After the dark, threatening close to Batgirl #10 this, the third of the four part 'The Flood' story-arc, opens with quite a different tone, and it's immediately clear not everything is as it at first seems …
Barbara Gordon wakes from her nights sleep with a bit of a start and sits up in her bed as Dick Grayson enters the room, gives her a kiss and urges her to get up and dressed. As her extended family relax, Barbara is racing around the kitchen preparing what appears to be a Thanksgiving dinner, accompanied by the sound of a complaining young Damian Wayne and the loving words and embrace of her father.
Throughout these scenes of happy family life Babs questions to herself what she's seeing, what she's feeling and as happy as she is she knows something is wrong. Moments later she's reminded of her friend Stephanie Brown and there's a somewhat familiar visitor to her front door …
Cutting to the Calculators compound, deep in Slaughter Swamp, we witness the motionless body of Barbara, laid out on an examination table, with the Calculator sat alongside her talking to the decomposing body of his late son Marvin.
Appreciating that Barbara may be the key to some of his unanswered questions, Calculator plugs himself into his own laboratory equipment that is in turn connected to Barbara with the intention of seeing or reading Babs thoughts.
Over at the Gotham Port Authority Stephanie Brown – Batgirl – has evaded capture by the massed ranks of Calculator's zombies and has been pursued by an equally 'possessed' Man-Bat. Out-running her assailant Steph takes a minute to catch her breath, only to find herself snagged by another familiar adversary – and this time it's Catwoman.
Acutely aware that her priority has to be to help Barbara and that time is not on their side, Steph draws on her inner strength, fights back and with a swift blow sends her opponent to the ground. As one 'zombie' danger is averted another appears – Huntress, or as Stephanie herself acknowledges '… questionable-morals-action-Huntress'!
As her next challenger steps forward Steph gets an unexpected incoming message over her comm unit – Wendy Harris, who we saw trapped at Firewall in the previous issue. While continuing to combat Huntress, Steph and Wendy clumsily, awkwardly, introduce one-another before we get a possible glimpse of Wendy's future as the young woman activates the surveillance functionality of the Firewall's computer, attempts to guide Steph to safety and then in turn traces Calculator's location.
While Wendy considers what else, if anything, she can do to help rescue Oracle, Stephanie has more immediate problems on her hands – she's been tracked by Man-Bat … surely she can't escape this time?
While Stephanie fights for her own safety we return to Barbara who is engaged in a fight of her own as she is confronted by the thoughts of Calculator. Set in a library housing Barbara's memories and experiences she fights to keep her intruder at a distance.
Returning to … well, returning to reality and as the rain gets heavier and the sky is lit by lightning and the sound of thunder we see the silhouette of Batgirl and Man-Bat fighting high above Gotham Harbor. Realizing that perhaps she's more than met her match on this occasion Stephanie looks for an escape when, again, the voice of Wendy Harris echos across the comm link. As Steph looks down on an airfield runway she's taken aback to see The Ricochet – a vehicle she's more than familiar with of course – piloted by none other than Wendy herself.
Having freed herself from the clutches of Man-Bat, Steph jumps to the ground where she's met by Wendy – and with hoards of zombies closing in on them Stephanie realizes they have only one option is they are to ensure their own safety and rescue Barbara …
Despite limited appearances throughout this issue, for me Barbara was undoubtedly the star of Batgirl #11. A real highlight in this issue were the Barbara 'dream' or 'thought' sequences – I find them difficult to describe so fully appreciate Bryan Q. Miller's vision and imagination to conceive and write these – particularly the chapter of this tale where Babs and Calculator fight over her thoughts and memories which I thought was possibly some of the best writing we've seen in this series to date.
What's absolutely clear to me is that Miller 'gets' Barbara – or perhaps I should say the Barbara he writes rings true for me: her strengths, her weaknesses, her fears, her ambitions and her regrets – as I say, some of the best writing I feel we've seen so far.
Personally I found the 'Batgirl versus Catwoman versus Huntress versus Man-Bat' scenes just a little drawn out although I concede that this gave us an opportunity to see Wendy Harris come to the fore and possibly give us a taste of things to come. To this point she's felt somewhat redundant amongst the supporting cast and, on the basis that the character is likely to around for a while I welcomed seeing her particular role developed.
On artwork duties we've again been spoiled to have such a talented team on the book. As I feel we saw with an earlier issue of Batgirl, having more than one artist work on an issue doesn't necessarily work but the respective styles of Lee Garbett and Pere Perez are uniquely different (if I'm right in suggesting that Garbett drew the first half of the book up to the Babs 'thoughts' sequence) and yet at the same time complementary. If indeed Perez is taking on art duties when Garbett moves on then I believe the book, and it's readers, are in safe hands. Returning to the 'dream' sequences for a moment, again credit must go to the artists for their respective interpretations – I particularly enjoyed Perez's portrayal of Babs in the library scene.
Furthermore, an acknowledgment is due also to Walden Wong for his bold sharp inks throughout the first half of the book and likewise to Guy Major for his sensitive coloring – most definitely a feature of his time on Batgirl. With another eye-catching, if in places little busy, cover from Stanley 'Artgerm' Lau creation of this book is truly a team effort.
Another hugely enjoyable adventure from the Batgirl creative team – this issue felt a little like the calm before the storm (no pun intended) that I'm expecting with the final part of this story-arc.
Batgirl #11:
Reviewed by Zaius
First off, let me state that I think that every Batman fan reading this that hasn’t read this issue yet should go out to their local comic shop and pick this issue up before they read this review because HEY, IT’S THE 700th ISSUE and it is quite the achievement, and for such a momentous occasion you shouldn’t read about it in a review and have it spoiled and thrown away on a quick read through on your computer screen. You need to hold the book in your hands, read it, soak in every word and panel presented, truly treasure the occasion and reflect on your own personal experience after it is done. So with that out of the way I will state that I will not spoil anything for you here, but I beg of you to PLEASE go out, buy it, and read it before you read this review. But what I will do here is give you a little insight to what is to be expected in these pages.
Messy is an understatement. Grant Morrison’s work on Batman #700, is what it is. A messy, garbled story of which we have no clue to what’s going on, but at the same time and in old Grant Morrison style it leaves the story up to the visual side of a complete and unquestioned whole that makes up what we love to read. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. All the hype about this specific issue aside, there is a coherent story there (of course) that begins, climaxes and ends all in one issue it transcends everything that I have expected and more. While sticking to a storyline, I can't help but feel that there is something more to this story. First, we start off with Bruce and Dick in the first story called “Yesterday” as Batman and Robin strapped to chairs in a maybe machine, a machine used to see what would happen if things turned out differently. We then see them surrounded by the Riddler, Mad Hatter, Cat Woman, and none other than the Joker. We then see Dick and Damian in the second story called “Today” taking up the positions previously stated, trying to stop an underground auction that is auctioning off weapons and other things. Finally we see Damian as Batman in the third story called “ Tomorrow” trying to stop a criminal named January from killing all the citizens of Gotham using an old yet familiar gas that makes people laugh. The end is the real kicker and will only be revealed when you read it.
I know, it sounds like none of these stories connect to each other, but they do through time travel and the consequences of actions which I must say weaves perfectly through a single twist of continuity and fate. While this issue and its content both visually and text wise offer a valuable story, I was expecting a little more from these pages action and story-wise even though the idea is there and makes it a wonderful read. Maybe it’s because DC, other Batman related websites and news stories hyped the hell out of it or because it falls short of the holy grail of content we’ve grown to expect from Grant Morrison. But I can’t help but feel that this issue would have been better if it was a one-shot. Which in a sense is somewhat true, the story could have been fleshed out a little more and it would not have been plagued by what had become a problem for Tony Daniels when he was the writer for the Batman series. While this issue is numbered within the Batman comic series, it is presented as a one-shot or something like it. Although I’m not quite sure if the events in this story will have any effect on other series such as Batman & Robin, I will state that I would like to see some of what is presented here in future issues or maybe a one-shot with the maybe machine being used again and acting as a plot device. This story/one-shot/whatever you want to call it takes us back to the past, to the current day and to the future….. Then further on in the future, and back to current day which like I‘ve said is pulled off and presented wonderfully, and most importantly in a smart, innovative way all the way to the end.
