Comics! Batman & Robin #15

Batman & Robin #15 

Peter J. Tomasi: writer
Patrick Gleason: penciller
Mick Gray: inker

Solicitation and Preview

Review
I like how other books, such as Detective, will let you know when you need to read another book before reading the issue that you currently have in case you missed some plot points. This book is missing the "Please read Batman #15 before reading this issue" on the first page. With that and some other confusing moments happening throughout the Bat-books right now, a definitive timeline for the books needs to be done.

Small rant aside, please don't read this book until after you have read Batman #15 and have a strong stomach. This was one of the first Death of the Family books that I've read where my stomach was not feeling too good afterwards.

Most of the books have been displaying the mask as some what rigid and attached to Joker's face rather tightly. Outside of one other book, the mask doesn't really seem to move around a lot.

Well, it does a lot in this book. In almost a way that makes it seem like the mask as its own personality, which is kinda a creepy way of looking at it.

This book is pretty much the Damian vs. Joker book where they discuss the philosophical reasoning for the Batman and Robin relationship with Joker thinking it needs to go and Robin obviously wanting to just kick Joker's ass. You get the general feeling and vibe that both characters are more than willing to kill each other, with Robin taking the direct approach and Joker wanting to put on a show.

The end leaves a cliffhanger that I'm not fully buying. It either is a spoiler for what happens in next month's Batman comic, or it is a sick joke played by the Joker as he just dresses someone up in a Batman costume to get at Robin.

The art by Gleason is awesome to look at. I couldn't help but notice that I was confused almost throughout the issue in terms of the space the characters occupied and the general sense of the room they were in. I couldn't tell if characters were upside down or standing up, and it seemed like they were always falling or going into another trap. Knowing that Gleason can be rather good at these details, I am more in the thought that this confusion was deliberate to throw off the balance of the story with the appearance of Joker. It was a job well done.

Grades
Words: 8/10
Pictures: 8/10
Buy Next Issue: I'm sold. How else will I find out what that cliffhanger ending was about? And I'm seriously wondering which character will succeed in killing the other.

Comics! Batgirl #15

Batgirl #15

Gail Simone: writer
Daniel Sampere: pencils
Vicente Cifuentes: inks

Solicitation and Preview

Review
I just wish we could get some consistency from this book.

The latest news for Batgirl has been troubling. First Simone was kicked off the book, then she was brought back on. The art team seems to be a rotating cast of a couple artists.

Beyond those issues, we have a really great ass kicking Batgirl in this book. Which is great, unless you get halfway through the comic where she recoils her character. Again. All due to a single "sniper" shot from out of nowhere. But where is the sniper at in this low-ceiling of a skating rink? And if the sniper is in the area, why couldn't she just find him and take him out from within the skating rink? Just in the same way she took out random villain guy on her way out before icing her mom's finger?

We also get a reveal that James and Barbara's former roommate are together in some way. I've been missing issues of this comic so I can only guess as to what their relationship is. But wouldn't you be cautious of some guy who dresses up like he came from the Matrix and whose part in his hair switches from side to side? I know I would have a beef or two with him.

And when I read lines like "every day for four years" coming from Batgirl, I just have to cringe a little. I tire of trying to fit everything into some Bat-timeline between the titles. I'll leave it up to someone nerdier than myself to come up with a complete timeline of events and then I'll give a crap about it.

The Joker flashback story only tangentially connects with the main story. Some of the idea of what Joker is doing since he came back faceless was this motif of him repeating his crimes, albeit with a flare for the more dangerous this time through. So to give the proper context of the ending of the book, we get the flashback of Joker detailing how he did this before. I get it and understand it, and it is a different way of telling that part of the story that the other bat books haven't really done. With the execution of that story telling device, I'm left a little iffy on it. I can't tell if it needs to be shorter, expanded in some areas, or if it crashes too much into the main story. I like it more than I liked Batgirl leaving the skating rink, so that does give it a place.

