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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 11:51:15 GMT -5
Detective Comics #577
"Batman: Year Two -- Chapter Three, Deadly Allies"
writer: Mike W. Barr
pencils: Todd McFarlane
inks: Alfredo Alcala
colors: Adrienne Roy
letters: John Costanza
editor: Denny O'Neil
Grade: B-
It's funny. Had Year Two not directly followed Miller's Year One and failed to meet the very specific expectations it created for the post-Crisis Batman, I think Year Two would have been revered by many fans as the greatest Batman story. After all, it's full of shallow, hyped "cool" moments for Batman, whether it be him toting a gun, taking on a bad-ass villain with a skull face and scythe gloves, or deciding to murder his parents' murderer. Todd McFarlane's art is the perfect compliment to this kind of story-telling. It's absolutely awesome to look at, but the art is inconsistent, often-times illogical (I dare everyone with a copy of this issue at home to check out page 14, panel 5, and explain what the heck is happening), and quickly/carelessly done (O'Neil even brags in the letter column for this issue that McFarlane completed the previous issue in a single week). Lots of COOL plot elements and visuals for Batman, even when the substance is almost totally lacking.
So let's begin with Batman having the gun and teaming up with Joe Chill. Both are "cool" ideas, and neither makes much sense. Batman now views taking on the gun as a logical step in avenging his parents, and even says, "I can accept their world, father--their weapons." Nevermind the fact that we still have no real understanding of WHY Batman is now using a gun. I thought it was because he thought he couldn't take down the Reaper without one (which also doesn't make any sense to me), but when he faces the Reaper in this issue, he pulls a gun that CLEARLY isn't Joe Chill's, points it at the Reaper, and then points it up in the air (It's a smoke gun). We saw no hesitation in Batman's face; no narration commented upon this moment. Barr gave us no reason to believe that Batman even considered pulling the real gun on The Reaper. No internal conflict was ever suggested. So what the heck?
And I still don't get why he's teamed up with Joe Chill. Are we expected to believe that the nervous mugger who killed Bruce's parents has come up in the ranks to be the mob's best assassin or something? It's never explained in any way. Add to that the fact that Chill is an older guy at this point, as well as the fact that he probably wasn't involved in organized crime at all in the first place if he was mugging people, and the idea of his being the #1 assassin for the mob (and, actually, for all the mobs) seems unlikely. Again, teaming Batman up with Joe Chill was just a COOL thing to do. Forgot the lack of logic behind it.
And, of course, there's the entire issue of why Batman has to team up with the criminal underworld to take down the Reaper. Again, just a COOL idea with no sound logic behind it. Batman got his butt kicked by the Reaper ONCE, and is now sacrificing everything (using a gun, working with Joe Chill, working with the criminal underworld, working against Gordon and the police) just to make sure he gets him a second time. And are we ever going to see the actually potentially rich discussion about what makes what The Reaper does wrong? He did create a safer Gotham, and Batman has already crossed more lines than the Reaper has in this story. The only difference is that Batman still isn't killing, though he's working with someone who is killing and might not have been able to commit all those murders without Batman's help. I'm going to be really pissed if Barr doesn't discuss this in the final chapter.
I still have absolutely no idea what was going on with the plot of this story. Batman and Chill forced their way into a heavily guarded compound to get a hippy to start dealing drugs for them??? How is this not going to irrevocably ruin Batman's chances of ever functioning as a symbol of fear and righteousness again? And what was up with these hippies? Were they already criminals dealing in something else? Maybe weapons, since they had military grade stuff at their disposals? This just didn't make any sense to me...and why the ether barrels? Was that the mob trying to blow up The Reaper when he appeared? If so, why did Batman warn Chill NOT to hit those barrels? I just had absolutely no idea what was going on here.
The Rachel Caspian subplot was probably the most disappointing point of this issue. Bruce already cares for Rachel "more than any woman I've ever met," and yet we've been given no sense of why beyond the fact that they both detect a darkness within each other. We've seen no evidence of this genuine attraction though, and Rachel still has absolutely no personality. If Barr is going to randomly give Bruce the greatest romantic interest of his life, he should take the pains to at least show it and help us to understand it. Best yet, Bruce has absolutely no regrets over Rachel abandoning a lifetime of work toward becoming a nun for him. And then there's that terrible dinner conversation with Bruce, Rachel, Leslie, and Mr. Caspian in which, after two quick platitudes about love and beginning anew, Mr. Caspian and Leslie are both completely sold on Bruce and his love for Rachel. If I were Mr. Caspian (who we already know to be driven to extremes in order to protect and avenge his family) I'd be ready to kill the rich asshole who dissauded my daughter from pursuing her dreams after only one date and then has the gall to tell me in our first meeting that he's glad she did this and then goes on to talk about himself and no one else for the entire length of the extremely short four panel dinner they shared (was food even served at any point?) Bruce gives his few lines, and dinne'rs over. No indication of the passing of time. Weird.
Oh, and Rachel's face on page 14, panel 1...Todd certainly is a fast penciler. I would have gone back, erased that, and redrawn it, or maybe torn the whole thing out, pissed on it, and buried it under six feet of earth. Is my utter hatred for McFarlane coming across too strongly at this point? Well, now I feel bad. Let's throw obscene amounts of money at the guy, give him utterly undeserved acclaim, and then give him complete creative control over his own Spiderman book (which legendary Spidey writers like Romita had been begging for for years) and then watch him thank Marvel by leaving and stealing all of their talent to come along with him, all while single-handedly setting the attitude in comics that the artist is king, and so people like Chris Claremont should just shut up and let Jim Lee do whatever he wants with the X-Men that he had been writing and developing for over two decades.
breathing deeply.
Okay. I'm over it.
I will say that I loved Gordon punching Batman and telling him, "You--you're under ARREST!" Again though, I'm still not sure I understand WHY Batman had to cross him. It's just another COOL moment.
So now Batman plans to kill Joe Chill, and no real soul searching is depicted prior to this. Again, just as with Batman's decisions to cross his own lines, and just as with his random newfound love for Rachel, Barr has failed to include us in on the thought process and emotions involved. We watch from the outside without being given any rationale or emotional processes to justify these things. If Batman's going to commit murder, I damn well want to fully understand why.
The plot synopsis: Batman visits his parents' tomb (though only acknowledges his father) and reflects on taking up the cowl and the gun to avenge him, but is enraged that he feels he must work with his parents' killer, Leslie shows up to ream Batman out about his decisions again (instead of providing an opportunity for great soul-searching dialogue, these moments just keep annoying me), Batman and Chill take down a guarded hippy compound and apparently force them to start selling drugs for the mafia(?) in order to attract the attention of The Reaper, Chill kills a few people against Batman's wishes, Boss Morritz orders Chill to kill Batman after he kills The Reaper, Gordon hears about the hippies and plans his own sting, Bruce convinces everyone but the reader that Rachel Caspian is the love of his life at an incredibly short dinner with Rachel, her father, and Leslie, someone (the hippies or the mob -- I can't tell) puts barrels of explosive ether all around the hippie compound (and I still have no idea why), The Reaper shows up at the hippie compound, Batman, Chill, and the cops try to take him down, the Reaper escapes, but the ether ignites and causes a big explosion, Joe Chill nearly gets knocked off the side of the building and Batman hesitates to save him, and Batman decides to kill Joe Chill after he kills The Reaper (when did he decide he needed to KILL the Reaper anyway???).
Yeah. Not a good story at all, but lots of COOL shallow moments.
By the way, every frickin' time The Reaper shouts "Fear the Reaper!" I get Blue Oyster Cult stuck in my head. Is "Fear the Reaper" a biblical saying or something, or is Barr just unintentionally referencing popular music? Maybe what his writing really needed here was more cowbell...