At the end of the issue there is bonus material in the form of artwork by artists that have worked on Batman in the past, while it is a hit or miss, Guillem March’s Joker art is something to be reckoned with, while Philip Tan’s Batman is also quite extraordinary and both I would recommend you take a peek at. The story, art, and bonus material is not only presented great here, but it also rings in and applauds the momentous occasion for what it is. This issue is the definition of a comic book and if there is any kind of redemption in this world, the 700th issue is it.
Like I’ve said before I think this story is much more than a typical run of the mill story. I think (besides the obvious examples that have been told in past issues) it’s a “passing of the torch or cowl” sort of story. With Bruce to Dick to Damian and so on and so forth. It’s an action or tragedy on a son who becomes a father who passes it on to his adopted son to another son to the future bearers kind of story. Because we don’t know who the future Batmen are and what their relationships are to who we already know I also think (while not directly stated or presumed) it’s a Father/Son story about those talks you had with your Father when you were a kid, and after all those years you look back and realize what your father was telling you, it was knowledge learned that we use to protect ourselves to fight for what we think is right, for what we think NEEDS to be right, to stand up for justice and the righteousness of what you think is the right thing to do . Everyone plays the part of the Batman no matter where you come from, no matter how you were raised, no matter what happened in your past. It’s a final confirmation that Batman is bigger than anything we can hold in our hands or that one person can fully grasp within a lifetime or perhaps will never be fully understood by any one human. Thus, there is a universal need for a wearer of the cowl to try to understand all the craziness and absurdity in this world to put together what it is that makes what’s right, right, and what’s wrong, wrong, and for the symbolic nature of an idea or philosophy to show all of humanity that there is some sort of greatness in every single thing we do, that there is goodness in the human soul, and finally but most importantly that there is hope in despair (all the while not fully understanding it at all), which in the end is what Batman stands for.
Overall, a great issue is all I can say. This is what I have been personally waiting for and Morrison delivers. As for the art Finch’s cover kind of echoes (dare I say) Jim Lee’s work. On the inside Tony Daniel’s pencils are top notch as they should be while Ian Hannin’s colors bring a grimness to an already grim scene. The other artists most notably Frank Quitely are all on par to deliver a great book. There are great things to look forward to in the future with the Batman series. With Morrison at the writers helm , who knows where we’re going?
Batman #700:
Reviewed by Dane
Before we get started on this issue, let’s do a little history of the future lesson.
Following the end of The New Adventures of Batman & Robin, or Gotham Knights as the series is sometimes called, Alan Burnett, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and crew came up with a new series to continue their successful run with both Batman and Superman. That series was Batman Beyond, and it debuted in January of 1999. The setting of the series would be in the not too-distant future of Gotham City, or Neo-Gotham as it is called in the time period. The two-part pilot episode, simply called “Rebirth,” starts in the year 2019. Bruce Wayne is aged but still fighting the good fight and in a newly designed suit to fit the times. Unfortunately, while mixing it up with some thugs, Bruce is felled by a weak heart, and is forced to wave a gun in a thug’s face in order to save his bacon. Disgusted by his actions, Bruce hangs up the cowl for the last time and vows never to don the costumes again.
Flash forward about 20 years, Bruce is an old recluse, but events bring teenage Terry McGinnis into his life. McGinnis finds out who Wayne is, takes the redesigned suit out to seek revenge for his father’s murder, and after acquitting himself well and because the incident was tied into Wayne’s company, Terry McGinnis finds himself in employment by Bruce Wayne, and the new Batman.
The series would last three seasons, through the end of 2001, and includes a Direct To Video movie in 2000 called Return Of The Joker, which naturally deals with the return of Bruce’s old foe. Also in a 2005 episode of Justice League Unlimited, the second season finale of that show, tries to solidify McGinnis’ “claim” to the Batman/Bruce Wayne legacy.
Now, there were comic book tie-ins as well, as with just about all televised versions of DC properties; A six issue mini-series in 1999, written by series writer Hilary J. Bader when the series first came on the air, a 24 regular series running from 1999 through 2001 and a one-shot Return Of The Joker adaptation in 2000.
For those who are interesting in getting to know the series, besides watching the episodes by various means (all three seasons are now on DVD, as well as available for download on iTunes), check out the Earth-2.net’s World’s Finest Podcast (a blow-by-blow, episode by episode look at the Timm/Burnett/Dini “DC Animated Universe” of Batman The Animated Series, Superman The Animated Series, Gotham Knights, Batman Beyond, The Zeta Project, Static Shock, Justice League, Teen Titans and Justice League Unlimited) episodes 39 through 50 for a complete and exhaustive look at the series and the movie Return Of The Joker.
In the series’ third season, there is a two part episode called “The Call,” which will be referenced in this book. Terry is recruited by Superman to join the Justice League Unlimited, and to weed out a possible traitor in the league. It turns out to be Superman himself, whom was controlled by Starro The Conqueror, a space starfish whom Superman had in a preserve in his fortress. This was Superman’s lone appearance in the Batman Beyond time frame.
And so we come to a few years ago where rumblings of Terry McGinnis being inserted into the DCU comics proper started to be heard. It started with an appearance in an alternate universe in, funny enough, an issue of Superman/Batman (#22), getting an Earth designation during Countdown, and now this year Adam Beechen will be penning and Dustin Nguyen will be drawing a 6-part miniseries on Terry’s world. And that miniseries looks to be spinning out of Superman/Batman Annual #4 which is written by current Superman/Batman artist Paul Levitz and art by Renato Guedes and the story is titled “A Time Beyond Hope.”
We start with Terry in midst of taking on some thugs with Bruce in his customary role as voice in Terry’s head from the Bat-Cave, much like Barbra Gordon’s role with Stephanie Brown’s Batgirl in the current Batgirl book. Terry finds out the thugs are the latest in a stream of thugs whom have come from Metropolis, and spooked by something they call “The Ghost.” Doing some more sleuthing, Terry finds that Metallo has come to Gotham with the intention of pushing some new drugs, and after beating Metallo, Terry takes the drugs back to the cave, and realizes it has been laced with Kryptonite.
We find out that this issue takes place just after the end of the series as the events of The Call are mentioned, and as a reason for Superman apparently quitting the superhero business and pretty much going into hiding. In Superman’s absence, Metropolis has gone to hell and Lex Luthor was made “mayor for life.”
In trying to trace where the drugs are coming from, it is learned that Superman has even taken Clark Kent off the grid, but apparently is still leaving flowers at the grave of Lois Lane. We then see Superman hovering over Terry at Lois’ grave site, and through, well I guess at this point he is more Kal-El than either Superman or Clark Kent, so Kal inner monologues the fact that Luthor had been working hard while Superman was controlled by Starro to the point where one of the things to neutralize Superman was to get Kryptonite into residents’ blood in order to make it tough for Superman to even exist in Metropolis without some pain.
We then see that Terry has infiltrated a major drug ring, and after a skirmish with “The Ghost” he is put on assignment to get something from Superman’s fortress. Again “The Ghost” shows up at the Fortress Of Solitude, leaving Terry as one of the few “survivors” of a vanishing trick it does. This leads to Terry meeting the boss, which of course turns out to be Luthor; who was pulling the strings to have one more confrontation with “The Ghost”, aka Kal-El; who was also pulling Terry’s strings in order to get inside Luthor’s fortress.
Terry and Kal wind up fighting a foot soldier turned into a “Superman for a new generation” super soldier thanks to a solar collector. Terry figures out that the chair Luthor was in was stored with Kryptonite, so Terry manages to get Luthor out of the chair and destroys the chair, eliminating the Kryptonite. Kal then makes short work of the soldier and shows Terry exactly what “The Ghost” was doing when “zapping” thugs. It actually is a Phantom Zone projector, and Luthor gets sent to the Phantom Zone. Kal presents Terry with the projector and tells him to be the “warden” and that now that he is sure Metropolis can be back on the road to recovery that it is time to leave Earth. And he does just that, and tells Terry to call him if he needs any help via a signal watch, and that he’ll be watching Terry in the stars.
