shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 7:20:51 GMT -5
Batman: The Cult, Book 1
"Ordeal"
writer: Jim Starlin
art: Bernie Wrightson
colors: Bill Wray
letters: Todd Klein
editor: Denny O'Neil
Grade: B
There's been a very practiced experimentation with prestige format Batman books since the Crisis, and I wonder whether its more the work of Denny O'Neil (Bat Office editor), Dick Giordano (Editor in Chief), or Jennette Kahn (President of DC). Whoever's responsible, we've seen the shift from the DKR mini-series, to the Son of the Demon over-sized, triple length stand-alone novel, to the standard-sized single length Killing Joke novel, and now we're back to the mini-series format, but this time using high quality Baxter(?) paper, a die-cut cardboard cover, and a hefty $3.50 price tag per issue (nearly five times the cover price of a standard comic book!). I don't know whether this particular format experiment proved to be successful (were I buying comics at the time, I probably would have scoffed at both the price and the absurdly close proximity to the Killing Joke special I would have just shelled out money for), but I must say I'm particularly pleased with the format of this volume today. It's beautiful.
Thematically, this storyline is really just a continuation of the only issue Starlin's cared about in Batman all along -- crossing the line. Batman crossed the line in the first Dumpster Killer story, warned Jason against crossing the line in the Millenium crossover, crossed the line in taking down the KGBeast (though Starlin seemed to present that choice as being acceptable), was careful not to cross the line and lectured entirely too much about the decision in the second Dumpster Killer storyline, and is now being held hostage by a cult that wants to convince Batman that it's okay to cross the line and has already convinced Gotham of the same since it has practically eliminated crime by killing the bad guys. So, while the writing is good and Wrightson's art is appealing, there's truly nothing new happening in this story.
Add to this the fact that aspects of this story feel eerily similar to DKR, particularly the constant presence of television news reports and interviews, depicted more or less how Miller depicted them, and with the same irony behind them as the framing story invites us to judge the foolishness of these people. Yet, ironically, Miller portrayed an overly liberal media that didn't understand the cold hard truths Batman did, while Starlin presents a cold/hardened media that doesn't understand the liberal ideals Batman stands for. This becomes increasingly interesting when Batman remarks on the new breed of teen delinquents who are "creatures without conscience or remorse." We saw these characters in DKR as a sign of how far down the tubes society had gone because of liberal policies and ideologies, but here, Batman goes easy on them because "They're still young. Maybe they'll learn." On so many levels, this felt like a liberal reaction to ultra conservative ideologies espoused DKR.
In terms of the writing, I do love how Starlin began the issue, beginning with a dream that we know is a dream, but then pulling out of the dream with a shock surprise -- Batman has been tied up and held hostage in the sewers for the past week. The dream was predictable, but the reality was not.
On the other hand, I despise how Starlin ended this issue. If he really wants to explore both sides of the whole crossing the line issue, then he needs to stop being so heavy handed about it. The four paragraph lecture was obnoxious last issue, and clearly revealing that the cult leader is a villain with ulterior motives at the end of this issue does an equally good job of discrediting the ideological debate. Starlin is going for a heavy handed message, not an intelligent discourse. Of course, that makes the ending of Ten Nights of the Beast, which seemed to validate Batman's crossing the line to stop the KGBeast, all the more confusing and contradictory in hindsight.
Jason Todd is in this issue but still has no personality nor part to play. He and Gordon are just a Greek chorus, informing the reader of what's happening in Gotham. I'm wondering, more and more, if Starlin ever had a personality in mind for him, or was just using Jason to illustrate the crossing the line issue that he was trying to explore primarily with Batman. I'm still not convinced that Starlin has decided on a personality for Jason at all at this point, even in those moments where we've seen him cross the line in the same ways that Batman has been tempted to.
Interesting that we have yet another storyline taking place in the sewers. I wonder if Starlin intended for The Cult to hit stands much earlier on and had, in fact, been referencing this story in the Ten Nights of the Beast finale when he referenced a recent assignment that had taken him into the sewers. It might make sense that The Cult was delayed (perhaps by Wrightson?). I can't imagine DC wanted to be putting another expensive prestige format Batman book on the shelves only one month after The Killing Joke.
Incidentally, similarly odd that, when Batman feels so much rage toward The Joker that he wants to kill him, the events of The Killing Joke, in which the Joker finally and truly took things way too far, are not referenced. Again, it's possible The Cult was supposed to have hit stands earlier, or this could once again just be evidence of the total lack of communication occurring in O'Neil's Bat office.
So Deacon Blackfriar does indeed appear to be immortal, or at least privately discusses having wanted to rule Gotham for many lifetimes. He reminds me far too much of Vandal Savage, both in ability and in characterization.
I thought I'd be more excited to see Wrightson doing art for this issue, but either his inking or Wray's coloring obscure so many of his rich faces and details in heavy shadows, often making it difficult to determine what's happening, let alone appreciate the quality of art.
The plot summary in one ridiculously long sentence: Batman has a dream about confronting the Joker as a boy and then maturing into a man, then a bat, then a bat demon, finally killing the Joker and enjoying the feeling, he wakes up and explains that he's been held captive in the sewers for a week, the homeless guarding him begin telling the story of Deacon Blackfriar, their leader, and how he was once a native American shaman who attacked his tribe when they doubted him and was left imprisoned in a cave until early English settlers unleashed him, meanwhile the media discuss the disappearance of the homeless and of crime in the city, we learn how the Batman discovered that there were murderous vigilantes killing criminals and operating out of the sewers, Gordon and Robin discuss Batman's disappearance and the dropping crime rate with concern, Batman gets captured by The Cult while trying to stop a crime, Deacon Blackfriar uses a variety of psychological tricks and drugs to finally convert Batman to his side, and Blackfriar discusses his plan to finally rule Gotham with his assistant, Jake.
All in all, not an impressive issue, though I love Starlin's ideological responses to DKR littered throughout.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 7:21:08 GMT -5
Detective Comics #589
"The Burning Pit"
writer: John Wagner(?) and Alan Grant
pencils: Norm Breyfogle
colors: Adrienne Roy
letters: Todd Klein
editor: Denny O'Neil
creator: Bob Kane (Yes, that credit is back again this issue)
Grade: C+
A fun story with absolutely no depth beneath it. Batman stops the murderer right in front of the homeless people from last issue, they challenge Batman on why he didn't act sooner to protect them, and, in place of an interesting ideological discussion about class and crime fighting, the point gets ignored as we move on to get an entire page devoted to a security guard who sees the Corrosive Man while smoking and therefore decides to quit. These first two pages alone are clear evidence that we're in for light fluff with no power behind it in this issue.
The Corrosive Man gets completely wasted here. First off, we never get ANY answers about him. This entire time he's been seeking justice against Kadaver for setting him up but, in their brief ultimate confrontation, absolutely no new details are given. We never learn anything real about who Deke Mitchell was, what Kadaver did to set him up,or why. It's just "hey, let's make this guy want revenge on this guy" without bothering to fill in any blanks.
Another utterly stupid thing about the Corrosive Man. We see that, indeed, he can melt through floors if he stands in place long enough (even though he can't melt through his shoes), but somehow this doesn't apply when he's standing on the ground (as we have seen him do).
Nothing new or interesting about Kadaver here, though the explanation behind the murder of the bum from last issue proves to be disappointing and also only marginally explained (he was heir to a fortune and turned his back on it to become a bum, so the second in line paid Kadaver to kill him). So many problems with that ridiculous story idea, not the least of being how a wealthy guy with no experience with crime finds a weirdo like Kadaver when looking for a professional hit man AND decides to do business with the guy after seeing what he's like.
Grant just did not think this story out at all. The amazing coincidence that Kadaver's pitt full of quicklime is the one thing that could neutralize Mitchell's powers is simply the icing on this cake of stupidity.
But then it gets worse as we get to the ending. DJ Dark, who was randomly revealed to be a coke addict in this issue, leaves the studio and ends up in an accident, having run over and killed the drug lord we met and promptly forgot about at the beginning of the first part of this tedious three part story. Batman gets a campy half panel page where he calls the death of the random drug lord and the arrest of DJ Dark "poetic justice." What a completely random ending for a three part story about The Corrosive Man, not DJ Dark or the stupid drug lord that went without mention for all of this and the previous issue.
Again, it was a fun story...it was just also pretty stupid.
Breyfogle's art looked strong as usual, especially in contrast to the crappy 16 page bonus book they inserted in the middle of the story (some of the worst art I've ever seen in a comic, thanks to "Dean Maspiel"; I won't even review the story -- it was similarly terrible in its attempt to establish a post-crisis Poison Ivy who Batman doubts "will ever be the same."). However, Breyfogle totally lost me at the climax. I have no idea how Batman got that spike that he threw at Mitchell, nor how/why Mitchell fell into the quicklime pitt. I do, however, give Breyfogle (and Grant) credit for having depicted the quicklime pitt and the chair that Kadaver's client is trapped in in the previous issue, when neither mattered to the plot yet.
