Reading Comics 237 "My third Forbidden Geek mystery box"

My third shipment from Forbidden Geek included a Lobo statue, Snyder & Capullo’s Batman Vol. 1 The Court of Owls, and the following comics:

Astro City #25 (Vertigo)

Kurt Busiek’s familiar act continues for another issue.  It’s the kind of storytelling that perhaps feels more impressive if you catch it when you’re younger, but begins to seem regressive the more experience you have.  Interestingly, the only time readers have really revolted was when Busiek was telling an extended Dark Age tale that was the only time he was building on the Marvels method that inspired the whole thing, the sequel he never got to write, which to my mind was perhaps the best Astro City ever got.  Perhaps most recommended to unsophisticated budding comic book writers who have no idea how character storytelling works.

Detective Comics #14 (DC)

The John Layman (Chew) era, little celebrated at the time but an excellent Batman experience all the same (I get that Snyder’s was sensational, but it wasn’t the only or even best example of the New 52), with Poison Ivy in the spotlight.  Layman’s Batman is the analytical mind you’d expect in a title called Detective Comics, and he’s constantly challenged by familiar foes in interesting ways.  Perhaps best represented by the “Gothtopia” arc that went unobserved as a crossover.  Also features early but typically sensational Jason Fabok art, before he got the plush Justice League assignment.

Blue Beetle #1 (DC)

From the Rebirth era, which until now I’d never read.  In fact I skipped the New 52 series, too, and in both cases it’s entirely down to simply not having the funds.  When the New 52 launched I’d just lost my job of five years and went unemployed the rest of that year (then got a terrible job and then got a slightly less terrible job that compensated for that slight increase by paying far less and giving me far fewer hours…).  Anyway, both series were based on an excellent pre-Flashpoint series I did read enthusiastically, spinning out of Infinite Crisis, in which the legacy is passed on to Jaime Reyes in the form of a magical alien scarab with a fairly unexplored link to the Green Lantern Corps.  In this Rebirth relaunch Jaime’s friends from the first series are still present with the same witty banter, but Ted Kord gets to be part of the narrative this time (remember: Ted famously was murdered by Max Lord just prior to Infinite Crisis; the best thing about the current Snyder act is the recent Dark Multiverse one-shot that posits a scenario where Ted shot Max instead).  At some point I’ll really have to catch up with all this Blue Beetle material.

Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #6 (DC)

Another series I was sorry to have to skip in the early New 52 was this one, as it, too, was a follow-up to an excellent pre-Flashpoint series I enjoyed immensely.  So of course I enjoyed this issue.  Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch apparently each have their own Firestorm bodies (one of the familiar gimmicks of the concept is that Firestorm combines two people, with one providing the body and the other becoming a mental sidekick).  In this tale they’re confronted by the Russian Firestorm, Pozhar.  I’m still pretty convinced that if handled correctly, Firestorm could handle a Geoff Johns level renaissance.

The Flash #19 (DC)

Featuring the tease for the debut of the New 52 Reverse-Flash.  The issue features pretty much the bare minimum input from Francis Manapul, who was responsible (with Brian Buccellato) for the best Flash New 52 material, which itself also influenced much of the current TV series.

Green Arrow #31 (DC)

From the Rebirth era, in which DC finally figured out that Ollie ought to be allowed to be awesome again, aligning more with what he was best known for, including associations with Black Canary, Hal Jordan, and the Justice League, all of whom prominently appear in the issue.  I just don’t get how the much-influential TV series never seemed to convince the company, previously, that they should pay a little attention to the comic, help it shine when not written by Jeff Lemire, misguidedly believing instead that Green Arrow should be a younger punk.  This is a character defined by being world weary!  One of the main beneficiaries of Rebirth.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #35 (DC)

The Robert Venditti era continued in Rebirth with this series, which because I became disinterested in his New 52 comics I never really made an attempt to get into.  This issue is mainly Venditti deciding that Hal, John, Kyle & Guy are the Green Lantern equivalent of wrestling’s Four Horsemen.  For…reasons.  Although it ends on a pretty amusing note, as Ganthet taunts the Controllers, by pointing out they want to, well, control these Lanterns, which, certainly with Hal, has famously been pretty impossible.  The main difference between Venditti and Geoff Johns, whom he succeeded, is that while Johns tossed in a lot of bold new concepts, he did so in a manner that built on existing ones.  He seemed like a fan.  Venditti never really seemed to understand any of it.  He tossed in a lot of bold new concepts, too, but without ever really seeming to understand that there were existing ones.  He never felt like he connected with the material.  It’s just incredibly bizarre.  Now you’ve got Grant Morrison writing Green Lantern, and he admitted he was reluctant to do so because he never understood the concept, and yet to read the results is to see that he got past that.  A lot of readers are confused, they see nothing but 2001 AD, but I see storytelling that comes alive with possibility, grounded in tradition.  Charles Soule, when he was writing Guy in Red Lanterns, was much the same, and so too Ron Marz in the uncomfortable position of writing Kyle ostensibly when the tradition had been exploded.  Maybe not everyone will see it, but when you do see it, it’s hard to look past.  That’s me and Venditti’s Green Lantern in a nutshell.  Ironically readers rejected the New 52 era because that’s what they thought they saw everywhere.  As far as I’m concerned, Venditti was ground zero, if nothing else, of the perceived phenomenon.

