C2E2 Report: DC Comics – Batman

Saturday was a big day for this year’s C2E2, with a lot of DC and Marvel’s biggest panels taking place. Besides entry in the morning, the longest line I saw all weekend was for this panel. Hundreds of fans filed through the doors of the convention’s largest panel space, and with good reason.

As things got started, John Cunningham, DC’s Marketing VP, introduced us to our panelists: James Tynion IV, former writer of Red Hood and the Outlaws and Talon and an architect of Batman: Eternal; Scott Snyder, writer for Batman, lead writer for Batman: Eternal, and all-around Batman superfan; Jason Fabok and Dustin Nguyen, the two artists for Batman: Eternal; Patrick Gleason and Peter Tomasi, the artist and writer, respectively, on Batman and _____; and Jim Chadwick, an editor with DC’s digital division who works on Batman ‘66, among others.

Cunningham started by reminding us that this year is the 75^th anniversary of Batman and promised a slew of celebration, most clearly embodied in a “Batman Day” sometime this July. He also mentioned the two animated shorts commissioned for the anniversary and, as a thank you, revealed that we’d be screening them before the panel began.

Unfortunately there was some technical trouble, kicking off a friendly rivalry between Cunningham and the people running the projector.

Unable to resolve the problem immediately, we turned to the comics.

The first book mentioned was Grayson, which received a warm reception, but just as quickly as it was brought up, Cunningham informed us that he couldn’t talk about it yet. Instead Scott Snyder took the opportunity to enlist the audience in a campaign to make sure that DC used the slogan that he and the other writers had come to love, “You think you know Nightwing, but you don’t know Dick.” It seemed to take off with the fans. DC had actually published the line in the Grayson #1 solicit a few days earlier, but after this panel I’m sure they were pleased that they went ahead with it.

Next on the docket was Batman and Scott Snyder’s “Zero Year” storyline, which has just entered its final phase, “Savage City”. Snyder, ever eager to share with the fans had thrown in a couple of extra slides into the presentation as a thank you. “You guys are our bosses,” he said, quoting a sentiment that drives he and Greg Capullo’s work on the title.

Batman ’66 #6 – Review

By: Tom Pever & Jeff Parker (story), Ty Templeton & Ted Naifeh (art), Tony Aviña (colors)

The Story: The evil Bookwork demonstrates the danger of reading.

The Review: Fun fact about me: I’m an addict for PBS kids’ shows.  I’m particularly fond of Wordgirl, which combines three of my favorite things into one show: superheroes, vocabulary, and self-aware humor.  One of its most endearing features is the supervillains, each of whom comes with his or her own gimmick which dictates their crimes.  Chuck the Evil Sandwich-Making Guy, for example, spends the bulk of his time harassing delis and grocery stores.

This might explain why I seem so inordinately entertained by the villains on this series.  Of course, it helps when the writer finds a way to spin what could otherwise be a rather predictable obsession.  Bookworm, for example, sets his sights beyond the library tomes for weirder, less expected targets.  At the suggestion that he’s out to steal Bruce’s ceremonial check for a literacy charity, Bookworm sneers, “I don’t want your giant check…I want your giant checkbook!”

Batman ’66 #2 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Ty Templeton & Jonathan Case (art), Wes Hartman (colors)

The Story: When Batman’s down and out, it’s up to his chum and his girlfriend to save his skin!

The Review: One of my favorite things about the sixties and in particular a certain type of story that was especially (some might even say inexplicably) popular during that period is the needlessly elaborate and complicated plots.  Granted, these plots often got so convoluted that you suspect even the writers lost track of what they were talking about, but there has never been a better time for complete and utter, anything-goes confidence in storytelling.

That’s why I take especial delight in Batman ’66.  Parker not only emulates the tone and syntax of the show with exceptional precision, he also channels the imaginative spirit of the era.  See, it’s not enough that Penguin puts Gotham’s economic activity to a standstill by blocking the harbor with a Titanic-crushing iceberg; he goes ahead and gets it recognized by the United Nations as a sovereign nation, making any incursion upon it an act of war.  There is just so much factually wrong and entertainingly right about this plan.

