Batman Comics

Good evening Gothamites! It’s new comic day again, and I’m so sorry I haven’t been writing here very often lately! There was so much to say about Batman 10 and some other great recent books, but the Bat-dress construction has been taking every moment I can spare and there’s just no time left for talking about comics. I’m officially gearing up for Comic-Con, and if anyone who reads this wants to say hi in San Diego leave me a comment! Here’s what I’m reading tonight:

Batwoman 10 - As always, I feel like I should go back and read the whole series together to really get what’s going on. Hopefully today we’ll see the story overtake the style and actually have some compelling (or memorable?) plot points, but I’m not holding my breath. In any case, the visual art is an important part of comic books, and the art in Batwoman has been really great so I’m still reading it.

Catwoman 10 - Catwoman gets angry at someone who kidnaps children, and the solicit hints at her relationship with Spark becoming a bit more than their current casual crime-fighting setup. This is one of those books that I read sort of despite itself, I’ve never been that pleased with it but it seems weird to just give up entirely. When do you decide to stop reading a comic?

Nightwing 10 – Did we ever get to the bottom of this mystery with Haly’s Circus and why Mr. Haly left the circus to Dick in his will? Did that turn out to be a Court of Owls thing or am I totally confused and it hasn’t been resolved at all? Apparently I need someone to read comics for me and explain them … Today Nightwing investigates a murder that involves a part of his costume as evidence, so that should be exciting!

Red Hood and the Outlaws 10 – The official description tells us “RED HOOD learns that STARFIRE is one of the most respected and feared commanders in all of space! Who knew?” – really, this just feels condescending to me. Who cares what Red Hood knows about Starfire, he should respect and fear her anyways based on all the recent ways she’s saved his life and been awesome. It reminds me of that time when the sparkle-vamp told Adele she could be great some day… she was already kicking ass and taking names, though she’s dressed better than Starfire. Anyways, it should be great to see Starfire get to command some troops and show Red Hood and Arsenal what she’s capable of.

Birds of Prey 10 – Still getting to know these women, but I’m really interested in Black Canary lately. Poison Ivy is injured and the Birds take her to the Amazon jungle to heal, but do they trust her allegiance yet? I sure don’t! I saw a preview of Birds of Prey where Starling meets Batman, it was pretty funny, but I’m not sure if it was from this issue or another one coming soon;  hopefully it’s this issue,otherwise I may not get any actual Batman this week! Here’s the cover, by Travel Foreman and Gabe Eltaeb, I really enjoy the colour in their costumes and especially how Batgirl is drawn:

It’s a great week for comics! There’s lots going on, especially for the Bat ladies. The Court of Owls’ attack continues in some of these issues, while others are continuing their own unrelated stories. Here’s what I’m reading tonight, as always I’d love to hear about what’s in your pull file, so leave a comment!

Birds of Prey 9 – The Birds take on the Owls, it’s their turn to pitch in and fight a Talon! What I really want is to know more about Poison Ivy, and how she’s feeling about allying with the Birds rather than doing her own bio-terrorist thing on the wrong side of the law. Maybe today we’ll get both!

Catwoman 9 – Catwoman and her new friend Spark join the Bat family in fighting the Court of Owls by protecting the Penguin. Not exactly Gotham’s finest upstanding citizen, but nobody deserves to be assassinated by an un-dead Talon! I really don’t like Guillem March’s cover, Catwoman is in one of those oh-so-unnatural poses where both boobs and butt are emphasized, but I guess that’s about par for the course here, since this is the “hot” and “sexy” title…

Justice League 9 – Based on the cover, my friend Brian who really enjoys highly meta story-about-stories comics will be pleased! There’s a new villain, and it sounds like he’s writing a comic book about the Justice League – that can only lead to problems. The backup story has also been engaging, as we see Billy Batson placed in a foster home and get to know his new family, but so far it’s not quite something that would interest me as a standalone title (not enough Batman!).

Nightwing 9 – The last issue saw Nightwing protecting Mayor Hady from the Talons, which went pretty well but ended up with an awful lot of knives sticking out of our favourite former circus performer. Today Dick will continue to kick some Owl ass, I’m sure, and I want to know what happens with William Cobb, the Talon who’s also one of Dick’s ancestors.

Red Hood and the Outlaws 9 – We all know this isn’t my favourite title, but after reading the preview over at CBR I’m actually really looking forward to it! Kenneth Rocafort’s art looks great (I’m a sucker for interesting panel design) and I found Lobdell’s writing in the preview more funny and way less annoying than usual. Taking a step back from the action, I also really want to know what happens with Jason himself. He’s insistent that he’s not a good guy, and not really part of Batman’s team, but I don’t buy it. Can anyone ever really escape Batman’s family? Would anyone truly want to?

