Blackest Night: Batman #1

Gotham comes to life.

“Who Burns Who: Part One”
Author: Peter J. Tomasi
Artist: Adrian Syaf
Inkers: John Dell & Vicente Cifuentes
Colorist: Nei Ruffino
Letterer: John J. Hill
Cover Artists: Andy Kubert & Alex Sinclair
Alternate Cover Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz
Editors: Adam Schlagman & Eddie Berganza

I’ve never heard of Adrian Syaf before, but damn he draws a fine Batman and a fine horror story.  Blackest Night: Batman is positively dripping with atmosphere.  This first issue opens with Batman and Robin at Gotham Cemetery, bearing witness to the upheaval caused firstly by Black Hand’s exhumation of Bruce Wayne, and secondly by Hal and Barry’s recent tussle with the resurrected Martian Manhunter.

Bruce’s skull is missing, and his parents unearthed, leading to a very emotional exchange between Dick (Batman) and Damian (Robin).  “It’s different when it’s one of your own,” Dick remarks.  Bruce was a father figure to both of them, so it’s a difficult moment for both as well.  Damian comments on the added weirdness of his situation: “I’m sure a lotta kids get to greet their grandparents this way.”  Peter Tomasi’s script is pitch perfect, hitting all the right emotional notes.

Deadman also features quite prominently, and rightly so.  As the name suggests, he’s already dead, placing him in the unique situation of having to wrestle with his own corpse.  But it’s his previous life as a circus performer (Boston Brand) which makes him the perfect partner to Dick Grayson.  His own murder mirrors that of Dick’s parents, and I can only imagine that they will need to pit their acrobatic skills against the Black Lantern Flying Graysons next issue.

But it’s not Deadman’s acrobatics that impress in this issue, rather his internal monologues.  Tomasi’s captions are short and suspenseful.  We catch many glimpses into the horrors that shaped our heroes’ lives, and the violent deaths that now stir the living dead of Gotham Cemetery.  This book is full of small moments made big by their emotional resonance and fan appeal.  Long-time Batman fans will find much to get excited about; there’s little doubt that the entire Bat-family will be put through the ringer by this story’s end.

Gotham’s seen a lot of death in its time, and I for one can’t think of a better venue for the dead to rise.  It’s as if all the planets in the DC Universe have aligned: Deadman’s seen a resurgence in popularity with appearances in both Wednesday Comics and the Blackest Night series proper; and Tomasi’s scripts have once again been lifted to their rightful place with some appropriately eerie visuals.  If you’ve ever wondered where the Tomasi who wrote Black Adam went, look no further than Blackest Night: Batman.

Wednesday Comics #5

Thank God it's Wednesday.

Onto week five of Wednesday Comics, and there’s much to report.  I’ll go through it page by page as I did with the first issue:

Batman
Author: Brian Azzarello
Artist: Eduardo Risso (with Robins & Mulvihill)

There’s a moody, green atmosphere back in the Batcave as Bruce Wayne pieces together the evidence surrounding Carlton Glass’ murder.  Alfred, as always, makes a pointed observation on the Batman/Bruce Wayne dynamic.  I love the layout on this page; the smaller panels on the outside give the feeling of “putting the pieces together”, while the central spread of the Batcave suggests an “openness” and scope.  I love Eduardo Risso’s facial expressions and close-up shots; they help establish an intimacy with the characters.

Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth!
Author: Dave Gibbons
Artist: Ryan Sook

Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth! is explosive action as always.  The unlikely pair of Kamandi and Prince Tuftan the anthropomorphic tiger take on an entire army of apes in an attempt to save the first human girl they’ve ever seen.  Dave Gibbons has handed Ryan Sook the reins, quite happy to observe from afar. Without a doubt, though, it is Gibbons’ visual storytelling sensibilities coupled with Sook’s beautifully detailed action drawings that have made this story such a treat to behold.

Superman
Author: John Arcudi
Artist: Lee Bermejo
Colorist: Barbara Ciardo
Letterer: Ken Lopez

It didn’t take long for Arcudi’s Superman to go from intriguing sci-fi action to emo navel-gazing – one issue in fact – and it hasn’t been the same since.  I’d like to see it return to form, but clearly that was just the setup for this revisitation of Kal-El’s origins.  I suspect this was nothing more than an excuse to have Bermejo depict the destruction of Krypton in excruciatingly beautiful detail.  Maybe this would have been better as a straight re-telling rather than a flashback.  Superman’s banging on about “not belonging” even though he’s got the two greatest parents on Earth: Ma and Pa Kent.  What an ingrate.

