The official "Batman" comic book thread

[Motown Marvel]

i thought todays issue was pretty bad. from the writing to the art. just not good.

 

[SpideyZERO]

I feel like I can enjoy 688 more if it came out before B&R #2. Both book touch on almost the same idea. The whole issue feels like a set up for the things to come. And I hope there will be epic action now!

Love Bagley's art

 

[Nepenthes]

drivel

when Daniel takes over this book it's gonna make no difference whatsoever

 

[Cain]

I thought it dragged....alot. Out of the relaunched books it's my least favorite behind Red Robin. But we'll see I found a lot of it predictable for the most part. The part with Dick and Damian training was cool though even if the dialogue did feel stilted, I also liked that they're going to modify the bat costume to fit more with Dick's style as this new era goes on.

What I found stupid about the Alfred and Dick scene is that ok it's decent dialogue at best but Morrison already covered similar ground last week so that **** feels pretty redundant. By that same token it's weird to see Alfred, Damian and Dick get written so amateurish in this book by Winnick one week and being written so excellently by Morrison in another book during another week.

Bagley's pencils were really on point too which is what makes the horrible inking in this issue such a shame. It really does a great disservice to his pencils and makes the art less dynamic than it should be in final execution.

I was never a Winnick fan at all though I find some of his work tolerable and people know that about me on here but this book in the past 2 issues highlighted some of the things that really irk me about his writing style. At this point I feel I'm just sticking around out of loyalty to the franchise but really it's not very impressive and fairly predictable so far.

 

[The Joker]

I enjoyed the latest issue. It didn't set the world alight with awesomeness, but it was enjoyable.

I love Bagley's art.

 

[K.B.]

While this issue was alright (even if it basically copies stuff already said/done in B and R #2) I have one question :

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE SCARECROW?!?

So the last issue was ***** first time in the public eye as Batman and this issue was..***** first time in the public eye as Batman?

Buh Huh?!?

 

[K.B.]

WTF?!? Why is it blanked out? I typed the short version of Richard Grayson's name..y'know..the same name he has been called for YEARS and the hype blanks it out ....LAME.

 

[sclabguy]

it was ok nothing special

 

[The Joker]

Was great to see Bagley drawing Batman again though.

 

[Fresh Prince]

I miss the original Batman using guns and stuff lol.

 

[alexdunn]

WTF?!? Why is it blanked out? I typed the short version of Richard Grayson's name..y'know..the same name he has been called for YEARS and the hype blanks it out ....LAME.

Did you put an apostrophe S? Lemme try. Dick Grayson. Dick is Batman. Dick's Batman.

 

[alexdunn]

Hey it worked for me! ^

 

[GrendelPrime32]

I'm with K.B....wtf happened to the scarecrow? tease it out for the Whole issue just to see homey g in costume and all we get is him on a spotlight last page and no fight to follow? WEAK.
whatever happened to the Kung FU, people? crane style vs the tragic trapezoid with a bunch of witty fear related banter to open issue 2?...i'll Tell you what happened to kung fu, people; it got up off it's happy ass and marched on over to Batman and Robin with that john woo action movie police station brawl w/ the 3 conjoined dudes which was EPIC. and robin in the hallway with the 'i don't need to get closer; i can cripple you from here'...now That's kung FU.

it's a crying shame batman has become totally redundant in only 44 pages, but it has. i'll pick up the next few just to see if it pulls out of the tailspin, or if nothing else, have a clear example of this concept, but yeah...weird that i'm looking forward to tony daniel, since i've been pretty loud about wishing kubert had stuck around for the whole morrison run (minus Williams of course). that and after the battle for the cowl bag of dog vomit, i have no real optimism about TD's writing skills, even if being generous leads me to think there were more editors writing that thing than writers. it still just sucked, from oracle ejecting the girl getting eaten to retconning everybody's personalities & motivations at random just to fit the End Up Here mandates from above....but man, TD is shakespear's Sister next to...

