Superb Heroes: Batman: Going Sane

Superb Heroes is a semi-regular column celebrating comics that are exemplary and/or exceptional in their treatment of superoheroism.
 
The notion that superheroes and supervillains need one another is exceedingly familiar in the comicbook world, even trite. In fact, the idea that good and evil are mutually inclusive is much older than comics as a medium. How can you have light without its corresponding darkness? Would we even know what goodness looked like if there was no evil to which we could compare it? You know what I mean. You've been stoned in college.
     In the Batman mythology, the theme of the Joker and Batman needing each other has been perhaps over-explored. More specifically, there is the well-worn concept that the existence of a Batman creates the necessity of a Joker, that the hero causes the villain. Both live-action Batman films to include the Joker used this causal relationship as key pieces of their stories, though in admittedly very different ways, and numerous Batman comics of varying popularity and influence have done the same. What makes Going Sane stand out for me is that it offers the characters an actual escape from their unending battle. Rather than simply discussing or displaying how Batman and the Joker feed into one another, Going Sane gives us a look at a world where one of them believes they've reached a definitive end to their conflict, and shows us what life could be like for the Joker if Batman was permanently out of the picture. Of course, it ends up being only a temporary condition, and there's some question as to whether or not the identity that the Joker creates for his new bat-free lifestyle is even ever "real," but the fragility and short-lived nature of the situation is all part of the appeal. We as readers know the new state of affairs can never last, even though both Batman and the Joker would be happier if it did, and therein lies the tragedy for everyone in-story and out.
     Going Sane is split into four chapters (having originally been published as issues #65-68 of Legends of the Dark Knight; I own the collected TPB) and the first part reads pretty much like any other Joker story. It is, in fact, nearly boring in its simplicity and lack of originality, which ends up being the point. It needs to be a run-of-the-mill experience right up until the end, so that the end can catch the Joker and the reader off-guard. After pulling some fairly lame tricks—a public explosion and then a violent kidnapping, neither of which are exactly minor offenses but they're no great feats for Batman's greatest villain—the Joker sets up a predictably booby-trapped cabin for his inevitable confrontation with the Dark Knight. Only, unlike ever before, this time the Joker's plan works. Batman finds himself distracted by his own furious distaste for the Joker's antics. He is so fed up with this bad guy, and so angry about Joker's persistence, that he ends up slightly off his game, just enough that when the cabin explodes, he's still inside, instead of making it out in the nick of time like he usually does. The Joker doesn't expect or especially want this outcome, and even with the thoroughly defeated and seemingly deceased Batman at his feet, Joker assumes his old foe is playing possum at first. When he realizes he's finally won the battle he thought would go on forever, he's delighted but also a little scared, panicked, and even madder than before. His already screwed-up psyche breaks in a whole new way, unable to cope with the idea of Batman dying, and he develops a new personality: Joseph Kerr, a quiet, unassuming, shy accountant.
     That's where we find Joker in chapter two, living his life as Joseph, having nightmares about a clown and a bat that he can't understand but we realize are the distorted memories of his real past, as opposed to the imagined past that came with this new identity. Joseph hates his dreams, but seems fairly content otherwise, and is a quite likable sad sack. His story is one of new love; he meets and falls for Rebecca, and she for him, pretty much instantaneously. We see their relationship develop from both points of view, with Joseph and Rebecca each narrating different parts of the story. Their affection is so genuine and pure, it's almost overly saccharine, but J.M. DeMatteis does a good job selling it by making both Rebecca and Joseph such delicate, decent, relatable people. They're looking for someone to connect with and trust in, and they find that in each other, so their love is believable and satisfying if perhaps too sweet at times.
     DeMatteis also wastes no time in breaking Joseph down and revealing the villain hiding underneath. Because the reader meets Joseph largely through Rebecca's eyes, we come to know and root for him rather quickly, so when his dark side starts to push through and he struggles to reign it in, we're already on his side, already sad for what we know the end of his story will have to be. He loses his temper with Rebecca to the point of nearly striking her, figures out that his name is an weak pun, and gradually deteriorates as time goes on, his true self too big and forceful an entity to contain. Then in chapter three, Batman returns, and when Joseph discover this in chapter four, he loses all control and effectively dies as the Joker reemerges.
     Batman's recovery is the focus of chapter three, and it's the weakest part of the narrative. Though there is a pseudo-romantic dynamic between him and Lynn Eagles, the doctor who rescues him, it's way more restrained, uneventful, and uninteresting than Joseph and Rebecca's, so it doesn't do well in comparison. It is important, though, because it represents a "normal" life that is tempting to Bruce Wayne the man if not Batman the hero. Though Bruce never seriously thinks he could give up being Batman, his time spent healing is also time spent relaxing, maybe the first relaxation he's had since his parents' death, so he toys with the idea of staying there for good. In the end, though, he heads back to Gotham almost as soon as he's able, eager for vengeance against the man who nearly took his life. That's all seen via flashback, while in the present Batman starts to search for wherever the Joker has been hiding, and does eventually find Joseph Kerr and peg him as a suspect. Invading Kerr's apartment, Batman sees a picture showing the obvious love between Joseph and Rebecca, and learns from the building's super that they are on their honeymoon. Knowing the Joker would never be capable of anything even resembling love, Batman decides to rule Kerr out. It's another mistake, but this one caused by Batman staying level-headed and Joker acting as uncharacteristically as possible, whereas the first time Batman was unfocused and Joker was super-extra like himself.
     That turnaround also marks the start of a turning point, since chapter four is pretty much entirely devoted to reestablishing the regular status quo. Joseph learns that Batman is back, snaps, and disappears into a stormy night, believed drowned by the authorities but never by Rebecca, not completely. She holds out the depressing hope that Joseph will come back to her somehow if she just continues to love him, and as far as she's concerned, she has no choice. He was a once-in-a-lifetime find in her mind, and her faith in his eventual return may well be all she has to keep her going. As for Batman and Joker, the conclusion of their shared story is as typical as the beginning was: Joker re-kidnaps his previous victim, Batman determinedly hunts Joker down and bests him, Joker ends up in custody. There is a moment where Batman has to show that he's better than the baddies by saving the Joker's life rather than letting him drown, but...the reader understands that Batman essentially killed Joseph, so he ends up as much a villain as the Joker. He might be the worse of the two. After all, Joker is just doing his Joker thing from top to bottom. Batman's stubbornness, his unwillingness to do exactly what the Joker did and transition into a new, peaceful life based on love rather than hate, it kills and innocent man and breaks the heart of an innocent woman. And yes, ok, the innocent man was just a false persona the Joker's brain manufactured to protect him from the shock of killing Batman, and the Joker identity would probably have bubbled back to the surface at some point even if Batman stayed away, indeed was starting to do before Batman returned, but still. Batman ends up being the cause of the Joker's victory over Joseph's will to keep existing, and that makes me kind of hate Batman. Joseph deserved a better ending, and Rebecca damn sure did.
     Of course, the tragic endings for all the characters are also part of what make Going Sane so good, because we see them all coming from the start, yet they still hurt when they finally arrive. DeMatteis builds the story intelligently, giving himself a lot of space to make the Rebecca-Joseph romance click as fast and fully as it needs to for the rest of the story to succeed. Artists Joe Staton and Steve Mitchell (pencils and inks, respectively) also do really strong work with Joseph's design and whole physicality. He is a little hunched and withdrawn, with sunken yet soft facial features. It's all built on what is recognizably the Joker's frame, but in such a way as to set the two characters apart as well. That's important, because we need to believe that Joseph is the Joker, but also feel for him the opposite of what we feel for the Joker, seeing them as separate people while knowing they share a body. The art is more responsible for that than the script by far.
     It all comes together to make for a brief but beautiful look at the whole Joker-Batman thing, the mutual dependance and two-way corruption that are the core of their relationship. Going Sane doesn't just suggest that Batman might be responsible for the Joker, it places that responsibility square on his shoulders by making his reappearance the final straw for Joseph. Yet Batman knows nothing about it, and thus has no reason to even consider that he might give the Joker a reason to be. And the good that Batman does is underlined, too; Lynn tells a story about Batman saving her once from what would most likely have been her murder, not just by pummeling her attacker but through providing her comfort after the fact. She calls him a healer, and it's a valid point, but I'm not sure it makes up for the demolition of Rebecca's whole world or the destruction of Joseph Kerr as a person. That's the main attraction of this story, and the reason I picked it for a Superb Heroes column: the hero and villain each get to play hero and villain at different times along the way, and they're both equally compelling and effective in both roles. This comic erases the average superhero genre good-evil dichotomy and presents a reality in which the scales can slide dramatically with any shift in circumstances. That's a nicely nuanced, entertaining, frustrating-in-a-good-way approach to superhero storytelling, and it goes especially well with the classic Batman-Joker rivalry.

