I realize I've been avoiding bad comics. I've been mostly going for the comics I expect to be good, instead of the ones that I know will be awful. I'm gonna have to fix that by tackling a comic that I find deplorable. Here goes.
Red Hood and the Outlaws #1
Jason Todd sucks. The only character ever voted to death, DC has tried to revive him in recent years. He's gone through a bunch of different costumes and names, before finally settling on Red Hood, which was the Joker's old alias (maybe). Considering the Joker killed him, that says almost as much about him as the Fifth Doctor regenerating into a guy who tried to kill him in a previous episode. DC keeps pushing him, but Jason continues to destroy everything he touches. There is nothing likable or fun about the character. Stop it, DC. Just stop.
Ahem. I may be a little biased against this comic.
Anyway, to the comic itself. Right off the bat we are treated to Roy Harper being escorted by two paramilitary thugs and...I just gotta say, I only rarely comment on art. Most comic art is just passable and looks about the same. Even Liefeld these days looks like everyone else, just in a funhouse mirror. This artwork is just revolting. It's ugly, and aggressively so. It's quite detailed, but it's like Rocafort chose to emphasize everything wrong and slather everything with brown. It's like Liefeld meets Call of Duty. Also, I don't normally comment on titles, but the title here is "I fought the law and kicked its butt!" Wow, we are certainly going for maturity here.
Ugh. Okay. I'm going to be objective. Harper is in jail because he helped a revolution in DC's go-to middle eastern hellhole Qurac. Now they're in their Robespierre stage, and he's on the chopping block. An obese preacher is there to give him his last confession and register a complaint with some international organization. They let him talk to Roy, and he opens the Bible to show Roy's folded-up bow. The heck? That must be the enormous-print Bible for the legally blind. The preacher splits open to reveal it was a disguise for Jason Todd aka Red Hood, and the extra space in the costume was filled up with weapons, including Harper's quiver. He should have repeated "Two Weeks" a bit first.
Despite being entirely surrounded by men with guns already trained on them, Red Hood and Arsenal start shooting their way out with ease. Wow, so they've ripped off Robin Hood, Total Recall, and now Darkman. In Darkman that opening scene worked because it was deliberately over the top and ridiculous. Three guys with guns surrounded by about thirty winning? That's silly, but it worked since we were not supposed to be rooting for either side. It established Durant and his men as formidable, setting a bar for the hero to overcome. But since these are the main characters, setting the bar this high means that almost no future challenge can be taken seriously.
Harper shouts "Tanks!" and Todd replies "Don't mention it!" *rimshot* I will admit that was a little funny. They're bailed out by Starfire, who blasts the tanks and then casually talks about going back to have sex with Jason Todd. Who acts totally full of himself about it. God I hate this guy.
Cut to St. Martinique later where Starfire is stepping out of the water in a bikini. We're actually treated to her internal thoughts (for what it's worth). She talks about how most aliens aren't welcome on Earth, which is why she hangs out with those two. She also apparently has trouble telling them apart. THAT'S RACIST! Also, there's a kid taking pictures of her and uploading her to the internet. That was necessary.
So Jason and Roy discuss Tamaranian psychology in the most douchebro way possible. Tamaranians are very uninhibited, have trouble telling people apart, and barely care about humans beyond the immediate. She propositions Roy as soon as Jason is out of sight, and brushes off questions about whether she's "Jason's girl" by saying she is free to do whatever she wants and personal ownership is absurd and that love has nothing to do with pleasure. While I can commend this as a way of making alien psychology truly alien, but the result is to make her into a living sex doll. Furthermore...doesn't their culture have slavery? How can that make sense in a culture with no concept of personal ownership?
While this is going on Jason talks to a girl called Essence about organ thief murders. Since the organs are stolen from the past, Jason realizes the Untitled is involved. He asks why the All Caste haven't stopped them, but Essence shows they are all dead. Jason is shocked, and since Essence swore never to return, it's up to Jason to avenge the All Caste and stop the Untitled and WHO THE HELL ARE THESE PEOPLE?!
Oh, apparently the kid was necessary as someone on the internet finds her pictures, realizes she's a Tamaranian, and wants to track her down. Way to keep a low profile, guys.
Cut to twelve hours later, at the Well of the All Caste. Jason Todd is apologizing to someone named Ducra. Then he's attacked by a bunch of guys and he says "Finally, something to shoot!" and the comic ends saying "TO BE EXPLAINED"
Well. I sincerely hope so. Because I have NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON!
Comics, PARTICULARLY #1 comics, should be accessible to a new reader. Who is Essence? How does Jason know her? Who or what is the Untitled? How does Jason know them? Who were the All Caste? And they're dead now, so why was this important? And how do you steal organs from years before they drop dead from lack of organs? Most importantly, give me one good reason to care about any of this. I know who only one person in this entire conversation is, and I actively dislike him. Why should I give a flying crap about any of this?
Hell, I only know Jason Todd and Roy Harper because I'm a huge nerd. The closest to anyone familiar to the average non comics reader is Starfire, and her totally different personality here is likely to turn off anyone familiar with the Teen Titans TV series.
The banter is mostly witless. The art is, as I said, appalling. It is actively unpleasant to the eyes. Everyone has this weird little dot on their nose like they weren't paying attention while drinking a latte. The plot is nonexistent, going from escape to beach party to Red Hood doing something out of context. Also, why bother with a reboot when you're going to bog down even a completely unnecessary title like this with continuity? You guys had a clean slate! YOU WASTED IT.
The eight deadly words of writing are "I don't care what happens to these people." Readers may love your characters, hate your characters, hate to love or love to hate, but the worst thing they can feel is...nothing. After this issue, I can say without a doubt, I don't care what happens to these people.
1/5, only because I don't give 0. Maybe I should consider it. If the rest of this manages to somehow be worse, I will consider it.
At least I don't have too much of this to read because I'm sure this drek will get cancelled after...IT'S STILL ONGOING?! When better comics have been cancelled? Ugggghhhhh...why did I decide to do this?
Saturday, May 11, 2013
All Star Western #4-6 (including the Barbary Ghost)
I could have combined this with the previous comics, but they seem disconnected enough for me to review them separately Hex takes down two of the Trapper clan, and is torturing a third by shooting his fingers off. The survivor refuses to tell him where to find the others. Wow, how many of these guys are there? Anyway, he gets interrupted by a man named Moody who wants Hex's help in finding his missing son. Moody is a rich developer in charge of building Gotham's sewers, so when Hex rebuffs his offer, he offers $50,000 and Hex changes his tune immediately. I checked, and that's about $1.26 MILLION in today's money. For that sort of money, I'd stay in Hell itself for an extra week. Might need to go up to $2 million to get me to stay in Gotham.
Hex takes the logical step and checks an orphanage first, where he runs into his old pal Amadeus Arkham. Since the nun who runs the orphanage won't let Hex in otherwise, he's once more forced to work with Arkham. Arkham was here to tend to a boy named Sean O'Grady who had been missing for three years and recently reappeared. The boy is horribly malnourished rat-bitten, sick, dying, and insane. The boy father informs the duo that a lot of kids have been disappearing from the slums, kidnapped by a hooded figure. From the nature of the boy's illness and aversion to light, Hex deduces he's been held underground. Going through the newly built sewer system and following clues like human skulls, they find a labor camp. The kidnapped children are being forced to build the sewers. Hex moves around taking out the guards with stealth while Arkham rescues all the kids. Unfortunately, Arkham is caught by the slavers, and Hex shortly thereafter.
The huge man makes a mistake of taking both Hex's guns and his hat, which Hex says he will be back for as he's tossed down a raging underground river. Arkham proves his continuing uselessness by being unable to swim but Hex rescues them both. They spend some tense time in the dark with a dwindling supply of matches and no obvious escape from the ledge they find themselves on, until a horrible screech echoes out through the cavern. They are swarmed by a small horde of morlocks, who Arkham recognizes as the lost Miagani tribe. The Miagani were bat-worshiping natives who used to live here but vanished shortly after white settlers arrived. Turns out they literally went underground. Nice use of DC lore here.
The Miagani reveal a way out during the fight, which Hex and Arkham follow until they are stopped by a giant prehistoric bat. The Miagani worship it as a god, but Hex manages to slay it. This garners the respect of the Miagani who bow down before him and show him a way out. The adventurers emerge-where else?-at Wayne Manor. They were in what would one day become the Batcave.
Wow. Okay. So...are the Miagani still down there these days? Did the last of them die out (they were looking kinda pale and inbred)? If they're all gone, when did the last Miagani die? If they aren't, does Bruce have a deal with them? All of this is kinda important information that I would like to see addressed.
Anyway, Arkham shows he's not completely useless by getting help from the Waynes. They're less perturbed by the presence of CHUDs and giant bats under their mansion than they are the slave ring. They eat and get cleaned up, then the scene shifts to a siege on the slave ring. Damn, Arkham can get things done here. Gotta love how non-useless the Gotham police were back in the 1870s. Another pretty freaking awesome gunfight ensues, with Jonah Hex chasing the slavers' leader down a side tunnel. He tortures him with a pickaxe, asking where the Moody boy is, but the now-crippled giant whimpers that they don't have the Moody boy. It'd make no sense if they did, since the whole thing was Mr. Moody's idea. Arkham forces Hex to stop, but Hex has all the info he needs.
With the nun's help, Hex tracks down Mr. O'Grady and demands he see the Moody boy. Realizing he's been caught, Mr. O'Grady agrees. The boy is safe. Better than safe, the O'Gradys have been treating him like one of their own. Sean has just died of his injuries and illness, so the nun and Arkham both promise Mr. O'Grady they will stand with him at trial. Hex decides there is more to be done here. He tells the young Moody boy everything. About the kidnappings, the child slavery, everything. The boy understands, he already knew his father was a cruel man and he does not want to grow up like him. He's returned to his mother, and the police come to arrest Thurston Moody. The backgrounds of his mansion practically beat you over the head with owl motifs so you know who this guy was probably connected to. Unfortunately Moody's already left town, heading down to New Orleans, which is where Hex says he's going next to collect the money owed. He sends an advance telegram to two allies he has down there: Cinnamon and Nighthawk.
Again, All Star Western delivers. This story was lots of fun, with excellent action scenes, an intriguing plot, and nice hints of the future and deeper conspiracies. It doesn't shy away from some really horrible stuff either. The interlude with the Miagani is a little out of place, but is a good "lost world" short and a nice tie-in to some rather obscure DC lore. Unfortunately, Arkham continues to be a mostly useless load. I hope he gets left behind in Gotham.
Almost considered 5, but since Arkham is really starting to grate on me I'm only giving 4/5. So far I'd say ASW is a must-read. Now for the B-story.
The Barbary Ghost #1-3
The story opens with a woman in very revealing robes attacking Chinese gangsters. She is pale as a ghost and summons fire in her hands to burn and explode them. She demands to know where she can find a man named Bo Long, but the guy she chooses to interrogate is killed and she is forced to detonate the others who killed him. Disappointed, she rides off into the hills outside San Francisco. The woman, named Yanmei, meets with her grandfather and they talk about her quest for vengeance against Bo Long.
The grandfather flashes back to how this all began, with him bringing his entire clan over from Canton to America, hoping to build a better life. However, things go bad immediately with Bo Long's gang demanding protection. Yanmei's father, Wei Tsen decides to stand up to him and pay only half of what he demanded. Bo Long, however, is not a reasonable man. He throws Wei's corpse through the window of his family shop. One of Yanmei's brothers charges out for vengeance, and kills one of the gangsters with a thrown axe before he is shot in the head. The gangsters flee, but it's far from over.
In two weeks eight of Bo Long's gang members are killed, but so are all five of Yanmei's brothers. Numbers are not on their side, so her grandfather and mother decide to flee. Her mother stays one extra day to pay off some debts and get prepared before they leave, but she's caught in the store. The store is burned with her inside.
Yanmei swears vengeance herself, and with her grandfather's help fakes her death in an explosion (taking out several of Bo Long's men in the process). Her act as a ghost has continued ever since. Now she prepares for an attack on Bo Long's headquarters, which she opens by detonating his right-hand man with an explosive arrow. As she fights through the horde of gangsters, Bo Long decides this is too much and escapes. Yanmei finds Bo Long's harem of prostitutes and frees them, and in the process finds out her mother is still alive. She also finds out where the gangster is heading.
Dressed in an expensive dress, she meets Bo Long on a train. He lets the pretty Chinese woman sit with him, and tells her that he had to pay a lot of money for this seat. More than a white man would have, but in America even racism can be bought off for enough money. She informs him that she is the Barbary Ghost he's been scared of, and shoots him under the table. The car erupts in panic and she threatens to shoot him in the head. She asks where her mother is, and he doesn't tell her but makes a reference to a carnival which she says is "good enough." She murders him, and jumps off the train onto her horse running alongside with her grandfather.
Very good story. The Barbary Ghost is a new character, yet feels old somehow. Like she's a character who should have existed from a previous series of Westerns. Of course, the times were too racist in the heyday of Westerns to actually have a Chinese protagonist (David Carradine notwithstanding), but she seems like a character who could have existed had that not been the case. As an origin story it's good, though like most origin stories it left me wanting more both in a good and bad way. Too much story was, by necessity, taken up with the background.
Overall though I really hope to see more of Yanmei, the Barbary Ghost. 3/5 stars.
One last note: I'm going to stop here with All-Star Western because the next arc kinda merges with its Owls tie-in. I'll review the next arc first when I'm ready for Night of the Owls.
Hex takes the logical step and checks an orphanage first, where he runs into his old pal Amadeus Arkham. Since the nun who runs the orphanage won't let Hex in otherwise, he's once more forced to work with Arkham. Arkham was here to tend to a boy named Sean O'Grady who had been missing for three years and recently reappeared. The boy is horribly malnourished rat-bitten, sick, dying, and insane. The boy father informs the duo that a lot of kids have been disappearing from the slums, kidnapped by a hooded figure. From the nature of the boy's illness and aversion to light, Hex deduces he's been held underground. Going through the newly built sewer system and following clues like human skulls, they find a labor camp. The kidnapped children are being forced to build the sewers. Hex moves around taking out the guards with stealth while Arkham rescues all the kids. Unfortunately, Arkham is caught by the slavers, and Hex shortly thereafter.