The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Batman catches Kadaver's henchman just after he kills the bum, the other bums are pissed and want to kill him, he tells Batman he works for Kadaver (and Batman connects this back to The Corrosive Man), a security guard sees the Corrosive Man and gives up smoking, The Corrosive Man raids the henchman's apartment and discovers Kadaver's address (seriously, we're going to take the time to explain how The Corrosive Man got Kadaver's address, but we're NOT going to take the time to explain how he got the henchman's address which led to him getting Kadaver's address?), Kadaver is extorting the guy who paid him to kill the bum (and, let's be clear, the guy found and paid an overly flamboyant crime boss twenty five thousand dollars to tell his henchman to go knife a bum in an alley), DJ Dark informs the public once more about a monster being on the loose and people dying, Batman interrupts Kadaver's extortion and ends up having Kadaver trapped, almost falling into his own quicklime pitt, The Corrosive Man shows up, he disfigures Kadaver's face, the art stops making sense, the Corrosive Man somehow ends up in the quicklime pitt, neutralized, and possibly dead, and DJ Dark gets carted off to the hospital after running over the drug lord from two issues ago and getting busted for Coke possession.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 7:21:23 GMT -5
Batman #423
"You shoulda seen him..."
writer: Jim Starlin
pencils: Dave Cockrum
inks: Mike DeCarlo
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Denny O'Neil
(no acknowledgement of Bob Kane this time)
Grade: B-
A nice change of pace from a creator run that was beginning to feel a little too homogenous. This issue is essentially three very different stories about Batman told from the perspective of three different off-duty cops. The first, in which Batman talks down an attempted suicide, shows the unexpected compassion he has. The second, in which he takes down a bunch of street thugs (and seriously, how many street thugs in the 1980s had mowhawks, spiked leather, and warpaint, because we keep seeing characters like that in this run!), shows his merciless thirst for vengeance against true bad guys, and the third, in which he finds a home for two homeless kids, once again shows his compassion, but this time it's truly thrown in our faces, especially as Batman sheds a tear, the police protest that Batman never would have shed a dear, Alfred wonders if Batman is going soft, and Bruce acknowledges that he is, "...but not enough for anyone to notice." It's a pretty saccharine sweet ending.
I suppose the point is that Batman is multi-faceted and can be a nice guy. It's a nice balance to the portrayal he's received in every other Starlin story of being a well-meaning hero who is constantly on the brink of going over the edge.
No Jason Todd in this issue. Starlin isn't interested in exploring that character...at least until it's time to kill him.
Logic problem with this story -- if the two orphaned kids have an aunt who they immediately name as someone they'd like to stay with, how did the city's social services not pursue that as an option before trying to separate them and send them to children's homes?
Am I the only one who, in reading this story of Batman confronting an angry 8 year old orphan with a baseball bat, half wondered if Bruce would take him in and spontaneously make him Robin?
Second issue in a row (The Cult, Book 1, being the first) in which Starlin references Jack Kirby. This time, it's a police officer who introduces himself as, "Jackson, Kirby Jackson."
Dave Cockrum...man, I hated the last time he was on a Batman book, and he's still sucking in this issue. I don't get it. I loved his work on the X-Men in the '70s, and he really looks like he's trying here (check out that interesting cutaway on page 5, or that ambitious attempt to portray facial reactions in a split second on page 8), but it all looks so terrible, especially the faces. The before-mentioned facial shots on page 8 look laughably bad, as do so many other faces in this issue, especially Bruce's ridiculous smile, highlighted by a corny Bat symbol shadow, in the final panel.
Then there's the cover -- what the heck? That woman that Batman is embracing appears nowhere in this issue. I assume this cover was intended for next month's story about the woman who'd been victimized by the diplomat, but then why is it here? It's not like Starlin got delayed and pushed back the story, because he wrote this story too. Maybe they (Starlin and O'Neil) were trying to decide how the diplomat story would end (remember -- that's the one where Jason may or may not have pushed the guy to his death) when it was time to go to print?
Anyway, I have to give it to McFarlane -- I hate the guy and what he did to the comic industry, but this is one beautiful cover, even if placing his name in a bat emblem has got to be the most egomaniacal thing I've seen a cover artist do to credit himself up to this point. Apparently, he's bigger than Neal Adams and Joe Kubert, because they didn't feel the need to display their names so prominently.
No real need for a full plot synopsis on this one -- three Batman stories told by three different cops. He saves a potential suicide, stops a band of murderous robbers, and rescues two kids who are living on the streets.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 7:22:38 GMT -5
Batman: The Cult, Book Two
"Capture"
writer: Jim Starlin
art: Bernie Wrightson
colors: Bill Wray
letters: John Costanza
editor: Denny O'Neil
Grade: A-
I still have no idea where the title for this book comes from. Both it and the cover art implies that Batman gets captured in this issue, but that all happened prior to even Book One. I suppose Batman does get re-captured in this issue, but it's a minor plot point.
The true appeal of this issue is in seeing a Batman who has been completely mentally broken and entirely disoriented...Batman at the bottom. This is now the second time I'm left wondering if Grant Morrison stole from Starlin, since so much of the excitement of R.I.P. was in watching a replay of essentially what happened here; the only difference being that Batman has Robin to pull him out of it rather than the imaginary Batman of Zurr En Arhh.
Again, I love Starlin's style of beginning this issue. He once again starts with a relatively predictable dream, but reality proves to be the big surprise again as Batman wakes to find himself in the middle of performing a mass execution against a mafia family by order of Deacon Blackfire -- Batman has been totally converted.
Blackfire's ulterior motive of trying to take over Gotham by cleaning up its streets doesn't really come as a surprise here, but the sudden execution of the mayor and the entire city council does. I love how Starlin depicts the mayor and the one councilman in their final moments before death -- both self-interested politicians worried about no one but themselves. You know Blackfire is wrong, but you still almost smirk at their demise. As much as Starlin continually espouses the values of never crossing the line, he really makes you feel otherwise here.
Jason gets more to do in this issue, going undercover to rescue Batman, but he still exhibits zero personality. He's nothing more than a tool for rescuing Batman and revealing how delusional Batman has become.
We still know absolutely nothing about Jake, Blackfire's assistant. Is there a mystery waiting to be revealed here, or is Starlin just being sloppy?
Wrightson finally gets a chance to do his thing this issue as the plot begins to require more gruesome imagery. While the final splash page is fantastic, I must admit that my favorite visuals were of Batman's delusions in Central Park, first envisioning himself melting into nothingness and then emerging as a shining knight. Wrightson gives surreal visions the respect they deserve.
The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Batman dreams about killing Two Face with delight, but then regrets it as the body turns into Gordon, he wakes up to realize he's part of a massive attack on a mafia family and really did just kill a crook with a machine gun, Jake keeps Batman in line amidst his doubts and his hunger (they are starving him to keep him under control), "Rat Face" takes Batman out on a mission to kill his neighbor (a black man) for sleeping with a white woman, Batman has doubts about it, a cop shows up, Batman stops Rat Face from killing the cop and knocks him out, but when the cop expresses concerns about Batman's appearance and recent disappearance, Batman punches him and knocks him out too, Batman is now roaming free and breaks a store window to get food in order to clear his head, Blackfire learns about what has happened and worries about Rat Face getting caught since he is the only follower who came to Blackfire willingly and therefore isn't drugged and therefore can tell the police the entire truth if he is caught, Rat Face does exactly that, Batman slowly begins to come to his senses, Gordon leaks the true story about Blackfire to the press and puts out a warrant for his arrest, but the media end up loving Blackfire for it, Jason goes into the sewers disguised as a derelict, Batman is ashamed at having been broken and decides to go back and confront Blackfire once and for all, Blackfire begins riling up his followers to take their plan to the next level -- the taking over of Gotham, Batman sneaks back into the sewers and discovers that Blackfire has been secretly living in luxury, he gets discovered and knocked out, Blackfire orders his execution, the mayor and city council are systematically assassinated, Blackfire offers to use his forces to find those responsible and protect Gotham, Gordon accuses Blackfire of doing it (and, of course, he did), but public opinion is on Blackfire's side, Batman is being led to a part of the sewer to be executed but breaks free and fights back, ultimately falling into the water, getting shot, and being carried away by the current, Jason sees this and goes in after him, Jason finds himself in a dark place he cannot see but pursues Batman's voice, he turns on a flashlight and discovers that they are in an area completely filled with the dead bodies of the unbelievers as Batman repeatedly announces "Welcome to Hell."
A much stronger issue, over all. I rather enjoyed this one.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 7:24:37 GMT -5
Detective Comics #590
“An American Batman in London”
writer: John Wagner(?) and Alan Grant
pencils: Norm Breyfogle
letters: Todd Klein
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Denny O'Neil
creating: Bob Kane (there's that credit again, though more unusually stated this time)
grade: A
If we're to take Grant at his word, then this would be the first Detective issue that he wrote AND plotted entirely on his own, and it's certainly cut from a different cloth than his underwhelming conclusion to the Corrosive Man storyline. In this issue which, on the surface, is involved in the very same real-world issues as Starlin's run (politics, terrorism and the middle east, diplomatic immunity – which is coming up in Starlin's very next issue), there's a lot more at stake in this one.
In a sense, what Grant does in this issue is take Batman away from America so that he can better examine America for what it is and what ideals he represents by extension. It's a powerful storyline in that, for once, a terrorist gets to share his perspective (something I suspect that no one would ever dare to do in comics today).
I was particularly moved by the line, “We fight with terror because it is the only weapon you have left us.” Certainly the terrorists in this storyline are wrong and misguided, but there is another side of the story left to be told, one in which the terrorist agenda is an understandable result of centuries of Western interference and oppression in the middle east; such a viewpoint makes terrorism understandable, even while continuing to make it clear that terrorism is not acceptable. Perhaps the weakness in Starlin's attempt to be political and trendy is that America's bad guys still feel like comic book bad guys. The Russians and the terrorists have no clear motive beyond taking down America. Grant dares to delve deeper.
I'm curious to see where Grant will take Batman's questioning attitude about “My country--my America.”
It seems clear to me that Grant would have chosen to have this story take place in London because he, himself, is British. It must have been fun to watch the American caped crusader so thoroughly out of his element and so immersed in Grant's.
Is it a coincidence that this story takes place on Guy Fawkes Day and that the re-release/completion of V for Vendetta was just about to hit stands?
Interesting that, while we've seen Batman get “re-powered” post-Crisis, he also faces more real world limitations at the same time. He travels to England via commercial jet rather than Batplane (after all, where would he land it?), the terrorist he hunts down has no idea who Batman is, and the English policeman he runs to has no automatic respect or even trust for him. Batman's reputation may not permeate the borders of Gotham and certainly does not cross the Atlantic Ocean in this continuity.
