Batman Comics

Hello Bat-fans! We’re in that calm before the storm now, with costume prep finished but Comic Con not until next week, so I have time for some Quickies! This afternoon I read three new comics, I’m not going to recap the whole stories for you (go buy some comics!) but here are a few fun moments that I hope you enjoy. Be warned – spoilers below!

Detective Comics 11, written by Tony Daniel, art by Julio Ferreira, Eduardo Pansica, Eber Ferreira, and Tomeu Morey

This comic makes a lot more sense if you read Batman in Adam West’s voice, rather than Kevin Conroy or Christian Bale.  Still, lines like “Moving .. in … slow … motion” followed immediately with “… cant move … fast enough” leaves something to be desired, I’m sure Batman would be thinking more than that. The art is okay; some of the panels where the perspective is at an odd angle end up looking a bit weird, but we get a page of Bruce in the shower so I won’t complain.

Batwing 11, written by Judd Winick, art by Marcus To, Ryan Winn, Le Beau Underwood, and Brian Reber

In the last issue, the family of Matu Ba (Batwing’s ‘Alfred’) was all killed, and today he has to go to a small dictatorship country called Tundi for their funerals. Meanwhile, Batwing is fighting Long the Antlered Dragon, and with Nightwing’s help they’re tracking a missing nuclear weapon. This issue is great, not losing momentum when switching between storylines, and fitting a lot of story into the 20 pages. Batman and Penguin share a great moment here, so although it doesn’t feature Batwing, I wanted to share it just for Marcus To’s art.

Justice League 10, written by Geoff Johns, art by Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Mark Irwin, and Jonathan Glapion

This guy Graves is going after the enemies of the Justice League, which sounds good but really just gives him more information about how to fight the League themselves. This leads to the inevitable argument up on the Watchtower where Cyborg reveals things he knows about each member of the League. We also get a nice Batman/Superman moment:

Graves suck the life-force out of each member of the Justice League one by one, magically feeding on their pain and sorrow. We see each member of the League fall except Batman. On the final page he’s shown defeated with the rest of his team, but why is he the only one who we don’t see taken down? Maybe that will come back in the next issue…  I also notice that Gary Frank is mentioned on the cover of this issue, but not on the title page, that’s a bit odd.

Writer: Judd Winick

Artists: Dustin Nguyen, Derek Fridolfs

Date: June 2012

Batwing 8 was really good. I had been unsure as to whether I wanted to continue reading this comic, though in the end I would’ve kept with it a bit longer for sure because I’m looking forward Marcus To’s upcoming art and the Court of Owls tie-in. After this issue, I’m reading it for itself, and to find out what happens with Batwing as a person. Warning, there will be spoilers ahead, including about the identity of Massacre.

The story since issue 1 has been about Batwing developing as a Bat-brand vigilante and finding his Mission, while also searching for Massacre, who’s been out killing former African vigilantes. Here in issue 8 we finally discover who Massacre is, and although I had my suspicions from the beginning (and I was totally right) it played out really well. I definitely felt engaged in the story and captivated by the relationships and effect on Batwing himself. Here’s the amazing moment where he realizes that General Keita was not the man behind the mask:

David (Batwing) realizes here that Massacre is his brother Isaac, who was a child soldier with him in Keita’s army. As I was reading this I couldn’t help but compare David with Bruce Wayne. They were born into wildly different circumstances, and they grew up almost in different worlds, but they each lost family to tragedy, and turned to crimefighting to help heal their grief. The two men talk when things finally quiet down. This was the part that really got me interested in Batwing, and in where David will go as a character after this.

Is there anything better than a Batman who believes in you? I don’t think so. The other thing that I enjoyed about Batwing 8 was Dustin Nguyen’s art. He has a very particular style, and although this is less detailed than some of his other work, especially in the backgrounds (maybe they didn’t give him much time?) I really enjoy how he drew Batman, Robin and Nightwing as well as the art we’ve already seen of Batwing himself. Here’s a great moment with our Gotham crew, ready to jump off the page:

So there we are, Batwing 8. It was sad, but in a good way, and definitely worth reading. If you’re reading it I’d love to hear what you think about this issue and where they’re going from here, comments are always welcome.