Batman #6 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Jonathan Glapion (inks), FCO (colors), Richard Starkings (letters), Katie Kubert (assistant editor), Harvey Richards (associate editor) & Mike Marts (editor)

Four Things: 

1. This is a real tour de force artistically. – Man, it’s hard to even know where to start gushing about the art in this issue.  Every page has something that could be analyzed and called our for being special, but a few things really stood out.  One is that Capullo shows us some really crazy perspectives in this issue.  You know how in a basic art class they teach you to pick a point on the horizon and have everything shrinking towards that point?  Well, Capullo turns that on it’s ear by having all kinds of dominant perspective lines that (a) would never meet up if you continued them into infinity OR (b) are curved.  And, this is fitting given the drug-induced fever dream aspect of the comic, but whereas you see some artists just kinda randomly slinging objects around on the page, Capullo has a very defined plan for his warped perspectives.  Nice!  The second item that really got me was the energy and brutality of the fight between Batman and Talon.  You really feel like these are two big, strong guys beating the snot out of each other.  The sheer vitality of the characters even helped me overlook a few places where I couldn’t tell how the action flowed from panel-to-panel.  The third is how F-ing creepy owls are.  Who knew?  Those talon-hands!  Gah!  It wouldn’t surprise me if people read this and started setting owls on fire just to be safe.

2. Let’s heap some praise on inker Glapion and colorist FCO too. – It’s hard to not screw up pencils like Capullo’s.  The combination of (i) high levels of detail and (ii) intense energy is kinda a no-win situation for an inker/colorist.  There are a lot of lesser inkers who would have this issue come out looking stiff, but Glapion makes it work. Seriously, if you follow artists on Twitter you often see awesome pencils getting posted only to see the final art screwed up by the inker and colorist.  I’m not enough of an artist to know how they’re doing this, but I tend to think it comes down to Glapion’s control over the thickness of all these fine lines he has to draw (love inkers who don’t retreat to the pens just because the line is fine) and FCO being willing to go with the flow.  This is not art that needs all kinds of stupid highlights.  FCO just picks colors and shades that will work and stays within himself.

Batman #5 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Jonathan Glapion (inks), FCO (colors), Richard Starkings (letters), Katie Kubert (assistant editor), Harvey Richards (associate editor) & Mike Marts (editor)

The Story: It’s a complete mind-bender as the Court of Owls has Batman trapped in a maze.  Or do they??

Three Things:

1. Interesting mechanic with the twisting storytelling. – I read this comic digitally (as I do with an increasing number of comics).  And, about halfway through the issue, we started getting to panels where the orientation was “off.”  By that I mean, the iPad’s concept of what was “down” was different than what my eyes said.  So, to read it you had to lock the iPad’s orientation and rotate it from page-to-page.  I presume the same had to be done with the dead tree version of the comic.  Mixed feelings on this…..  First, the twisting very much fit the story and was a good way to make the reader experience the confusion that Batman was feeling.  Second, it’s great to see creators trying something different.  Not everything experimental is going to work, but you don’t advance the artform by doing the same old things.  Third, I really didn’t like the effect.  I had to step away from the story to remind myself how to lock the iPad’s orientation, so that I could read the panels and once I’m reading an iPad technical support page, the mind-bending effect is lost.  So, in summary: I credit the creators for trying something experimental and hope they never do it again.  Honestly, it wouldn’t be that hard for DC to “fix” this.  Just reorient those pages!

[EDIT added by Dean on Jan 25, 2012: Another thought on why the twisting orientation MAY not have worked so well digitally….  When reading on an iPad, having to reorient the device to view a double-page spread is ROUTINE.  It happens about once per issue whereas reorienting a paper comic is rare (usually only for those centerfold spreads).  Not sure what that means, but it is another way of explaining why it has a different effect digitally than on paper.]

2. Is this all in the mind?? – Man…..this is a really twisted story (literally).  It’s impossible to tell how much of Batman’s experience in the maze is mental and how much is really happening.  And….we’ll probably never know.  This story immediately reminded me of two other Batman stories.  One is Snyder’s own Black Mirror where Dick Grayson get’s a whiff of hallucinogenic poison that makes him see weird stuff (but you never really know if some of it is real).  The other way the classic, Batman: The Cult, just for the effect of seeing Batman having a mental breakdown.  Maybe Jason Todd will save him?  This was a really unsettling story.  I don’t even know if I enjoyed it, but I know that I’ll remember it.

