Batman #686 (and other comics I will be buying on 02/10/09)

This week, Neil Gaiman asks the question "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" Let's hope he gives us a more solid answer than ol' Grant has so far.

Anyways, Batman #686 is this weeks most anticipated and it should be pretty awesome. I've been waiting for this one to hit since it was first announced. Looks like an Alex Ross cover too:



What else is this week?

Booster Gold #17
Scalped #25
Young Liars #12
Eternals #8
Incognito #2
Thor #600
Wolverine Manifest Destiny #4 (of 4)
X-Men Origins Sabretooth (Kieron Gillen!)
Gravel #9

Always excited about Scalped and Gravel. Thor might be one of the better comics you aren't reading. Or maybe it's one of the better comics you ARE reading. I honestly don't know how well that one sells.

I think I might be in the minority on my excitement level for Incognito. Seems like everyone else is bouncing off the walls about it. I do love Brubaker, but I didn't feel like the first issue was as awe inspiring as I remember feeling after reading the first issue of Criminal. It's Brubaker though and he does like to take his time and build his stories, so I'm sure this will be pretty epic by the time it's done.

That's it. Happy Wednesday!

- TFM

"but thats the thing about batman."

criminal 7
secret invasion 8
batman 682
jsa 21
the boys 25
the sword 13
new avengers 47
immortal iron fist 20
marvels eye of the camera 1
cable 9
punisher xmas
x-men manifest destiny 4
sandman the dream hunters 2
trinity 27
haunted tank 1
army @ love 5
superman/supergirl maelstrom
solomon kane 3
fight or run

batman 682: personally, i'm more of a superman guy. i've rarely been excited about batman. there's just something about how he always pulls the solution out of his utility belt, or has already anticipated every possible outcome of an unpredictable situation, that deflates the drama for me. but thats the thing about grant morrison. he wrote an epic about batman facing a foe he could never suspect or plan against, only to reveal that he had suspected as much and had a plan for it all along. the line"but thats the thing about batman" on the first page of 681 is the defining moment in r.i.p. for me and made me smile more than any comic in recent memory. when he took off his cowl, jumped on the helicopter and disappeared in the explosion, i just smiled again. thats the thing about batman. no matter how it looks, he has a plan.
so here we are with batman 682. now we're treading water. it was an enjoyable issue, bringing bat continuity up to speed with the rest of dc, tying into final crisis and rewriting the history of the character at the same time. whats next? i'm not excited about battle for the cowl or the o'neil issues. i'm hoping for great things from neil gaiman's "whatever happened to the caped crusader?", but in light of his marvel comics projects over the last couple of years, i don't consider it a sure thing. what i want is to see the next part of batman, and grants, plan.

punisher xmas: fuck right floronic man.

secret invasion 8: grade b. good wrap up to the story, but with a little to much bullshit. mockingbird is back? what? norman osborne gets a massive promotion for shooting someone wolverine was a split second away from killing? the cabal group is a pretty cool idea, i just hope this isn't a return to evil for emma. and as much as i appreciate a change everything epic, i'd pay anything to read a comic about dr. octopus robbing a bank or something. event fatigue for fucking real.

-the neg man

New Batman: Arkham Asylum trailer

What a great idea for a Batman video game. Will it be scarier than Dead Space? Probably not. That game gives me the creeps!

Batman: Arkham Asylum is still listed as "Coming Soon" on the offical site, but stay tuned for a solid release date. Probably Q1 2009? That should give me plenty of time to beat the stack of games I have piled up by my console.

- TFM

Batman #682 out this Thursday

So the mindfuck that was Batman R.I.P. ended on a good note for me (see below post), so I'm extra excited that Batman #682 will be in my pull THIS WEEK.

Newsarama has a preview up of the first few pages. And guess what? It's kinda strange. Go figure!

Check it out here.

- TFM

Review: Batman #681

Like a lot of other faithful Batman readers, I've been back and forth on how I feel about the Batman R.I.P. storyline. Mostly I've disliked it. Mostly I've disliked Grant Morrison's entire run. I feel like it's been rushed and disconnected and a little confusing (I know, I know...Grant and confusing usually go hand in hand). However, Batman #681 ends the R.I.P. arc and I actually feel like it has redeemed not only the last few issues but maybe everything I didn't like since Morrison hopped on board.

Most anyone who truly cares has either read the issue already or read the spoilers that are out and about out there. The biggest "reveal" is Doctor Hurt claims to be Thomas Wayne and that he hired Joe Chill to kill Bruce and his mother. Chill loses his nerve when it comes to killing a kid and leaves Bruce alive. Thomas Wayne fakes his death and changes identities. Bruce doesn't buy this and neither do I, but it's an excellent plot element.

The issue ends with Batman attacking the helicoptor that Hurt is using to getaway and the whole thing crashing into a fiery mess into the Gotham river. There's a nice full page of Nightwing holding the cowl in his hand with the flames in the background. Things fast forward to six months later and aside from a few rumors floating about, Batman hasn't been seen since the helicoptor crash. Le Bossu is torturing a Gotham City police officer discussing this with some thugs when they are suddenly flooded with light from the Bat-Signal.

There's a lot of hate out there on the message boards for Batman R.I.P. and that's completely understandable. Grant set out to shake things up in the Batman universe and mission accomplished. People are pissed about the Thomas Wayne thing and I will be as well if it holds to be true, but I really don't think it will. Either way, I'm really looking forward to the next few arcs of my favorite comic character. I think what Grant has done is exactly what was needed to freshen things up. It should prove to be very interesting.

