Batman #680 (RIP) – Review

By Grant Morrison (writer), Tony Daniel (pencils), Sandu Florea (inks), Guy Major (colors)

This issue’s probably as straight forward as we’ll get with Morrison’s RIP story arc. It’s made apparent from the beginning that the Batman of Zur-En Arrh is only a temporary persona and not built to last this long (or for showdowns of this magnitude). Nevertheless, Batman (along with Bat-Mite) push on toward their confrontation with the Black Glove. Batman and Joker finally have their showdown and it’s finally conceded that no matter how much Bats prepares for a scenario sometimes there’s nothing he can do to relate to a maniac of The Joker’s caliber.

This time, the joke’s on Batman and Grant Morrison’s wildly nightmarish Joker is the scariest incarnation I’ve ever seen in a comic. He not only goads Batman as he connects the dots of the “Dead Man’s Hand” (that we saw back in DC Universe #0), but he also forces the issue when he reveals his role in the plot by mutilating his own tongue with a blade! Definitely not for the squeemish.

The Black Glove is finally revealed and it’s outright blatant. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with the outcome, too. After connecting the dots it’s very self evident who the person is but the manner of the final confirmation left me rolling my eyes. I wanted someone more mysterious not something we’ve seen a million times before. It’s just too obvious (almost too easy), and nearly deflates this entire enigma of a storyline.

Next issue promises a big showdown and we know it won’t end well. The reemergence of Damien into the storyline only confirms what we’ve all been speculating on for months. Grant Morrison has one issue left to end this on a strong note. If he pulls it off without bewildering his audience, this will have been worth the effort. And by effort, I mean the research and annotation digging 99% of us had to do. (Grade: C+)

– J. Montes

The X-Files Special #0 – Review

By Frank Spotnitz (writer), Brian Denham (art), Kelsey Shannon (colors)

Like the forthcoming movie, I expected this book to be pure crap. It’s not that I hate The X-Files – quite the opposite – I love the series. Well, I love seasons 1-5, anyway. Anything that came after that was crap, in my opinion, so you’ll have to excuse my pessimism. Much to my surprise, this book is actually “not horrible”. There are some serious issues I have with the book, but all-in-all, I think many people will be pleasantly surprised with Frank Spotnitz’s offering.

The first thing that struck me was the look of Mulder and Scully. No, I’m not talking about the obvious photo tracing job by Brian Denham (which sticks out like a sore thumb), but rather how young they look. At the end of the issue, it’s said that these stories will be taking place between Seasons 2-5, and honestly, that makes the most sense – the show hadn’t spiraled out of control yet. But as a comic that could have tied into the movie or serve as a good primer (it even sports a cover that replicates the movie’s poster), this reversal in time feels like a missed opportunity.

The story itself starts off in a very creepy way, and the colors by Kelsey Shannon go a very long way in creating a foreboding atmosphere. (I’m purposely not spoiling any of the story because I know most of the people reading this review are going to buy this book anyway.) From there, the plot begins to unravel as Mulder adds the facts and makes his deductions. Scully doesn’t do much except for her normal analytical stuff (she examines a dead body) and skeptic routine. What’s jarring about this story is the awful expository dialogue provided by Mulder on more than one occasion. I think it’s safe to say that fans of The X-Files aren’t idiots. So why are we being treated as such? Not everything has to be spoon fed, and frankly, this pisses me off.

Luckily, the story is well paced and entertaining enough to (almost) overlook these problems. If you don’t mind blatant photo tracing, you’ll also love Brian Denham’s art which can be quite good at times. The last page says to be continued in X-Files #1 – but there’s no word on when that’s going to come out. And at this point in time, the soonest we’ll see it is November 2008 (or later). Why so long? For a good debut issue, this isn’t the right way to maintain your readership. Why do fans of this show continued to be jerked around? (Grade: B-)

– J. Montes

A Second Opinion

My complaint against previous X-Files comics were that Mulder and Scully weren’t drawn with the likeness of the actors. So the fact that the characters here are photo-traced is a plus for me. I really want to see Mulder and Scully’s likeness well represented in these pages – not some doodles that resemble them. That said, there are some panels that look overly stretched and they look bad on the page. Regardless of this, Brian Denham does a great job.

The dialogue can’t get any better than what we get here. It’s written by Frank Spotnitz, so he knows the characters by heart – how they talk and their mannerisms. I definitely could hear their voices in my head (I’m not crazy, by the way) as I read the story. Most of the elements that we’ve grown to love from the TV series are accurately reproduced.

There are several little details with the art that only die hard fans will catch, and because of that this first issue made a great impression on me. I’m happy to have new X-Files stories to look forward. (Grade: B+)

– Daniel Yanez