The huge man makes a mistake of taking both Hex's guns and his hat, which Hex says he will be back for as he's tossed down a raging underground river. Arkham proves his continuing uselessness by being unable to swim but Hex rescues them both. They spend some tense time in the dark with a dwindling supply of matches and no obvious escape from the ledge they find themselves on, until a horrible screech echoes out through the cavern. They are swarmed by a small horde of morlocks, who Arkham recognizes as the lost Miagani tribe. The Miagani were bat-worshiping natives who used to live here but vanished shortly after white settlers arrived. Turns out they literally went underground. Nice use of DC lore here.
The Miagani reveal a way out during the fight, which Hex and Arkham follow until they are stopped by a giant prehistoric bat. The Miagani worship it as a god, but Hex manages to slay it. This garners the respect of the Miagani who bow down before him and show him a way out. The adventurers emerge-where else?-at Wayne Manor. They were in what would one day become the Batcave.
Wow. Okay. So...are the Miagani still down there these days? Did the last of them die out (they were looking kinda pale and inbred)? If they're all gone, when did the last Miagani die? If they aren't, does Bruce have a deal with them? All of this is kinda important information that I would like to see addressed.
Anyway, Arkham shows he's not completely useless by getting help from the Waynes. They're less perturbed by the presence of CHUDs and giant bats under their mansion than they are the slave ring. They eat and get cleaned up, then the scene shifts to a siege on the slave ring. Damn, Arkham can get things done here. Gotta love how non-useless the Gotham police were back in the 1870s. Another pretty freaking awesome gunfight ensues, with Jonah Hex chasing the slavers' leader down a side tunnel. He tortures him with a pickaxe, asking where the Moody boy is, but the now-crippled giant whimpers that they don't have the Moody boy. It'd make no sense if they did, since the whole thing was Mr. Moody's idea. Arkham forces Hex to stop, but Hex has all the info he needs.
With the nun's help, Hex tracks down Mr. O'Grady and demands he see the Moody boy. Realizing he's been caught, Mr. O'Grady agrees. The boy is safe. Better than safe, the O'Gradys have been treating him like one of their own. Sean has just died of his injuries and illness, so the nun and Arkham both promise Mr. O'Grady they will stand with him at trial. Hex decides there is more to be done here. He tells the young Moody boy everything. About the kidnappings, the child slavery, everything. The boy understands, he already knew his father was a cruel man and he does not want to grow up like him. He's returned to his mother, and the police come to arrest Thurston Moody. The backgrounds of his mansion practically beat you over the head with owl motifs so you know who this guy was probably connected to. Unfortunately Moody's already left town, heading down to New Orleans, which is where Hex says he's going next to collect the money owed. He sends an advance telegram to two allies he has down there: Cinnamon and Nighthawk.
Again, All Star Western delivers. This story was lots of fun, with excellent action scenes, an intriguing plot, and nice hints of the future and deeper conspiracies. It doesn't shy away from some really horrible stuff either. The interlude with the Miagani is a little out of place, but is a good "lost world" short and a nice tie-in to some rather obscure DC lore. Unfortunately, Arkham continues to be a mostly useless load. I hope he gets left behind in Gotham.
Almost considered 5, but since Arkham is really starting to grate on me I'm only giving 4/5. So far I'd say ASW is a must-read. Now for the B-story.
The Barbary Ghost #1-3
The story opens with a woman in very revealing robes attacking Chinese gangsters. She is pale as a ghost and summons fire in her hands to burn and explode them. She demands to know where she can find a man named Bo Long, but the guy she chooses to interrogate is killed and she is forced to detonate the others who killed him. Disappointed, she rides off into the hills outside San Francisco. The woman, named Yanmei, meets with her grandfather and they talk about her quest for vengeance against Bo Long.
The grandfather flashes back to how this all began, with him bringing his entire clan over from Canton to America, hoping to build a better life. However, things go bad immediately with Bo Long's gang demanding protection. Yanmei's father, Wei Tsen decides to stand up to him and pay only half of what he demanded. Bo Long, however, is not a reasonable man. He throws Wei's corpse through the window of his family shop. One of Yanmei's brothers charges out for vengeance, and kills one of the gangsters with a thrown axe before he is shot in the head. The gangsters flee, but it's far from over.
In two weeks eight of Bo Long's gang members are killed, but so are all five of Yanmei's brothers. Numbers are not on their side, so her grandfather and mother decide to flee. Her mother stays one extra day to pay off some debts and get prepared before they leave, but she's caught in the store. The store is burned with her inside.
Yanmei swears vengeance herself, and with her grandfather's help fakes her death in an explosion (taking out several of Bo Long's men in the process). Her act as a ghost has continued ever since. Now she prepares for an attack on Bo Long's headquarters, which she opens by detonating his right-hand man with an explosive arrow. As she fights through the horde of gangsters, Bo Long decides this is too much and escapes. Yanmei finds Bo Long's harem of prostitutes and frees them, and in the process finds out her mother is still alive. She also finds out where the gangster is heading.
Dressed in an expensive dress, she meets Bo Long on a train. He lets the pretty Chinese woman sit with him, and tells her that he had to pay a lot of money for this seat. More than a white man would have, but in America even racism can be bought off for enough money. She informs him that she is the Barbary Ghost he's been scared of, and shoots him under the table. The car erupts in panic and she threatens to shoot him in the head. She asks where her mother is, and he doesn't tell her but makes a reference to a carnival which she says is "good enough." She murders him, and jumps off the train onto her horse running alongside with her grandfather.
Very good story. The Barbary Ghost is a new character, yet feels old somehow. Like she's a character who should have existed from a previous series of Westerns. Of course, the times were too racist in the heyday of Westerns to actually have a Chinese protagonist (David Carradine notwithstanding), but she seems like a character who could have existed had that not been the case. As an origin story it's good, though like most origin stories it left me wanting more both in a good and bad way. Too much story was, by necessity, taken up with the background.
Overall though I really hope to see more of Yanmei, the Barbary Ghost. 3/5 stars.
One last note: I'm going to stop here with All-Star Western because the next arc kinda merges with its Owls tie-in. I'll review the next arc first when I'm ready for Night of the Owls.
All Star Western #1-3 (including El Diablo)
The "arcs" here are somewhat shorter than in other series. If my goal is to get up to the Owls, then I'll just plow through these. Also, there are several backup features which I will review separately.
Following the introductory issue, Jonah Hex and Amadeus Arkham are settling down into a siege position. The conspiracy knows them, knows where to find them, and is no doubt coming after them. Arkham reads up on them and his research leads him to a legendary "Religion of Crime" and its "Crime Bible." Hex doesn't really care because there's at least a dozen heavily armed men surrounding the mansion.
What follows takes about three pages, and I can't even remotely describe it. It's just a total badass western gunfight. Absolutely everything you should expect from something like this. I think Jonah Hex got bonus points for shooting the lanterns the horseback riders carried. After the stage is over and he enters his initials in the high score, he interrogates the one survivor. Arkham was right, they're followers of the Dark Faith, and the prostitutes have been sacrifices to consecrate Gotham as their unholy city.
Cut to the inner circle of the Religion of Crime (seriously, can we get a better name here?). They have the chief of police tied up and are torturing him while nonchalantly discussing how they sent their men to kill Hex and Arkham. About half of them are assuming he's dead, the other half are a bit more genre savvy. Hex catches up to them in their actual torture chamber where they're inscribing Latin into the police chief, and he gets in a tussle with a huge thug. He looks like he's about to lose, when Arkham grabs a gun and shoots the thug in the head.
Hex recovers while Arkham is stunned,and starts to beat up the doctor. During which, he name drops the prostitute. Belle. Not very creative, but eh, at least she had a name. Wait, how did he learn it? Anyway, he beats up the doctor before receiving a prophecy that "in the future one will come with a smile and fists like unto stone , who strips flesh from bone, and who leadeth them of his kind that also serve Cain, and Gotham will bow before him." Joker? Darkseid? Who knows.
And...wow! that was quick. The very next panel is a newspaper showing that the entire criminal cartel has been busted up by the freed police chief. Granted, he knew who they all were, but still, that was fast. Oh, well, apparently though they got the leadership, that's nowhere near the end of it. They talk about building ARkham Asylum and Blackgate, and offer Hex a chance to join them and provide direction. He says no, and goes after the three guys he originally came here for before getting distracted.
HEx notices a suspicious wagon, and just barely manages to tackle Arkham to the floor before it starts firing a gatling gun. The other men at the table with them are killed. Hex takes out the men on the Gatling gun and pretty much decides to get out of town after he gets the Trapp brothers. He blows off Arkham, and goes after his original bounty. He finds them playing cards over kidnapped women. One of the women runs, and the Trapp brother shoots her. Hex is clearly angered by this, and is ready to at least dispense a little justice in Gotham.
This comic was doing very well until the very end there, but the same problems of issue one cropped up. The random kidnapping and murder of women at the end seems really out of place. Due to the truly awesome gunfight in the middle I would have given it more, but I have to drop it down to 3/5. If it doesn't improve some of its unfortunate implications, I may have to drop it even further.
El Diablo 1-2
This is the supporting story in issues 2 and 3 of All Star Western., and I only have one word: Lazy. Well, I could extend it with an adjective like "fucking" or I could repeat it a few times, but it doesn't even deserve that. It's just lazy. If I could put less emphasis on it, I would.
Here's the plot. Lazarus Long is El Diablo. When he goes unconscious, Zoro appears with the Balrog's whip. There have certainly been worse ideas for superheroes. Lazarus rides into town and finds it full of zombies. He's taken in by survivors, who have an Indian tied up who they're blaming for the zombies. The Indian tells them that only a demon can defeat the zombies, and since Lazarus can only turn into the demon when he's asleep, they knock him out. He then kills the zombies, and fights the spirit that summoned them. They reach a stalemate, and El Diablo retreats to Lazarus's body.
That's it. There really is nothing more to this. I can't tell you much about the characters except a few zombie apocalypse archetypes like "Asshole" and "useless guy." Zombies themselves are so overplayed at this point. They're just a generic placeholder enemy. A lot better critics than I have explained why zombies are so popular, but at this point, I'm just about over zombies. Give me a new take on them. This is not it.
The art is so lazy, I swear they traced a couple covers, particularly in the last panel of issue 1. It looks like it was drawn by a particularly talented middle-schooler at best. The inking is barely Silver Age quality. It's just...lazy. Filler. It's nothing worth noting. One of the worst sins of any medium to me is being *boring*. I'll take something stupid but fun over this drek. This gets my first 1/5. Don't even bother reading this part, stick to Jonah Hex.
Following the introductory issue, Jonah Hex and Amadeus Arkham are settling down into a siege position. The conspiracy knows them, knows where to find them, and is no doubt coming after them. Arkham reads up on them and his research leads him to a legendary "Religion of Crime" and its "Crime Bible." Hex doesn't really care because there's at least a dozen heavily armed men surrounding the mansion.
What follows takes about three pages, and I can't even remotely describe it. It's just a total badass western gunfight. Absolutely everything you should expect from something like this. I think Jonah Hex got bonus points for shooting the lanterns the horseback riders carried. After the stage is over and he enters his initials in the high score, he interrogates the one survivor. Arkham was right, they're followers of the Dark Faith, and the prostitutes have been sacrifices to consecrate Gotham as their unholy city.
Cut to the inner circle of the Religion of Crime (seriously, can we get a better name here?). They have the chief of police tied up and are torturing him while nonchalantly discussing how they sent their men to kill Hex and Arkham. About half of them are assuming he's dead, the other half are a bit more genre savvy. Hex catches up to them in their actual torture chamber where they're inscribing Latin into the police chief, and he gets in a tussle with a huge thug. He looks like he's about to lose, when Arkham grabs a gun and shoots the thug in the head.
Hex recovers while Arkham is stunned,and starts to beat up the doctor. During which, he name drops the prostitute. Belle. Not very creative, but eh, at least she had a name. Wait, how did he learn it? Anyway, he beats up the doctor before receiving a prophecy that "in the future one will come with a smile and fists like unto stone , who strips flesh from bone, and who leadeth them of his kind that also serve Cain, and Gotham will bow before him." Joker? Darkseid? Who knows.
And...wow! that was quick. The very next panel is a newspaper showing that the entire criminal cartel has been busted up by the freed police chief. Granted, he knew who they all were, but still, that was fast. Oh, well, apparently though they got the leadership, that's nowhere near the end of it. They talk about building ARkham Asylum and Blackgate, and offer Hex a chance to join them and provide direction. He says no, and goes after the three guys he originally came here for before getting distracted.
HEx notices a suspicious wagon, and just barely manages to tackle Arkham to the floor before it starts firing a gatling gun. The other men at the table with them are killed. Hex takes out the men on the Gatling gun and pretty much decides to get out of town after he gets the Trapp brothers. He blows off Arkham, and goes after his original bounty. He finds them playing cards over kidnapped women. One of the women runs, and the Trapp brother shoots her. Hex is clearly angered by this, and is ready to at least dispense a little justice in Gotham.
This comic was doing very well until the very end there, but the same problems of issue one cropped up. The random kidnapping and murder of women at the end seems really out of place. Due to the truly awesome gunfight in the middle I would have given it more, but I have to drop it down to 3/5. If it doesn't improve some of its unfortunate implications, I may have to drop it even further.
El Diablo 1-2
This is the supporting story in issues 2 and 3 of All Star Western., and I only have one word: Lazy. Well, I could extend it with an adjective like "fucking" or I could repeat it a few times, but it doesn't even deserve that. It's just lazy. If I could put less emphasis on it, I would.