Batman's showing a disturbing willingness to kill again in this storyline. He certainly didn't need to kick the terrorist out the two story window and onto the barbed wire wall, and he seemed to aim the car he bailed out of directly at the terrorists on the steps of the parliament building, killing one that had explosives tied to his chest. Neither Batman nor Grant seem to see these killings as a reason to pause and reflect; it's all part of the job.
The title of this story is presumably a bad play on the 1981 horror film “An American Werewolf in London,” though the two stories have nothing in common.
This has got to be Breyfogle's strongest issue to date. I'm in awe of the artwork on nearly each page – so much more striking and exciting to look at than even his usual high-quality fare. Batman's dramatic entrance on page 12 is a personal favorite of mine.
The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Batman busts a jewelry heist while a terrorist suicide assault on a VFW down the block goes uninterrupted, Batman takes it personally and is told that it was planned by a diplomat in the Syraqui (great name there) embassy who therefore cannot be arrested, Batman tracks the diplomat to London, the diplomat is planning to blow up the British Parliament on Guy Fawkes Day, Batman kills the diplomat after hearing his perspective on why terrorism is necessary/justified and, unable to get the help of the British police, narrowly stops the terrorists by hitting one with a car and therefore triggering the bomb attached to the terrorist prematurely, and Batman reflects on what the diplomat told him about the evils the West has committed, asking himself, “Could it be true? Could my country—my America—be so guilty?”
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 7:25:21 GMT -5
Batman #424
"The Diplomat's Son"
writer: Jim Starlin
pencils: Mark Bright
inks: Steve Mitchell
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
asst. editor: Dan Raspler
editor: Denny O'Neil
creator: Bob Kane (there it is again)
grade: A++
First off, who is Dan Raspler, and since when does O'Neil have an assistant editor? As I pointed out in my review of Batman #423, it seems like this story was originally intended for last issue and got delayed by a month. Does that have something to do with suddenly bringing in an assistant editor?
Well anyway, here it is -- Starlin's first true attempt since Batman #415 (the beginning of Starlin's run) to define the post-crisis Jason Todd. Up until now, Jason has played the role of supporting cast without bringing any true personality to the role (beyond the almost cruel recklessness we saw him exhibit when he brought down The Scarecrow in #415). Starlin backed away from that initial depiction for almost a full year before bringing us this story, which even begins with the words, "Jason Todd -- Robin" as if introducing him for the first time.
This is Jason's first time in Starlin's spotlight; the entire issue is about him and his development into a disturbing vigilante by the issue's close. However, I still take issue with Starlin's recent claim about this story that:
"In the one Batman issue I wrote with Robin featured, I had him do something underhanded, as I recall. Denny had told me that the character was very unpopular with fans, so I decided to play on that dislike."
(from Back Issue #48)
First off, as I've already pointed out, there was no definitive post-crisis Jason Todd at this point, and I suspect that most fan objections were to Max Collins' rewrite on Jason's origin, portraying him as a troublesome street punk. However, he'd already been rehabilitated into a well-adjusted, fun-loving sidekick by the end of Collins' multi-part origin story; Starlin is the first to hint at his being a "problematic" hero again in that brief segment in Batman #415 when he decides to take down Scarecrow with less concern for a villain's well-being than we'd normally expect from a hero. After that, Jason disappeared from the pages of Detective Comics (Wagner and Grant never touched him) and Starlin did nothing with him other than portray him as a willing side-kick to Batman. Essentially, we were never given a proper chance to dislike Jason. Once we got past that terrible, terrible, origin, Jason was essentially a non-entity except for those few issues where Mike W. Barr worked hard to reconcile Collins' origin with the playful character Barr had been depicting, showing him as a good guy with sincere hurt and anger carefully held in check at his core. Barr used this as parallel to Batman's struggle with his own inner demons, showing how the two characters needed each other to support each other in their struggles. I truly loved this depiction, but I doubt many readers even took note of it. It was subtle and only depicted in two issues.
Anyway, back to the quote. The other aspect of it with which I take issue is Starlin calling Robin's actions "underhanded' and claiming to play to the fans' dislike of the character in this story. Starlin has spent his entire run on Batman exploring the moral line that Batman must observe as a vigilante, often tempting him to cross it and occasionally sending the message that crossing the line can be appropriate (especially with the KGBeast), even while seeming to claim at other times that it's never okay to cross the line. All Starlin has done in this story is given Batman another situation in which crossing the line is tempting to both him and the reader, but having Jason act on that temptation instead of Batman. He's taken Batman's internal struggle and depicted it externally, with Jason acting on the temptation and Batman being the moralizing voice of self-restraint. In this sense, Jason is no more underhanded or unlikable here than Batman was in the first Dumpster Killer storyline when he mercilessly harassed and abused an ex-con on nothing more than suspicion of killing someone he was close to, or when he locked the KGBeast in that room to die since he knew the Beast would go free if turned over to the authorities. In fact, that' s almost the exact same decision Jason makes in this issue, killing the diplomat's son with the knowledge that he will only be free to victimize again if no other action is taken.
I suppose the ethical difference is that Jason seems motivated more with revenge than with concern for the future. So, really, this is a blending of the two cardinal sins we've seen Batman commit in this run -- acting out of a need for revenge (Dumpster Killer storyline) and killing when it seems like a practical solution to a problem the law cannot solve (KGBeast). Combining the two makes Jason's act worse, of course, but Jason is also still only an adolescent playing at an ethical battle Batman still wages and often loses, even (presumably) ten years into his career.
In short, I never saw Jason as a villain here -- just a sympathetic hero headed toward a dark tragedy. And let's not forget, Jason showed genuine care and worry toward the innocent victim in this issue. His actions are clearly fueled by good intentions; Starlin never suggests that he's some uncontrollable monster. It's easy to remember this story's chilling, cold-hearted ending after the fact and forget the emotion that went into Jason's decision -- the innocent rape victim that was so terrified as to kill herself in order to escape her persecutor. Even in "A Death in the Family," when we'll see Jason run off half-cocked once again, his actions will be fueled by a mismanagement of honest, understandable emotions with which we can all identify -- not some unlikable quality within him. Starlin's Jason is an adolescent, pure and simple. It's that sincere quality about him that I appreciate the most. I could have easily made those same mistakes in his shoes at the age of 14.
It seems clear to me that Starlin and O'Neil had already planned "A Death in the Family" by this point. This entire issue seems to center on setting Jason up for a tragic downfall, as is clearly foreshadowed in that first scene, when Jason impulsively breaks into an apartment after hearing a woman's scream and nearly gets himself killed. Batman then gives the ominous foreshadow:
"You shouldn't have allowed yourself to be forced into a corner like that, lad. Next time, I might not see where you go."
In addition to providing strong foreshadowing for "A Death in the Family," this also presents an interesting new read on Batman. He's no longer the conflicted dark character that Starlin had been portraying as recently as two issues ago. We see no darkness in this character who so resembles his cheery 1950s counterpart as to refer to Robin as "lad." Batman, too, is being set up here, as Jason's tragic downfall can now be the impetus that robs Batman of his innocence and drives him down the darker road that a generation of readers raised on DKR and Year One were now demanding.
Really...was there any chance that they weren't going to kill Jason at this point? I can't imagine a Starlin run that ends with Jason learning from his mistakes after this issue. I wonder if O'Neil, himself, didn't phone in a few hundred votes.
I'm not familiar with Mark Bright beyond his work two issues ago. I wonder whether the entire pages devoted to action, with absolutely no narration nor dialogue attached, was his idea or Starlin's. It's a beautiful move, especially when it's brought back a second time at the close of this issue to portray the silence that speaks volumes more than Jason's response when Batman questions whether the diplomat's son fell or was pushed off of that balcony. I truly felt a chill at the end of this issue...it's something I've never experienced before, and I already knew how this issue was going to end from memories of reading it years ago. I'm still amazed that the ending had that effect on me.
Still, Bright's arrangements could be stronger. The art looks really good, but the lack of momentum during that first action sequence really bugged me. In the first three panels, Robin is always in the center of each panel so that it appears as if he isn't moving across the room, even though he's fiercely punching and kicking bad guys in order to do just that. Similarly, the second page keeps changing angles so that we don't get any real sense of progression -- we keep seeing Batman and Robin punching, but there's no feeling of "One down, two to go." We just keep seeing shots of them punching people -- no real sense of how far they have gotten.
The cover has always bothered me too. Don't know whose decision this was, but the white outline around Jason and Felipe is thoroughly distracting and weird looking.
So is it now perfectly acceptable for Batman and Robin to crash through windows, beat up residents, and inspect rooms anytime they hear a scream? My wife saw a spider in the bathroom last week. Oh crap. Batman's gonna send me to the hospital.
I wonder if this is one of the first mainstream comic books to ever tackle the issue of rape. Starlin avoids using the word (perhaps for the sake of the Comics Code, or even just for children reading -- indeed I did not understand that the girl had been raped when I read this as a 10 year old), but the implication is painfully clear.
Our villain is just a little too over the top for me at the end, especially as he reflects:
"Well, Felipe, the good life was sweet while it lasted. Adios, Estados Unidos. It will not be easy for me back in Bogatago. Father will be furious. No more cocaine...how sad.
He says all this with no hint of actual concern, yet his entire future as a diplomat has just been lost, and any cocaine addict should be at least a little worried about losing access to the drug. This guy is just too convenient of an uncaring monster. Again, I don't buy the idea that Starlin was trying to paint Jason as unlikable here; he works too hard to make the reader want to push Felipe off the balcony his/herself.
Still, all in all a first rate issue. I'd give this one an A+ for the chill I got at the end alone.
