Batwoman Annual #1 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (story), Trevor McCarthy & Moritat (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Behind every good Batman is a Batwoman—ready to take him down.

The Review: Considering how sudden and dismissively J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman were shooed off this title last October, the least DC could do was offer a resolution to their long-invested storyline, which was also cut off when Williams-Blackman left. DC did one thing right in committing this annual to that task, but their inability to bring back Williams-Blackman for this special occasion almost guaranteed the annual’s failure.

Without Williams-Blackman, Andreyko basically has to guess how his predecessors would’ve ended their own story and execute it as best he can. Andreyko’s very capable of course, but this is asking too much of any writer, especially when Williams-Blackman had set up conflicts that require a careful, delicate touch to untangle. There’s simply no way Andreyko could’ve divined Williams-Blackman’s intentions to wrap up their plotlines as planned. Even so, that’s no excuse for him to throw sense and integrity out the window just to get the job done.

Fairest #24 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (story), Shawn McManus (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Marcel perfects the art of going to buy cigarettes and never coming back.

The Review: I was debating on whether to even review this issue, but in the interest of consistency, I couldn’t just sideline it without a word of warning to y’all first.  But make no mistake; the temptation to quietly forget this issue ever existed was quite powerful.  In fact, the issue would be fairly easy to forget since almost nothing of significance really happens in it at all, much like all the issues before it in this arc.

There is exactly one—count ‘em, one—piece of new information in this entire issue: Marcel didn’t make love to just one lady, but quite a many, each spawning one of several species of child: human, mice, and creatures in between.  Aside from explaining where all the rodent assassins are coming from (and perhaps who their mastermind is), this isn’t much of a revelation.  At best, you react with a raised eyebrow, perhaps with a tinge of disgust, but that’s a far cry from feeling genuinely interested.

Fairest #22 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (story), Shawn McManus (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: When Cinderella’s away, the mice come out to play—and flirt with noblewomen.

The Review: I’d like to directly address Gregory Lockard, editor of Fairest.  Mr. Lockard, I know that despite being a paying consumer, I have no right—or, rather, no power—to critique how you do your job.  This being America, however, I’m gonna do it anyway.  The point I want to stress to you is there’s a limit to how hands-off you can be with a writer’s product.  Andreyko’s arc has been quite inadequate, a problem you could have easily prevented.

For one thing, last issue should have been a blatant red flag to you that Andreyko was having pacing problems with his story, requiring extra scrutiny to avoid the same here.  Instead, you were apparently content to let Andreyko keep on his merry way, resulting in an issue nearly as unproductive as the first.  Quite frankly, the actual contents of both of these issues could and should have been fitted into one, an obvious point I’m distressed to see that you missed.

Fairest #21 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (story), Shawn McManus (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Cinderella discovers a love-hate relationship with mice.

The Review: When I finished reading this issue, I immediately went back and flipped through it again—not because it was so great that I had to experience it again, but because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing pages.  Without a doubt, this is the thinnest issue, plot-wise, that I’ve ever read.  I’ve done some short reviews in my time, but I think this will have to be the shortest because there simply enough material to review.

I want to make it clear from the outset that this doesn’t mean the issue was bad, necessarily, only that it’s grossly inefficient.  The first three pages, for example, are a complete waste, a partial retelling of Cinderella’s original origin story that’s charming, but far less so than what you’ve seen from Disney pictures.  Why Andreyko decided to start here and not with the invigorating sequence of Snow White fending off an assassination attempt by a band of ninja mouse-men is baffling, to say the least.

Batwoman #25 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (story), Trevor McCarthy, Andrea Mutti, Pat Olliffe, Jim Fern (art), Jay Leisten & Tom Nguyen (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Forget the wrath of Mother Nature; there are common criminals to worry about!

The Review: DC’s handling of this title has been so erratic that I didn’t even know that #24 was J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman’s final one until I saw the credits on this issue.  I could have sworn they had at least another issue before departing, but I guess DC was eager to tie Batwoman into all the Zero Year craziness, and Williams-Blackman didn’t feel like being good sports about a crossover given the circumstances of why they left in the first place.

That’s all to say that Andreyko couldn’t have started his run on this series under worse circumstances.  Not only is he coming in while tensions over his predecessors’ departure are still simmering, he has to simultaneously deal with the inconclusive arc left in their wake as well as a tie-in to another storyline altogether.  In this situation, Andreyko is kind of like the hapless stepparent who joins a family that just went through a hideous divorce, leaving the household in debt and forcing them to move.  Unhappiness is nearly guaranteed.