Positivity Instead of True Detective and Batman

I was all geared up to write a negative post tonight, venting my frustrations with the New 52 Batman's first two arcs, and discussing how these frustrations were similar to those I had with True Detective. In a nutshell, what bothers me about both is that the heroes in them lose and fuck up repeatedly, but in the end both the protagonists and, in my opinion, the series themselves believe that the good guys have won. What they actually accomplish is barely surviving, but they call it victory and I'm supposed to buy it and I don't.
     That could have been paragraphs but I'm just not in the mood to be that negative in that much detail for that long. Plenty has been said in favor and against both subjects, and I'm in a good mood. I debuted on Comics Should Be Good today, which is a literal dream come true. CSBG was one of the first blogs I discovered when I went searching for criticism on comics, which I'm sure is true for a lot of people. I respect the hell out of everyone who writes for that site, and now I get to be part of it, and that's real nice. It makes the piss-poor endings of True Detective and "Night of the Owls" seem pretty unimportant, even though both involved the good guys defeating personal villains but not the larger forces of evil behind those villains. Batman, at least, says he'll keep looking in-story, but in real life the effect is the same. Half-hearted, small-time, ultra-violent win and then boom, story over, on to the next one.
     I also went to the comicbook store today, because it's Wednesday, and was pleasantly surprised by several of the titles in my box. I didn't realize the new Ultimate Universe comics were coming out already. I stopped paying attention in the middle of Cataclysm but I'm so into all of the All-New Ultimates cast (lame title but it's what they're doing) and the creative team and cast of Ultimate FF are all so interesting that I went ahead and signed up for all the new Ultimate titles anyway. I have faith the universe can come out the other end of a crappy crossover and be good, because if the rumors are true, that's happened before. I was hoping that would be the case when "Night of the Owls" wrapped up, but it swiftly moved into an even bigger and worse crossover, "Death of the Family," which is a story about how Batman and Joker are both just playing for funsies, not for realsies, guys, c'mon!
     To top things off, the comics I bought today were from the last two weeks because I failed to go to the shop last week. And then to go right ahead and overflow the cup, I still have comics from the previous two weeks I haven't read because I keep doing or reading other things instead. So there's a meaty pile of new stuff to dig into over the next few days, and looking ahead, my schedule seems just free enough for me to do it. So that's exciting, and the icing on what was already a delicious cake of comicbook happenings today. I don't want to dampen that mood by going on and on about how True Detective is a brilliantly-performed character study of the two least likable or original characters I've seen in a while, dressed up as an equally uninspired mystery story that never even gets solved.
     I think that negativity in criticism is a good and necessary thing, but I know I tend to skew positive in my own, and that's because I generally have more energy and patience to explore the things I like. If I plan to review something, read it, and hate it, I'm more than happy to say so, and sometimes I do use the blog just to rail against whatever's on my nerves. That's what it's for, in part. But I have to really be in the right place to put that kind of effort into negativity, whereas when I'm picking apart my reasons for liking something, that in itself is energizing. I imagine for some the opposite is true, and for others neither apply and they operate on a whole different spectrum, and that's also a good and necessary thing. But despite plans to the contrary, I find myself unable or unwilling to devote this space to tearing anything apart right now. I'm too pleased with comics at the moment.
     Even though, sadly, none of the comics I follow have Batman in them anymore.

Robin, Robin, Red Robin, and Robin

On Wednesday, the current Robin died. Yesterday, I published my second "1987 And All That" column on The Chemical Box, about Max All Collins' revamp of the Jason Todd character, who would eventually become the first Robin to die. The pseudo-coincidental timing of this was unplanned (I committed to writing my Robin thing a couple months ago), but the result was that in the days leading up to the publication of my piece, I got to read a TON of other online articles about the Boy Wonder, exploring the character's history, purpose, necessity, and so forth. They were mostly good, often educational, and sometimes enlightening. But there was one thing that none of them touched upon*, and it's been worming around in my brain for the past couple days, so I thought I'd spew it out here:

Explaining the present state of Robin to anyone not currently reading comicbooks is a difficult and frustrating task.

In the New 52, Batman has had 4 Robins in five years. One of them has died and returned, and another is Batman's now-dead biological son. Neither of those two, however, is Dick Grayson, the Robin with whom most people are familiar (by origin story if not name). And the remaining guy isn't technically Robin but Red Robin, a mantle he's always used in the New 52 for reasons still unexplained. I'm losing myself a little in trying to summarize all of this, and I already know that I know what I mean.

I've had a couple of conversations with lapsed or non-readers about Batman's sidekick and how much turnover the position sees, and in general the response if bafflement ("Wait, which one is this?/How many are there, again?/Who is the son's mom? Talia what?"). Now, it's certainly not anyone's duty to make the history of the Robin role (or that of any ongoing character) easy to digest or understand, so I don't even think I'm complaining here. It's just something I have noticed and been reminded of in recent days. "Robin" now includes a complex, confusing, chronologically improbable legacy that has only been widened by the death of the most recent child to carry the name. Damien Wayne will now be replaced by a fifth kid, who I believe we already know is going to be a young woman, although that may just be Internet speculation. It's exciting, I suppose, to see who the newest Robin will turn out to be, but that doesn't make her addition to the greater Batman tapestry any less complicating. In an industry that needs fresh fan blood, a female Robin might potentially bring some in, which is great. Yet at the same time, every additional piece of the ever-expanding continuity puzzle means one more obstacle for any hypothetical new reader to overcome.

And it raises the question, in my mind, Why does Batman keep bringing in new Robins, anyway? Evidently it only takes like a year to graduate out of the job anymore, and now that there is a Batman, Inc. in place, including all of the previous Robins, the hiring of yet another short-term underaged personal assistant seems somewhat redundant. With the convoluted history surrounding Robin, maybe its time for DC to give it a bit of a rest, let Batman and his gaggle of former proteges handle things on their own for a while. Or maybe I am just zeroing in on a pointless detail that doesn't matter. Could be both.

*That I saw. If this was, in fact, covered elsewhere, my apologies for missing it and repeating the sentiment.