The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Robin breaks into an apartment in response to a scream and ends up in a battle that nearly gets him killed, Batman arrives and saves him, the two investigate the source of a scream Robin heard (prompting the break-in) only to discover, Gloria, a young woman who has been beaten and raped by Felipe, the son of a diplomat, who therefore cannot be prosecuted, leaving Gloria so panicked that he'll be able to do this to her again that she needs to be sedated, Robin is disappointed with the justice system, Batman concocts a plan to bust Felipe for drug possession which would at least result in his expulsion from America and the end of any aspirations to one day be a diplomat, Robin exhibits his first signs of impatience and fury as he paces and exclaims, "I don't care about his father. I want Felipe! I can't stand just sitting around like this!" they bust Felipe, but he makes a threatening call to Gloria in front of them as payback, Batman and Robin try to call Gloria back and reassure her, but she hangs herself in terror, Jason storms off to confront Felipe on his apartment balcony, Felipe is seen falling to his death, Batman arrives to ask Jason if Felipe fell or was pushed, Robin claims Felipe was spooked and slipped, and he swings away, leaving Batman with a look of concern, suspicion, and anger.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 15:39:34 GMT -5
Batman: The Cult, Book Three
"Escape"
writer: Jim Starlin
art: Berni Wrightson
colors: Bill Wray
letters: John Costanza
editor: Denny O'Neil
asst. editor: Daniel Raspler
grade: A-
It's impressive how far Starlin takes this story. Blackfire takes over the entire city in this issue and, after his men have assassinated public official after public official (apparently including Gordan), captured the city armory, and taken down the national guard, the federal government declares Gotham a No Man's Land (wow...another time that later writers appear to steal from Starlin), and half the city evacuates, including Batman by the surprise ending. We also get some really amazing Wrightson art depicting Batman snapping while taking down some baddies, and there's one incredibly cool Alfred moment (the first time we really get a hint of how capable he truly is post-crisis). That's pretty much the issue in a nutshell.
We do see Jason get that demented smile and enjoy kicking bad-guy butt a little too much again in this issue, but only once every other option has been taken away from him ("Looks like we're out of places to run...Guess we stand and fight. At least we'll be going out in style.") Beyond that, even though Jason is forced to take the lead in this issue, he still has zero personality, performing the role of personality-void accessory to a broken Batman.
I did enjoy that new relationship this issue -- watching the kid have to figure things out (though Starlin didn't explore this enough) while leading around the shell of a Batman who could unpredictably snap and nearly kill one moment and cower and cry in the next. I wish Starlin had spent more time on this aspect of the story. It could have been fascinating.
Perhaps the only aspect of this story that I'm really having trouble accepting is nearly 50% of the population choosing to remain inside of Gotham and still espousing total faith in Blackfire, even as armed homeless people dance in the streets. Even if you believe that the guys who assassinated the news reporter, the mayor, the deputy mayor, the city council, and the commissioner weren't Blackire's men, you know those armed homeless dudes occupying your streets are. I have to imagine that would make most people uncomfortable, being under the jurisdiction of the people who, just yesterday, occupied the lowest chain on the social ladder, not merely because of discrimination, but also because many are mentally unbalanced.
Here's another time that I wish O'Neil actually ran his Bat Office. It would have been interesting to see some of those derelicts from Wagner and Grant's "Corrosive Man" story show up here.
So is bathing in blood in moonlight the full secret to immortality, or are there other aspects to it that Blackfire doesn't bother to mention? It seems that someone else somewhere in human history would have tried this and would also be running around immortal, possibly teaching the technique to leagues of others. How could Blackfire be the only person ever to try this?
The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: the city government has lost control to Blackfire's men, Batman is still broken and depending upon Robin to lead their escape, the city is divided on supporting Blackfire, Gordan figures out that Blackfire may be immortal, one of his men agrees to go undercover into Blackfire's cult, Blackfire gives a long monologue to his right hand man, making it abundantly clear that the religious stuff is a hoax to get him power (in case you missed Starlin's heavy-handed reveal about this last issue), we find out that bathing in blood in moonlight is what makes Blackfire immortal, Batman and Robin find the totem that originally "converted" Batman and see that it was all trickery (this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone but Batman), Blackfire's men take over the city armory and apparently assassinate Gordan, the governer declares martial law, the news channel we've been watching finally takes a clear position against Blackfire and the anchorman is assassinated as he says this, Blackfire takes control of the airwaves (I'm sorry...did Gotham only have one channel?), Batman and Robin get cornered by Blackfire's men, Jason gets that look of glee while fighting the impossible odds, Batman is frozen, Jason begins to get beaten and begs for Batman to join in, Batman snaps and goes berserk on the baddies, the National Guard enters Gotham and gets destroyed, the Governer declares Gotham a disaster area and orders its evacuation, Blackfire's men fully take over, Batman and Robin get to a bar, kick some butt, and call Alfred, a news report reveals that most of the remaining population in Gotham (almost half have fled) support Blackfire, Alfred picks up Batman and Robin, and Batman declares that Gotham belongs to Blackfire and that they are leaving Gotham for good.
All in all, an exciting story. Somehow, I feel like it's moving too quickly though. Believe it or not, I think this could have been a longer story, and with more focus on the city and on Batman-post breakdown. I would have compressed the first two issues into one (or even half of one) and spent the rest of the time on the events of this and the next issue.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 15:39:50 GMT -5
Detective Comics #591
"Case Book: The Batman -- Aborigine!"
writer: John Wagner (?) and Alan Grant
art: Norm Breyfogle
letters: Todd Klein
colors: Adrienne Roy
asst. editor: Dan Raspler
editor: Denny O'Neil
creator: Bob Kane
Grade: B
Not sure what to make of the whole "Case Book: The Batman" prefix. Is Grant intending to title all of his stories this way from now on? Nothing about this story presented it as being from the "case book". Maybe this is Grant's way of circumventing continuity in the other title (particularly Jason Todd) by presenting all of these stories as being old adventures from the "case book," but (again) none of this is suggested within the story.
So Grant continues confronting Batman with moral questions about the society he protects in this issue, this time fighting an Aborigine priest seeking revenge for injustices done to his people by an unscrupulous antiquities collector that Bruce Wayne just happens to be co-hosting a benefit with at the time. However, this time around, we don't really see Batman doubting himself and the society he protects the way he did last issue -- he acknowledges that Rollo (the collector) committed crimes he must answer for, but pretty much fails to hear the priest's entire point about:
"White man's justice? For an Aborigine? Where have you been for the past two hundred years?
The message hits the reader but never seems to register with Batman. He doesn't consciously choose to shrug it off, leaving the reader to question him -- he just doesn't hear it. Weird. I really like the approach Grant is trying to take to Batman here (feels thoroughly like O'Neil and Adams' take on Green Lantern a decade back), but it isn't fully hitting its target here.
The minor details:
- The priest paints Batman on a rock while making prophecy about his mission, yet seems to not have expected Batman when he appears at the climax ("A night spirit!").
- Not fond of Breyfogle's new Batmobile. I'm glad it didn't last.
- Bruce gets out of the Batmobile in front of the Rollo building on the curb of a populated street block during prime time hours, while Alfred warns "Quick sir -- before you're seen!" and NO ONE sees him?? There are eleven people pictured across the street in the background of that panel alone. And, of course, Bruce changes back into Batman in a public park outside the Rollo building one hour later. Amazing. Wouldn't it have made more sense for Batman to get into a nondescript car that Bruce later got out of? And I assume this new Batmobile has tinted windows; otherwise Alfred driving the Batmobile around town with Bruce riding shotgun would probably arouse some attention as well.
- The mystical bone makes Rollo feel dizzy for a moment, and this is given attention twice in the story, yet nothing ever comes of it. We never see that the bone actually has any powers. What was the point, then?
- Interesting that Batman sees a blood handprint on a murdered thug's chest and immediately recognizes that it's Aborigine. I guess Grant is going back to the idea that Batman is an expert in most areas of general knowledge -- something we haven't seen since those first two post-Crisis filler issues where Batman was suddenly an expert on lasers and birds.
- Grant also returns to the obsessive characterization of Bruce -- haunted by the fact that he must lose an hour of patrolling while crime is still out there. We haven't seen that obsession since Miller. I certainly don't get the sense that this is the character Starlin is writing, who abandoned seeking out all other crime for a week and a half to give his attention to the KGBeast without rethinking the decision even once; not even a "this is more important, but it kills me to think of what's going on out there without me."
- I can't imagine the lone security guard responsible for manning the outside entrance to a priceless private collection of art would carelessly leave the door wide open while turning in for the night. Sure, it may eventually shut on its own, but I'd still think the guy would PULL the door shut and not leave someone a gaping opportunity to get in behind him.
- Umbaluru, The Aborigini priest, kicks complete butt, especially in his climax, hurtling toward his death and trusting his god to protect him.
- But I find it surprising that he speaks broken English, yet is comfortable enough with written English to take the time to deface a store front, changing its message from "Happy 200th Birthday Australia" to "Happy 50,000th Birthday to the people" without a single spelling error.
- It's worth noting that, while last issue, Grant left Batman to question his America, this issue focuses on an injustice largely committed by the British Empire. I get that they represent the same basic Western civilization, but last issue Grant turned the focus so tightly on America (while he was in Britain) that the message of this issue feels a little muddled as a result.
I should also mention the ad at the end of this book, promising "SOMEONE WILL DIE. Batman 426 and 427, both on sale in September." I checked with Mike's Amazing World, and Batman did not go bi-monthly at this point. 425 was published in July, 426 in August, and 427 in September.
