|
Post by Pharozonk on Oct 31, 2014 9:33:33 GMT -5
Sparknotes features original content and interviews?? Thanks for sharing this. I thought Sparknotes was just a place for me to plagiarize my English papers!
|
|
|
Post by Prince Hal on Nov 2, 2014 11:36:01 GMT -5
I wish I knew the Tracy characters better. Most of what I know comes from a 1940s novelization, with plates by Gould, that was around the house when I was a kid. That, and those gawdawful cartoons with Joe Jitsu. The only full sequence of the strip I've seen is the one reprinted in The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, an early story from before the grotesque villains started. That was why I didn't pursue the idea any further. What collections are available? Cei-U! I summon the new project! Get this book, Kurt. www.amazon.com/dp/155521620X/ref=asc_df_155521620X3387285?smid=A3BW537I97UL63&tag=pgmp-1583-97-20&linkCode=df0&creative=395109&creativeASIN=155521620XIt's a great collection and presents the essence of the Tracy ethos, with its gangster movie roots, violence, and Dickensian plotting intact. The villains are excellent and eminently detestable. The Flattop series is superb. The comic strip at its finest.
|
|
|
Post by Cei-U! on Nov 2, 2014 14:27:02 GMT -5
Thanks! Our local library has that one. I'll have to check it out.
Cei-U! I summon Pruneface and The Mole!
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,816
|
Post by shaxper on Nov 14, 2014 17:40:41 GMT -5
It's been a very long time since I did a Batman review. If you're looking for my review of the first part of this story, it can be found here. Legends of the Dark Knight #12 "Prey, Part Two" writer: Doug Moench pencils: Paul Gulacy inks: Terry Austin letters: John Costanza colors: Steve Oliff assistant editor: Kevin Dooley editor: Andrew Helfer Batman created by Bob Kane grade: A+ This really is shaping up to be a perfect Batman story, tempering the darkness and severity of Miller's Batman with a character that has vulnerability and a soul. Essentially, Moench has taken my favorite part of Year One -- the awkward missteps Batman takes on that first night out -- and makes that a centerpiece of this story, showing a Batman who has grown more capable and more confident, but still has fears and doubts, and still messes up. You don't get it perfect after only a few months of crime fighting. That's brought to life most clearly with the opening shot -- a majestic overhead depiction of Wayne Manor, and only in secondary focus do we notice the small and somewhat pathetic figure of Batman stumbling home as the narration explains that he couldn't use his iconic Golden Age Bat Glider because the wind was all wrong. Brilliant. In all my times reading those old stories, something like wind direction never would have occurred to me. Or to Batman. He's learning, and taking all those necessary awkward missteps along the way. That this is contrasted with a severely demented Hugo Strange, wearing the cowl and celebrating its power, is one part genius and two parts hilarious. By the time he starts talking to the mannequin, ultimately dressing it up in lacy under garments and a bat cowl, he feels both sick and twisted enough to have been taken from a Wagner/Grant story, with maybe a tinge of Alan Moore's "Mortal Clay" from Batman Annual #11. I wonder if Moench read those. Meanwhile, Gulacy's art, ably inked by Terry Austin and colored by Steve Oliff, looks gorgeous as ever. Bruce's face looks inconsistent from time to time, but everything else is a visual feast. Gulacy says so much with his eyes and faces. And the fight scene in this issue is breath-taking. Once again, Gulacy makes the unique choice of portraying Batman literally, sans billowing cape or convenient menacing shadows. He's a costumed guy doing martial arts, and it works. Makes me hunger for a Master of Kung Fu story done by this full creative team on Baxter paper. All in all, this story is doing everything right, and I'm positively hooked. Still curious to see what part Catwoman will play in it, though. She's still so incidental to the plot at this point. Important Details: - Origin of the Bat Signal (though it's still unclear whether or not LotDK stories like this one, meticulously planned to align with existing Batman continuity, actually count as part of that continuity) Minor details: -We get a scene in this issue where a potential love interest lectures Bruce that a man should be measured by his deeds, and that's why she respects Batman over him. This combined with Hugo Strange as a trusted psychologist gone inwardly twisted makes me think Chris Nolan may have had this story in mind as a reference when conceiving Batman Begins. -Interesting that two of the three Bat titles are currently running stories about public sentiment being turned against Batman. I feel like this has become too easy a go-to story idea for superhero titles post-Watchmen. At least its done well here. -Gorgeous as the rest of the story is, this is one terrible cover plot synopsis in one sentence: Batman limps back to Wayne Manor after a botched night out (last issue), he attends a party hosted by the mayor where he is captivated by the mayor's daughter (who supports Batman in spite of the media backlash inspired by Hugo Strange), the Bat Task Force is getting closer to Batman and Hugo Strange is getting closer to uncovering his identity, Catwoman is furious that she's been labelled Batman's side-kick by the media, Batman attempts to make a peace offering with the Bat Task Force, but Cort (the cop who hates Batman and is leading the Task Force) has them open fire on him instead, Gordon devises the Bat Signal as a means of summoning Batman without Cort noticing, Cort does notice and also figures out that Gordon has been withholding files from Strange that would lead him to figuring out who Batman really is, Cort brings this information to Strange, and Strange concocts a plan that seems to involve having Cort pose as Batman.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,816