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 11:57:09 GMT -5
Batman #411
"Second Chance"
writer: Max Alan Collins
pencils: Dave Cockrum
inks: Don Heck
letters: Agustin Mas
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Denny O'Neil
grade: D+
To go back to a point I made in my review for last issue, I really really like Collins' vision for Jason Todd; it's just that everything else he's doing sucks. As was inevitable from last issue's cliffhanger, Jason's discovery that Two Face killed his father and that Batman kept this from him threatens to undermine all that Jason has become and plunge him headlong back into the troubled path that Batman's been trying to divert him from. Unfortunately, that dramatically rich and thoroghly compelling idea is utterly drowned out by Collins' Dick Tracy inspired campiness.
The corny gimmicks, excessive plot conveniences, and sheer lack of logic probably aren't even worth discussing, here. Just take my word on it. This issue sucked.
Cockrum's art didn't help, either. He did an AMAZING brooding Jason panel at the bottom of page six that kicked my heart straight in the nuts, but the rest of the issue is just ridiculously bad...especially the lack of consistency and the faces. Check out the guard's face at the top of page 19 for a great example of just how bad bad can be.
So Jason spends the whole issue stewing and then beats the crap out of Two Face while threatening to murder him, and yet a five second guilt trip from Bruce about all he's done for him sends Jason back on the straight and narrow without a single lingering doubt in his heart. What the heck?
The plot synopsis (it's the car wreck you can't help but stare it): Two Face is standing in front of an annoyed bank teller, flipping his coin and deciding whether or not he should rob him, the bank teller suddenly notices that it's frickin' Two Face (I mean...he'd been standing there for quite a while!), Two Face and his gang rob the bank in broad daylight, leaving Harvey to brag that a daylight bank robbery has only been tried once before (seriously? Gotham must be one ridiculously crime-free city, making Batman's job kind of pointless), and leaving Batman to wonder why he tried it in broad daylight (gee. I wonder. Maybe because that's when you're NOT out patrolling???), Bruce makes a bunch of people happy by pledging a ridiculous amount of continuous funding to a charity once again (wouldn't the money eventually run out if he kept doing this all the time? If it really isn't hurting him to pledge this kind of money on a regular basis, then there's nothing all that heroic about what he's doing. If it is, then how the heck is he financing Batman?), Robin is brooding about what he learned last issue, but he isn't telling Batman, Batman and Robin do a pretty impressive job of collaborating to figure out Two Face's crime pattern (I really love Robin's confidence and intelligence here), Gordon is taking a day off from crime (even though he's reasonably sure Two Face will strike today) by attending a ball game with Alfred (What the f*ck??), he's completely unphased by the fact that it's "bottom of the second inning, two strikes, two balls, two men on base", and (of course) Two Face strikes just then (leaving us to wonder how he could count on that happening, as well as how he can still arrive in time if Gordon said that before he even crashed the gate...one more pitch ruins the whole thing), Batman and Robin intervene, Robin flips out on Two Face and gets clumsy, Two Face escapes, silliness ensues as he runs out on the playing field, Two Face takes the time to slide into second base, he escapes, Batman and Robin have a five second heart to heart that completely puts Robin at ease and strips him of all his rich conflicted darkness far too easily, Robin figures out Two Face's next heist, they intercept him robbing the same casino from last issue, Two Face runs out on the world's largest Roullette Table (PLEASE! Why would they even have this, and how convenient that it gets mentioned five seconds before it gets used. We saw a far shot of the Casino floor last issue, and there was no world's largest roullette table pictured then!), Batman tells them to release the ball and then decides that he didn't realize the ball could hurt Two Face (umm...what? Batman -- stupid and careless?), Robin intercedes and saves Two Face's life, and ends the issue by proclaiming with a smile that "He may be seeing double--but I think I'm finallly seeing things straight."
And there goes Collins' only good idea since his One Batman Too Many storyline. Jason is now a goody goody once again. Good thing Starlin will undo that in a little more than a year. This Post-Crisis Jason was the only thing keeping Collins' writing enjoyable.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 11:59:04 GMT -5
Detective Comics #578
"Batman: Year Two, Part Four -- "...So Shall Ye Reap."
writer: Mike W. Barr
art: Todd McFarlane
letters: Todd Klein
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Denny O'Neil
grade: B
All the right ingredients, but the delivery felt rushed and clumsy. This conclusion to the Year Two storyline should have been rich with internal conflict and long-term character development for Bruce, but it all went by in a blur.
For one thing, I'm still not at all sold on the Rachel Caspian romance. Barr flies in the face of O'Neil's vision of Bruce being the artificial, uni-dimensional facade for the true Batman, yet he fails to instill Bruce with any sincere understandable emotion. He's just happy and in love, and there's nothing ironic about this as his darker side struggles with its plan to kill his parents' murderer. And, when Rachel learns about her father's fate at the end and decides to be a nun after all (sorry for the spoilers, there), it's all done so quickly without any effort made to explore the emotional complexity of such a situation.
Similar is The Reaper's decision at the end to allow himself to die and have Batman take his place. WHY??? Couldn't he have escaped and said it in a note, going on to live his life with his loving daughter? It was a COOL climax, but it made no sense based on what we know of Mr. Caspian. Show us that his life was empty and numb after his wife's death -- that this was all that was left for him, and then explain why Bruce is different, similarly motivated by his parents' death but having the will to go on.
And we never really explored that line between vigilante and hero either. Bruce crossed so many more lines than the Reaper in this storyline (though he didn't actually kill) and none of that is discussed. Parallels are never drawn nor even eluded to between him and The Reaper. How do you fail to explore such fertile storytelling ground?
Gordan forgives Batman so damn easily, just because a thug tells him that Batman was going to end his alliance with the mafia as soon as the Reaper died. I thought that was pretty well implied by Batman's actions all along, I don't see how that excuses Batman's behavior to Gordan, and I still don't see why allying himself with the criminal underworld was a logical decision / necessary evil for Batman anyway.
Ultimately, carrying the gun, teaming up with the criminal underworld, and even planning to kill Joe Chill all went nowhere -- nothing was gained in terms of characterization nor thematic understanding by the end because of these things. Batman never used the gun, the alliance didn't succeed, and someone else killed Chill, but no real consequences resound from any of those actions. They're just...undone at the end.
I had also hoped to see more of an evolution for Leslie Thompson by the end. The kind woman we glimpsed in flashback back in #574 has now logically grown into a somewhat more stubborn woman, but I expected to see that character grow into the jaded, tough-as-nails urban warrior we saw in the present tense of #574 by the end. Yet she was still grinning and proud of Bruce by the close of this issue.
Todd McFarlane...I'll give him credit for one thing. He finally found the right look for The Reaper. It was bad ass. Even the exaggerated proportions that later dominated and thoroughly weighed down McFarlane's art felt almost warrented here (what your mind would see while looking at such a surreal figure). Still, Todd is damned lazy. So much of the art in this issue looked careless and shakey. When Bruce's cowl came off in the end while confronting Joe Chill, it really looked like Todd was just rushing to get the damn issue over with. On page 17, Bruce actually looks like Mullet Superman. Oh, and page 18, final panel, is actually the cover image, shrunken down. Every little line and shadow is exactly the same. How lazy can you get, Todd?
The plot in one ridiculously long sentence: The Reaper intimidates a police informant into telling the police the location of the next mafia meeting, Leslie tells Bruce that she approves of him dating Rachel, Bruce proposes (though an ominous fortune cookie warns against it), the cops open fire at the mafia meeting, The Reaper shows and starts killing (and why did The Reaper need the cops there??), Batman shows, the whole place blows up, Batman assumes The Reaper is dead (of course he isn't), Gordan finds out that Batman's alliance with the mafia was just to take down The Reaper and regrets opposing him, Bruce sees Rachel before going off on his (supposed) final mission as Batman, in which he leads Joe Chill to crime alley and reveals who he is, he tries to kill Chill with the gun (we don't actually know if he hestitates or not -- more due to poor penciling than dramatic ambiguity), The Reaper kills Chill first, The Reaper now knows who Batman is and calls it ironic (Bruce is dating his daughter), they have a final battle in which The Reaper intentionally allows himself to fall to his death because, "Now I know...you will make a fine replacement for me," Batman hides Chill's gun in the basement of the Wayne Foundation, Rachel dumps him and decides to be a nun to make up for what she now knows her father did, Bruce shows Leslie the new clinic he's building for her, and leaves to "find my way in the dark."