Here's the plot. Lazarus Long is El Diablo. When he goes unconscious, Zoro appears with the Balrog's whip. There have certainly been worse ideas for superheroes. Lazarus rides into town and finds it full of zombies. He's taken in by survivors, who have an Indian tied up who they're blaming for the zombies. The Indian tells them that only a demon can defeat the zombies, and since Lazarus can only turn into the demon when he's asleep, they knock him out. He then kills the zombies, and fights the spirit that summoned them. They reach a stalemate, and El Diablo retreats to Lazarus's body.
That's it. There really is nothing more to this. I can't tell you much about the characters except a few zombie apocalypse archetypes like "Asshole" and "useless guy." Zombies themselves are so overplayed at this point. They're just a generic placeholder enemy. A lot better critics than I have explained why zombies are so popular, but at this point, I'm just about over zombies. Give me a new take on them. This is not it.
The art is so lazy, I swear they traced a couple covers, particularly in the last panel of issue 1. It looks like it was drawn by a particularly talented middle-schooler at best. The inking is barely Silver Age quality. It's just...lazy. Filler. It's nothing worth noting. One of the worst sins of any medium to me is being *boring*. I'll take something stupid but fun over this drek. This gets my first 1/5. Don't even bother reading this part, stick to Jonah Hex.
All Star Western #1
We're taking a bit of a break from Batman, as that's pretty much all I've covered up to this point. However, looks like we're still chilling out in Gotham, back in its days as an Old West boomtown.
We're treated to a panoramic view of Gotham City while we receive gleefully pretentious narration about progress and survival in the wilderness. Meanwhile, disfigured drifter Jonah Hex wanders into town and gets a Gotham welcome. They get a taste of his sixguns, and we learn that the narration is by Amadeus Arkham. Arkham is attempting to aid the police in a murder investigation while the police want no part of the alienist's theories. The victim is the latest in a serial murder series. Each victim a prostitute horribly butchered, and the word "Fear" written in blood in a different language over the corpse.
Jonah Hex makes an entrance accusing the police of incompetence because he's been hired to find the Gotham Butcher. His confederate uniform is the last straw for the police chief and though he is talked down from anything more drastic, the two are supposed to have no public involvement in the case. Which means plenty of private involvement, of course. Hex immediately takes a disliking to Arkham, because he can tell Arkham is studying him. While looking over the scene, Hex quickly determines that the killer is a strong man who works with his hands, conflicting with Arkham's assessment of the killer as a wealthy, educated man.
Hex goes to a bar to search for information. Arkham can't help but observe him, and composes a psychological profile on Hex. He does this as Hex picks a bar fight and proceeds to beat up the entire bar. The fight ends when someone pulls a knife, and Hex puts a gun to his head saying he wasn't here for murder, just a fight. This adds another aspect to Arkham's profile.
Hex gets the information by talking to a prostitute once the dust has settled. A black carriage, and a man with a skull ring. Arkham is impressed and insists on following Hex further, but since he's going to bed Hex tells him to get lost. However, Arkham is there the next morning. The prostitute he'd been talking to the night before is dead, and instead of "fear" the message is more direct: Jonah Hex Leave Town.
He refuses. Arkham continues to amend his profile, until it starts to resemble many modern vigilantes like Batman, turning pain and rage into strength, held in check by a strict moral code. And it is this moral code and only this code that seperates men like Hex from men like the Butcher. Hex's brutal investigation, combined with Arkham's own work, reaches the conclusion that there is more than one Butcher. Amadeus is writing this in his notes, and he stops to take care of his mother, who hears things scratching at the walls. For those unfamiliar with Batman lore, Amadeus Arkham eventually turns his home into the foundation for Arkham Asylum, and his mother is the first patient. Eventually, however, he succumbs to her madness and becomes a patient himself.
Tonight, however, the partners are heading to a charity ball. Arkham suspects the mastermind killer will be there. Hex immediately causes a stir, particularly from a certain Colonel Hammersmith and Doctor Dupree. When Arkham asks about their rings, they both confront him saying they are members of a holy society working to improve Gotham. Of course, it is the ring of the killer. Uncharacteristically, before a fight starts Hex drags Arkham away and tells him to "look around." Arkham is shocked to see that most of the people in the room are wearing that ring. And staring threateningly.
This comic was pretty awesome. The artwork has an oddly archaic feel to it that fits well with the themes. I love the intrigue and the fight scenes overlaid with Arkham psychoanalyzing Jonah Hex were awesome. The parallels with Jack the Ripper and the conspiracy theories surrounding it were obvious, but considering America had a little-known Ripper in 1880s Texas as well, it's not out of place.
One point that REALLY bothers me: The prostitute the Butcher murdered. I know why they're targeting sex workers, and aside from linking it to Jack the Ripper, it's the same reason sex workers have historically been targets: Marginalization, opportunity, trust that is purchasable, etc. What bothers me is that she wasn't even given a name. That's low. Come on, at least give your characters a name before you stuff them in the fridge. Also, aside from her the only other female character was Arkham's off-panel mother. On that subject...anyone wanna bet she's actually dead and he's already nuts? Just sayin'.
I would be willing to give this my first Issue #1 five stars, but just how uncomfortably the disposable sex worker trope plays out causes me to knock it down a peg. I give it 4/5 stars.
...wait a minute, isn't Gotham on the *East Coast?*
We're treated to a panoramic view of Gotham City while we receive gleefully pretentious narration about progress and survival in the wilderness. Meanwhile, disfigured drifter Jonah Hex wanders into town and gets a Gotham welcome. They get a taste of his sixguns, and we learn that the narration is by Amadeus Arkham. Arkham is attempting to aid the police in a murder investigation while the police want no part of the alienist's theories. The victim is the latest in a serial murder series. Each victim a prostitute horribly butchered, and the word "Fear" written in blood in a different language over the corpse.
Jonah Hex makes an entrance accusing the police of incompetence because he's been hired to find the Gotham Butcher. His confederate uniform is the last straw for the police chief and though he is talked down from anything more drastic, the two are supposed to have no public involvement in the case. Which means plenty of private involvement, of course. Hex immediately takes a disliking to Arkham, because he can tell Arkham is studying him. While looking over the scene, Hex quickly determines that the killer is a strong man who works with his hands, conflicting with Arkham's assessment of the killer as a wealthy, educated man.
Hex goes to a bar to search for information. Arkham can't help but observe him, and composes a psychological profile on Hex. He does this as Hex picks a bar fight and proceeds to beat up the entire bar. The fight ends when someone pulls a knife, and Hex puts a gun to his head saying he wasn't here for murder, just a fight. This adds another aspect to Arkham's profile.
Hex gets the information by talking to a prostitute once the dust has settled. A black carriage, and a man with a skull ring. Arkham is impressed and insists on following Hex further, but since he's going to bed Hex tells him to get lost. However, Arkham is there the next morning. The prostitute he'd been talking to the night before is dead, and instead of "fear" the message is more direct: Jonah Hex Leave Town.
He refuses. Arkham continues to amend his profile, until it starts to resemble many modern vigilantes like Batman, turning pain and rage into strength, held in check by a strict moral code. And it is this moral code and only this code that seperates men like Hex from men like the Butcher. Hex's brutal investigation, combined with Arkham's own work, reaches the conclusion that there is more than one Butcher. Amadeus is writing this in his notes, and he stops to take care of his mother, who hears things scratching at the walls. For those unfamiliar with Batman lore, Amadeus Arkham eventually turns his home into the foundation for Arkham Asylum, and his mother is the first patient. Eventually, however, he succumbs to her madness and becomes a patient himself.
Tonight, however, the partners are heading to a charity ball. Arkham suspects the mastermind killer will be there. Hex immediately causes a stir, particularly from a certain Colonel Hammersmith and Doctor Dupree. When Arkham asks about their rings, they both confront him saying they are members of a holy society working to improve Gotham. Of course, it is the ring of the killer. Uncharacteristically, before a fight starts Hex drags Arkham away and tells him to "look around." Arkham is shocked to see that most of the people in the room are wearing that ring. And staring threateningly.
This comic was pretty awesome. The artwork has an oddly archaic feel to it that fits well with the themes. I love the intrigue and the fight scenes overlaid with Arkham psychoanalyzing Jonah Hex were awesome. The parallels with Jack the Ripper and the conspiracy theories surrounding it were obvious, but considering America had a little-known Ripper in 1880s Texas as well, it's not out of place.
One point that REALLY bothers me: The prostitute the Butcher murdered. I know why they're targeting sex workers, and aside from linking it to Jack the Ripper, it's the same reason sex workers have historically been targets: Marginalization, opportunity, trust that is purchasable, etc. What bothers me is that she wasn't even given a name. That's low. Come on, at least give your characters a name before you stuff them in the fridge. Also, aside from her the only other female character was Arkham's off-panel mother. On that subject...anyone wanna bet she's actually dead and he's already nuts? Just sayin'.
I would be willing to give this my first Issue #1 five stars, but just how uncomfortably the disposable sex worker trope plays out causes me to knock it down a peg. I give it 4/5 stars.
...wait a minute, isn't Gotham on the *East Coast?*
Batgirl #7-8
It opens up with Batgirl's head being held underwater. Great start. You know, Barbara? Maybe you should retire. You can do it, but that doesn't mean you should. Anyway, the villain of this piece is introduced as Grotesque, a metahuman in a gargoyle mask. She escapes by knocking it off, and he vanishes with a promise to return because he finds her fascinating.
Flashback to earlier, we have a cameo from Black Canary as she spars with Barbara, discussing what is holding her back. Again, Dinah has the brilliant insight that Barbara is still being haunted by her crippling at the Joker's hands. She does show some greater combat therapy insight by figuring out that something else is bothering her, which is when Barbara brings up her mother. She lapses briefly into self-pity, until Dinah slaps her out of it and gives her a lead on Grotesque.
One brief comment here. It seems that the whole paralyzation thing went down very differently in this version. The part everyone remembers, with Barbara answering the door to Hawaiian shirt Joker, happened exactly like that. None of the other stuff from the Killing Joke seems to have happened. Especially not that stuff that was merely implied to happen. This...is probably for the best.
Anyway, while Barbara was talking about her, Barbara Gordon Sr is reuniting with Jim. He asks why she abandoned them, and his wife brings up their son, James. Wow, the Gordons are really creative at naming their kids.
Batgirl arrives at Grotesque's heist underway. I must say, Grotesque's design is pretty creative. He has a fine tuxedo, a gargoyle mask with horns like Marvel's Loki, what is either a cane or a mace, and, oddly, bare feet. His bare feet are what makes his design unique. He also fancies himself a gourmet (which the writing mistakes for a gourmand), so he murders a rich guy for a bottle of rare wine. Batgirl intervenes and easily takes out the thugs, but Grotesque absorbs electricity from the light fixtures and gains super strength and energy blasts.
What. Look, I was on board until this point. The gargoyle mask, the name, even the epicurean tastes all hearken back to the Romantic period, so I was primed to like this guy. Then turns out his powers have absolutely nothing to do with his theme. Even Evil Sherlock Holmes and his Heat Ray made more sense than this.
So Batgirl follows him into the sewer, which brings us back to the present. She examines his unconscious thugs and recognizes one of them as one of the guys who was with the Joker when he shot her. Danny "The Weasel" Weaver. As he realizes she recognizes him and starts to wonder from where, another thug regains consciousness and tries to attack her from behind. She easily beats him unconscious, taking out her rage on this other guy, but she still is careful to catch his head so he doesn't splatter it on the hard stone as he falls. She turns back to Danny and tells him to run, because she can't just let him sit here either without taking it out on him too.
Mulling over that night, she wonders why she opened the door for the Joker. She also realizes that she was supposed to die there, but something went wrong and help arrived before her father did. Barbara decides to contact her mother, and asks flat out why she left. Turns out that she left because of Barbara's brother, James. He was a sociopath from an early age. He killed the cat and flat out told his mother to run or his sister would be next. She lost it then, fled, and had spent the past decade in therapy. She still couldn't come back until James was safely locked away. I was not aware of this storyline, but it is intriguing. This tells you pretty much everything you need to know about James Gordon.
Grotesque meanwhile figures out that Weaver is somehow special to Barbara. Weaver wants out, but Grotesque forces him to stay in and sets a trap for her in Weaver's apartment. He seems to have taken an especial shine to Batgirl as one of the "fine things" he desires and talks about what they will name their first kid as they fight. She knocks him outside, but he charges up using a lightning bolt from the storm cloud. He is about to attack Batgirl when Weaver shoots him in the back. It only stuns him, but he uses a lot of his stored juice zapping Weaver. While he's distracted, Batgirl clocks him and attacks him savagely. Once Grotesque is unconscious, she turns to Weaver.
Weaver is fatally wounded. He says he never wanted to kill, no matter who he worked for, he just held the gun and looked scary. There's not much work for a con like him except as a henchman though. He did one good thing in his life though. He remembers being there when Barbara was shot..then he changes his story at the last minute and says it meant nothing. She realizes he is the reason she's still alive. He had a sudden attack of conscience and called the police after he left. He doesn't even know why, maybe because Barbara was so strong about it. Weaver dies not knowing he was talking to the woman whose life he saved that day.
Since this thing has to end on a cliffhanger, Alysia is leaving work when she runs into a handsome young man with red hair and glasses. He introduces himself as James.
Grotesque continues a string of weak villains. He holds up better than the previous ones, but his random-ass powers pretty much cause it all to fall apart. Then again, it really isn't his story. It's Weaver's story, and his conflicted relationship both to his job and to Batgirl serves up most of the drama here. He's also pretty well contrasted with his more traditionally villainous boss. Grotesque follows standard supervillain patterns, while Weaver is just a guy. He's done bad things, but he did one really good thing. Grotesque is just a caricature, a hollow monster mask without much of a man behind it. Weaver is a man who is forced into a mask by guys like Grotesque. James is also a contrast to Grotesque. He's a monster who doesn't bother with a mask, because his face is blanker and more false than any mask could be.
