Quarter Bin 73 "Coming back to Snyder's Batman"

Bought cheap.  Title is figurative.  And so on.

Batman #1 (DC)
From 2011.
Sometimes I find myself forming opinions as a reaction to what I consider to be the stupid opinions of others.  Hey, we all do it.  I tend to be accused of it probably more than others, but this is a far more common phenomenon than people think (probably for obvious reasons).  Thankfully, I sometimes catch myself.  I hated how much Scott Snyder's Batman caught on.  As an affirmed Grant Morrison fan, I just wanted to shout, Morrison's Batman hasn't even finished yet!  What's wrong with you?  But I can also acknowledge that Morrison is an extremely divisive writer, and his Batman had already gone through several permutations, and had long since moved on from its most sensational story, "Batman R.I.P."  By this point, he was approaching concluding it with the second volume of Batman Incorporated.  Snyder, meanwhile, had created some positive buzz with his initial Batman work within the pages of Detective Comics.  DC obviously recognized his unique new voice, and gave him the chance to get the widest exposure with the Batman relaunch at the start of the New 52.  And it caught on like wildfire.  In the following years, the company even began touting the first collection of his run, The Court of Owls, as a new classic, a must-read.  I thought that was beyond the pale.  I mean, does popularity really qualify something as a classic?

Well, in some cases, probably.  But that's kind of beside the point.  Snyder's work wasn't just considered good Batman material, it became the gold standard of success in the New 52 era, one that every other title DC published failed, time and time again, to match.  I mean, eventually Harley Quinn caught on in a big way, but for the same reasons Deadpool was a surprise blockbuster earlier this year.  That's just the character of fans at the moment.  Snyder's word, ideally, really does transcend the moment.  There's a reason why.  This first issue subconsciously evokes another moment in which Batman broke out of a slump, 1989's Batman movie, actually, which remained the gold standard of Batman movies until The Dark Knight.  Snyder has Bruce Wayne overhear a conversation Jim Gordon has about an open crime scene, and a fat detective waits on-scene (this time one of the good guys, ol' reliable Harvey Bullock). 

Like I said, it's a subconscious connection, probably one few readers realize even now, but it sets the tone.  Snyder's Batman is a hopeful one, in the manner of what Morrison had sought to accomplish, but perhaps mistakenly associating it with a whole movement.  Batman works best when it's clear he's in control, even when he loses control (as he often does in Snyder's series).  Whether he has partners is beside the point.  It's not about subtracting grim from the equation (it's been observed that Snyder's Batman was basically a horror series), but that Batman himself doesn't have to be grim.

I read this issue again, thanks to another lucky find of bargain packs that seem to be popping up everywhere I go lately, before reading the final issues of Snyder's run, and it's the reason I bought those to begin with.  I mean, I've been reading the run sporadically since the beginning, and sometimes I've really loved it, but I've never really shaken my basic reaction, Of course this isn't as good as they say it is.  There will be a lot of reasons why fans eventually cool on the run, all the things Snyder never quite accomplished but easily could have but for whatever reason never did, and while those points will be valid, they don't take away from the base accomplishment, which was to present a whole era in which Batman's popularity was guided by a single man, who more or less lived up to the occasion.  Sound like faint praise?  It isn't.

Batman Annual #3 (DC)
From February 2015.
Snyder's partner in crime during this time was his protégé, James Tynion IV, with whom I recently read an interview that explained the whole relationship.  I never realized what a lucky bastard Tynion really was.  Because I could sometimes slip in my appreciation of Snyder, you can bet I had less kind thoughts concerning Tynion.  But the truth is, he's put in some good work, such as this issue, part of the "Endgame" arc that saw Snyder's vision of the last battle between Batman and the Joker.  One of the running themes of the arc was the true identity of the Joker, which actually doesn't feature into the issue, but rather his twisted relationship with a reporter who found himself in the unique predicament of asking what the hell is wrong with the Joker, to his face, and theorizing that it's because the Joker is incredibly...lonely.  So the Joker agrees to make the guy his special friend, which seems to be a sincere joke, as it were, on his part, but which absolutely terrorizes his most uncomfortable victim.  The fact that I took the time to actually explain what happens in a comic book should tell you that it was pretty memorable.  So it was good to read, while rediscovering Snyder, Tynion as well, and come to a similar conclusion.

Batman/Superman #13 (DC)
From October 2014.
I could never quite bring myself to read this series, which I originally thought was a sad attempt to recapture the glory of Jeph Loeb's Superman/Batman, which later writers in that series, to my mind, amply proved already was all too easy to accomplish (the failure, you understand).  But I knew the series was different, that DC was making a serious attempt.  While certainly a quieter entry than its predecessor in the chronicles of the World's Finest, it attracted some quality talent, like Greg Pak, as part of his overall Superman duties, and Jae Lee, who has consistently produced some of the most gorgeous art in comics.  This issue features the duo with amnesia, and some interesting moments with the likes of Catwoman, Bruce Wayne, and Lois Lane as a result. 

