Category: Batman comics
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It’s a strange use of Curt Swan. Something about his Killer Croc just doesn’t work. The scales, the figure… he like a Gold Key Star Trek alien. Otherwise, the art is fantastic. Swan does something with Batman’s cowl I’ve never seen before and it’s just great. The story isn’t bad. It’s Batman hunting Killer Croc…
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Once again, if Bruce, Dick and Alfred weren’t stupid enough to leave the door unlocked with Vicki Vale, Jim Gordon and a bunch of strangers in Wayne Manor, they wouldn’t have to kill Jason Todd’s mom for finding out Bruce is Batman…. Oh, wait, some of that statement is incorrect. I guess they don’t decide…
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Okay, now I get why Conway’s wasting time with Dick going to the circus–it’s to introduce Jason Todd (pre-Crisis Jason Todd, who has the same origin as Dick, but blond hair). What’s funny about that story is how out of touch Batman is with the Gotham underworld–Killer Croc (who I don’t think Batman even knows…
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Batman kills Solomon Grundy at the end of this story. I wonder if it was easier for writers to do Grundy stories because he’s not human or alive so they could kill him off every time. There’s not even a real explanation of how he comes to Gotham. The issue’s okay. DeZuniga’s inks aren’t the…
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It’s a somewhat anti-climatic end to the Hugo Strange storyline Conway had been working on for… a couple years? Hugo shows up, back from the dead, with an army of androids, and Batman doesn’t bat an eye. The art is so gorgeous, it doesn’t really matter. I’m not sure if Giordano is my favorite inker…
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Starting the issue, I kept thinking Conway had already done a Batman versus the abominable snowman issue. Then I slowly came to realize it was a sequel to that issue I had already read. Maybe the Irv Novick art threw me off. Even with Marcos inking him, the art is painfully mediocre. The story’s kind…
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So does Conway ever explain why Selina has gone nuts? Nope. He resolves it all in a page–a beautifully illustrated one–where Bruce basically admits he was only taking up with Vicki (who Catwoman hospitalizes early in the issue) because Selina left him. It’s a very problematic issue because Conway does lots of it well. It’s…
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Good to know editorial disconnect isn’t something recent. Conway apparently hadn’t been reading the excellent Catwoman backups running in his issues of Batman and Detective because here he’s got her guest-starring and menacing Vicki Vale and acting… well, cat-shit crazy. Sadly, the issue features some of the best Vicki Vale writing Conway has done since…
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Conway’s starting to wrap up his big storyline and, again, it’s bumpy. He’s got Vicki Vale rushing off to see Bruce–Bruce who hasn’t thought of Vicki since she first showed up two dozen issues ago (she’s been around as a plot twist)–not to mention Hugo Strange showing up at the end, back from the dead.…
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You know what… I’m not sure I’ve seen a better inker on Newton than Alfredo Alcala. The art this issue is exceptional. It’s so wonderful, it makes up for Conway’s leap off the judgement bridge. The story itself isn’t bad. Batman is putting together all the clues about Rupert Thorne, as Thorne hires Dr. Thirteen…
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With the amazing cover and the Garcia-Lopez art, it’d be impossible not to at least enjoy the issue. It’s just a Batman versus the Joker issue–this time the Joker’s making a monument to himself, angry Gotham was going to make one to Broadway musical stars instead. On some level, I agree… Broadway musical stars? Conway’s…
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Kupperberg writes Batman and Robin like something out of the TV show. They’re celebrities, they go on very public adventures, Robin loiters awkwardly around the Batcave in his tights. The approach is just awkward–it’s like a fifties story stretched over a whole issue so there’s no way it isn’t going to overstay its welcome. In…
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It’s Batman versus the sky pirates! The bad guy’s name is Colonel Blimp. He and his pirates fly around in a tricked out zeppelin. Of course, the issue doesn’t open with the sky pirates. It opens with the Gotham police admitting their beating up ex-commissioner Gordon because he’s investigating election fraud. They make this admission…
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It’s decent, underwhelming issue. In the feature, Batman recovers from his vampire attack–and it’s apparently forgotten Dick was a vampire for a while (he’s fully recovered here, with the explanation being he was hypnotized not converted)–and then gets into a big fight with Deadshot, teaming up with the Human Target posing as Bruce Wayne. The…
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The Batman as a vampire story sort of limps its way to the finish line, with Conway filling the issue with just about everything else he can to pad it out. There’s Gordon investigating something–it has to do with Rupert Thorne, though Gordon doesn’t know it yet. There’s a Human Target cameo (Alfred hired Chance…
