Batman #20 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Back-up by: James Tynion IV (writer), Alex Maleev (art), Nathan Fairbairn (colors), Dezi Sienty (letters)

The Story: Batman versus Clayface.

Review (with very minor SPOILERS): Last issue suffered from misaligned reader expectations.  Snyder & Capullo had been telling epic Bat-stories for a year and a half, so when they hit us with a mere Batman vs. Clayface 2-issue story, it was hard to know what to make of it: “Really?  Just a superhero fighting a supervillain?  No redefinition of what it means to be Batman?  No deconstruction?”  Now that last issue altered my expectations, it was possible to enjoy the solid execution in this issue.

From a macro-standpoint, it’s probably wise for Snyder to mix up the storytelling.  As mentioned above, he’s been telling hardcore Bat-stories for a long time.  Even before this partnership with Greg Capullo, he did that great run in Detective Comics.  Starting with next issue, he’s doing this Batman: Zero Year story that will run for 11 issues and will surely have epic overtones.  Maybe Snyder just thought we needed a cigarette break before going back into the serious Bat-stories.

Detective Comics #15 – Review

By: John Layman (story), Jason Fabok (art), Jeremy Cox (colors)

The Story: Look on the bright side, Clayface—no messy, expensive divorce proceedings.

The Review: Ah, love—that most elusive of virtues.  If I’ve learned nothing else from How I Met Your Mother (and indeed, what you learn from HIMYM boils down to pretty much nothing), it’s the more effort you put into finding love, the more it seems to escape you.  Another thing I learned from HIMYM: it’s that even the least deserving people can be suckers for love.  You can take the toughest, most dominant bozo in the room and love will reduce him to a weeping mess.

In short, love is the most wonderful horrible thing—and vice versa.  It shouldn’t surprise you, then, that Clayface also gets caught in its trap in a big way.  It’s easy to feel sorry for the big lump.  He’s not nearly as inherently evil or sadistic as some of the other crazies running around Gotham, and the protective way he looks after Ivy is rather touching.  As he flips cars and bellows at the world to give him his wife, you can see just how far gone he is over her.

Detective Comics #14 – Review

By: John Layman (story), Jason Fabok (art), Jeremy Cox (colors)

The Story: It’s a rough night when you get your thunder stolen by the Penguin.

The Review: Another review, another Batman title.  I’ll spare you the lecture on how every series sharing a brand should at the very least bring something different to the party.  Instead, let’s talk a little about Detective Comics, the book which not only brought Batman to life, but from which DC Comics as we know it today took its confusingly redundant name.  In theory, at least, this title should focus on Batman as investigator, rather than avenger or superhero.

However, to write the world’s greatest detective, you need to be a fairly good one yourself—no small task for the ordinary, non-fictional person.  How else can you expect to set up clues amidst the plot with enough intricacy and subtlety that the reader doesn’t spot them and put them together with his commoner’s brain faster than the Batman himself?  With his experience on the unusual and surprisingly complex Chew, Layman seems up to the task.

Young Justice S02E01 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (story)

The Story: YJ’s philosophy toward recruitment?  The more the merrier.

The Review: When I reviewed the show’s season finale last week, I was all settled in for a summer’s break until its return.  I suppose I should have known by now to give up trying to figure out this show’s release schedule.  Who could ever predict that the premiere of the second season would follow right on the heels of the first’s season finale?  I can only guess this is Cartoon Network’s way of keeping up its newly-minted DC Nation block.

The first few minutes of the episode get you pumped for another season of teen superhero action, as you watch Superboy, Miss Martian, and Robin take down Clayface in a sewer with great finesse and confidence, proving their victory aboard the League watchtower did wonders for their street cred.  When Robin appears from the shadows in a whole new costume, you’re only briefly curious.  Then an alligator slides down a chute and becomes Beast Boy.  Blue Beetle flies in, remarking on the smell.  A shrunken Bumblebee hovers above and resizes back to normal.  You think to yourself, Wow, their street cred really must have taken off to recruit this much.  And then Superboy reports back to HQ, only to be told to head back by one “Nightwing.”

Batgirl #13 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Pere Perez (artist), Guy Major (colorist), Harvey Richards (assistant editor), Michael Siglain and Sean Ryan (editors)

The Story: Trust: Batgirl swings into action on her day off to tangle with Clayface. Detective McHandsome plays the lad in distress.

What’s Good: Miller delivers classic Steph in the first few pages when he shows us how she lives at college. And where Detective Nick has been a romantic plot tease for a year, Miller finally scratches beneath his surface. It’s subtle, but the view of what’s underneath jacks up the tension by laying the groundwork for some inner conflict and some romantic obstacles that Steph will have to face later if she gets to pursue Detective McHandsome. And, as always, I love the Artgerm cover. Has this guy done interior artwork anywhere?

Batman: Gotham After Midnight #3 – Review

By Steve Niles (writer), Kelley Jones (art and cover), Michelle Madsen (colors), Pat Brosseau (letters)

Steve Niles and Kelley Jones are truly a gifted creative team. Not only are they putting out a very engaging story, but they also compliment each other very well. I was skeptical of a Batman horror comic, but each month they shut me up, and I couldn’t be happier.

For me the writing takes a slight step back this week. I enoyed the book as a whole, but there are a few lines and character choices referring to Clayface that bug me. It’s not a particular attachment to the character, but more of a belief. One of the things that I like so much about Batman’s villains is how different they are. He has a handful of dumb villains and I’ve never thought of Clayface as one. I’ve also never seen Clayface as an environmentalist. With all of his “return to the Earth” lines he sounds like a brown, ugly Poison Ivy. It just didn’t work for me. That said, my favorite lines come from The Joker. He has no more than three, but Niles makes them count. I don’t know if he plans to use The Joker after this issue, but I’m dying to see his take on the character.

Jones continues to impress me each issue. His pencils of Clayface make me smile, which is an odd thing to say. I think it’s because each panel shows movement, he’s constantly dripping and remolding. It reminds me of Pizza The Hutt from Spaceballs (that’s where the smile comes from). My favorite panel show’s Gordon smoking his pipe. He’s just informed Clarkson that Batman is long gone, and the smoke is literally the shape of Batman in the wind. Great stuff.

If you’ve ever wanted to see a Batman horror movie, this is as close as you’ll get outside of a vampire or alien cross over. We should all be so lucky to have a creative team so in synch. We’re nine issues away from the conclusion, and while it’s too early to tell how things will end I’m excited to find out. All I need is a few Joker issues and I’ll be set. (Grade: A-)

– Ben Berger