Amazing Spider-Man #657 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Marcos Martin, Ty Templeton, Nuno Plati & Stefano Caselli (art), Muntsa Vicente, Javier Rodriguez, Plati & Marte Gracia (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spidey and the FF give the Human Torch a proper send off by recalling a lot of the good times.

What’s good: How about that?  Given how good Fantastic Four #588 was in its send off of the Human Torch, it is pretty amazing that an issue of Amazing Spider-Man would be an even better send-off, but that is exactly what happens in this issue.

The premise of the issue is pretty simple: Spidey swings by the Baxter Building to apologize for missing Torch’s funeral service.  What ensues is a recollection of some of the great times that Spidey and Torch have had over the years.  Of course, there is some legitimate villain-busting in the stories, but most of the fun comes from the fun moments where Spidey & Torch are camping and playing tricks on each other, or where Spidey is pulling Torch’s pants down in front of teenage admirers or where the Spidey & Torch inspire Sue Storm to embrace her juvenile side (who knew she had such a side?) and take down villains in a very creative way that ends with Sue having some trouble with the law.

There really isn’t much more to say about the story, because it isn’t complicated, but it is incredibly well executed and you’ll laugh-out-loud 5-6 times in this issue.  Slott and company really captured the FUN side of Human Torch in a way that Hickman & Dragotta didn’t in their very strong FF #588.

Strange Tales II #3 – Review

By: Nick Bertozzi, Chris Sinderson, Terry Moore, James Stokoe, Benjamin Marra, Tim Hamilton, Kate Beaton, Bill Crabtree, Dean Haspiel, Toby Cypress, Michael Deforge, Alex Robinson, Eduardo Medeiros, Harvey Pekar, Ty Templeton, KT Smith AND Jody LeHeup (editor)

The Story: An anthology of short stories about Marvel characters told by indy creators.

What’s Good: Are you curious to see a young Thor who keeps losing Mjolnir because it doesn’t have a strap on it yet?  Would you like to see the kinda girls Reed Richards dated in college?  Any interest in watching the Silver Surfer play cards with a bunch of Skrulls as his master devours their planet?  How does Rogue get out of trouble if she breaks one of Professor X’s favorite vases?

If the answer to any of those was “yes” you should make a point to check out Strange Tales 2.  This is the last issue of an anthology series in which Marvel brings in indy creators and let’s them write/draw short stories about Marvel characters.  “Indy” is a confusing word in comic circles and I think a lot of people use that to mean “not Marvel or DC”.  The majority of these creators are doing things like writing comics under their own imprint, doing webcomics, etc.  In my mind, this is what “indy” means.

As with any anthology, some stories are better than others.  It really doesn’t get any better than the three stories to start this issue.  First we get a story by Terry Moore that shows a young, recently exiled Thor who is having some trouble with Mjolnir.  This story is just hysterical.  That is followed by a James Stokoe riff on Silver Surfer playing cards with Skrulls (who look a lot like his Orc Stain orcs) as Galactus ruins their world.  Might as well get in a last game of cards, huh?  Then we get an awesome Benjamin Marra story featuring U.S. Agent at his boastful, womanizing best as he takes down a terrorist “who’s been genetically spliced with the DNA of a velociraptor!! And if that weren’t enough, he has a nuclear warhead strapped to his back!!  We call him Terror-Saur!!” Of course, he lives in Terror-stan and is threatening the American way of life.

If tongue-in-cheek isn’t your thing, there are also somewhat touching stories about Reed Richards, Michael Morbius, The Thing and a few others.

Mostly though, this issue succeeds because it has a few memorable stories in it where you just say, “That was awesome!”.  And hopefully it inspires to check out a few of these really talented people’s other works.

Age of Heroes #2 – Review

“Who Needs Gravity” by: Sean McKeever (writer), David Baldeon (pencils), N. Bowling (inks), Chris Sotomayor (colors) & Joe Sabino (letters)

“Heroic Rage” by: Brian Reed (writer), Chad Hardin (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), Sotomayor (colors), Sabino (letters)

“Young Masters” by: Paul Cornell (writer), Mark Brooks (art) & Dave Lamphear (letters)

“Semper Fidelis” by: Dan Slott (writer), Ty Templeton (art), Jorge Maese (colors) & Lamphear (letters)

The Story: Marvel’s 4-issue anthology miniseries showing what various folks are doing in THE HEROIC AGE checks in on the C-listers.

