Batman #692

Creator: Tony Daniel

Tony Daniel is no stranger to Batman.  he drew two arcs of Grant Morrison’s run, including the excellent Batman RIP.  He wrote and drew the recent Battle For The Cowl miniseries, which won’t win any lifetime achievement awards, but did its job well enough.  Now he’s returned to the main Bat-title as both writer and artist, and kicks off his story in a flurry of slightly disjointed activity.  There are some rough spots, but this issue holds up well enough to keep us reading.  In the end, that’s really all a first chapter has to do.

Daniel the writer may have learned a bit from working with Morrison. The story hits the ground running, leaving us to figure out the specifics of the story.  We hit several of the beats that post-Bruce Wayne Batman stories are supposed to hit: Dick Grayson is no Bruce Wayne, Catwoman doesn’t doesn’t really trust him, Black Mask is a really dangerous dude, etc.  We get a couple pages each of the main players, hopping from one to the next in a herky-jerky motion. Black Mask appears, inexplicably dressed like some sort of alien wizard in purple bondage gear. He’s gathered a cadre of mad scientists, Z-list characters from bye-gone eras of bat-lore.  A branch of the Falcone crime family returns, apparently not yet tired of competing with psychopaths and vigilantes for Gotham supremacy. And finally, we witness the resurrection of another fairly obscure bad guy (one created in a Nazi concentration camp.  SRSLY.  Why is it always Nazis? Aren’t there any bad guys from the last 60 years we can pick on?)

Daniel the artist turns in good work, without coming close to the iconic work he did on Batman RIP last year.  His layouts are clear but not repetitive, showing that he knows his way around a page in order to tell a story.  We get nice establishing shots, and while I could have done without the Falcone family flashbacks, they’re laid out nicely.

In all, it’s too soon to pass judgement on this story arc.  There is too much setup in this first book, but there seems to be a lot to set up.  If the story ends up being broad and eventful, then we’ll forgive a lot.

Grade: B

Blackest Night #4

Creators: Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis

There’s only so much gushing I can do here.  Blackest Night continues to be the best read on the comics stands.  The halfway point arrives and we finally meet what appears to be at the bottom of the Black Lanterns.

In the meantime, Barry Allen continues to show his revered leadership ability, Ray Palmer continues to work through his personal issues, and an ever-growing chunk of characters gets put through the emotional wringer.  My biggest fear about this title early on was that we weren’t going to get any forward motion.  I was afraid it would just continue to expand in scope until there was nothing left to do, inviting a stilted and cheesy ending.  That doesn’t appear to be the case.  The threat seems to be bottoming out, and we’re finally seeing how bad it’s going to get. And more importantly we have heroes acting like… well, heroes, a nice change from the brooding and hopelessness of some major catastrophic storylines.

Reis’s artwork gets even more spectacular.  While he doesn’t get as much detail on the zombies as some of the ther BN-related artists, he does do a great job of conveying the action.  This story is fairly dense, and Reis keeps it all straight for us visually so we’re not left trying to figure out what we just read.

Two slightly unfortunate things come to light here.  One is that the word “corps” is both singular and plural, and it’s the sort of word you’re not used to using a lot, so a line like “they need Hal to rally together the other corps” sounds odd as you read it.  The second has to do with my own personal prejudices.  I throw up in my mouth a little every time the Atom rides a phone line from one place to another.  Hitching rides on electrons didn’t even make sense when all phones were analog.  In the digital age, it doesn’t seem like this is even worthy of three seconds of thought.  Maybe Ray can read a packet header and address himself to the same place once his phone call gets to a router.  That’s right.  I suspend my disblief about super-powered zombies, but not about fiberoptics and VOIP. That’s my own cross to bear, though.

Grade: A

Green Lantern #47

Creators: Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke

The best of the companion books to Blackest Night continues.  While the heroes on Earth fight in the main title, Hal Jordan and Sinestro struggle to form an alliance that can take down the Black Lanterns. We see a return of the Five Inversions, the demonic characters conjured by Alan Moore ages ago as a throwaway backup story that Johns used as a basis for the sci-fi epic he’s building.  Abin Sur, Hal’s predecessor and Sinestro’s old friend, makes a comeback to great emotional effect.  We also get a glimpse of the two color corps we haven’t focused on much lately: Saint Walker and the Blue Lanterns, and the increasingly comedic Orange Lantern, Larfleeze.

It’s hard to top Reis’s artwork in Blackest Night, but I really do think Doug Mahnke does it here. Everything is so crisp and clean, with almost no linework.  The action comes through in powerful, large frames.  Like the last couple issues, Green Lantern #47 is a home run.

