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.