This story shows Gail Simone's strengths as a writer much better than in her previous arcs. I have high hopes for James as a future villain, and this is starting to give me good hopes for Simone's further run on Batgirl. I give it 4/5
Flashback to earlier, we have a cameo from Black Canary as she spars with Barbara, discussing what is holding her back. Again, Dinah has the brilliant insight that Barbara is still being haunted by her crippling at the Joker's hands. She does show some greater combat therapy insight by figuring out that something else is bothering her, which is when Barbara brings up her mother. She lapses briefly into self-pity, until Dinah slaps her out of it and gives her a lead on Grotesque.
One brief comment here. It seems that the whole paralyzation thing went down very differently in this version. The part everyone remembers, with Barbara answering the door to Hawaiian shirt Joker, happened exactly like that. None of the other stuff from the Killing Joke seems to have happened. Especially not that stuff that was merely implied to happen. This...is probably for the best.
Anyway, while Barbara was talking about her, Barbara Gordon Sr is reuniting with Jim. He asks why she abandoned them, and his wife brings up their son, James. Wow, the Gordons are really creative at naming their kids.
Batgirl arrives at Grotesque's heist underway. I must say, Grotesque's design is pretty creative. He has a fine tuxedo, a gargoyle mask with horns like Marvel's Loki, what is either a cane or a mace, and, oddly, bare feet. His bare feet are what makes his design unique. He also fancies himself a gourmet (which the writing mistakes for a gourmand), so he murders a rich guy for a bottle of rare wine. Batgirl intervenes and easily takes out the thugs, but Grotesque absorbs electricity from the light fixtures and gains super strength and energy blasts.
What. Look, I was on board until this point. The gargoyle mask, the name, even the epicurean tastes all hearken back to the Romantic period, so I was primed to like this guy. Then turns out his powers have absolutely nothing to do with his theme. Even Evil Sherlock Holmes and his Heat Ray made more sense than this.
So Batgirl follows him into the sewer, which brings us back to the present. She examines his unconscious thugs and recognizes one of them as one of the guys who was with the Joker when he shot her. Danny "The Weasel" Weaver. As he realizes she recognizes him and starts to wonder from where, another thug regains consciousness and tries to attack her from behind. She easily beats him unconscious, taking out her rage on this other guy, but she still is careful to catch his head so he doesn't splatter it on the hard stone as he falls. She turns back to Danny and tells him to run, because she can't just let him sit here either without taking it out on him too.
Mulling over that night, she wonders why she opened the door for the Joker. She also realizes that she was supposed to die there, but something went wrong and help arrived before her father did. Barbara decides to contact her mother, and asks flat out why she left. Turns out that she left because of Barbara's brother, James. He was a sociopath from an early age. He killed the cat and flat out told his mother to run or his sister would be next. She lost it then, fled, and had spent the past decade in therapy. She still couldn't come back until James was safely locked away. I was not aware of this storyline, but it is intriguing. This tells you pretty much everything you need to know about James Gordon.
Grotesque meanwhile figures out that Weaver is somehow special to Barbara. Weaver wants out, but Grotesque forces him to stay in and sets a trap for her in Weaver's apartment. He seems to have taken an especial shine to Batgirl as one of the "fine things" he desires and talks about what they will name their first kid as they fight. She knocks him outside, but he charges up using a lightning bolt from the storm cloud. He is about to attack Batgirl when Weaver shoots him in the back. It only stuns him, but he uses a lot of his stored juice zapping Weaver. While he's distracted, Batgirl clocks him and attacks him savagely. Once Grotesque is unconscious, she turns to Weaver.
Weaver is fatally wounded. He says he never wanted to kill, no matter who he worked for, he just held the gun and looked scary. There's not much work for a con like him except as a henchman though. He did one good thing in his life though. He remembers being there when Barbara was shot..then he changes his story at the last minute and says it meant nothing. She realizes he is the reason she's still alive. He had a sudden attack of conscience and called the police after he left. He doesn't even know why, maybe because Barbara was so strong about it. Weaver dies not knowing he was talking to the woman whose life he saved that day.
Since this thing has to end on a cliffhanger, Alysia is leaving work when she runs into a handsome young man with red hair and glasses. He introduces himself as James.
Grotesque continues a string of weak villains. He holds up better than the previous ones, but his random-ass powers pretty much cause it all to fall apart. Then again, it really isn't his story. It's Weaver's story, and his conflicted relationship both to his job and to Batgirl serves up most of the drama here. He's also pretty well contrasted with his more traditionally villainous boss. Grotesque follows standard supervillain patterns, while Weaver is just a guy. He's done bad things, but he did one really good thing. Grotesque is just a caricature, a hollow monster mask without much of a man behind it. Weaver is a man who is forced into a mask by guys like Grotesque. James is also a contrast to Grotesque. He's a monster who doesn't bother with a mask, because his face is blanker and more false than any mask could be.
This story shows Gail Simone's strengths as a writer much better than in her previous arcs. I have high hopes for James as a future villain, and this is starting to give me good hopes for Simone's further run on Batgirl. I give it 4/5
Detective Comics #8
Why am I just doing 8? This is a one-off, standalone issue. Also, it's the last one before the crossover "Night of the Owls." This one will be a quickie. There are two stories in here.
The first story opens with Batman chasing Catwoman. This isn't their normal "chasing," and Batman makes reference to the events in Catwoman where they're having a rough time of it these days. Catwoman, however, is having a really bad night herself. She's been dosed with fear toxin and is likely to get herself hurt if he doesn't do something. He does, and because of a time limit has to leave her alone after he gives her the antidote. She was apparently stealing not an antidote, but a vaccine against Scarecrow's toxins. Batman gets the name Digger Jones as her client, and is on his way. He has to hurry because Scarecrow said he will hurt a hostage if Batman doesn't accomplish three tasks in an hour. One down.
Digger Jones is running a dogfighting ring. Batman takes him out easily, and finds out that he was going to provide the vaccine and test dogs to a guy at an abandoned private school (seriously, Gotham's urban decay is almost as bad as Angel Grove). Scarecrow tips his hand though and Batman catches him. Turns out the kid isn't Scarecrow's hostage, but is in danger over at the school. Batman races off to the school to find a bunch of henchmen in Scarecrow masks. Batman takes them out and finds the mastermind behind this operation: Eli Strange, from that previous comic. He's now working for his father, who shows uncommon concern for his son when Batman and the police are en route.
Side note (and burns): Seems Strange is now sporting mutton chops. We're waiting for the full beard, DC. Make it so.
Batman realizes that the kid in the photo is actually Eli Strange years ago. We get some background about Eli, and we find out that yeah, this kid is ridiculously smart. Unfortunately, he's not very interesting.
I don't have much to say. This speaks for itself: 2/5
The second story involves Two-Face stumbling into an underworld doctor with a bullet and strange black lines of corruption on his bad side. Is this part of his new design? We never find out. We get a flashback to him talking to someone working for the prosecutor's office. He spins his coin and slaps it down, making the other guy freak out over which side it landed on. The guy says that all charges against Harvey are being dropped. Two-Face thinks if that happens, he could get his job back as DA. Well...maybe...I guess...Look, Harvey, don't get your hopes up, 'kay?
We're given a bit more of a background of Two-Face here through conversations. Apparently he's been embarrassing the corrupt prosecutor by repeatedly getting his cases thrown out. I like that Two-Face seems to be a legal wizard in this version. It's so bad that Two-Face thinks he might be trying to set him up for murder by saying charges have been dropped. So he tortures the messenger for a while to see if the charges actually have been dropped, then when external sources prove they have, he walks in and lets the guy go. HE orders his minions to not only let him go, but bandage him up and drop him at the ER. The coin fell on the good side.
This one is a little better. It's far better than my description due to the atmosphere and the dark, moody artwork. This is an interesting direction for Two-Face, so I'd like to see where they take this. Still, it's a rather light and meatless story, so 3/5.
Well that was disappointing.
The first story opens with Batman chasing Catwoman. This isn't their normal "chasing," and Batman makes reference to the events in Catwoman where they're having a rough time of it these days. Catwoman, however, is having a really bad night herself. She's been dosed with fear toxin and is likely to get herself hurt if he doesn't do something. He does, and because of a time limit has to leave her alone after he gives her the antidote. She was apparently stealing not an antidote, but a vaccine against Scarecrow's toxins. Batman gets the name Digger Jones as her client, and is on his way. He has to hurry because Scarecrow said he will hurt a hostage if Batman doesn't accomplish three tasks in an hour. One down.
Digger Jones is running a dogfighting ring. Batman takes him out easily, and finds out that he was going to provide the vaccine and test dogs to a guy at an abandoned private school (seriously, Gotham's urban decay is almost as bad as Angel Grove). Scarecrow tips his hand though and Batman catches him. Turns out the kid isn't Scarecrow's hostage, but is in danger over at the school. Batman races off to the school to find a bunch of henchmen in Scarecrow masks. Batman takes them out and finds the mastermind behind this operation: Eli Strange, from that previous comic. He's now working for his father, who shows uncommon concern for his son when Batman and the police are en route.
Side note (and burns): Seems Strange is now sporting mutton chops. We're waiting for the full beard, DC. Make it so.
Batman realizes that the kid in the photo is actually Eli Strange years ago. We get some background about Eli, and we find out that yeah, this kid is ridiculously smart. Unfortunately, he's not very interesting.
I don't have much to say. This speaks for itself: 2/5
The second story involves Two-Face stumbling into an underworld doctor with a bullet and strange black lines of corruption on his bad side. Is this part of his new design? We never find out. We get a flashback to him talking to someone working for the prosecutor's office. He spins his coin and slaps it down, making the other guy freak out over which side it landed on. The guy says that all charges against Harvey are being dropped. Two-Face thinks if that happens, he could get his job back as DA. Well...maybe...I guess...Look, Harvey, don't get your hopes up, 'kay?
We're given a bit more of a background of Two-Face here through conversations. Apparently he's been embarrassing the corrupt prosecutor by repeatedly getting his cases thrown out. I like that Two-Face seems to be a legal wizard in this version. It's so bad that Two-Face thinks he might be trying to set him up for murder by saying charges have been dropped. So he tortures the messenger for a while to see if the charges actually have been dropped, then when external sources prove they have, he walks in and lets the guy go. HE orders his minions to not only let him go, but bandage him up and drop him at the ER. The coin fell on the good side.
This one is a little better. It's far better than my description due to the atmosphere and the dark, moody artwork. This is an interesting direction for Two-Face, so I'd like to see where they take this. Still, it's a rather light and meatless story, so 3/5.
Well that was disappointing.
Detective Comics #5-8
This arc reintroduces everyone's favorite fowl, the Penguin. It's kinda funny that there are much more powerful, much scarier villains in Gotham, but the Penguin has remained an A-lister nonetheless. Not bad for an obese deformed midget.
A meeting of Russian mobsters is disrupted by a ninja with a clown mask. Batman gives chase, right into a protest in the park. Shades of Occupy mixed with Anonymous, they all wear clown masks and idolize the Joker. The Mayor is letting them get away with it mainly because their ire is directed at Batman. The clown escapes from Batman, meets up with his employer, and double crosses him to steal his ticket to the Iceberg VIP Lounge.
Cut to the Iceberg Casino, which is now an actual floating artificial iceberg just into Gotham's international waters. Clever. Charlotte Rivers is arriving, as is Hugh Marder (Bruce's shirtless climbing partner) and his arm candy, a woman named Sophia Lake. Charlotte is here to investigate the Iceberg, so she changes into a maid outfit, somehow not expecting known slimeball Oswald Cobblepot to have cameras in every room. Of course he does, and of course he was watching her change. So were his three henchwomen Lark, Raven, and Jay, who now have speaking roles and seemingly more of a role than they ever had before. I really like their new looks too, the blonde with freckles in a bellhop uniform especially. Not sure which one she is. However, not so fond of Penguin's new look. He looks out of place and cartoonish. Ah well.
Issue 5 is about half taken up with a B-story about a kid named Eli in a high stakes poker game. Turns out he's just a distraction, as Catwoman is busy ripping them off. She bails him out when he's caught cheating, and he escapes with his cut. Someone watches him from a security camera, and Eli is revealed to be Hugo Strange's son. Strange is watching him and is impressed at how he always manages to get out of these situations. We're finally shown the new Hugo Strange, and...no sir, I don't like it. He's now a shaved bare Q-ball who resembles either Mr. Freeze or Grant Morrison. Come on now, Hugo Strange's huge bushy beard was iconic! That's like Power Girl without her boob window. Oh, wait...
Quick score here, since this is the only issue: 2/5. Nice look at catwoman outside of her series, but Eli doesn't have near enough character development and Hugo Strange's redesign is too generic.
In issue 6, the unknown assailant is revealed to be female and is talking to her male accomplice as she hands him the lounge pass. Also, good lord, I have to point out a panel here. There's one panel of her getting dressed and putting on her high heels while he slips the card into his wallet. Granted the way this room is setup, someone's butt was going to be in the "camera" but the woman's butt fills up the entire freaking panel. At least she's wearing a knee-length skirt. I think it would have been funny to put the guy's butt in the panel and have her putting her clothes on in the background.
Anyway, turns out she's...a woman with an eyepatch named Chase. I dunno, is she supposed to look like someone? Comic artists need to get better at drawing female faces. Speaking of faces, the guy she's with turns out to have a super power that when his face is injured, he sheds his skin and looks like someone entirely different, thus giving him the name Snakeskin. Ch, and she doesn't like his face so she punches him, and he becomes someone else.
Batman is on her trail, following her by the name Jill to a seedy motel where the owner tries to shoot him with a shotgun at point blank range. This was a mistake, as Batman just forces it down and the guy blows off all the toes on his foot. Lulz. Batman gets the info and follows the clue trail all the way to a warehouse where Jill had a guy making bombs. Batman finds the bomb-maker chopped up on ice, and he's been killed in the same way as one of the thugs at the start. Jill, Chase, and the clown are the same person.