The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Umbaluru, an Aborigini priest, has a prophecy involving Batman and goes on a quest for revenge to Gotham, believing that the gods protect him, Batman busts up a coke deal, Alfred picks him up and takes him to a fundraiser that he reluctantly must attend, the fundraiser benefits children by selling tickets to see Kerry Rollo's priceless collection of antiques, amidst all the priceless artifacts Bruce conveniently only notices and reflects on a fifty thousand year old "Power Bone," (which will become essential to the story) which suddenly makes Rollo dizzy, Umbaluru shows up in Gotham and attacks three men who robbed his people of a priceless antique, they explain that Rollo put them up to it before Umbaluru kills them, Bruce leaves the fundraiser, becomes Batman again, and arrives at the scene of Umbaluru's murders, wondering if there's a connection to Rollo's exhibit and going back to Rollo Towers to investigate, Umbaluru gets there a moment sooner and begins to attack Rollo, Batman intervenes, Umbaluru explains the injustices that Rollo committed, Batman agrees but maintains that Umbaluru's vigilante tactics are not acceptable, they continue to fight, Umbaluru grabs Rollo and throws the two of them out the window, trusting in the gods to save him, they apparently do since Batman does not find his body, Umbaluru defaces a travel agency storefront wishing Australia a happy 200th anniversary, and Batman pledges to seek him out.
All in all a good story, but it certainly wasn't a tight one.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 15:40:21 GMT -5
I should also mention the ad at the end of this book, promising "SOMEONE WILL DIE. Batman 426 and 427, both on sale in September." Gave this some more thought and felt it was significant that the ad promises "someone will die." A promise is made there, just as when the series was entitled "A Death in the Family" that someone important was going to die. If it just ended up being Jason's illegitimate mom who had just been introduced in that storyline, fans everywhere would have felt duped. What would make that death any more important than Kate Babcock's in Batman #414? Both characters were introduced in that storyline and meant a tremendous amount to our protagonists in that moment and for the sake of that particular storyline, but neither had even existed prior to that point, let alone mattered to any readers. Jason had a real (albeit adopted) mom who had raised him until her death. This woman's only importance to him was as a relative who was still alive, and her importance to the reader was even less. My point in all of this being that the series was set up, from the start, with the intention of making Jason be the "death in the family". I'm willing to bet the phone vote was an idea that came about at the last minute, and it's possible that O'Neil really would have let Robin live had the votes gone in his favor, but everything that had been put in place, from the ad, to the series title, to Jason's thematic arc begun in Batman #424, to Jason's being at ground zero of the detonation alongside his mother (who was definitely going to die from it) in #427, and even to O'Neil's letter column comment in Batman #425 that: These past few issues have shown that (Jason) is no mere extension of the Caped Crusader, nor is he simply the light-hearted, happy go-lucky side-kick that once was. If you've been following Batman recently, you know that we are leading up to a very special series starting next issue (#426) and continuing for three more issues (to #429). It's a watershed event in the lives of our heroes, and if you've kept your eyes open, you know that, without naming names (ha ha ha), the villain of the piece (hee hee hee) will not be pulling any punches. Oh, yes. The title of the series?
"A Death in the Family."
You don't want to miss it. ...all of this points to the fact that Jason was slated to die. Could you imagine looking back at this kind of an editor's statement if the only person who went on to die in the story was Jason's illegitimate mother? I'd imagine that, had the phone in voting concept been pitched by this point, O'Neil would be selling the innovation of allowing fans to directly impact the events of an upcoming comic rather than hinting at a major turn of events that might not turn out to be true. So I hold firm in my opinion that Jason was originally slated to die as early as Batman #424. The idea of allowing fans to vote must have been added around the time #426 hit stands. |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 15:44:34 GMT -5
Batman #425
"Consequences"
writer: Jim Starlin
pencils: Mark Bright
inks: Steve Mitchell
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
asst. editor: Dan Raspler
editor: Denny O'Neil
creator: Bob Kane
Grade: B
It's a bit surprising that "A Death in the Family" begins next issue, and yet the only formal ad we've seen for it was in this month's Detective Comics. I guess they assume someone reading Batman this month will be reading it again next month anyway. Still, as reproduced in a previous post, O'Neil does plug the series in the letters column this month.
As for the issue itself, it seems as though Starlin was going for a more satisfying conclusion to the events left unfinished last time around, but I'm still not sure we've reached a satisfying conclusion by the end. Once again, we're left with meaningful silence between Batman and Robin that should convey volumes, but Bright's pencils are far worse this issue and utterly fail to convey what Jason is feeling. Does he walk away in the end out of shame, resentment, or out of a need to take a moment to reflect/process? I honestly have no idea.
I will say that the rest of this issue was tremendously fun. As I mentioned in last issue's review, Starlin has taken the conflict about crossing the line that he'd put in Batman's mind for most of his run and externalized it, making the conflict between Jason (who is tempted to cross the line) and Batman (who must now be the voice of morality). The byproduct of all this is that, for at least this and the previous issue, Batman stops being a conflicted soul and gets to be uncomplicated and just plain awesome at what he does again. He doesn't even really dwell too much on what to do about Jason, instead just doing a great job of kicking ass in the junkyard and narrating his thoughts as he does so. It's a page out of Miller's book, but it's more fun and far less jaded/sociopathic here. This Batman only hits with full strength when a crony looks particularly dangerous, and he has fun with the ones he knows don't pose much of a risk. I'm not the kind of reader who demands extensive action sequences in each issue of every comic I read (In fact, I often feel action scenes in comics can be obligatory and tedious), but it was done really well here. I only wish Bright's pencils could keep up better. Some of the action definitely could have been depicted better.
I particularly enjoyed one crony's remark of "I hear the dude's not human." It's nice to see Batman return to being somewhat of an urban myth rather than just a guy in a colorful costume (I assume he's "returning" to this -- was he portrayed this way in the '70s stretch that I haven't read?).
So Felipe's dad...it's hard to imagine a foreign diplomat so transparently involving himself in the abduction and attempted murder of a city's police commissioner, especially with so many hired American cronies as witnesses. Did he take this risk because Felipe's drug bust was about to undo his career anyway, did he do it because he was so desperate for revenge that caution no longer mattered to him (I'm assuming it's this based on how he finally dies), or was it something else? I would have liked Starlin to have touched upon this.
The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Batman receives a photo of Gordan chained up in a junkyard along with a note from Felipe's father threatening to kill him if Batman and Robin don't show up to answer for Felipe's death, Bruce reflects on what Jason did (or may have done) last issue and how he hasn't had the courage to address it with him, he decides not to tell Jason about it, but Jason reads Bruce's body language and follows him, Bruce (now as Batman) arrives at the junkyard and starts kicking ass, he gets careless and is in a bind when Jason steps in and potentially rescues him (it's never clear whether Jason made things easier or worse for Bruce here), Felipe's dad dies in a desperate attempt to kill Batman while a tower of stripped cars falls on him, Batman lectures Jason on how every action has a consequence as they both look upon all the people who are dead because of what Jason may have done last issue, Jason gives a look that Bright fails to pencil clearly, and he walks away.
Not as great an issue as it should have been, but watching Batman bring his A game to a bunch of bad guys who were asking for it was tremendously fun.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 15:46:02 GMT -5
Batman: The Cult, Book Four
"Combat"
writer: Jim Starlin
art: Bernie Wrightson
colors: Bill Wray
letters: John Costanza
asst. Editor: Daniel Raspler
editor: Denny O'Neil
Grade: A-
Before I discuss this specific issue, I've had one nagging doubt about this story that I've failed to articulate until now -- if Blackfire had Batman captured and under his control for all that time, why didn't he ever unmask him? Generally, a cult tries to strip the individuality away from a follower by taking away their clothing and identity. Letting him keep the costume is an unusual choice and, while I can think of ways to rationalize it ("Hey look, Batman's working for Blackfire. I guess the guy really is someone to be followed") I would have appreciated Starlin making some attempt to explain it. Certainly at least one of the many homeless working for Blackfire would have been tempted to sneak a peak.
Now on to the issue itself. Lots of great stuff here, particularly the main action of this issue in which we watch Batman and Robin retake Gotham. Once again, Starlin consciously acknowledges DKR while tempering its conservative views with his liberal ones, giving Batman an extremely similar Bat Tank, but this time having it fire non-lethal drug-tipped darts instead of ammunition. This Batman can be tough and a hero who still stands for certain ideals instead of destroying the broadly painted bad guys with a sense of relish and a disregard for life.
Wrightson's art is uneven this time around. He does an amazing job on many pages, for example depicting Bruce and Jason suiting up or a concerned Batman visiting Gordan in the hospital, but he really loses it on some of the most critical pages, including the retelling of the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne (we just saw Mazzuchelli's version less than two years ago, and people are still reading it in the trade, yet Wrightson's treatment absolutely does not compare) and the final action sequence in which Batman takes down Blackfire. It's utterly devoid of power.
Jason gets that devilish smile in anticipation of action once again this issue, but he's still not lined up with the character we're seeing in Batman right now. Though my theories haven't been doing too well lately, I'm still holding to the one that The Cult was scripted far ahead of its publication and was intended to hit stands sooner. When Jason actually tries to rescue Blackfire from his followers at the end, and Batman has to pull him back, it becomes evident that this is not a kid who has already made the conscious decision that killing is sometimes okay. Surely, Blackfire is at least as bad as Felipe was.
Additionally, Bruce's attitude toward Jason is unusual in this issue. He has no reservations about taking Jason into a full blown war with limited odds for survival, leaves a wounded Jason behind to take on Blackfire while comparing him in his mind to the woman he left to die earlier in the issue for the sake of taking on the greater evil. This does not seem like the same guy who will later become horrified by the liability of taking a teen sidekick into battle in the wake of Jason's death. He seemed pretty willing to endanger Jason and accept his potential death here. Though, to be fair, Batman isn't exactly Batman in this issue, still dealing with the trauma of what Blackfire did to him.