Pull List Review: Batman #15

Batman kind of sucks at his job these days, huh? The Court of Owls had secret locations covering the city, yet Batman had no idea. Joker has been hiding and planning for a year, and Batman isn't prepared for his return whatsoever. Arkham Asylum and all of its guards have apparently been under the Joker's control for quite some time, to the point where he actually had materials brought in so he could build...something big and loud and scary, I'm sure. How could Batman not keep tabs on that? Does he never check in, take a quick tour of Arkham? Make sure all the baddies are still locked away, double check that his arch freaking nemesis isn't running the whole show, that kind of thing. I mean what does he monitor? He's got a whole crew of kids supposedly helping him watch this city, but nobody had eyes on the asylum for the criminally insane where all of their opponents end up? Ridiculous.
     I guess that's sort of the Joker's point in this "Death of the Family" story: Batman has grown soft because of his extended network of allies, and isn't protecting Gotham properly anymore. But it's one thing to have the maniac villain believe that and another to have it actually be true. The level of incompetence from Batman under Scott Snyder's pen is kind of astounding, and there is a part of me that's starting to feel like he deserves whatever the Joker has in store for him. I'm not rooting for the Joker just yet, but I'm not really in Batman's corner, either. If he's going to be this careless, then he shouldn't have the job.
     This issue underlines his carelessness even more with the story of him finding the Joker's calling card in the Batcave years ago. Evidently he just decided, without doing any investigating (because it's not like he's meant to be an amazing detective or anything) that the card could not possibly have meant the Joker got into the cave, and so he never did anything about it. He only even tells the story when ALL of the other members of the Bat-Family get up in his business about it. If they hadn't conversation-ambushed him en masse, he would've kept the whole thing a secret, and even when he does tell them, he's a stubborn jerk about it. No matter how reasonably they argue that the card could very well mean Joker has all of their secret identities, Batman insists that's impossible and, eventually, just leaves.
     And they let him go! A room full of capable heroes, and nobody does so much as grabbing his arm to try and force him not to keep going solo on this case. He's doing a crappy job on his own, but all his little minions just accept it anyway, even with Alfred's life at stake. The more I think about it, the more I agree with the Joker. The Bat-Family is bad for Batman, and, taking it a step further, I think he's bad for them. If this issue is indicative of their dynamic, then Gotham is screwed.
     Greg Capullo, at least, is still doing excellent work on this title. I finally think his Batman looks better than his Bruce Wayne, which is a long time coming and as it should be. And I do love the new bandaged Joker. It accomplishes just what it seems to be aiming for: making a man who's already obviously unhinged look like he's reached a whole new level of insanity and depravity. So the opening fight scene between Batman and Joker all looked spot on, most notably the page where Bats jumps out from a wall of flame and punches Joker hard enough to make his mask slip.
     The strongest visual sequence, though, was the two-page flashback, done in a faded and scratchy style as if the pages were being watched through an old projector. It's a very interesting and effective technique, and I actually hope we get some more visits to the past like that before this storyline wraps up. Also the Joker's gas blimp looked hilarious.
     But Capullo is mostly drawing a large group conversation, and though he never makes it unclear, some of those pages do feel cramped, barely fitting in something like 8-10 panels each. While he handles all of the Bat-Family well, things get a tad claustrophobic by the end of the dialogue, which is too bad, especially considering that if the immediately preceding and entirely pointless two-page dream sequence had been cut, there might've been more room for the real conversation.
     So yeah, I was pretty frustrated with this. Theoretically, I don't mind having a hero who's not at the top of his game. But Snyder's Batman raises the question of how he ever got to where he is today. If he is truly so over-confident and capable of such enormous ignorance when it comes to what's going on in Gotham, then why is he such a popular superhero? How did he get these kids to follow him? How did he ever defeat the Joker before? And if the idea is that Snyder has intentionally made Batman worse than he could and should be for the purposes of this crossover, well...that's fine, but it makes me want him to lose. If he's slipping, if he's losing his Batmojo, then he needs to step down and let someone else watch over his city. So, good luck, Joker, you violent sociopath, you! I hope you bring the Bat to his knees!
5.0/10

The Cheese Stands Alone: Batman #422

The Cheese Stands Alone is a semi-regular column featuring examinations of single issues that can be understood and appreciated on their own, without reading any of the preceding or following issues of the series.

Technically speaking, Batman #422 is the conclusion of a two-part story begun in the previous issue, but it works all by itself for a couple of reasons. First of all, the opening page efficiently recaps all the information you need: two men, Karl Branneck and Vito Procaccini, have been murdering women together, and now Batman is on to them, which frightens Vito but only strengthens Branneck's resolve. Secondly, Batman #422 focuses narrowly on Branneck, who narrates for most of the story and is on more pages than anyone else, and because it's more a character study than it is the latter half of a Batman story, we get a full portrait of this serial killer contained in a single issue. Not a flattering portrait, or even necessarily an enjoyable one, but a complete one nonetheless.
     Karl isn't just a scumbag and a murderer, he's an aggressively sexist egomaniac who sees his killing spree as a political statement on contemporary gender dynamics. Pissed off over women who refuse to be subservient to men, Branneck views his actions as righteous, and seems to consequently think of himself as not only beyond reproach but, to some extent, untouchable and/or invincible. He isn't at all bothered by Batman being on his trail, apparently unimpressed by the hero's abilities, and even describes himself as a "match" for the Dark Knight. And even after Bats breaks his jaw and brings him in, Branneck stays smug and self-assured, to the point that when his case is thrown out of court, he decides that it's because he was "born under a lucky star." This level of hubris, coupled with his excessive, insane hatred of the opposite sex, immediately makes Branneck a truly despicable villain, and the more captions we get in his ignorant and rage-filled voice, the more disgusting he becomes as a character.
     In fact, I'd say that Branneck's narration, more than anything else, is what makes Batman #422 such an effective tale. Early on, it starts to feel like maybe writer Jim Starlin could've cut a handful of the caption boxes, because Branneck seriously never shuts up, and after a while all his misogyny and cockiness becomes wearisome. But it is right around the time that you start to think you can't take another panel of this madman's self-important ranting that his next would-be victim suddenly turns the tables and slashes his throat with a straight edge razor. Of course, even as he bleeds to death in the street, Branneck doesn't let up, but it is much easier to read his nonsense when you're watching him die. Whether or not Starlin intended it to be this way, having Branneck's internal monologue be so constant and repetitious ends up being the most unlikable (and therefore important) part of the character, right up to the very end of his life. While I might normally complain about the excessive amount of heavy-handed captions, here they are a necessity, because they make me so sick and tired of this horrible man that I am actually able to root for his killer and cheer at his death.
     The woman who finally takes Branneck out is Judy Koslosky, sister of one of his previous victims, who's been tracking Branneck & Vito for a long time. When she finally discovers who they are, she begins following Branneck around everywhere he goes, and we see him notice her several times in the issue before their final confrontation. She gets his attention on purpose, staring at him, making sure she's right there whenever he turns around, until he grows so sick of seeing her that, naturally, he selects her as his newest target. Unfortunately for him, this is exactly what Judy wants, because it allows her to get close enough to exact her revenge. When questioned by the police, Judy shows no remorse. She's not even the least bit shaken up about killing a man. She calmly, proudly confesses, points out that no jury will convict her, and argues that what she did wasn't murder, it was putting down a "mad dog."
     The moment where Judy strikes her fatal blow is easily the strongest scene of the issue. We know ahead of time that she'll be an important character, because she is so strongly set up throughout the issue by Branneck noticing her wherever he goes. But there's no reason, necessarily, to expect her to be anything other than another victim, perhaps a woman who Batman will save at the last minute or who will act as a way for the audience to really see Branneck at work. Instead, in a single, sudden panel, she becomes his downfall. Though Mark Bright's pencils are strong and clear for all of Batman #422, it is this scene where they really shine. Not only because of how quickly and determinedly Judy strikes, but also the subsequent shock and horror we get from Branneck. Looking down at the blood on his hand and realizing it's pouring from his jugular, Branneck becomes a terrified child, literally crawling away from his attacker in desperation and fear. After all the smirking and swagger he's shown us so far, it's immensely satisfying to watch him so quickly become scared and pathetic. And then we get a gorgeous full-page splash wherein Branneck is visited by the ghosts of his victims, surrounding and overwhelming him in his final moments. Here his terror reaches its peak, and again, it's a warm and welcome feeling to see this self-important ass finally brought down several pegs and given a taste of his own medicine.
     I know it sounds like I am endorsing the notion of murdering a murderer, when really I am against it conceptually. I'm not a proponent of this kind of eye-for-an-eye justice, yet in reading Batman #422 I wholeheartedly support and side with Judy Koslosky. Even though really, with her self-righteousness and smug attitude, there's a fairly thin line between her and Branneck. Why is it, then, that I so completely agree with Judy's actions? Partly, as I've said, there's all the legwork done by Starlin, Bright, and company to make me utterly despise Branneck while he's alive. And of course there's the fact that he's a fictional character, so his death isn't as heavy as it would be if he were real. But perhaps more than either of those factors, there's the weak, insincere (or, at best, half-sincere) speech Batman gives to Robin at the issue's close. The Robin in question is Jason Todd, and this issue comes only a handful of months before the Joker kills him, so by now he's firmly established as the angry, out-of-control Robin with something to prove. So he, too, sides with Judy in this case, as happy to have Branneck dead as she is. Batman, as is his duty, tries to convince Jason that this is not the right answer, that taking the law into your own hands and killing someone, no matter how awful they may be, is always going to be the wrong decision. Yet he says this all in decidedly lackluster fashion, even admitting out loud that he sometimes wishes things were different, i.e. that he could just go ahead and take his opponents out permanently. And it's just one page in a comicbook chock full of pages devoted to making the reader wish Branneck would go away forever. The weakness of this counterpoint, both in terms of the space it's given and the lack of enthusiasm with which it's delivered, is likely the strongest reason for my cheering Judy on. Without being given a convincing or even inviting alternative, I remain as pleased as ever that Branneck is dead.
     It's a strange place to land at the end of a superhero comic, to be sure. I'm not usually left rooting for the morally ambiguous character and thinking of the "good guys" as wimps, but here we are. Is this the intention of the issue? Hard to say. But it's the result, regardless of what the creators were aiming for. They did such an outstanding job making Branneck into an unbearable prick that watching him die in the street felt great. And I assume that this is precisely what they wanted, that the whole point of the issue is to make the reader root for Judy despite, perhaps, our better judgments. It's certainly the effect it has on me every time I read it, and it always makes me reexamine my stance on the concept of capital punishment, revenge, etc. Ultimately it's not persuasive enough to change my mind in the long-term, but that a single issue could even raise such powerful doubts is impressive enough. Batman doesn't kill, but doesn't and shouldn't are two very different things. It's a facet of the classic character well worth exploring, remembering, and, once in a while, reconsidering.