Deadman
“The Dearly Departed Detective: Part V”
Authors: Dave Bullock & Vinton Heuck
Artist: Dave Bullock
Letterer: Jared Fletcher
Colorist: Dave Stewart

Deadman got a whole lot better when he stopped talking and started fighting.  Since the sharp drop in speech bubbles in issue 4, the panels have opened up to Boston Brand’s acrobatics and hard-boiled introspection.  Question, though, can Deadman really die?

Green Lantern
Author: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Joe Quiñones (with Pat Brosseau)

I know I bashed on Busiek last week (or yesterday) for flashing back, but this time it actually works.  Hal reminisces on his space college days as he races to save his mutating astronaut friend.  I suspect this is to emotionally ground the inevitable battle between the two.

Metamorpho
Author: Neil Gaiman
Artist: Michael Allred
Colorist: Laura Allred
Letterer: Nate Piekos

Gaiman really picks up his game this time, returning with the humour and aplomb he brought to the first issue.  Metamorpho’s billionaire boss Mr. Stagg decides to stop for lunch in a booby-trapped Antarctic temple and hilarity ensues!  Metamorpho finally gets to put his elemental powers to good use!

Teen Titans
Author: Eddie Berganza
Artist: Sean Galloway
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano

Teen Titans is just so pale and boring.  The soft lines and washy colours don’t help matters much, but the paper-thin plot and ever-switching perspectives are the main culprit here.  I just don’t care about what’s happening here, and I feel as though I’m expected to.  In fact, I’m still not entirely sure just what is happening here…

Strange Adventures
Author & Artist: Paul Pope (and Jose Villarrubia)

Even the Rannian Wastes are beautifully exotic in the hands of master artist-writer Paul Pope.  This time Strange Adventures has a decidedly Arabian Nights-style feel to it.  With Adam Strange nowhere in sight, it strikes me that his wife Alanna may be this title’s protagonist.

Supergirl
Author: Jimmy Palmiotti
Artist: Amanda Conner
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Letterer: John J. Hill

Palmiotti’s Supergirl is cute and charming and all, but I can’t help but wish there was more to this story than rounding up some rowdy super-pets…

Metal Men
Author: Dan DiDio
Artists: José Luis García-López & Kevin Nowlan
Letterer: Kenny Lopez
Colorist: Trish Mulvihill

A standard bank robbery has evolved into a hostage situation.  A very personal hostage situation for Doc Magnus.  DiDio creates a tense atmosphere throughout, but isn’t afraid to break it up with some classic Metal Men humour.

Wonder Woman
Author & Artist: Ben Caldwell

Reading Caldwell’s Wonder Woman is an exercise in frustration.  The claustrophobic panels make it near-impossible to follow or even read.  I’ve at least managed to figure out the basic story: Diana is accumulating all of the necessary accoutrements to become Wonder Woman in her fitful sleep, under the guise of collecting the “seven stars”.    It seems that most of these legendary items are in Ancient China, though, which I don’t quite understand.

Sgt. Rock and Easy Co.
Author: Adam Kubert
Artist: Joe Kubert

I said before that it’d be interesting to see where the Kuberts go from here, and the answer is nowhere.  Nowhere in five weeks is a lot of nowhere.  More visceral images of Rock being tortured.

Flash Comics/Iris West
Authors: Karl Kerschl & Brenden Fletcher
Artist: Karl Kerschl
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Colorist: Dave McCaig

This is a great story!  Barry Allen keeps revisiting the same moments with Gorilla Grodd and Iris West, but each time his nemesis and his lover throw him yet another curveball.  It just goes to show that turning back time won’t solve everything — in fact, it’ll do quite the opposite!

The Demon and Catwoman
Author: Walter Simonson
Artist: Brian Stelfreeze (with Steve Wands)

Walter Simonson’s Demon may not rhyme, but he’s still a damn fine poet.  Catwoman’s not really worthy of her double-billing at this stage, though, so hopefully she’ll shine next week.

Hawkman
Author & Artist: Kyle Baker

It’s disappointing that the sci-fi element of this story was dispensed with so handily this week – I was under the impression that the alien threat was still there – but hopefully we’ll see it return.  Hawkman’s only stopping a plane crash this week, but the final caption promises that next week “it gets worse!”