Whew. That’s a story alright! Definitely had a comic book feel to it rather than a TV show feel, which is good. And it appears Levitz was mixing some elements from the mainstream DC lore into the mix as well. For instance, Terry mentions the Robins dying, yet there was no death of a Robin in the DCAU; Dick Grayson became Nightwing, the Tim Drake character was an amalgamation of Jason Todd and the comics Tim Drake, but he wasn’t killed. It also appears Terry was “handed” the role as opposed to stealing the suit and “proving” himself worthy and bringing Bruce out of retirement. There is an appearance of and interaction between Zod and Mon-El inside the Phantom Zone, neither character ever appeared in a DCAU cartoon, it is possible that Levitz is referencing the events of the War Of The Superman event where Zod was trapped in the Phantom Zone, and Mon-El went in there as one of the wardens of the Zoners. And finally there is the ultimate fate of the DCAU’s Lex Luthor. In the final episode of Justice League Unlimited, “Destroyer” it appears that Luthor and Darkseid vanished into an anti-life equation Source Wall thing, and while of course this is comic books we are talking about, it did seem finite and Luthor never does appear, or is mentioned of, in Batman Beyond.
Those things are just nitpicky things though, just brought up for comparison purposes, and probably in a way to help the world of Batman Beyond “fit” into a DC Universe rather than picking up entirely in the DCAU’s continuity. There is one thing though that is a bit off putting, and that is Guedes’s art. For the most part its pretty great. Both Terry and Bruce appear to be comic book versions of their Batman Beyond selves, its just that for Superman, it seems Guedes has adopted the style that seems to be more and more prevalent of making Superman look exactly like Christopher Reeve. While its one thing for Clark to look like the actor who brought him to the big screen, its another thing entirely when everything else, right down to the costume displays in the Bat-Cave, is modeled after the cartoon design to see something from another medium. Especially considering Superman in the DCAU, including The Call, had his own distinctive look. It was nice though to see several different “designs” for Superman in a Fortress display case, we saw the black suit from the Return of storyline, normal Superman, the “current” Superman, Kingdom Come Superman and Electric Blue Superman.
Overall this does seem like a nice introduction to the Adam Beechen mini-series, and hopefully a long stay for Terry McGinnis in the DCU proper.
Superman/Batman Annual #4:
Reviewed by SteveJRogers
When this issue came out I have to admit I wasn’t exactly ripping the bag open and whipping through the pages. In fact I wasn’t even thinking about reading it until I had read through the rest of my pull list twice! The reason being I was just not too interested in the story. The first part (Detective Comics #864) was alright we got to see Jeremiah Arkham as the twisted maniac that he is, but I just wasn’t pulled into the story. So when it was time to read this current issue I was not too excited. But Batman is Batman and I’ll read it regardless.
Our story begins where Detective Comics #864 left off, with Dr. Jeremiah Arkham slaughtering the beauties, which we learn that like everyone else in his messed up family, he hallucinated them. But Arkham wasn’t always crazy, he was slowly poisoned by Dr. Hugo Strange and the Joker using one of Strange’s toxins (which was delivered via a marionette that was given to him by the Joker), and to top it all off, when Dr. Arkham (who was under the influence of the toxin) conducted sessions with Strange, Strange used subliminal messages to create multiple personalities for the Doctor which he promptly set up a mental block for.
Meanwhile Conrad Leblanc (the man with the bomb in his chest) has successfully canceled all of the deals he had arranged to bring down all of Gotham’s finance institutions, while Arkham, now recovering from the exposure to the toxin has finally come to his “moral” senses and tells Batman the code to de-activate the bomb. Turns out Arkham had given Batman the wrong code so the bomb explodes (in a rather violent scene) and Conrad is killed instantly. Meanwhile Batman visits Gordon who, when posed with the question of why Sinner was promoted to the Director position at Arkham, says that he abstained his vote only to be out ruled by the majority vote. Batman leaves saying he’ll keep an eye on Sinner to see whether she’s a murderer or not. Back in Arkham’s cell in solitary confinement, Alyce Sinner, after she confirms that Arkham gave Batman the wrong code, tells him that Victor Zsasz is next door. While she walks past Zsasz’s room she unlocks it and in the next scene we see Zsasz at the entrance to Arkham’s room wielding what looks to be a scalpel saying he’s going to put Arkham’s name on the inside of his eyelids. Arkham manhandles Zsasz and does it for him as Batman breaks the door down to the room. Later we see Alyce in Arkham’s room saying he’ll probably have to stay in solitary confinement. He reveals that Alyce sent Zsasz to see if Arkham was the same old weak, boring, timid Jeremiah, the man she hates or Black Mask, the man she loves. They embrace and kiss, the last page shows them cuddling by a mirror in the reflection we see Arkham as the Black Mask.
This story arc as a whole wasn’t that great and to be honest I’m kind of sick with the whole Black Mask thing. There isn’t a lot of action in this story which up to a point is a good thing. But when every other scene is either a monologue of how smart Jeremiah Arkham thinks he is, a flashback to how he was poisoned, or became what he is besides that fact that there are very little Batman scenes and quick easy conclusions, it above all things gets more than a little boring. Is the Black Mask that much of a dollar sign for DC that the only reason this story exists is to stretch it out just a little farther? Granted, it has its moments of pure, deep story and thought, but it’s slow pace and failure to deliver any sort of meaningful content that pushes forth the legacy of the idea of Detective Comics masks that. What we are left with is the basis of what DC has built up to that point with the Black Mask that only moves it’s story forward a centimeter, if not even that.
The artwork on this issue and the previous issue is visually stunning. Jeremy Haun definitely knows how to approach the concept of the villain. Whether it’s his work on the Mortician cuddling up with his zombie parents or the Joker fooling Arkham, it is great and disturbing along with David Baron’s gory and demanding colors.
Overall, where this issue fails, it fails. And where it succeeds, it succeeds. Although it’s brevity, sluggishness and banal nature is what continually brings it back down to a forgetful arc. I think there is some redeeming qualities in its pages and for that it should be paid some attention to.
Detective Comics #865:
Reviewed by Dane
Editor's Note: This was sent in before the release of Batman #700. We were just able to post it.
So, we’re almost there. To Batman #700 I mean. Issue #700 has been touted by DC and other Bat-fan’s as Grant Morrison’s grand return to the Batman comic that comes along with a sweeping story that features Batmen from different generations all starring in one single over sized issue priced at $4.99!!!!! But wait, hold on, this review isn’t about #700 because at the time of this writing it hasn’t come out yet!!!! With all the hype surrounding issue #700 there are the people especially on the internet who complain that #699 was rushed, that Tony Daniel’s story was cut short and not fleshed out and as a one-sided theory, it is true.
This issue begins where the last issue left off, Batman finds Edward Nigma under the influence of the Joker’s laughing gas which is later revealed to be a generic knock off of the real thing, Batman however still needs to search for the killer of issue # 698. While I will not spoil anything completely for you in the two issue story arc I will agree with the facts, being that the story was rushed and cut short. There are questions that are left unanswered and it is incredibly fast-paced even with Dick’s inner monologue, which is one of the things Daniel got perfect, not to mention the ending which just left another huge question about what is going to happen. I just felt that this story could have been more than what was presented in the actual book. While it had a great story , beginning in Batman #698 and concluding with this issue, Daniel had too much to work with and not enough time or pages/issues to create a better story considering the return of Grant Morrison in the landmark 700th issue. If he had had the time maybe we would’ve got a better story. But maybe it’s Daniels fault with the fact that he could have condensed the story and re-worked it with consideration to the issue number and the number of pages he was allowed. Maybe he was just overwhelmed and distracted with other things. No one knows except for him and we can't truly blame anyone at this point. Saying that it was Daniel's fault or DC’s fault or even Grant Morrison’s fault is the elusive one-sided theory.