Thus rounding out a pretty good bargain three-pack in what is usually a pretty dicey prospect.

Reading Comics 184 "Darkseid War, Superman: America Alien, Omega Men, Web-Warriors"

Justice League #47, 48, Special #1 (DC)
Okay, so the word ought to be ought by this point that Justice League #50 will finally give a definitive answer as to who is the Joker.  Because that's going to happen.  So I dove back into Darkseid War.  The original plan was to eventually read the whole thing in trade collection, because this is one of the biggest stories Geoff Johns has ever done (which is saying something), building on just about everything he's done in this series, including Forever Evil, and arguably telling a definitive New Gods tale in the process.  With various members having taken over various New Gods facets in the wake of Darkseid's death, they come to the realization that the Crime Syndicate (as Lex Luthor realized immediately) will probably have to play a role in this, and by the end have actually decided to team up with their doppelgangers.  (It's worth noting that the animated Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths is actually pretty good.)  In the Special, Johns gets to write a Jessica Cruz (Power Ring) tale, more or less riffing on what he's already done in the series proper, but still fun for fans of his Green Lantern to see (it's also worth noting that his two creations, Cruz and Simon Baz, finally helm their first ongoing series, thanks to the upcoming Rebirth era, in Green Lanterns).  But more importantly, and also slightly riffing on earlier material, Special also puts the spotlight on Grail, and as such is another essential issue for those who realized that Johns has been using Justice League as his first run with Wonder Woman.  And may he have another...

Omega Men #3 (DC)
And thusly now do I have physical copies for all extant issues of this series.  In this one, Tom King explores Princess Kalista's motivations, which at the time seemed all the more crucial because she had the most immediate relationship with Kyle Rayner, and this was the first time the series delved into a team member's back story, but certainly not the last.  The William James quote?  "The 'sentimental fallacy' is to shed tears over abstract justice and generosity, beauty, etc., and never to know these qualities when you meet them in the street, because the circumstances make them vulgar."  Again, I love these quotes in the series.  Clearly Kalista was used to win Kyle over, because she's a romantic figure, enough to make him begin to care, when the rampant chaos of the Vega System itself was never enough.  I hope comics fans eventually come around and realize how significant King's work in this series really is...

Web-Warriors #5 (Marvel)
I had to read at least one issue of this series, right?  It's a de facto continuation of Mike Costa's work from the Secret Wars Spider-verse mini-series, which is to say, more with all those Spider-Man variations running amok together.  What strikes me, in reading this, is that Costa is completely at home in this chaos. I guess it took a while for me to reconcile this version of his writing with the more sober work I know best, but if it gets him more fans and maybe even regular work, then I can support that.  Maybe not read it regularly myself, but clearly there are readers for this sort of thing, so I can't complain.  Happy for the guy...

Superman: American Alien #2, 4, 5 (DC)
I read the first issue digitally, and I was impressed with this latest variation on Superman's origins.  Every issue spotlights a different period of Clark Kent's formative development.  The second issue, for instance, features Max Landis' take on the period featured in Smallville, the teenage Clark figuring out what to do with his powers.  Each issue features a different artist.  This one has Tommy Lee Edwards, in a style you'd not typically associate with Superman, more like Ed Brubaker's crime comics, say.  The fourth issue features budding journalism, with Clark, and Lois, covering the media coverage of emerging moguls Oliver Queen (post-island), Lex Luthor, and the elusive Bruce Wayne (who was previously featured in the third issue).  This is my favorite issue so far, and not just because of the typically lush Jae Lee art.  Here's a quote from Luthor:

"There's a fatalism that's been going around, and I think it's toxic -- self-fulfilling.  I think fatalism is hip and pragmatism has gotten boring.  I think dark futures are paradoxically easier to see than bright ones.  Everyone talks about the problems of tomorrow, the apocalypse of next week, but whatever happened to the man of tomorrow?  Why are we so convinced there aren't those among us who could maybe solve these problems that seem so insurmountable to the pseudo-intellectuals who pose them? We scared to even talk about a hopeful future, because we're terrified it won't come to light."

Anyway, Landis has some big, brainy thoughts in mind, perfectly in-character, too, and his work speaks to the enduring strength of revisiting familiar stories, no matter how familiar we think they are, or how familiar we think we are with the players.  Young Luthor is always as fascinating as Mature Luthor, and in the hands of someone like Landis, Young Clark is arguably more fascinating than his mature counterpart.  His first encounter with Batman, in this version, inspires him to become Superman.  And so the fifth issue is all about his first, unsure attempt at being a superhero, like the Landis version of Frank Miller's famous Batman: Year One.  And it's fantastic.  The whole Blur thing from Smallville always seemed half-considered to me, a placeholder.  As depicted by Francis Manapul, in arguably his best work to date, the Landis version seems like it always existed.  Well, now it always will...