Batwoman 9 – I’ve enjoyed this book a fair amount (it’s at about the middle of my personal Bat-comic scale) but I can’t remember what the story is actually about. This suggests that the story itself is secondary to the interwoven structure that follows six different characters, and also secondary to the artwork, which isn’t really ideal for a well-rounded comicbook. That said, I do like the art quite a lot. Here’s the cover, by Ben Oliver. I find it interesting for how some parts are very textured and detailed, such as Batwoman’s cape, while other things like her hair are very smooth.

Holy regular updates Batman! Is it pull file time again? It sure is, and I have three great comics to read this week. Even better – I can read them tonight instead of waiting days and days like last week!

Batgirl 8 – A new villain poses a challenge for Batgirl, but even more interesting to me, apparently we learn some sort of Gordon family secret that’s never before been revealed! What could it be? The Gordons have already lived through an affair, divorce, insanity, and paralysis… that’s just off the top of my head, there’s definitely a lot going on with this family. I can’t wait to see what they’ll have to deal with this time, but I wonder if it will even register as a problem when viewed against the rest of their history.

Batman and Robin 8 – Everyone knows how much I love this series, and issue 7 was excellent. Batman rescued Robin from Nobody (although really, does Damian Wayne ever need rescuing? Probably as often as his father does) but the ending took a distinct turn for the worse. The theme of this series since the relaunch has been Bruce’s attempt to connect with his son, and to help Damian grow from assassin to life-preserving crime-fighter; it’s a great focus to their developing relationship and for this comic title. So far it feels like Bruce hasn’t managed to truly connect with Damian, but I’m hopeful that we’ll see them sort things out soon.

Batwoman 8 – This issue continues the interwoven story structure that worked so well previously, although it does sort of feel like things are all over the place sometimes. This is the last issue with art by Amy Reeder. I like how she draws Batwoman very much, and wanted to share the cover she did for this issue. The use of colour is so perfect, and I love how the rain just seems to glow in the light of the buildings.

It’s new comic day and I’m back with my weekly pull file! Didn’t manage to share last week’s comics, but I did read Detective Comics 7, Batwing 7, and Huntress 6. They were all good, and based on Huntress 6 I think I’ll read the new series World’s Finest that’s starting soon. I like Helena and want to see more of her! This week I have three excellent Bat-titles, which I’ll be reading as soon as we’re done here.

Batgirl 7 – This issue gives us Barbara’s side of the events of The Killing Joke, which left her paralyzed until the DC relaunch when she regained the ability to walk. That’s actually really exciting to me; we so often hear stories about women told by men and from the perspective of men, it’s great to see this event which is so crucial to the character’s development from her own perspective. If anyone can do her justice, Gail Simone can.

Batwoman 7 – The last issue was written with a really interesting structure, and it wove together six (I think) people’s stories over the course of the issue. It was excellent in both art and writing, so I’m looking forward to that being continued here in issue seven. This is one of the issues drawn by Amy Reeder, who also drew 6 and 8; it was announced recently that she’s not working on it anymore and I’m disappointed, simply because I quite liked her style and felt that it suited the story very well. I hope she finds work on another book and that Batwoman continues to be awesome with the new team.

Batman & Robin 7 – I’m always happy when it’s a Batman & Robin week! We’re still in the ‘Damian Runs Away With a Bad Guy’ storyline, today Batman finds Damian in Morgan Ducard’s lair and confronts them. I expect to see a smashing fight scene, lots of expensive weaponry and destruction of property, and judicious application of post-battle Bat-hugs. Based on the cover, by Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray and John Kalisz, I’m sure I won’t be disappointed!

It’s comic books from the past! No, you’re not time traveling, I just didn’t have a chance to talk about these when they came out last week. Later on I’m going to change the date on this post, and then it will be like it was on time all along… Here’s what I picked up back on February 8th!

Batwoman 6 – Amy Reeder takes over as the artist on Batwoman, and as much as I loved what J. H. Williams III was doing with the book, I’m also excited to see a new take on it. Batwoman’s tracking down the source of a series of child kidnappings, and she agreed to work with the government, which I suspect Batman won’t be pleased to hear.

Batman and Robin 6 – I was so excited for this one, and it didn’t disappoint! Robin has rebelled and run away with “Nobody”, the villain Morgan Ducard. While Batman searches for them, he records for Robin the story of how he met Morgan and his father Henri, it’s a fascinating look at the final days of Bruce’s training before becoming Batman. Damian gets to really shine here, and the art is just great.

