Batman Comics

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.

Good evening Gotham! It’s kind of a slow week for Batman comics, only two in my pull file today, but I’m okay with that. I feel like I need some time to think about everything that’s going on lately and really enjoy the different characters and storylines – this Court of Owls thing is so exciting! Here’s what I have today:

Batman: The Dark Knight 6 – Issue 5 of Batman: The Dark Knight ended on quite a cliffhanger, with Superman taking on a drug-crazed Batman, so I’m definitely going into it with anticipation and interest. This is the make-or-break issue, after reading it I’ll decide if I want to keep getting this comic. I’m pretty into the Court of Owls crossover, so really all issue 6 has to do is not mess up. Here’s hoping!

Teen Titans 6 – The Titans have to save Kid Flash! I love these issues, where it’s just the crew having adventures and doing their thing, not part of any big event or apocalypse. I hope to see Red Robin interact with Superboy more, they’re so cute together. Take a look at the cover, by Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund, I really enjoy the shattered glass and the look on Red Robin’s face.

Happy Wednesday, my fellow Bat-fans! After a long day working at Wayne Enterprises I’m always excited for new comicbook day. Here’s what’s in my Pull File:

Batman: The Dark Knight 5 – Why am I still reading this comic? Mostly because I want to know what’s up with the white rabbit lady. Every time Dark Knight comes out I comment that I’m not that into it, haven’t connected, and yet I continue buying it. We’ll see how long that continues – Issue 6 will be A Time Of Reckoning for a few titles in my pull file. Anyways, Batman’s been encountering bad guys who are all hopped up on a Venom-type compound that makes them really big and crazy, and in this issue it seems like he gets a dose of that himself. This might actually be great – I like a Batman who’s even bigger and crazier than usual!

I, Vampire 5 – I know what you’re thinking. Why is she reading a non-Batman comic, and more importantly, telling me about it? I don’t know anything about I Vampire, but apparently Batman’s involved in this issue and on the cover of issue 6, so I’ll check it out.

Justice League 5 – This one I am excited for, I’ve quite enjoyed Justice League so far. We’re still watching the team come together, with Wonder Woman and Aquaman showing up last issue, so now that the gang’s all here I’m excited to see what they do. They’re going to be fighting Darkseid, who I don’t really know anything about. I wonder why Batman isn’t on the cover, maybe he’s not really featured in this issue? We’ll find out!

Teen Titans 5 - Similar to Justice League, the Titans now all know each other and are starting to work and fight together instead of against each other. We still get the goodness that is Evil Superboy, and I’ve got all sorts of ideas about how Red Robin (Tinkerbell!) can lure Kon over to the good side. Starting with cookies, ending with nekkid superhero time, you know what I mean. I like Kid Flash on the cover, he looks like he’s having fun:

Good evening Gotham! It’s an in-between week for comics, so there are no new Batman books to talk about today. That gives me a chance to share some favourite (love it) and not-so-favourite (livid)  moments from recent issues. Here we go!

Justice League 3, by Geoff Johns, Jim Lee and Scott Williams, gave us this page scoring points for love it. I enjoy stories about people from other places coming to our world, and seeing Wonder Woman getting to know the better parts of America is so much fun. Somehow I always knew she’d go for ice cream.

I love Wonder Woman’s kick-ass attitude! There’s a great Batman moment a bit later on in the issue, as the Justice League fights demons that are attacking the planet.

Vampire Batman, telling Green Lantern how to use his ring? How could I not love it?

Next up is Teen Titans 3, by Scott Lobdell, Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund. @VenPixel pointed out a livid moment in the issue, when Kid Flash cracks a four-digit code to unlock a door. I’m not an expert, but I don’t think the switches on the control panel could keep up with his Flash-enhanced typing skills (see ‘switch debouncing‘)!

Silly speedster, keypads are for humans. Another thing in Teen Titans that makes me livid is this scene, in which Red Robin is disguised as an old man ‘riding the rails’ to accompany Skitter across the country. When he reveals his superhero identity to Bunker, there’s a moment when Tim’s face is entirely bare – anyone as paranoid as Tim wouldn’t allow that.