At the Iceberg, we see Charlotte searching through someone's room dressed as a maid. She is interrupted by Jill, in a slinky black dress and trenchcoat. A catfight ensues that is definitely not fanservice before they recognize each other. They're sisters, and pretty much loathe each other. Ah, so that's who Jill was supposed to look like. I couldn't tell. Elsewhere Penguin is talking to a bunch of new villains. One brief commentary on these guys, they all have bizarre character designs and obvious super powers. Whenever a group like this shows up all at once, you can probably assume they all suck and most of them will die. They'll be lucky if one of them survives this comic. The Penguin is going to take all their money...and keep it safe, of course. From whoever's been picking off criminals lately. This is most definitely not a setup and these guys are definitely not idiots.
Batman arrives at the Iceberg, and makes brief reference to another comic that I plan to check out (I, Vampire). He tells Alfred that finding missing train passengers is *top priority*, as he goes to rescue his girlfriend. I'm sure *top men* are on it. Meanwhile, Charlotte is following her sister Jill. She's caught by Snakeskin however, and he stabs her repeatedly. Batman catches him and beats his face sideways. He tries to save Charlotte, but gets locked in an ice generator. This, however, works to his advantage as he is able to cover Charlotte in ice to deliberately induce hypothermia and slow her bleeding (actual medical technique, though controversial). Alfred picks her up, and Batman goes back to stop whatever's going on.
As if Batman wasn't enough, Jill beats five more shades of ugly into Snakeskin for hurting her sister. Unfortunately, in addition to breaking his face, she broke his powers too, and instead of shedding into something presentable he's stuck on "shit pizza" setting. She sends him on his mission anyway. The police are arriving due to a bomb threat called in by Batman while Jill is robbing the Penguin's vaults. The villains are getting really nervous and considering going to get their money out of the vault.
All of the plots start resolving here in a huge double-crossing climax that I'm not even gonna attempt to recount here due to the sheer complexity. Suffice to say everyone gets screwed and the Penguin comes out on top...well, Batman does deck him, but other than that? He gets away scot free. I'd almost consider getting punched by Batman a bonus in something like this. Don't judge me.
While the previous arc was bleak and depressing, this one feels more like a caper movie. It's like Batman done by the Coen Brothers, where everyone gets out of it worse for the wear. Jill is a pretty awesome character. She can fight Batman hand to hand, wrap a goon like Snakeskin around her finger, and execute a complex and multilayered plot. Charlotte's fate is also in doubt, and having Bruce Wayne's love interest be related to a supervillain (and the mayor's daughter) would make for a nice dynamic. Of note is that this story passes the Bechdel Test as when the sisters meet, neither Snakeskin nor Bruce Wayne are on the agenda. It's purely what the other one is up to and how it's going to screw up their plans.
That said, the ass panel fanservice is just lame. There isn't very much fanservice, but what there is isn't even good fanservice and it'd be better off without it. Snakeskin's attack on Charlotte feels dangerously like fridging, but it also impacts Jill as well, so it's hard to say it's purely to give Batman angst. I do wish we got to see more of Penguin's new trio, particularly the blonde with freckles. Unique character design, most of the work is done by the others. Shame, that.
Finally, as an introduction to the Penguin, it works really well. Showcases just how well connected, manipulative, and dangerous he is. He may get decked at the end, but he still comes out on top and there's really not much Batman can do about it. This is why Penguin is A-list, while a flashbulb in a top hat named Mr. Combustible is lucky that he got that one line saying he survived.
Overall this is an entertaining read that's really hard to say anything bad about. Aside from a few plot twists that come out of left field and a bit of egregious fanservice, Detective Comics is shaping up to be one of the better Bat-books. It's a must-read, so I'm actually going to give this my first 5/5 stars.
A meeting of Russian mobsters is disrupted by a ninja with a clown mask. Batman gives chase, right into a protest in the park. Shades of Occupy mixed with Anonymous, they all wear clown masks and idolize the Joker. The Mayor is letting them get away with it mainly because their ire is directed at Batman. The clown escapes from Batman, meets up with his employer, and double crosses him to steal his ticket to the Iceberg VIP Lounge.
Cut to the Iceberg Casino, which is now an actual floating artificial iceberg just into Gotham's international waters. Clever. Charlotte Rivers is arriving, as is Hugh Marder (Bruce's shirtless climbing partner) and his arm candy, a woman named Sophia Lake. Charlotte is here to investigate the Iceberg, so she changes into a maid outfit, somehow not expecting known slimeball Oswald Cobblepot to have cameras in every room. Of course he does, and of course he was watching her change. So were his three henchwomen Lark, Raven, and Jay, who now have speaking roles and seemingly more of a role than they ever had before. I really like their new looks too, the blonde with freckles in a bellhop uniform especially. Not sure which one she is. However, not so fond of Penguin's new look. He looks out of place and cartoonish. Ah well.
Issue 5 is about half taken up with a B-story about a kid named Eli in a high stakes poker game. Turns out he's just a distraction, as Catwoman is busy ripping them off. She bails him out when he's caught cheating, and he escapes with his cut. Someone watches him from a security camera, and Eli is revealed to be Hugo Strange's son. Strange is watching him and is impressed at how he always manages to get out of these situations. We're finally shown the new Hugo Strange, and...no sir, I don't like it. He's now a shaved bare Q-ball who resembles either Mr. Freeze or Grant Morrison. Come on now, Hugo Strange's huge bushy beard was iconic! That's like Power Girl without her boob window. Oh, wait...
Quick score here, since this is the only issue: 2/5. Nice look at catwoman outside of her series, but Eli doesn't have near enough character development and Hugo Strange's redesign is too generic.
In issue 6, the unknown assailant is revealed to be female and is talking to her male accomplice as she hands him the lounge pass. Also, good lord, I have to point out a panel here. There's one panel of her getting dressed and putting on her high heels while he slips the card into his wallet. Granted the way this room is setup, someone's butt was going to be in the "camera" but the woman's butt fills up the entire freaking panel. At least she's wearing a knee-length skirt. I think it would have been funny to put the guy's butt in the panel and have her putting her clothes on in the background.
Anyway, turns out she's...a woman with an eyepatch named Chase. I dunno, is she supposed to look like someone? Comic artists need to get better at drawing female faces. Speaking of faces, the guy she's with turns out to have a super power that when his face is injured, he sheds his skin and looks like someone entirely different, thus giving him the name Snakeskin. Ch, and she doesn't like his face so she punches him, and he becomes someone else.
Batman is on her trail, following her by the name Jill to a seedy motel where the owner tries to shoot him with a shotgun at point blank range. This was a mistake, as Batman just forces it down and the guy blows off all the toes on his foot. Lulz. Batman gets the info and follows the clue trail all the way to a warehouse where Jill had a guy making bombs. Batman finds the bomb-maker chopped up on ice, and he's been killed in the same way as one of the thugs at the start. Jill, Chase, and the clown are the same person.
At the Iceberg, we see Charlotte searching through someone's room dressed as a maid. She is interrupted by Jill, in a slinky black dress and trenchcoat. A catfight ensues that is definitely not fanservice before they recognize each other. They're sisters, and pretty much loathe each other. Ah, so that's who Jill was supposed to look like. I couldn't tell. Elsewhere Penguin is talking to a bunch of new villains. One brief commentary on these guys, they all have bizarre character designs and obvious super powers. Whenever a group like this shows up all at once, you can probably assume they all suck and most of them will die. They'll be lucky if one of them survives this comic. The Penguin is going to take all their money...and keep it safe, of course. From whoever's been picking off criminals lately. This is most definitely not a setup and these guys are definitely not idiots.
Batman arrives at the Iceberg, and makes brief reference to another comic that I plan to check out (I, Vampire). He tells Alfred that finding missing train passengers is *top priority*, as he goes to rescue his girlfriend. I'm sure *top men* are on it. Meanwhile, Charlotte is following her sister Jill. She's caught by Snakeskin however, and he stabs her repeatedly. Batman catches him and beats his face sideways. He tries to save Charlotte, but gets locked in an ice generator. This, however, works to his advantage as he is able to cover Charlotte in ice to deliberately induce hypothermia and slow her bleeding (actual medical technique, though controversial). Alfred picks her up, and Batman goes back to stop whatever's going on.
As if Batman wasn't enough, Jill beats five more shades of ugly into Snakeskin for hurting her sister. Unfortunately, in addition to breaking his face, she broke his powers too, and instead of shedding into something presentable he's stuck on "shit pizza" setting. She sends him on his mission anyway. The police are arriving due to a bomb threat called in by Batman while Jill is robbing the Penguin's vaults. The villains are getting really nervous and considering going to get their money out of the vault.
All of the plots start resolving here in a huge double-crossing climax that I'm not even gonna attempt to recount here due to the sheer complexity. Suffice to say everyone gets screwed and the Penguin comes out on top...well, Batman does deck him, but other than that? He gets away scot free. I'd almost consider getting punched by Batman a bonus in something like this. Don't judge me.
While the previous arc was bleak and depressing, this one feels more like a caper movie. It's like Batman done by the Coen Brothers, where everyone gets out of it worse for the wear. Jill is a pretty awesome character. She can fight Batman hand to hand, wrap a goon like Snakeskin around her finger, and execute a complex and multilayered plot. Charlotte's fate is also in doubt, and having Bruce Wayne's love interest be related to a supervillain (and the mayor's daughter) would make for a nice dynamic. Of note is that this story passes the Bechdel Test as when the sisters meet, neither Snakeskin nor Bruce Wayne are on the agenda. It's purely what the other one is up to and how it's going to screw up their plans.
That said, the ass panel fanservice is just lame. There isn't very much fanservice, but what there is isn't even good fanservice and it'd be better off without it. Snakeskin's attack on Charlotte feels dangerously like fridging, but it also impacts Jill as well, so it's hard to say it's purely to give Batman angst. I do wish we got to see more of Penguin's new trio, particularly the blonde with freckles. Unique character design, most of the work is done by the others. Shame, that.
Finally, as an introduction to the Penguin, it works really well. Showcases just how well connected, manipulative, and dangerous he is. He may get decked at the end, but he still comes out on top and there's really not much Batman can do about it. This is why Penguin is A-list, while a flashbulb in a top hat named Mr. Combustible is lucky that he got that one line saying he survived.
Overall this is an entertaining read that's really hard to say anything bad about. Aside from a few plot twists that come out of left field and a bit of egregious fanservice, Detective Comics is shaping up to be one of the better Bat-books. It's a must-read, so I'm actually going to give this my first 5/5 stars.
Detective Comics #1-4
If you wonder why I'm focusing on the Bat-books, there's two reasons: 1, I love everything Batman. 2, according to what I've heard, they've been the most consistently quality comics in the DCnU. 3, They're actually about 1/4 the product line. So now, continuing my effort to read everything New 52, I'm digging into the rest of Detective Comics' first arc.
The issue opens with Bruce Wayne meeting with a business rival for some friendly and not at all homoerotic shirtless rock climbing, followed by him meeting with a sexy new reporter named Charlotte Rivers. After some flirting and arguing, the scene quickly shifts to hours later in Bruce's penthouse where he's about to kick her out because of "important business," but he promises a real date/interview later.
He's actually out to meet with Commissioner Gordon over the missing Joker. The little girl, named Olivia, was picked up by a man claiming to be her uncle but it was a false identity. Instead, he appears connected to a serial killer who was one of Gordon's first cases. A killer who skinned people and removed body parts. It can't be a coincidence, and a sighting of the guy and the re-kidnapped girl sends both Batman and Commissioner Gordon off to catch him. Unfortunately, it's a trap. Batman is ambushed by a group of patchwork people led by the Dollmaker. They throw Jim Gordon's mutilated body at Batman's feet, but he quickly realizes it is a phony. A patchwork mannequin made from other corpses that just resembles Gordon enough to confuse the police.
Batman manages to escape with one of them in tow to interrogate. After finding out he has no tongue, he follows up on the stitching done and realizes that the Dollmaker is the son of Wesley Mathis, a serial killer that Gordon took out when he was still a rookie. Batman then goes off to answer the Bat-Signal.
Commissioner Gordon, meanwhile, is being held in an abandoned hospital. He talks with Olivia and finds out what the reader probably already guessed by this point: She is a recent addition the Dollmaker's twisted "family," but is still conflicted about it. Gordon tells her to get a message out to Batman, sending her out with a letter saying "mercy Hospital" but with the R reversed. After she leaves, Gordon is prepped for surgery.
Batman arrives at the Bat-signal to find Olivia. His satellites told him that she was the one who turned on the signal, so he sent the cops after her to arrive shortly after he left. Wait, is the Bat Signal on the police headquarters roof or not? Anyway, Olivia gives Batman the note and he realizes the backwards R is a sign of a trap. He goes anyway, and the cops arrive for Olivia. However, when a cop drops his guard she tases him, then cuts his throat to escape while thinking about what a waste it is.
At the hospital, Batman is quickly taken out by Dollmaker and his minions, and wakes up in an arena fighting a bunch of Jokers. The Jokers are obviously fakes just surgically altered to resemble him. Both Batman and the Jokers are suspended on bungee cords/puppet strings like some weird version of Thunderdome. Batman of course handily defeats the imposters despite his disadvantages, proving to an assembled group of shadowy figures that this is in fact Batman, and therefore his harvested organs should be worth more. I think Batman's organs would be worth less. Can you imagine the toxins in his liver from repeated fights with Joker, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, etc? You'd get a safer transplant from Timothy Leary.
Speaking of transplants, Gordon is now short one kidney. Olivia comes in with a knife, raises it above Commissioner Gordon, and prepares to most certainly stab him and not cut the leather straps holding him in the most misdirecting way possible.
The Penguin purchases Batman. All of him. The Dollmaker insists he be returned within 24 hours and 1 hour of death, which is agreed to, and the cables tie up Batman. Fortunately he recognizes them as the same tech he uses in his grappling lines (which really behave like no rope ever now that I think of it), so he demagnetizes them and is free. Chaos ensues.
A shadowy figure wants to make sure Gordon is dead, so Dollmaker sends one of his heavies even as everything goes pearshaped. Gordon is alive and free and pulls a gun on the guy, who is unimpressed until Olivia stabs him in the back. She says she doesn't fear anything, but gets dizzy from all the heel-face spinning and starts crying against Commissioner Gordon.