Pull List Review: Batman #11

In the conclusion to this sprawling Court of the Owls story, Owlman (are we officially calling him that? I am...) and Batman each get a chance to make big, sweeping speeches that summarize their individual interpretations of their relationships to each other and to Gotham. And both speeches are largely pretty lame. It's not that they are badly-written, because they're not. Scott Snyder has obviously dug deep into the psychologies of these men, so they express themselves clearly and sincerely. It's just that the whole thing feels a little easy, script-wise. First our villain spouts the details of his history, his motives, and his goals in the middle of a fight so intense and fast-moving that I find it hard to believe Batman could even hear him. And then, after Bruce gets away but doesn't really defeat his would-be brother in a long-term sense, he has yet another revelation about the essence of Gotham. I appreciate Snyder's love for the city as a character, as a force which is just as powerful as any superperson, but that concept is wearing thin from overuse. Although I did crack a wide smile when Bruce tried to say Gotham wasn't Batman and Dick responded, "It's a little Batman. Come on."

Also, I hate the "there was no body to uncover" resolution. It's cliche, it's a cop out, and in this particular case it makes no sense. Why would Owlman survive one explosion and then immediately attack again, only to survive a second explosion and then go into hiding? Wasn't his goal, basically, to kill Bruce at all costs? So why isn't he charging into Wayne Manor while his enemy stares pensively out the window in a wheelchair? I know he'll return someday with a whole new twisted revenge scheme, and probably that'll be a fun and messed up story, but it doesn't help me deal with this illogical short-term ending. I'm glad the Court of Owls won't be the title's focus for a while, but not satisfied with the reasons for it.

Luckily, while the story was a disappointment, Greg Capullo's art was just as on point as always. He really came into his own on this book over the last year, and his awesome rendering of the Batman-Owlman slugfest helps distract from their weaker dialogue. Even though his mask, Owlman's madness and bloodlust is abundantly evident. He has moments here of being truly, effectively terrifying. And nothing tops the panel where Batman is whipped into the side of a glass building.

I was not wild about the page where we suddenly had a maze to solve. Felt like an excuse to fill one of those final, slower wrap-up pages, and it added little. But the rest of the conversation between Bruce and Dick is handled well by Capullo. Bruce is contemplative without being as brooding as we've seen him lately; you can feel him beginning, however slightly, to relax after months of high tension. And Dick helps move this process along with his humor and lightheartedness, which Capullo captures perfectly. So while the scene itself was sort of a limp across the finish line, it was still good-looking and emotionally rich.

I'm glad to be done with the Owls, even temporarily, because in my mind the whole story peaked several issues ago. Once Bruce escaped that labyrinth way back when, the whole affair began losing steam, and this final issue sputters out rather than racing to the epic conclusion promised on the cover.
6.0/10

Pull List Review: Batman #10

I suppose I should warn of major spoilers ahead, but I feel like the reveal of this issue has been long-spoilt elsewhere already. But just to get it out of the way, turns out Lincoln March is actually Thomas Wayne, Jr. According to him, anyway. I'm fairly confident it will end up being the truth, and my response to it, at this point, is pretty mild. I don't have any strong objections to the addition of a second Wayne boy, but I wasn't exactly wowed by the discovery, either. I am more interested to see how it effects Bruce in the long term, how it effects everyone in his world, than I am in the piece of information itself.

Everything that leads up to that reveal is much stronger, though. The very opening scene was classic Batman, getting all up in some punk criminal's face. Equally classic was the Alfred-Bruce conversation, where the poor, determined butler tried as he always does to convince his boss that it was time to call it a day, to let a case rest. And actually, I quite liked the story of Willowwood, and hope it's a location we get to revisit for some reason or other in future Gotham escapades.

The art in Batman #10 trumps anything accomplished by the story, though. Greg Capullo has gotten better and more refined with every issue on the title, and this is definitely some of his strongest work. Not just when drawing Batman, who is back to full strength and such a powerful, imposing figure, even alone in a room and seen from a distance. No, Capullo brings his A game to every page: his design for March's Talon suit, the detail he puts into the Willowwood ruins, Mrs. Powers creepy bird hand, the owl mask cracking against the elevator bars...it's a solid, spooky issue with a lot of memorable images.

Just as strong if not stronger than Capullo's pencils, though, are FCO Plascencia's colors. They struck me first on the splash page of the dead Court of Owls members at their dining table, but then came on even stronger once we were inside Willowwood. Just a perfect mix of dulled greens and reddish browns to display the rot and age of the place, and it added a lot to the eeriness of the whole scene.