|
Post by shaxper on Nov 15, 2014 12:37:15 GMT -5
A Brief History of the Development of Tim DrakeOn the cusp of reading Tim's official debut as Robin, I thought I should take some time to chart what we already know about the character's development: Batman #426: After over a year of campaigning, Jim Starlin gets the green light to not only kill the second Robin, but also prove why the concept of a kid side-kick is completely irrational. Though Denny O'Neil set it up as a poll and Starlin created two alternate endings to the story, Starlin has gone on record as saying he never had any doubt the fans would vote against Jason Todd, and he set the story up so that the Robin identity would likely be retired and the concept still proven irrational even if Jason had lived. Circa Batman #428: Warner Bros. Merchandising first learns that this has happened and, on the verge of a release of a major Batman motion picture (at this time) featuring Robin, they go ballistic. Starlin is fired, and O'Neil is given the charge to put a new Robin in Jason's place. Batman #436: Tim Drake (originally Jeff Drake) is introduced by Marv Wolfman with the intent of having him become the next Robin. Initially, his characterization is heavily Marty Stu, working too hard to appeal to younger readers. Wolfman ultimately backs off from this approach and tries to make Tim into a more distinct, complex character who stands apart from the previous Robins. Batman #442: After clearly fast-tracking Tim to become the next Robin, the breaks are suddenly applied, and he undergoes a long period in limbo, likely either because the Robin character was removed from the 1989 movie (thus not as commercially appealing as Warner Merchandising had originally expected, and possibly a detriment) or because writer Marv Wolfman wanted more time to make the character earn the costume and the fans' approval. Fan reaction to Tim Drake at this point was even more divided than it was for Jason Todd. Circa Detective #618: The order presumably comes down to make Tim Drake less distinct from the previous Robins. His parents are to be killed, making him an orphan, relatively indistinguishable from a Robin who might show up in the movies or the upcoming Animated Series. Marv Wolfman unexpectedly leaves Batman at this point (presumably under protest over the edict) and returns only a short while later, distinctly writing Batman stories for Detective Comics that do not feature Tim Drake. Batman #457: Tim Drake officially becomes the third Robin. The directive to make Tim less distinguishable from the previous Robins has apparently been relaxed or revoked at this point, as he receives a new look designed by Neal Adams, largely works independently from Batman and the Batman titles, and even gets an action figure as part of the 1992 Batman Returns toyline over the traditional Dick Grayson/Jason Todd Robin.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,816
|
Post by shaxper on Nov 15, 2014 13:37:18 GMT -5
(Looking for A Brief History of the Development of Tim Drake? See the post above!) Batman #457 writer: Alan Grant pencils: Norm Breyfogle inks: Steve Mitchell colors: Adrienne Roy letters: Todd Klein asst. ed: Kelley Puckett editor: Dennis O'Neil creator: Bob Kane special thanks to Kevin Breyfogle grade: D+ (Breyfogle's art saves a lousy story from failing) For their first few years on Detective Comics, Grant and Breyfogle were the red-headed step children of the Bat Office. O'Neil had little to no concern with what they were writing, his letter columns occasionally revealed a complete lack of awareness of what their run was doing, and he even failed to let them know Marv Wolfman was creating the third Robin while they had been led to believe they could do so themselves with the Lonnie Machin character. But there was a benefit to this exclusion. It liberated the two to tell the stories they wanted to tell. But now that Wolfman has departed, and Grant and Breyfogle have become the Batman A team by default, they're getting all of O'Neil's attention, and the quality of their work is utterly neutered as a result. This is as phoned in a conventional script as you can get. Beyond the logic gaps, mischaracterizations, and all out cliches, this issue essentially steals every possible convention and plot point from previous Bat stories. The idea of the new side-kick proving himself by rescuing Batman from a certain death situation that a surprisingly helpless and incompetent Batman has inexplicably gotten himself into just in time for his/her debut was abused twice by Doug Moench (once to introduce Jason Todd as Robin, and once to try to sell Batman and the