I’d have to say that this has been by far the strongest installment of Wednesday Comics.  The greats are still great, and some under-performers really hit it out of the park this week.  Certainly worth a read.

Wednesday Comics #4

Risky and rewarding.

Four weeks of Wednesday Comics and it’s panning out as expected: the strong stories are still performing strongly and the others, well – not so strongly.

John Arcudi’s Superman – while beautifully painted by Lee Bermejo – is still, quite frankly, a whiny bitch; Neil Gaiman’s Metamorpho an absolute head-scratcher; Eddie Berganza’s Teen Titans just screams ordinary; while Ben Caldwell’s Wonder Woman remains a cramped, unfocused mess (I didn’t even know something could be those three things at once until I read it).

It’s interesting to see who really thrives in this weekly one-page format and who doesn’t – I’m honestly surprised at how unimpressed I’ve been with Neil Gaiman’s Metamorpho, and yet at the same time I wonder just how much brilliance I’d expect from one page of Sandman.  But this isn’t a 22-page comic, nor is it a graphic novel, and I think the writers and artists that understand that are the ones that deliver.  The Kuberts’ Sgt. Rock is dragging its heels like nothing else (so far he’s managed to get himself tortured), and Kurt Busiek’s Green Lantern isn’t much better (so far, Hal Jordan flew into a bar, flew out of a bar, and had a flashback – ZOMG!).  Just get to the good bits already! You can’t pace this like a 22-page comic, exploding it out page by page in a weekly format – you’ve only got twelve weeks to tell your story, and one page to impress me.  Given his experience with the weekly format, you’d think Busiek of all people would have it down.

The ones that do have it down are Gibbons (Kamandi), Pope (Strange Adventures), and Kerschl (The Flash/Iris West).  Come to think of it, all three of them feature villainous, super-intelligent, talking apes.  Kamandi is an open, sprawling adventure in a dystopian future.  Gibbons, an adept artist himself, lets Ryan Sook tell the story visually while he narrates.  Both Kamandi and Strange Adventures are throwbacks to the EC “Weird Science-Fantasy” comics of the fifties, and both are positively dripping with atmosphere.  I suspect the hand-written captions may have also helped in this regard.  Kerschl took the most interesting route of all the writers, telling parallel stories of The Flash and his lover Iris West, and you know what?  I think he’s stumbled across the magic formula for one-page-per-week storytelling.  I love the contrast of romance and superheroics from week to week, and the way these stories interweave and feed off of each other.  Barry Allen must race against time and himself(!) to save Central City and his love-life!  I love it!

Honestly, it’s worth reading Wednesday Comics just to follow those three, but there are plenty of other strong efforts to justify your purchase.  Dave Bullock has managed to pick up the pace and find his voice in a much more focused Deadman, while the Most Improved award must go to Walter Simonson with The Demon and Catwoman, which makes a whole lot more sense now in its own weird little way.  Catwoman has become a cat-woman, and the Demon is waxing poetic as he should be, as they duke it out in the highlands.  Brian Azzarello’s Batman is shaping up to be an intriguing murder mystery, while Dan DiDio’s Metal Men is again surprisingly funny.  Jimmy Palmiotti’s Supergirl is okay, if only a little trivial on the back of Pope’s Strange Adventures (Supergirl’s basically trying to round up two super-powered pets who have run away from home).  While it’s disappointing that Hawkman‘s story is no longer narrated by birds as it was in the first issue, it has taken a science fiction twist for the better, I believe.

And that about wraps it for the fourth week of Wednesday Comics.  I have issue 5 in front of me now, but I suspect I’ll have nothing new to say about it.  This is the most interesting experiment in the comic book format that you’re ever likely to be part of, so get into it.

Wednesday Comics #1

The Ultimate Newspaper.

Wednesday Comics is the product of DC’s continued experiments with the weekly comic format, and in many ways I think it’s the culmination.  For many people, this will be the Ultimate Newspaper.  It’s certainly mine.  There’s something about opening it out that makes the experience that much more exciting.  And while the whole format is a throwback to the Sunday comic strips, and the stories themselves a throwback to the Silver Age; it’s just so brimming with comic magic that it can’t help but feel fresh and new.  Each page is devoted to a DC property, written and illustrated by a star-studded roster including the likes of Brian Azzarello, Dave Gibbons, Kyle Baker, John Arcudi, Lee Bermejo, Kurt Busiek, Neil Gaiman, Paul Pope, Adam Kubert, Joe Kubert, and Walter Simonson.  The hook is this: these creators get to tell stories of whichever character they damn-well please.   The plan is virtually fool-proof.  Here’s how it went:

Batman
Author: Brian Azzarello
Artist: Eduardo Risso (with Robins & Mulvihill)

Not a whole lot of action as yet, but we have a good setup here.  Batman finds out he has until midnight to save an investment banker from being murdered.  Problem is, it already is midnight.  Azzarello makes an interesting observation on Commissioner Gordon’s relationship with Batman.