I did like the story overall. It just felt like a giant pivot was made when it was getting really good. The sniper shot just felt like the decision Barbara was about to make was taken out of her hands, and I would have rather seen a character moment there instead of what was done.

Grades
Words: 7/10
Pictures: 7/10
Buy Next Issue: Maybe. That's a big maybe.

Comics! Creator-Owned Heroes #7

Creator-Owned Heroes #7 

Scott Morse, Jerry Lando, Darwyn Cooke, Steve Niles, Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray

Solicitation and Preview

Review
Let us give a heartfelt salute to the surprisingly penultimate issue of Creator-Owned Heroes. This was a comic that had a million ideas going in each book, and enough inspiration and heart to it to really give fans of sequential story telling as much bang for their buck as they could.

There have been some stories that will be collected from the comics side of the book and some stories which will be brought out in a different arena than this comic. But I'll be missing the interviews and advice that were right there along side those stories each month.

To say I am saddened by this loss is an understatement. I remember hearing that some British writers were inspired to write their own books when they saw some script pages for Judge Dredd appeared in 2000 A.D. years ago. It was that little bit of behind the scenes goodness that inspired a whole influx of writers and artists. It makes me wonder how the information contained within these pages will inspire a group of writers and artists.

I am flipping through the book and am just thinking about how much this book simply rocks. This would be the kind of book I would give to new comic readers as a way to show them that there are more than just superheroes. There are new worlds at every turn of the page.

Grades
Words: 10/10
Pictures: 10/10
Buy Next Issue: One last dance, just for old time's sake.

Comics! Detective Comics #15

Detective Comics #15

Written by John Layman
Art by Jason Fabok
Back up art by Andy Clarke

Solicitation and Preview

Review
This is not the Death of the Family tie in you are looking for.

Seriously. just go elsewhere. Joker is mentioned a couple of times, and his influence is felt, but you only get a couple panels showing him and honestly the special wrap around cover showed more face than what you get inside the comic. Kinda crappy, but that's what you get with this"tie-in."

What this issue shows is that there are a lot of moving parts to Gotham that is happening in the criminal underworld and you wonder just how much of a grip or even understanding of the situation that Batman has on it. Even as a reader you have to wonder what all happened to make this issue come together. There are references to check out the latest Batman and Birds of Prey comic to see what has been going on in those comics to help tell more of the story in this one. While I do consider that some weak sauce to cross promote books, having that happen in a comic that is supposed to be part of a crossover is even worse.

Ogilvy, who has slowly been moving up the ranks in previous issues of Detective, gets put into the head position of Penguin's empire thanks to Joker needing Penguin. Now referring to himself as Emperor Penguin, Ogilvy quickly tries to form an alliance with Ivy that may lead to nowhere thanks to the epilogue of the Ivy/Clayface story. And on that note, I must send some smart thinking kudos to Layman with the idea of having Ivy grow a poison inside of Clayface. We get all the details about how it went down in the back up, and I must admit that is a pretty ingenious move.

I had to laugh out loud at Batman's special suit that he wore when facing Clayface for the second time in the book. The costume just reminded me of one of those action figures from years past with the strange coloring that makes almost no sense. I wonder if that is something that Layman will bring back in future issues. I wouldn't mind the occasional flash to the past with those costumes.

The art in the back up and the main story continue to gel very well with one another. I saw nothing but a solid, well done job on both stories. I do find it kinda surprising that the back up story isn't really noted in any way on the cover of the book. That seems to be a DC wide thing to do with other books I've been picking up. Something definitely needs to be done to give credit where it is due, because some of the back-ups just work so well.

Grades
Words: 9/10
Pictures: 9/10
Buy Next Issue: I wonder which story I'm looking forward to more, how much Death of the Family will tie in, or a more prominent focus on the main story.

Comics! Nowhere Men #1

Nowhere Men #1 

Eric Stephenson: writer
Nate Bellegarde: artist

Solicitation and Preview

Review
Well, that was a bit of a sudden stop.

Nowhere Men started out really good. It gave a simple set up, did some nice work to introduce you to all the main characters, and then took a strange turn towards something else.

