DC Comics And Beyond: Comics Reviews
Written by Wayne Hall on October 1, 2009 – 12:01 pm -First off, apologies that personal matters kept me away from reviewing comics last week, so this time I’ll make up for it with a longer-than-usual discussion. Also, I can’t believe it is already October!
1. Batman: The Brave And The Bold #9. One of the problems with being a Batman fan is that sometimes it seems there is too much of a good thing. There are so many different versions of Batman that it is often hard for me to sort them out in order. Well, that’s not entirely true–I do know that my very favorite Batman of all time was the Bruce Timm/Paul Dini The New Episodes of Batman on Kids WB. Batman had a brownish costume and had three partners he worked with, including Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl. It was dark, it was moody, it was well-written, it was superbly animated, and I will always dearly love it.
However, nothing lasts forever, so the Timm/Dini team went on to Justice League and Justice League Unlimited (which I also passionately adore). But it meant they weren’t working on Batman episodes any more. I prefer to skip over The Batman (you know, the one where Batman was like a close friend after his lobotomy?) and go directly to the current cartoon, named of course, Batman: The Brave And The Bold. Now, there are some members of the Timm/Dini group working on the show, and that’s probably why I at least like it.
I’ve often mentioned this comic when it is released for a couple of reasons. First, it is true to the cartoon. Second, it takes me back to the good comics that Batman was in during the 1960s. It was a very different time, to be sure, but it gave me the notion of what a “hero” actually is, and for that I’ll always be grateful.
However, one glimpse of Adam West in the costume and I cringe. I’m okay with “silly” sometimes, but not all the time. (If you get a chance to watch the first two-part episode of the series, it wasn’t all that silly, actually. That happened when it became “popular,” always a problem for sci-fi and comics concepts.)
The Brave And The Bold borrows heavily from the comic book that bore the same name and concept in years past: Batman teams up with other DC super-heroes to fight evil. It’s a perfect vehicle to try out other heroes and see which ones attract an audience. I’m sure that’s why the new, young, hip, Hispanic Blue Beetle has appeared on the show more than any other guest star.
The most recent issue introduces Catman, who has been around for a long time. For instance, he appeared in Detective Comics #311 in January 1963. He’s been paired with Catwoman at times, but she’s always been much more popular than he has, so he’s been relegated to very low-tier villain status, right there with Calendar Man.
However, recently Catman got a boost when Gail Simone added him to her Secret Six comic revival. And he’s never been so interesting a character.
I have to mention that once Adam West lent his voice to The Fairly OddParents animated Nicktoon, and he portrayed, oddly enough, Catman. There were a lot of in-jokes about the Caped Crusader, but I guess the show didn’t want to pay DC Comics for the ability to use the name.
As the comic begins, Catman appears and helps Batman stop the Riddler. He volunteers to help Batman fight crime in Gotham, and they take down most of the big-name villains before Batman realizes something’s not quite right about the Cat Crusader (sorry). I won’t spoil the ending, but Catman’s motivations are revealed, and it seems to be a tip of the hat to Simone’s version of the character. Not bad for a comic based on a cartoon, actually.
2. Justice League Of America 80-Page Giant #1. Since many of you are way, way too young to remember what an event an “80-page giant” was, let me quickly update you.
DC Comics used to make extra money by reprinting older stories in one big, inexpensive volume. This was really great for those of us who often were too late at the corner store to get all the recent comics. We could catch up on “strange Batman costumes,” for example. And 80 pages was a lot of reading in my younger days.
Also, in the early comics of Justice League of America (I mean the early ones, back in the 1960s), there was something of a formula to the issues. A group of villains or aliens would show up and disperse, meaning that the JLA members also would split up, usually in teams of two, usually pairing up with someone we hadn’t seen them with often before. Some groups naturally came together, like Batman and Wonder Woman, but others varied from issue to issue, like Superman and Aquaman, or Green Lantern and the Flash (before their famous friendship began). So each new book was an event, something that had never graced our imaginations before.
