Reading Comics 226 "Detective Comics #1000, Chip Zdarsky, Tom King, & More"

I've gotten really bad about documenting the comics I read on this blog, but I figured this latest batch was worth talking about.  Let's dive in!

Batman #67 (DC)
I've been collecting all the trades in Tom King's run (actually, pretty much every Tom King trade in general, as he's beyond any doubt my favorite comic book writer working right now).  I haven't been as diligent reading the individual issues.  Once I fell off that track, I figured it was okay, since the trades (I have officially become a trade waiter, I guess).  But I still check in with the odd issue, such as this one, which reunites King with Lee Weeks (they get in another nod to the famous Batman/Elmer Fudd special, don't worry), and it's Weeks in the spotlight (well, I guess not anymore than usual), as this is a mostly silent issue, a chase sequence.  I dig it.

Detective Comics #999 (DC)
The final issue before the big one, Peter Tomasi and Doug Mahnke conclude the improbable tale of Thomas and Martha Wayne's second murder.  Because it's a dream sequence, essentially, a training program Batman has run for years, this time in virtual reality.  I know there will be readers who feel cheated by that big reveal, but Tomasi has become a reliable interpreter of Batman's psychology.  I think it tracks.

Detective Comics #1,000 (DC)
(Incidentally, I learned from the 80 years hardcover collection that "DC" doesn't stand for Detective Comics, as the popular story goes, but rather Donenfeld's Comics.)

Here's the reason for the most recent visit to the comics shop!  I got the Frank Miller '80s cover.  Like Action Comics 1000 last year, DC put out covers for each decade of the title's existence, and I figured I'd give Miller the nod.  Here's some quick thoughts on the stories:

"Batman's Longest Case" (Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo)
Snyder and Capullo, the much-celebrated New 52 team, again reunite (after Dark Nights: Metal) for a tale that sees Batman ultimately join a team of famous detectives.  Seems about right, for a Detective Comics anniversary tale.  The detective aspect of the Dark Knight hasn't really been emphasized much in the modern era.  Amazing, Brad Melzter has never been asked to do an extended Batman adventure.  Seems like an oversight.

"Manufacture for Use" (Kevin Smith/Jim Lee)
Smith and Lee are high profile collaborators, about as high profile as the issue gets.  The tale is maybe a little lightweight, and never gives Lee a chance to highlight his work, but at least it gives Batman a chance to finally reconcile the gun that was used to shoot his parents.  It's also nice to see Matches Malone.

"The Legend of Knute Brody" (Paul Dini/Dustin Nguyen)
This one was a highlight for me, even if the twist at the end seems to diminish it.  The gag is that there was an all-time terrible henchman named Knute Brody who worked for most of Batman's enemies.  The reveal is that Knute was actually a disguise Batman's allies used to get insider information.  Seems like something that could fill out a longer story.

"The Batman's Design" (Warren Ellis/Becky Cloonan)
I'm not sure Ellis nails this one, a sort of spiritual sequence to "Knute Brody," in which we learn Batman doesn't just dismiss and brutalize all those henchmen, but rather thinks of them as individuals worth a kind of sympathy, even a chance to walk away.  He spends too much time away from the particular henchman at the end of the tale to really sell it.

"Return to Crime Alley" (Denny O'Neil/Steve Epting)
One thing is certain to rankle fans: for a story not to automatically side with Batman.  But that's exactly what O'Neil, the oldest Batman creator in the issue, does, as a sequel to the first appearance of Leslie Thompkins, as she again questions whether or not Batman's crusade is healthy for him.  It's a more than fair question, and more than fair to bring up again, the rare pessimistic beat in another upbeat issue.

"Heretic" (Christopher Priest/Neal Adams)
What's interesting about this one (other than art from another long-time Batman creator, Adams) is Priest remembering that the League of Assassins doesn't begin and end with Ra's al Ghul, but rather also includes, y'know, the League itself, all the fanatics who comprise it, including one who decided to leave not later known as Batman.  It's a worthy subject, especially in the age of Islamic terror. 

"I Know" (Brian Michael Bendis/Alex Maleev)
Before I reached the credits with this one, I thought it was the Tom King entry, as it heavily features a vocal tic, which is kind of a King trademark, but no, it's Brian Bendis helping Penguin along, as an old Penguin meets with an old Bruce Wayne, confessing he knew Wayne was Batman all along.  And the twist in this one is much more satisfying, thank you.  Bendis apparently should've been writing for DC all along, as he's a complete natural.

"The Last Crime in Gotham" (Geoff Johns/Kelley Jones)
Here's perhaps the highlight of the whole thing for me, in the subtle way Johns uses the issue to establish his Joker credentials, ahead of his much-anticipated Three Jokers.  In this future, Batman and his extended family are investigating a murder scene, trying to figure out who did it.  Turns out it was the Joker's son, who wanted to end the cycle of violence the old man helped perpetuate for years, sacrificing himself in the process.  Some readers will lump the results in with the Batman-family-friendly vibes of the whole issue, but it's really someone else's triumph.  Maybe the impact is thrown off by Jones, who will always dominate whatever he works on (by the way, nice for him to represent the veterans, too), but the story, if you follow it, carries its own weight.  It's one of the best things I've read from Johns.