This book wanted to be presenting science as the new rock and roll, and it did that excellently at first. We got a profile of all the "Beatles" type of characters introduced in a way that I thought was done rather nicely in a newspaper article. Complete bios and everything.

The book then took a turn at jumping into the future of those characters were they have succeeded and become old. One is missing, and we are shown what I am assuming is one of their creations going crazy and killing scientists. I was right along for the ride, looking to see what happened in all those years in-between.

Can I say that I'm a fan of the double page spread for the title page? I think it is a nice take on it and I can't recall it being done in many comics before. A lot of the Jonathan Hickman books do it, and it is done nicely. We get some pictures that will typically have some meaning behind the title of the story of the story itself, and it always looks like something that should be on a poster. I like that about a title page in a comic book.

Then the story does a big shift and goes to a new setting and new characters. Interesting turn of events. I rolled with it hoping to see some sort of connection to the first story, but I had a hard time trying to connect it. Essentially, you get the idea that the project that the second cast of characters is working on is probably financed by the first group of characters. But they don't get the same sort of intro and treatment that the first group did. Granted, there was still enough ground work to establish some personality and who was who, but it just felt like it got cut off at the end.

This issue really felt like it should have been a double sized first issue. The story had the right pace going for it, it just needed a few more pages to get everything really rolling. This is sad because it feels just like another Image first issue that just didn't have the right legs to stand on coming out the door. The idea is pretty cool, but the execution just didn't feel like it was there.

And after looking at all the story, I must say that the art was nicely done. Effective, and gave each character some body language to work with. The backgrounds seem to be about half not there and half sorta there. What I mean by that is that it seemed there was a lot of room left for dialogue that could have easily been filled with something else besides the blank space. Perhaps more close up shots of the characters would have prevented that problem.

Grades
Words: 7/10
Pictures: 7/10
Buy Next Issue: I'm split about it. I may check out the second issue if my shop gets it, but I may just wait until later and get the digital version.

Comics! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #16

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #16 

Story: Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Andy Kuhn

Solicitation and Preview

Review
If you wanted to see an issue long fight scene, this was your comic. If you came to see the turtles debate as they fight and come to different, opposing conclusions, then this was your comic as well. And if you came to find out if this was going to be Kuhn's last issue, the letter columns have a surprise for you!

I've talked before about a properly done and choreographed fight scene. When we got our establishing shot of the fight area for this comic, it didn't look like there was much room to go around. But, just like Slash's size, the space available became infinitely bigger and smaller depending on what was asked for in the scene. Big, just slightly taller than the turtles, and then gigantic where Leonardo crouching on his shoulders makes him appear about 20 feet tall, and back down to something smaller when Hob comes out at the end. Hell, even when Leo's sword is in Slash doesn't give us much of guess to how tall he should be. Then check out the size of the blood on the sword and how is magically goes from just about halfway to almost all the way to the hilt and back again. And that thing was in pretty deep to begin with anyway.

I am still liking how each turtle displays his own personality, even in the middle of the fight. I was kinda surprised at how Donatello wanted to put Slash down, but it made sense since it is the logical thing to do. If any one has a mix of Vulcan in him, it will be Donatello.

This is a Splinter sits on the sidelines and tries to play comic relief issue. I find it difficult to follow because then he will have great, inspiring speeches that try to show he can be serious, but moments like these drags it down.

Hobs showing up with a surviving Slash just seems like it was a "duh, I expected neither of them to be dead" moment, but it just seemed more eye rolling than anything. Slash hasn't related with anyone. So how will Hob reign him in? Actually, I take that back a bit. Slash did put on the face mask when he saw the other turtles with theirs on, which makes me wonder if he was more sparring with them in this issue than actually fighting. Maybe "kill" is just his way of saying "hi."

Speaking of the face mask, it should have been lost at some other point in the fight than just at the end. If you look at the fight as him just relating to the turtles as best as he can and not understanding that "kill" means what it does, then a good moment for him to make a character turn would have been with the mask coming up and then going full rage on the turtles.