I thought the back-up story was a bit stronger this month than last, but not by a great deal. Definitely helping to flesh out the main story in interesting ways. And Rafeal Albuquerque draws a truly disturbing suicidal owl. But ultimately it felt pretty disposable, which I'm never a fan of. Perhaps I'll be proven wrong in the end.
6.5/10

Pull List Reviews 05/31/2012

Light week, this fifth Wednesday of the month, made even lighter by my shop somehow including only the Batman Annual but not the Animal Man one in my folder before selling out of both. I love them because they give a generous discount, but they've got to get more consistent or I'm switching back to the old place. Just another mostly empty threat made online. Anyway...

Batman Annual #1: It claims to be a part of "Night of the Owls", but for me, the only thing about this story that didn't work was it's unnecessary attempt to be connected to the crossover. That's a mild complaint, though, because mostly I like this even-crazier Mr. Freeze. He doesn't seem to veer too far from the classic interpretation, except that the unreasonableness of his obsession has been beefed up a little. And I'm almost always in favor of making an insane character even less stable. This annual is 100% an origin story for the New 52 version of Freeze, and it succeeds inasmuch as I look forward to the character's future exploits. The biggest strength of this first new Batman Annual, though, is Jason Fabok, colored by Peter Steigerwald. Everything has a sort of elevated realism, an inherent drama that fits Mr. Freeze's extreme personality. Particularly the Wayne-Fries scenes, where Bruce is a stark and impending black figure in the midst of Victor's spacious white lab. And of course the opening and closing pages of a young Victor and his mother, which were practically a complete short story all their own. A gorgeous one.
8.0/10

Monocyte #4: From the very beginning, Monocyte has been, as a title and a character, a sort of non-stop engine of forward momentum and insane imagery. The finale is no exception. Monocyte, aka Augustus, has been killing off all the major players one by one, and once his final target dies in this issue, he heads back to his master to sacrifice himself, as he was always meant to do. Now, to be honest, I don't recall exactly who the winged woman is or why she wants to save Monocyte, because it's been kind of a while since the last issue came out, but she manages to convince Grod, who up to now has seemed quite the villain, to lend a hand, and so the "hero" of the story is saved. I think. Truth is, this title is far more fun to just stare at than to read, and even though I always take my time with it, ultimately it is Menton3's mad, unsettling artwork that sticks long after the words and plot details have faded. This issue, there are also eight pages by Chris Newman, and even though at times they are a bit more confusing than Menton3's, they fit in nicely overall. Then we get a two-page spread from Ben Templesmith which depicts a scene of obscure, bloody chaos that I'm not even sure is part of the story, but I enjoyed nevertheless. I always enjoy the look and feel of Monocyte, which is singular and fully-realized and creepy but in a comforting way. But as I read through this issue, I found myself feeling glad it was ending. I've had my fill of these bleak, verbose characters and their blackened world. Not a bad ride, but a simple and, in the end, fairly repetitive one.
5.5/10

Rachel Rising #8: I think of Rachel Rising as always being quiet and eerie, but this issue was especially so. Usually, there's one or more major acts of violence involved, or at least some extreme, insane moment somehow connected to death. But in Rachel Rising #8, the only real violence lasts for one brief panel, and we never see its results. Other than that, the closest thing is a wordless, inscrutable scene of wolves being guided through eating a corpse by the silent woman who has been a powerful presence since the beginning. Rather than greatly up the ante here, Terry Moore more simply checks in with numerous members of his ever-growing cast, giving each one of them an individualized moment. From the first page with Dr. Siemen and his beloved dead woman to the last one with the terrified young girl. It may not be as drastic or intense as previous chapters, but it feels good to have this brief calm, to let things simmer rather than boil for a minute. Then, of course, central to all this is the ever-more-endearing relationship between Jet and Earl. Watching that blossom is my new favorite thing about this series, and watching it grow, in whatever direction it takes, is the thing I am most looking forward to. Because there's no telling exactly where anyone is headed in this story yet, but I already know it'll be bizarre and compelling, so I want to follow them there.
8.0/10

Ultimate Comics Ultimates #11: Penciled by four different artists and colored by two others, on top of being scripted by two different writers, Ultimates #11 is a little bit jumpy all around. The art more or less transitions naturally, with the biggest exception probably being Butch Guice's two pages. They're very good, but distinctly different in style than the others. Honestly, though, it's hard not to notice all the art changes, and they come in rapid succession, each one meaning a new location. The story is a tad uneven as well. It takes a long time for Stark and Thor to talk to the President, then we don't even see most of that conversation, and it's all set-up anyway for what we really want: Stark making his move against The City. Alas, that is not to come until (fingers crossed) next issue. Meanwhile, the rest of the Ultimates get their asses handed to them, which is an alright fight scene but not particualry great and, again, a lot of it happens off-camera, so what the reader gets is more of a highlights reel. Finally, there's a very weak ending, which I won't "spoil" here, but it's such an obvious reveal I'm not sure why they bothered saving it for the last page. This title seems to be sliding a bit as the creative team switches, so here's hoping they can get their footing and tell a stronger, surer story soon.
5.5/10

Wolverine and the X-Men #11: This series seems to be spinning its wheels a bit under the Avengers vs. X-Men banner. For the first two-thirds of the issue, we get an awful lot of fighting that doesn't conclude, is jarringly brief, and serves no narrative purpose. Except toward the very end when, once again, Hope goes all Phoenix on everybody, and Wolverine is forced to face the fact that he'll never be able to kill her. That, right there, is more or less the only actual bit of significant story or character development which takes place. It supposedly justifies Wolverine's behavior in Avengers vs. X-Men #4, but it does so kind of weakly and in an oversimplified way. The one thing Jason Aaron is doing in Wolverine and the X-Men during this event that I do really like is the Kid Gladiator stuff. He's been a fun part of the cast since the title started, and had all the best moments in this issue. Nick Bradshaw's art is a little bulky for my taste, especially when drawing Wolverine. His head looks like a big weird block. The same is true for Red Hulk in several panels, actually. Still, generally Bradshaw handles the fight scenes well, even if they are pointless space-fillers in a pointless, space-filler issue.
4.0/10

Smatterday 05/12/2012

R.I.P. Tony DeZuniga
Jonah Hex co-creator and all-around talented artist Tony DeZuniga died on Wednesday at age 79. He'd been in critical condition since last month, and had been fighting something of an uphill battle, but his death is no less tragic because of it. My thoughts go out to him and his family.

Classic Literature Goes Graphic
This month sees the release of the first volume of the Graphic Canon. It's a pretty cool project, taking a bunch of talented comic artists and having them create graphic versions of classic literature. Seems to be going chronologically, and is pulling all sorts of different pieces of the "canon" from all over the world. Ambitious, bizarre, and full of new comic art! Hooray for trying things!

Selling Like Hotcakes
Two bits of comicbook sales news/info that caught my eye this week. The first was this awesome, super-expensive sale of Batman #1. Way to raise the bar, rich anonymous comicbook collector! Secondly, mixed in with all the buzz and positive reviews generated by the Avengers movie, there's been some chatter about how this won't necessarily translate to increased comicbook sales. What people keep pointing out, though, is that the exception to this rule is The Walking Dead TV series. Which at first confused me, but the more I read/think about it, the more it makes total sense. Ongoing comicbooks and TV series are both serialized mediums, so fans of the show are used to getting a long, developing, linear story and bound to want more of it in between seasons. Whereas Avengers movie fans who aren't existing comicbook readers may not be as interested in investing an indefinite amount of time and money into following even one Avengers title. It's too bad ticket sales don't mean comicbook sales, but I get it.

