Arrow’s lame villain? Though inker Frank Giacoia does ruin Cullins’s pencils in sometimes amusing…
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Gene Colan’s first issue on Detective (with Moench) is unexpected. There’s a dreamy, otherworldly, emotive quality to it. Harvey Bullock oozes repulsiveness; the symbolism becomes clear at the startling conclusion. Moench knows how to surprise–even if the cliffhanger isn’t exactly unexpected, its degree is a shock. The issue closes up–after Batman’s adventures with Man-Bat–the new…
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Doug Moench sure does like exposition this issue. Batman can’t stop thinking about all the problems in his life (though he manages not to detect Gordon’s heart problem). But there’s also the regular narrative exposition, which Moench overwrites. It makes me wonder if he’s gearing Detective towards a younger audience. He’s not particularly confident; he…
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It ends with a quote from the Bible. And Batman joining the Justice League. His powers were only temporary back in China—those dastardly Chinese turned opium into a superpower elixir! What’s so funny—besides laughing at Guggenheim’s writing, his dialogue, his narration—is Guggenheim’s plotting. He never lets Batman uncover the mystery he’s been pursuing the last…
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Guggenheim implies he’s going to give Batman superpowers. Let me explain—in China, the superheroes Bruce Wayne runs into tell him they source of superpowers is the totem (or logo). There’s an atrocious bit where Batman’s later calling the Justice League’s logos their totems. Anyway, it turns out the Chinese are lying to Batman and you…
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Oh, wow. So this arc is actually about Batman’s first meeting with the Justice League. Now, I’m not up on my DC continuity—and is Miller’s All-Star Batman continuity now—but I’m pretty sure Batman had met Superman by year three. This story is set in year three. But no, Batman hasn’t met Superman (or Super-Man as…
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Bingham spends so much time on the flashback art—I think it’s colored ink washes—it’s like he doesn’t have the enthusiasm for the present day stuff. Especially not since Guggenheim has him matching it all, sometimes splitting the panel between past and present down the center. Both stories, past and present, are more action oriented this…
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I wanted to read this issue because it features the return of Jerry Bingham, who did some great work in the eighties. He does some good work here too, just not on the present action of the issue. There’s a flashback portion, with something approximating painted art, and it looks good. The modern stuff looks…
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Levitz wraps up the arc with a Legion of Super-Heroes story guest starring Batman. Superman’s in a panel or two. Lex’s planet has paid-off (in the future), with a Kryptonite-infused Lex clone going through history after Superman (and Superboy). The story’s unpredictable and funny. And Ordway’s mostly just drawing, not trying to look painted, so…
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Ordway tones down the new style here a little and this issue has the best art of the arc. Levitz also changes gears, totally removing Lois Lane and revealing why Lex is so important. Well, actually, he already revealed Lex’s importance, he just didn’t reveal the connection. This issue doesn’t help in that regard. While…
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Just like last issue, Levitz has a perfectly good handle on all the narration (it’s Superman, Lois and Batman again). Unfortunately, the plot doesn’t make any sense. Apparently, Lex Luthor is funding the Superman cult in order to get them to kill Lois Lane, but only if they get caught. Somehow, all of that business…
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Interesting new art style from Ordway. It approximates the look of painted and has all the same problems of static figures and figures not matching their backgrounds. It starts well though, so when it quickly tanks (especially during conversation scenes), it’s a surprise. Levitz splits the issue between Superman, Batman and Lois. Superman’s off in…
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Even though it’s still modern, lazy Chaykin, Follow the Money is somewhat better than his usual attempts. I think it’s because—even though he has some rather bad pages in here—he also has a lot more mediocre ones. The mediocre ones sort of even everything out. He does have jump cuts, however, something I’ve never seen…
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It’s a gorgeous issue. Newton and Alcala doing Batman’s rogues gallery is possibly an unsurpassable event. Maybe eight pages in, they have this incomparable Joker close-up. DC ought to reprint the issue oversized just so one can really look at it. But it’s also a really good issue. Besides Jason Todd’s endless thought balloons–not bad,…
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Well, Batman is having a freakout–over women he decides. Having to decide between Selina and Vicki (mind you, Selina hasn’t appeared since the last really good issue Conway wrote) has made Bruce lose it. It’s why he let Killer Croc go he decides. There’s a bunch of eye-rolling logic this issue and the Dan Jurgens…
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Hmm. Young Dan Jurgens. Guess it’s why Bruce looks like Clark Kent without glasses. I’m curious to see Conway’s original script–he includes expository scene after expository scene, all the fill in space–and there only good scene is incomplete. Bruce breaks it off with Vicki by acting like a thoughtless ass, but it’s never made clear…
The Stop Button 