"The Precedent" (James Tynion IV/Alvaro Martinez-Bueno)
Tynion likely got the nod to contribute thanks to his early Rebirth era run, which helped jumpstart the significance of the series after drifting back into relative obscurity, in the New 52 era, when all anyone could really talk about was Snyder's Batman.  I like what Dick Grayson (it's his tale) says in one of the final panels: "I'm not the precedent.  You are.  And you're just the start."  It's easy to get caught up in the Batman craze, and dismiss all his allies and so many sidekicks, but if Batman achieves anything at all, it's his ability to inspire others, not in fear but hope.  That's something Christopher Nolan concluded, in a different way (but with a Robin figure, too) in The Dark Knight Rises.  It's just nice to see someone else notice.

"Batman's Greatest Case" (Tom King/Tony S. Daniel/Joelle Jones)
King, as always, seems to have bewildered his readers.  But really, he's coming to the same conclusion Tynion does above, that Batman's legacy won't ultimately be about what Batman himself can achieve, but what he's been able to inspire in others.  So this is a tale about his many current allies coming together and talking, and eventually, someone realizes that "Batman's greatest case" was about solving that original problem of having lost a family and thinking that was always going to define him.  But it really didn't, and the appearance of the original Robin, so soon after Batman himself first appeared, was kind of proof from almost the very start.  He's just needed reminding every now and then.  This time he reminds himself, by taking a picture, and leaving it on the graves of his parents.  That's what King's Batman has been concerned about all along.  I think this will make an excellent addition to King's collected Batman tales, wherever DC might slot it in eventually.

"Medieval" (Peter Tomasi/Doug Mahnke)
Current Detective Comics creators Tomasi and Mahnke (see above!) get to introduce video game character Arkham Knight to continuity in this one, and it's great to see something new(ish) in all the reflective splendor.  Hopefully another villain worth remembering years to come.

Great issue.

Books of Magic #6 (Vertigo)
Part of the Sandman Universe corner of the Vertigo corner of DC these days (...), I thought I'd have a look, as I've always been interested in the concept of young Tim Hunter learning how to be a wizard.  Yeah, Harry Potter later made the concept much, much more popular, and Vertigo in turn had The Unwritten (which didn't star Tim) (maybe should've?).  But the existence of Harry only increases Tim's shine, not diminishes.  And this issue proves it.  Glad at least for this revival.

Daredevil #3 (Marvel)
Holy crap.  So Chip Zdarsky just rocketed into the upper echelons of Marvel lore.  His take on the traditional Daredevil's-life-is-being-ruined! tale not only involves the cops (amazingly, very few comics seem to understand this maybe would be a...natural element to any superhero story) but finally addresses the element in the room.  If this were happening to a superhero, especially a very-well-established one like Daredevil...wouldn't the rest of the superhero community have something to say about it?  Turns out that someone is...Punisher.  Hell yeah!  The fans like claiming that Marvel has nothing much to boast about these days, but they're really just feeding perceptions.  Zdarsky has been working toward this moment, and I'm glad to witness it.  He's going to be in that echelon hopefully for years.  Unless DC gets to benefit.  Just sayin'!

Dial H for Hero #1 (DC)
Part of the second Bendis imprint (after Jinxworld) at DC, Wonder Comics, this is Sam Humphries kicking down the door to once again establish himself as a writer worth taking seriously, owning a familiar if somewhat obscure DC concept.  I have a blogging acquaintance who's gone over all the heroic identities to emerge from the H Dial over the years.  I'm sure he's paying attention to this, too.  And I hope he's as impressed as I am.  The superhero conjured this issue is a stereotypical '90s archetype, which is pretty fun in and of itself.  But Humphries manages to make the H Dial itself more interesting than anything else.  I don't know if he's covering new ground or not, but I love it.

Doomsday Clock #9 (DC)
I began tradewaiting this series almost immediately.  The shop I went to for the first issue was already upcharging for it (dick move, Banner), so I...lost the motivation quickly, and just started randomly checking in.  This was my latest check-in, in the apparent mistaken belief that the Legion ring on the cover belonged to Saturn Girl.  But the issue still has a major revelation worth reading, involving Firestorm and a patented Geoff Johns character revision.  He always seems to know exactly how to do that.  It's his superpower...

The Forgotten Queen #2 (Valiant)
The last time I checked in with a new Valiant title I wasn't impressed, but this time I was.  Valiant remains the best-kept secret in superhero comics, it seems.

G.I. Joe: Sierra Muerte #2 (IDW)
When I realized that was Michel Fiffe art on the cover, I snapped it up.  Fiffe, of course, is the creator of Copra, the best-kept secret in indy comics these days, kind of the official insider handshake.  But the showstopper in the issue is an essay details the history of Snake Eyes, one so intriguing it makes you wonder if Snake Eyes is the best kept secret of the best creators in comics.  Did Alan Moore have him on the brain was conceiving Rorschach?  Now I'm pretty convinced!  Was Snake Eyes responsible for Wolverine's incredible ascent?  Now I'm pretty convinced!  All hail Snake Eyes!

Heroes in Crisis #6-7 (DC)
Well, did Wally crack?  King tackles head-on whether or not Wally himself was capable of viewing himself as that mythical "symbol of hope" fans thought he was starting in DC Rebirth, while Booster and Harley continue to compete against each other as the sole survivors.  Two more issues.  I think King has once again produced magic.  Can't wait to see how it ends.

Meet the Skrulls #1 (Marvel)
Having seen and enjoyed Captain Marvel, when I saw Meet the Skrulls referred to s Marvel's successful attempt to finally recapture that Tom King Vision magic, I thought I knew what to expect.  But someone seems to have misinterpreted another family intrigue with the same kind of storytelling, because what King did, what King always does, is reinterpret family intrigue.  This story merely follows it, perhaps finding another character who'll fit the classic Marvel tragic model, but it would have to significantly upgrade itself to even begin to resemble King's Vision properly.