judd (Jason Todd is back; make no mistake about it, he's jason todd and he's back, right there in the red hood, you peckerwood) winick's just so damned Obvious that i'll give TD's hype machine another shot because dammit, i like reading batman comic books...

now over to the art...benes was servicable, but bagley? really? u guys dig him that much? that guy's more meh than meh. not saying i could do better or anything, but bland on just this side of sunny 80s/90s generic comic book art just doesn't get my bat nipples hard. just me though, each to their own.
kubert has Soul and christ on a Crutch Quitely's a Gift, like Sienkewicz or Mignola, McKean, or Al Columbia...the world needs more frank quitely. just look in the grill of mr frog's getaway car; it's like moebius meets geoff darrow, but again, with Soul. FQ= mad soul and sick skills. RECOGNIZE.

respect to bagley only for keeping up his sunny brand of bland for so many consecutive weeks on trinity; that's solid workmanship, i'll grant you, but still. take that **** over to the jla, where kid friendly group pablum's totally acceptable and expected.

these last 2 issues have given me Infinitely more respect for grant morrison overall. I guess I shouldn't find it odd that the same concept in 2 different sets of creators hands comes off worlds apart...which reminds me the last time i had this so clearly laid out was watching The Prestige after picking up the illusionist thinking it was the other one, since they were both 'dueling magician' stories at the redbox. after illusionist, i thought 'why's this big enough for 2 films when this one stinks?' but after seeing The Prestige, i was like Ohhh, That's why. tediously predictable vs. 16 kinds of wu li badass. with David Bowie playing Nikola Tesla as your cherry on top.

KEEP DICK ALIVE!

 

[MasterOgami]

IMO Daniel seems to be handling things a bit better than he did in BFTC. I don't know if I'd call it super fantabulous but I'm enjoying it. What's everybody think of the TDK suit (more or less) being brought into the books? The issue's been out a week but I haven't seen any discussion of it here.

 

[The Joker]

I think this is the weakest of the Bat books at the moment. I think Detective, Streets of Gotham, and Morrison's Batman and Robin are much better.

 

[Drz]

I'm finding this enjoyable and worth the money. Judd Winnick's arc was pretty bland, but Tony Daniel's is pretty nifty. Sure people now think its Daniel who made Riddler evil, but if you look at the solicitations Riddler is going to do the nasty "evil" stuff in Gotham Sirens. So it was DC's decision to maybe make Riddler go back to his nastier ways.

 

[The Bat-Man]

Just subscribed to "Batman". I've been a longtime fan of Batman, but I've never really found myself getting into the comics. Not because of a lack of interest, I just haven't picked them up. I have TKJ, TDKR and TLH, but have not read any comics other than that.

I have a question, though. I've asked many people on many message boards and nobody gives me a straight answer. As a Batman fan who is now trying to get the full story and collect the comics, I've become a bit interested in getting the "Chronicles" series, but it seems that they are taking forever putting these things out. They're only on Vol. 9 and it's been seven years since they started. Now, I've also seen the "Archives", which seem to reprint Batman comics from later on down the line. My real question is, which one do I get? Is "Chronicles" eventually going to be reprinting the same issues that are in "Archives"? Should I even bother with "Chronicles"? Are they going to do these for a little longer and just stop? At this point, they're going nowhere. It'll be the year 3000 before they're even halfway!

 

[CrimsonMist]

Chronicles reprints every Batman story starting with Detective Comics #27 in chronological order of publication. So you'll get a mix of Batman and Detective Comics.

the Archives do the same thing(reprinting early Batman stories), but i believe there are separate books: one series for "Batman" comics and one for "Batman in Detective Comics".

Chronicles are the way to go though. They're more affordable and you get more stories per volume than the expensive Archive hardcovers.

 

[Hobgoblin]

I picked up Batman 692 and 693 on a whim. I was pleased to see Mario Falcone return. When does the arc begin, regarding Black Mask?

 

[FCEEVIPER]

Does anyone know when Bruce is coming back, so that I can start purchasing the bat books again? t:

 

[Drz]

I picked up Batman 692 and 693 on a whim. I was pleased to see Mario Falcone return. When does the arc begin, regarding Black Mask?