Again, all the right ingredients, but the pacing was rushed, and none of the drama was properly explored at all.
I have to admit, I think it would have been fascinating to have had Bruce and Rachel stay together, both constantly haunted by the shadow of her father and the disturbing legacies he has left for Bruce (loving Rachel, avenging family, protecting Gotham). Of course, this was a flashback story, and there's no Rachel in the present, so there was really only one way this story could have ended. Plus, editors weren't comfortable screwing with the status quo of characters at this point. I'd love to see someone write this kind of story for Batman now and have it end differently. He's already got a son -- why not a wife that unwittengly reflects his darkness right back at him even as they both strive to maintain some sense of a normal life together?
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 11:59:12 GMT -5
Batman #412
"The Sound of Silence"
writer: Max Allan Collins
pencils: Dave Cockrum
inks: Don Heck
letters: Austin Mas
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Denny O'Neil
grade: D- (leaves me wondering what my criteria for an F will be).
I have to admit this issue surprised me. Combine the recent lows of the Collins/Cockrum teamup with what I easily consider to be one of the worst covers in the past forty years of Batman titles, and I had a pretty clear sense of how badly this story would hurt, but I was wrong.
It was worse.
Seriously, this issue was just plain dumb. A messed up spoiled aristocrat decides to become a mime and eventually gets so frustrated that she magically pulls off the amazingly executed crime of stealing all the churchbells in Gotham in a single night by herself (could even Batman do this?) and somehow gets her costume wired with electrical shocking abilities too. Somehow, all of that doesn't add up to the rather confused character we see clumsily and impulsively firing on cars in the middle of the street in this story. And Collins' pathetic attempt at commentary on society's decreased committment to the fine arts didn't help.
Of course, Cockrum only makes it worse, with his terribly unenthusiastic art that depicts nothing beyond the bare minimum. Whatever makes this character the best mime in America remains completely unknown to me because the art just makes her look stupid. Then you get moments like when Batman informs her that he's stolen her bag of tricks while Cockrum clearly depicts her still wearing it. Just lazy stuff. An artist who cared might have been able to save this story on some level.
And Jason is definitely back to being a generic Robin entirely devoid of personality. His bad humor and cute alliterations make him completely indiscernable from Dick Grayson.
So, there's little left to do but provide a plot synopsis: Batman and Robin apparently have a tradition of stopping to listen to the church bells every Sunday morning at 6am (interesting idea, though not properly explored), but the bells aren't ringing, so Batman and Robin go to investigate (even Robin correctly questions whether this is worthy of their attention) and discover that the bell's clapper has been removed, they are paged by Gordan, Gordan wants them to look into the fact that all the church bells in Gotham have been similarly silenced, we cut to The Mime performing in the street the next evening (in the street???), she's apparently amazing (though Cockrum's art depicts none of this), but traffic begns to back up, honking starts, and The Mime flips out and opens fire on a taxi driver, Batman tries to stop her, but she shocks him and escapes, they have a police line up of mimes (presumably for comic effect?), Bruce gets the Mime's backstory from Vicki Vale (who coincidentally has The Mime's picture on the wall behind her as she talks), we learn that she was once a rich heiress who became a world famous mime and hates sound, Bruce decides that she'll appear at the arts center the next night which is allowing a death metal band to play there in order to raise capital for the arts, the Mime shows, Batman and Robin stop her, many jabs are made at fans of heavy metal (though Collins seems to mistakenly believe that Alice Cooper and KISS fit in this category), and the story ends with two really bad attempts at being clever: Batman questioning whether they did the world a favor by stopping her (nevermind her frequent attempts at MURDER), and a cop telling The Mime that she has "the right to remain silent..."
REALLY bad.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 12:02:53 GMT -5
Detective Comics #579
"The Crime Doctor's Crimson Clinic"
writer: Mike W. Barr
art: Norm Breyfogle
letters: John Costanza
colors: Julianna Ferriter
editor: Denny O'Neil
Grade: B-
Over the past four months, Mike W. Barr had been jumping back into the past to tell his Year 2 storyline (which took Barr's Batman in a far darker direction) while Max Collins had been jumping into the past to redefine Jason Todd as a much more troubled character in the pages of "Batman". For both of these reasons, I was very curious to see what Barr's Batman and Robin would be like when Barr jumped back into the present tense this issue. I was therefore quite surprised to find them completely unchanged.
Jason is as fun-loving as ever, and Bruce still walks that balance of fun-loving humor and barely contained rage that we saw in all of Barr's earlier stories. Barr's characterizations continually imply that having Jason by his side somehow "saved" Bruce, softening him up and backing him a few inches away from the abyss he was always close to falling into. It's therefore unfortunate that Year 2 could not be the story of Bruce finding Jason. After all, Collins just wrote it in the pages of Batman. Yet Collins' was a throw-away origin with no long lasting effect (Jason doesn't seem so troubled now that he decided not to kill Two Face) whereas Bruce finding Jason seems to be the crux of Barr's entire run.
This return to Barr's normal characterization for Jason seems to further suggest that Barr had absolutely no interest in what was happening in the other title. As has been pointed out by Mace Dolex, Year 2 wasn't even written to be a sequel to Year 1 (nor did it feel like one), and now this Jason Todd is essentially the classic Dick Grayson with a new name. Barr just isn't a team player, which is fine since O'Neil isn't really managing a team. He pretty much outright admits in the letter column of this issue that his creative talents thoroughly disagree on Batman's characterization, and yet he makes no attempt to editorially steer that ship. Sure, just write the character in two completely different ways with two completely different sidekicks with the same name. He'll still get named Favorite Editor by the Comics Buyers Guide for doing absolutely nothing.
I'll be curious to see if Barr makes any attempt at all to acknowledge Collins' work on Jason when he and Bruce confront Two Face next issue. Jason's past history with Two Face in the Collins' run would truly be insulting to ignore here.
A few confusing things about this issue: The Crime Doctor (an apparently pre-established villain from way back that I'd never heard of until this issue) is repeatedly called "Thorne," but he is not Rupert Thorne (last seen in Conway's pre-Crisis run), and Two Face is initially a figure hidden in the shadows who calls himself "Janus" (the name of the company Black Mask ran in Moench's pre-Crisis run), but Barr is actually going for a mythological reference to a double headed being; I doubt he's even aware of who Black Mask was.
More explorations of who Batman truly is in this issue. He has an ideological debate with Leslie Thompkins about the ends justifying the means, at the end of which Robin notes that the two are actually on the same side (I'm really tiring of Leslie and the tired philosophical debates she drags Bruce into), and Bruce later gives more insight into his own odd ideologies when (as Batman) he explains, while going off to rescue an ex-con, "If he's stepped back over the line, I can't help him...If he's still clean, I'll do what I can." This is particularly confusing since the ex-con is in danger for assisting the crime doctor in an illegal operation...so Batman already knows he's breaking the law. So where is "the line" that Batman is describing? Is it more a morality issue than a legality issue? This begs further consideration, but it's obvious that Barr really didn't consider it when writing the line.
Beyond all of the above, this is really just another fun Barr romp, blending quips and one-liners, semi-humerous outlandish criminal assistants (this time the huge "nurse" who takes her pretend role too seriously), with a semi-serious exploration of Bruce's ideology and several foreboding hints that the man beneath the cowl is a lot darker than the light hearted quips he makes suggest.