3. Great bits of visual storytelling by the art team. – Twisting panel orientations aside, there was some great visual storytelling.  You know how there’s always this hand-wringing from fanboys if an artist makes Batman’s eyeballs visible under the cowl?  Well, I love how Batman is shown in this issue with one classic, triangle eye and the other side with the ‘lens’ smashed and showing his eyeball.  For one thing, it allows Capullo to wring a lot of emotion out of Batman with the cowl on.  You can’t really do that with the triangle eyes.  For another, just seeing him like that says, “Man, that dude is fucked up!”  Especially because this isn’t battle damage….this is more like he got disoriented and smacked his face into something and was too disturbed to fix his mask.  The rest of the issue is great, from the barrage of little, tight panels that sell the disorientation, to the Owl-man’s eyes lurking behind Batman, to the scenes where Batman’s hands look more like owl talons, to the scene where the owls crawl out from inside someone…. This issue has a LOT of memorable visuals.  Who knew that owls were so creepy?  I always kinda liked them before.

Conclusion: A real masterpiece of a comic.  Most comics you read and just kinda toss them to the side.  This issue is full of visual moments that will stick with you for a long time.  Wonderful storytelling by the whole creative team.  But, let’s not make digital readers leave the comic and go into the iPad’s settings to be able to continue the experience.

Grade: A (ignoring the weird twisting thing and counting on DC to FIX it in the digital store)

-Dean Stell

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Batman #4 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Jonathan Glapion (inks), FCO (colors), Richard Starkings & Jimmy Betancourt (letters), Katie Kubert (assistant editor), Harvey Richards (associate editor) & Mike Marts (editor)

The Story: Bruce keeps digging at the Court of Owls mystery, but is everything what it appears to be?

Five Things: 

1. This is a great looking comic! – This could be a copy-n-paste section every month.  Greg Capullo is just smashing each issue out of the park.  This is such impressive work AND he’s doing it within the confines of a monthly schedule.  That’s really impressive because most artists who approach Capullo’s quality can’t maintain that page-per-day pace.  One of the things that really strikes me about Capullo is how big and powerful his Batman is.  The opening action sequence is taut and powerful with Batman looking every bit a guy who is 6’2″ and 250 pounds and moves like an NFL outside linebacker.  He’s not a dainty little thing like Christian Bale, he’s build like The Rock.   Next Capullo mixes it up with a flashback sequence that is done in a kinda phot0-negative style.  It almost looks like he’s using a subtractive style like scratchboard or something.  Then we get the final sequence where he shows that he can do the “Batman looming over the skyline” pose that every Batman artist needs to nail.  Finally, kudos need to go out to Glapion and FCO.  I’ve seen Capullo’s pencils and those guy actually are adding to what Capullo is doing whereas most inkers/colorists would screw it up.  My only quibble is that there was a panel or two in this issue where I said, “Huh?  Wha?” (e.g. when Batman is falling from the building), but that doesn’t dampen the artistic achievement that Batman is every month.

2. Interesting wrinkles in the story. – Well….the final page is cool as hell.  That looks very intriguing as Batman falls into a trap that has a very Silver Age vibe to it.  Knowing Snyder’s writing, he’s not going to give us campy Silver Age, so I really can’t wait to see how he pays homage while making it dark and twisted.

3. But, I’m a little confused on a couple of items. – There are a few items where I’m clearly not keeping up as well as I should.  I can’t quite figure out if the Court of Owls is real or not.  I think that’s kinda the point of the story, but it’s giving me a little more of a “confused” feeling when it should be pure mystery and anticipation.  Same thing with Bruce fiddling with his ancestor’s bones.  When did he dig those up?  Was I half asleep when I read the last issue, because I don’t recall any exhuming going on.

Batman #3 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Jonathan Glapion (inks), FCO (colors), Richard Starkings & Jimmy Betancourt (letters), Katie Kubert (assistant editor), Harvey Richards (associate editor) & Mike Marts (editor)

The Story: Batman investigates a secret society within Gotham.

