Batman - One Bad Day: Bane (comics)

Writer: Joshua Williamson

Artist: Howard Porter

Original Graphic Novel

Bane has had quite a journey over the last thirty years of comics and in the process become a rather complex character. There's obviously the work done by co-creator Chuck Dixon. There's everything Gail Simone did with him in Secret Six. It's far from the worst thing Tom King did during his Batman run, might even be low on the list, but his time using the character didn't really reflect any of that.

One Bad Day was an initiative I rolled my eyes at. DC can harp on the Killing Joke too much as it is, making an entire initiative around the line of someone being one bad day away from snapping seemed a little too cute. The first I read, the one dedicated to the Riddler, only reinforced that feeling. But whereas the Riddler book did some dogshit things with the character on top of leaning in too hard on the "One Bad Day" tagline, Banes graphic novel suggests it might play as more of a theme with others. A focus on the things that made the characters who they are and how they shaped them.

In wrestling parlance, Bane is what we'd call a tweener, a character who sits between a good guy or a bad guy and can lean a bit either way depending on circumstances. They can have a grudge against a hero, a case where they're firmly the villain, or a grudge against a villain, which obviously puts them in the opposite position. He has a complex relationship with Batman, both foe and begrudging ally when circumstances are right for it. Tom Kings run nearly ruined this dynamic by having Bane kill Alfred, which is probably why it should just be undone already, because it's a cloud that hangs over the character*. Especially when we get stories like this, where the complexity seeps back in.

Banes story revolves around the substance that empowered him to break the Bat, once upon a time. Venom is a cloud over his life, an addictive substance that can, over time, absolutely wreck your mind and body. On numerous occasions, when he's slipped from its grasp, Bane has dedicated his time and effort to eradicating it so no one can suffer the fate he had. It's his thematic "One Bad Day", the thing that changed his life forever.

When we start, it's seemingly some time in the future. Bane kicked the habit of Venom once and for all and, as far as he is aware, has managed to eradicate the substance from the face of the Earth. He spends his time in Mexico reveling in past glory; he's a participant in a regular wrestling event where he recreates the "breaking of the bat" with whatever local wrestler takes up the role that night. He has a mansion on the outskirts and his life is rather lonely. Over his fireplace, a framed newspaper of the day he broke Batmans back. Sometimes, he will see apparitions of his mother, long gone from his life. 

The obvious parallels Bruce Wayne are stark, only Banes life is far lonelier. He seemingly has no connections, just money, his matches and dark nights in front of his mantle. It changes when a small time drug dealer shows up at his door.

Banes reputation precedes him. You don't get a solid victory over Batman like Bane did and just end up forgotten. Hell, you can argue no one else ever did on the level Bane did. Batman was out for months and even required a temporary replacement. Everyone knows his story and of the drug that gave him great strength. The drug dealer has brought a vial of venom, something he thinks Bane would want. Only Bane is enraged. He thought he'd destroyed the substance entirely. Demanding to know where it was found, he and the drug pusher leave to finish the job.

The story paints a complex picture of the character, one that adds the depth that some writers forget. Breaking Batmans back is Banes greatest triumph in life, but much like some athletes, it's also a great success that he has never been able to replicate in his life. It hangs over his life like a cloud, his one moment of glory in a life ravaged by the drug that gave him the power to do it. He sees a parallel of himself in the drug pusher, a kid who got forced into the life when he was left with the debts of his dead father, a life situation the son of King Snake knows all too well. Bane struggles at moments with the temptation, obvious on his face, of reclaiming that glory while realizing it's a Faustian bargain. He has a subtextual need for Venom to die so he can be free of that temptation.

For a graphic novel clocking in at just under seventy pages, it does everything it needs to, tying back through the history of Bane himself and the very substance of Venom. There are callbacks that go as far as the Legends of the Dark Knight arc that introduced Venom a year before Bane made his first appearance. It looks to paint a full portrait of the man and I'm pleased to say it largely succeeds. It even ends up a positive note, with Bane reflecting on advice from Batman to make a change in his life. It's the closest to a "happy ending" you can picture for Bane at this point in his life, suggesting a change in life direction that could take him to a better place.

Howard Porter holds up his end artistically with some of his best work in years. His depiction of Bane is at times grotesque, always ugly, a man ravaged by time and the obvious effects using a drug that suddenly bloats your musculature might have on your skin and body. Moody colors darken the page during contemplative moments, contrasted with brighter colors in the ring, in action. The storytelling is clear, Porter will even get inventive with layout at times. He does that trick I love, where a ton of tiny panels can depict a long fight in the span of two pages without wasting page space.

The story and art synergize to make something that genuinely does Bane right. I'm unsure if it is in continuity. After all, the Riddler graphic novel was decidedly not. This one also seems to take place after much time has passed, perhaps up to a decade beyond the present day of the DCU. As such, I lean pretty heavily toward it being its own thing. But while I like continuity, it's far from the end all and be all. A good story justifies itself and hell, even if it isn't canon, this story uses past continuity incredibly well to tell its story. Continuity is a tool, it doesn't need to be a shackle.

Of the two One Bad Day graphic novels I've read so far, Bane is the first outright success. Sharply written, well drawn and respectful of its main character, it's the best Bane story I've read in a minute. I'd personally recommend tracking it down and reading it in whatever way strikes your fancy. It's worth the time.