This issue confirms that Batman is in his tenth year of crime fighting, which aligns perfectly with the post-crisis time table I'd put together earlier in this thread. If we accept Batman: Year 3's continuity at this point (even though it won't be published for another year) we now have a definitive post-crisis Batman timeline:
__________________________________________________ _______________
Year 1 -- The Year 1 storyline. Additionally, the replacement commissioner at the end of "Year One" is fired or forced to retire
Year 1 -- Batman switches to the yellow chest symbol
Year 2 -- The Year Two storyline
Year 3 -- Dick becomes Robin at age 13
Year 3-9 -- Most of Batman's rogues gallery is active for some time prior to Dick's retirement, but presumably not until after the events of Year Two (since it's implied that Reaper is Batman's first supervillain), including Two Face, Penguin, and Joker.
Year 9 -- The first Robin is retired and presumed dead by the general public, at age 19 after an implied long history of repeated confrontations with members of the rogues gallery
Year 9.5 -- Bruce takes in Jason
Year 10 -- Jason becomes Robin six months after Bruce takes him in (Dick learns about the new Robin more than one school year after leaving Wayne Manor)
Year 10 -- present day continuity as of this issue
*one problem with this continuity is that Batman #416 determines that Jason had already been active as Robin for over a year.
**note: this time table gets revised again in response to the supplemental materials in the Death in the Family trade paperback (see six posts down).
__________________________________________________ _______________
Inevitably the greatest line from this entire story:
"Always claimed I became the Batman to avenge the death of my parents...to fight crime. That was a lie. I really did it to overcome the fear."
Add Christopher Nolan as a later Batman person to have potentially borrowed from Starlin's run. I can't say I completely agree with this statement; I think Batman is about more than just this, but it certainly is a large and compelling component of his identity.
I still can't get a good read on Deacon Blackfire, and I think Starlin is having the same problem. First he was a conman who just happened to be an immortal who definitely didn't believe any of the religious crap he was espousing. Now, without any clearly depicted transformation in his character, he's hanging dead people off of lamp posts in Santa Clause outfits and seeking his own martyrdom. What the heck changed? Did the power go to his head this quickly? We needed to see more of this.
And, while it was inevitable that Jake, his right hand man, FINALLY got to hold some importance in the story, it wasn't much. The way that he kept being shown, talked to, and addressed by name, I was waiting for him to finally surprise everyone by coming into his own with his own agenda, but all he really does is point out how he'll be rewarded when Blackfire dies. I was sure he would try to kill Blackfire. Even in that final moment when Batman has beaten Blackfire and Jake pulls out the gun, I thought for sure he'd shoot Blackfire in an attempt to undo the loss of face he'd just experienced at the hands of Batman, all while empowering Jake to take over the organization in his wake, but no -- Jake aimed for Batman. How disappointing.
I'm still disappointed that Starlin doesn't give more attention to what's happening inside of Gotham. He delivers this info through news recaps, but I want to SEE the slow downfall of Gotham, as Blackfire starts forcing citizens into compulsory labor and ordering mass executions. It seems to me that this, both Batman and America's utter failure to protect its citizens from a madman, is the true drama of this story, not Batman licking his wounds over events that transpired two issues ago.
So Gordan conveniently survived his assassination attempt with no long term damage whereas the assassinations of the entire city council, the mayor, and the deputy mayor were totally successful. Cheap shot.
Overall, a powerful and exciting story, but the lack of resolution at the end bugs me. It's as if, suddenly, everything's back to normal and everything we just watched will be easily forgotten. We should see hints of long term emotional scars for both Batman and the citizens of Gotham, but none are suggested. Blackfire is dead; end of story.
The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Bruce is haunted by the memory of his parents and decides to go back and take back Gotham, we learn that Blackfire has started forcing Gotham's citizens into slave labor and ordering mass executions, Bruce and Jason begin training to take back Gotham, Bruce realizes that his true reason for becoming Batman was to overcome the fear he felt when his parents were murdered, the military makes a failed attempt to retake Gotham, and president decides to hold off on mounting a full military invasion, Blackfire decides that he wants to be a martyr, Batman visits Gordan and tells him he's going to retake the city, Batman and Robin invade the city in an enormous Bat Tank armed with drug-tipped darts, they have to allow an innocent woman to die in order to survive long enough to take down Blackfire, Batman must then choose to leave behind an injured Robin for the same reason, he confronts Blackfire and, rather than kill or disable him, attacks him while causing the most pain possible, Blackfire breaks down in front of his people, Jake tries to kill Batman, but Robin arrives at the last second to save him, Blackfire's followers turn on him, Jason tries to save Blackfire, but Batman holds him back, things return to normal in Gotham, and Batman douses Blackfire's totem in gas and then torches it.
Truly a GREAT story, but it could have been even greater with some significant tweaking of the pacing and the attention given to some aspects of the story over others. As mentioned earlier, I still feel that what happened to Batman's city was the most significant portion of the story, but we only hear about it in recaps, never seeing it for ourselves. Batman is too willing to sacrifice his city and his sidekick in this story without that ever being explored by Starlin. Finally, the lack of resolution truly bothers me. This clearly wanted to be a longer story than it was, and Starlin didn't work well within his constraints. I give the story concept an A+ and the actual execution a B. Average it out to an A-.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 15:55:36 GMT -5
Detective Comics #592 "Case Book: The Batman -- The Fear, Part One" writer: Alan Grant and John Wagner(?) art: Norm Breyfogle colors: Adrienne Roy letters: Todd Klein asst. editor: Dan Raspler editor: Denny O'Neil Grade: A- So we're sticking with the "Case Book: Batman" prefix, I guess. For the first time since Grant purportedly took full control of the book, we have an issue that feels as strong as the first few that Grant and Wagner worked together on. The writing in this issue is absolutely gorgeous. To give one small example from the beginning of the story: Nights like this...
Crisp and sharp and clean -- The air so cold. Almost cuts you -- The moon and stars so near, you could reach out and touch them.
And the taste of it -- Darkness like champagne bubbles in my mouth. Gotham, a ghost city, where only the lunatics prowl...
Night like this...
I love them.I also absolutely loved the demented speaking style of our new villain, Cornelius Stirk: There -- What do you think, eh, sir? What's that, sir? What do I want from you? Why there are many things I might want..An ear, for instance...I might want to slice it off--and smother it in mayonnaise--and serve it to you on toast. You hear me--toast, sir! Toast!the "sir" bit lends a very specific personality to his voice. I now understand why Grant and Wagner gave Scarface a speech impediment when they introduced him at the beginning of their run, but I think Stirk's dialect is far less distracting and more effective. Breyfogle's at the top of his game in this issue, as well, particularly in that first action scene, in his depiction of Stirk at the top of his mania, and in the child's delusional perception of Jesus waving happily at him. It's worth noting that Breyfogle adjusts the look of the new Batmobile in this issue. I like the harder angles of it better this time around, but it's still not winning me over. However, the exaggerated rounded back of it (depicted twice in this issue) probably informs the look of one of my favorite Batmobiles, which Breyfogle will first pencil in Detective #601. Breyfogle tries out at least four new Batmobiles across this extensive run.  The Batmobile in this issue  The Batmobile of Detective #601 (which is replaced and then returns in #616) images are from Batmobilehistory.com It's nice to see Batman actually being a detective in Detective Comics. Somehow, his jumping in to work side by side with the mortician in order to determine a cause of death was just cool in this issue. Batman was right at home with the equipment. So a lot goes unexplained about Stirk in this issue. Does he actually drain hormones triggered by fear from his victims (if so, why can Batman still detect them in one of his victims in the morgue), or does he just have a sick psychological compulsion? Does he actually transform/wear a disguise, or is it all illusion? I think Breyfogle makes this intentionally vague when he appears to transform on page 15, making the entire sequence seem surreal. I'm hoping we'll get answers to this next issue. Assistant editor Dan Raspler gets a somewhat unflattering cameo in this issue, appearing at the bottom of a list of violent offenders released from Gotham Penitentiary and Arkham Asylum in the past month. I believe this is the first time Arkham gets mentioned post-crisis. The cover to this issue is a bit misleading. We never see Stirk go after a woman and, while his face resembles Abe Lincoln, he never actually wears the top hat and suit. So I guess Batman gave up on the Aborigini Priest he swore to track down at the end of the previous issue? We've also apparently abandoned the new direction Grant initiated two issues back of having Batman re-examine the country and culture that he defends. the plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Batman breaks up a gang beating, a cabbie is helping a mother and son flee from the father while he is at work, the son sees a man with a shopping cart who looks like Jesus dump something in the back of the taxi, the cabbie returns and finds a dead body in the trunk with the heart removed, Batman questions the boy about what he saw, the killer captures a homeless man while looking like Abe Lincoln, Batman determines that the cause of death for the first victim was a seizure induced by tremendous fear, he gets a list of recently released violent criminals and begins tracking them down, the first one is stealing from charities but is not the killer, we cut to the killer tormenting his second victim and appearing to use the victim's fear for sustenance, dramatically kissing the man to get it, Batman pursues the second suspect and discovers his community liason officer murdered, and he then realizes that Cornelius Stirk is the man he is looking for. |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 15:56:13 GMT -5
Before beginning "A Death in the Family," a few notes on the supplemental materials found in the original trade (released shortly after the story concluded).
"The Death of a Boy Wonder" preface:
This fictitious account of Robin's death, written at some point in the future, touches upon the post-crisis time-table once again. Though largely in agreement with what I've already derived, there are two minor points of divergence.
- According to the preface, Bruce took Dick in when he was 12. Batman #416 establishes that Dick was 13 when he became Robin. Perhaps he was just about to have a birthday when Bruce adopted him, or there was a substantial gap in time between Bruce adopting him and making him Robin (we'll see if Year 3 touches upon this when we get there).