A chase and running battle ensues between Batman, the Dollmaker, and the police. Batman tries to capture the Dollmaker's car, but it explodes and he realizes that it only contained plastic dummies, and the police helicopter suddenly lost interest, aiding the Dollmaker's escape.
In the denouement, Bruce is visiting Charlotte's cabin in the woods. Olivia is taken into custody, and instead of going to juvie, it looks like she is going ot Arkham. The doctor says it's only for a two week evaluation, but no one believes that. The arc ends on an even bleaker note as protesters and supporters have started to gather outside Arkham and the GCPD, apparently believing Joker to be some sort of martyr. It ends on another shot of his face, preserved on ice in the GCPD lockup.
I'm impressed by how utterly bleak this story is. Batman loses. The girl gets sent to Arkham, though whether she was redeemable was questionable. Gordon lost a kidney. The Joker is getting a cult around him. Aside from Batman and Commissioner Gordon surviving, the good guys didn't win in this story at all. The atmosphere of Gotham is so dark and depressing that a young girl would willingly turn to the Dollmaker for support, and people flock to the Joker's severed face like it's the Shroud of Turin. As a complaint, I think Batman may take it to the chin a bit too often here. If he keeps getting stabbed and the narrative continues to remind us of all his previous injuries, his continued ability to function may strain credibility.
The artwork is good, but in a very generic way with nothing to distinguish it. Ending the arc with the image of the Joker's face continues the buildup of Joker's inevitable return, something I hope lives up to the hype. The Dollmaker is a very cool villain and I'm glad he escaped. He reminds me of Dr. Vahzilok meets Professor Pyg, and if you don't know who either of those are you fail superheroes. His minions were all pretty unique surgical freaks from the giant musclebound hulk to the jester with tentacle limbs to the..cymbal monkey. Eh, can't all be winners. In particular, I liked how the required "hot chick" among his minions ends up more Silent Hill than Hello Nurse.
Overall, the comic is a good read, if not a fun one. It seems like the various Batman comics are going to take a slightly different view of Gotham and Batman. This one seems to be the darkest, and I really respect its commitment to that. Detective Comics 1-4 gets a 4/5.
Detective Comics #1
I'm quickly realizing that the Batman books are haunted by the dread specter of Continuity. The first New 52 issues are all on their own timescale, though eventually after the first couple arcs resolve they will synch up. Detective Comics seems to take place a little earlier than the others, as the Joker has yet to actually be captured. Still he's racked up an impressive body count in that time, 114 murders over six years in unheard of for a serial killer...at least in the real world. It pales in comparison to some of Joker's exploits in the old DC universe though.
The comic opens in media res with Batman attempting to track down the Joker, who is currently about to go under the knife of a horribly stitched-up surgeon. Joker doesn't like it though, as he was expecting someone else. The two fight, Joker kills him, and as he's dying the guy thanks Joker and says he's one of his biggest fans. Batman breaks in and tries to catch the Joker, but the Joker was (of course) ready and hurls a duffel bag sized firebomb at him to cover his escape. As the building is engulfed in flames, a young girl starts crying for help and Batman is forced to slow down and rescue her.
The police burst in at the worst possible time and somehow don't see the girl, instead attacking Batman who is forced to fight them. Batman realizes this is pointless and so leads the police on a chase past the girl so they slow down to rescue her, and get out of the no doubt further booby-trapped building. As a helicopter opens fire on Batman, Commissioner Gordon starts yelling about what idiot made Batman a priority target. Apparently it's the mayor.
A brief interlude with Alfred making polite suggestions about Bruce's romantic life (including his unhealthy relationship with Catwoman, nice) while Bruce brushes him off and continues researching the Joker. He then goes to talk to Commissioner Gordon at the Bat-signal and they talk about what a complicated relationship Batman has with the cops. Batman wants to talk to the girl from before, but Gordon says no and that she already told them where to find Joker. Batman does a disappearing act, and goes to provide backup for the police.
Of course it's a trap, and the entire building explodes with police inside. Batman doesn't let the explosion phase him, instead finding the one person in the crowd who is not looking (other than himself), and a running fight ensues. The Joker attempts to gas a train, but Batman evacuates everyone and goes after him. Slowed down by the toxins, he gets a few knives for his troubles, gets a joy buzzer shock, and eventually manages to tackle the Joker through a warehouse roof. His inner monologue shouts "Never again! NEVER AGAIN!" Which makes me wonder about Jason Todd in the new version, though he might be referring to Batgirl.
He beats Joker unconscious, and next scene he's nearly catatonic and getting ready for his first trip to Arkham. Sending him to normal prison is discussed, but apparently Dr. Arkham has enough clout to overrule the police. Intriguing. However, he's not alone in his cell, nor is he truly catatonic. He meets with someone called the "Dollmaker" and berates him for sending one of his "family members" last time. The dollmaker is a big fan which is why he's doing this for the Joker.
The final panel is...okay, it's the Joker's face. Not his head, his *face*. Pinned to the wall as he and Dollmaker discuss "rebirth." Ugghh
As an introduction to the Joker, this seems like a decent one. He's got his jokes and his props as you'd expect. He uses knives like the Nolan version too, seemingly taking the best of several versions. That's what makes the last panel so shocking, disturbing, and, I have to say, effective. Other Joker fans might be offended by this. However, to me it really makes me want to see more. I do personally love new interpretations of my favorite characters, and the Joker is initially set up so familiarly, only to turn out something totally different really makes me want to read the rest.
This title does really live up to its name. I glossed over a lot of detective work here, because that doesn't make for a very compelling review. On the other hand, it does make fora pretty compelling lead. One thing that bothers me however is the bus full of nuns...I mean, the little girl. A little girl in a building with the Joker and Dr. Vahzilok (I sincerely hope you get that reference), who gives the police a lead to a trap? Yeah, not suspicious at all. Hope this one is dealt with later.
Batman being at odds with the police is probably a good decision that they no doubt will back away from after a while. Having Gordon and, of all people, Bullock as the only cops on Batman's side makes it more compelling and clearer why he remains in the shadows. Though, given the less antagonistic relationship he had with the police in the later Batgirl comics, I can pretty much assume this isn't going to stand forever. Le sigh.
This comic is a good read, but a lot of it leaves you afterwords. Just look at the shortness of my recap. The only thing that will stick with you afterwords is the final panel, which will no doubt be in your nightmares for a while. Because nothing really jumps out as good enough for a higher score, nor bad enough for a lower, I'm gonna give it a 3/5
Batgirl #1-6
I mainly use a 3-star system. Something has to really distinguish itself as awful to get 1 star, and something has to be totally epic and awesome to get 5. So basically, 2 is a mostly negative reaction from me, 3 is a neutral or balanced, and 4 means I liked it. So, here we go:
This comic picks up right where the previous one left off...sorta. Again there's a continuity hiccup as Detective McKenna is now pointing her gun at the mirror-faced lunatic instead of the girl dressed as a bat. Sure, she could have changed targets, but it'd almost make more sense in reverse, since he escapes and Batgirl pursues. What follows is a pursuit across the rooftops ending in the Gotham cemetery. Now, Gail Simone is a very good writer who tends to write women particularly well. That's why it's so galling to be constantly reminded of Batgirl's weakness. Compared to Mirror, she's smaller and weaker, plus she's out of practice. It's constantly drilled into our skulls.
Another point repeated is that Mirror is unusually strong. He doesn't even flinch after hitting his elbow on a statue in the cemetery. Combined with whatever freaked out Spook under his cloak, it's reasonable to assume he's something supernatural. Yet as soon as we get a look under his cloak, we see it is just a mirror. This is such an anticlimax I had to laugh at it. That's not a scary villain, that's a Vegas magician. Batgirl also only survives her fight because she grabs his list, he takes it back, and then runs away. He had her on the ropes, why did he run?
Back at the hospital, Commissioner Gordon meets with Detective McKenna. He places her on bereavement leave because of her partner's death. Again, this seems a little fast. She shocks Gordon by telling him that Batgirl is back. Does Commissioner Gordon know his daughter is Batgirl in this continuity? That's something that's never really followed up on in this arc, even in his later scenes with Barbara.
Barbara comes back to the apartment, running into her roommate (who I was wrong, she's apparently a bartender. Why was she at the hospital?). Alysia demands an explanation for her injuries, but Barbara gives a non-answer. Admittedly, it's a better non-answer than most superheroes give people in their life: She assures her that she is neither a criminal nor a victim, effectively ruling out every normal explanation for why a young woman might stumble in at 4 in the morning beaten and bruised. Alysia accepts this, and makes some Laksa to help her recovery, but there's a definite "We're gonna talk about this later" vibe. This also raises some questions of how long Barbara has known Alysia, how they met, and what makes her think that she can have a roommate she barely knows that doesn't know about her superhero activities.
The next day, Barbara tracks down Mirror and finds out he is a former war hero turned DEA agent who lost his family in a mob hit that only he survived. He decided that he should have died with them, and that other people who had miraculously survived should instead be dead. This insane troll logic leads him to want to bomb a train because of a guy who survived falling on to the tracks. Batgirl races off to stop the bombing, and she thinks she does by getting everyone else off the train car with the survivor, and holding on to him to force Mirror to stop. Not because it would kill her (that is obviously not a problem for him), but because it would kill her by a method other than falling. Mirror instead blows up a second bomb, killing the good Samaritan who originally saved his target, as well as everyone else on the train with him.
Short character interlude, where Barbara considers telling her father everything and why she is so shaken up after the train bombing (since she was there). Detective McKenna is continuing to research Batgirl in some sort of misplaced vendetta, somewhat similar to Mirror I guess. Symbolism?
Batgirl tries to get her bike out of impound, and runs into Nightwing. The two flirt and have a flashback to the time they were together learning under Batman and were an item. The two of them are separated now, but still seem to have a good relationship...until Nightwing takes his concern for her a bit too far. He's worried that all this activity may exacerbate her recently repaired spine, and she feels patronized to. Their flirt-fighting turns serious and she draws blood, but Richard (I guess they can't call him Dick anymore) tries to talk her down. He tries to convince her that Bruce don't doubt her, but love her and htus don't want to see her hurt herself. She accepts that, but says she has to continue anyway, alone. He doesn't really understand, but lets her go.
Barbara has a nightmare about being back in a wheelchair, then wakes and talks to her roommate. She finally tells Alysia about how she used to be in a wheelchair. Alysia is about to reveal a secret about herself, when Barbara cuts out to go be Batgirl again. She takes out her frustration on some muggers. The muggers, amusingly, have an app for their phones that let them get updates on Bat-sightings, but there's no button for Batgirl yet. With a minor victory and a clearer head, she finally begins to realize she's been going about this all wrong. Her body is not her strength. It's her mind, her eidetic memory, and strategic talents that make her a hero, and she's been ignoring that.
She leaves a note on the graves of Mirror's family, setting up a showdown with him at the abandoned amusement park. She remembered every name on his list and gave them to the cops instead of trying to do everything herself. She attacks him mentally, projecting images of his family and the news headlines about their death on every surface of a hall of mirrors, and when she points out that the image of their burning car is now on his chest, he freaks out and she is able to beat him while he goes into an emotional breakdown.
The story ends with her and her roommate sharing Christmas presents, when they're interrupted by Barbara's mother's surprise return.
The next two issues are disconnected, and quite paradoxical. The least actually happens in them, but we get the most character development. The basic plot is that mobsters and others are acting very weird and getting themselves killed, while repeating the number 338. It leads back to a mysterious psychic named Gretal with pastel hair. One of her targets is Bruce Wayne, whose urban renewal project is running into difficulties from both people who may be displaced and criminals who don't want Gotham actually cleaned up. Gretal can mind control men, though her efforts to mind control Bruce Wayne don't quite go as planned. Batgirl figures out he's probably not really under her control and does a very convincing "you're still in there!" speech, which causes Bruce to act normal and whisper to her that yes, he was faking...mostly.
The two of them then team up to take out Gretal, who turns out received her powers after being shot in the head by some mobsters she was investigating as a reporter. IT's somewhat confusing whether she is doing this out of some sense of justice or under contract. Batgirl tells Batman not to hurt Gretal out of sympathy, and he actually agrees. Detective McKenna is less sympathetic towards Batgirl and tries to arrest her, but Batman intervenes.
In between these stories we have some good character moments of Barbara and her mother. Barbara really does want to spend time with her mother, but due to the years of estrangement can't help but be a little petulant about it. And that leads me to the conclusion of my review, because this is where Gail Simone's writing really shines. She's good at writing dialogue and characters, but the action sometimes falls flat.
Mirror is a huge disappointment as a villain. The fact it was merely a mirror under his cloak,and the revelation there is nothing inhuman at all about him, he's just a big strong well-trained guy-robbed him of a lot of the tension built up by initially portraying him as some sort of unstoppable nightmare. Gail Simone is a good writer, but she does not do a mystery well, and she had to spoon-feed us the clues about his and Gretal's identity.
Speaking of Gretal, her motivation is entirely unclear. At first it seems like she's out for revenge, but then it seems like someone hired her. Granted it doesn't have to be one OR the other, it could easily be both, but it still makes a difference and the possiblity of WHO hired her is never addressed (or why someone like her even needs money for that matter).
The motif of Barbara Gordon fighting other similarly damaged people who have taken different routes is well played, if only the villains were better. Her alternately pulling close to and pushing away the people who care is very realistic for someone in her circumstances, and again, this is where Gail SImone's writing shines. The scene with Nightwing was genuinely touching and sad for somewhat personal reasons, and I could empathize with both of their positions. However, Alysia's presence so far adds very little to the story. Sure, it's someone for Barbara to talk to, but she needs to play a more active role for this to be remotely relevant. McKenna is a thoroughly unlikable character. I'm sorry, but her vendetta against Batgirl not for failing to save her partner (someone with all of two lines before his death), but for failing to avenge his murder in a timely manner? It's ridiculous and makes it very hard to care if anything happens to her in upcoming issues.