Five Things: 

1. Really awesome art.  The Capullo/Glapion/FCO team is really something!  They excel in all phases of comic art.  Can they tell the story?  Check.  Can they make the pages visually interesting?  Check.   Do they do good action?  Check.  Can they make a page of two guys talking in a hospital room appealing: Check.  They really do it ALL well, but everything flows from Capullo’s storytelling and layouts.  He is one of those guys who have so mastered his craft that he can make each page visually unique (from a layout standpoint) without sacrificing storytelling or making it hard to know which panel to read next.  I don’t think I’ve ever misread the panels of a Capullo comic and that’s saying a LOT because they guy goes nuts with his panel designs.

2. Cool story.  There’s a lot of good stuff here.  I know there are a majority of fans out there that love to see Batman fighting Joker or Penguin, but those stories are so predictable.  Let the mediocre writers who lack for ideas play around with the established Rogue’s Gallery!  This secret society of owls in Gotham is so neat because we really don’t know what they’re up to, what they capabilities are, how many of them there are, what their goal is… It’s all new and interesting to discover.  And, Snyder has so many neat layers to this story, like the discovery of a hidden 13th floor in Wayne Tower that is the Owl-villain’s lair.  How creepy that they’re living in your own home?  Doesn’t that just creep us all out: The concept that a hidden enemy could be right under out nose?  Yipes!

3. Owls = Irony.  Maybe I’m slow (or just not much of a student of DC), but I realized as I was reading this that the owl-villains remind me of Owlman, the alternate version of Batman from the Crime Syndicate.  I’m sure everyone else picked up on this instantly, but like I said, I’m slow and read almost no DC.

Batman and Robin #20 – Review

By: Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Patrick Gleason (artist), Mick Gray (inker), Alex Sinclair (colorist)

The Story: Tree of Blood – Dark Knight vs. White Knight, Part 1: A body with pasted-on wings drops eighty floors and nearly kills Dick Grayson and some celebrities at an opera opening. We’ve got a mystery!

What’s Good: Wow. I really loved this issue. Tomasi and Gleason are awesome on Batman and Robin. I was stuck for a long time just enjoying the first three pages because the soul of series book was right there: Batman and Robin is about two of three brothers and how they grow up as part of this special family. That is what is unique in this book. Any number of titles can give you quality Gotham-like setting and crimes, and others can give you fisticuffs and capes. I pick up Batman and Robin for the same reason that I read Claremont’s X-Men: it is a soap-operatic series about family. Tomasi, in the first three pages, demonstrates that he completely gets that. The writing and characterizations were superb. The next couple of pages showed us Dick and Damian out being heroes, Gotham-style, and revealed their personalities in a pitch-perfect way with fragmentary dialogue and talking over one another. And, the quick line about Dick moving over to the paparazzi for some close-ups showed that Tomasi gets what the Batman mythos is about too: rich playboy, secret identity, insane city.

Batgirl #12 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett and Pere Perez (artists), Walden Wong and Pere Perez (inkers), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Batgirl Rising: The Flood, Part Four of Four: Oracle is trapped in the mind of the Calculator. Stephanie is saving her, by plunging through a rainstorm from thirty-five thousand feet. Sounds like Stephanie….

What’s Good: First of all, what’s great is that this is the one-year anniversary of Stephanie Brown as Batgirl and it is worth celebrating that Michael Siglain and Harvey Richards have been able to hold together the core creative team (Miller, Garbett and Major – the inkers seem to be a revolving door on this book, though) for pretty much that whole run. This gives a definite feel to a Batgirl book. Miller stamps each issue with Stephanie’s personality and it starts from page one. Her running, self-deprecating monologues are always fun, but, in this last issue of this arc, we see more growth in her. Steph, a rebellious, clutsy, teenager-equivalent, has always had a pretty adversarial relationship with Oracle. This book turns a corner for Steph and for Oracle and it’s heart-warming. You see it in lines by Stephanie like: “This isn’t about trying to prove anything to anyone…this is about me saving the one person who’s ever given a real crap about me.” She doesn’t lose that Stephanie essence though, especially when talking on the radio to her backup: ZAP! “I’m good! I’m good!” The corner turns for others in the book as well. Everyone experiences growth, even the bad guy. Oracle’s turn is summed up nicely when she says (with relief): “I knew I could count on you not to listen to me, Batgirl.” On the art side, Garbett, Perez, Wong and Major deliver humorous action and adventure. The camera angles work and the layout does the job.