My NYCC Experience Pt. 3

After a full day of panels I returned to whence I began, Empire Stage, for another big one, this time presented by the distinguished competition.

Gone were the charming advertisements – apparently someone thought better of them – and now we simply waited, glancing occasionally to the silent screen which informed us that we were sitting in DC Comics – Batman.

John Cunningham, a DC marketing VP, took the podium and introduced us to our guests. At the far left of the table was the beloved creative team behind DC’s relaunched Batman, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Beside them was James Tynion IV, who writes Talon and Red Hood and the Outlaws. Next came Marc Andreyko, the controversially incoming writer on Batwoman. Beyond him was Kyle Higgins, who writes Nightwing, and Ann Nocenti, who pens Selina Kyle’s adventures in Catwoman. On the far end were John Layman, the surprisingly mild-mannered-looking man behind the current run of Detective Comics, and Peter Tomasi, writer for Batman and Robin.

As in nearly all things DC, this was largely Snyder’s show. Cunningham gave Snyder every opportunity to discuss last week’s Batman #24 (review here), but Snyder, in classic form, really just wanted to talk about how honored he was.

Snyder opened with a heartfelt thank you to the fans for not only letting him tell his stories, but supporting him in doing so. He waged charming, unassuming war on the notion that he did not respect the power and responsibility given to him in writing Batman’s origin story. Snyder called “Zero Year” his favorite story ever and seemingly could not help but show off some of the tricks that he brought to the table. Though he’s never been shy about it and his writing reeks of love for the character, Snyder put his status as a massive Batman fan on full display for this panel.

Sword of Sorcery #4 – Review

By: Christy Marx (story), Travis Moore (pencils), Karl Story (inks), Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: Amy spends her last hour on Earth indulging in mankind’s greatest invention.

The Review: One WCBR reader who regularly comments on this series is David Austin, who has often mentioned his disappointment that Sword of Sorcery isn’t appropriate for his young daughter to read.  To be honest, my first instinct was to scoff and dismiss the concern—sorry Dave, but this is a mainstream comic with the word “sword” in the title, after all—but lately, I’ve developed a little more appreciation for his point of view.

It is true that certain moments in the series haven’t been very kid-friendly (e.g. the sexual harassment of Amy’s “friend,” Mordiel’s attempt to have Amy kill her own mother, the squabble between the Diamond princes over whether one has the right to bed a soldier’s new bride).  Yet at the same time, this title doesn’t quite cross the threshold into serious fantasy-drama.  It has been Game of Thrones-Lite, which doesn’t exactly make for an enthusiastic fanbase.

DC Universe Presents #13 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (story), Robson Rocha (pencils), Oclair Albert (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: In L.A., what goes on in the streets beats what you see in the movies any day.

The Review: I read a lot of bad fiction in my college creative writing classes.  (Some of it, I admit, belonged to me.)  Possibly one of the worst critiques you could make a person’s piece was that you liked the title better than the actual story.  (To spare the feelings of others, I’ll offer one of my own short stories as an example: “The Underwater Panther”.  Great title, most people agreed, but ultimately a crap bit of writing.)

In a weird sort of way, the cunning title of “Black Lightning and Blue Devil” (emphasis added) sets the bar pretty high for this story arc.  It takes one heck of a tale to sell that moniker, and at first glance, Andreyko has the chops to do it.  This was the guy who wrote the critical darling Manhunter, after all, which managed to survive far longer than any non-mainstream series in a mainstream world could hope to do.  Unfortunately, little of the gripping storytelling he brought to a lawyer-turned-vigilante comes through between the stuntman and high school teacher.

Captain America and Bucky #624 – Review

By: Ed Brubaker & Marc Andreyko (writers), Chris Samnee (art), Bettie Breitweiser (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), John Denning (assistant editor) & Lauren Sankovitch (editor)

The Story: Bucky is now the Winter Soldier.

Five things: 

1. Chris Samnee is just incredible!  – I hate to say someone’s art is “the best” because “the best” is so subjective.  But, Chris Samnee is squarely in that mythical “top 10” of comic artists who are capable of doing a monthly comic book.  What’s so impressive about Samnee’s excellence is that he get’s there without doing anything outwardly flashy.  It’s just page after page of awesome sequential art and lively characters.  The influences of Alex Toth are readily apparent, but he is also mixing in a thick, softer line that is incredibly attractive.  I also love that Samnee isn’t noodling with his art; sometimes the first few lines are the best and adding can sap the vitality of an image.