I guess I'd call this run of the mill for Barr. A decent storyline (though some of the detective work made no sense at all), but it's neither funny nor serious enough to stand out as something impressive in my book.
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 12:03:18 GMT -5
Batman #413
"The Ghost of Masahiko Tahara"
writer: Jo Duffy
pencils: Kieron Dwyer
inks: Mike DeCarlo
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Denny O'Neil
Grade: B
Funny. In the letter column of the last issue of Detective, O'Neil acknowledged both that there was a vast difference of opinion about Batman's characterization in the Bat Office and that fans seemed to overwhelmingly prefer Barr's. Now, in this issue of Batman, Collins is mysteriously off the book with O'Neil only referencing last minute "bad luck" as the reason, and Duffy's filler story seems to utilize Barr's characterization (though O'Neil claims this was a file story that had been sitting around for a few months now).
Whatever the case, for this brief moment in time, the standard of what Batman should be post-Crisis has shifted from Miller's idea of a sociopathic dark/flawed Batman to Barr's vision of a man who is close to that line but is spared from crossing it by having Robin at his side to lighten the mood; a man who helps a known criminal up and gives him his knife back since he has made the choice not to break the law at this point. I confess that I like Barr's vision better too, though not necessarily his plotting and writing. It's worth noting that both Conway and Moench implied many times in their pre-crisis runs that Dick's presence (and later Jason's) are what kept Batman from going over the edge, but Barr's vision takes the extremes a little farther -- this Batman is even darker and angrier, and he's funnier and more fun loving too. It's a great balance of the grim Miller-style avenger and the flambouyant 1950s camp hero. I truly wish this version had endured longer. However, I already know that Starlin's run (starting next issue) will create yet another vision of Batman that will experience far more longevity -- that of the dark, rageful mourner once Jason dies.
So it almost goes without saying that Collins' work on Jason has been completely undone here in favor of Barr's version. This Jason goes to museums on his own time to earn extra credit for school, makes terrible wise-cracks, and claims "I'd hate to miss more homework and let me grades slip" with a goofy honest smile. This kid was never a street punk. Of course, Starlin will resurrect Collins' Jason Todd in the run starting next issue.
For what it's worth, this is Kieron Dwyer's artistic debut. He does a nice job. I particularly enjoy his depiction of Alfred on page 8.
The story is predictable enough. We're given two entire pages of exposition as a news reporter tells us far more than any ordinary person would ever need to know about a visiting Japanese museum exhibit, its value and backstory, and the backstory of its owner, a descendant of a warrior clan that used to seek vengeance against his enemies. Soon enough, the ghost of that warrior starts to show up, and who it is and how he does it end up being absolutely no surprise. Really, the only surprise in this issue is that his motives aren't revenge -- it's all about petty theft. A bit surprising for a high profile samurai family. Duffy either doesn't understand this (which would be surprising, considering her clear knowledge of Samurai culture/history) or doesn't bother to explain it.
And speaking of what Duffy doesn't bother to explain, we're given a lot of terms in this story that are never explained with editor's notes: Sanadas, Takedas, Tokugawas, tahara, naginatas, etc. I have a passing knowledge of Samurai culture and history, and even I was lost with much of this at first. Definitely could have been a more accessible story.
All in all, not bad, and I liked Duffy and Dwyer's approach to Barr's Batman better than Barr and Breyfogle's. Someone really could have colored that cover better, though. For years, I thought those were pink and purple paisleys in the background.
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 12:03:26 GMT -5
Detective Comics #580
"Double Image"
writer: Mike W. Barr
art: Jim Baikie
letters: Annie Halfacree
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Denny O'Neil
Grade: B+
The beginning of Starlin's run next month will determine whether or not this is the single most important issue of Batman's post-crisis run thus far. It's not obvious to the naked eye, but this might just be the issue that creates the final definitive post-crisis Jason Todd. As if hearing my concerns in last issue's review, Barr outright acknowledges Jason's relationship to Two Face from the Collins origin story and shows the cheery, wise-cracking kid fall apart with rage for the first time:
I was MAD, okay? Two-face killed my FATHER, remember? Maybe that's something YOU wouldn't under--I'm sorry, Batman. I wasn't thinking."
Okay, he still isn't coming off as a tragic street thug headed for a life on death row before Batman found him. Jason's still using words like "golly" later in the story, but this is an important gesture. Just as we've seen Batman battling with his own darkness in order to stay chipper and fun-loving with Jason, Barr envisions Jason struggling through the same problem. In essence, they need each other. I truly respect this vision of the dynamic duo. Frank Miller was trying more or less the same idea in All-Star Batman and Robin (it wasn't evident until #9), but I think Barr handles it with a lot more tact. This is a great way to interpret the team.
The question is whether or not Starlin's vision will align with this one. If so, then this is the first true glimpse of our definitive post-crisis Jason Todd (even though Barr is intentionally writing it to work with the incomplete visions both he and Collins have previously offered us). If not, then this is just another great idea that gets lost in the shuffle of O'Neil's frustratingly uncoordinated Bat office.
The story itself is quite good for Barr. I found it obnoxious at first, especially its seemingly needless (and rushed) reintroduction of Two Face, until it's revealed later on that (spoiler coming) this is not the real Two Face, but rather an imposter Two Face from Batman's past (Barr really seems to enjoy resurrecting these old villains). There were still some obnoxious lapses in logic in this issue, like when imposter Two Face pulls out a gadget that emits neural neutralizers and Batman proclaims, "I thought he might try something like that!" pulling out ear plugs for him and Robin. There's also a moment where a train gets attacked by a two man electric handcar, and Batman proclaims "That's Sloane's touch. All right..." right after he and Jason realized that both Sloane (the imposter Two Face) and the real Two Face might take the bait for this trap. What about a two man electric handcar is more Sloane's "touch" than Harvey Dent's?
Jim Baikie's art was problematic in this issue. Not only were some of the faces truly poorly done, but the action sequences were downright confusing. On page 10, two henchmen are about to dump Robin into a vat of molten glass, but when did we see them capture him? On page 11, I can't figure out what the heck happened across panels 3, 4, and 5, no matter how many times I look.
All in all, the art and minor lapses in logic aside, I really enjoyed this issue and the richer character it lent to both Bruce and Jason. I especially enjoyed the parallels drawn between the two's struggles with their anger/grief, the surprise realization about Two Face, and the cliffhanger ending, in which it appears that Batman and Robin will have to work with the real Two Face in order to survive (a much bigger struggle for Jason than just deciding not to kill him in Collins' run). Barr appears to be going out on a strong note after a long period of not impressing me. Hopefully, O'Neil is coordinating this well and will make sure that Starlin's run acknowledges the careful post-crisis character development spelled out in this one.
You may have noticed that I've avoided doing plot synopses over the past few reviews. These are time consuming, and I figure that, if the review discusses the major events of the story, then there's no need to go into finer detail. But let me know if anyone is truly missing the plot synopses. I'll include them again if you do.
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 12:04:03 GMT -5
Batman: Son of the Demon
writer: Mike W. Barr
art: Jerry Bingham
letters: John Costanza
editor: Dick Giordano
grade: A-
Though I don't intend to review every Batman graphic novel, limited series, or one-shot that comes down the pike, this one is significant for two reasons. The first is that it's written by Barr while Barr is finishing up his run on Detective, and the second is that, years later, Grant Morrison will utilize the basic premise of this story as the foundation for his Batman and Son storyline, as well as the introduction of Damian Wayne (the son of Bruce and Talia, introduced as an infant at the end of this story). Of course, Morrison outright admits he worked from memory on that story and got most of the details wrong (that baby can't be Damian unless Talia later takes him back; more likely she used it's genetic record to clone it later on), but it still seems important to cover this storyline, which would have been published at the same time as Batman #414 and Detective #581.