Speaking Of...
I still haven't seen the Avengers movie myself, but I totally plan to within a week, and when the time comes I am definitely on board for the recent movement to match the price of my tickets with a donation to the Hero Initiative. With all the continuing, intelligent, awesome discussion going on about creator's rights these days, it seems important for each and every fan of the comicbook medium to do what we can, to keep the momentum going so that hopefully, someday, somebody won't get screwed by the Big Two. And for the love of God don't buy Before Watchmen. Any of it!

One Last Awesome Thing
And eight-year-old Batman saves the day. Yes. Yes everywhere.

Pull List Reviews 05/10/2012

Batman #9: Well, the giant bat-armor from last month was sort of a bust, huh? I was really hoping Bruce had some kind of awesome contingency plan in place that involved the awkward metal suit, but, alas, it was just an awkward metal suit to fight in. Still, it was nice to see Batman's rage unleashed, and to finally give him some useful knowledge about the Court of Owls. Now maybe he can kick some ass and lay this story to rest for a while. Greg Capullo's art was actually somewhat more contained/restrained this month, which was interesting since Scott Snyder's script was mostly about Batman cutting loose and tearing mercilessly into the Talons. I'm not complaining about the art, because there's still a lot of great imagery, like the bat swarm or the dinosaur foot stomp, but if there was ever a time for Capullo to let his line work go a bit crazy, it seems like it would have been this issue. The backup feature I enjoyed a bit more than the main story, perhaps just because I love Alfred so much that any insight into his personal or familial history is welcome. And that final image of the Talon in the rain is stunning. Rafael Albuquerque continues t be an ideal Batman artist, highlighting the shadow and fear inherent in that world.
6.5/10

Fairest #3: I find Fairest #3 to be particularly challenging to review as a whole. As has been the norm with this title for all three installments, we have here an example of some truly excellent artwork that is telling just a dreadfully boring story. We have no reason to care about any of the characters, and in the case of the guy who does the most talking (a bottle imp named, I believe, Panghammer), we don't even have a convincing reason to like him. Even he knows he's a pain in the ass, and the story he's narrating to the rest of the cast would only be interesting if it wasn't being pointlessly drawn out. A series full of misfires from Bill Willingham so far, and if I didn't already know he'd be leaving the title fairly soon (along with his dumb, dumb crop of characters) I might well be dropping Fairest from my pull list. However, the saving grace continues to be Phil Jimenez's pencils, as well as the ink and coloring work by Andy Lanning, Mark Farmer, and Andrew Dalhouse. Whether it's a sentient flying boat, a royal hall filled with a bright and blustering party, or just The Snow Queen and Panghammer surrounded by whites and blues in her palace, every single page has art worth a second (or third or fourth) look. It's sort of astonishing how far from each other the story and the art are in terms of quality. How, exactly, did a script so bland inspire such lovely visuals? Anyway, that seems to be par for the course on this title.
4.5/10

Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #9: I have complained a couple of times about the change that took place when this title started using Walden Wong to ink Alberto Ponticelli. This month, we have a new inker, Wayne Faucher, and I think with him we've found a happy medium that (hopefully) we can all agree on. Not quite as wild as when Ponticelli inks himself, but without muting the energy which his pencils always bring to the table.

Now that that's out of the way, I'll say that this was an exceptionally fine issue of Frankenstein all over. The title has always been a string of monster battles for Frank to fight, with each new enemy causing him to question/examine himself in some new light. This issue is no exception, and tells a tidy little tale of Frank and Dr. Mazursky battling against the forces of The Rot (from Animal Man and Swamp Thing). Unable to simply kill his foes in the usual fashion, Frank goes to an extreme measure, calling in a "blackbomb" which only targets living things and therefore does not hurt him. However, this causes him further frustration/sadness, because he is forced to admit that he is not really "alive" in, at least, the scientific sense. It's a quick but effective tale, and it serves to advance Frank's relationship with himself, S.H.A.D.E., and Mazursky all. And the Ponticell-Faucher-Villarruba art team comes through as well, like I mentioned. Particularly the splash where Frank and Nina find the corpse of the cop they're looking for. I want that as a wall-sized poster.
7.5/10

Higher Earth #1: If the concept behind Higher Earth interests you---a whole bunch of Earths in different universes that each have their place in a hierarchy of Earths---then you'll no doubt enjoy this first issue, since most of what it does is to introduce that concept. Luckily, it does interest me, and Sam Humphries makes the intelligent decision to have one of his main characters, Heidi, know as little about the details of the book's reality as the reader. She stands in for us, and like he is for Heidi, the nameless man who comes to save her from her Earth is an intriguing enigma, yet somehow easy to trust with his mater-of-fact attitude and battle-readiness. Francesco Biagini's artwork is similarly direct, always expressive and effective, but never especially impressive. He does some cool stuff with the edges of his panels and other kinds of layout moves, but otherwise it's fairly middle-of-the-line work. I'm excited to see this series develop, assuming it lasts long enough to do so, but Higher Earth #1 is no more than a simple, clean, clear introduction to the key players and ideas that will move the story forward.
6.0/10

Morning Glories #18: My aggravation over the snail's pace at which this series drags on is well-documented, and Morning Glories #18 is no exception. Virtually ignoring the previous issues of this arc (and, by the way, wasn't "P.E." supposed to conclude this issue, not the next one, originally? Am I making that up?), Nick Spencer decides to instead switch focus back over to Jun. I have long thought of Jun as the most interesting of the Glories, and I really liked his interactions and the development of his romance with Guillaume, but at the end of the day it was mostly more cryptic nonsense, spouting of meaningless mottos, and characters with unclear motives. Plus I get especially annoyed by Spencer when he actually has a character talk about the lack of answers in Morning Glories, which he's done several times, and does with Abraham here. Stop making excuses for yourself, jerk, and just tell your damn story already! Joe Eisma is Joe Eisma, reliably turning in consistent work on this title since the beginning. It never gets any worse or any better, it's just what Morning Glories looks like. At this point if another artist came in or if Eisma changed his style too much, I feel like it would be jarring, because the look of this book is so firmly established now. As is the narrative style, and it happens to be one which drives me kind of crazy.
4.5/10


Ultimate Comics Ultimates #10: Sam Humphries joins Jonathan Hickman on writing duties with this issue, but it's not an obvious shift in tone. I suppose there's slightly less action this issue than in many of the preceding nine, but that has more to do with where we are in the story, I suspect, than because of the addition to the writing team. Either way, a thoroughly entertaining issue. It took time at the beginning to bring home the full effect of the attack on D.C., and still managed to advance each of its characters and plots point forward, however slightly. And it's fun to watch the Ultimates battle against S.H.I.E.L.D. on top of everything else, especially now that they are so fractured. The City continues to be a unique threat, provoking bold reactions from our heroes that make for great superhero fare. Luke Ross, on the other hand, was somewhat uneven on art, mostly struggling with figures who were in motion. It wasn't a huge detriment here, and it's not like he messed it up every time, but there were several awkward or impossible poses, and in an issue with heavier action I'm nervous about how Ross will perform. Hopefully Ultimates #10 will be the exception, rather than the rule. Beyond those specific things, though, totally serviceable artwork and a fun, logical chapter in this grand tale.
6.0/10