But overall we can only assume what we are led to believe (until we get all the information) which is the fact that it was just poor planning on both sides. Whether it was in fact the number of issues or some other unseen reason. Anyways, all the negativity aside I can commend the artwork by Guillem March. Even though he has been heavily critiqued in the past, is one of the best artists in the game with his visually stunning style and overall scope, depth, and understanding of the medium pulls you into the world of the long forgotten world of true artistic statement. I can also commend the story up to a certain point. I see the depth that Daniel wanted to take it to with the addition of Edward Nigma to his story and the overall sense of where the story was going, it truly would have been great. The inner monologue with Dick as Batman was truly the highlight of the story because I finally pictured Dick as Batman and was no longer haunted by the image of Robin and Nightwing when I see him as the Batman, his inner monologue was some of the most eloquent writing I have read in a long time. But the story just doesn’t cut it, it just reads way too fast, it was too rushed, and finally there are things that are supposedly happening when truly nothing is going on ? Maybe I am wrong, maybe what we were presented with was what Daniel wrote and he just had a bad run? Like the ending it leaves us in the universe’s waiting room with a bag full of future possibility. We all have our bad days thus we are forgiven. I’m sure with the proper situation this could have been a great swan song for Daniel. And like any person that has had a bad day, I will forgive.
Overall, the presentation is there with Guillem March’s art and Daniel's story but sadly it falls short almost to the point where March’s artwork cannot redeem it. But what I am hoping is that all the questions that weren’t answered and the cliffhanger at the end of Issue #699 with the question/possibility it hold will be revealed in future issues. But I can only hope.
Batman #699:
Reviewed by Dane
The story begins with a tribe of cavemen who go by the name of The Deer Tribe and who upon discovering a space vehicle crashed wonder if its part of the sky that fell. They then notice a trail of footsteps leading from the capsule to a cave nearby. They wonder if the tracks belong to one of the “Shining Ones.” One of the cavemen says that if the Shining Ones come again then it is some sort of end. As they make their way to the cave one of them throw a rock into the cave causing bats to fly out from the cave. We then see Bruce Wayne emerge. The cavemen all speak in a form of broken English and Bruce talks in sentences where words are combined into one word.
One of the cavemen introduces himself as “Man” son of the “Old Man” and the youngest caveman is “Boy” the grandson of “Old Man” and the son of “Man” who is learning to be a Young Man. There is of course one caveman who is called Joker. Man, Boy, and Joker walk into the cave and find Old Man dead, as Bruce is walking out, utility belt in hand, to the space vehicle where he finds Superman’s cape, he then proceeds back to the cave.
Later on in the night, The Blood Mob attacks with their leader Vandal Savage. Bruce who acts on his pure instinct grabs Boy and hides him while he goes and fights. Both Man and Joker are killed while Bruce is captured and named “Man-God” by Savage. At the Blood Mob village Savage proclaims that he’s brought his village gifts from the forbidden land that he took from the Shining Ones and claims that he has defeated the Man-God just like he defeated a large bat beast as we see a cloak and bat head. Savage then says he will eat the Man-God as soon as the sun rises on the Man-God’s suffering. We then see Boy in a mask and wearing Bruce’s utility belt wielding a shield with a large bat symbol on it, he cuts Bruce from his restraints. Savage then wakes up and Bruce attacks using all of his gadgets to defeat him. As the mob runs after them Bruce and Boy jump off of a cliff and into a river.
We then cut to Superman, Hal Jordan, and Booster Gold next to the time sphere, Superman says that they just missed Bruce, as Hal says Bruce has no memory of who he is or what happened to him, while Booster Gold says that no one, not even Bruce could survive this. Superman replies by pointing out that that’s what Bruce does, Survive, while commenting that if Bruce survives this and makes his way back to the 21st Century on his own then everyone dies.
We then see Bruce in the water (Boy is gone), in a new era with a huge water monster behind him as a nameless woman says “Master Demon. Whatever you are. What horse is this you rode in on?”. Bruce holds a sword as the monster rises up.
With the Return of Bruce Wayne I have to admit I was hesitant to pick it up, one because I didn’t know how this time traveling thing would play out and two because I had been reading Batman & Robin (also by Grant Morrison) and I think Dick and Damian do a good job in their current respective roles. So when the first issue of The Return of Bruce Wayne had hit the stands I resisted it for 3 days. But curiosity got the best of me and I caved in and bought it.
When I got home I immediately started reading it. After my first read through I found it hard to read. It was confusing and served no purpose in telling the story of Bruce’s return, with a minor exception for the end. So I re-read it. Still didn’t get it. So I re-read it. Nothing. By the time I was about to start my fourth read through I had grown so frustrated with the content that I had to close the book, stand up and take a deep breath while I cleared my mind. Then out of nowhere I realized that the problem wasn’t the content or Grant Morrison’s writing, it was me. I had been thinking about what I know and what SHOULD happen in the strict terms of this story.
The foundation of this issue isn’t the basis for anything except your own mind. Bruce Wayne/Batman as a whole or absolute system or as we know him isn’t what we think he will be after all of our readership. All these thoughts and ideas we have created for him in our own minds that bring him to a whole is subtly broken down and laid on the floor in front of us as we open to the first page of this issue. By that I mean (now strictly hypothetically speaking), Grant Morrison’s Bruce Wayne/Batman is a brand new forging, forged not by him but by us. There is no need to refer to our Year One’s or whatever back issue you want to throw out there that defined Batman as you, yourself know him, it is already within you stirring and mixing the old and the new in your mind as you read these brand new pages. Morrison creates this “new” Batman by starting off in the middle of nowhere, with no back-story as to how we got here, erasing Bruce’s memory, by breaking our understanding of the English language, and most importantly by letting the pictures tell the story. The pictures serve as an emotional narrative that we use to forge our new memories of the Dark Knight. We can refer to our memories as children or as adults reading our eyes out gathering all this random information to (in our minds) not have these random pieces of information scattered all about but to put these pieces together to create Batman as we see him in our minds eye. What Grant Morrison does is break down this Batman and scatter all these pieces of information so that its laid out in front of you as brand new thoughts and ideas, but as he does this He’s building a new Batman using our memories. Batman will never be the same as we let go of the old one and let in the new one as you now see him. Grant Morrison not only helped break down and rebuild our image of Batman, he started anew, building the Dark Knight from the ground up not by forcing his hand or convincing us or saying this is your Batman, this is your ideas, and thoughts, and feelings but by simply showing us the door.
All in all, great issue. The art looked like a throwback to the older days of Batman while hinting at a new style or direction which only enhances the experience. Not really recommended to the newer reader but highly recommended to all of us who have been with Batman for all these years.
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1:
Reviewed by Dane
Batman finally makes his return in the second issue of the “First Wave” series along side Doc Savage and the Spirit. And for all his fame and notoriety he gets one panel. That’s’ right, one panel. Oh, and no dialog. We finally see Batman as he wraps up a would be mugger in his cape making quick work of the bad guy. But that’s it. Make no mistake about it, “First Wave” is a Doc Savage vehicle and through the first two issues he is sharing the limelight with The Spirit as comedic relief. I guess I should mention the Blackhawks get plenty of face time too.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m digging this book. I love the noir feel to the story narrative. Moonlit nights, large limos with their headlights cutting the darkness, blackened alley ways, cemeteries and most importantly, gritty dialog befitting a George V. Higgins novel.
It’s just that a little more Batman would be nice.
We got our first look at the “First Wave” Batman in November of 2009 when DC presented us with a one shot called the “Batman-Doc Savage Special, the First Wave begins.” Batman got plenty of ink in that issue and if you read the book you’ll remember that Batman was portrayed as a young brash playboy. Untested and inexperienced, this Batman was willing to make mistakes and take his lumps in order to ply his trade. He’s not the brooding angry dark avenger that we are accustomed to. He’s cocky and brash. He’s having fun.
Brian Azzarello is the writer for this series, as he was in the one shot. Phil Noto was the artist for the one shot and his effort lent itself more to a Sunday morning comic’s type of feel. This time Rags Morales takes over the art work and he is ably assisted by Nei Ruffino. Their combined effort lends itself more readily to the noir feel of the book as they understand the use of shadow and perspective that is so important to this style.