I must say I find this first (and only?) attempt at a line of hardcover DC graphic novels interesting. The format is beautiful -- especially how the extra large pages allow for more creativity with layouts and how the glossy paper really brings out the inking and coloring, but $14.99 for a 70 page story was ludicrous back then and hardly a bargain today either. I'm not surprised that this format didn't last.
The story itself is an interesting choice. It's clearly written for people who were already fans of Ra's and Talia as it makes absolutely no effort to introduce them to the reader and makes abundant references to past (pre-Crisis) history. It's been obvious all along that Barr has only the slightest concern for inter-title continuity, but this choice to align Son of the Demon so clearly with pre-Crisis history is a bit surprising to me. Then again, the fact that Jason never appears or gets referenced in this story, in which Batman ends up making the decision to live with Ra's and Talia without a single concern for a ward getting left behind with Alfred at Wayne Manor, might suggest that the story does not take place in the present tense of Detective Comics, even if the story does begin by establishing the time as "Now." I honestly doubt Barr gave it much thought. This just seems like the kind of story that a diehard fan of Ra's and Talia would have always wanted to tell, continuity be damned.
And, while the story wasn't really intended to make any lasting changes to continuity (the child at the end was going to be raised by an average family with no knowledge of its true heritage), it creates an interesting problem for Ra's and Talia. After all, they haven't appeared since prior to the Crisis, and here they are, after the Crisis, caught up in pre-Crisis continuity. Should later writers therefore acknowledge this story and therefore pre-Crisis continuity, or should this storyline be ignored, it's profound impact upon Bruce's relationship with Talia discarded, in favor of new continuity? Maybe that's why Ra's and Talia don't make another post-Crisis appearance for a very long while after this storyline, or maybe this story was just so big that it seemed hard to one-up. This was pretty much the ultimate Bruce/Ra's/Talia storyline.
That being said, this story had its problems, the biggest certainly being how quickly and abruptly Bruce decides to become Talia's husband and live with her and Ra's. He comes to Ra's fortress seeking answers about a murder, hears a sad story about Talia's mother's death, is then offered a chance to partner with Ra's in order to bring down a common enemy on the condition that he accept Talia's hand in marriage, and Batman says "yes" without any kind of hesitation. Suddenly, they're pregnant and Batman is ready to become super-dad, cheerfully proclaiming that theirs will be the happiest child who ever lived, and somehow deciding that this vision is not in conflict with raising a child in Ra's armored fortress, surrounded by trained assassins, and parented by a crime-fighting dad in a bat costume and the daughter of an international crime-lord.
Add to that the absurdly lame foreshadowing Barr keeps throwing us, as Batman repeatedly comments upon the importance of a child growing up with its parents to anyone who will listen at the most inappropriate of times. This becomes particularly silly when he does it after hearing that a pregnant woman's in utero child is uninjured:
Good...a child NEEDS his parents...it's a terrible thing for a child to have to grow up ALONE.
Explain to me how that's relevant to this situation. When a pregnant woman is injured, the risk is that the child will die, not that it will grow up an orphan.
I could nitpick the rest, including the completely irrelevant first four panels, the weird rewriting of Bruce's origin story to have him perceive the bat that came through his window as his true father, and a number of other slightly annoying moments, but this was a very strong story overall, Bingham's pencils were strong and his coloring was masterful, and the book's dedication to Bill Finger, using an out of context quote from Bob Kane to show proper acknowledgement to Finger, was a fantastic way to respect Batman's unsung creator and apply a back-handed jab at his detractor (Kane) at the same time.
The plot synopsis in one long sentence: Batman takes down a bunch of criminals attempting to steal an experimental chemical involved in rain-making, he gets seriously injured and is taken back to the Bat Cave by Talia, who was following him but won't explain why, they both meet with Gordon and learn the criminals were working for a mysterious villain named Qayin (named after the biblical Cain), Batman goes to visit an expert on the chemical Qayin was trying to steal and discovers him murdered, he briefly interrogates the expert's colleagues and son, Batman has reason to suspect Ra's Al Ghul murdered the expert, he and Talia go to visit Ra's, Ra's is building a new Lazarus Pit, Batman dines with Ra's and Talia to find out if Ra's was involved in the murder, Ra's explains that Qayin was the son of two friends of his who died in Hiroshima during the bombing in WWII and that Qayin became so mad with revenge that he ended up killing Ra's' wife and swearing revenge on him, Ra's offers Batman the deal that they team up to defeat Qayin and Batman take Talia's hand in marriage, Batman agrees rather quickly, the two commence with the love making, Batman takes the role of #2 in Ra's' organization, Qayin is working with an Eastern European dictator who is allied with the Americans to hijack an experimental satellite that will control the weather, Qayin discovers that he is dying and only has six weeks to cure himself or take the entire world with him, Batman begins to worry that he and Ra's will find themselves on opposite sides again after this mission, he leads Ra's' men in an effort to sabotage the rocket that will deliver the experimental satellite into orbit, ends up fighting Qayin, and fails to stop the launch, Talia tells Batman that she is pregnant and they celebrate, Qayin interrogates one of Ra's' captured men to find out where his base is (how was Qayin planning to find the Lazarus Pitt if Ra's' men hadn't learned about the rocket and tried to sabotage it??), Qayin attacks the base and Batman becomes over-protective of Talia's well-being now that she is pregnant, Qayin loses and escapes, Qayin proceeds with his other plan of taking control of the weather satellite and sending a hurricane to Moscow in order to trigger a nuclear war, Batman decides to take Talia away from Ra's and live elsewhere so that she and the baby may be safe, Talia faints and informs Batman that she has lost the baby, Batman decides to seek personal vengeance against Qayin for the loss of his child, Batman and Ra's attempt to stop Qayin but are too late, the Soviets fire on the weather satellite instead of the U.S., Batman takes out Qayin and accidentally causes his death (though he doesn't seem to mind), Talia asks Batman to leave her, Batman figures out who really killed the scientific expert from the beginning of the story, instructs the son not to seek revenge, has Gordon worry about him and comment that "you look like you've been through the ringer," and as Batman mourns on a roof-top, alone and miserable much like Barr left him at the end of Year 2 (this time in a storm instead of the darkness), we cut to an orphanage explaining to an adopting couple that the baby they are about to adopt was left on their doorstep one morning, and the baby has the necklace that Batman gave to Talia, clearly implying that Talia didn't miscarry after all.
An excellent story overall. It makes me sad that I haven't read more Ra's stories. I will need to go back and do this eventually. They carry a certain sense of epic adventure that no other Batman storyline conveys.
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 12:04:46 GMT -5
A Pre-Starlin Post-Crisis Characterization Check...
If my twenty year old memories and current predictions hold up, Starlin is going to have a major impact upon Batman's definitive post-Crisis characterization. I won't go into that until I start reviewing the actual issues, but I thought I should take stock of where the post-Crisis Batman is before we start on Starlin.
Essentially, we've had four visions of the post-Crisis Batman thus far:
Denny O'Neil's version, as clearly spelled out in those first filler issues by Barbara Randall and Joey Cavalieri, is a generally nice detective/crime-fighter who is "as mean as I have to be" in order to psychologically intimidate his opponents. If anything, the guy is a little bit camp.
Frank Miller's version is a borderline sociopath driven by a mission to wage a war on crime that trumps any other possible emotion or motive.
Max Collins' version isn't all that different from O'Neil's, but it adds the twist of a street-punk Jason Todd and what his conversion into a hero means for Batman, his war on crime, and his own struggle with a desire for revenge.