Grade: A+

Straight from DC’s ongoing “Superman/Batman” comic, Public Enemies is a 67 minute adaptation of a 2003 story arc from writer Jeph Loeb and artist Ed McGuiness. Back then, the DC Universe was in the middle of an interesting hook: Lex Luthor had recently been elected President of the United States. After months of President Luthor, Public Enemies was the storyline that dropped the veil of Luthor’s benevolence and re-exposed him as a super-villain. While I read the story when it was originally printed, it has been long enough that I no longer recall the nitworthy specifics, so I feel I can come to the animated version with an open mind!

THE SUMMARY

Before the credits roll, Public Enemies has an intriguing problem: how do you make the audience believe that Good Americans could elect Lex Luthor to the Presidency? The movie ups the ante by briefly showing an America turned destitute, devolved to martial law. Luthor’s aggressive platform is seen as an outsider solution. And by the way, the movie is very clear that he is running as a third party candidate!

One of the planks in his campaign is that super-heroism has run amuck, and that his administration will rein in the heroes. Some good guys (and bad guys) side with Luthor, chiefly out of patriotism since he is the President. While this may seem derivative of Marvel Comics’ “Civil War” event, remember that this “Superman/Batman” story hit pulp three years earlier. And the entire concept is echoed from DC’s own “America vs the Justice Society” miniseries from 1985, where the JSA disbands rather than submit to a government-forced unmasking. Regardless, Public Enemies does not go as deep as “Civil War,” focusing primarily on President Lex’s call to have Superman and Batman arrested as enemies of the state.

But why would people accept Superman in particular as a public enemy? Luthor engineers a frame-up, centered around the murder of Kryptonite-fueled villain Metallo, of all people. And when a massive Kryptonite meteor is discovered on a collision course with Earth, Luthor leverages that as the reason Superman turned murderer: the incoming Kryptonite is driving Supes nuts.

Now, with less than a week before the meteor strikes, Superman and Batman must find a way to stop it while simultaneously evading capture from both villains and the heroes under Luthor’s thumb.

THE LOOK

After years and years of the smooth line economy of the various DC television series – from Batman: The Animated Series through Justice League Unlimited – it is disconcerting to see the characters presented in the muscles-on-muscles style of Ed McGuiness. While the animated models do not quite maintain McGuiness’s outlandish proportions as seen in the comics, they do have a Masters of the Universe beefiness that reminds you this isn’t just a lost League. Captain Atom in particular benefits from the McGuiness body design, but you can see Ed’s touch in everyone’s face… especially in the male eyebrows and jawline. I actually wish they had pushed the McGuiness vibe further for an even more distinctive look.

Although his Amanda Waller probably takes the “cartoony” angle too far. She seems especially out of place among the others, like she just walked in from a Garfield comic strip.

THE ACTION

With a PG-13 rating to fill up, you can count on some brutal fisticuffs. The Superman vs Metallo fight is a monster, and it is followed up by a series of great super-hero fight scenes. While much of the movie has Superman and Batman squaring off against Captain Atom and his goon squad (Black Lightning, Katana, Major Force and Power Girl, followed later by Captain Marvel and Hawkman), there is a great villain melee that is packed with fan-service cameos. Bane! Killer Frost! Gorilla Grodd! Girder! Deadshot! Solomon Grundy! Giganta! Mongul! (The last voice credited to DC animation godfather Bruce Timm, although it’s nothing but grunts and moans!)

I loved that Starfire does the thing where she whips energy balls out of both hands, which I believe to be an invention of the Teen Titans cartoon and not anything specific to her comic appearances!

What is compelling about the fights is that they are almost completely silent. There’s no flip commentary or stage-direction-style narration. It’s just punching vs throwing vs shooting vs leaping. Not even the everpresent heroic “I… must… defeat… you” junk! The lack of dialogue here is very subtle, but it makes the whole effect darker and far more tense.

THE VOICE WORK

While the visual style may be different, the key voices are the same. Returning to breathe life to the characters they worked on in previous DCU animated series are Tim Daly (Superman), Kevin Conroy (Batman) and Clancy Brown (Luthor). They all perform to high expectations; their versions are more or less definitive by now.

While C.C.H. Pounder and Allison Mack have plenty to do as Amanda Waller and Power Girl, respectively, there are some cast choices that seem hardly worth the effort. John McGinley (Scrubs) has no more than three lines as Metallo, and LeVar Burton has maybe one line as Black Lightning. On a previous DC movie, I watched a preview extra of Public Enemies where McGinley was interviewed. He said more about his role than he does in his role. Strange decisions indeed to bring on name actors for roles that are barely there.