This one barely skates by on Simone's writing, and even that is a bit of a letdown after the stellar intro. It's just rife with anticlimaxes and contrivances while suffering from weak villains. Batgirl herself is still too weak (character-wise) to make a compelling superhero, though by the end she is getting better. Use your head more, Babs! Despite some very good character moments, the negatives are starting to far outweigh the positives to me. I have to give the first 6 issues of Batgirl overall 2/5 stars.
Batgirl #1
With DC's relaunch, they haven't been afraid to make big changes. Any past continuity they want is salvaged, but anything they decide not to take is discarded. Unfortunately, one of those pieces of discarded continuity is Batgirl. Actually, two Batgirls: Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown. Both are fan favorites, and represent two very different extremes. At present time, neither has ever been Batgirl. Cassie at least survives as Black Bat, protector of Hong Kong, but Stephanie may not exist. This has been controversial.
Equally controversial is Barbara Gordon discarding her role as Oracle, as well as the wheelchair that has defined her character for a generation. She has been the most prominent disabled character in comics. She served as an inspiration to many for continuing the fight in her new capacity and even excelling at it. However, the elephant in the room has always been "in a world of cybernetics, Lazarus pits, etc, where a literal angel has been on the justice league, why has her spine not been repaired?"
Well, they did something about that elephant with the reboot. Barbara can walk again. I say "again" because the incident that cost her use of her legs still happened. She was incapacitated for three years, long past the point where doctors would say the spine is likely to recover. Yet recover she did, and they call it a miracle. She's not so sure.
Batgirl #1 opens not with Batgirl, but with an old man watering flowers. An unseen assailant walks up to him, and tells him he does not belong alive. The assailant holds him still and sticks the hose down his throat, drowning the old man on dry land. He then crosses a name ("Graham Carter") off his list, and looks at the next: Barbara Gordon.
One note, this scene is probably far more comedic than they intended. The old man's face with his eyes bugging out and water spewing out his nose had me laughing pretty hard, but then again I can be a sicko sometimes. The terrier yapping through the scene didn't help.
Now to Batgirl. We're introduced like so many other Bat-books to our character standing on a rooftop getting ready for a case. A group of thrill-killers in Halloween masks are torturing a family, and Batgirl comes to the rescue. Her dialogue here is hard to take seriously, but that seems to be the point. Outwardly she says things about her opponent like, "There you are you rotten monsters. Found you, didn't I? Oh yes I did, babies. How sad for you." Her internal monologue, however, betrays her nervousness and fear. Batgirl is rusty and she knows it, she just hopes this will be an easy one.
One interesting moment in the fight is when their leader (Spook) is holding someone at gunpoint. Batgirl pulls a batarang and starts laughing. He asks "What are you laughing at?" "You, little man." She then thinks: "Fight a monster, become a monster." Her internal monologue then screams at her in quotation marks and Frank Miller's voice, "You thought you were going to terrify the world! Look at you, you're a punk, a nobody. I'm frankly amazed you haven't wet yourself."
I'll confess I've never read the Killing Joke. However, even if it's not in the comic, it feels like something the Joker might have said to Barbara on that horrible night. Her laughter, her comment about monsters...it seems the Joker left a mark on her worse than the spinal injury.
She takes the man out, but he tackles her out a window. Her insane internal monologue changes back to self-doubt as she realizes how rusty she is. She's left dangling over the balcony with Spook in her hand, and the family helps her pull both of them up. Her confidence has evaporated. She can only say "I'm glad" to the family before she leaves, with her thinking about her shaking knees and how much she needs to pee.
She has a nightmare where she relives that night. "I'm not Batgirl. Not tonight...Tonight I am Barbara Gordon. She of the eidetic memory. She who never forgets. Never. Except how to breathe sometimes." Her father, Commissioner Gordon, hears her scream as she wakes up and checks on her. She's getting ready to move out, but he doesn't want her to. She feels she has to in order to move on with her life.
We're then introduced to her new roommate, Alysia Yeoh, a political activist who works at the local bar. The hospital must be across the street or something. because Barbara is just here to drop Aysia off at work, but Alysia notices the wheelchair lift in the back of her van. She's surprised, since apparently Barbara has not told her about the past three years. Alysia assumes its for a relative while making a very insensitive comment about how a wheelchair would be like a prison, which Barbara does not respond to.
Meanwhile, the killer from the start walks in, punching out the receptionist and shooting a guard. He's here for Spook. Barbara hears the commotion and gets the motorcycle she had hidden in her van, driving it through the hospital to get to the room, but she's not fast enough and both of the police detectives guarding him are shot, one fatally. The killer reveals himself as a very large man with a mask made of broken mirror shards, who opens his cloak to Spook to "show him his true face" at which the man screams. Mirror says Spook should not be alive, and gets ready to make that true.
Batgirl enters the room and Mirror turns to her with his gun. He points it at exactly the same place as Joker did, triggering a flashback and causing Batgirl to freeze up. The surviving cop shouts at her to move, because now she's blocking the line of fire. Mirror grabs spook's bed and pushes him out a window to his death. Now the cop turns her gun on Batgirl, accusing her of being a murderer too for not doing anything to stop Mirror, and that's where the comic ends.
Like most of the new 52 bat-family comics I've read, this one serves as an excellent introduction to the character. We learn all the important stuff (Batgirl, shot by Joker, Commissioner Gordon's daughter) in rapid succession while also delving into what makes Batgirl tick. Or, just as often, what makes her stop ticking, or even go cuckoo.
Batgirl/Barbara Gordon's character has changed a lot as well. She alternates between giddy overconfidence, in which her dialogue/internal monologue turns into Gail Simone's impression of Frank Miller, and a scared trauma victim recalling her past and berating herself for not being "over it" yet. And it is clear she is a trauma victim here. She has a past she is still struggling with, and is hoping that by becoming Batgirl again she can move on.
Gail Simone is an excellent writer, who especially does good female characters and coined the "women in refrigerators" trope. Here, she is in fine form delving into Batgirl's psyche, and getting the chance she always wanted to defrost Barbara Gordon. Yet, I wonder if it was such a good idea, because even if the original story was a prime example of WIR, what they'd done with her since was remarkable and it is a shame to see Oracle go.
I also wonder about the overall portrayal of females in the comics at this point. Catwoman is revealed to have deep-seated abandonment issues and occasional emotional breakdowns. Batgirl is a trauma victim with severe PTSD, including flashbacks, nightmares, and freezing up. Were it not for Batman being portrayed as a profoundly unhealthy enabler in Catwoman, I'd be worried this was exclusive to females. I'll be on the lookout for it in other books, but I hope this is more a "street vigilante" thing than a "female" thing.
As for the villains. The Thrill Kill Monsters (Spook, Devil, Frankenstein, Dracula) are pretty much just a group of punching bags and a plot device to get the ball rolling. Mirror looks more interesting, as I wonder what is under that cloak. Is it like Ghostrider's Penance Stare?
Commissioner Gordon's cameo is brief but touching. I would have liked to see more of Alysia, but I'm sure we will. Also, what happened to her during the fracas? Probably hiding somewhere, but still, would have been nice to see.
My biggest problem plot-wise is with the ending, where the surviving officer calls Batgirl a murderer and points a gun at her because she failed to save someone. That reaction seems a little extreme and serves as little more than a bumper. Also, the scene at the beginning of Mirror murdering an old man is largely unnecessary, not to mention unintentionally silly. Aside from such silly moments, the art is pretty good, with nothing jumping out as either particularly awesome or particularly bad.
It's a stronger intro to the character than Catwoman, though leaves fewer unanswered questions to keep you coming back. I think I enjoyed it more though, due to the emotional weight. I give it 4/5 stars, and will get back with a review of the first arc later.
Equally controversial is Barbara Gordon discarding her role as Oracle, as well as the wheelchair that has defined her character for a generation. She has been the most prominent disabled character in comics. She served as an inspiration to many for continuing the fight in her new capacity and even excelling at it. However, the elephant in the room has always been "in a world of cybernetics, Lazarus pits, etc, where a literal angel has been on the justice league, why has her spine not been repaired?"
Well, they did something about that elephant with the reboot. Barbara can walk again. I say "again" because the incident that cost her use of her legs still happened. She was incapacitated for three years, long past the point where doctors would say the spine is likely to recover. Yet recover she did, and they call it a miracle. She's not so sure.
Batgirl #1 opens not with Batgirl, but with an old man watering flowers. An unseen assailant walks up to him, and tells him he does not belong alive. The assailant holds him still and sticks the hose down his throat, drowning the old man on dry land. He then crosses a name ("Graham Carter") off his list, and looks at the next: Barbara Gordon.
One note, this scene is probably far more comedic than they intended. The old man's face with his eyes bugging out and water spewing out his nose had me laughing pretty hard, but then again I can be a sicko sometimes. The terrier yapping through the scene didn't help.
Now to Batgirl. We're introduced like so many other Bat-books to our character standing on a rooftop getting ready for a case. A group of thrill-killers in Halloween masks are torturing a family, and Batgirl comes to the rescue. Her dialogue here is hard to take seriously, but that seems to be the point. Outwardly she says things about her opponent like, "There you are you rotten monsters. Found you, didn't I? Oh yes I did, babies. How sad for you." Her internal monologue, however, betrays her nervousness and fear. Batgirl is rusty and she knows it, she just hopes this will be an easy one.
One interesting moment in the fight is when their leader (Spook) is holding someone at gunpoint. Batgirl pulls a batarang and starts laughing. He asks "What are you laughing at?" "You, little man." She then thinks: "Fight a monster, become a monster." Her internal monologue then screams at her in quotation marks and Frank Miller's voice, "You thought you were going to terrify the world! Look at you, you're a punk, a nobody. I'm frankly amazed you haven't wet yourself."
I'll confess I've never read the Killing Joke. However, even if it's not in the comic, it feels like something the Joker might have said to Barbara on that horrible night. Her laughter, her comment about monsters...it seems the Joker left a mark on her worse than the spinal injury.
She takes the man out, but he tackles her out a window. Her insane internal monologue changes back to self-doubt as she realizes how rusty she is. She's left dangling over the balcony with Spook in her hand, and the family helps her pull both of them up. Her confidence has evaporated. She can only say "I'm glad" to the family before she leaves, with her thinking about her shaking knees and how much she needs to pee.
She has a nightmare where she relives that night. "I'm not Batgirl. Not tonight...Tonight I am Barbara Gordon. She of the eidetic memory. She who never forgets. Never. Except how to breathe sometimes." Her father, Commissioner Gordon, hears her scream as she wakes up and checks on her. She's getting ready to move out, but he doesn't want her to. She feels she has to in order to move on with her life.
We're then introduced to her new roommate, Alysia Yeoh, a political activist who works at the local bar. The hospital must be across the street or something. because Barbara is just here to drop Aysia off at work, but Alysia notices the wheelchair lift in the back of her van. She's surprised, since apparently Barbara has not told her about the past three years. Alysia assumes its for a relative while making a very insensitive comment about how a wheelchair would be like a prison, which Barbara does not respond to.
Meanwhile, the killer from the start walks in, punching out the receptionist and shooting a guard. He's here for Spook. Barbara hears the commotion and gets the motorcycle she had hidden in her van, driving it through the hospital to get to the room, but she's not fast enough and both of the police detectives guarding him are shot, one fatally. The killer reveals himself as a very large man with a mask made of broken mirror shards, who opens his cloak to Spook to "show him his true face" at which the man screams. Mirror says Spook should not be alive, and gets ready to make that true.
Batgirl enters the room and Mirror turns to her with his gun. He points it at exactly the same place as Joker did, triggering a flashback and causing Batgirl to freeze up. The surviving cop shouts at her to move, because now she's blocking the line of fire. Mirror grabs spook's bed and pushes him out a window to his death. Now the cop turns her gun on Batgirl, accusing her of being a murderer too for not doing anything to stop Mirror, and that's where the comic ends.
Like most of the new 52 bat-family comics I've read, this one serves as an excellent introduction to the character. We learn all the important stuff (Batgirl, shot by Joker, Commissioner Gordon's daughter) in rapid succession while also delving into what makes Batgirl tick. Or, just as often, what makes her stop ticking, or even go cuckoo.
Batgirl/Barbara Gordon's character has changed a lot as well. She alternates between giddy overconfidence, in which her dialogue/internal monologue turns into Gail Simone's impression of Frank Miller, and a scared trauma victim recalling her past and berating herself for not being "over it" yet. And it is clear she is a trauma victim here. She has a past she is still struggling with, and is hoping that by becoming Batgirl again she can move on.
Gail Simone is an excellent writer, who especially does good female characters and coined the "women in refrigerators" trope. Here, she is in fine form delving into Batgirl's psyche, and getting the chance she always wanted to defrost Barbara Gordon. Yet, I wonder if it was such a good idea, because even if the original story was a prime example of WIR, what they'd done with her since was remarkable and it is a shame to see Oracle go.
I also wonder about the overall portrayal of females in the comics at this point. Catwoman is revealed to have deep-seated abandonment issues and occasional emotional breakdowns. Batgirl is a trauma victim with severe PTSD, including flashbacks, nightmares, and freezing up. Were it not for Batman being portrayed as a profoundly unhealthy enabler in Catwoman, I'd be worried this was exclusive to females. I'll be on the lookout for it in other books, but I hope this is more a "street vigilante" thing than a "female" thing.
As for the villains. The Thrill Kill Monsters (Spook, Devil, Frankenstein, Dracula) are pretty much just a group of punching bags and a plot device to get the ball rolling. Mirror looks more interesting, as I wonder what is under that cloak. Is it like Ghostrider's Penance Stare?
Commissioner Gordon's cameo is brief but touching. I would have liked to see more of Alysia, but I'm sure we will. Also, what happened to her during the fracas? Probably hiding somewhere, but still, would have been nice to see.
My biggest problem plot-wise is with the ending, where the surviving officer calls Batgirl a murderer and points a gun at her because she failed to save someone. That reaction seems a little extreme and serves as little more than a bumper. Also, the scene at the beginning of Mirror murdering an old man is largely unnecessary, not to mention unintentionally silly. Aside from such silly moments, the art is pretty good, with nothing jumping out as either particularly awesome or particularly bad.