Why isn’t he wearing the domino mask under the old man face? Wow, that was a weird sentence. I liked the comic overall, but I feel like they’ve been too lax with Tim going around unmasked. If we accept the idea that a tiny little mask protects his identity, we have to also assume he’ll be extremely diligent about wearing it.

Last for tonight we have Batman 3, by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion. I haven’t really been talking in detail about storylines, but I definitely love the current story in Batman. ‘The Court of Owls’, a group of men who have been “ruling Gotham from the shadows since colonial times” attempted to kill Bruce Wayne. Bruce turns to Alfred for help, and Alfred shares this story about Bruce’s great, great grandfather Alan Wayne, and his terrible fear of owls.

I love the idea that Alfred’s father was butler to the Wayne family before him! And how he tries to drug Bruce with “medicinal” tea, now that’s a butler! The art is also beautiful, on this page I especially like the top panel (we’re inside the Batman cowl, watching Bruce and Alfred) and the use of colour.

That’s it for me! It’s been fun taking a love it or livid look at comics – I might do it again! Let me know what you think of these or any other Batman comics in the comments, and have a great night.

Hello and Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the dull grey November weather. I took a break from comics over the past week, I had been feeling much less excited and inspired to read and write about the Bat-verse. Is anyone else feeling this way? I’m not sure if it’s because Flashpoint and the relaunch used up all my excitement and now things are calming down, or because I’ve got real life taking up my metaphorical spoons, but it’s probably a combination of both. So here’s what I got last week and this week, I’d love to hear what you think about these or any other comicbooks in the comments!

November 16

Batman 3 – Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion continue to deliver excitement and amazing comic art in the central Batman title! DC has been promising a far-reaching storyline that gets into the history of Gotham City and Batman’s place within it, and this issue is the starting point. I can’t wait!

Birds of Prey 3 – Poison Ivy joins the team! That really emphasizes the blurring line between heroes and villains in this book – I enjoy the fact that all four women on the team have checkered histories and aren’t easy to fit into any one category. Seems almost like real life, you know?

Nightwing 3 – Dick Grayson goes to Chicago with Haly’s Circus, while he works to solve Mr Haly’s murder and decide what to do with his own future. Tom Waits says things will be better in Chicago, maybe he’s right! (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go buy Bad As Me, it’s an amazing album and I’m pretty sure Batman would like it too).

Red Hood and the Outlaws 3 – I’m still giving this series a chance, but I’m not very optimistic. This issue delves into the team’s pasts, and it’s possible that Red Hood and Arsenal can learn how not to be sexist jerks, but that doesn’t save us from the writer and artists’ choices in how they represent Starfire. Maybe she can develop a bit more agency? I know this will all end in disappointment.

Justice League 3 – Introducing Wonder Woman! There was some controversy over Green Lantern’s reaction to her appearance, but I’ll read the issue before coming to any conclusions. Personally I like the slow build-up of the team, unlike some people who wanted to see all the Justice League members in the first issue.

Catwoman 3 – Will the Bat-sex continue? We’ll find out! It sounds like Catwoman ends up in a hostage situation, and given how focused she is on being independent and controlling her own destiny, I doubt that she’ll be very happy about it! Guillem March’s art continues to look fantastic, his style really captures how devastating Catwoman’s claws can be. Take a look at the awesome cover art for this issue:

November 23

Batman: The Dark Knight 3 – I still haven’t got a good handle on this title – how is this different from the main Batman book? The other Bat-titles all have their own special aspects (Batman & Robin is all about that father/son dynamic and how they work together; Detective Comics is about his detective work, etc). I’m going to re-read the first two issues before starting #3 and hopefully that will give me some sense of what makes Batman: The Dark Knight special.

Teen Titans 3 – Now, this one I really have been looking forward to. Not only do we have the fabulous Tim as Red Robin (but I really want to start calling him Tinkerbell, with feathers like those), we also meet a new Titan – Bunker. Apparently he’s out as gay from the first issue, and I’m always glad to see more queer representation in comics – as long as he’s also a fully-formed character beyond his sexual orientation. This could be just the encouragement that Red Robin and Superboy need to bring their love out in the open! Or maybe that’s just my own personal Bat-verse. Here’s the cover, by Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund:

One final thought – I’d really love to see DC even out the release dates of their Bat-family titles. Some weeks I get 5 or more comics while other weeks there are only one or two. What’s the deal DC? Does anyone else find this odd, or should I just get over it?