Ultimate Comics X-Men #11: Here, we have a similar waste of story space from Spencer as in Morning Glories above, but with a slightly stronger showing from Paco Medina on art. Not a lot of new information here, or any real character insights or developments. Primarily just a series of checking in scenes for each bundle of characters, watching them each react in turn to the horrendous Sentinel attacks. It's an alright story, just lacking in meat or even much flavor. Nothing unexpected happens, we hear about the Southwest United States getting jacked up way more times than we need to, and then we get an ending that seems pretty mundane considering the work the Sentinels do in the rest of the issue. Medina, however, draws the crap out of those Sentinels, from their two-page spread at Camp Angel to those creepy pages where we see shots of several cities burning, to the reveal on the final page. He doesn't do a remarkable job with the rest of the issue, nor does he do a bad one, but for some reason I really enjoyed his Sentinel-based pages. Otherwise a bland offering.
5.0/10

Uncanny X-Force #25: A fascinating and well-written examination of the motives of each member of X-Force. Even Deadpool, in his own warped way. For a title that is clearly ramping up for something big---notice Genesis and Angel returned in this issue, and whoever's behind this White Sky/Omega Clan situation is bound to have other things in play, plus Rick Remender has been saying so in interviews---it's a smart move to take a minute and remind the readers why these characters are on this team. Or in some cases, why they're not on the team anymore (for now). Remender, as he has from the beginning, knows exactly how to handle his cast, and gives each of them a moment to shine. Fantomex gets the least of it, but his few lines and final action speak volumes. Wolverine, the leader and only remaining founder of the team, as well as the most direct connection to the new Omega Clan, gets the most time in the spotlight, and it is time well used. He deeply but quickly examines the many complicated reasons he has for keeping X-Force alive, and they all make sense and ring true in his voice. It's compelling stuff, aided in no small way by Mike McKone's drawings and Dean White's colors. Their best moment as an artistic team has got to be the two-page spread of the White Sky Showroom, but they also knock it out of the park on the introduction of the Omega Clan and Nightcrawler's flashback panels. There is one terrible drawing of Beast, but otherwise a strong performance across the board. And then, if McKone doesn't do it for you, there are some twenty extra pages of Jerome Opeña art as well, his and Remender's first Wolverine and Deadpool stories. Opeña's art is less stylized here than it has been on Uncanny X-Force, though that may have something to do with the coloring. But it's still quite good, and the stories are fun if simple, as any comicbook shorts are bound to be. Overall, a fitting anniversary issue, and one that excites me for the future of this title in a way I haven't felt for a while.
7.5/10

Wolverine and the X-Men #10: Two unexpected things happened for me while reading this: I loved Chris Bachalo art, and I agreed with Cyclops. The Bachalo thing was a pleasant surprise, as more often than not I find his style confusing and/or off-putting. But Krakoa rising up, that super-complicated two-page spread with like a dozen tiny panels and a couple huge ones, and especially the very opening page were all great. As for agreeing with Cyclops, I still mostly just feel like, "Why can't they all just work together? Why wouldn't they want to?" But Scott's arguments to Logan sounded far more reasonable and well-thought-out than anything he's said in a while. Not all of it, mind you, but enough of it that by the time Wolverine was losing staff members to the other side, I was totally rooting for them over him. Here's a question, though: when does this issue take place? After the fight on Utopia, but before Wolverine is thrown from a plane? Hardly seems like he had time to do all of this in between those two events. And also that would make Rachel Grey's role in AvX #3 confusing as hell. But if this after he gets back from the plane...why isn't he more pissed off at the Avengers for throwing him from a plane? Right? I also don't understand when, exactly, Cyclops had the time to make this visit, but I'm hoping AvX #4 can shed some light. I don't know if I expect it, but I'm hoping. Aside from that bit of confusion, though, I was impressed by Jason Aaron's script for it's take on the mutant side of things, and impressed by Bachalo's art for not bothering me for once. So...impressive issue.
7.0/10

Pull List Reviews 04/19/2012

Big fat stack of comics this week so let's get to it.

Avengers vs. X-Men #2: What a misfire. Really across the board, this issue was a letdown. John Romita, Jr.'s pencils were highly inconsistent and never impressive. For a book all about two teams fighting, he sure had a hard time drawing more than a couple members of either team in any given panel. But even worse, I am sad to say, was Jason Aaron's script. From the out-of-place, over-the-top, unnecessary narration to some laughable moments of dialogue (e.g. Storm screaming about a marriage counselor in the middle of combat) Aaron failed to make me the least bit interested in what was going on. Which was not much, anyway, just some rehashing of the weak, half-baked "reasons" each side has for fighting this fight, lots of punching and smack talk, and Hope continuing to be sort of a brat about the whole situation. The end. This event needs to pick up some steam real fast, because it's gotten worse each issue so far.
2.5/10


Batman #8: This whole Court of Owls thing is getting a bit tiresome, so I am excited for the crossover to get rolling and get over with. I don't hate the Court as villains, but I'm not wowed by them either, and there have been some very questionable decisions and reveals along the way from Scott Snyder and company. Luckily, Batman #8 mostly avoid those kinds of developments, telling a very brief and effective story about Wayne Manor coming under attack and how Bruce and Alfred work together to save themselves, their home, and their city. It's a lot of fun and very fast paced, with the tension and action ramping up quickly and then staying quite high for the rest of the issue. The partnership between Bruce and Alfred is very natural, and Greg Capullo makes their fear in the face of their enemies and their concern for one another come through in his art. He does a better job with Alfred than Bruce, but they each have some great moments. The best visuals, however, come from the army of slightly varied but still somehow uniform Talons. An impressive and frightening group.

I was not wild about the closing page of the main story---we'll see where it goes before passing final judgement, I guess---or any of the back-up tale (although YAY for Rafael Albuquerque Batman art!) but up until those final pages, a definite win.
6.5/10


Birds of Prey #8: This title is nothing if not reliable. Solid superhero entertainment every month, with this issue acting as a particularly nice example, if only because it more or less stands alone. Not that everything is neatly resolved at the end, but the bad guys which the Birds deal with this issue have nothing to do with Choke, the evil mastermind of the first arc. And though some larger developments are left to be resolved later, the immediate threat of the issue is handled all in one fully-contained and very well-done fight. That threat, a team called The Infiltrators who has it in for Black Canary, is a bizarre group in both their powers and personalities, but Duane Swierczynski and Jesus Saiz introduce them deftly and rapidly and in a way that never slows the story or detracts from the fun. Indeed, one of The Infiltrators, Napalm, was the funniest and most enjoyable part of the issue. I have yet to be truly floored by this title, but also yet to be at all disappointed.
6.5/10


The Defenders #5: Matt Fraction's story was a bit up-and-down here, but I thoroughly enjoyed Mitch Breitweiser's art. Particularly in the underwater sequence that makes up the first half of this issue. In fact, that first half was much stronger than the second in almost every way. It had all the action and humor and mystery this title is always seeped in, but somehow it was still a bit calmer than usual, less frantic and overwhelming, and I think Breitweiser's art is a huge part of that. Once our heroes came out from the sea and began to excavate the Nautilus, things started to get a little bit jumpy, and while nothing was all that confusing, it definitely became a few degrees more muddled. Still, from cover to cover, Fraction did a great job with Namor's voice (more than anything this made me wish Fraction could just do a Namor series) and for the few lines he had, Danny Rand's voice, too. I wish it had been a steadier story, but I suppose it was really none too shabby, and perhaps the best looking issue of this incarnation of The Defenders so far.
7.0/10


Hellblazer #290: A really good ending to a pretty good storyline, Hellblazer #290 continues to add to the ever-growing dysfunction of John Constantine's family. John's relationship to his sister Cheryl, his niece Gemma, and his father-in-law Terry all go through some pretty significant developments here. Not to mention his wife Epiphany's own relationship to Terry. And we get set up for yet another appearance of the Demon Constantine in coming issues, which is good news for us as readers. Peter Milligan has definitely found a groove on this title, and even when nothing spectacular happens (like here), he keeps me coming back for more, always anxious to see what might go down next.
6.0/10


Prophet #24: This was EXACTLY what I wanted to see after the incredible opening three-issue arc of this Prophet reboot. A brand new John Prophet in a brand new world, but still a story that builds on the notion of a universe full of these men working toward some mysterious, cosmic common goal. Farel Dalrymple provides exceptional artwork throughout, especially the little girl guide and what she turns out to really be, but the true star of this book as always is Brandon Graham. His captions are so excellently written, so deliciously paced, and always know exactly what and how much to leave to the art. It's pretty uncommon that this kind of stylized-yet-understated narrative voice is so expertly employed in the comicbook medium, because so much of the comicbook world is filled with bombastic, over-powered archetypes. John Prophet is none of those things, and it makes his book all the more worth reading. It creeps closer to the top of my list of favorite titles every issue.