Infinite Inc. #27 (DC)

Ah!  Irony!  This is a whole issue dedicated to the Crisis on Infinite Earths effect, helpfully further spelled out in the letters column, in which a reader bemoans the cruel dismantling of continuity in the form of Huntress being “murdered” because she couldn’t exist outside of her context (Batman and Catwoman being her parents ‘n’ all, on Earth 2).  And this was a whole series about the offspring of the Justice Society.  So eventually, Brainwave Jr. removes Fury’s memories of her parents (y’know, Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor).  Ironically, the reconciliation of canon effectively obliterated the Infinity Inc. concept, and Fury ended up a curious footnote, never to be revisited (at least as of now!), a curious appearance or two in the pages of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman that feel the more elegiac the more you’re aware of her publishing history.  A version of Huntress did return, eventually, an independent one with no background ties to Batman or Catwoman, although in the short-lived Birds of Prey TV series, she did.  Even better, this issue features a pre-Spider-Man, pre-Spawn Todd McFarlane, whose work is totally unrecognizable, if anything familiar to the Sandman style (just imagine!) with a few panels emphasizing shadow on facial features but otherwise looking fairly generic…

Red Hood and the Outlaws #11 (DC)

The Rebirth era, featuring Artemis & Bizarro, with the spotlight on Artemis (the Azrael of Wonder Woman lore) as she squares off with an Amazon of a spin-off tribe.  Lobdell’s Red Hood comics are another I want to catch up on at some point.

Suicide Squad #45 (DC)

From Rebirth, this issue features an apparent attempt to revisit the exact concept behind the team, as famously featured in the apparent infamous movie, villains being recruited by Amanda Waller for missions where their lawful participation will be disavowed, and if they go rogue the bomb in their heads goes boom.  So I guess if you need a random issue to remind you of all that, this one’s a good one to catch.

Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #2 (DC)

The second of three issues, the prestige format follow-up to the more famous death-and-return saga, Dan Jurgens goes bold, explaining Doomsday’s origin!  I’m glad this was the random issue I got, because I’d never officially read any of it, but had heard of the origin concept.  In hindsight it’s somewhat convoluted.  A better version would be something like Wolverine, a monster with a healing factor who constantly evolves from the horrible deaths it endures, reviving on its own rather than being constantly cloned.  I mean, how would a clone adapt to whatever happened to the previous body?  It’s new material.  Bad science, Dan.  But typical Dan Jurgens art, which sadly lost pretty much all of its impact and appeal after the sensational work of Superman #75, famously depicted entirely in splash pages.  No comic could ever justify that format again, and Jurgens himself really had nowhere to go but down.  This issue also saddles us with Cyborg Superman, who didn’t die in Superman #82, and so he just keeps coming back.  Geoff Johns later used him, too, but I’ve never been convinced that it’s a concept worth revisiting.  If he’s no longer pretending to be Superman, what’s the point? 

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 #130 "Bull Moose Grab Bag IV"

Local physical-things shop Bull Moose has recently changed the way it sells comics.  It remains to be seen whether it will be selling comics much longer.  But until recently it sold new comics and then slightly-less-new comics in grab bag form.  I like grab bags, and on the whole I liked what I got in these Bull Moose grab bags.  This is the last official Bull Moose grab bag, though I get to continue this sub-feature in future editions of this column as Bull Moose Bargains.  More on that when it happens!  Until then, the contents of the last grab bag.

Batman '66 #12 (DC)
The comic based on the '60s TV series that has swung back around to being culturally tolerated remains amusing for what it is.

Bravest Warriors #21 (KaBOOM!)
One of those cartoons clearly inspired by the success of Adventure Time.  Bull Moose Grab Bag did me wrong in giving me two copies, thanks to there being two different covers for some reason.

Chew #42 (Image)
I read some of the earliest issues of Chew, liked them well enough, but it was also fairly easy to...not read Chew anymore.  When John Layman wrote Detective Comics I was actually more impressed with him.  In his own sandbox, Layman is free to do what he wants...and I don't know, I guess he just wants to screw around.  These days I compare this kind of comic to Atomic Robo, and bottom line is, Chew doesn't seem as inspired.  Weirdo concept though it sports and the ability to exploit said weirdo concept, Chew is ultimately fairly throwaway.  Hey Layman, feel free to jump back into the mainstream.  Or find something more interesting to do with Chew.  Apparently he's one of the Batman Eternal writers, but does that really count?  I guess I'll keep myself posted...