Azzarello is weaving a dense, multi-faceted storyline that involves some the most iconic heroes of the golden age. Doc Savage, his crew, the Spirit, the Blackhawks, Justice Inc and we haven’t even seen Black Canary yet. And Batman too. For one panel. But fear not, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing plenty of the Bat, and sooner rather than later. There is a lot of gray area in this series. The good guys work in and outside the law, everyone has their own agendas that intersect for better or worse and a mysterious darkness looms fueled by greed and revenge. The type of story that is begging for a Dark Knight.
I’m giving this book a four out of five Bat-a-rangs for where I believe this story is taking us. And I’ll get into some in depth analysis of the plot itself once Batman and his guns (yes, I said guns) makes their full time appearance. I’ll be seeing you soon for “First Wave” issue three of six.
First Wave #2:
Reviewed by Dark Knight Dave
In the 1960s, writer Bob Haney got the idea to take all the younger characters in the DC Universe and mash them together as a team. Not unlike the very successful Justice League Of America. And so in the summer of 1964, in the pages of Brave and The Bold #54, Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad teamed up. A year later, in issue 60 the team got its first female member in Wonder Girl, and a name, Teen Titans. And by 1966 the team would have its very own magazine. The Titans would see many twists and turns through the years, but at the core was still Dick Grayson, either as Robin or Nightwing. And as the book “grew up” from its early Silver Age roots, especially with the Marv Wolfman-George Perez 1980 relaunch of the title, it appeared writers would thrust the role of “leader” onto Grayson. Even on the animated series based on the Wolfman relaunched lineup, Robin was very much the leader of the team.
And so in 1999, when the team was renamed simply “Titans” guess who was right in front? Yup, Dick Grayson, now of course in his Nightwing personae. So in 2010 (JLA issue # 41 to be exact), now taking over, for the second time, the Batman mantle of his mentor Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson is finally a card carrying member of the Justice League of America! And once again it appears the writer, this time James Robinson, who has been on the book since #38, is angling Dick into a leadership role. This seems especially the case since in issue # 41 he assembled a team of heavyweights, drawing from former League and Titan heavy hitters and proceeded to disassemble them by issue #43! Leaving Batman with Donna Troy (Wonder Girl), Mikaal Tomas (aka the current Starman), and Congo Bill (aka Congorilla) as the current JLA lineup, the latter two from Robinson’s JLA: Cry For Justice mini-series. This is especially interesting since there is a feeling that DC wants a return of the “classic 7 (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter)” in the 75th anniversary year of the company. But that is most likely down the road this year, in the meantime it’s Dick, Wonder Girl, Starman and Congorilla as your JLA roll call.
Well, that brings us to the current story arc, which features the Brightest Day trade dress, due to the fact that it is dealing with the return of Jade, who was one of the Black Lanterns who got resurrected at the end of Blackest Night. Issue # 44 featured Jade returning to Earth in the middle of a meteor fragment, and her father, Alan Scott, Earth’s first Green Lantern of the Justice Society of America, in bad shape with emerald energy emitting from him.
And so, preamble out of the way, we begin with Justice League Of America issue # 45. Written by James Robinson, art by Mark Bagley, inks by Rob Hunter and Norm Rapmund.
We begin where #44 left off. In Germany, with Jade announcing to Jason Blood that she will not stand down, and Dick's inner monologue exposition on her. Well, it turns out the meteor was part of the Starheart, which Jade describes. Then members of the JSA, trying to follow Alan Scott, whom is in a trance, headed right towards the said Starheart fly in, but their plane gets ripped up by what appears to be a mind controlled Power Girl. The speedsters in the JSA, Jay Garrick Flash and Jesse Quick are able to save the team. The matter gets complicated when Obsidian gets taken over by whatever is drawing Alan to the Starheart.
And from out of literally nowhere, even several characters inner monologue the fact, Supergirl flies in to take out Power Girl. It turns out Congorilla had signaled for her help before they left the Watchtower. Batman then gets Jade to use her magic based power to take down Power Girl (Kryptonian in case you didn’t know). While Batman wonders why the Starheart affected Power Girl, but not Supergirl, Jade then goes into an explanation of Starheart via a retelling of Alan Scott’s origin.
Well, the Starheart was this rock, created by the Guardians of The Universe as a way to create order between chaos and good. A piece broke off, fell to earth where Alan Scott found it, becoming Earth’s first Green Lantern. After Jade finishes up her story, Mr. Terrific, and Batman start receiving reports throughout the world of magic wielders going crazy. It is theorized that it could be in part thanks to the chaos part of Starheart. Then Alan appears to be out of his trance, but only to talk about the Starheart bringing about the end of the world, and he is transformed into something akin to what Alan Scott wore in the Kingdom Come story.
Well, that was interesting. Right now we are dealing with a JSA story in the pages of JLA. Which is fine, but is this something needed if Robinson is trying to mold a new team? I guess since the whole Starheart/Alan Scott situation is a big enough problem that the JLA has to be present for then yeah. Obviously the DCU’s biggest team has to confront it. It should be noted that this is part one of a story, and the second part will be in Justice Society of America #41 next month.
Don’t get me wrong, its a good story, its just feels like reading a JSA story with the JLA as the guest stars in their own title! Maybe that’s just the “B-Team” feel of the team at the moment, and wanting to see that team rise or fall before getting its first team-up with a team like the JSA. Yes, DC is all about the cross branding, and since Brightest Day is the current event, the flagship team book has to be a part of it. In any case this is still a good issue.
Justice League of America #45:
Reviewed by SteveJRogers
I'd been looking forward to reading this book since it was first announced that the title was being relaunched and I'm pleased to report that my expectations were not only met but exceeded.
As a 'first issue' (of sorts) this book worked really well I thought: plenty for the long-time, committed reader while at the same time accessible and inviting for the new reader – of which there will be many I am sure.
Our story begins out on the frozen snowfields of Iceland as a lone snow-mobile makes its way towards a group of pick-up trucks and hooded, and armed, men. Standing out amongst the group one man is wearing a bright red jacket and he has a small child alongside him.
As the snow-mobile reaches it's destination the driver, a young woman, approaches the group and explains that she's brought the money – her part of the bargain – and she'd like to see the boss. The boss is the man in red, named Chasco, and the young child is a 5-year old girl called Katy, the daughter of diplomats.
Aware of the woman's identity – Dinah Lance otherwise known as Black Canary – Chasco explains that while the money is for the local man he, an American, has his own demands. Dinah's priority, however, is the young girl who she knows has a serious medical condition and needs hospital treatment immediately.
Chasco, still holding a handgun to the girls head, explains that he wants Katy's parents to hold a press conference where they should apologize for what he considers to be their war crimes and then … they should commit suicide live on-air. Then and only then will he release the girl.
Realizing that they've passed the point of no return Dinah makes a familiar gesture with her hands and, in the few seconds before the thugs realize what's happening, is joined by Zinda Blake – Lady Blackhawk – providing air-support.
With the men under fire Dinah focuses her attention on Chasco, and Katy of course, and with a series of swift blows disarms the man and knocks him to the ground. Amid the chaos young Katy has also been knocked from her feet and is lying perilously close to the edge of an ice-shelf that could collapse at any minute …
Despite being grounded Chasco has been able to recover his weapon and has young child in his sights – with his finger on the trigger Dinah has to act quickly as she let's out a trademark sonic scream, races to gather Katy just as the ice shelf cracks, leaps into the air and manages to grab hold of the waiting helicopter. Mission accomplished.
Later on, while waiting at a city hospital Dinah and Zinda receive a very unexpected call … it's none other than 'the world's premiere infojock' Barbara Gordon – Oracle – on the line from the Batcave: it's time to get the team back together. With Dinah and Zinda on board Babs turns her attention to the next member of the team: Helena Bertinelli – Huntress.
Across town, on the nice side of Gotham we are told, Hank Hall and Dawn Granger – Hawk and Dove – have engaged with a street gang known as 'The Sick Cheerleaders'. Armed and extremely dangerous the cheerleaders give as good as they take until Hawk disarms one female member of the gang and hangs her over the edge of a bridge. Fearing that Hawk is at this point out of control Dove urges her partner to release the girl – which he does but not without a chilling declaration – 'God wants a soldier'.