Grades
Words: 8/10 - Some great character work was done in this issue.
Pictures: 5/10 - Sorry to see you go Kuhn, but for an issue that focused on a fight throughout, whatever you had done in the last issue to make Slash more dangerous in appearance was lost in this issue.
Buy Next Issue: New story arc and new artist? Color me intrigued.

Comics! Planetoid #4

Planetoid #4 

Story, Art, Lettering: Ken Garing

Solicitation and Preview

Review
This is a penultimate issue and it feels like it towards the end. Not that there is anything wrong with that. It is your basic setting everything up for the conclusion next issue.

This issue isn't without some small surprises and some big ideas. For example, we get to see Mendel again, who was the old man that helped Silas out in the second issue. It honestly feels like ages since we last saw him, if only because so much time has passed in the book.

One of the big ideas that I found intriguing is that the Slab is basically a building made by a giant 3-D printer. That is freaking cool! Imagine that, an entire city built out of a 3-D printer.

This comic also reveals a bit of a secret that Silas has. He and Mendel exchange a death bed confessional (that's not a spoiler, you could see that coming a mile away) where Silas basically says he was a slave trader. That is an interesting turn character reveal, but I'm not sure if it was really warranted. Maybe it will work better with a reveal next issue or in the next mini-series (if we get to see more of this world), but it has seriously been so long since I read the first issue that it seems like a weird point.

This issue continues to bring show some consistently great art. The one complaint I have in the art is that some scenes seemed to be stretched out a little bit. Sometimes it was for dramatic effect, but other times it just felt a little unnecessary. In the end, it all came together to be able to fit in with any other issue seamlessly.

There isn't any place to go from here but to see an eventual war. And since Silas' gun is now MIA, it is going to take an interesting turn from here. Maybe Mendel's fate will be shared by Silas, or maybe he will stand his ground and fight. My one request would be to show the Ono Mao has more than a one-dimensional type of villain. I understood how they were acting when they were all robots, but since we got an intelligent, organic looking leader for them, I was hoping to see some more depth. At least it will give me something to look forward to the next issue.

Grades
Words: 7/10
Pictures: 8/10
Buy Next Issue: For the final issue, why not?

Comics! Bedlam #1

Bedlam #1

Story: Nick Spencer
Art: Riley Rossmo

The Solicitation

Fillmore Press was once Madder Red, a homicidal maniac and criminal overlord who terrorized the town of Bedlam for years. Then he got better. This is what happens next.

A double-sized introduction to a blood-soaked cityscape of murder, mayhem, and mystery by NICK SPENCER (MORNING GLORIES, THIEF OF THIEVES) and RILEY ROSSMO (REBEL BLOOD, GREEN WAKE)!


Preview

Why I Bought It
I had heard good things about the book. It sold out quick at my shop so it took a bit before I could get a copy of it. Staying away from all reviews and mentions about the book, I dive right in...

What I Liked
Oh, this was good. This is what would happen if Joker was real, really killing people, and then got a lobotomy. Flash forward some time and his brain is growing back. This is not good news for the person trying to live a "normal" life with medicine and memory loss. But it all is slowly starting to come back.

I wasn't a fan of Rossmo's art in Green Wake, but I am enjoying it here. Not too heavy on the dark colors and that is making all the difference for me. The limited color pallet is also something that is very striking to me and stands out. Just all nicely done.

I am thankful that this book was a double sized issue. It gave the plot and characters a chance to breathe and set every thing up to get the reader interested in the story. I really can't see a place where this book could have ended halfway through and still been as compelling as two separate issues.

What I Didn't Like
I'm kinda upset that I couldn't get this comic when it first came out and I had to wait. It had some good payoff as I essentially was able to read this and issue #2 back to back. With this issue being double sized, that was essentially three comics in a row of getting to know this world and hopping along for the ride.

Panel to Remember
I'm going with the very last page. If there was any doubt in your mind what kind of story you were reading and who was who, that last page definitely sealed it.