2. This is a Winter Soldier that I can enjoy.  – For some reason, Winter Soldier never clicked with me.  I know people gushed about how awesome he was when Brubaker first introduced him and I thought it was “okay”….but this is great stuff.  Why is one clicking and the other isn’t?  Well….I think Samnee probably deserves credit for that for delivering visuals that are burned into my brain.  This issue shows a recently activated Winter Soldier.  It’s hard to pin down the timeframe because of the slippery Marvel sense of time, but it has a very 1960’s vibe to it.  Bucky has his brainwashing and is going about his business, but there are chinks in the mental armor that make his handlers nervous (like how he keeps reverting to speaking English).

3. Also a wonderful Black Widow. – Is Nastasha really in love with Bucky?  Would she run away with him if his conditioning broke?  Or is she just keeping a very close eye on Bucky for the Soviets?  This Black Widow is wonderfully vague (and drawn very sexily by Samnee).

Captain America & Bucky #622- Review

By Ed Brubaker & Marc Andreyko (writers), Chris Samnee (artist), Bettie Breitweiser (color artist), VC’s Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Back in Word War II, Bucky tries hard to fit in as the only non-super powered member of the Invaders.

What’s Good: Remember all that irritated bellyaching I did about Bucky back when he was in charge of The Shield? While I still don’t love him as Cap, and while I still find that particular storyline not to my liking, I hearby take back everything bad I ever said about him as a character. THIS is a Bucky I care for, and want to learn more about! The brilliant convention in this arc is not simply telling a WW II flashback story, but in having Bucky tell us the story with the benefit of his older and more mature hindsight. This gives us the benefit of a good WW II story and learning a bit more about Bucky’s past and his relationship with Cap while still advancing his current character arc and giving us a direct idea of what meaning this story has for him now. The writing in general is just fantastic, as a matter of fact–THIS is the Brubaker I know and love. I particularly love Namor’s role as the cuttingly sarcastic voice of (quite reasonable, really) skepticism regarding Bucky’s place on a team of super heroes.

Birds of Prey #15 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (writer), Billy Tucci & Adriana Melo (pencillers), JP Mayer & Eber Ferreira (inkers), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: They just can’t get him out of their heads.

The Review: Simone brings such a strong, distinctive voice to her writing, and such a high level of craft, that you find it hard to swallow anyone else’s work once she departs from a project.  This seems especially true with the Birds of Prey, her first high-profile title for DC, one still making her reputation to this day.  Still, Andreyko seemed a good candidate for the job; he has plenty experience writing strong superheroines from his formidable Manhunter ongoing.

So why do the Birds sound so uncharacteristically fraught?  Oracle snaps, “I’m doing everything I can here, Manhunter!”  Kate’s professional response?  “Well then do something else!”  These women have gone through some pretty harrowing experiences (and in fact, the arc just before this had a particularly grisly one), so their testiness in this issue seems a tad forced.  Sure, two of their own are in danger, but again, nothing new there (the previous arc also had that plotline).

This may have nothing to do with the fact that Andreyko’s a man, but you feel more aware of the Birds’ gender this issue.  Their banter has an unnaturally flirty, Sex in the City quality that has almost nothing to do with their personalities or types: “Hey, big guy!  Can we play, too?”  “Oh, and a wordsmith, too?  Are you single?”  “S’OK, handsome.  I like it rough.”  These lines come in stark contrast to the textured, dimensional dialogue these ladies usually come equipped with.

Birds of Prey #14 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (writer), Billy Tucci & Adriana Melo (pencillers), Billy Tucci & JP Mayer (inker), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: These dames aren’t here to mess around—they’re out to kick Nazi butt!

The Review: One of DC’s greatest strengths is its long, incredible history, especially its rich beginnings.  Once you add up all the properties DC has assumed from other publishers over the years, you’re looking at a rather inspiring cast of legacy characters, some of whom continue to operate today, either in an elder statesman status like much of the Justice Society, or with younger generations taking up their names and icons.  Call me hopelessly sentimental, but I think that’s nothing short of marvelous.

Besides our usual flock of Birds (plus guest Manhunter), we also get to see in action Golden Age bombshells Dinah Drake (the original Black Canary) and Sandra Knight (the first Phantom Lady), with Lady Blackhawk an anachronistic link between the two generations.   Considering the tremendous credentials of all these ladies, we have evidence that from the start, DC has been a pretty good place for heroic women.