Spider-Man: Life Story #1 (Marvel)
Here's Zdarsky again, with Mark Bagley, revisiting the life of Peter Parker, one decade at a time.  It'll be interesting to see how things develop.  This issue almost seems standard, but it's also part of Marvel's current initiative to reintegrate its characters into historic moments, in this case the Vietnam War, with Spidey struggling to reconcile his absence from the battle field with his famous mantra about great responsibility.  Iron Man is depicted on the field, and then Captain America makes some bold choices.  Well, like I said, it depends on what happens next.  But Zdarsky is quickly proving that there are few things he's unwilling to breech, and he's been proven right in his instincts so far.  I'm willing to bet that trend continues.

Marvelous X-Men #1 (Marvel)
This is a kind of sequel to Age of Apocalypse, which is pretty great to see.  This issue, meanwhile dithers most of its space, but still brings up some interesting points. 

Young Justice #3 (DC)
Another Wonder Comics entry, this title famously brings back classic '90s teen heroes Impulse (yeah!), Superboy, and Robin, the heart of the original team and backbone of DC's '90s teen heroes in general.  This issue follows Superboy's journey to Gemworld, which was featured for a hot minute in the New 52, and I'm glad it's back.  This is a whole dream come true.  I guess that's the other reason Bendis was allowed to take the Rebirth Superboy off the table, to make room for the other one.  Hell yeah!

Reading Comics 215 "Azrael, Negative Flash, Super Sons, Manapul's farewell"

Checking in with a few Rebirth titles...

Detective Comics #960 (DC)
Tynion's work in this series has been well-received, and with good reason.  Finally given a chance to prove he can succeed, on his own, in a Batman title, he's done it.  Here he gets to handle Azrael's reintroduction, and in those scenes he's quite artful.

The Flash #28 (DC)
I think Josh Williamson's been doing a Flash renaissance in this run.  I like the idea of complicating Barry Allen's usual tardiness with a reason other than heroics, because of a twist to his speed.  Seems like something Mark Waid would've done.  That's as high a compliment as I can give.

Super Sons #7 (DC)
This is the first issue of the series I've managed to catch, but I think Tomasi has absolutely made good on the concept.  If anything, it seems more natural than his and Gleason's Superman.  Even if the Teen Titans take up considerable real estate in the issue, clearly Jon and Damian are the stars.  Actually, the only thing capable of rivaling their appeal is the shock at seeing Jorge Jimenez's art, which clearly has evolved since I last saw it in Earth 2: Society.  In a good way!

Trinity #11 (DC)
This was Francis Manapul's final issue as writer/artist of the series, and it's sad to see him go.  Although, whatever's going on with the art, he seems to have lost the essence of what that aspect of his output so distinctive, and that was kind of sad to see, too.

Quarter Bin 104 "Detective Comics #627"

Detective Comics #627 (DC)
from March 1991

The New 52's Detective Comics #27 was one of my favorite single issues from that particular era, so it was pretty interesting to get my hands on a similar issue from an earlier era.  Like the later one, this celebratory issue reprints Batman's origin, but it also has other interpretations.  In fact, that's the whole issue, different eras presenting their versions of the classic first appearance of Batman.

Yeah, it's interesting.  You can tell each team based its versions on whatever it thought defined their particular age.  There's nothing particularly timeless about any of them.  This was before DC allowed its creators to deviate from the typical superhero script, something that didn't really happen until the lessons of Alan Moore and Frank Miller had become internalized and brought back from Vertigo, where they'd incubated. 

So suffice to say, this is one of those comics that's tough to read from a modern perspective.  You know there are different creative impulses at work, and you know there are different creative eras represented, but the best way to approach it is as a curiosity.  It doesn't really stand the test of time.

Reading Comics 196 "DC Rebirth Week Eight, Divinity II, Moon Knight"

Covered this edition: Detective Comics #937, Divinity II #4, The Flash #3, Moon Knight #4, Nightwing #1, Red Hood and the Outlaws: Rebirth #1, Action Comics #960, Titans #1, and Wonder Woman #3.

Detective Comics #937 (DC)
Batman escapes from the custody of the bad guys this issue, which features the return of Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong (I remember him fondly from the pages of '90s Robin), who is a little criminal genius in the making.  As this is the bulk of the issue, it's a slam dunk of a sequence.

Divinity II #4 (Valiant)
The final issue of this particular story in the saga (an ad promises Divinity III this December, as does some quick foreshadowing) is a remarkable conclusion to Abram Adams' war with Myshka in which he's able to connect with his fellow cosmonaut-turned-god on a strangely human level.  Matt Kindst's work with Divinity remains some of the best stuff being published today.

The Flash #3 (DC)
I can't even begin to describe how happy I continue to be about this relaunch.  I haven't been (with all due apologies to Geoff Johns) been this interested in a Flash comic since Mark Waid's prime.  The cleverness just doesn't stop.  One would think Central City being flooded with new speedsters would diminish the role of Barry Allen as a significant figure, other than as budding mentor (can you say Max Mercury?), but then his new sidekick August Heart says something brilliant like, "Do you know how fast you were going?" 