Quotable
"We are not who we were- we are who we are." Keep telling yourself that, it will get you far- oh wait, it doesn't.

Grades
Words: 9/10
Pictures: 9/10
Buy Next Issue: I bought it with the first one. So that makes this a yes.

Comics! Revival #5

Revival #5 

Story by Tim Seeley
Art by Mike Norton

The Solicitation
Em is going to need her ability to NOT DIE to save May Tao from Blaine's garage. But something lurks in the forest nearby, and it wants IN.

Preview

Why I Bought It
This book continues to be interesting to me. What can I say, it is a charmer.

What I Liked
Part of any good mystery is only revealing half the story to the audience and letting the guess work build to complete the story or take a stab at the potential ending. So what we got in this issue was more peeling back the layers of characters as they discover some revelations about themselves and others.

And it just keeps building.

I think it would be hard for someone to walk into this book at this point and really understand what could be going on. I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing, but it is some food for thought. Usually that annoys me about a book, but for some reason this book just doesn't make me care about that detail. It is just hitting a good spot.

What I Didn't Like
Damn it. Only when I think about the fact that this issue might not be a good issue to start with and I was OK with that does some come up that gives me a reason. That cover is bad ass and very intriguing. So it will be bringing in some new readers. And here it stands not being too new reader friendly.

A minor point, but one that I will easily over look and forgive.

Minor art note: when she pulls the arrow out of her chest and there is blood on her shirt, make sure that the blood is visible, especially when you show her at profile jumping over to the other snow mobile and the blood should be visible.

Panel to Remember
I'm going to give it to the one page that was given to the girl all bruised and bloody in the snow. (Don't want to give away spoilers beyond that).

Quotable
"Waauuuuuuuh." - Those weird things. I'm beginning to like them a little.

Grades
Words: 8/10
Pictures: 8/10
Buy Next Issue: I'm going to keep on trucking on this one.

Comics! Clone #1

Clone #1 

David Schulner: writer
Juan Jose Ryp: Artist

The Solicitation
From ROBERT KIRKMAN's Skybound imprint, comes a sci-fi story like you've never seen before! Dr. Luke Taylor's perfect life comes to a dramatic halt when an identical, bloodied version of himself arrives at his doorstep with news that he is one of many clones... and they're all after his pregnant wife and their unborn child!

Preview

Why I Bought It
The previews for the book were in the back of some recent Image books and it looked interesting. Let's see what it has for a full first issue.

What I Liked
An interesting start.

This is the first book ever done by Schulner, and you can see some rookie mistakes where he will be cutting his teeth over the next bit for the book. Words are very scarce when we need something a little more. Instead, the art is left to develop the story. It s a nice one-two combo that shows that there is some talent there, but as the reader you are going to be required to walk through the steps with the creators.

Ryp's art in the book is pretty good. There are a lot of medium and close up shots that are designed to bring you in, but the lack of some establishing shots make me wonder if something with a wider shot can be done with the work. We only had one page in the story that was a full page (not that there is anything wrong with that) with the characters taking up half the space and little left for the background and the blood covered floor. The action scenes also felt a little off. They were drawn beautifully, but they were badly choreographed.

What I Didn't Like
I don't like it when a book opens with a first person narration and then never goes back to it. Seriously, the only non-dialogue information given in the book is in the opening and you can't be too sure of who is supposed to be saying it. And it isn't until near the end of the book that we start to have multiple characters talk in a single panel, which is where it felt to me that room was left for the artist to do his thing.

When I finished the book, I just felt like I learned nothing new about the story that I couldn't get from the preview pages. The book had a very decompressed feel to it when I think that it needed to have a little more bang to it. Yes, some action happened in it, but I still don't know much about the main character and why I should be into finding out more about why we should care that he is a clone. With the decompressed feel to the book, I wonder if this might be something that will be better to read in a trade.