Batgirl 6 – I love the opening scene in this book, where Batgirl has to face a Bruce Wayne that’s been hypnotized! Bruce is a big part of this issue, having a Special Moment with Batgirl in the first scene, then appearing in public to launch Wayne Enterprise’s new urban revitalization program while Batgirl protects him from Gretel (who had hypnotized him). It’s always great to see Bruce and Barbara together, they’ve got a really sweet dynamic.

Huntress 5 of 6 – The art in this book, by Marcus To, continues to be excellent. If you don’t read it, just check out the first page next time you’re at the comic store and you’ll see what I mean. Helena takes on “The Lion”, a huge bodyguard to the slave-trafficking dictator who had nearly defeated her in a previous issue. This series has been very action-packed and exciting, and I look forward to the final issue next month.

Penguin: Pain and Prejudice 5 of 5 – In this final issue of the series, Penguin goes through with his plan to get revenge on Gotham city by calling thousands of birds to terrorize and attack people. Batman finally finds Penguin’s base, where he finds him with his new blind girlfriend Cassandra. Things don’t end well. Most of this book is written without dialogue, instead using sound effects and very expressive artwork to further the story, and it’s an interesting choice for the climax of the series. I quite liked it, but it may not be for everyone. Here’s the cover, by Szymon Kudranski, I just love it.

Good evening Gotham! New comicbook day always comes just when it’s most needed, do you find that? I actually managed to lose my copy of Detective Comics 5 from last week, still not sure how that happened but after being so excited about it I haven’t been able to read it! Well, here’s what I’ve got to read tonight:

Batgirl 5 – Now that we have a better understanding of Barbara’s situation and she’s started to get her act together as Batgirl, I feel like this book is going to really take off. Today Batgirl faces Gretel, it should be nice seeing her up against a female villain (or “lady antagonist”). I also find myself wanting to know more about her roommate – she mentioned having a secret of her own, and I admit that caught my attention.

Batman and Robin 5 – It’s no secret that this is my favourite series, I love Batman and Robin. Since issue 1 Damian has been torn between being the boy Talia raised him to be and the boy Bruce believes he can be; in issue 4 that situation came to a head, and today’s comic begins with Bruce finding a note which reads “I had to leave. The lie is over.” Damian’s struggle breaks my heart, the poor kid, and I hope he can find a way to not end up as an assassin.

Batwoman 5 – This is such an excellent comic, I definitely look forward to reading it every month. The artwork is so beautiful! I read somewhere that the artist J. H. Williams III wanted to integrate the opening explanation (a three-sentence summary of who Batwoman is) more thoroughly with the art, and in this book I notice he’s done so, it’s a really good way of tying things together. Here’s the cover, by Williams, I love how much is going on and the way he uses colours.

Oh, and I found my copy of Detective Comics 5 — I left it in the scanner last week.

Last night some friends and I saw the Dark Knight Rises prologue, and it was amazing! Even with all the leaked set photos I’ve seen online there were things in the 6 minute prologue that I was not expecting and not prepared for. How on earth will I be able to stand waiting until July?? I’m going to have to console myself with comics, so here’s what I’m picking up tonight:

Batgirl 4 – Barbara continues her journey back to full Bat-power. I enjoy this book, but I want to know more about how Babs got from point A to point B. It almost feels unfair to focus on her past instead of her present, but I feel like we need to know before we can move on. Actually, there’s an interesting parallel between her road to recovery and vigilantism and the reader’s own growing knowledge of Batgirl’s story. Plus, she’s awesome.

Batman and Robin 4 – My favorite bat-title! This will make up for a long day working at Wayne Enterprises. The last issue ended on quite a cliffhanger, so today we’ll find out how Batman and Robin get out of that situation. Also, in issue 3 Robin defied Batman’s explicit orders to stay home from patrol, and that was part of an escalating pattern of bad behavior. How will Daddy Batman react to that?

Suicide Squad 4 – Regular readers will know that I haven’t been following this series, but @zuzuhaha has been reading it so I’ll give it a try. The story is going to cross over with the Dollmaker plot in Detective Comics, and that should be fun. I’d like to understand the Joker’s connection to Dollmaker more clearly, and I’m both nervous and excited to see how this version of Harley Quinn interacts with her Mister J.