Writer: Scott Lobdell

Artist: Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund

Date: Dec 2011

I quite enjoyed Teen Titans 2! So much so that I wanted to take a couple minutes to share my favourite moment with each of the main characters from the issue. Be warned, there are definite spoilers below, and you really should go get a copy of this comicbook, it’s a lot of fun!

First of all, our most fabulous flying friend Tim Drake, aka Red Robin. Check him out here in his “civilian” clothes — he’s not exactly shying away from supporting the superhero community, even when he’s not in full superhero gear! (remember, click the pictures to embiggen)

Then we have Superboy. It seems that he’s being held by the shadowy Government agency N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and made to capture other meta-human teenagers in order to earn his own freedom. Is it wrong that I kind of like evil slave Superboy? Probably. But look how hot he is!

One of those captive teenage metas is Kid Flash, and he’s really living up to his name. Here we see how he escapes from the clutches of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. – I like his attitude!

Towards the end of the book, Red Robin is in trouble and we have an excellent scene where Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) saves the day! I don’t buy Tim’s crush on Cassie, in my mind his heart belongs to Superboy (or Batman), but it’s always excellent to see the female superhero saving the male one! With Wonder Girl I really feel like I’m coming in at the middle of the story – I don’t know who she is, how she got her powers, how she’s connected to Wonder Woman, or really much of anything about her other than her kick-ass attitude. That’s actually been a lot of fun, I enjoy getting to know her a piece at a time and I’m definitely going to keep an eye on her in future issues. Plus, what an awesome costume!

It’s here! It’s finally happening! Storylines are wrapping up in preparation for the big re-launch, and we get to find out what happens! I’m looking forward to this week’s comics  even more than usual. And for those of you who are wondering about the Dark Knight Rises filming this past weekend, I am definitely writing about it, but it will take a couple more days before that’s ready to share. It was an epic day, but also long and hot, and very tiring. OK, here’s this week’s pull file!

Batgirl 24 – The last issue ended with a big surprise that I would expect to have huge consequences in Stephanie’s life, although knowing that it’s being rebooted kind of reduces the drama. I’ve really grown to like Steph so I’m interested to see what she does, and Bryan Q Miller’s writing has been great on this series.

Batman and Robin 26 – This is probably a one-issue story, since it’s the last one before the relaunch and last month we saw the end of the Red Hood story arc. That’s cool, I’m not quite ready to let go of the Dick and Damian Dynamic Duo and hopefully they’ll have lots of witty banter and badass moments in this issue.

Birds of Prey 15 – Some characters that I don’t really know are in danger! Will they survive? Probably. Will I get emotionally involved? Doubtful, but always possible, I do tend to over-invest.  I’m not so into this series but will be reading it after the relaunch and hopefully that’ll give me the good entrance point that I need – after all, that’s sort of the point of the DCnU.

Detective Comics 881 – This is the one I’m most anticipating – the conclusion to the Jim Gordon & James Jr storyline!! Scott Snyder’s writing has been fantastic and I really like the way both Jock and Francesco Francavilla are doing the artwork, I prefer the two of them working together over either one individually. Last issue ended on quite the cliffhanger but as one commenter said, Barbara is way too smart not to have a plan of some sort. And as a bonus, it’s a longer than normal issue also, at 40 pages.

Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons 3 of 3 – The thrilling conclusion! This mini-series has been such a fascinating window into an alternate life for Dick Grayson, and yet also maintains the themes (love, family, passion) that really inform his character in the main Bat-verse. I’m looking forward to finding out how the adult Dick copes with the deaths of his parents, and if it drives him in the same directions that it did when he was a child.

Red Robin 26 – So sad to see this issue come, since it’s the last one in the series I love! But I also know I’ll enjoy it, especially Marcus To’s great art. In this issue Tim confronts his father’s killer, I’m really looking forward to seeing how that goes. It should be a great wrap-up for the series.

Batman 80-Page Giant 2011 – Nothing like a random special issue to top up a great week of comics! Looking through the writers and artists, I don’t see many names I recognize, but I’m a big fan of the cover by Dustin Nguyen.