Later that same evening, across town in a Gotham City 'drinkin' bar' an old man is drinking alone at the bar talking to whoever will listen – at this time that whoever is the aforementioned Hank Hall and the the bar keeper, a young woman called Molly. In the corner of the bar, at this point in the company of Zinda, is a pensive Dawn Grainger – Hank is on a destructive, possibly even self-destructive path, and it's understandably worrying her – after all, he is her responsibility.
Elsewhere, Barbara, Dinah and Helena are discussing the events that have brought them back together after all this time – Babs has been sent a series of files containing sensitive, and damaging, information about people close to them including The Riddler, Power Girl … and the Birds themselves. Along with the files came a threat: each hour somebody featured in the files will die and if the Birds don't try to stop it then the information will be published for all to see.
As the three women try to understand why the threat involves them and speculate who might be behind the plan Helena realizes that they are being summoned …
High up on a city center rooftop we find none other than Oswald Cobblepot – The Penguin – under attack and pleading for his life. Standing tall in front of him, we see the outline of a mysterious female figure. With The Penguin now on the offensive (hasn't he always been pretty offensive?!) Black Canary and Huntress step in, tell The Penguin to step aside and leave things to them.
As a fight begins there's speculation as to who the mysterious woman is … Cassandra Cain? Shiva Woosan? Despite holding a numerical advantage Black Canary and Huntress prove no match for their assailant who, with the women grounded, turns her attention to The Penguin.
Desperate for news Barbara pleads with her friends over the comms link for an update – Black Canary and Huntress are down, Cobblepot is dying as the mystery figure is revealed as … The White Canary.
As I say, I had high expectations ahead of reading the book and often when that's the case I can end up feeling just a little disappointed – thankfully, and most definitely, not on this occasion.
I'd anticipated this first issue to be more like a zero issue, largely concerned with establishing – or even reestablishing – the characters so therefore it was a treat to discover so much story within the pages: so much so that I later found myself counting the pages just to see if this was a larger than usual issue (24 in case you were wondering).
The opening scenes of the story, set as they were in the snow-fields of Iceland, made for a great new beginning – atmospheric and chilling (no pun intended!) every panel filled with danger and excitement – and served as a timely reminder of the strengths of the 'Birds'.
From front cover to the last page reveal the art – Ed Benes so well complimented by colorist Nei Ruffino – was absolutely glorious. I'd expected great art but what we got again far exceeded my expectations: the attention detail, imaginative page layouts, the amount of depth to the panels themselves, the rich colors throughout … absolutely superb.
It seems almost superfluous to comment on just how real, how genuine, the dialogue and narration felt. For many, myself included I believe, Gail Simone writes THE definitive Birds of Prey and as such the voice with which she wrote the characters in this issue is very much the voice I hear when I read.
All of this and a puzzling, intriguing new villain who I'm looking forward to finding out more about … what more could one ask for?
Reading this issue felt very much like being reunited with an old friend – there was familiarity, my read felt at first challenging and became more comfortable, there was an opportunity for reminiscence and there was a realisation that life had moved on and that things will never be what they once were, and neither should they be.
Birds of Prey – it's good to have you back.
Birds of Prey #1:
Reviewed by Zaius
And now we kick off yet another new chapter in the saga of this title! First off though, fans of Superman should be welcomed by the return, of sorts, to the world of writer Paul Levitz, most known for his work on the Legion of Super-Heroes, and artist Jerry Ordway, who had a long run as artist and even writer and plotter on many Superman titles after the 1986 reboot of the character. (FYI, for those interested Ordway’s work on Superman, check out the SupermanHomepage.com’s From Crisis To Crisis podcast, which also includes a two part interview with Ordway in episodes 32 and 33).
This storyline is entitled “Worship,” so that it will explain the liberal use of religious imagery and themes. We kick things off with Superman taking care of a hurdling asteroid and musing about the late Pa Kent, which would probably set this story somewhere in between Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis. Meanwhile in Metropolis Lois Lane gets kidnapped while en route from a funeral for a co-worker, just before she is knocked out she signals Batman for help.
Meanwhile, in space Superman unwittingly breaks up a Kryptonite laced meteor and plummets with the fragments onto a planet, Superman recovers and does the usual one-man-construction-crew thing quickly before dashing off for a date night with the wife. However, the populous that observed Superman doing his thing appear to believes Superman to be an evil God and it seems the beginnings of an anti-Superman cult is being formed. As this is going on, it is being observed by Lex Luthor, who feels that he should contact these people, and he also gets word that Batman is arriving in Metropolis and pretty much goes into Defcon 1 when he hears this news.
And Batman does in fact arrive in Metropolis and is able to get in hot pursuit of Lois’ kidnappers, but she is no longer with them when he gets a hold of them. Instead Lois is tied up and is about to become a sacrifice to a cult of Kal-El because she rejected the chance to have Superman’s child by marrying a human named Clark Kent!
And I hope that last sentence doesn’t mean this book just went back to being modern takes on Silver Age tropes! Not that I know off hand that a story like this could have happened, but it does seem like a story that would be common place in the Silver Age. “Oh my God, I’m being made a martyr because I didn’t marry a hero, but instead I married his human secret identity, oh the irony!”
Well, this was an enjoyable issue nonetheless, trepidation aside it is a good story and some great Ordway art and pretty sweet colors and shadings by Pete Pantazis to highlight the art. The cover by Fabrizo Fiorentino was also great.
Superman/Batman #72:
Reviewed by SteveJRogers
When I discovered that regular, and one of my favorite, artists Lee Garbett was being joined by a second artist – Pere Perez, who I understand takes on solo pencil duties later this summer – for this issue I was, I have to be honest, a little concerned. No sooner had I recognized and acknowledged that Batgirl was pretty much everything I could want from a comic book along came change – issue #8 featured a new artistic team and left me disappointed – and while the last issue saw a return to form for this title I still had reservations.
Thankfully, I needn't have worried.
Batgirl returns with the second part of a four-part story arc – Batgirl Rising: The Flood. With the rain still falling, the issue opens deep in Slaughter Swamp, Calculator's deceptively spacious base of operations, where in the shadow of a huge satellite dish and transmitter Calculator himself is chatting away – partly I suspect to himself but also to the lifeless body of his late son Marvin – about his plans to, as he sees it, teach Oracle a 'lesson in humility'.
On the roof-tops of Gotham City, meanwhile, an unsettled Batgirl – Stephanie Brown – is on patrol. She's unsettled because Barbara Gordon, working back at the Batcave while in constant communication with Steph, is herself unsettled – neither woman is too sure quite what's unfolding before them, just that something bad is just around the corner.
As their conversation continues, Stephanie intervenes to break up a gang of motorcyclists who are harassing some young women. In between delivering kicks and punches it becomes clear to Steph that the history Barbara shares with the Calculator is at the heart of her concerns. Conscious that she's a target, Barbara urges Stephanie that for her own safety she ought to keep a low profile – maybe underestimating Steph's abilities to look after herself. Maybe sensing the scale of the danger ahead.
Later, at Gotham City University, Detective Nick Gage has called on Assistant Professor Barbara Gordon: trying the door and realizing that Babs isn't around Gage lets himself in. As curiosity gets the better of him he inspects a file that's open on the desk – and realizes he and Barbara have a mutual friend as he discovers a newspaper cutting featuring some of Stephanie's recent exploits as Batgirl.
Lost in his thoughts for a moment Gage doesn't realize that he's no longer alone in the room and Stephanie surprises him as she introduces herself. When the two had met previously Stephanie was in Batgirl mode and she's relieved that Gage clearly doesn't recognize her. Given that she – as Batgirl – and Gage had been flirtatious towards one another previously Steph becomes more than a little embarrassed as Gage hints at his burgeoning friendship with Barbara and she quickly changes the subject.
Across the city young Wendy Harris has entered the lift in Barbara's apartment building and, with the help of a laptop computer has overridden security protocol and is heading for the sub-basement. As the lift heads down Wendy finds herself musing over the curious things she's encountered recently – Professor Gordon is up to something, 'that Stephanie girl', Tim 'Wayne … or Drake', 'ninjas' and as the doors open she discovers she's been led to Firewall – the new Oracle control-center.