Batwoman 4 – This book has been consistently engaging, exciting, and gorgeous, so I’m definitely looking forward to reading it tonight. I just looked at the first few pages and the artwork is beautiful, different styles juxtaposed in a way that uses the possibilities inherent in the comic art form to its great advantage. I also love the use of bright orange and reds, it’s refreshing.  Here’s the cover, by J. H. Williams III;

So that’s what I’ll be doing with the rest of my night. In other news, my scanner is still broken, so I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post actual updates about the comics that I’ve been reading. I also have ambitious plans to write more Matches Malone and a few other things, so wish me luck!

Good evening Gotham! Oh, how I’ve missed you, and missed writing here! I hope you feel the same way and look forward to my triumphant return in a couple weeks. I’m still reading comics, so once things settle down a bit I’m sure we’ll have all sorts of interesting things to talk about. Also, who out there is reading Suicide Squad? I heard some terrible things from @zuzuhaha about their treatment of Harley Quinn in Issue 3, and would love to hear more about it from anyone who’s following the series. Here’s what I’m reading tonight – I can’t wait to get home and get started!

Batgirl 3 – It’s been an interesting arc so far, with Barbara going out as Batgirl again but not being fully ready for everything that entails. I’m definitely enjoying Gail Simone’s writing, and I’d say my biggest problem with this book is that I find Barbara’s roommate to be annoying rather than interestingly eccentric.

Batman and Robin 3 – Daddy Batman to the rescue! The last issue was great and I am so pleased with the direction that the characters are taking. Plus, who doesn’t want to see a dog living in Wayne manor? … Alfred, probably, but as long as Bruce is the one taking the heat it’s all good.

Batwoman 3 – I find the Department of Extranormal Affairs just fascinating, and I’m enjoying reading about their quest to hunt down Batwoman. When that combines with gorgeous artwork by J. H. Williams III and a budding romance with Detective Maggie Sawyer, we get a comic that I’m definitely glad to be reading.

Penguin: Pain and Prejudice 2 (of 5) – Issue 1 was interesting, and although Penguin has never been at the top of my list (any of my lists), I’m enjoying this take on his history and situation. The art style matched the content really nicely, and I’ll certainly keep this series on my pull file.

Huntress 2 (of 6) – My bat-crush on Marcus To remains intact as the Huntress kicks ass and takes names in this mini-series! Issue 1 was a great example of how a woman can be shown to be both strong and sexy, and I have to say, I’m jealous of her wardrobe! Can Helena get to the bottom of the human trafficking ring she’s found in Italy? We’ll find out! I love this cover, by Guillem March and Tomeu Morey:

Hello to my dear friends and readers! I’m out of town but wanted to quickly mention which comics will be awaiting my return to Gotham, and as always I’d love to hear about what you’re reading!

Batgirl 2 – Continuing our reintroduction to Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, I hope both the adventures and answers keep coming. How much (if anything) does her father know about her vigilantism? How did she get her ability to walk back? Why does she have to share an apartment with a civilian? I’m excited to find out!

Batman and Robin 2 – After last issue’s debacle with Robin not heeding Batman’s orders, we know this won’t be an easy relationship, and I’m so curious to find out how Batman deals with that. Also, will Damian ever stop being a brat? Find out tomorrow, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

Batwoman 2 – She’s the Goddamn Batwoman! Issue 1 was great in every respect, so if the series continues like that I’ll be happy. Specifically, I want to know a bit more about Kate as a person, and I’m also interested to see if and how Renee Montoya shows up in this series – I heard she might make an appearance in Batman Inc!

Sorry I don’t have any fun cover images for you today, but take my word that it’s worth it and let me know what you thought about these or any other comics that you’re reading!

Hello and happy Wednesday! I’ve been eagerly anticipating both of today’s Batman comics, and I hope they live up to my expectations! Dangerous, I know, but I think it will be okay. Let me know what you think of these books, or if you’re reading something else this week!

Batwoman 1 – First issue of the exciting new series, and I can’t wait. Kate Kane is the new Batwoman and I want to get to know her. Is she related to Bruce? What drives her to be a vigilante? What does she find funny? It’s exciting to have a new character to follow, and yet she’s also familiar – in November 2010 they put out a single issue introducing her (Batwoman 0), it was excellent.

Batman and Robin 1 – I’ve loved the Batman & Robin title since I started reading comics, and this new incarnation should be great. Bruce and Damian are finally working together, that is going to be such a fascinating dynamic. How will Damian handle suddenly having a father? Will Batman be his mentor, or his partner, or his father, or some combination of all three? What does Bruce think about working with his son, is that different than working with an adopted Robin? And does anyone know if Damian’s time working with Dick Grayson is still part of canon, or if it was erased in the relaunch? So many questions, I don’t expect they’ll all be answered today but I look forward to seeing how they start!