The story splits between the past and present, but the plot is nonetheless light and predictable: long-thought-finished antagonists rising again to haunt his former defeaters.  Andreyko goes for a jingoistic, rah-rah America tone (“Guns are fer [sic] grownups, Hitler youth!”) as he sends the pre-Nixon heroines into Argentina to recover a mad-scientist Nazi.  They encounter resistance in a swarm of blond-haired, blue-eyed adolescents, a kind of Aryan Children of the Corn.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #13 – Review

By: Paul Dini (story), Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs (story), Nguyen (pencils), Fridolfs (inks), John Kalisz (colors) & Sal Cipriano (letters).  Manhunter Back-up by: Marc Andreyko (writer), Szymon Kudranski (art), Nick Filardi (colors) & Cipriano (letters)

The Story: The minor character the Carpenter tries to design a way out of a murderous movie production that she has fallen into.  Will anyone show up to help her?

What’s Good: This is the type of non-Batman story that Streets of Gotham promised us when it launched last summer.  At times this title has strayed too close to being a book about Batman (who we get plenty of in other titles) or Robin (ditto), so it was nice to see a two-issue arc wrap about the Carpenter and a quandary she found herself in.  The story revolves around a new (?) villain called the Director who wants to film a movie where Batman dies in the production.  He had hired the Carpenter to supposedly build the deadly traps for Batman, but when the Carpenter discovers that she is also supposed to die, she has to engineer a way out of the mess.

I like the Carpenter as a minor character.  She definitely answers a question that has bugged some of us: Who designs all the ultra-intricate hideouts that super-villains live in?  But, there isn’t a LOT of story you can tell with a character like her (honestly, how many hideouts do you need to watch her design?), so I think it’s a bit of a creative triumph that the team came up with another story for her that works.  It isn’t deep or meaningful to the Batman ethos, but it is a cute little tale and doesn’t require much additional knowledge of Batman to enjoy it.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #12 – Review

By: Paul Dini (story), Dustin Nguyen (co-script & pencils), Derek Fridolfs (co-script & inks), John Kalisz (colors), Steve Wands (colors); Manhunter Back-up Story: Marc Andreyko (writer), Szymon Kudranski (artist), Nick Filardi (colors), Sal Cipriano (letters)

The Story: The Carpenter takes a starring turn in this arc and Manhunter tries to save her lost child.

What’s Good: For all the people who complain that there aren’t enough new characters in the DCU, here is one that is trying to make a go of it.  Paul Dini introduced The Carpenter a few years ago during his Heart of Hush storyline (at least I think that was her first appearance) and she has been popping up the Gotham City Sirens over the last year as a lady who pimps out villains’ hide-outs.  If you need clever traps installed to catch an investigating detective…..she’s your girl.

So, after wrapping up the Zsasz storyline than had been meandering for the last year, we get a wholly new arc that shows the Carpenter doing a little fix-it work for a mysterious film-director.  It is a fun little story and it follows up on some things that Dini has been doing in Gotham City Sirens.  When this series first came out it was billed as being about people OTHER than Batman and it is nice to see it playing up to that.  Dick Grayson does make a very brief (and effective) cameo in this issue, but it is a Carpenter story. Pay no attention to that really nice cover… Not much Batman in here.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #11 – Review

By: Main Story: Paul Dini (writer), Dustin Nguyen (pencils), Derek Fridolfs (inks), John Kalisz (colors) & Steve Wands (letters).  Manhunter back-up: Marc Andreyko (writer), Jeremy Haun (pencils), John Lucas (inks), Nick Filardi (colors) & Sal Cipriano (letters)

The Story: Damien and Abuse face off against Zsasz while the Manhunter looks for her lost kid.

What’s Good: I keep trying to drop this title on the grounds that I don’t need to get so many Bat-books, but it keeps being good enough to buy one more month.  Honestly, its been a better title than Batman has been for the last year.

I loved how we got to see Damien and Abuse settle Zsasz’s hash in this issue.  Dini has been building Zsasz up as the villain for nearly 8 months now, by having him build an arena for homeless kids to knife-fight to the death in.   So, it was good to see him get stopped by a couple of kids.

I’m also enjoying the growth of Damien over the last year into a heroic character, which comes to the forefront here as Damien is willing to sacrifice himself to let the other kid (Abuse) get away.  One of the big quandaries for the Bat-books is that all the Robins have stepped up (Dick, Tim & Damien) and I’m curious to see where they all end up once Bruce Wayne is back.

Dustin Nguyen is an acquired taste, I’ll say.  He probably isn’t my favorite artist just due to stylistic issues, but he does execute very well within his style on this issue.