Batgirl #11 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett and Pere Perez (artists), Walden Wong and Pere Perez (inkers), Guy Major (colorist), Harvey Richards (assistant editor), Michael Siglain (editor)

The Story: Calculator has Oracle and is plugging directly into her mind. Oracle’s hidden lair has Wendy. Technozombies Catwoman, Manbat and Huntress (not to mention 40% of Gotham) have Batgirl. Then things get grim.

What’s Good: As always, Miller excels at the snappy banter and monologue that accident-prone Stephanie Brown excels at: Spiderman-esque in style, but a lot less self-confident. Only Steph is able to deliver lines like “Sorry I called your dad a jackass” and, in response to the growls of Technozombie Man-Bat, “You’re right, I can’t afford a DVR.” Stephanie is always manic fun. On Oracle’s side, I loved the mental world she was stuff in, facing off against Calculator, and his growing frustrations with her. Visually, the art was dynamic, the settings grim and rainy, and some of the layouts interesting. Artgerm’s cover art is absolutely fantastic (just like last issue). Stan Lau should be doing the insides too.

What’s Not So Good: The art, while doing the job, didn’t look very compelling this issue. Gotham looks grittiest and scariest (despite Stephanie being a light-hearted Gothamite, she is being chased by thousands of zombies) when the fine lines of detail leap out of the panels and drown the reader’s eyes in an overload of bricks and mortar, dirty, blowing garbage, hair-line cracks in windows and scuffed armor. Faces carry more emotion when the lips and eyes and hair move fluidly. The art here just lacked the kind of detail that would have held my attention. This was just standard.

Story-wise, there were a few flaws. I’m not trying to nerd out, but first, I was shocked that Wendy was able to turn on, much less use, Oracle’s computer. I’m not a longtime Barbara Gordon follower, but over this series, she’s been the super-careful, ultra-cautious mastermind with a plan. She has put telepathic blocks in her head! But she didn’t password protect her computer?

Batgirl #4 – Review

By Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Tim Levins & Lee Garbett (pencillers), Dan Davis, Aaron Sowd & Trevor Scott (inkers), Harvey Richards (assistant editor), Michael Siglain (editor)

The Story: As always, Miller makes his themes (in this case, the title “Field Test”) do double duty. Stephanie Brown is field testing her new high-tech Batgirl costume. Barbara Gordon is helping monitor the suit while giving advice, but when she has to deal with something, Batgirl herself is field tested against someone well out of her league.

What’s Good: If there’s one issue that can vouch for Miller’s writing, it’s Batgirl #4. The plotting and thematic ideas are always tight, but my hat remains off on his character work. His characters are just fun to follow. The back and forth between Barbara and Stephanie is solid, as Miller packs his dialogue with personality. Stephanie’s running self-deprecation could get tiresome in another character, but when put together with her natural exuberance and fun, it works, with lines like “And this Batgirl doesn’t sing – not in front of people anyway” and “I’m almost fifty percent sure nothing could go wrong.” I’m also waiting to see where this romantic tension between Batgirl and the young detective is going to go.

Art team has changed a bit. Tim Levins has replaced Scott and Hope in the driver seat with Lee Garbett. The art is clear, the expressions tell the story and the poses are more natural. The layouts also seem to be evolving positively. The final battle page between Batgirl and the villain is a funny and well-told stack of panels.

What’s Not So Good: The superhero skeleton of the story is nothing original. Batgirl’s encounter with this super-villainess is pretty forgettable, but I’m wondering if the search for something truly field-expanding is what Batgirl readers are looking for when they buy this book. Would something truly original to the field (think the teen angst of Lee/Ditko Spiderman, the gritty noir of Miller’s Daredevil or the soap opera of Claremont’s X-Men) fit within a book whose focus is the fun of watching a flighty, occasionally quixotic teenager turn herself into a real superhero? But if ground-breaking work is not in Batgirl’s future, will the series survive? Sales estimates for issue #3 from Diamond are around 37,000, which is pretty respectable for a new book, so Michael Siglain has some flex before making any serious decisions, but Miller has got some work ahead of him to convince readers that Stephanie Brown matters, without losing the fun of what makes her great.