Moon Knight #4 (Marvel)
Jeff Lemire continues to knock this one out of the park.  (If chosen carefully, the things you enjoy shouldn't be so difficult to enjoy.)  I decided to catch up with this weeks-old issue, and damn if this isn't one of my favorite comics in recent years.  It's really that good.

Nightwing #1 (DC)
This is a strong follow-up to the Rebirth one-shot, in which Nightwing repositions himself as a mole in the Parliament of Owls and then meets Raptor, the latest dude who thinks Dick Grayson can't hack it on his own.

Red Hood and the Outlaws: Rebirth #1 (DC)
This is Scott Lobdell's restating of the Jason Todd biography, although this time he makes the point that Jason is uniquely suited to appear like he's the compromised Batman, which is interesting.  I know Frank Miller probably has conniptions every time a comic book suggests Boy Wonders aren't destined to become lunatics, but I don't have a problem with it.

Action Comics #960 (DC)
Wonder Woman enters the fight, but other than getting some readers up to date about Doomsday's origins, nothing much significant happens this issue.

Titans #1 (DC)
This fairly Wally West-centric issue also features Linda Park.  Hey, I can't argue with that.  Dan Abnett lets other Titans in on the act, notably Lilith, who's one of the more obscure members of this family, before shockingly revealing that Abra Kadabra is claiming responsibility for Wally's disappearance.

Wonder Woman #3 (DC)
Greg Rucka does a pretty powerful study of Cheetah, one of Wonder Woman's most famous foes, who probably comes off better in this one issue than she has in all her other collective appearances combined.

Reading Comics 155 "Blasts III"

I went sifting through recent back issues again...

Catwoman #27 (DC)
Detective Comics #28 (DC)

I've been obsessed with trying to track down "Gothtopia" issues since Detective Comics #27 was released last year with (among a lot of excellent content) John Layman's kickoff for the arc.  It turned out to be a Scarecrow story, but its look at a hopeful Batman and surrounding family, including Catwoman, who was dubbed Catbird, complete with a costume update mixing in elements of Robin's traditional look (that cover is from the Dodsons).  Either I've been overlooking that one copy of Detective 28 or I don't know, it spontaneously appeared in bins I've been rifling for months now.  Previously, elsewhere, I found the conclusion of the arc, so it's a nice bonus to fill in some of the gaps.

This is the first New 52 Catwoman I've read, and the first Catwoman, really, since the '90s (in the height of the Jim Balent era featuring a costume and anatomy that in hindsight really makes very little sense for the character).  I'm glad I read the Detective issue, too, as it connects all the cerebral dots and may actually be the finest Batman I've read from Layman.

Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Witches #1 (Archaia)

Based on a short-lived TV series the late creator of the Muppets launched in 1988, this is fairy tale storytelling in the manner of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson.  As represented by S.M. Vidaurri, who writes, draws, and letters in an exquisitely imaginative manner, this is an excellent bid to once again expand Henson's legacy.

Vidaurri also happens to present a tale that fits right in the current trend of strong female protagonists in fantasy, featuring a young princess who cleverly solves the riddle of her brother's disappearance and the only way to avoid the curse that had been meant to be leveled against their father.

The page I've reproduced on the left is one of the easier to follow.  Most of the pages require a little more scrutiny than readers are probably used to employing.  Some of the best creative work I've seen in comics.

Larfleeze #8, 9, 10, 11, 12 (DC)

The final five issues of the series that I greedily (finally!) snatched up.  When the series was still being published, for whatever reason I skipped over it month after month.  What a dastardly shame!  But seriously, Larfleeze was likely always a short-term proposition, especially given how its main character by definition plays extremely hard to play with.  Unless you're G'Nort.  Which, by the way, is pronounced "Nort," not "G Nort," which is what idiots like me have been doing for years, even with occasional correction.  G'Nort is infamously the most pathetic Green Lantern ever, and so of course is the other one famously featured in Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis's Bwa-ha-ha League comics (one clue as to the other: "One punch!").

Finally pairing Larfleeze with G'Nort is just one of the brilliant repositioning moves Giffen and DeMatteis make in these final issues.  They also find Larfleeze a bride, Sena the Wanderer, part of a pantheon about as pathetic as everyone else in the series.  Anyone brave enough to tell Larfleeze stories in the future would be wise to keep all three (plus hapless butler Stargrave!).  The key to telling a good Larfleeze story is to keep him in adequate context (*cough* Deadpool writers), which this series nailed.

The art from Scott Kolins rendered the misadventures with all the dignity absolutely no one deserved, by the way.

MIND MGMT #1, 19, 24 (Dark Horse)

You know how you can hear how awesome something is a hundred times, not really pay attention, and then all of a sudden you give it a real chance and you totally get it?

That's what happened here.

Okay, so technically someone pulled a dirty trick, too, perhaps some mind management (that's the title of the series without abbreviation, by the way; honestly not knowing exactly what that was had been one of my main stumbling blocks), when I looked at the letters column in #19 and saw how Matt Kindt have been advocating Roberto Bolano's 2666.  I love that book.  Subsequently, when I see that someone else has discovered its brilliance, and has been actively recommending it, that's an excellent way to get in my good graces.