Mike W. Barr's version ultimately attempts to assimilate all of these visions into one, providing a generally nice detective/crime-fighter who has a dark, angry, borderline sociopathic side to him buried deep within that he is largely able to contain because of his light-hearted companion, who is similarly struggling with those demons and depends upon Batman to keep him light-hearted as well. This Batman was dark in his first years as a crime fighter (though this young Bruce did cry and show signs of humanity when his parents were murdered -- Miller's did not), but has since worked hard to become the kind of cheery Batman that O'Neil envisioned, even though that facade can break away at a moment's notice. This Batman could easily become the over-the-edge maniac we see in Dark Knight Returns if Jason were to die (as apparently occurred prior to DKR, instigating Bruce's initial retirement in that storyline -- a storyline that I still maintain formed the basis of the continuity that O'Neil was haphazardly attempting to construct post-Crisis). Fill-in writer Jo Anne Duffy appears to be following Barr's depiction, as well.
So, for the moment, Barr's depiction of Batman is unifying the otherwise completely disorganized Bat Office. I'm curious to see if Starlin's depiction will make any effort to merge with Barr's.
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 12:06:03 GMT -5
Batman #414
"Victims!"
writer: Jim Starlin
pencils: Jim Aparo
inks: Mike DeCarlo
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Denny O'Neil
Grade: A
What an amazing start to Starlin's run on Batman. I'd long forgotten this story, but as soon as I read the first panel, the entire thing came back to me. I have a special fondness for anyone who can write an incredibly memorable Batman story that doesn't contain a costumed villain, doesn't provide any long-term changes to any characters, and isn't a multi-part story arc. This little stand-alone really makes an impact, exploring a darkness within Batman that Barr has been showing all along, only from a more grounded and direct first person perspective, and with no Jason Todd there to balance him out.
In my mind, this issue foreshadows exactly what Starlin's run will ultimately do to Batman (exactly what Barr had been hinting all along, though it couldn't have been planned at this point), making him lose someone so dear to him that he thoroughly snaps and gives in to his inner darkness, becoming a very different Batman. This storyline is the first time Batman becomes aware of this capacity within himself, and watching his dawning realization that he has allowed himself (albeit briefly) to become something entirely outside of his moral compass is thoroughly haunting.
In terms of alignment with Barr's work, this Batman's persona and inner struggles are entirely the same, even if Starlin's tone feels a little more mature than Barr's. Of course, we still haven't seen Starlin tackle Jason Todd yet. That could thoroughly set what he's doing apart from what Barr is doing (and I suspect it will).
Man, Jim Aparo drawing Batman -- that's pure fanboy nostalgia crack for me.
One minor detail that bothered me in this issue -- I really dislike when writers add new sections to Gotham. It already has enough streets and neighborhoods. Take the time to do a little research and use something that came before. It reeks of sheer laziness to invent a new bad section of town that's never been mentioned before. Surely, Batman would have been operating there a lot and would have had at least ONE adventure there prior to this issue.
The plot synopsis in one long sentence: a murderer has been killing young women, dismembering them, and dumping them in dumpsters in a section of Gotham known as South Heights, while investigating one such murder, Batman meets Kate Babcock, a young woman who works tirelessly to give back to her community, and they become instant friends, leaving you to realize that Kate will definitely be a target for the murderer by the end of the issue, but the real surprise comes when the murdered succeeds, driving Batman into a focused rage, making wild leaps in logic (which feel thoroughly consistent with many prior Batman comics) to take down a thug and nearly cripple him, only to realize he was never the killer and Batman had allowed his emotions to thoroughly cloud his judgment and sense of morality.
Powerful, unpredictable, clever plotting and writing. If I recall correctly, the follow up to this story (in Batman #421?) was equally gripping. Can't wait to get there.
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 12:06:28 GMT -5
Detective Comics #581
"One Out of Two...Isn't Bad..."
writer: Mike W. Barr
pencils: Jim Baikie
inks: Pablo Marcos
letters: Albert DeGuzman
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Denny O'Neil
Grade: C-
A sad issue when you consider all the loss it represents. Whereas this run began with strong plotting and characterization and exceptional art, Barr is now desperately scurrying to make his Jason Todd match the one Collins created (it's not working as well as it did last issue -- this kid no longer feels like the chipper and eager young side-kick we've seen in past issues), the newest filler artist (Jim Baikie) does utterly terrible work here (Batman's close up on page 4 is a personal least favorite of mine -- his jaw is twice as tall as his bat ears), the word bubbles are a disaster (twice in this issue, the two Two-Face's lines get mixed up) and, most significantly, Barr will be leaving at the end of this issue with absolutely no mention of this in the letters page and another last-minute filler story by Jo Anne Duffy next issue.
Sure enough, it seems like Barr is walking away from O'Neil in the same unexpected manner that Alan Davis and (presumably) Max Collins did. Sure, Comic Buyer's Guide -- best editor of the year. This is the most disorganized the Bat Office has been in at least 25 years (I'm pretty familiar with Julie Schwartz, Paul Levitz, Dick Giordano, and Len Wein -- dunno what it was like before that). Hopefully, he'll manage Starlin and Grant a little more carefully, but I doubt it. I believe that Jason's death had no ramifications in Detective Comics until #606, a full year after the fact.
So...yeah. This is pretty disappointing.
The story itself isn't a very strong one. Lots and lots of little details that didn't sit right with me (I especially love how Batman works hard to get the imposter Two Face to abandon his delusion, then has him back in costume, trying to think like Two-Face for the police department in the very next scene), but the biggest problem was that it attempted to do what Collins had already done in Batman #411 (only three months back) in bringing some closure to Jason's rage toward Two Face.
A really forgettable story, over all, and a very disappointing ending to what should have been a dynamite run on Detective Comics. Had Barr been given an editor that 1. listened to and respected his ideas and 2. pushed him to plot/write with a little more care (it seems clear to me that, after that first story line, Barr stopped pushing himself as a writer), this run would have been legendary.
So, to revisit the age old question of when the Post-Crisis Batman really began...I guess he didn't. O'Neil ran an office that had absolutely no clear understanding of who Batman and Robin were, and though Barr scrambled to reconcile the differing interpretations of those characters in these last two issues of Detective, it doesn't fully take. I think a definitive characterization of Batman has surfaced by this point -- the seemingly light-hearted, good-natured hero who maintains this facade through deep connections to others (Jason Todd, Leslie Thompkins, Rachel Caspian), and whose facade shatters, unleashing the darkness within, when he is in danger of losing those people/connections. Still, I'm not sure O'Neil understands or cares about that characterization, and it can easily disappear next issue. Fortunately, Starlin seems to have a similar characterization in mind.
Still, the one nice bookend to Barr's run in this issue -- it ends with Batman "somewhere out there in the night," much as he was left out there, finding his way in the darkness at the end of Year 2, only this time he has Jason swinging by his side.
The plot synopsis in one really long sentence: Batman, Robin, and Two Face are trapped in a refrigerated truck with a bomb in it thanks to Sloane, the imposter Two Face, Jason gives us an unnecessarily long recap on how Two Face deluded Sloane into thinking he was Two Face in order to create a distraction while the real Two Face committed his crimes, Batman uses the moment to give Robin a lesson on escapes, they get out, all three team up to take down Sloane, Batman places far too much unnecessary trust on Two Face, Two Face betrays him and escapes, Bruce and Jason have a heart-to-heart about allowing anger to get in the way of doing their jobs (Two Face killed Jason's dad), they create a trap that Sloane walks into, they cure Sloane with a quick pep talk and the arrival of his wife, they all team up to figure out the real Two Face's plan, they discover that it's to steal the Constitution ("the second most important document in American history" -- what's the first? The Declaration of Independence? I would disagree...), Sloane attacks Two-Face and they get into the classic "he's the imposter, Batman. Capture him," Batman figures out who the real Two Face is by flipping coins at both of them and seeing which one catches with the right hand (by the way, I'm left handed and catch with my right hand. You gonna arrest me, batman?), Sloane recovers from facial surgery, and Batman and Robin swing away in triumph.
The end of an (almost) era.