Conclusion: Batgirl is an entertaining book and very accessible to the new reader. This is what mainstream comics do well. But I hope that Batgirl does not get lost behind a lot of other books that are also delivering mainstream stories.

Grade: C+

-DS Arsenault

The Great Ten #1 – Review

By Tony Bedard (writer), Scott McDaniel (pencils), Andy Owens (inker), Harvey Richards (assistant editor), Michael Siglain (editor)

The Story: In China, over a period of 13 years, we watch young Corporal Yao of the People’s Army follow his conscience instead of his orders and set himself on the path to becoming Accomplished Perfect Physician, one of China’s meta-humans. Serving the Chinese state hasn’t gotten any easier, but there’s now a bigger problem than getting along with his teammates on the state-sponsored Chinese superhero team the Great Ten. The old gods have returned to challenge the new.

What’s Good: The story concept is excellent. This is really a big idea story, well-executed, and set up with lots and lots of conflict that will need to be resolved. Perfect Physician doesn’t get along with anyone on the team or in the party for reasons of conscience, and Bedard suggests barely-subdued tension between the others as well. And, as you must in any good first issue, Bedard has launched a strong plot question for this 10-issue series: In a cultural conflict between old and new China, whose gods will win? The writing, the flashbacks, and the pacing are all well done, which is no surprise for anyone who has followed his writing and plotting in R.E.B.E.L.S.

The art told the story clearly and dynamically, although I tend to prefer artists with a more realistic feel. If you like more of a cartoony look, then you’re going to like McDaniel’s art. Owens on colors had some interesting effects, especially on some of the flashbacks that had grayed, roughed-up feels, as if we were looking at old magazines with a few crumple marks.

What’s Not So Good: Despite a really strong opening story, I’m wondering how many superhero books set outside the USA can really flourish. Alpha Flight (Canada) stuck around for a good while, but the excellent Captain Britain and MI 13 (UK) folded after less than 20 issues. I wonder if DC hasn’t taken a gamble here that has nothing to do with the quality of the story, but with what their audience wants.

Conclusion: Going offshore for the main characters adds a lot of freshness to scene, story and theme. I hope it pays off. I recommend this quality book and I will certainly be back for issue #2.

Grade: B+

-DS Arsenault

 

Batman: Gotham After Midnight #4 – Review

By Steve Niles (writer), Kelley Jones (art), Michelle Madsen (colors)

Since its debut, this has been one of my favorites titles by DC. What makes it so much fun for me is that it’s a brilliant and different take on the Dark Knight. Unfortunately, I’m troubled by how issue #4 reads. I’m not sure what happened, but I hope it’s a story hiccup and not a new direction.

Something is really off with Steve Niles’ dialogue this issue. For starters, Batman talks too much. I don’t mean too many lines, I mean each line is too long. It’s like a long winded Oscar speech, but nobody gave him the signal to “wrap it up”. I’m also turning on Midnight. The more he talks, the less I like him. I was unclear about his plan when he was a puppet-master and now that he’s become a heart stealing psycho I’m more lost. This isn’t to say it’s all bad, it isn’t. Batman’s scene in the cemetery with Gordon is executed really well; Niles depicts them as both peers and partners. The duo seek council from one another and Gordon isn’t just locking up Batman’s captives.

Kelley Jones’ artistic excellency is, thankfully, never ending. I’m not sure how his style would feel on another title, but here he truly shines. My favorite panel shows Mightnight’s silhouette on a brick wall after he’s killed Van Ark. The heart in the foreground and the details of the bricks within the lines of the silhouette is really great. What’s tough to follow, however, is how Midnight is drawn from panel to panel. Maybe it’s conveying something about the character or maybe it’s a stylistic choice – either way, he looks different shot to shot – sometimes very detailed, sometimes not. On a side note he’s starting to look like a horror version of Slash (from Guns N Roses fame) with the top-hat and stringy hair.

Part of why I like this series was how different it is. It’s possible that Steve Niles is trying to say or do too much with this issue. Either way, the writing feels off. I’m all for Midnight’s agenda – it seems like he has a good plan – I just wish we could get a better sense of what it is. Even though I’m left wondering what happened, Gotham After Midnight is still some of the best Batman reading out today. (Grade: C)

-Ben Berger