The three issues I sampled were more than enough to see that MIND MGMT is special indeed.  It's a little like if J.J. Abrams had combined Alias and Lost (Fringe comes close, actually), about a team of government operatives formed in the wake of Franz Ferdinand's assassination, a story ripe for an era where spying has once again gripped the public's imagination (for dubious reasons, alas).  And it's a story that unfolds more quickly than you might think.  The first issue introduces Meru, a desperate writer looking for her last lifeline and finding it in the anniversary of a flight that became known for every passenger suddenly coming down with amnesia.  All except one (the Henry Lyme seen and referenced on the cover of #24 seen above).  At this point you might expect an Orson Welles story, but Kindt quickly produces Lyme, and the story only becomes deeper from there.

And I've only read three issues.  And you want to know the most insane part of this whole thing?  There are only a half dozen issues remaining!  So I've caught the bug just in time, haven't I?  This happened to me with Y: The Last Man, too, only I was able to follow about the last year of that series.
Next time I'm at the shop, I'll be picking up more issues.  And hopefully catching the rest of the series.

Reading Comics 153 "Blasts from the (Recent) Past"

Detective Comics #29 (DC)

Ever since Detective Comics #27 (the second one), I've been itching to read if not the rest of then at least more of "Gothtopia," the what-if scenario John Layman introduced in the anniversary issue that proposed a happy Gotham and an appropriately coordinated Batman family, free from the grim nature more common to both.  Layman was third tier in the Batman titles after Scott Snyder (in Batman) and Peter Tomasi (in Batman and Robin), so getting the chance to have an extended crossover event of any size was a considerable acknowledgement for what he'd been doing.

To my dismay, no one really seemed to pay attention to the arc, and because Detective proved frustratingly difficult to find in a store before the Manapul/Buccellato run that succeeded Layman's, catching up on "Gothtopia" outside of the eventual collection (and not digitally) seemed like a lost cause.

Obviously I've managed to correct that, somewhat, at last.

The arc occurred in the pages of the 27th and 28th issues of Detective, Batwing, Birds of Prey, and Catwoman, as well as Batgirl #27 and Detective #29, the issue I found.  Before even the first act of "Gothtopia" was over, the cat was out of the bag (not Catbird or even Catwoman, just the metaphorical one) that the whole thing was the result of Scarecrow's fear gas in a new manifestation, lulling the city into a false sense of security.  Which was fine.  I'm assuming the intermediary issues still had some fun with the illusion the gas conjured.

By Detective #29, the illusion was over and it was time for Batman to put Scarecrow away again.  Layman, who is best known for his curious culinary experience known as Chew, proved to be a deft handler of Batman's rogues, and his Scarecrow was no different.

I wouldn't mind reading the whole thing.  If it weren't for Snyder and Tomasi, I think a lot more attention would have been given to "Gothtopia."  One of its signature elements was a New 52 acknowledgement of a classic Batman subplot, the on-again/off-again quasi-romance between Batman and Catwoman, which will surely help it stand out for future Bat-archivists.

Action Comics #25 (DC)

The only Greg Pak Superman I'd read prior to this was the debut issue of Secret Origins.  What made me pick this one up wasn't Pak but rather it's tie-in with "Zero Year," one of Snyder's Batman crossover arcs, which expanded into a number of non-Batman comics, making a limited glimpse into the New 52's past as a whole.

 Overall I wasn't hugely impressed with the issue, but in some ways I was, too.  I chose this particular image to represent it because I like how Pak depicts the young Superman.  It's rare to see Clark gleeful about his powers.  The only other young Superman the New 52 had to this point was Grant Morrison's opening run in the series, which clearly was intended to set the pace.  Pak chooses a time prior to Morrison's take, when Superman is still learning his limits, but already in the t-shirt look that Rags Morales helped make instantly iconic (the Geoff Johns Superboy had this look previously, but it has been, uh, superseded).

Perhaps more notable for me was the back-up feature, also written by Pak.  The artist for all but the final page (which, along with the main story is from Aaron Kuder) happens to be Scott McDaniel.  He's long been a personal favorite, so it's always nice to catch more recent art, especially since he seems to have been relegated to supporting work after the failure of his Static Shock at the start of the New 52 (I still owe the guys at Collected Editions the answer to their challenge of reading the run and coming to a more positive impression than they did; you can read a version of how the series imploded behind the scenes here, although for the record, the difference may still turn out to be their awareness of what happened between the creators, which is far too often the case, above and beyond the material itself).

This wouldn't be the first time McDaniel has worked on Superman (he handled the Man of Steel and also Batman in the early part of the new millennium following his best-known work, on Nightwing), so this is actually a welcome return on multiple levels.

Yeah, I always love his work.  (That's another reason I think Static Shock, on an art level alone, must be worth more than the poor reputation it gained.)  Hopefully, if he's in a doghouse or not, McDaniel can get back to some level of prominence.

Swamp Thing: Futures End #1 (DC)

The more I read of Charles Soule's Swamp Thing, the more I wish I'd been reading it all along.  The Futures End issue is another prime example of how excellent it truly is.

As far as I can tell, Soule has followed in the footsteps of Geoff Johns from the pages of Green Lantern (and to a lesser and/or unknown extent, Jeff Lemire's Green Arrow) and Aquaman, building a whole mythology out of existing material.  I know Scott Snyder began the series at the start of the New 52, and that the idea of the Parliament of Trees and the Green were introduced by Alan Moore in his seminal Saga of the Swamp Thing run, but a significant amount of what Soule has been doing (and will soon conclude before that oft-lamented Marvel-exclusive contract officially kicks in) seems to be derived from his own imagination.