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 12:06:36 GMT -5
Batman #415
"Millennium" (Millennium Week 2)
writer: Jim Starlin
pencils: Jim Aparo
inks: Mike DeCarlo
letters: Agustin Mas
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Denny O'Neil
Grade: B+
How odd it must have been for Starlin to have to tackle an intrusive cross-over only two issues into his run. Though Batman has had tie-ins with Crisis and Legends before, this is the first time a company-wide crossover fully monopolized an issue of Batman or Detective. All things considered, Starlin handled it well, even if Batman's ability to tap into alien memory circuits and translate them in only two hours seems a little unlikely.
So here's Starlin's Jason Todd...exactly the kid I remembered at the beginning of Death in the Family. No slow, gradual evolution led up to this. There's no hint of Barr in this character, and he's only loosely borrowed from the Max Collins origin story (after all, Collins' Jason grew out of his anger and moved on to making wise cracks and "gee wiz" comments). This character is far darker -- brilliant, heroic in his own way, but dark and uncontrollable. Even in this first issue, Bruce is concerned about the number of risks Jason is taking. Again, I feel like his death is being foreshadowed, even though I'm relatively sure it hadn't been considered yet. Starlin just knows this kid is headed for trouble and hints it everywhere he can.
Even still, Jason shows evidence of being smart, being exceptionally capable (more so than Barr or Collins ever depicted), being concerned for the well being of innocents, and even shows amusing bashfulness when he has to explain to Batman what he did to Scarecrow in order to take him in. I truly love this Jason and wish the fans had given him more of a chance. I truly liked the sensitivity of Moench's Jason, and I truly loved how Barr tried to balance the new street punk backstory with a fun-loving sidekick persona in his run, but this Jason is just the best -- the brilliant side kick with tremendous promise and one heck of an anti-hero streak that threatens to undermine everything Bruce has emotionally gambled in taking him in. Whereas Barr found great drama by having others place Jason in jeopardy, Starlin has Jason do it to himself, creating far more complex and powerful complications for Bruce's heart.
I love it.
Story-wise, I could care less about Millennium, and I don't doubt that Starlin felt the same way. Still, he did as good a job as he could. And Aparo -- wow. I will never get tired of his work on Batman. He pencilled one heck of a distraught imposter Jim Gordon in this issue too. Loved that face.
The plot synopsis in one long sentence:a Manhunter disguised as Gordon is trying to kill Batman, Batman reflects on the back-story of Millennium, in which robot Manhunters from space are trying to stop/kill the heroes and ten random people in order to prevent something called the Millennium from coming and defeating them, Batman conveniently overhears two police officers talking at exactly the right time and figures out that this manhunter must be headed for the Floronic Man (one of the ten who is being held at Arkham), Jason is meanwhile tracking the Scarecrow and has been ordered only to observe, but he sees an opportunity and takes down Scarecrow by turning a concentrated does of fear gas back on him (leaving him catatonic with fear), Batman lectures him about taking risks while both he and Alfred discreetly remark how impressive it is that Jason did this on his own, he and Jason disguise themselves as Scarecrow and his doctor and get themselves admitted to Arkham, they take down the guards and unleash fear gas on the prisoners that the Manhunter Gordon is using as a defensive shield, they get through to the Manhunter, a struggle ensues (in which Jason arguably unnecessarily takes down an honest cop with a gleeful kick to the head), Batman blows up the Manhunter and shrugs his duties in pursuing the other Manhunters to take the blown-up Manhunter's head back to the cave, accesses its memory circuits to figure out that the real Gordon is being held in Louisianna, all while the Floronic Man reflects with a sinister smile that "I will be free."
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 12:07:46 GMT -5
Detective Comics #582
"Sole Survivor"
writer: Jo Anne Duffy
pencils: Norm Breyfogle
inks: Pablo Marcos
colors: Adrienne Roy
letters: Todd Klein
editor: Denny O'Neil
Grade: D
Whereas, last issue, Jim Starlin did his best to tell a solid Batman story within the constraints of a forced Millenium tie-in, this issue is just an installment of Millenium, through and through. It's clear that Jo Anne Duffy had no real choice in this one -- the events of this issue appear critical to the overall Millenium story, but this was not a Batman story, even though Batman and Gordon are critical actors in it.
Okay, so basically evil alien robots are impersonating people. It's a cliche idea, and it isn't done particularly well here. With every new twist and turn, all I could think was, "I just don't care." New supporting characters were introduced partway through with new motivations and back stories, and I just didn't care.
Norm Breyfogle's art certainly didn't help. I've heard good things about him, but his work was very confusing and hard to follow, from trying to decide whether or not Robin's on a computer screen (panels 1, 2, and 3), to being confused by inappropriately sinister faces (page 7, panel 2 and page 8, panel 6), trying to figure out where the heck Batman came from (page 11, panel 2), what the heck happened to a random Manhunter (page 14, panels 1-3), people's genders and ages (Corrigan on page 14, the Suicide Squad agent on page 18), why prisoners who are about to be murdered look so darn care-free and happy (page 19), or why Batman is smiling like an idiot (page 21). I certainly hope this is not indicative of Breyfogle's normal work because I believe I've got six years worth of Breyfogle-drawn comics on the way in this run.
And why the heck was Jim Corrigan worried so many times throughout this story? Isn't he the Spectre? Guns and manhunters shouldn't scare him. It's amazing that Duffy never once explained this to the reader. She wrote him like an average detective.
Is there anything you actually need to know about this issue? Probably not. Jim Gordon once worked in naval intelligence. That's about it.
Plot synopsis: No. Not worth it. Trust me.
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 12:10:55 GMT -5
Batman #416
"White Gold and Truth"
writer: Jim Starlin
pencils: Jim Aparo
inks: Mike DeCarlo
letters: Agustin Mas
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Denny O'Neil
grade: B
Took me forever to decipher the meaning of this title. Oh, Cocaine, and it began with a Cocaine bust. Got it. Lame idea for a title.
This is both a tremendously important issue for Post-Crisis Batman continuity and a tremendously disappointing one. It's disappointing both because this is the worst work I've ever seen Jim Aparo do and because Starlin's writing is way over-dramatic with Bruce and Dick whining at each other like soap opera lovers.
Starlin takes the relatively amicable break-up of Bruce and Dick from Collins' post-crisis relaunch and cuts out the amicable reconcile, making Dick hostile and betrayed, and adding new information about Bruce never saying goodbye to Dick and never checking up on how he was doing. After turning Bruce into the worst kind of asshole guardian I could possibly imagine, Starlin takes that ripe emotional conflict and oversells it with over-the-top yelling, pounding, slamming, and bad drama. The climax of this struggle felt particularly bad somehow:
Dick: I said I wanted the truth, Bruce.
Bruce (screaming) How dare you talk to me like that...
Dick: The truth...
Bruce (breaking something that Aparo never bothered to depict): ALL RIGHT!
Bruce (suddenly somber and ashamed): I admit it. I was lonely. I missed you.
Dick: Bruce, I'm...
Bruce: I would appreciate it if you left now, Nightwing. Please, get out.
It's all just too much. Real? Maybe, but there's no subtlety, no opportunity for us to fill in blanks with our own hearts. It's Jerry Springer territory.
And Aparo's art: I'm a HUGE Aparo fan, probably moreso than any sane and objective comic book fan should be (I'd take him over Kirby and the Kuberts combined), but some of these pages looked lazy and rushed, particularly the dramatic climax on pages 15, 17, and 18, in which Jim avoids using any backgrounds (tons of weird empty space that expresses nothing), and far too many repeated frames without movement (I get the stylistic choice here, but it's overused and just looks like Aparo felt like using a photocopier instead of penciling additional panels). He utterly destroys an already less than perfect dramatic confrontation between Bruce and Dick. Honestly, I think this is the worst Aparo work I've ever seen.
