Batman - Batman, Superman and the New 52 Discussion - The Kryptonian

The Absolute Mess that is Batman: The Dark Knig...

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:33:55 +0000

This issue was all over the place. I hoped it was going to be great. It was not. The story was campy and the art was inconsistent. There were times when I had to re-read panels thinking that I must have missed something. I'm actually still wondering now if I even understood it at all.

Tuxedo in a Bag
Batman ejects himself from the Batwing and soars through the sky clutching a duffle bag. He lands and jumps from roof to roof. When he arrives at his destination, he carefully considers his surroundings and then changes into the tuxedo that was stored in the duffle bag. As Bruce Wayne, he utilizes his grapple gun to zip line to his final destination. He hops over the balcony ledge, stows the grapple gun, and proceeds over to the podium where he gives a speech to Gotham's who's who.

Wait, what? Batman changes in public? Ok, fine. He then zip lines over as Gotham's Most Eligible Bachelor Bruce Wayne. No one should notice right? As Carmine Falcone once said "You'd have to travel a 1000 miles to find someone who didn't know your name." This is sloppy.

Side note: Has David Finch or Paul Jenkins ever worn a tux? How about a suit? Any shirt with buttons? That tux, the one in the duffle bag, would have been wrinkled as hell. Bruce is a billionaire. He's not showing up for a party in a wrinkled tux that he just pulled out of a bag. Come on. Poor writing.

What Does Bruce Wayne Even Look Like?
Panel to panel, Bruce goes from looking young and attractive to old and in major need of ReNuYu. It was as if DC wasn't clear to Finch on how old Bruce was, or he was staring out of the window when they told him, so he just decided to make him both young and old for good measure.

Harvey's Your Man
There is a mass breakout at Arkham. When Batman arrives, he asks one of the officers where Two-Face is. Batman assumes this break out is a distraction for Two-Face to escape. That's right. Two-Face is using a mass breakout as a distraction for him to break out. Amazing stuff here.

I can't even write it off as him being “The World's Greatest Detective." He doesn't see Two-Face when he gets to Arkham, so Two-Face MUST be up to something. After a guard confirms his assumption, he knows he has to go inside and find him. Is Arkham like one room and a front door? I don't get how he would know that Two-Face was still inside and hadn't run out earlier or ran the other way.

Two-Face No More
When Batman enters Arkham to pursue Two-Face, we are given a couple of gems, one on the final page of the issue.

Quote

Whoever you are...this is Batman. Come out with your hands raised where we can see them.

What? Would he say that? His inner monologue was just about Batman being fear and shadows and all that. Suddenly, he's giving away his position demanding that someone show themselves to him.

He finally finds Harvey and Harvey is juiced up on something. He quickly lets Batman know he is no longer Two-Face.

Quote

Two-face no longer, Batty Boy. YOU CAN CALL ME ONE-FACE NOW.

One-Face. One. Face. Is that what they called him before the accident? I just don't get it. He still has two sides. Maybe he's all bad now. Even though he's always been all bad as Two-Face. So maybe he's "badder" now. Or doesn't need his coin. I don't know.

What’s Going on With Dick Grayson?

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:14:50 +0000

Nightwing #1, set in current day DCU, puts Dick Grayson back in the Nightwing suit after a year of filling in as Batman for Bruce Wayne. Coming off of his tenure as Batman, Nightwing is more mature, faster, wiser, and evidently deadly.

*** Warning: Spoilers below for Nightwing #1, Supergirl #1, and Batman #1. ***

Something is going on with Dick Grayson, and DC wants you to know it. Dick’s inner monologue in DCU foreshadows information we are presented with at the end of the issue. He mentions that being The Batman can only make you stronger, if it doesn’t drive you mad first. He then drops a large goon in Gotham’s monorail with notable ferocity. He activates red lenses in his cowl and leaves a trail of blood across the goon’s chest in the shape of his Nightwing symbol. Fast track to the end of the issue (I won’t spoil any of the filler) and Dick Grayson gets attacked by an armored assassin. When the cops arrive on the scene, Dick uses the opportunity to escape and change into his Nightwing suit. This is where it gets interesting. During Nightwing’s fight with the unnamed assassin, we learn from the assassin that he is here to kill Dick Grayson because “Dick Grayson is the fiercest killer in all of Gotham, and he doesn’t even know it.”