readers on Nocturna as a superhero), and the big moment at the end about Bruce asking Tim if he's afraid of the legacy of the costume? That's straight out of Moench's Batman #368, where Jason first puts on the costume and is overwhelmed by the responsibility. it truly seems as though Grant was told to make this a generic introduction story and then went out of his way to make it as cliche and derivative as possible. Fortunately, Breyfogle still does an impressive job on art (he's always Grant's saving grace). I'm not sure what part of the art was done by brother(?) Kevin Breyfogle, but it all looks solid and consistent to me. Possibly the one aspect of this issue that I respected was the parallel drawn between Tim's cliche/derivative rescue of Batman in #442 and his cliche/derivative rescue of Batman here. Batman's point the first time around had been that Tim's adopting the Robin identity on a whim showed disrespect to the legacy. Thus, his rescuing Batman without the costume this time, as well as the fact that he gets a different costume instead, shows some semblance of substance/meaning to an otherwise mindless story. Important Details: Tim Drake becomes the third Robin Minor Details: Tim acknowledges in this issue that, if his identity were discovered, people would connect it with that of Bruce Wayne. We still haven't established the situation behind Tim staying with Bruce, but assuming he's living there now, and the public would associate one with the other, then isn't someone going to figure out that Bruce has a kid staying with him, that kid dies, Robin disappears; Bruce gets a new kid living with him and a new Robin appears? Either that or they're just going to think he's some kind of pedophile. plot synopsis in one sentence: Tim defies Batman's orders, saves the day without the costume on, and assumes this means Batman will never let him be Robin now, but Batman lets him be Robin now. And, in case you need the nostalgia: What was with that hair, anyway?
|
|
|
Post by Action Ace on Nov 15, 2014 20:00:07 GMT -5
Thank goodness they didn't go with Norm Breyfogle's first attempt at a Robin costume. From Batman Family #13... Will you be covering the Robin mini series that starts next month? Or the major Bat Family event in Suicide Squad? Or do you just stick with the main Batman series to keep it under Fifty billion posts?
|
|
|
Post by byronlomax on Nov 16, 2014 6:54:38 GMT -5
I think Prey is the best "Year One era" story. It captures the mood of Miller's work but is also a flat-out great story in its own right. Strangely, though this is one of my favourite LotDK story arcs, I really don't care much for Moench's later run on Batman with Kelley Jones. He seems to take up a completely different writing style to accommodate Jones' artwork, and while a lot of fans love it, I'm not one of them. My favourite issue from that run (I've read about half of it) is one not drawn by Jones, Batman 520.
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 16, 2014 8:19:29 GMT -5
Wow, that's a pretty hideous costume... it's like Peter Pan trying to be a super hero.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,816
|
Post by shaxper on Nov 16, 2014 8:22:56 GMT -5
Will you be covering the Robin mini series that starts next month? Or the major Bat Family event in Suicide Squad? Or do you just stick with the main Batman series to keep it under Fifty billion posts? The Suicide Squad story is three reviews away. Yup. I'll be covering the Dixon Robin limited series as well. The Batman 3-D special is coming soon, too. No idea how I'll handle this once the Nightwing and Robin ongoing series begin. I doubt I'll follow Catwoman.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,816
|
Post by shaxper on Nov 16, 2014 8:24:50 GMT -5
I think Prey is the best "Year One era" story. It captures the mood of Miller's work but is also a flat-out great story in its own right. I absolutely agree thus far. I'm disappointed to hear this, but it doesn't entirely surprise me. As a huge Moench fan, once thing I've noticed about his writing is how incredibly obliging he usually is to his artists.
|
|
|
Post by byronlomax on Nov 16, 2014 10:18:37 GMT -5
Hey, don't take my word for it! It's a popular run among many fans, it just wasn't for me. I personally don't care for mid to late 90s Batman comics in general, but many will disagree. IMO the Batman Adventures comics based off the animated series were a lot more entertaining than the "proper" Bat comics from Knightsquest etc up until Rucka and Brubaker arrived.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,816
|
Post by shaxper on Nov 16, 2014 10:26:12 GMT -5
Wow, that's a pretty hideous costume... it's like Peter Pan trying to be a super hero. More Errol Flynn, but yes, pretty hideous. All the same, the pencils themselves were impressive. He was top notch even as an amateur.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2014 10:28:56 GMT -5
I think Robin looks tuff and cool flailing his arms and prancing about with ruffled "wings" and fairy boots.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,816
|
Post by shaxper on Nov 16, 2014 10:43:12 GMT -5
I think Robin looks tuff and cool flailing his arms and prancing about with ruffled "wings" and fairy boots. His original costume wasn't much better for alpha male posturing, mind you
|
|