The book that was released this week in many ways combines both those ideas. A Lord of Time appears, and he wants to take down the Time Commander. His threat and power cause the heroes to take him on, but he ends up sending diverse pairs of superheroes together into the past, where they must face new baddies or team up with good guys from the DC Universe’s history.
Some of the groupings were very interesting to me, including Green Arrow and Firestorm, Black Canary and Zatanna (who team up with the original Crimson Avenger), Wonder Woman and Steel, Superman and Doctor Light, Hal Jordan/Green Lantern and Red Arrow (formerly Speedy), and my favorite, John Stewart/Green Lantern and Vixen. There were several different art teams who breathed life into the different teamings, which I also liked. It’s a lot of fun, action, and surprises, so I’d recommend this book.
Other comics out this week including Green Lantern (Blackest Night) #46, Wonder Woman #36, Teen Titans #75, and Die Hard: Year One #1 from Boom! (You read that last one right—Die Hard, like the movies.)
Since this is the first week without Wednesday Comics, which I hope will return soon, I thought I would rank the different strips in the series:
1. Batman by Azzarello and Risso. Come on, I’m a big Batman fan, and the story was a dark and gritty one with art that resembled Frank Miller at times. Of course I loved it.
2. Supergirl by Palmiotti and Conner. As dark as Batman was, Supergirl was 180 degrees in the other direction. It was fun and sweet and great art. And who can turn down Krypto and Streaky and the cool surprise at the end?
3. Hawkman by Kyle Baker. I liked winged characters, and the interesting tone of art that Baker used really made Hawkman a good read.
4. Green Lantern by Busiek and Quinones. This strip combined the galaxy-spanning heroics of GL with the friends who keep him grounded on Earth. Great combination of art and writing.
5. The Flash by Kerschl and Fletcher. This character has always challenged comics creators because he’s so fast, it is tough to think of things to challenge him. It was fun to see the Flash encounter himself when he ran that fast.
6. Superman by Arcudi and Bermejo. What made this different from the other strips was the emphasis on large panels of art. But I like more writing in my stories, as much as I enjoyed the beautiful paintings.
7. Kamandi by Gibbons and Sook. Prince Valiant. Do I need to say more?
8. Teen Titans by Berganza and Galloway. I enjoyed the art, but the story was again somewhat lacking. It was great to see so many Titans in one strip, though.
9. Metal Men by DiDio, Lopez and Nowlan. I can’t remember if Dan DiDio, head honcho at DC Comics, has ever written for the company before. The art was great, and I know DiDio was paying homage to the old MM stories, but why do they always end up being destroyed at the end?
10. The Demon And Catwoman by Simonson and Stelfreeze. Interesting pairing here, one I’ve never seen before. This was one strip I thought felt a little padded, that they could have wrapped up in 9-10 issues instead of 12.
11. Strange Adventures by Pope. This was a very Flash Gordon-esque strip as it focused on Adam Strange, space traveler extraordinaire. Nice use of the strip’s name to follow the character. But I didn’t feel much focus as the hero sort of did his usual stuff from the comics.
12. Deadman by Bullock and Heuck. I like Deadman well enough, but I don’t think he’s a strong enough character to last for 12 episodes. Six, maybe.
13. Sgt. Rock by Kubert and Kubert. If I were more of a fan of war comics, I’m sure I would have loved this one. It was supremely cool to see the family tradition carry on. Next time, maybe a little more plot added in would help.
14. Wonder Woman by Caldwell. Huh? What happened in this strip? As gorgeous as the art was, I have no idea what the story was about. I gave up a few weeks in, but I do want to give it a break, then try to read all 12 episodes at once. Maybe that will make it more understandable to me.
Related posts:
- DC Comics And Beyond: Comic Reviews
- DC Comics And Beyond: Comics Reviews
- DVD Review: Green Lantern – First Flight
- DC Comics And Beyond: Comics Reviews
- ‘Blackest Night’ Shines Brightly For DC Comics
Tags: Batman: The Brave and The Bold, JLA, Justice League of America, Kurt Busiek, Wednesday Comics
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