Additionally, Mike DeCarlo does a really weirdly uneven job in this issue. He does a fantastic job on most pages (especially 9), but he completely backs off on some pages(most notably 7 and 15) doing bare minimum, literal inking, which has no place in a Batman story. Page 4, panel 1, comes off as particularly wrong to me. We've been waiting to see who is swinging in off panel (presumably Batman), and the big reveal has Nightwing looking very visually different from the rest of the page, but not in a way that seems intentional. His face has absolutely no inking (whereas the rest of the panel is full of rich shadows). His face is the primary focus of this panel, and it's completely different from everything else. There are also a few pages where DeCarlo over-inks faces eclipsed by shadows, like on page 5, panel 6. I don't know much about DeCarlo. Maybe this was an early gig for him, and he was still learning about balance.
So onto why this issue truly matters: Starlin has picked up the mantle from Collins and works hard to flesh out post-crisis Batman continuity for us here, referring back to Collins (though making one major change in terms of how the falling out between Bruce and Dick ended), and adding a lot on top of it. Here's how the Batman post-crisis timeline works at this point:
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 2 or later -- Dick becomes Robin at age 13
? -- 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 7 or later -- 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 (incidentally, I originally guessed this happened in Year 7 way back at the beginning of Collins' run! and appear to be correct!)
Year 7 or later -- Bruce takes in Jason
Year 8 or later -- 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 9 or later -- present day continuity as of this issue (Dick confronts Bruce about hiring Jason one year prior to current continuity. Jason becoming Robin, Dick learning about the new Robin, and Dick confronting Bruce about the new Robin may or may not have occurred within a short time period).
Starlin is still heavily hinting about the likelihood of Jason getting himself killed in this issue, already clearly depicting that Bruce is fighting a losing battle in trying to rescue him from such a fate in the narration at the beginning:
"Sloppy. Very sloppy. In this business, you don't usually live long enough to realize your mistakes. The penalties for fouling up are high...that's why only the best survive. I've been trying to keep Robin alive long enough to become one of those chosen few. But he doesn't make it very easy."
We further learn, though, that Bruce's assertion that it made sense to bring in Jason and put his life in risk because he would get killed anyway out on his own is a cover for the fact that Bruce really took him on because he missed Dick. Interesting -- Is Bruce setting Jason up for failure in order to rationalize his decision? Probably not, but what does come across clearly here is that Bruce feels much more for Dick than he does for Jason (who is depicted as nothing more than a bad replacement here). No wonder fans didn't like the kid. I still love this depiction of Jason, but he has no place in Bruce's world. I wonder if Starlin would have gone somewhere with that had Jason lived -- made Bruce realize how he'd misused Jason and kept him at arm's length, ultimately having the two bond and break Jason out of his self-destructive cycle as a result. Or maybe not.
I've spent a lot of time considering how much Damian Wayne feels like he draws his inspiration from this Jason Todd. When Jason and Dick team up in this issue, it's just plain magical, and it feels way too much like Morrison's Dick and Damian team-up in Batman & Robin. As much as Morrison has claimed to draw influence from Mike W. Barr, I think he took a lot more from Starlin here.
So I appreciate the continuity here, but I'm not as pleased with the content. Starlin is making Batman feel like the same Batjerk that Miller was depicting, and really messes with the balance Barr tried to draw between Miller's Batjerk and the kindly traditional caped crusader who keeps it all in check for Jason's sake. Though he shows signs of true compassion and benevolence in this issue (particularly towards the end) I don't care for this characterization overall -- Bruce being an impulsive, rageful ass who can throw away six years with Dick abruptly and write him off immediately after, even if he did it because he loves and worries about him and felt bad for doing so in the long run. I had hoped that Jason's death would be what would first set Bruce down this road. Barr certainly tried to lay that groundwork that Bruce was well balanced so long as no-one he loved was in danger. I suppose Starlin's interpretation is valid and works -- I just don't care for it. The Batman I believe in has a lot more compassion than that.
So we've got a basic post-crisis history, and we've finally found the characterization for Bruce that will end up sticking -- a Batjerk who can completely cut off his feelings and sympathies in order to hurt the people closest to him and cut them out of his life, even if he's well meaning deep, deep down inside.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2014 12:11:54 GMT -5
Detective Comics #583
"Fever"
writer: John Wagner and Alan Grant
pencils: Norm Breyfogle
inks: Kim Demulder
colors: Adrienne Roy
editor: Denny O'Neil
grade: A
Thus begins another renowned creator run for this thread: Grant and Breyfogle, who will return next decade to write the Shadow of the Bat series. Grant will later claim that Wagner stopped writing for Detective after only five issues because the title wasn't selling well enough to earn royalties, but that Grant kept his name on the stories for fear that they'd get dropped by DC if they knew Wagner was off the book.
I have to say that I enjoyed this one immensely. When I was younger, my primary interest in a Batman story was colorful villains. Now, as an adult, I prefer the street-level stories that give Gotham a true personality and define Batman by his relationship to it. This story gave me both -- our first real post-Crisis glimpse at what Gotham is (luxury and excess meets rampant crime and poverty), and the introduction of Scarface and The Ventriloquist.
I have to admit that the latter is even more exciting in this story. I've seen many writers attempt to introduce major new villains for Batman since the late 1970s (where I began these reviews), but the most successful of these have been Nocturna (who never really comes back after Moench's run) and Blackmask and Killer Croc (both of whom essentially return as completely different characters post-Crisis). The Ventriloquist seems to be the first truly successful villain to make a first appearance in this review thread. As great as (some of) the classic rogues gallery is, it's also quite a bit stilted, leaving so many stories featuring those characters to feel cliche and done before. If I read another story about Batman trying to reform Harvey Dent, I may have to hurt someone (uh-oh. I think that story's only a few months away!). So I'm thrilled to be getting a new classic villain who we'll be seeing for years to come.
Breyfogle's art is looking strong, Kim Demulder does great inks over it, and I really enjoy Batman's characterization -- so enraged by the corruption of children that he almost allows himself to not care whether or not an explosive designed to blow out a security door will kill the drug dealers behind it. However, I found his naivity about a new designer drug flooding the streets of Gotham surprising. It takes a beat cop to explain it to him. Isn't Batman usually the one who's in the know first? And where's Commissioner Gordon? You'd expect him to have asked Batman for help in dealing with these dealers who the police are aware of, but are unable to take down within the confines of the law.
Jason is suspiciously absent here, just as he'll be absent for Starlin's next storyline, 10 Nights of the Beast. Now that Starlin has effectively turned him into a self-destructive trouble-maker, it doesn't seem like anyone wants to deal with him. Or maybe Wagner and Grant were just more interested in telling a Batman solo story. Batman spent the previous decade as a solo hero, and I wonder if we're beginning to see a generation of writers who came to know Batman through that and thus envision him without a Robin. I wonder if that didn't have more of an impact upon leaving Robin out of so many of the Batman storylines to come (even post-Tim Drake) including the 1989 movie. Just a working theory, of course.
The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Batman is observing Gotham and all the crime, large, small, and not yet set in motion, across the city, when he hears a scream coming from an old man being burned to death by a bunch of 12 year olds tripping on a new designed drug known as Fever, a cop explains what Fever is to Batman as well as who is dealing it and why the police are helpless to stop them, Batman is enraged to learn this while we cut to a glimpse of the new crime boss(es) in town, Scarface: a dummy controlled by a seemingly ordinary man called The Ventriloquist who believes that Scarface is real and, in fact, the one in charge, Scarface kills one henchman who has failed him and sends the other on a mission that's doomed to kill him, Batman ambushes the drug dealer compound, he sets explosives to take down the front door, not sure he cares if they kill the dealers inside, but then has a change of heart and saves a junkie walking in, he takes down the dealers and learn who their boss is -- Scarface.
Great issue. Give me more!
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