As with other Futures End month issues I have previously discussed (headlined by Grayson and Soule's own Red Lanterns), Swamp Thing took the opportunity to look five years into the future as a chance to piggy-pack a conclusion to a creative run that will obviously not be in-place five years hence.  So I'm glad to have had another chance to catch this one.  Although I have a feeling I will be reading the complete Soule Swamp Thing at some point.

The included artwork also brings up Soule's inclusion of the white ring (from Green Lantern lore, currently in the possession of Kyle Rayner as depicted in New Guardians) originally featured in Blackest Night and its sequel, Brightest Day, the pre-New 52 series that saw Swamp Thing (as well as others) make his in-continuity return.  I like it when a creator has an expansive look at what's been done before them.  Obviously, few will be quite as obsessive about it as Grant Morrison (his Batman is as close to a doctorate on the subject as anyone outside of Kurt Busiek is likely to get in comics), but seeing Soule accept the challenge will always be an excellent reason to admire his work.

(And meanwhile, I will at some point find out exactly how much his Swamp Thing owes to past creators.  It doesn't really matter, though, does it?)

Reading Comics #132 "Detective Comics #27 Free Edition and Vertigo Defy"

via Robot 6

Batman is arguably the most famous fictional creation of the past hundred years, and the most consistently celebrated one, eclipsing his closest competition, who is more important, Superman.  This year there've been even more celebrations than usual, thanks to his seventy-fifth anniversary.  One of them was Detective Comics #27, not the 1939 version, but the DC New 52 relaunch edition, an oversized issue stuffed with all kinds of special creators chipping in to celebrate the occasion.  It was pretty great.  Well, DC liked the idea so much it kind of did it again, this time a little smaller, a lot more free, and so here I am talking about that.

The lead story is from the original version, the 1939 one, from Bob Kane and Bill Finger, the very first Batman story in all its dated glory.  Then comes the Brad Meltzer version of that same story, originally presented in that second edition, and a little later a third version, borrowing the captions from the Melzter story and the Finger art from the Kane story, altered by famed graphic designer Chip Kidd, an excerpt from an otherwise exclusive element to a different Batman release for the celebration.  And to round all that out, the Scott Snyder/Sean Murphy story from the second edition, which remains brilliant, one of the best things Snyder has ever written (the best?), and conveniently reminding everyone that Snyder and Murphy also collaborated on the recently-concluded Vertigo mini-series The Wake (which I haven't read, because I've grown leery of Snyder aside from this Batman short).

Anyway, all that being said, if you caught this freebie, that's all well and good.  It's still available at comiXology if you'd like to have a look yourself.

I'd like instead to talk about something that might have been obvious to a lot of other people, but for me was really only obvious after reading through this special: Tim Burton's Batman was pretty much "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate."  Sure, the Joker wasn't in it originally, but everything else is basically exactly the same (no "king of the wicker people" or black rubber suit, I also realize).  Meltzer certainly supports that impression (and he does insert the Joker).  The first dozen or so times I saw the movie, I'd never read the first Batman story, so I can be excused for not realizing that.  Movie critics will certainly never care about that, either.  (They care very little about how accurate a comic book movie is to its source material, although Marvel always seems willing to oblige direct comparisons, at least as soon as they update their own material to match.)  I wonder how much fans really care, either.  But there you go.  I'm not even sure Burton particularly cared that he was making a Batman movie.  It might even be argued that he wasn't making a Batman movie at all (the same can certainly be said about Batman Returns).  He had a look at the first story, figured out the Joker was a perfect figure to insert and build around, and really, there wasn't much else he had to do.  Batman is kind of a creep in the movie.  He's not even necessarily the good guy, just the guy who defeats the villain.  It's a gangster movie.  For some reason, gangster movies made a surge at that time, with Godfather Part III and Goodfellas and The Untouchables.  Even Dick Tracy!  (Is it any surprise that the further the Batman movies drifted obviously toward comic books or even Burton's own tendencies and further from other their own origins, the more audiences questioned them, to that point?  The decade following Batman saw a flood of comic book movies, and virtually none of them was a success.  The decade after that, everything changed.  But then, event movies had finally come to complete dominate the market.)

So let's switch topics and examine what one might learn from browsing through the Vertigo Defy preview:

via Comic Vine

When it was announced that long-time Vertigo chief Karen Berger was leaving, fans kind of assumed that the DC imprint would turn to pot.  It used to be an indication of some of the best comics in the market, having that logo on the cover.  For a good twenty years, it was practically a guarantee.  I think the rise of Image as a mature readers publisher built around The Walking Dead instead of Spawn changed the rules a little.  Suddenly all the cool creators were at Image instead of Vertigo, which became instead a little like the vanity label Marvel has tried to establish for years.  I mean, to a certain extent, Vertigo always was that, but now it seems like there's less to support its credentials, all the hype and none of the substance, or far less of it anyway.  But here's a review of what the freebie presented as the Vertigo of 2014:

• Bodies from Si Spencer.  This is the listing for a new project with an excerpt.  The only time I've read Spencer I was soundly unimpressed (X-Club).  I can't imagine anyone believing in him as a strong talent, but maybe my experience was unrepresentative, he's grown, what have you.  The excerpt isn't terrible, but excerpts can be deceiving.  It's a mini-series that launched in July, so if you want to have a look at a story about multiple investigations across time concerning the same corpse and hope Spencer pulls it off, by all means, do so.
• Coffin Hill, a current monthly.  I know nothing about this one other than the one-page ad in this special.  Doesn't seem to have distinguished itself.
• The Names from Peter Milligan.  This is another new mini-series, complete with an excerpt.  Milligan is a long-time Vertigo talent, although one I personally have never been sold on.  From what I see here, I haven't found a reason to change that opinion.
• American Vampire from Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque, one of Vertigo's current headlining acts.  Snyder and Albuquerque (an instant favorite when I saw his work in the pages of Blue Beetle a good handful of years back) had the helping hand of Stephen King when they originally launched this project, and I read those issues, and King's work was consistently my favorite work, Skinner Sweet being an instant icon whereas Pearl was just another character experiencing the beginnings of the saga along with everyone else (although that fact that I remember her name was Pearl is probably a point in Snyder's favor).  Is this a shining example of Vertigo at its finest?  I have such a hard time appreciating Snyder the way virtually everyone else seems to, it just seems like the prime example of Vertigo's new vanity image (heh), something he gets to do to give his Batman work greater credibility (because otherwise Snyder remains in a relative vacuum as far as his output is concerned other than the Dark Knight).  
• Astro City, Kurt Busiek's long-standing metaphor baby, a kind of ongoing Alan Moore-style nostalgia project trading on his Marvels reputation, relocated to Vertigo as a matter of convenience (it's also been published, of course, by Image).  
• The Kitchen, another new mini-series with an excerpt.  Doesn't much distinguish itself anymore than the other two.
• The Sandman: Overture, the callback mini-series to Vertigo's formative years and heyday, which is typical Neil Gaiman brilliance and a reminder of what the imprint can do when it's really inspired.
• Dead Boy Detectives, an ongoing series that spun out from Sandman.
• Hinterland, an ongoing that seems to be a variation on Fables, the other current Vertigo headliner.
• Suiciders, a new monthly from Lee Bermejo that seems to be an extended version of the movie subgenre of people killing each other for sport and survival and yes, entertainment.  Seems mostly relevant for its art (heh) and even as a kind of bridge back to superheroes (famously, Vertigo had its origins with alternative looks at superheroes, and the biggest thing to happen to the imprint recently was in fact losing all its most famous superhero projects back to DC proper).
• Fables, the ongoing that's highly popular in the trade collections and similar to the later-launched TV series Once Upon a Time.  Started out horribly but seems to have leveled out and become an institution, although it's kind of a poor man's Sandman (no offense to Bill Willingham intended).
• Fairest, a Fables spin-off that focuses on female characters.
• FBP (stands for Federal Bureau of Physics), an ongoing that launched last year that might actually be the best non-Sandman Overture series Vertigo is publishing at the moment, the one I still most recommend checking out, even though I haven't done so in a good long while (I'm now fearful that I've missed too much, and so I should instead start reading in the trades if I'm so inclined).

Missing from the lineup is The Unwritten, which is probably another series Vertigo can hang a happy shingle on.  I'm not sure why it was left out.  The conclusion I reach from this survey, however, is that the imprint needs a little help at the moment.  (I'd personally love to see what Geoff Johns would do if he finally decided to launch something there.  Maybe give some other DC acts that kind of chance.  Vertigo is always at its best when it's reinventing itself.)  American Vampire and Fables are not terrible ways to headline the imprint, but I'm also not sure they stand up to the best it's ever seen.  The best of what's around doesn't necessarily say much.  Maybe FBP is that series.  It certainly needs more publicity.

Or, like Detective Comics #27, perhaps a lot more repetitions of what's already been said...  

 

Detective Comics #27 (DC)

(via CBDB)

writer: various

artist: various

The original Detective Comics #27 was released in 1939.  It immediately entered into history as the first appearance of Batman.  When the New 52 company-wide reboot in 2011, DC fans probably weren't thinking about the possibility of a unique anniversary issue suddenly becoming a real possibility.

The reboot already celebrated a soften celebration previously with #19, which was also the 900th issue in the title's history.  This particular milestone was not only much more hyped, but featured plenty of high profile material, and creators.  Funny enough, but writer John Layman is the common link between the issues, and may still be the highlight of both.

Infrequent comics scribe Brad Meltzer kicks off the festivities with his version of the very first Batman adventure, sharing the same title ("The Case of the Chemical Syndicate").  I don't know how well the two stories mirror each other.  I know Meltzer's is more a character study (with a series of statements Bruce Wayne makes as to why he's fights crime as Batman), as well as a version of the Joker's origin.  It's always fun to see Meltzer dabble in comics.  His origin effort, Identity Crisis, revitalized the whole DC landscape.  I've become a fan of him as a novelist, too, although I don't typically read thrillers of the kind of he writes.  I guess I love his ability to identify American icons and spin stories out of them.  (His Book of Lies actually involves the creation of Superman.)

The art for this segment comes from Bryan Hitch, by the way.  Hitch's legacy has turned out to be his work in the original Ultimates comics, and so he's the artist on record responsible for turning Nick Fury into Samuel L. Jackson.  He's known for photorealism, like Greg Land, a style that's sometimes criticized for appearing to come directly from traced source material.  In this effort, Hitch has relaxed those instincts.  It may signal a shift in his approach.  I don't know that it'll make him more or less popular, but it certainly shows a willingness to do something different.  

The second story comes from Gregg Hurwitz, another novelist who sometimes dabbles in comics, most recently taking over Batman: The Dark Knight.  With all due respect to Hurwitz, however, it's more significant for the art, supplied by Batman legend Neal Adams.  Adams last worked on Batman Odyssey, with his inimitable style that is a hallmark of the Silver Age.  Cleverly, however, he takes the occasion to draw not like Neal Adams, but to evoke classic Batman in general, a tale that winks at the character's more lighthearted past.  