I love new comic day! One of the fun parts is talking to the people who work at the Beguiling, they’re all so friendly and knowledgeable! Yesterday when picking up my comics I mentioned that Neal Adams’ Batman: Odyssey hasn’t had a new issue in a long time, and A. told me that they aren’t making any more, the series was cancelled! I haven’t seen anything about that elsewhere, but it would explain the delay. Here are the comics I did get this week:

Birds of Prey 14 (Sep ’11) – I’m still getting to know this series, but it’s been good. This issue is the beginning of a new story arc and I hope that will help me get a sense of what’s going on in this part of the Bat-verse.

Batgirl 23 (Sep ’11) – The last issue, where Batgirl went to London, was really a lot of fun. This one seems to be a bit more serious, but the art looks great.

Batman: The Dark Knight (Aug ’11) – It’s been so long since the last issue, I have no idea what’s going on in this series. That’s OK, it just means more comics to read this weekend. Flipping through i see there’s a big explosion in the middle and the colours are gorgeous, so that should be cool.

Detective Comics 879 (E. Sep ’11) – So excited for this! The return of James Gordon Jr. storyline is fantastic and I want to know what happens to him, what Gordon does, and how Batman gets involved. Francavilla’s colours were amazing in the previous two issues and this one promises to be even better.

Red Robin 25 (Sep ’11) – When we last left our intrepid hero he was chained to the wall with a naked assassin in the room. How will Tim get free? I love the cover by Marcus To. Cassandra looks amazing, the new costume is fantastic and her hair is perfect. But why are Red Robin and Black Bat fighting? I can’t wait to find out.

Good evening Gotham! I know, Wednesday was more than a couple days ago, but better late than never, right? Here’s what I picked up last week, this time with bonus actual opinion because I’ve read them already!

Batman: Arkham City 2 of 5 (L. Jul 2011) – Part of Gotham City will be sealed off and turned into a giant insane asylum! Joker is amazing, as is Harley Quinn – she totally kicks ass and shows why she’s smart and crazy enough to run with the Joker. I’m really enjoying Paul Dini’s writing, and I adore how Bruce Wayne is drawn by Carlos D’Anda:

Birds of Prey 13 (Aug ’11) – I liked the fight scenes in this book, and the villain is extremely creepy (in the best possible way). Babs is fierce as Oracle, and knowing that she’ll be returning to Batgirl in the near future makes me all the more interested in how she handles things in the next few issues. I’ve been into The Question (Renee Montoya) and she has some great moments in this book – I hope after the reboot she’s still in action!

Red Robin 24 (Aug ’11) – Tim is being hunted by some sort of evil underground society! His search for information takes him to Viktor Mikalek, a super-rich Russian businessman who was also looking into the secret tournament and was shot as a result. Turns out the mask Promise is the one who shot him, and tracking her down lands Tim in a very different kind of trouble than he’s used to. I love how Marcus To draws Tim, so self-contained.

Batman & Robin 24 (Aug ’11)  -So Jason Todd was on his way to prison when his transport was attacked by The Menagerie: a lion-man, a cheetah-woman, and a T-Rex. Yes, a T-Rex, and seeing Damian kick his butt is awesome. It’s drawn by Greg Toccini, and although I actually like his style I don’t feel that it’s quite right for Batman. The big question of how Bruce will deal with Jason’s willingness to murder is very much out in the open here, and I think Dick’s choices show that he still believes in Jason’s essential goodness.

So many comics today! Excellent.

Batman Inc 6 (Jun ’11) – I was so excited, I read this one right away. It’s awesome, the story is great and so much happens, and the art is beautiful. I especially love Cassandra Cain, who’s now operating as “Blackbat” and is utterly amazing.

Birds of Prey 12 (Jul ’11) – Haven’t read this series before, but it was recommended online and it’s written by a woman, so I’m in!

Red Robin 23 (Jul ’11) – My Tim-love knows no bounds, and the art in Red Robin has been consistently great. What more can a girl ask?

Batgirl 21 (Jul ’11) – I liked the previous issue, so I added Batgirl to my pull file. Looking forward to getting to know the series.

Batman: Arkham City 1 of 5 (Jul ’11) – Paul Dini is a great writer, so I’ll check out this series even though it’s related to the video game. I actually quite like the drawing style as well.

If you’re reading these comics or others, leave a comment, I’d love to hear what you think!