Batman Comics

Happy Wednesday, Bat-fans! It’s a great week for new comics, we get some really fun things to read today. In related news, San Diego Comic-Con is rapidly approaching and the costume making is going quite well. Now I just have to be patient and wait for the organizers to post the panel schedule! Is anyone who reads this planning to be there? Leave a comment and let me know! Now, here’s what I found in my pull file this week:

Batman Incorporated 2 – I was very into issue 1, and I’m sure that Morrison and Burnham will continue to provide excellent Bat-stories with gorgeous art. Burnham teased on Twitter today that we get some back-story for the Talia/Bruce relationship, please tell me I’m not the only one hoping for some Naked Bruce Wayne time!!

For those of you wondering if Bruce was Batman yet when Damian was conceived, you’ll find out in just a few short hours!

— Chris Burnham (@TheBurnham) June 27, 2012

Batman: The Dark Knight 10 – This title has been kind of all over the place, with art that’s sometimes awesome and sometimes less so, and writing that’s been kind of uninspiring. Today Gregg Hurwitz takes over the writing with a new story arc featuring Scarecrow as the villain. The problem that Batman: The Dark Knight has had all along is that it doesn’t know what distinguishes it from all the other Bat-titles, so if this is their way of moving towards a more horror-themed comic, I think that’s a really good idea.

Justice League 10 - Who has two thumbs and can’t remember anything about Justice League 9? This girl! I even went back and read a summary of the issue (thanks gothamspoilers.com) and still have no idea what’s going on. It’s a great comic, but maybe my attention has been a little too dedicated to making the Bat-dress…

Teen Titans 10 - It feels too early for another Titans book, but that’s cool, I’m into anything that involves Tim Drake and dinosaurs! This week we get more info about Kid Flash’s background, and Bunker asks Red Robin what the deal is with their missing teammate Skitter; the Titans are definitely keeping busy! I had to share this cover for those dinosaurs I mentioned, but I love it for another reason too: I hope it’s the first in a long line of pictures I can tag “Kid Flash Outruns His Uniform.” This is by Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund and Andrew Dalhouse.

Happy Wednesday, Bat-friends and Bat-foes! New comic day once again, and as always there are some great things waiting for me at The Beguiling. There’s been a lot of internet buzz lately about DC’s announcement that someone’s coming out as gay, and I’ve got a post about that coming later this week, but first things first. What are you reading today? Here’s what’s in my pull file:

Batman Incorporated 1 – Grant Morrison returns to the Bat-verse with the continuation of his pre-relaunch Batman Incorporated story. Bruce Wayne has publicly stated that he’s financially supporting Batman, and Batman goes around the world setting up franchises while learning more about the evil organization Leviathan. I’ve loved Morrison’s work with Batman; he understands the character so well, and brings a very special twisted sensibility that works perfectly in this setting. Now that Damian is Robin, I’m excited to see how Morrison writes the little Wayne brat. Chris Burnham’s art was superb on the previous run of this title, so that’s another reason to pick this one up. Plus, nobody forget, issue 3 has Matches Malone on the cover, my little fangirl heart is all aflutter!!

Batman: The Dark Knight 9 – Keeping the Night of the Owls showdown active while we wait for the upcoming conclusion in Batman 10 and 11, Red Robin heads back to Gotham for a showdown with a Talon! This kind of demonstrates exactly why B:TDK is not my favourite comic – what do Red Robin and the Talon have to do with Batman being the Darkest of Knights? That said, I won’t complain about seeing more Red Robin, we all know I love me some Tim Drake, and overall this title has been fun to read.

Teen Titans 9 – Two Tim Drake comics in one day? I may never recover! The Titans and some other dudes continue fighting a bunch of bad guys in a weird hellish arena, and more importantly, some creepy character in a hood is stealing Red Robin’s style. When it comes to feathered capes, there can be only one! Here’s the cover, by Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, and Andrew Dalhouse, click to enlarge and fully enjoy the wingspan.

Thanks to Dee for the shiny new ‘pull file’ header image, based on Dustin Nguyen’s cover for 2011′s Batman 80 page giant.

Writer: Grant Morrison

Artists: Cameron Stewart, Chris Burnham & Frazer Irving

Date: January 2011

My Rating: Awesome!

