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12/09/2003: my comments on some recent Batverse comics...
I apologize for being so quiet last week. I wasn't even extremely busy or anything, nor do I have the excuse of being buried under tons of snow, not a single snowflake in sight around here. I just felt kind of sapped of all energy, and somehow when you miss posting one day it becomes easier just to skip updating the next day. A bit like with website updates.
Anyway, now to the actual content. Comments on Batverse comics from the last couple of weeks:
Batgirl #46 (written by Dylan Horrocks, pencils by Rick Leonardi, inks by Jesse Delperdang)
I really like the cover with Devil!Batgirl and Angel!Batgirl. Though I don't think the premise behind the drug "Soul" -- that it brings out the good in the "good" people, and makes them have a great trip, and the bad in the "bad" people, and makes them react violently -- really works, or makes sense. Still, how Cass hallucinated was interesting and mostly works for me, and I also like the interaction between Barbara and Cass. It also gets extra credits for continuity, because even though I'm not that happy with how the breakup between Dick and Barbara develops, I like the continuity between the Batgirl, BOP, and Nightwing titles this month, and that the breakup is an issue in all of them.
Batman #621 (written by Brian Azzarello, art by Eduardo Risso)
The Broken City storyline still didn't really grab me, i.e. so far it's not very memorable. That is, even though I haven't read #621 that long ago, I have a hard time to remember the details of the plot. I like that the Gotham Police plays a role, that it is not just Batman working on the crime, and that Batman's opponent seems to be invisible in the final sequence shows potential that the story might turn into something more interesting. At least I hope we won't see Batman just beating up Killer Croc again next issue, it's getting repetitive.
Batman: Death and the Maidens #4 (written by Greg Rucka, art by Klaus Janson)
I liked this one better than #3, at least the story moves forward a bit and picks up some pace too. Bruce swallowed R'as' potion, and sees and talks to his dead mother, which is creepy, and it'll be interesting what comes out of her desire to see the changes in Gotham during the last twenty-five years, and to see Bruce in his dreamwalk (or whatever this is) reflect on his work. Nyssa's method of getting back at R'as, that is to kill and revive Talia over and over again to "mold" her somehow is interesting (and, okay, deranged) and I like seeing more of the pits. I still suspect the story and its pacing will work better when read as whole, instead of in monthly installments, though.
Batman: Gotham Knights #47 (written by Scott Beatty, pencils by Roger Robinson, inks by John Floyd)
Bane, eh. Not one of my favorite characters, but I thought that as far as Bane stories go it wasn't too bad. I'm not sure whether Leslie Thompkins would really help him like that, and also I'm confused about the backstory involving Tim, because I haven't read whatever he refers to in the flashback with this King Snake/Sir Edmund Dorrance and his friend. I guess it must have been a recent Robin storyline. But I'm curious where this story with Bane finding his roots goes.
Birds of Prey #61 (written by Gail Simone, pencils by Ed Benes, inks by Rob Lea and Alex Lei)
I like Dinah's reaction to the cliffhanger from last month, how she wouldn't let the argument go and give up working with Oracle. Okay, considering that the premise of the title is their team it's not that surprising that they didn't break up, but I liked how their argument was handled. Nice touch how Oracle at the end throws Dinah's words about letting small stuf go back at her, when Oracle decides to bring in Huntress more permanently. So far I like Huntress in this story arc, so I'm looking forward to the expanded team. Like with Batgirl the continuity between the titles is a good thing. I thought the "cute little kid gets through to Babs" scene in the "relationship plot" was a bit lame. Oracle scaring the escaped Savant was cool, I'd be scared too. Though I have to admit why they even bother to lock anyone up in Arkham in the first place is anyone's guess. As a meta comment, as much as I appreciate that they are going to offer this as a TPB collection soon (I won't buy it, but I think backlists are generally a good thing), I'd really like to see some more of the earlier issues in collections too, like for example those which have the conclusion of the storyline they reprinted in the Nightwing "Hunt for Oracle" TPB, because it is -- as I've found out -- not that easy to find some of the issues at reasonable prices around here.
Detective Comics #789 (written by Paul Bolles, pencils by Mike Lilly, inks by Dan Davis)
The one good thing is that, according to the preview for next month, this team won't do the next issue. I complained about the writing last month, but this time it's not just boring, with lots of superfluous text boxes, no, the purple prose got much worse. Or maybe I just noticed this month. In any case it's awful, and I'm not a style snob. But when I read descriptions like "Batman maps the room with eyes that hemorrhage power." and "It's only John Cole kicking, clawing, thrashing like a shark pulled from the water--" (how can sharks kick and claw anyway?) and many more gems like that, not to mention "supersonic batarangs" (I wonder how that's supposed to work), my reaction is pretty much ROTFL, certainly writing like that doesn't create suspense or anything. And the story about mind control through that magical artifact didn't make much sense either. At least the artwork was okay. The back-up story "The Tailor" by Lieberman, Dzialokowski and Green was better, at least it didn't have cringe-worthy purple prose, and I'm moderately curious where it goes.
Gotham Central #13 (written by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, art by Michael Lark)
Gotham Central is consistently good (and if you still haven't picked the title up, and like Gotham, you really should). The Joker's terror campaign is scary, and also feels like that for the reader. I like how the tension gets to the detectives, how the acting mayor was freaked, and the good guys act out their frustrations at each other. The series POV also brings home how inscrutable Batman and his whole operation is from the outside. I mean, the cops turn on the signal, he appears, says two words, and is gone again, and later they have mysterious databases appearing in their computers giving them information courtesy of Oracle, only they have no idea who/what that is.
Nightwing #87 (written by Devin Grayson, pencils by Patrick Zircher, inks by Andy Owens and Sean Parsons)
I had a hard time believing that Nightwing and Oracle would get into each other's way this much during a fight (with just Tarantula no less, who's hardly on their level), even if they're out of sync because of the whole breakup thing. But okay. Otherwise, the breakup is depressing too. Not just because I like Dick/Babs, also because it still doesn't make much sense, especially now that Tarantula claims she caused Babs to dump Dick as part of this plan for Blockbuster. I mean, huh? How, what, when? Maybe I missed something, maybe it'll make sense later on, but for now I'm confused.