Back in Slaughter Swamp the clock ticks down … three, two, one … and Calculator ignites his plan to teach Oracle a lesson.
Returning to the Computer Science Lab at Gotham U. and with her back turned towards the class, with her students concentrating on their computer screens and mobile phones Barbara is unaware of the strange zombie-like behavior that's overcome her audience … 'target acquired'. In the hallway Stephanie passes an equally strangely behaving Jordanna … 'target acquired'.
The order is given: 'detain the target'. Turning to discover that she's under attack Barbara strikes out to protect herself as Stephanie – now in uniform – joins the fight before fleeing from the building with Barbara. As they make their way towards the car park they realize that they're outnumbered and surrounded. As the zombies engulf them Barbara is knocked to the ground and urges Batgirl to save herself and run – Batgirl of course refuses to do any such thing as she continues to fight back. As the issue closes we see Barbara's 'frozen' body lifted high above the heads of her attackers and carried away as Batgirl loses her footing, falls to the ground before discovering that she and Barbara have been fighting with some very familiar faces.
As I've already indicated I certainly enjoyed this book. Whereas the series as a whole so far has focused quite heavily on characters and their development this issue featured a lot more action than we've been used to and as such the book felt faster-paced and a little darker – menacing even.
For what is a fun, even light read, the Batgirl title demands commitment from me as a reader I find. I enjoy Bryan Q. Miller's 'layered' approach to storytelling – by layered I'm referring to the practice of overlapping narration and dialogue from one scene to the next – and it works particularly well in this issue as we jump about from location to location.
The artwork styles of Garbett and Perez complemented one another beautifully – different enough to be distinctive without being so different that the book felt disjointed. Maybe had they both been drawing the same same characters then a lack of consistency might have been exposed but (if I've followed the artwork correctly) with Perez drawing the 'middle third' of the book this pitfall was neatly avoided.
Once again Stanley Lau delivered a superb cover for this issue – although I generally prefer a 'cleaner', less busy look and did appreciate what I saw as a nod towards those great comic book covers of the 50's and 60's that screamed drama and excitement at the reader.
Although a fairly low-key scene I enjoyed the early exchange between Barbara and Stephanie. It's clear from Babs words and demeanor that she knows how much she hurt Calculator and, of course, how much he hurt her and the Birds of Prey.
In a similar vein I enjoyed the scenes between Detective Gage and Stephanie where Steph so nearly let on that the two had previously met. I thought the panels where we saw a shy and blushing Steph were particularly sweet – another reminder that she's still a young girl – and I also enjoyed the 'coded' conversation that the two enjoyed where Steph told Gage that it wasn't just Babs that was looking out for him.
The appearances of Wendy Harris continue to tease – just what have the creative team got in store for her? I'm convinced she's got a role to play in the book – I think I've said before that I suspect she's being lined-up as Stephanie's handler – but we'll just have to wait and see. What I do know is it was nice to see her smiling for once!
As an aside, I enjoyed the appearance of a couple of 'notes from the editor' in this book – while such notes might be considered a little unnecessary by some for me it's an acknowledgment that every comic is someones first comic and an indication that the creators value their new and old readers alike.
Another excellent issue from the Batgirl team – if there's a better combination of great characters, strong writing and distinctive, eye-catching artwork being published at the moment then I've not come across it: highly recommended.
Batgirl #10:
Reviewed by Zaius
Warner Bros. sent over a film on Blu-ray for us to review. Now, I have to say I was planning on adding this film to my collection before it arrived from Warner Bros. I heard that this was an amazing movie, and really almost anything that involves Clint Eastwood in some form usually is. I was not disappointed at all by this. So let's dive into some of the details about Invictus.
Invictus follows the story of when Nelson Mandela, played by Morgan Freeman, first took office as president of South Africa. Mandela was imprisoned for over thirty years, before being released and running for office. When he first takes office, instead of taking revenge against those who jailed him, he focuses on bringing the people of South Africa together despite the color of their skin. He does this in an unusual way by focusing his attention on the country's rugby team. The whites love rugby, while the blacks prefer soccer. After Mandela takes office, there is a push to change the rugby team's colors, logo, and even name. By doing this the blacks would feel as if the power of the country has changed over to them, while the whites would feel as they do not matter anymore, now that Mandela is in power.
Mandela prevents the changes from happening and instead pushes the team itself to better themselves. As the team prepares for the Rugby World Cup, they go through many trials in the form of a new coach and manager, along with the stress of added responsibilities. One thing remains constant, the team's captain, played by Matt Damon. Mandela calls meetings with Damon's character to encourage him to push his team to win the World Cup. The catch is that the team is not very good to begin with. We follow the team as they better themselves and the entire country rallies around the rugby team.
Overall, I thought the film was very good. It was a great story, that could be held in the same regard as some other great sports movies. What sets this apart from the rest of the sports films, is that the story also follows the unity of an entire nation.
There are a couple of special features. Besides having a digital copy within the case of the Blu-ray, there are a couple of unique features worth watching. There is an in-depth picture-in-picture feature that has essentially video commentary as well as behind the scenes looks at various points of the creation of the film. There is also features that focus on Matt Damon as he learns to be a Rugby player, a look at Clint Eastwood's career as it spans over thirty ears, and Morgan Freeman as he meets with Nelson Mandela to prepare for the role. The last feature is a trailer for the music of Invictus.
Even though this has nothing to do with Batman, I thought this is well worth picking up. If you are a fan of sports films, this is a great addition to the genre. Since it isn't a Batman-related product, we won't give it batarangs, but we will go by the three point scale; Buy It, Rent It, Forget it.
I give this a BUY IT.
Below are the industry details as well as a trailer.
INVICTUS
COMES TO
BLU-RAY COMBO PACK AND DVD 5/18
FROM WARNER HOME VIDEO
Featuring Academy Award Nominated Performances from Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon
Also available ON DEMAND on May 18
The Eastwood Factor Extended Version
Feature-length Documentary Narrated by Academy Award®-winner Morgan Freeman Arrives on DVD June 1
One Team. One Country. The universal language of sports has never spoken so thrillingly as in Clint Eastwood’s Invictus. See how the story unfolds when Invictus arrives on Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD this May 18 from Warner Home Video. From acclaimed director, Clint Eastwood, Invictus tells the inspiring true story of a leader trying to rally his divided nation around an underdog sports team.
Newly elected President Mandela believes he can bring his people, who are racially and economically divided, together through the universal language of sport. To accomplish this inspiring feat, he joins forces with the captain of South Africa's underdog rugby team, Francois Pienaar, as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.
Invictus is the proud recipient of two Academy Award nominations this year for Best Actor (Morgan Freeman) and Best Supporting Actor (Matt Damon). Both Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman were also honored with Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Nominations for their performances. Clint Eastwood was honored with directing nominations from the Golden Globes and National Board of Review.
Invictus will be available on Single Disc for $28.98 SRP in widescreen format. The Blu-ray Disc will be available for $34.99 SRP.
On May 18th, Invictus will also be available ON DEMAND through Digital Cable, Satellite TV, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game consoles and it can be downloaded for rental or purchase on iTunes and Amazon Video On Demand.
Also on June 1, WHV will offer an up-close and personal look at the legendary Hollywood icon with the debut of a feature-length documentary, The Eastwood Factor Extended Version, narrated by Academy Award®-winner Morgan Freeman. There will be four new WHV Eastwood collections released and the world premiere May 31 Turner Classic Movies’ airing of the documentary. The Eastwood Factor Extended Version will be available as a single title for $14.97 SRP. The Eastwood collections include the Clint Eastwood Collection: a new Blu-ray box set featuring 10 films on Blu ray (BD), Essential Eastwood: Director’s Collection in both Blu-ray and DVD, Essential Eastwood: Action Collection, Eastwood Blu-ray Promotion with Blu-ray Double Features Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years at Warner Bros. and the previously released 19-disc collection will now include the feature-length The Eastwood Factor Extended Version.
A complete list of the titles in each collection is at the end of this release.
DVD ELEMENTS
The Invictus DVD contains the following special features:
• Matt Damon Plays Rugby (trt 6:48) – Turning a Hollywood star into a rugby player.