- Jason becomes Robin 18 months after Dick retires. We knew from Batman #416 that Dick first learned about the new Robin at least one school year after being retired. Apparently, Jason had just begun as Robin in that story, which took place 18 months after Dick's retirement. This causes some problems for our time table, which I've attempted to tweak in response. I also revisited the all-important Batman #416 and fleshed out some details a bit further.
__________________________________________________
The Post-Crisis Batman Timetable (thus far)
Year 1 -- The Year 1 storyline. Additionally, the replacement commissioner at the end of "Year One" is fired or forced to retire
Year 1 -- Batman switches to the yellow chest symbol
Year 2 -- The Year Two storyline
Year 3 -- Dick is taken in by Bruce at age 12, becomes Robin at age 13
Year 3-9 -- Most of Batman's rogues gallery is active for some time prior to Dick's retirement, but presumably not until after the events of Year Two (since it's implied that Reaper is Batman's first supervillain), including Two Face, Penguin, and Joker.
Year 9 -- The first Robin is retired and presumed dead by the general public, at age 19 after 6 years with Batman and an implied long history of repeated confrontations with members of the rogues gallery
Year 10 -- Bruce takes in Jason. Dick attends one year of college, drops out, becomes Nightwing, and "started a new life as leader of" the New Teen Titans (this seems to imply that he formed the team after becoming Nightwing and never led it as Robin).
Year 10.5 -- Jason becomes Robin six months after Bruce takes him in (Dick confronts Batman about Jason being the new Robin 18 months after his retirement; the preface for Death in the Family states that Jason became Robin 18 months after Dick retired).
Year 11.5 -- the present day of Batman #416, which takes place one year after the confrontation between Dick and Bruce over Jason becoming Robin.
This makes the current events of Batman take place in Year 11.5 or Year 12, but "The Cult, Book 4" explicitly states that Batman has now been active for ten years. The only way this works is if "The Cult" takes place at the beginning of Jason's career.
__________________________________________________
With that (semi) settled, let's discuss O'Neil's postscript:
"Postscript" by Denny O'Neil:
A lot of what's said here is now common knowledge. O'Neil claims that the idea to kill Jason began with a desire to use the new phone voting technology to decide something important (Starlin disagrees -- stating that he'd been pushing to kill Jason off for months due to his lack of popularity).
However, I think the most important portion of this postscript is O'Neil's statement that "Others were suggesting that The Batman commemorate his fiftieth birthday in 1989 by reverting to what he had been when he first appeared, a relentless loner." Here's where I smell conspiracy. We had the 1989 Batman movie in production (which did not feature a Robin), Starlin begging to kill Jason off, and an alternate ending in which Batman tells Dick "I'll handle this by myself. That's the way I want it from now on". It sure seems that, even if Jason did survive and did manage to duck a Barbara Gordan fate by making a full recovery, Batman wasn't going to take the risk of letting him be Robin anymore. Though O'Neil claims in this postscript that "One of the pro-Jason votes was mine. I realized that taking a Robin--any Robin--away from Batman was risky," it sure seems like plans were being made for Robin to go away for a while, even if Jason had lived.
Of course, O'Neil does imply that he'd like to see Batman get another Robin down the road when he closes by writing "...we're curious about what happens now. I am quietly but very fervently hoping it does not involve another abrupt termination of a boy wonder."
I suppose it's possible that Starlin was trying to set up the alternate ending so that Jason would not return as Robin and Batman would go solo without O'Neil understanding what he was doing and while O'Neil was still pulling for Jason to live (or at least for Batman to get another Robin after). Maybe Starlin figured he'd sell O'Neil on the idea later. He'd clearly already demonstrated perseverance in his account of repeatedly pushing for Jason's death before O'Neil finally agreed.
It could just be another example of O'Neil not watching over his office carefully enough, with he and Starlin working at different Robin-related agendas.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 16:45:38 GMT -5
Been meaning to do this for a while now... All You Need to Know About Jason Todd (Pre-Death)Most folks tend to simplify Jason by splitting him into two parts, the pre-Crisis Jason (red haired, kinda' like Dick Grayson), and post-Crisis (troubled and obnoxious). It's in response to these oversimplified misperceptions that I present the full exploration of who Jason was both pre and post crisis. Under Gerry Conway (1983) Believe it or not, Gerry Conway spent almost no time on Jason, and yet Conway's depiction is generally what people think of when they hear the term "pre-crisis Jason". The fact is that Jason only appeared in Conway's last three months on the Bat titles (and the first of those months was strictly cameos, where Jason appeared on exactly four panels and spoke in only two). Conway never bothered to give Jason any distinct personality, but he did give him red hair, made him part of a family of trapeze artists (like Dick Grayson), and set him up to be the next Robin, killing his parents, and having Bruce decide to adopt him. Under Doug Moench (1983-1985) Doug Moench was the only writer to spend significant time on Jason as Robin in the pre-Crisis, and yet his depiction had nothing to do with the better-remembered red haired circus kid that Conway created. As soon as Jason dyed his hair black and put on the Robin costume for the first time, his red hair was never mentioned again, and even his circus origins and deceased parents went forgotten. Instead, Moench focused on Jason's struggle to identify with Batman and Nocturna (a Moench creation) as his surrogate parents. Jason slowly evolved into a deep, complex, thinking and feeling character who really allowed Moench to explore the full intellectual and emotional consequences of putting an orphan into the role of side-kick superhero. Meanwhile, he was an answer to Batman's struggle to trust and to let people in while leading the kind of life he led. A true rapport developed between the two that was carefully earned over a steady progression of issues. Moench's Jason slowly aged in real-time as well, eventually getting a life all his own in public school that included a rival and a girlfriend. under Doug Moench (again, 1986) Less important (but still worth mentioning) is the random change in characterization Jason received after the Crisis on Infinite Earths concluded. I still theorize that Moench attempted to reboot Batman's continuity himself at the end of the crisis and was later overruled. As a result, the post-Crisis Jason suddenly age progressed to be a full blown teenager and was generally depicted as moody, rebellious, unmotivated, resentful, and suddenly speaking with a lot of slang. Moench eventually backed off from this depiction (as well as any attempt to reboot the continuity), explaining Jason's behaviors as being the results of teenage hormones and the loss of Nocturna, his surrogate mother. By Batman #400, Jason was back to being a willing (though older and more independent) sidekick. After the reboot, and under Mike W. Barr (1986-1987) After the delayed post-crisis reboot (circa Batman #401), Jason was the victim of at least two competing characterizations. The first was of an impressionable young side-kick who felt like a throwback to the atom age, as depicted in the first two fill-in post-crisis stories written by Barbara Randell and Joey Cavalieri. This was continued by Mike W. Barr, initially assisted by Alan Davis, who made Jason younger than his pre-crisis counterpart (12, according to his imaginary tombstone in Detective #571), and far more fun-loving than even the Atom-Age Dick Grayson had been. Eventually, Barr attempted to reconcile his characterization with Max Allen Collins', making Jason a little older, and painting Bruce and Jason both as people with deep pain and anger at their core which they work hard to manage and suppress by lifting each other's spirits and having fun while they work, seeming to be care-free on the surface, but occasionally letting the dark spill through. In my mind, this was the strongest depiction of the dynamic duo to date, as well as an amazing bridge between the fun-loving campy Batman stories of the Atom and Silver ages and the darker, more introspective ones of the Bronze age. It allowed Bruce and Jason to explore the full range of what made Batman a compelling premise, not restricted to either arena. Under Max Collins (1987) What people remember about Max Collins' run, which ran concurrently with Barr's (Collins on Batman, Barr on Detective) is that it revamped Jason's origin, making him an orphaned street thug that Batman brought in after he tried to boost the wheels off the Batmobile. Well, that and the fact that he suddenly had black hair (again, this was not sudden. Jason's red hair was last mentioned 42 issues earlier in Batman #366!). What most don't seem to realize is that all Collins was trying to do was provide a stronger rationale for Batman having an innocent kid sidekick by putting Jason at greater physical and emotional risk without Batman. Sure enough, as soon as Jason puts on the Robin costume, he's a largely carefree sidekick, and any residual anger he felt is explicitly removed after only two issues of fighting by Batman's side, when he decides that taking revenge against Two Face for killing his father won't solve anything. Batman is proud of him, Jason gives off a goofy smile, and the status quo is restored. Collins revamped Jason's origin with the intent of bringing him back to status quo characterization after only four issues. He didn't plant any groundwork for Jason to remain troubled/disturbed. under Jim Starlin (1987-1988) Starlin, like many current day readers, was aware of Collins' drastic change to Jason's origin in Batman #408 and, like most readers, pretty much ignored the rest. In his very first depiction of Jason (Batman #415) Starlin presents Jason as far more impulsive and reckless, taking down the Scarecrow with disturbing severity in order to prevent him from poisoning the water supply. For whatever reason, he tries one more issue with this characterization and then backs off from this depiction for most of his run, using Jason as a blank supporting character for Batman. Eventually though, we begin to see a hint of Jason enjoying fighting a little too much during the "The Cult" storyline, and then, in Batman #424, Jason makes the completely understandable, yet shocking, decision to kill a remorseless rapist that the criminal system cannot touch. However understandable, it's clearly the wrong thing to do, and it creates a rift between Bruce and Jason, sending Jason down a tragic path of being ruled by reckless emotions rather than logic, subsequently resulting in his death only three issues later. So, as a brief recap, Jason's being red headed was never a significant aspect of his pre-crisis continuity, Jason's origin changed after the Crisis, but his overall characterization did not, Starlin's "troubled" Jason characterization was only depicted in 6 of Jason's 42 post-crisis appearances, and there were several other (often-times more significant) depictions of Jason in-between. Hope this is a point of clarity for folks. |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 26, 2014 19:13:22 GMT -5