- TFM

Review: Batman Cacophony #1

Disclaimer: I'm a Kevin Smith fan and I have been for quite some time. That being said, I have to say I'm a bit disappointed with the first part of Batman Cacophony.

The comic opens up at Arkham Asylum with Deadshot breaking in to fulfill a contract that has been taken out on the Joker. The exchange that takes place between the two is classic Kevin Smith. But that's kind of the problem I had with it. It feels TOO Kevin Smith-y. Imagine Randal Graves playing the part of the Joker and Dante Hicks as Deadshot and you kind of have the right idea.

The rest of the story is...ok. Joker is out of Arkham and goes after Maxie Zeus who has watered down the Joker poison to concoct a new drug called Chuckles that is being sold to kids. Batman has a brief encounter with Victor Zsasz, before being summoned by Commissioner Gordon regarding the situation of the Joker's escape. And Onomatopoeia factors into the story somehow.

A couple of bright spots though. I did quite enjoy the beginning where Kevin explains the situation with the asylum gate guards- how they were let go due to the economy (and since no one ever seems to want to break in to Arkham) and how one of the two goes on to sell 30 years of security information to the highest bidder. I did like how I was actually fooled into thinking "Wow- he just killed off Deadshot", even though I'm a pretty skeptical comics reader when it comes to that kind of thing. I liked Batman's run through of Deadshot's armor situation and the way he has it set up to "play dead" if the situation calls for it.

Overall though, I was initially really excited about this mini but now I'm not even sure if I'll be picking up the next two issues. I was hoping for more of a Daredevil: Guardian Devil kind of vibe to it. We'll see.

- TFM

Batman: Cacophony (and other things I will be buying today - 11/12/08)

If I had to pick one book that is most anticipated this week, let's say it would be Kevin Smith's Batman: Cacophony #1 (of 3):



Here's a list of what else I'll be picking up today:

Booster Gold #14
JSA Kingdom Come Special Superman #1
Young Liars #9
Eternals Annual #1
Wolverine #69
Anna Mercury #4 (of 5)
Gravel #6

Thank you.

- TFM

Batman: The Cult

See what happens when you keep a positive attitude? Check out what I found at my neighborhood comic shop:

Four issues. Prestige format. First printings.

Batman: The Cult was written by Jim Starlin. Jim Starlin wrote the Batman storyline A Death In The Family in the late 1980's, which to this day is one of my most cherished comic book memories as a little nerd. I've never read this mini and I'm not sure how rare finding first printing single issues is, but that isn't the larger point. The point is I'm excited to take a trip back to my personal comics golden age, the 1980's. These moments are few and far between so you have to cherish them.

From Wikipedia:

The story follows the machinations of Deacon Blackfire and his band of homeless followers who have kidnapped Batman before the events of this story. Following a lengthy period of captivity Batman slowly succumbs to brainwashing. This eventually leads to him committing a murder in what proved to be controversial events among fans of the range. Under instructions from Blackfire, Batman opens fire with a machine-gun upon a man he believes to be Two-Face but ultimately turns out not to be. Batman is eventually freed from the cult but takes a long time to recover from his treatment at their hands. The story also delves into other territory. Gotham City politicians are assassinated by Blackfire's party of followers. An attempt on Commissioner Gordon's life is tried by Blackfire's group, leaving the commissioner in a hospital. Beyond Gotham authorities to protect the city, the National Guard is called in, then the Military and Martial Law is declared on Gotham. The series also features the second Robin, Jason Todd.

Given the nature of the story and Batman's apparent murder of an innocent civilian this story proved to be controversial among fans of the range. There were other graphic depictions in this series: the scarred face of a hooker victim leaves Batman in shock, while the comic panel clearly shows the reader what her scarred face looks like. Also the decapitated head of a Gotham City politician is tossed out of a sewer hole onto the street. The main villain Deacon Blackfire is seen bathing in a pit of blood from the dead corpses he has hanging above him.^[2] Due to the prestige format, DC was able to surpass the Comics Code Authority.

IGN Comics ranked Batman: The Cult #6 on a list of the 25 greatest Batman graphic novels, saying that "the story is told with callous brutality that makes it all the more powerful."^[1]

P.S. This is why I love Secret Headquarters. If you live in the neighborhood of Los Feliz / Silver Lake / Echo Park make this your go to place.

- TFM

Two things you should know...

1. Matt Fraction is helping out with the Iron Man sequel.

From Newsarama:

"NRAMA: What, if anything, does Favreau wanting to bring in your sensibility on Iron Man 2

mean for you? Have you been officially contacted or anything like that?

MF: Yeah-- I've already been out to LA for three days, working at Marvel West with Jon, the screenwriter Justin Theroux, Kevin Fiege, the head of Marvel Studios, and Jeremy Latcham, the film's producer. We went over the thing, basically, the spine of what Iron Man II is and how it moves and why and who's in it and what they want and how they get it and what happens and were it takes place and why and everything. Workshopped it all.

So, in a very literal way, it meant me, being in a room, with those guys. Which is brain-meltingly awesome. And the movie's gonna be amazing."

2. Batman: Black & White and Superman: Red Son will follow Watchmen in becoming animated comics. They will be distributed through iTunes, Amazon VOD, Xbox Live and a few other places. [Source: Again, Newsarama]

One word reviews on the Joker's Asylum series

Joker: meh

Penguin: notbad

Poison Ivy: nothanks

Two-Face: best!

Scarecrow: stillneedtoread

- TFM