It's a stronger intro to the character than Catwoman, though leaves fewer unanswered questions to keep you coming back. I think I enjoyed it more though, due to the emotional weight. I give it 4/5 stars, and will get back with a review of the first arc later.
Catwoman #1-6
I have to say it didn't get off to a very good start. The first issue had its flaws still presented a pretty compelling portrait of Catwoman as a very damaged person, and her relationship with Batman as probably very unhealthy for them both. The ifnal panel especially drove this home. This is entirely undone by the first panel of Issue #2, where they are in a more traditional post-coitus pose with Catwoman draped over Batman like the cover of a fantasy novel as they engage in vapid pillow talk. Oy. I've never seen a comic take an intriguing premise, and do a 180 so fast it's like Stephen Seagal broke its neck. Nothing is more boring than heterosexual vanilla sex between two rich white people, even if one of them is Batman.
This book also didn't take even one more issue to destroy any potentially interesting plot threads of Catwoman wanting revenge against the Russian mob, or having a fence named Lola (who was a showgirl). She manipulates the mob into massacring each other (in a party hosted by Bruce Wayne, no less), but the guys in skull masks pay her friend Lola a visit and kill her off-panel. This is a rare case of fridging to give another woman angst, but I'm still going to count it since Lola was barely around for a single issue. *sigh*
The mobster behind the skull-masked goons is of course himself a deformed skull-faced monster. At first I thought this the new version of Black Mask, but nope, apparently it's some new guy named Bones with severe dry skin issues. The issue ends with him confronting Catwoman over her dead friend. Catwoman tries to fight with Bone's thugs (and harmony), but is quickly overwhelmed both physically and emotionally.
The third issue begins with a flashback to Catwoman starting out in Gotham, learning how to plan a job from Lola. Good we get to see her again, even posthumously. It opens proper with Bone delivering a lecture about how important his things are. If Catwoman had merely taken his money, he wouldn't have cared as much but she stole the physical indicators of his success. The look on Catwoman's face, however, suggests she has retreated to her Special Place and may not be joining us again anytime soon.
Bone takes the villain ball and runs for the end zone as he leaves his men to work over Catwoman, who of course quickly escapes, disables (literally) the goons, and comes back after Bone. She is about to kill him in revenge when Batman shows up to stop her. Her inner monologue implies this too is a dance they go through, as she hurls the mobster off a roof and Batman is forced to save him while letting her escape. However, this time, having lost a friend directly due to her actions, Catwoman is overcome emotionally and collapses into a fetal ball. She pulls herself together just long enough to go back to Lola's apartment and try to clean up any trace of evidence connecting the two of them, but she is sloppy and the police catch her literally red-handed.
Catwoman barely escapes from the cops and runs into an old friend at Lola's funeral. Her friend is also a fence, but Catwoman decides she only works alone now. She doesn't want anyone else to suffer on her account. We area also introduced to a good cop in Gotham named Detective Alvarez who we know is a good cop because he was busted down for accidentally catching the Deputy Mayor doing his best Marion Barry impression. He has linked all of Catwoman's crimes, but none of her biometrics match any database.
Catwoman's first solo gig goes pearshaped immediately when she rips off a small time drug dealer, only to find he was carrying a half million dollars in dirty cop money fit to be laundered, and that there is a metahuman heavy named Reach who sends her a half mile into the air for her troubles. She still manages to beat Reach by the skin of her teeth and escape with the money, but she deliberately ignores her better judgement and starts spending lavishly. We're treated to the first real fanservice in a while as she receives a topless massage with a towel on, shortly before the cops move in with all force. She is captured and worked over by Reach again in lockup, but fortunately Alvarez had caught on to the dirty cops and so helps her escape.
Her escape with the money is halted once more by Batman, who tells her she has to leave it behind. She calls him out on scrubbing her from the criminal databases. They have a fight, and he asks her how much longer she thinks he can cover for her. Catwoman says that she knows he'll let her continue as long as they are having sex, which she seems ready to initiate right there in the alley. Batman refuses this time, and grabs her by the shoulders, finally calling her out on all her self-destructive behavior. He shouts at her "Do you want to die?!" and a tearful Catwoman responds "Maybe I do!"
Batman has no response. He just quietly lets her go and doesn't even try to follow this time. It ends with Catwoman at her friend Gwen the fence's apartment, curled up with her head on her knees, her mask off but the rest of her costume on, and tears on her face. She confesses to being Catwoman, but more importantly, she finally admits that she needs some help.
The tonal shift between the first issue and the following ones is quite jarring. This is not an erotic thriller, nor is it a capricious superhero romp. We are watching a person's self-destruction. Every one of her decisions she knows is wrong and insanely risky, and almost every one turns out badly for her. One after another, Selena pushes away her few remaining friends and allies, while taking more and more risks that only get her deeper in trouble.
In keeping with the shift in tone, the fanservice is far less frequent, and while Catwoman is drawn in a less sexualized manner and aside from the trip to the spa, manages to keep her clothes on for the most part. The second issue was also severely disappointing because of how casually it discarded potentially interesting plot elements. Lola, we hardly knew ye. Bone is, by Gotham standards, an absolutely pathetic mobster, more suited to a Dick Tracey comic than the Bat-Family. His grotesque face and obsession with material things do not set him apart enough from Black Mask or the Penguin and I doubt we'll be seeing too much more of him.
Reach is a slightly more interesting character despite being an almost complete cipher. She resembles a punk version of Korra from Avatar, and there is no explanation given for her powers except "she's a metahuman." Why is someone with gravity control doing grunt work for dirty cops? Who knows. Hopefully she gets elaborated on later. Her artfully torn fishnets provide the closest thing to fanservice for much of her issues, but she otherwise stays fully clothed. She is also quite muscular, a unique visual look for females in comics that contrasts with Selena's voluptuous-yet-still-slender body.
The art maintains its high qualityh. The fight scenes are impressive and often shockingly violent. When Catwoman tricks Reach into getting too close, she bites her ear off in a half-page splash with lavish detail. The same sort of detail is also spent on facial expressions and body language, showing how quickly Selena switches from seductress to a cold, affected mask to scared and vulnerable. She has a habit here of sitting in a fetal position when emotionally overwhelmed for whatever reason, even when alone. IT's a nice touch that lets you know that she is not faking here, that she really does feel scared, depressed, and lonely.
The latter is something that people may find problematic. In previous versions, Catwoman has been seductress, she's been cold and snarky, but she's never really been this vulnerable and psychologically screwed up. Through her actions and inner monologue, her sex appeal is revealed as a tool for drawing people to her physically (where they are vulnerable) while pushing them away emotionally (where she is). Even Batman is not immune, and Selena's declaration of her suicidal intent strikes Bruce particularly hard, and seeing just how desolate he looks standing on that rooftop as she runs away for what could be the last time is heartbreaking even if you can't even see his facial expression. Batman realizing just how unhealthy their relationship is and just what an enabler he's been is something that should be elaborated on, even if he drops out of this book for a while.
Speaking of the men, Detective Alvarez is something of a non-entity. It looks like they are setting him up as a potential love interst now that Batman is going to take some time off, but right now other than being a "good cop" he is quite bland and forgettable.
After reading the second issue I was ready to drop this down, but the last two issues of this arc redeemed it for their emotional depth. I'd actually say it ends better than the first, due to the fanservice getting phased out (unless you count fetal position breakdowns as fanservice, which some people do but I find far too uncomfortable). Overall, though largely on the strength of the last two issues, I give this arc a 4/5.
This book also didn't take even one more issue to destroy any potentially interesting plot threads of Catwoman wanting revenge against the Russian mob, or having a fence named Lola (who was a showgirl). She manipulates the mob into massacring each other (in a party hosted by Bruce Wayne, no less), but the guys in skull masks pay her friend Lola a visit and kill her off-panel. This is a rare case of fridging to give another woman angst, but I'm still going to count it since Lola was barely around for a single issue. *sigh*
The mobster behind the skull-masked goons is of course himself a deformed skull-faced monster. At first I thought this the new version of Black Mask, but nope, apparently it's some new guy named Bones with severe dry skin issues. The issue ends with him confronting Catwoman over her dead friend. Catwoman tries to fight with Bone's thugs (and harmony), but is quickly overwhelmed both physically and emotionally.
The third issue begins with a flashback to Catwoman starting out in Gotham, learning how to plan a job from Lola. Good we get to see her again, even posthumously. It opens proper with Bone delivering a lecture about how important his things are. If Catwoman had merely taken his money, he wouldn't have cared as much but she stole the physical indicators of his success. The look on Catwoman's face, however, suggests she has retreated to her Special Place and may not be joining us again anytime soon.
Bone takes the villain ball and runs for the end zone as he leaves his men to work over Catwoman, who of course quickly escapes, disables (literally) the goons, and comes back after Bone. She is about to kill him in revenge when Batman shows up to stop her. Her inner monologue implies this too is a dance they go through, as she hurls the mobster off a roof and Batman is forced to save him while letting her escape. However, this time, having lost a friend directly due to her actions, Catwoman is overcome emotionally and collapses into a fetal ball. She pulls herself together just long enough to go back to Lola's apartment and try to clean up any trace of evidence connecting the two of them, but she is sloppy and the police catch her literally red-handed.
Catwoman barely escapes from the cops and runs into an old friend at Lola's funeral. Her friend is also a fence, but Catwoman decides she only works alone now. She doesn't want anyone else to suffer on her account. We area also introduced to a good cop in Gotham named Detective Alvarez who we know is a good cop because he was busted down for accidentally catching the Deputy Mayor doing his best Marion Barry impression. He has linked all of Catwoman's crimes, but none of her biometrics match any database.
Catwoman's first solo gig goes pearshaped immediately when she rips off a small time drug dealer, only to find he was carrying a half million dollars in dirty cop money fit to be laundered, and that there is a metahuman heavy named Reach who sends her a half mile into the air for her troubles. She still manages to beat Reach by the skin of her teeth and escape with the money, but she deliberately ignores her better judgement and starts spending lavishly. We're treated to the first real fanservice in a while as she receives a topless massage with a towel on, shortly before the cops move in with all force. She is captured and worked over by Reach again in lockup, but fortunately Alvarez had caught on to the dirty cops and so helps her escape.
Her escape with the money is halted once more by Batman, who tells her she has to leave it behind. She calls him out on scrubbing her from the criminal databases. They have a fight, and he asks her how much longer she thinks he can cover for her. Catwoman says that she knows he'll let her continue as long as they are having sex, which she seems ready to initiate right there in the alley. Batman refuses this time, and grabs her by the shoulders, finally calling her out on all her self-destructive behavior. He shouts at her "Do you want to die?!" and a tearful Catwoman responds "Maybe I do!"
Batman has no response. He just quietly lets her go and doesn't even try to follow this time. It ends with Catwoman at her friend Gwen the fence's apartment, curled up with her head on her knees, her mask off but the rest of her costume on, and tears on her face. She confesses to being Catwoman, but more importantly, she finally admits that she needs some help.
The tonal shift between the first issue and the following ones is quite jarring. This is not an erotic thriller, nor is it a capricious superhero romp. We are watching a person's self-destruction. Every one of her decisions she knows is wrong and insanely risky, and almost every one turns out badly for her. One after another, Selena pushes away her few remaining friends and allies, while taking more and more risks that only get her deeper in trouble.
In keeping with the shift in tone, the fanservice is far less frequent, and while Catwoman is drawn in a less sexualized manner and aside from the trip to the spa, manages to keep her clothes on for the most part. The second issue was also severely disappointing because of how casually it discarded potentially interesting plot elements. Lola, we hardly knew ye. Bone is, by Gotham standards, an absolutely pathetic mobster, more suited to a Dick Tracey comic than the Bat-Family. His grotesque face and obsession with material things do not set him apart enough from Black Mask or the Penguin and I doubt we'll be seeing too much more of him.
Reach is a slightly more interesting character despite being an almost complete cipher. She resembles a punk version of Korra from Avatar, and there is no explanation given for her powers except "she's a metahuman." Why is someone with gravity control doing grunt work for dirty cops? Who knows. Hopefully she gets elaborated on later. Her artfully torn fishnets provide the closest thing to fanservice for much of her issues, but she otherwise stays fully clothed. She is also quite muscular, a unique visual look for females in comics that contrasts with Selena's voluptuous-yet-still-slender body.
The art maintains its high qualityh. The fight scenes are impressive and often shockingly violent. When Catwoman tricks Reach into getting too close, she bites her ear off in a half-page splash with lavish detail. The same sort of detail is also spent on facial expressions and body language, showing how quickly Selena switches from seductress to a cold, affected mask to scared and vulnerable. She has a habit here of sitting in a fetal position when emotionally overwhelmed for whatever reason, even when alone. IT's a nice touch that lets you know that she is not faking here, that she really does feel scared, depressed, and lonely.
The latter is something that people may find problematic. In previous versions, Catwoman has been seductress, she's been cold and snarky, but she's never really been this vulnerable and psychologically screwed up. Through her actions and inner monologue, her sex appeal is revealed as a tool for drawing people to her physically (where they are vulnerable) while pushing them away emotionally (where she is). Even Batman is not immune, and Selena's declaration of her suicidal intent strikes Bruce particularly hard, and seeing just how desolate he looks standing on that rooftop as she runs away for what could be the last time is heartbreaking even if you can't even see his facial expression. Batman realizing just how unhealthy their relationship is and just what an enabler he's been is something that should be elaborated on, even if he drops out of this book for a while.
Speaking of the men, Detective Alvarez is something of a non-entity. It looks like they are setting him up as a potential love interst now that Batman is going to take some time off, but right now other than being a "good cop" he is quite bland and forgettable.
After reading the second issue I was ready to drop this down, but the last two issues of this arc redeemed it for their emotional depth. I'd actually say it ends better than the first, due to the fanservice getting phased out (unless you count fetal position breakdowns as fanservice, which some people do but I find far too uncomfortable). Overall, though largely on the strength of the last two issues, I give this arc a 4/5.
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