Also, much better back-up story than last time. A bit of an old lesson, perhaps, but told in a very fun and simple new way. And just like in the main story, really interesting and reliable art.
9.0/10


Rachel Rising #7: While not as strong an installment as many of the preceding ones, Rachel Rising #7 certainly isn't weak, either. It's just that rather than having any new deaths or very much new horror, this issue takes some time to set up important stuff for the future. Jet is undead just like Rachel, which can't be anything less than hugely significant. There's now a local detective involved in all this madness, which is bound to add some tension to the whole scenario. And then there's the final sequence, which I won't spoil, but is higher up on the insanity scale than perhaps anything Terry Moore has given us in Rachel Rising so far. And that's most certainly a good thing. Perhaps a bit slower than what came before it, but still full of rich, compelling characters trying as hard as they can to deal with an impossible situation. That's good fiction, no matter what.
6.0/10


The Shadow #1: Essentially what Garth Ennis offers us in this debut is a chilling character study of the titular "hero." And it's the perfect way to kick off The Shadow, a character who has been reinvented and interpreted numerous times over the decades. It doesn't matter what, if any, preconceived notions you have of Lamont Cranston going into this book, because Ennis and artist Aaron Campbell make it brutally clear what their version of the man is going to be like: unrelenting, unforgiving, brilliant, deadly, and arrogant. Even when dealing with his allies, he's intentionally a pain in the ass. Hell, even with Margo Lane, maybe especially with her, his I'm-above-it-all attitude shines through. But from what we've seen so far, he can back that attitude up all the way, and it makes me thrilled to see what else this new series has in store.
8.0/10


T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #6: Pretty weak sauce. The worst Wes Craig art to date on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (which is really saying something) and also the least interesting script of Nick Spencer's entire run (yes, all 16 issues, not just the six that make up his second volume). Not the worst script, maybe, but by far the dullest. Mostly just Colleen talking to whoever it is she was seen talking to in Sri Lanka waaaaaaaay back in the first issue of the first volume, info-dumping so the reader doesn't have any hanging questions at all. And in a spy series, that kind of sucks. Everything gets so neatly tied up that it feels too neat, almost out of place for a title that has been hard to slow or pin down since it began. Cafu draws the Sri Lanka segments and does a really great job, but he has so little to draw (again, pretty much just Colleen's face or the face of her companion) and it is cushioned by such wonky Wes Craig nonsense that the overall effect is weakened. I've been a bit cool on this title for a while now anyway, I suppose, but at the very least I expected the finale to be dynamic and adventurous and full of fatalities. I got zero from that list.
4.0/10


Thunderbolts #173: No question, this was a better chapter than the first of this Thunderbolts vs. Thunderbolts story. Fixer has been a highlight of this title under Jeff Parker's writing all along, and watching him interact with his younger, wilder self is both a lot of fun and quite poignant, and takes the story in at least one unexpected direction as we prepare for the last issue before the change to Dark Avengers takes place. The best part of Thunderbolts #173, though, was Baron Zemo, not just because Declan Shalvey makes him look so awesome with his mask off, but because everything he does perfectly in character while still moving the story of the current Thunderbolts forward in great strides. He's the smartest guy in the room, and that means he can aid a team he was just fighting while simultaneously serving his own wicked goals, and it makes his solution to the long-running time travel conundrum of this title come quickly while still feeling natural. Only one issue to go before a change in name, cast, and, presumably, focus for this book, but Thunderbolts #173 renewed my faith that Jeff Parker will bring us something enjoyable and at least partially surprising for the closing chapter.
6.0/10


Uncanny X-Force #24: It's back! After a rare misstep in the "Otherworld" arc, Uncanny X-Force returns to its former glory. Phil Noto on pencils, a clear target for the team to kill, and major advancement on the always interesting Psylocke-Fantomex romance. The main thrust of the issue is AoA Nightcrawler (can we just call him "Nightcrawler" yet?) killing AoA Iceman, with a little help from Wolverine and Deadpool. Rick Remender does a really great job fleshing out this Nightcrawler through not only his captions but also his tactics during the fight against his old friend. It is an inventive and emotionally powerful battle, for the reader and the characters, and it serves as a reminder of the true potential for greatness in this book. According to Remender in recent interviews and whatnot, another major mega-arc is about to kick off, and this standalone tale (also acting as a grat epilogue to "Otherworld") is the perfect way to transition into whatever Remender has planned. It brings the cast closer together, helps completely establish the newest member, and brings back the grim and awesome violence and assassination this title does so well. Bravo!
8.5/10


Wolverine and the X-Men #9: As far as tie-ins to major events go, this was a pretty satisfying effort. It begins before the first issue of Avengers vs. X-Men, chronologically speaking, and takes us all the way to the end of that same issue seamlessly, which is an impressive accomplishment. And Jason Aaron manages to give Wolverine's choice the necessary gravitas without losing the lightweight, humorous tone that Wolverine and the X-Men has established for itself. I loved the opening sequence on Planet Sin, and had a few smiles during Captain America's visit, the brief moment of tenderness between Toad and Husk, and the conversation between Logan and Idie. All good, believable, engaging stuff. Chris Bacahlo, for his part, delivered some of the clearest art I've seen from him, which was a pleasant surprise, since I typically find myself confused for at least one whole page when he is on art duties for this book. Not a lot of big important story beats (except for maybe the last page) as far as the whole AvX conflict goes, but a solid tie-in issue nonetheless.
7.5/10


Wonder Woman #8: While Brian Azzarello's work on Wonder Woman has been really good all along, one thing I've noticed is that a lot of the time, Diana is overshadowed by the rest of the cast. Not because she isn't awesome, it's just that she is so steady and consistent and, in many ways, familiar, while the rest of the characters in her world are new and strange and full of insights and/or knowledge which she does not posses. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but the truth is Wonder Woman doesn't always feel like the star of her own title. This month, however, that all changes. In an awesome issue that sends Diana and Hermes to Hades in the hopes of rescuing Zola, we get a great version of the underworld, some really spectacular action, and most of all we get to see Wonder Woman in the spotlight. He new armor, brilliantly designed by Cliff Chang (who kills it on every page like usual) and her confident swagger make her stand out in all of her panels, and while Hermes kicks plenty of ass himself, it is Diana who leads the charge and fights the hardest. A somewhat obvious "twist" at the end, but one which makes me super excited for next month all the same. Even though it didn't deal with the controversy from last issue (and that does need to be addressed at some point for sure) Wonder Woman #8 did just about everything else right.

Also, "In its brevity is where life's importance lies." YES!!!
8.0/10