THE FINALE

At just over an hour, Public Enemies is tailor made for the inevitable 90-minute TV slot on Cartoon Network. I think there are a couple areas that could have been expanded to add a little more content – like perhaps making us think Captain Atom has turned heel, for example – but what is there is solid, fast and fun. I am very impressed that the movie retained the comic’s almost-ridiculous ending, where an unknown character comes out of nowhere to help save the day. (And what did DC ever do with that guy, anyway? I loved him during his few appearances, but I fear he may have been tossed aside during some super-event.)

The movie’s best moments are what makes the “Superman/Batman” comic great: when it becomes a buddy picture between two unlikely friends. There are several choice conversations where you see the unique relationship between Superman and Batman. They joke together. They get on each other’s nerves. They have a shared history. (At one point, Batman says “It’s your funeral.” Superman quips “Already had one.”)

We’ve had a lot of Superman and definitely a lot of Batman in animated form. But nothing focuses on the pair like Public Enemies. Separated from the often dry parliament of the Justice League, it’s great to see two beloved characters stand alone against both heroes and villains.

THE MEDIA

Public Enemies follows the usual release pattern: DVD movie, two-disk DVD special edition, and single-disk blu-ray. The two-disk DVD and the blu-ray include a free Digital Copy, but, bafflingly, it is Windows Media only. Wonder Woman includes an iTunes (Mac or Windows) option, but Green Lantern and Public Enemies do not. It would be great if Warners could standardize this, so we know what “Digital Copy” means on every box without having to check the fine print. Windows Media quality kinda sucks, and iTunes/iPod/iPhone is so ubiquitous that you have to wonder if there are simply political reasons for the Digital Copies bouncing back and forth like this.

The bonus features include two episodes of Superman: The Animated Series, a look at DC Comics’ Blackest Night event, and old “previews” of previous DC animated films. Public Enemies has the first look at the first movie for 2010, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Based on an unused Dwayne McDuffie script for the cancelled Unlimited, this movie pits the League against the Crime Syndicate. I was a bit meh towards this until I heard James Woods doing the voice of Owlman.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies releases next week on September 29.

Creators: Grant Morrison and Philip Tan

Don’t say that DC never learns anything.  Apparently they’ve learned not to bank on a Morrison / Frank Quitely book getting into their hands on a timely schedule–their All Star Superman “monthly” managed just 4 issues in calendar year 2007. This time, DC only had Quitely draw the first three issues of Batman And Robin (and he drew the hell out of them, I tell you what).  The second part of the story is drawn by Philip Tan, fresh off a nice run on Green Lantern.

In the last issue, we met the new Red Hood, who may or may not be Jason Todd. In typical Morrison fashion, there’s more to think about here than there first appears.  We don’t know a lot about this Red Hood, except that he is violent in his methods and slightly delusional in his outlook on life.  He’s challenging Batman by leaving calling cards (which are not a Hellboy or Nick Cave reference.  It’s from Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost.’ Don’t feel bad.  I had to look it up, too). He’s ably assisted by Scarlet, the faceless girl we were introduced to in the first arc. We see Red Hood display a genuine affection for Scarlett, which is a bit of an ironic twist.  In case you hadn’t noticed the contrast, Batman and Robin can barely stand each other.

Speaking of which, it’s worth commenting on the nice little character moment when Dick tries to teach Damian a lesson.  He ends up learning a lesson himself: that he’s underestimated Damian.  An adult Dick Grayson might not be Bruce Wayne, but Damian is definitely not a young Dick Grayson.  He’s a stone cold killer who’s only refraining from killing people as a courtesy. It makes the dynamic between the two very interesting, and very different from the typical Bat-books of old.

Next we meet the villains. In just a few pages, Morrison distinguishes several different types of players: the super-villainy of Batman’s usual gang of baddies are represented by Penguin, but so are the old-school mobsters and some foreign criminal empire.  Each has an agenda, and isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty to pursue it. Add in the chaotic vigilantism of Red Hood and Scarlet, and you’ve got an explosive mix.

Small nitpicky items:

• A lot of story is crammed into very small spaces here.  It’s represented quite well in Philip Tan’s art.  While I think he’s competing with JH Williams’ Detective Comics work for “most oddball visual layout that still works,” he gets the action across quite well.
• There needs to be an editorial directive about how old Damian is supposed to look.  Tony Daniel made him look maybe 15.  Tan seems to think he’s 10.
• This is the second time in a couple months that Twitter is done wrong.  It’s supposed to be Scarlet tweeting, but the way it’s drawn it looks like people are @ replying to her.  Joe Casey’s Dance miniseries is doing something similar.

All in all, this book continues to be the most exciting Bat-book on the stands.  Smart storytelling, snappy art, and an interesting storyline.

Recommended if you like: pretty much any decent Batman story, Damian Wayne, the fact that Grant Morrison is smarter than you.