Find content
Not Telling
Display name history
Topics I've Started
The Absolute Mess that is Batman: The Dark Knight #1
03 October 2011 - 07:00 PM
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.
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.
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.
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.
Go Teen Titans! A Look at Teen Titans #1
29 September 2011 - 07:31 PM
Go Teen Titans!
Metahuman teens are running loose and unchecked in the new DCU. It’s a borderline plague that is spanning across the entire planet. A global organization known as N.O.W.H.E.R.E. (introduced in Superboy #1) is rounding up these teens. The reasons are unclear, but we can be sure it isn't to give them a full ride to Jean Grey's School for the Higher Learning.
Red Robin (Tim Drake) is working to take down N.O.W.H.E.R.E. He's already leaked information on the organization via blogs and wikis (how modern of you, Tim). Red Robin quickly becomes the center of attention for N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and is surprise-attacked at his penthouse in New York. In typical Bat-Family fashion, Tim has a backup plan. His penthouse is rigged with explosives! He triggers the timer and uses them as a diversionary tactic to allow him to escape while N.O.W.H.E.R.E. scrambles to avoid certain doom. Tim jumps off of his penthouse balcony and out pops a Nolanverse-style Red Robin feathered cape that turns into a glider.
During his N.O.W.H.E.R.E. research, Tim finds clues to help him track Cassie Sandsmark. He finds her just as a N.O.W.H.E.R.E. agent is about to attack her. After taking down the agent and the drone helicopter that follows, Tim makes the first moves towards establishing a team relationship with Cassie (who refuses to be called Wonder Girl, by the way). He explains to her that they (and those like them) are being hunted and can't hope to survive alone. This sets in motion the birth of the Teen Titans.
If you picked up Superboy #1 you know that he is itching to bust some Titan skulls in exchange for his freedom from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. Teen Titans #1 leaves on the same ending, so we can expect the clash to occur between both series’ #2 issues.
Red Robin's escape via blowing up his penthouse concerned me. Originally, I looked at it as poor writing, but I do believe that it was intentionally written that way to show how careless that even the most highly trained of the meta teens can be (other examples of youngsters being careless are in the issue as well). I just thought it was really careless for him to blow up a penthouse on one of the tallest buildings in New York. What about the people, Tim?
Overall, it is a good start to the Teen Titans series. The artwork and writing are great. It flows smoothly through the storyline. I'll be picking up #2.
Click here to view the blog
Metahuman teens are running loose and unchecked in the new DCU. It’s a borderline plague that is spanning across the entire planet. A global organization known as N.O.W.H.E.R.E. (introduced in Superboy #1) is rounding up these teens. The reasons are unclear, but we can be sure it isn't to give them a full ride to Jean Grey's School for the Higher Learning.
Red Robin (Tim Drake) is working to take down N.O.W.H.E.R.E. He's already leaked information on the organization via blogs and wikis (how modern of you, Tim). Red Robin quickly becomes the center of attention for N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and is surprise-attacked at his penthouse in New York. In typical Bat-Family fashion, Tim has a backup plan. His penthouse is rigged with explosives! He triggers the timer and uses them as a diversionary tactic to allow him to escape while N.O.W.H.E.R.E. scrambles to avoid certain doom. Tim jumps off of his penthouse balcony and out pops a Nolanverse-style Red Robin feathered cape that turns into a glider.
During his N.O.W.H.E.R.E. research, Tim finds clues to help him track Cassie Sandsmark. He finds her just as a N.O.W.H.E.R.E. agent is about to attack her. After taking down the agent and the drone helicopter that follows, Tim makes the first moves towards establishing a team relationship with Cassie (who refuses to be called Wonder Girl, by the way). He explains to her that they (and those like them) are being hunted and can't hope to survive alone. This sets in motion the birth of the Teen Titans.
If you picked up Superboy #1 you know that he is itching to bust some Titan skulls in exchange for his freedom from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. Teen Titans #1 leaves on the same ending, so we can expect the clash to occur between both series’ #2 issues.
Red Robin's escape via blowing up his penthouse concerned me. Originally, I looked at it as poor writing, but I do believe that it was intentionally written that way to show how careless that even the most highly trained of the meta teens can be (other examples of youngsters being careless are in the issue as well). I just thought it was really careless for him to blow up a penthouse on one of the tallest buildings in New York. What about the people, Tim?
Overall, it is a good start to the Teen Titans series. The artwork and writing are great. It flows smoothly through the storyline. I'll be picking up #2.
Click here to view the blog