C.O.W.L. #2 (Image)
A few years back I was ready to consider myself a pretty big fan of Kyle Higgins.  These days I'm wondering what happened.  Something that bothers me is that he often has a co-writer.  This is not in itself a bad thing.  He first burst onto the scene with Scott Snyder as co-writer (Batman: Gates of Gotham).  Given Snyder's reputation these days, that's not a bad association at all.  (Even Snyder had a co-writer tagging along when he worked on Severed for whatever reason.)  With C.O.W.L., Higgins is working alongside Alec Siegel.  I have no idea.  What I've read of this project, Higgins has been getting all the credit.  As far as the need for co-writers goes (it should be noted even Geoff Johns worked with James Robinson in his early years, and Robinson worked with a co-writer, too, for part of Starman), I'm wondering if this is something he really does need.  Maybe as a kind of focusing lens?  Because as far as his Nightwing ended up going, I wonder if he needed such a lens, and just never got one.  C.O.W.L., like the final issues of the Nightwing run, is set in Chicago.  There's been speculation that this is, in fact, what Higgins would have done if given the chance in his mainstream effort.  Well, maybe?  Anyway, regardless of my personal feelings on its (co-)writer, this series has gotten a fair bit of hype.  "C.O.W.L." is short for Chicago Organized Workers League, otherwise known as the World's First Superhero Labor Union.  That's interesting and all, and this is even a period piece, for whatever reason.  Maybe I just can't figure Higgins out.  Maybe I'm approaching this wrong from the start, but as with my Higgins experience in general lately, I...just wish there was as much on the page as I wish there was.

Deadly Class #6 (Image)
Speaking of Image series from writers I really wish I could like as much as it sometimes seems I should, this one's from Rick Remender, who's recently impressing me with the scope of what he's doing in Captain America.  Apparently, Deadly Class is a personal project for him.  I wish I could say I loved it and totally understood how it's so important to him, but I can't.  This and C.O.W.L. are the kinds of disappointments I think I probably need to reread.  Maybe I will.  (I generally don't do a lot of that.)

All-New Doop #3 (Marvel)
Peter Milligan is a writer I feel guilty for not liking.  He's like the advanced stage of where Higgins and Remender could be years from now.  Milligan has been around for years, a kind of junior member of the British Invasion who helped forge the early years of Vertigo.  His most recent prominent work was nearly the first two years of Red Lanterns, a series I've recently fallen madly in love with...under the auspices of Charles Soule.  As for what Milligan is doing now (not meant as a pun, but there's that, too), I...guess this is related to his earlier X-Statix, a cartoony corner of the X-Men franchise that was much cult-loved at the time.  But Doop reads like instantly pointless drivel.  I'd read Chew over this.

The Flash #32 (DC)
And what is this, a trend or something?  Another writer I wish I liked is Robert Venditti, who happens to have been the guy who took over Green Lantern following the historic near-decade Geoff Johns run.  I haven't read too much of that.  Sometimes I wish I did, because I've liked what I have read.  But then I read something like this.  I have great history with The Flash.  For some reason that history ended with the New 52 relaunch.  No disrespect to the early run, because I just never really got around to reading it, probably because I was disappointed that Johns ended a pre-New 52 run prematurely following the excellent Flashpoint event.  So I wish I liked what I read here.  But I just didn't.  The best material is still pretty weak, Barry Allen bonding with the new version of Wally West.  I don't know if Veditti's heart just isn't in this title, but it just reads so tepidly, a very far cry from Johns or Mark Waid.  For a Flash reader who wishes The Flash would always be a must-read, as it certainly was under Waid and a slightly lesser extent Johns, this is not just disappointing, it's kind of disheartening.

Justice League Dark #32 (DC)
I actually like this series.  I'm waiting to be really wowed by it.  Hollywood was wowed enough to option a movie based on it, so there's that.  Frankenstein is usually featured in it, but not this issue.  As referenced during his recent appearances in Batman and Robin, he's been on a sabbatical.  We've got Zatanna, Deadman, and we-have-our-own-titles-too guys Constantine and Swamp Thing.  J.M. DeMatteis is a writer I greatly respect, but he doesn't always write to potential.  He's someone who's better than the lot I've been grappling with in this column, but I sometimes wish he'd be better.  If this were a truly dark series, maybe that might be the case here.  I don't know.

The New 52: Futures End #8 (DC)
Futures End badly wants to be a new 52.  I know, with wording like that, I could easily confuse you.  52, as opposed to the New 52, was the 2006-2007 weekly series that helped prove possible the modern viability of such a format.  I loved it.  I mean, I loved it.  (It ranked fourth in my list of all-time favorites.)  I've been trying to make comparisons between Futures End and 52 since the newer title launched, based on my sporadic experience with it.  Maybe if I read it every week my opinion would be different, but I just don't see it as hitting the mark quite as truly as its predecessor.  This is disappointing, too.

...Yesh.  With all these disappointments, is this because this was all part of the final Grab Bag?  The world may never know...

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.