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They’re really dragging out the Batman turns into a vampire thing. I think this issue is the fourth or fifth of the story. I guess it’s fine, since it’s Colan and DeZuniga again and I am curious how everything is going to tie together. Conway and Levitz are finally bringing Vicki Vale into Batman’s story,…
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Once again, the Bruce Jones Catwoman story is a lot more interesting than the Batman feature. But I’ll go in printing order and start with the Batman. The art this issue is Gene Colan and Tony DeZuniga; so far, DeZuniga is the best inker for Colan on Batman, especially given the vampires. The whole issue…
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The Batman feature is problematic to say the least. Batman infiltrates a school for criminals as “Matches” Malone (gag) and is quickly found out. He then has to dispatch of the criminals as Batman. Conway and Kupperberg–not sure why Conway needed an assist here, there’s no heavy lifting in this issue–never explain how the criminals…
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It’s Robin versus his vampire girlfriend while Alfred hires the Human Target to trick Vicki Vale and Jim Gordon decides to stop being a mope. Batman barely makes an appearance–he shows up at the beginning to remind the reader he or she needs to pick up the month’s Detective Comics. It’s a weird few pages,…
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Ugh. “Matches” Malone is so goofy. Why hasn’t anyone modernized him…. Otherwise, it’s a decent issue. The Chiaramonte inks are the best so far. It’s not the best Newton, but it’s good. Conway gets a lot of story going–Bruce is in LA investigating a school for criminals, Dick is stalking his ex-girlfriend (who seems to…
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After a lame Man-Bat two-parter, Conway does the story right with this issue. He’s got Colan and Janson on it–there’s a heartbreaking panel of Man-Bat holding his daughter here–and everything is just in perfect sync. It’s so well-done, I can even excuse the part when Bruce changes to Batman to take Man-Bat’s daughter to look…
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I love this issue. It’s heavy-handed to some degree–it’s two would be criminals trying to decide if they want to commit a crime in Gotham City and talking about Batman–and Slifer’s attempts at showing the socioeconomic toils on a population are… pedestrian, but it’s a great Batman story. There are two stories the guys tell…
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What a weak issue. I mean… it’s really weak. It’s competent in a way someone spending sixty cents might not complain, but it’s not good at all. The feature is a Maxie Zeus story. Batman’s hunting him through a snow storm. There’s a scene where Dick and Alfred talk about worrying about him. It’s like…
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How did DC let this one get to the printers? Chiaramonte’s inks are a complete disaster. Maybe Newton was in a rush and Chiaramonte had to cover a lot but… it doesn’t even look like Newton here. The story’s got some interesting parts, not the “Batman is missing” parts (Two-Face has kidnapped him and is…
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The cover villain is Two-Face but apparently he’s got a girl sidekick who’s the one who’s really after Batman. Presumably we’ll find out her story next issue. The most interesting–I was just reading some comic creators on Twitter say critics use the word “interesting” to mean “bad,” which is ludicrous, but anyway–the most interesting thing…
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Colan and Janson are back in sync, which is good because Conway’s overwriting the dialogue again. It’s like he can’t decide if Batman is supposed to think or talk his plans for athletic feats. This time I was actually wondering if Batman was talking to the villain, since his expository dialogue to himself comes in…
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Where to start…. Colan’s pencils must have been really hurried here, because it’s all inks. Except it doesn’t even look like strong Janson inks. The weak art is quite a shock given the artists. The story is generally solid. Batman and Robin go after a new criminal mastermind, Dick and Bruce both have romances developing,…
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Conway finds the right mix of Batman and Bruce Wayne antics for this issue. Robin’s in it too, which means there’s even less page time for Batman–Conway gives Dick his own subplots to deal with. It’s too soon to tell how they’ll tie into Bruce’s subplots, which here are concern for Jim Gordon’s career, the…
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Oh, neat, Colan and Janson are a regular team? My only complaint about the synthesis is some of the close-up panels–sometimes they’ve got all the Colan detail to faces, sometimes they don’t. The story is solid enough except Conway has one thing he never explains–Batman keeps showing up to haunt Poison Ivy and no one…
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There are two Mad Hatters? I’m now incredibly confused. According to this issue, there was an original Mad Hatter and then a replacement and then the original came back. At least in the eighties. The Mad Hatter story–which gets the cover–is sort of a fake A plot, since the issue mostly concentrates on the Gotham…
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