• Invictus music trailer (trt 2:32)
The Invictus Blu-ray Combo Pack contains the following special features:
Blu-ray Disc
• Matt Damon Plays Rugby (trt 6:48) – Turning a Hollywood star into a rugby player.
• Invictus music trailer (trt 2:32)
• Vision, Courage and Honor: Clint Eastwood and the Power of a True Story (trt 100 min) – Via PIP, Clint Eastwood explains in-depth what attracted him to this important story and how he brought it to life on film.
• Mandela Meets Morgan (trt 20:00 min) – Get to know Nelson Mandela as Morgan Freeman meets with him to prepare for the film.
• The Eastwood Factor (trt 22:20) – Cutdown of TCAT's feature length Schickel documentary.
DVD Combo Disc:
• SD Feature
• Digital Copy (iTunes and WMV files)
SYNOPSIS
From director Clint Eastwood, "Invictus" tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa's rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), to help unite their country.
Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.
BASICS
Standard DVD: $28.98 SRP
Blu-ray Disc: $ 34.99
Street Date: May 18, 2010
Languages: English, French, Latin Spanish
Subtitles: ESDH, French, Latin Spanish
Running time: 134 minutes
Rating: PG-13 (for brief strong language.)
DLBY/SURR DLBY/DGTL [CC]
– Clint Eastwood Collection a new Blu-ray box set featuring 10 films on Blu ray (BD), four of which are coming to BD for the first time. They are The Rookie, Kelly’s Heroes, Where Eagles Dare and Absolute Power. Also included in the Collection is Gran Torino, Letters from Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Unforgiven and Dirty Harry.
– Essential Eastwood: Director’s Collection in both Blu-ray and DVD; includes: Letters from Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River and Unforgiven.
– Essential Eastwood: Action Collection with Firefox, Heartbreak Ridge, Kelly's Heroes, Where Eagles Dare on DVD.
– Eastwood Blu-ray Promotion – Blu-ray Double Features with Kelly’s Heroes/Where Eagles Dare, The Enforcer/Sudden Impact and Dirty Harry/Magnum Force. Also new to Blu-ray: Absolute Power, Heartbreak Ridge and The Rookie
– Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years at Warner Bros. The previously released 19-disc collection will now include the feature-length The Eastwood Factor Extended Version.
Posted by Dustin
Red Robin #12 marks the end of the Chris Yost run on the title, and with it, the culmination of the story he has been telling about Tim Drake since issue 1, the only question is, was the story worth telling?
To me, the answer is sadly no. What started out as a strong series about Tim Drake becoming his own man, slowly but surely turned into a book about a whiny brat not believing that his father figure was dead. It went from being not as much as a hero, as becoming annoying. The issue opens with Ra’s plan to bring down everyone Tim cares about down being foiled, as Red Robin was able to call in friends to stop the league from committing mass murder, a quick fix, but really, there was no other way for the situation to end nicely, so I’ll let that slip.
Next we have a fight between Tim and Ra’s, this is meant to be the culmination of all the work Yost has put into Tim Drake, and what does Tim have to say for himself? “I’m probably going to die.” Awesome.
This issue was a fast read, like most of the issues for this series, not a fast read in the sense that I wanted more, it was more a fast read in that I was in awe at how very little I cared about Red Robin in this comic.
My main issue with the comic, is not the issue itself, which when read alone, is a good solid issue, it is nothing special, but Yost has certainly written worse. My problem has to do with the culmination of the work. With issue 8 I said how annoyed I was at how fast Yost glossed over the issue of Red Robin facing new villains, and in this issue, he does an even sloppier job of dealing with all the plot threads he had been dangling in front of the reader since issue one. Most of which only received one panel of explanation.
My personal favorite was the conclusion as to why Tim felt that Bruce was alive, and why he has felt that way since issue 1. I am not going to spoil it here, but I will say, it felt like Yost had ended the comic a page earlier and his editor came back to him and said he forgot to explain why Tim was such a dick and believed Bruce was alive.
Bing bang boom and we have the culmination of Yost’s run on the book.
The art is serviceable one again from Marcus To, who is slowly proving himself to be a damn fine secondary artist for a second tier book, I wouldn’t want him anywhere near Batman, judging by how he draws Dick here, but Red Robin seems to given him the opportunity to shine. I will say some of the pages felt like they should have been given more room, such as the page where Red Robin is kicked out of a window by Ra’s. This one pager would have looked awesome as a two page full spread, with Ra’s on one page and Red Robin on the other, it would have been awesome. As one page, it felt cluttered.
All in all a good issue of Red Robin, marred by being paced way too quickly for the comic to breathe. Pretty soon I will be doing a retrospective of the Chris Yost era of Red Robin as a whole, which will discuss how explain how badly I hated this pay off to his run. But right now, for an average issue with nothing spectacular art, I am giving this:
Red Robin #12:
Reviewed by Suavestar
Now that everything has calmed down in my part of the world, I have a chance to talk about something really interesting that I was introduced to at C2E2. Zibits. What? Zibits? What is that? Well, let me go through and tell you.
Zibits are little collectible RC robots. They are only about three inches tall. Each Zibit comes with small RC remote. The Zibit can move forward and turn 360 degrees with just a push of a button. The concept is very simple but is a lot of fun. This would have been something that I would have had a lot of fun with when I was a kid. Currently, there are a total of twelve different Zibits. They are being pushed as collectibles, just as much as RC robots. The best thing about it is that the price point is only around ten dollars. So you can interactivity for only a small price.
While at C2E2, I met with Bryan, a representative from Senario LLC. Bryan works on the creative side of things. He called this project his baby. Currently, these are available at online, but Bryan said that they will soon be available at Toys 'R Us. They are making there way to the UK as well. The hope for the line is that they can expand the line to include playsets as well. Take a look at the site and see what you think.
Posted by Dustin
Oh the things to say about this book. First of all, the story did seem okay for what it was, and I consider it decent popcorn entertainment, so for face value, it did entertain.
Pretty much a paint-by-numbers resolution of the story; Superman takes care of NRX-G, kills him in fact, but since it’s an cybernetic life form I guess we are giving Supes a pass there. Batman tackles the Durlan on the ship, pretty much your standard cliched villain that thinks his cause is justified versus Batman who looks on with disgust.
Then Superman jumps aboard the ship as the Durlan posing as Gaines had the ship doing a Kamikaze run into downtown Metropolis. You get a fight with Superman and the Durlan, Superman wins, Superman stops the ship from crashing into the Daily Planet Building, the Durlan seemingly kills himself, Bruce and Clark have a pow-wow concerning terrorist ways of warfare.
Oh, and a piece of the Durlan is seen floating around where the ship splash-landed, so apparently Casey is doing more “setup” for a possible continuation of the centuries long Durlan-Kryptonian war.
I can kind of see what Casey might have been going with an almost morality tale about guerrilla warfare, but it just seems to come off flat and almost cliched. Yeah, yeah that is wrong headed and “WE must do better.” The same old, we shouldn’t be the bad guys argument. Quite frankly, that isn’t what I am reading comic books for. If I wanted that lesson about how to fight a war, I’d watch Sean Hannity, not read Superman/Batman!
That aside, the major gripe I have with this book is the trade dress. Yes I know, as I said last time, a comic book reader should be used to this sort of thing by now, but still, the conclusion issue mentions nothing about the “Our Worlds At War” story despite the banner splashed across the cover. And apparently this “new direction” ends here as Paul Levitz takes over, with Jerry Ordway doing the art, with a brand new story next month. Very disappointing as this seemed like a great idea for the title. The two Icons of the DC Universe and various events throughout the years, it could have been gold! But instead it seems that the direction was just your standard “tie-in that really doesn’t tie-in, we are just selling books” crossover. For what it’s worth though, issue # 72’s cover, also the cover art for the latest TBU Comic Podcast, done by Fabrizio Fiorentino does look awesome, and the story does sound intriguing.
I enjoyed it for what it was, but considering my expectations for the run and the big letdown for the new direction.
Superman/Batman #71:
Reviewed by SteveJRogers