Panel to Remember
I'm going with the very last one of the book. I get that the idea is that he supposed to be shocked, but was the only thing you can do artistically was give him the same look that he has had pretty much throughout the comic with a background that isn't as detailed as previous panels? It just felt like something a little more could have gone there.

Quotable
"It's over, my brother." - When the character delivers a line like that in a book that we know is about clones then I would say it would be OK to reveal his face in the next panel. But we don't get that. So the character who said this line will be called the Faceless Clone.

Grades
Words: 6/10
Pictures: 7/10
Buy Next Issue: I had higher hopes for this book. Considering the vibe I'm getting from this first issue, I think it may be best to trade wait or get the collection as a digital comic.

A Response to Ravingnerd

A Response to Ravingnerd

This post won't make sense unless you travel to this link and read the post. Done? OK.

The original post, as you can tell, was edited from the first version. That's fine. I made a comment on the post, and got a response from the writer of said article, Ravingnerd. So, in all fairness, I thought it would be best to post a long response here, and anyone wishing to see the continued conversation can also check out my site to get to know me a little bit as well.

Shameless self promotion aside, Ravingnerd's post was one that irked me for a couple of really good reasons. The jist of the post was that he was listing off some of his pet peeves, with a warning that some of the content may appear fairly closed minded and bigoted, but the intention is for it to be humorous. There are a few lies in that initial statement, or at least what I see as lies. The first is that these obviously aren't pet peeves, because listing them off like this in that long of a post with the loaded words used smells more of hatred to me, which is a couple of levels above pet peeves. But he is correct that it would appear closed minded.


So let's take this opportunity to educate someone about comics, which is something he thought he was doing but was actually the opposite.

Point 10: "I am bugged by just what all can get a comic these days." Comics are words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures. Some companies are in the business of making money, and put forth material that they think will sell. So if we see this huge amount of political comics, then that is simply what the market is asking for and what is selling. But the examples you gave are not political comics, they were biographical comics about politicians. There is a distinct difference.

Point 9: "The old guard. You know who they are." When you go on to give your Doctor Who example later on, you are making the same mistake. You are the old guard attacking the Matt Smith viewers.

Point 8: "Men." Get your head out of superhero comics. Y: The Last Man is the perfect example against your theory. See also any Greg Rucka book.

And I bet you any amount of money that good writers would say they write good characters. Their sex doesn't matter, because their sex doesn't define their character.

Point 7: "Women." There are some feminist critiques that go too far, but there are exponentially more that are spot on. Google image search "broke back pose" and you will see how spot and justified a lot of the critiques are.

Point 6: "Let it be known now that there is a HUGE difference between manga/anime and comic books." Are anime and manga books nothing but words and pictures? In some sort of sequential, story telling form? They are both one and the same.

Point 5: "Internet forums. Really, who uses those?" According to your own example, the old guard does. And I've seen some well done forums as well. See old Warren Ellis forums. They had this thing where they had people use their actual name and not hide behind some moniker, such as your own. That's not meant as a personal attack (honestly). The idea is that if they are your opinions then you should attach your name to it and own up to them.

Point 4: "“Whovians” Introduced to Doctor Who through Matt Smith are the absolute worst." No, they aren't. You use that as a stepping stone to showing them the other actors who played the Doctor. And then you tell them that a true Whovian is a fan of the Doctor, not of an actor. I'm betting that you were born after 1963, which means you also came to Doctor Who show later in the game (I did too). So maybe, like me, you are one of those annoying "New Series" fans. Freaking noob. ;)

Points 1-3: Removed by your own edit, which was a smart choice. The original posts showed that you had an ignorance and misunderstanding of the words you were using and delivered them in the most half-hearted fashion.

You have to understand that when someone comes at you with questions like "which comics are like a certain blockbuster movie" or "like a certain season of a popular TV show," then that is an opportunity to use your knowledge of comics to give them what they want. They were excited about seeing some good characters and action and they are intrigued to learn more. Let those people in. Educate. Get them to feel the same love for the medium that you have and then you will have created a new fan instead of discouraging current ones.