What’s Good: These stories are all cute, fun and well written.  They really serve as a sampler platter for new books that Marvel has coming out and I really don’t mind that.  Heck, I’d much rather get a chance to see a few of these characters in small doses before committing to a few issues at $3.99 a pop.

I thought the best of these stories was Heroic Rage starring American Son.  I feel like I’m falling down on the job by admitting that I am not getting the “Amazing Spider-Man presents: American Son” but I did read the American Son story arc in ASM about 40 issues ago (or a year ago in ASM-time….I swear, it’s like talking about “dog years”, LOL).  Even though my favorite characterization of Harry Osborn is when he’s just Peter’s confident and slick buddy who doesn’t like Spider-Man, I really enjoyed this short (8-page) story.  One of the things the story plays up is that there seems to be some mystery behind who is wearing the American Son armor.  I had assumed it was Harry, but the reactions of the other characters made it seem that wasn’t certain. Plus, bonus points for tossing Norah the reporter into the story (she’s spunky and fun!) and having a cool scene where American Son stakes (vampire style) a bad-guy/monster with an flagpole complete with billowing American Flag.  The whole scene is very Mr. Suribachi inspired.

The art throughout this issue was really well done.  I didn’t see any pages or panels in here where I rolled my eyes.  Marvel also deserves credit for an accurate cover…..The C-listers on the cover are the folks in the comic!  Not sure if that’s a good thing, but….

Spider-Man / Human Torch #1-5 – Review

By Dan Slott (writer), Ty Templeton (pencils), Tom Palmer, Nelson, Frank D’Armata, Drew Geraci (inkers), Sotocolor, J. Rauch (colors)

If you love Spider-Man, then this mini-series is a must read. I’m flabbergasted when I talk to people about this series and they’ve never heard of it. I can’t believe how much of a low-profile project this was when it came out. Even to this day, it’s not as widely recognized as it should. Marvel’s never put out a trade (only a hard to find digest), and back issues are tough to find (especially issue #2). But if you manage to hunt these issues down, I promise you a world of enjoyment.

Spider-Man / Human Torch contains the best Spider-Man stories since Kraven’s Last Hunt. It’s also the best Spider-Man mini-series ever produced. Dan Slott is the perfect writer for Spider-Man. He gets it. It’s so obvious that this guy’s read every single issue of Amazing Spider-Man because the way he tells his stories – the references, the nuances, and the dialog – they all harken back to classic Stan Lee storytelling. This series isn’t a story arc either,  instead we’re given five wonderful issues that each tell a different story at different times of the wallcrawler’s (and Human Torch’s) life.

For instance, the first issue’s story is one that could easily be inserted within the first 20 or so issues of Amazing Spider-Man. While the third issue comes in around the 150s. Slott doesn’t mess around either. He takes out all the toys and things we wished were buried (like the Spider Buggy) and shows them off proudly. As silly and cheeseball as it sounds, he makes it all work wonderfully. Reading these books made me feel like a kid again. The kindred essence that makes Spider-Man so attractive to kids (and now grown-ups) is completely captured in this mini-series. And we don’t necessarily see Spidey’s relationship with the Human Torch grow. Instead, Slott opts to show us how the relationship has evolved.

Speaking of evolving, Ty Templeton deserves a lot of accolades for his artwork in this series. He works hard to keep it in-step with the time period he’s working with and he pulls it off. Sotocolor also deserves credit for doing the same with the color work. The faux zippatone effects work well, but in the end, it’s still computer coloring. It’s not perfect, but the sentiment is definitely appreciated.

If you want a comic that embodies all that is fun and good about Spider-Man, this is the series to read. It’s got touching moments, lots of gags that’ll make you laugh out loud, and classic Spidey moments. This is still, by far, Dan Slott’s best work to date. Marvel needs to put this out in a trade like yesterday. (Grade: A+)

– J. Montes