My boy Peter J. Tomasi, whose work in Batman and Robin has constantly impressed me, writes the third segment, which is essentially the anti-Dark Knight Returns.  An aging Bruce Wayne has his Bat-family help him celebrate his birthday, and then he slips away to operate once more under the cowl, even though it kills his body to do so.  Once more taking a cue from Grant Morrison, Tomasi knows that this does not have to be a grim legacy, even though it looks nothing like the Hurwitz/Adams tale that precedes it.

Francesco Francavilla is usually associated with pulp characters, and he delivers an appropriately moody entry, minimalist and effective.

Mike W. Barr is another classic creator who makes an appearance.  Barr is responsible for a lot of Batman mythology, including the Outsiders and the idea of the liaison with Talia al Ghul that created an offspring (Son of the Demon).  In his tale, the Phantom Stranger gives Batman a glimpse of what might have been had his parents not been murdered.

John Layman comes next with the first part of his "Gothtopia" arc, which imagines what Batman's world would be like with the grim aspects completely eliminated.  I was soundly impressed with Layman after Detective 19, and so it's a real treat to see him finally receive a standout crossover of his own, even if it still won't rival Scott Snyder's continuing "Zero Year" arc in the minds of most fans.  The whole alternate reality Layman envisions is pretty awesome.  I hope to read the complete story later.

Snyder, meanwhile, rounds out the issue along with Wake collaborator Sean Murphy (who always impresses me).  And even he comes up aces.  I tend to marginalize his efforts in strict contrast to how everyone else tends to greet him, but here I think he does an excellent job.  He worries less about what he's allowed to do when he's not concerned with current continuity.  It's one reason why I look forward to exploring "Zero Year" later.  This effort is like the Batman version of Moon, a succession of Bruce Waynes creating their own legacies as Batman over the years, a clever way of extrapolating the character's 75 years and many permutations.  

Overall, a truly excellent celebration.

Detective Comics #19 (#900) (DC)

writer: John Layman
artist: various

Well, we now know how far DC's commitment to the new numbering in the New 52, at least at this point, goes.  Detective Comics, which is the title that is the namesake of the entire company, has hit 900 issues, and aside from being reflected in the lead story of this special issue, remains numbered with the new numbering, without any overt reference in the issue of the milestone.

Sure, the New 52 is still less than two years old.  There's been a concerted commitment to keep the integrity of the relaunch intact.  Although long-time fans are still annoyed by the new concept, it's a more or less a proven fact at this point that fans in general are supporting it and having a hard time reconciling material that doesn't reflect it, notably James Robinson's The Shade, a mini-series launched a few months after the start of the relaunch, unrelated to it and in fact concerned with Starman, a milestone of what has become an entirely different era.  Fans pretty much ignored it.

It's true that Batman and Green Lantern mythology has remained linked to prior continuity, although with the coming end of Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated and Geoff Johns' Green Lantern, the last vestiges may finally be gone.

So clinging to new numbering even at the expense of something like Detective Comics #900 will likely be the thing for the foreseeable future (we'll see if this is still true if the numbering is still around when Action Comics will have hit #1000; we'll know in 2019 or so).

Now, what about the issue itself?  This is the first issue of Detective Comics I've read since the first of the relaunch, when it was still under the auspices of Tony Daniel (I'd enjoyed his Batman run, so hoped he'd remain prominent to some extent, a dream that probably ended after he was allowed to introduce the Joker's new relationship with his face but nothing else about that arc).  It was surprisingly good.  I only say "surprisingly" because sometimes it's a big question as to whether or not the third most prominent creator working on a character (after Morrison and Scott Snyder, and arguably fourth after Peter Tomasi) is worth reading.  The creator in question is John Layman, best known for his delightful Image series Chew.

The lead story is all about a different kind of 900, a reference to a Gotham neighborhood.  But it's really about Kirk Langstrom, the introduction of Man-Bat into the New 52.  "Man-Bat" is one of the goofiest names in comics (perhaps second only to "Catman," but that one was redeemed in Secret Six), clearly an inversion of Batman.  The character himself is also a pretty literal interpretation of "Batman" itself (hence the name), as Langstrom becomes a man-shaped bat (like a were-bat, basically).  His has long been described as a tragic story, and Layman does a good job of relaying that for a new generation.  It's good stuff, even as Layman navigates around current continuity issues.  It also introduces a new villain, the Emperor Penguin (mostly unrelated to Oswald Cobblepot), who could very well make future issues worth checking out as well.  (The character is similar to the Penguin Geoff Johns featured in Batman: Earth One.)

The next story does the Man-Bat origin from the perspective of Man-Bat (the lead is from Batman's, naturally).  Then there's a Bane story from James Tynion IV (who apprenticed under Snyder and currently writes Talon, where this story continues).  I'm not a fan of the brute version of Bane, so I wasn't so much interested in this one.  Layman is back in the next one, which features a bunch of interesting villains and continues the Man-Bat/Emperor Penguin intrigue (and incidentally does feature Cobblepot).  Finally the original Man-Bat incident from the lead is explored again by Layman from the perspective of ordinary beat cops.  I know everyone who remembers Gotham Central loved that comic, but I think I'd love to read a John Layman revival, should readers not be as intrigued by his Batman in Detective Comics as I am.

And that's that.  There are also pin-ups.  I'm glad I decided to have a look at this one.