Wow, what a great issue! Just a reminder, I’m gonna assume you’ve read it already, or don’t mind about spoilers. Instead of going page by page through the issue, I just want to talk about a few things I found interesting. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the book too, please feel free to comment! Also I think I’m required to say that all images taken from the comicbooks belong to DC, not to me.

One thing I’ve found kind of confusing lately is the timeline, since Return of Bruce Wayne isn’t finished yet, but Bruce is here in this issue. I’m so excited to see him again, but I hope the reunion moments are a bit more involved than what we see here – there should be hugs!! Dark, battish hugs. Maybe  R of BW 6 will take care of that, or Batman 704. And I just realized I have Detective Comics 870 and haven’t read it yet!!

So, I really liked the opening with the flashback Thomas Wayne/Dr Hurt/Barbatos thing. It’s great to have some clarity as to who Hurt is and why he’s involved with the Waynes. I love the image of Wayne/Hurt with the Bat on page 5, the way the bat is all kinda fuzzy and Wayne/Hurt is all clear and crisp, great style. Then we have our title page, where the Batman facing down Hurt is very much Bruce, not Dick. Love how he’s drawn here, looks very strong without being too square. He could take criminals out with that chin alone.

The fight scene after, with two Batmen and a Robin, I think was drawn really well. I especially love Damian on the bottom of page 13, the flip and arrow shot. The panels aren’t standard shapes, and the action feels very dynamic, like it was moving. You really get the sense of Damian flipping and flying through the air, and still able to shoot the gas canister. Sorry my scans aren’t awesome quality, I didn’t even realize we had a scanner until yesterday

Then bottom of pg 15, Bruce tells Damian “You made the right choices. I’m proud of you.” I got a little teary! So nice to have Bruce back. And apparently willing to say all sorts of things one might not expect to hear! There are so many ways his relationship with Damian could change now that he’s back, it will be really interesting to watch it all unfold. Another cool thing re Damian in this issue was that he helped Dick out a couple times in fights, which seems to be a big step for them. Everyone’s been speculating about what’s going to happen to Batman and Robin now that Bruce is back, but I’m almost more interested in what’s going to happen to Dick and Damian (and Tim!). Will they have a hard time having to take orders again, or will they arrange things so they don’t have to? I can’t imagine Bruce not being in charge, but they’ve all had to work without him on a variety of occasions including just over the last little while. So, we’ll see. What do you think?

Again, the art in this issue is awesome. The scene with Batman running through the manor, down to the Cave, and then the difference in texture of how the trap he ends up in is drawn, so beautiful. (And why, WHY would Hurt think he could kill Batman in his own Cave??)

Are you into the whole Pyg thing? I’m really kinda not, though he gets some good lines – there was “PCP is for work” , and today we get “I’m not wearing protection, my darlings” as the insane mob overtakes him. Meanwhile, Batman (Dick) has been shot in the head in a non-immediately-lethal way that’s coming closer to being lethal, and Damian has to save the day. “Superhero time” – such a good moment. And lucky for all of us, Gordon gets cured from the dollotron-poison and returns to the precinct, still wearing the special little outfit:

Oh, Joker. Why are you so awesome? I love how Morrison writes Joker, so wrong yet so very very right. And I’m totally into how he’s drawn in this issue, such as on page 27 and 29. Mr J’s reunion with Batman on page 30 was my favourite moment in the issue. I love to think that after such a long journey, after Bruce has been gone for so long and Joker didn’t know what he was going to do with himself (I mean, what is Joker without Batman?) they’re together again, and fighting as they always do. The fact that they’re in a cemetery just fits, you know?

So, then we have the ending. It was written about pretty widely online, I think it got more publicity than most comicbook plot twists would because it’s such a fundamental change to the mythos. Bruce has always been the airhead playboy, and now not only is he admitting connection to the Batman, but he’s also taking on social responsibility in a public way. That’s gotta have consequences. It was cool to see Bruce standing on stage with his family (Alfred, Dick, Tim and Damian) and with several Bat-signals shining behind him.

So yeah, overall, I’d rate this book at awesome. Art, story, world changes, everything, it’s all excellent. I’m sure there’s a lot of subtext that I didn’t mention, but you can find that elsewhere. Let me know what you think, and see you next time! I am the night.

p.s. Just came across two *awesome* things regarding B&R 16. There’s a detailed analysis of the fight scene I mentioned, and Cameron Stewart (the artist himself) wrote about this issue on his blog.