The newest Black Mask was introduced in Battle for the Cowl. He's appeared in multiple of issues to even other titles such as Streets of Gotham.

I really wish to recommend everyone to check out Tony Daniel's "Life after Death" arc in the Batman comics! Trust me the guy has totally done a wonderful story with an interesting mystery subplot (although alot of people have figured it out, unless we turn out wrong lol) but what's best is that Dick truly is Batman here. The only part where he is slightly incompetent is his inner dialogue where he doubts himself and stuff.

Huntress, Oracle, Penquin Damian and Alfred play their small support roles while Mario Falcone has returned, the new Black Mask is ****ing crazy! Guy might even have 3 different personalities lol.

Trust me, check out Tony Daniel's Life after Death for some good fun Batman storytelling.

 

[Cain]

I agree Drz this arc has been a pleasant surprise and has me confident in this title again after the incompetent mess that was Winnick's recent run. Oh and regarding Black Mask

Spoiler

I don't understand how people think it's Dr. Singh or the Mayor when he greeted them both from a first person POV in the last issue. Hell he greeted Gordon and Kate Spencer as well so he's more than likely a positive and influential figure in Gotham's social circles.

Daniel did say it was somebody from bat comics past we hadn't seen in a while. I'm gonna go on a long shot and say that Alberto Falcone is NOT really dead but adopted a new identity & possibly even had surgery and is now a good figure in gotham as well as the new Black Mask but even then I'm more than likely wrong.

I love how that mystery isn't as predictable as I expected at all, seems like Daniel picked up a thing or two on keeping things vague from Morrison cause unlike Winnick I don't see right through this arc 2 issues before it's done and stuff.

 

[Drz]

I believe the Black Mask is:

Spoiler

Jeremiah Arkham.

Latest issue reveals the guy doesn't have a moustache, so he can't be Mario unless Mario sports with a fake moustache. I believe Arkham finally snapped when the Black Glove shot at him and the guy was nearly at death, thus his new personality took the identity of Black Mask and is now ruling Gotham, and with giving his "good" side a brand new Arkham Asylum with the designs HE wished.

I believe Dr. Signh is just mindcontrolled, the guy has that turban hat all the time. I'm really loving the whole detective aspect of this serie and with villains such as Frinch, Dr. Death and Hugo Strange getting some face time, not to mention O'Neill's Reaper with a new design!

Glad to hear you're also enjoyning this title, how are you liking Red Robin? The cult of the spider arc is jut bland for my tastes.

 

[Cain]

I believe the Black Mask is:

Spoiler

Jeremiah Arkham.

Latest issue reveals the guy doesn't have a moustache, so he can't be Mario unless Mario sports with a fake moustache. I believe Arkham finally snapped when the Black Glove shot at him and the guy was nearly at death, thus his new personality took the identity of Black Mask and is now ruling Gotham, and with giving his "good" side a brand new Arkham Asylum with the designs HE wished.

I believe Dr. Signh is just mindcontrolled, the guy has that turban hat all the time. I'm really loving the whole detective aspect of this serie and with villains such as Frinch, Dr. Death and Hugo Strange getting some face time, not to mention O'Neill's Reaper with a new design!

Glad to hear you're also enjoyning this title, how are you liking Red Robin? The cult of the spider arc is jut bland for my tastes.

I'm starting to dislike the book every issue seems like more of a chore than just genuine entertainment, I do agree with the blandness to the fullest it's just all sorts of dull right now. Streets of Gotham on the other hand keeps getting better and better, the Christmas issue that hit stands this past week is one of my favorite comics out of the entire new era so far right up there with Batman & Robin #2 and Detective Comics #857.

 

[The Joker]

Really enjoyed the latest issue. It's great to see the Penguin in the mix, getting his hands dirty. And he's got himself his own version of Mercy ala Lex Luthor, in the form of Lark.

She was last seen in the The Penguin Affair waaaaaaay back in Batman #448-449. I love when the writers do stuff like that, bringing back characters from the past, no matter how small their roles were.