Kamandi
Author: Dave Gibbons
Artist: Ryan Sook

The opening shot is classic Kamandi, but I’m also getting hints of “Tales of the Black Freighter”, which is interesting because this time Gibbons is writing, not drawing!  Gibbons highlights the awesomely clever origin of Kamandi’s name too.

Superman
Author: John Arcudi
Artist: Lee Bermejo

Bermejo’s Superman is absolutely gorgeous.  This has got to be the most intriguing story of the bunch as well…

Deadman
Authors: Dave Bullock & Vinton Heuck
Artist: Dave Bullock
Letterer: Jared Fletcher
Colorist: Dave Stewart

Deadman is too talky and too simple for my liking.  As far as noir goes, though, it does talk the talk, especially in the art department.

Green Lantern
Author: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Joe Quiñones

Busiek and Quiñones revisit the Hal Jordan of the 50s, and if Darwyn Cooke’s New Frontier was anything to go by, this should fit like an old pair of shoes.  (Comfortably, that is.)

Metamorpho
Author: Neil Gaiman
Artist: Michael Allred
Colorist: Laura Allred
Letterer: Nate Piekos

This was probably the funniest of the fifteen comic strips.  Gaiman has put himself right into the Silver Age for this one, forcing foibles and attitudes of the time period to great comedic effect.  Michael Allred also channels Jack Kirby with his bold, no-nonsense approach to the panels.

Teen Titans
Author: Eddie Berganza
Artist: Sean Galloway

Loved the art style.  The writing – not so much…

Adam Strange
Author & Artist: Paul Pope

The biggest surprise for me was Paul Pope’s choice of character in Adam Strange.  I had him pinned as a Batman-only writer, but boy, was I ever wrong.  This pulp-style sci-fi is probably the coolest of the bunch.

Supergirl
Author: Jimmy Palmiotti
Artist: Amanda Conner

This is pretty much just an intro, but a cute and funny one nonetheless.  After all, isn’t that what these Sunday comic strips were all about?

Metal Men
Author: Dan DiDio
Artists: José Luis García-López & Kevin Nowlan

Anyone who’s ever read a ‘DC Nation’ column was probably as surprised as I was when they realised that Dan DiDio’s Metal Men is actually quite funny.  And clever!

Wonder Woman
Author & Artist: Ben Caldwell

While I found Wonder Woman’s conversation with the pigeons to be quite amusing, I thought the rest of the page was cluttered and confusing.  I think Ben Caldwell is trying to cram too much in here.

Sgt. Rock and Easy Co.
Author: Adam Kubert
Artist: Joe Kubert

Kubert and Son join forces for a striking first effort.  Joe’s depiction of Sergeant Rock’s brutal interrogation is all kinds of visceral.  I’ve never read Adam Kubert’s writing before, so it’ll be interesting to see where he goes from here.

The Flash
Authors: Karl Kerschl & Brenden Fletcher
Artist: Karl Kerschl
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Colorist: Dave McCaig

It’s good to see Karl and Brenden really experiment with the form.  The Flash page is split into two parallel stories: a Flash action sequence in a race to stop Gorilla Grodd; and Iris West, about to leave that unreliable, good-for-nothing Barry Allen!  Can’t wait to read the next one.

The Demon and Catwoman
Author: Walter Simonson
Artist: Brian Stelfreeze (with Steve Wands)

What *appears* to be a rather wacky combination of characters proves to be rather dry, as Selina Kyle takes a tour of Jason Blood’s mansion.  Hopefully things will heat up when the Cat and the Demon come out to play…

Hawkman
Author & Artist: Kyle Baker

A great note to finish on.  The entire story is told from the perspective of a hawk as Hawkman leads his avian allies into battle.

I never thought it would happen, but I think DC may have finally nailed that magic weekly formula.  If each of these stories advance at a steady pace, then we should be in for a real treat.

A word to the wise, though: *probably* don’t carry this one on the bus, or out in the rain…