Hop over to Supergirl #1, also released today (September 21), and we get a reference to the aforementioned conversation when Kara’s super-hearing kicks in for the first time after arriving on Earth.

Now, let’s jump over to Batman #1. The finale of this particular issue has Batman solving a murder alongside Detective Harvey Bullock. Batman collected skin from underneath the murder victim’s fingernail. He then finds a hidden message left on the wall in paint thinner, ignited by Bullock’s cigar, that reads “Bruce Wayne Will Die Tomorrow.” Bullock quips that if someone is going to try to kill Bruce Wayne, it would have to be someone close to him. Alfred beeps in on the Bat-communicator with results of the DNA Batman collected. (Note: Batman is now connected to the Batcave’s computers through the suit no matter where he is.) The Batcave’s computer system matches the DNA 100% to Dick Grayson.

What do you think is going on? Did Dick’s tenure as The Batman cause him to snap? Is he being framed?

Catwoman #1

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 03:24:53 +0000

Catwoman sets Selina Kyle in the current day Gotham City. She's been around long enough to have friends with bat-ears and enemies that are bombing her downtown Gotham apartment. Did I say bombing? Yes, the story starts with Catwoman (with her cats crammed in a pet taxi) fleeing her apartment just before it is blown to bits by a group of men she'd likely wronged at some point!

Like most of the new 52 issues, Catwoman #1 serves as a method of getting us up to speed with the post-Flashpoint Selina Kyle. Selina's methodology reminds me a lot of the show "Alias." She utilizes various disguises (other than Catwoman), her superior intellect, and her sexuality to get close enough to get what she needs. Though this story lacked substance overall, the Catwoman series promises to be really entertaining. I'll be adding it to my monthly pull list.

What we learned:

Her story is set in the current day DCU
She is still a cat burglar that flirts with both sides of the law
She has a close friend (Lola) who also provides her intel
She doesn't know Batman's identity and doesn’t know if he knows hers
She speaks fluent Russian
She and Batman are sexually (and presumably romantically) involved

The Good

Guillem March's artwork is wonderful
The dialog (written by Judd Winick) is as great as you'd expect. Selina's internal monologue is really entertaining

The ending of the issue is a huge curve ball to the reader

The Bad

It is a warm up issue, so the story doesn't have a lot of substance

Why You Should Read Batgirl #1

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:18:53 +0000

The internet was buzzing when it was announced this summer that Barbara Gordon would be swapping her chair for a cape. Long time fans had grown to love Barbara in her role as Oracle, and after 20 years had fully embraced the notion that she was wheelchair bound. I say to you now, forget everything. Forget the memories you have of Oracle. Forget anything that caused you to grasp on to the notion that she must be bound to her chair. Batgirl is back.

Batgirl #1 not only addresses the events of The Killing Joke, but it gives us a look at what it has done to Barbara emotionally. This introductory story puts us into the perspective of a young Batgirl who has just returned to wearing the cape and cowl after 3 years of being paralyzed. Barbara is having to learn to be Batgirl all over again. We see a Batgirl that is literally shaking at the knees after a fight with a gang of (would be) serial murderers. Make no mistake about it, The Killing Joke BROKE her both physically and mentally. For the first time, we see how the shot to the spine causes her to second guess herself as Batgirl. The internal struggle that is taking place inside of Barbara’s mind is like nothing I’ve read before. It has all the internal dialog of a great Batman story, with all the doubt and lessons of a year one.

Gail Simone does a great job putting the story together. She ties it all together at the end, setting us up for how Batgirl’s own insecurities are going to lead to uncertainty of her true intentions from the GCPD.

How is Barbara Walking Again?

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:28:31 +0000

If you're wondering how Barbara Gordon is walking around in the "New 52" universe, Batgirl #1 has an explanation.

We knew earlier in the summer that "The Killing Joke" happened in the "New 52" universe. The result of the shooting is where we were left hanging. As it turns out, after Barbara was shot in the spine by the Joker she was paralyzed for a year and regained the ability to walk.

There was not much in the way of explanation of how exactly she recovered. It is only touched on as Barbara waking up to a miraculous recovery. Could it be our girl in the hood? She does appear in this issue as well.