Batman #426 Page length and cover prices will prove to be interesting throughout this storyline. This issue is double sized and priced at $1.50, as is the next one, but #428 is standard sized and 75 cents, and #429 is standard sized and $1.00. Why only make the first two issues double-sized, and what's with the inflated price for #429? Batman's cover price won't jump to $1.00 until #438, almost a year from now. "A Death in the Family, Chapter 1" writer: Jim Starlin pencils: Jim Aparo inks: Mike DeCarlo letters: John Costanza colors: Adrienne Roy asst. editor: Dan Raspler editor: Denny O'Neil creator: Bob Kane Grade: B- When I was a younger reader, Death in the Family was pretty much my favorite Batman story, and Starlin's Jason Todd was pretty much my favorite character. For years now, I've continued to carry those opinions with me without going back to re-read the story. Now, that's pretty much all changing. This is not a good story. There are aspects about it that I still like, but the story contains a lot of problems, and I think most of what I enjoyed about it back then were the inferences I added from my own imagination without realizing it. One of these inferences was that this Bruce and Jason had ever had a bond worth preserving. We've never ever seen the two connect under Starlin. The only three times Bruce ever gave Jason any serious consideration under Starlin, he talked about him to Nightwing (Batman #416), to himself (Batman #424) or to Alfred (this issue), but never to Jason himself. Starlin never gave these two a bond, and the bonds depicted between them by Collins, by Barr, and even by Moench are pretty much undone by Starlin's revamped continuity/characterization of Jason Todd. Jason undergoes some heavy modifications by Starlin again this issue. Whereas, in Batman #424-425 he'd been a good sidekick (who may have enjoyed kicking butt a little too much) who was suddenly (and understandably) tempted to take a dark path, this Jason is just a big ball of explosive emotion. His level of impulsivity, indignation, and hurt is about a hundred times greater than that of Starlin's previous depiction of Jason Todd who grinned and enjoyed fighting just a little too much. It's possible for one to have grown into the other, but Starlin never bothers to show or explain that. Did killing Felipe somehow send Jason down this course? Was this level of trouble brewing the entire time, just waiting for one incident (that we never see or hear about) to set it off? Between the killing of Felipe in Batman #424 and Jason's characterization here, Starlin is really stacking the deck. While fans might have originally voted very differently for Jason, who would ever want to keep around the Jason Todd who now casually remarks "All life's a game" in response to Batman's concerns or smiles while looking at Bruce's credit cards and calling them "plastic gold"? All of the sudden, this kid is almost thoroughly unlikable. And yet I'm impressed that Starlin still makes an effort to show Jason's side. We see him distraught, hear that he's been crying at night, understand his anger at finding Bruce talking about him to Alfred behind his back, see him act surprisingly polite with his old neighbor, and almost almost want to root for him as a result of all this, but running off with Bruce's "plastic gold" a few pages later undoes all of that for me. I'm still honestly not clear whether he stole those cards from Bruce or Bruce actually gave them to him. He says "Very thoughtful of him to provide me with all this plastic gold," which I read as sarcasm, but in part two, Alfred states, "I just completed a computer check on all credit cards issued to our runaway charge." Of course, he's speaking to Bruce in code over satellite radio, so this may not be reliable info either. Of course, If Jason really didn't steal those cards, why would Bruce have given a 16(?) year old all that plastic? Alfred gives the all important line in this issue: "Being your partner is not exactly the best situation for a teenager adjusting to such a loss." I think that's Starlin's opinion in a nutshell. In my mind, this was never about Starlin disliking Jason Todd and wanting to kill him. I think Starlin disliked the idea of Robin in general, thus wanting to kill Jason and even putting that line in the alternate version of Batman #428 about Bruce wanting to do things on his own from now on, suggesting that there would never be another Robin afterward. Though the incident hadn't been referenced outside of The Killing Joke until now, Starlin makes two explicit references to Barbara Gordan being crippled by the Joker in this issue, even showing how much harder the police have come down upon him as a result of doing that to the commissioner's daughter. I find it hard to believe this though, since it implies that Gordan had the power to do more to Joker in the past (having every agency in the country making him their number one priority, freezing his assets) but didn't, only doing so now out of personal vengeance. And, if Gordan isn't the cause of all this, then every agency in the country suddenly decided to do this on their own and on Gordan's behalf. This just isn't adding up for me. Odd, as well, is the fact that the Joker is dealing with the consequences of his actions in The Killing Joke yet doesn't show any signs of being that darker, more sinister creature the Joker had devolved into in that issue. This guy isn't reflecting on his past anymore, isn't trying to turn others insane, and in fact is only concerned with the entirely grounded and non-insane/maniacal need for more cash. There's no way this is the same guy that Alan Moore wrote. Granted, he'll beat Jason within an inch of his life next issue, but that still isn't Killing Joke caliber. It's not done for the sake of degrading and tormenting Batman in the way that Barbara's crippling and humiliation was done for the sake of warping Jim Gordan. This Joker just isn't as sick. It's more like he's finally doing something he probably should have gotten away with forty years earlier -- killing part of the dynamic duo. Nothing new about that other than the fact that he actually succeeds. Still, I must say that Aparo draws one heck of a Joker. Even when Starlin is writing an almost entirely unfunny crime-boss that barely resembles the Joker, Aparo brings out the classic Joker personality in spades through visuals. The top of page 9 has to be my absolute favorite, with a very serious looking Joker wearing sunglasses and an inflatable giraffe inner tube. The Joker explains twice that he acquired his cruise missile through a "friend" in the military who owed him a favor, but he never explains this. How in the world would Joker have a friend in the American military? And, keep in mind, that he must really mean this since his "friend" made the cruise missile disappear on paper. Joker couldn't have done that. Excessive foreshadowing in this chapter includes Batman telling Jason "You nearly got yourself killed," and later describing him to Alfred as jumping into those thugs "like someone looking to die." As in Batman #425, a clear parallel is drawn between the impulsiveness of Jason and the calculated movements of Batman, judging exactly how much severity to deal to each thug he encounters. Starlin depicts Catherine Todd as having been a loving mother, and Willis Todd possibly only resorting to crime in order to give his son a better life. It's therefore hard to imagine this caring couple choosing to raise their son in crime alley. There must be some other affordable apartment housing somewhere in the city. But, then again, we also see that kindly neighbor living in Jason's old apartment building. She doesn't seem like the type that would ever choose to live there, let alone the type who would survive a week in crime alley (older, overweight, seemingly lower middle class, and fearlessly walking down to the front steps to see Jason off). This seems like a very different building, and a far less desperate crime alley, than the ones we saw when the post-crisis Jason made his first appearance in Batman #408. This nosy and caring neighbor would have noticed a young Jason living entirely by himself, for example, and would have intervened. The Joker had one convenient underling when he first escaped Arkham so that he'd have someone to tell his plans to for the sake of the reader. Where, then, does Gaspar Taylor, the thug Batman attacks on page 14, fit into this? He wasn't in that scene, and yet he's packing for Lebanon and singing "We're in the money." Once again, this seems like a convenience invented to further Starlin's story. Batman can't pursue Joker to the Middle East without first busting this guy. Batman narrates this chapter in the past tense until the very end, when it moves into the present. At that point, he is about to leave to stop the Joker when Alfred stops to tell him Jason has run away. Since we know Batman doesn't stop to deal with this, instead immediately leaving to stop the Joker, how does he know the sections of the story that he narrates from Jason's point of view, especially the discovery of the birth certificate? Batman states "I taught the boy how to be a detective. He uses that skill," and yet Jason's detective work in trying to find his mother is terrible. He immediately infers from a birth certificate with a conveniently water-damaged mother's name aside from the wrong first letter that his mother was actually his step mother (isn't it possible she used a different name for some reason?), decides that the real mother must be in his father's address book (why would he stay in contact with Jason's real mother when he never told Jason about her?), and please notice that it takes Jason all night to track down the three women whose addresses and names he already had in the Bat computer, whereas, next chapter, he'll hack into an Israeli military computer and find the exact current status and location of an Israel secret agent all in the span of two panels. Jason tries to order a rum and coke on the flight to Israel. Another entirely unnecessary attempt to make him unlikable. Why was a small time criminal like Willis Todd in contact with a top secret Israeli agent and an international trainer of terrorists? Those two are even out of Two Face's league. Most cruise missiles do not have nuclear warheads. I found it odd that the Joker refers to a "cruise missile" and we're automatically supposed to have known it was nuclear. Actually, this story makes far more sense if it isn't nuclear. I can't imagine a terrorist would attempt to arm and launch a nuclear missile (as "Jamal" will do in chapter two) without first consulting his higher-ups. And why did the Joker have a geiger counter that he then left behind instead of bringing it along with him while transporting the missile? Again. narrative convenience to keep Starlin's story going. The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Jason gets impulsive while breaking up a kiddy porn ring and, though he never actually appears to be in any danger at all, Batman claims he nearly got himself killed, Batman worries about this with Alfred, they both decide Jason is still struggling with the loss of his parents and isn't ready to be Robin yet, Jason overhears and interrupts, Bruce pulls him off active duty, Jason storms off, Joker escapes from Arkham and, having all his assets frozen after paralyzing Barbara Gordan, he decides to sell a nuclear cruise missile oversees to get money and get into politics, Jason goes for a walk in crime alley and meets a neighbor who gives him old photos and papers from his parents' apartment, Batman tracks down one of Joker's henchmen and learns he's going to Lebanon, Jason discovers his birth certificate (partially ruined by water damage) and learns that the mother he grew up with wasn't his real mom, that his real mom's name starts with an s, and he narrows it down to three candidates from his father's address book, he sneaks off to pursue the first one in Israel, Batman visits Joker's hideout and figures out he has a nuclear weapon, and Alfred notifies him that Jason has run off, but Bruce reluctantly believes that the Joker is the higher priority. Not a fantastic first chapter, though the Aparo art makes it enjoyable, all the same. I'm out of time for reviewing chapter two right now, so it will have to wait until later. |
|