* Speaking of this cloud, the one reference to Alfreds death, in flashback, aptly illustrated my meaning. It's took me out of the story for a brief moment, because if that event happened in this stories internal continuity it makes it harder to believe Batman will work together with the man who killed his surrogate father figure. But it's a rock and a hard place situation. The bedrock of this story is in Banes life story, so can you just conveniently leave it out to make things easier? I don't know the answer. It doesn't wreck the book, but it does remind me of what a mistake that moment was and that, whatever your thoughts on comic death or characters coming back to life, the character of Bane would be far better served if it were undone. It's a moment of cruelty that does nothing for the character.

Batman - One Bad Day: Riddler (comics)

 

Writer: Tom King

Artist: Mitch Gerards

Original Graphic Novel

To my surprise, this is the first time I've reviewed a comic or graphic novel written by Tom King. A strange omission, really, given I've read several of his comics. So I might as well get this out of the way first.

I've liked some of Tom Kings work but whenever the man is on something related to Batman he just absolutely loses me.

I didn't review it, partly because it slipped my mind during the years long span I'd been away from this blog, but I had read roughly half of his time on the mainline Batman book during the Rebirth relaunch/rebrand. First arc was shaky but not bad, but he lost me with the second, I Am Suicide. His thesis statement for Batman, at least that early in the run, seemed to be that the very identity of Batman was meant as a form of slow burn suicide in the wake of his parents death. 

I'm not going to go into all the problems I have with that because this review is not about that run, but at least a part of my problem with it lies in what an utterly dour, cynical, selfish slant this places on the entire being of Bruce Wayne and Batman. It removes anything heroic about the crusade and, in some ways, makes him a monster. It colors everything differently. Robin and the Bat family suddenly become less about found family and trauma bonding, instead becoming about a psychotic broken manchild dragging a bunch of kids into something that he intends to kill him someday. It's less about justice and more like a slow form of slitting his wrists.

Suffice to say, I didn't finish the run. I made it farther than you might think, all the way to the wedding-that-wasn't, before I called it. It was around when Catwoman decided Batman couldn't be effective if he was happy. Maybe that was editorial, who knows, but it fit too well with what King was doing even if he didn't originally intend it. I was looking for some kind of refutation of this thesis, but somewhere around fifty issues in it didn't seem to be coming and it was, frankly, a little too late even if that actually was the endgame. The run kind of ruined Batman and Catwoman together for me, to the point I don't really want to read it anymore, and when I saw the next arc was going to be super dark Batdickery like we were still in the 90's, I dipped. Out of like fifty issues I enjoyed the double date two parter and that was pretty much it. Kite-Mans reinvention was great, but it happened amidst an overlong and weirdly bad take on a war between two rogues.

This graphic novel has the benefit of being out of continuity, I assume, and boy is that ever a good thing.

Most of this overlong preamble has been spent complaining about Kings take on Batman, so this is a good enough spot to break that a bit and talk about what works. Tom King is a talented writer. That's obvious even in the things I don't like. He has a nice rhythm and storytelling sensibility that combines to feel very him, if that makes any sense at all. I can dislike a story he writes, but it's less an issue with the mechanics or flow than it is with what the story is about, themes and the like. The mechanics are the aspects of the bookending sequences that I like, even as I don't much care for the ending itself. We'll point of view through a bystander as they set off home from work, texting his wife, then bam, cut to black. We get several black panels for the rest of the page, signifying death, before flipping to the next where confirmation comes with CCT footage of the mans last moments.

It's the trick The Sopranos famously pulled in the very last scene of the show, only this graphic novel knew to set up and explain it beforehand so no one is confused at the final reprise.

Mitch Gerards is one of Kings better collaborators. Which is not a diss on the others, Tom King seems to attract good artists, Mitch is just that good. There's a moodiness to everything, a dreariness, that colors every scene without being dark or grimy. Shadows are heavy, but the other colors contrast through brightness. Slim shafts of white for rain, a near constant in any outdoor scene. Deep in the book, Gerards hands us one of the loveliest scene transitions in comics through use of a basketball court. The change in time period signified by color, the past using the haze of orange that's been part of every flashback breaking into the thick shadows and dark greens hanging over the present day sequences. Top shelf work.

Too bad about the actual story.

I'll preface here by giving a big old SPOILER WARNING. I'm going to talk about the entire plot. Blogger doesn't exactly have spoiler tags, so this is the best I can do. If you somehow made it to my site, I assume you want my opinion and to give that, well, I gotta talk about the story. Otherwise, you might as well cut here and rest assured I didn't like it. I think I'm done with giving arbitrary grades, so there's nothing like that to look for. I'll also note these are all my opinions, so you may feel differently, and also that this is not intended for continuity so it's more or less harmless.

All that now out of the way, One Bad Day: Riddler as a story is essentially bad fanfiction.

Strong statement? Depends on how you mean it. I have a fairly positive view of fanfiction. It's essentially free, democratized writing. Anyone can write whatever they want and put it out for their peers to read. It isn't making any money, so burgeoning writers can play with characters and settings they would otherwise never be allowed to. You know, since capitalism and our copyright laws are an utter joke. 

Most people like to say that "most fanfiction is bad". So? Have you taken a look at a lot of things that have actually been published? Eragon and Harry Potter were once wildly popular despite the actual writing being somewhat pedestrian, at times bad. 50 Shades of Grey made a load of money and that started out as actual fanfiction. You can get enjoyment or like characters even in bad work. That's the entire concept of "good bad" media.

Also, to be blunt, most of todays most popular media are basically corporate approved fanfiction. Stan Lee hasn't exactly written Spider-Man or Iron Man since the 60's. Bill Finger and Bob Kane have been dead a long time, but Batman lives on. We place too much stress and negative feeling on the word simply because it's unofficial or because random people are allowed to put whatever they want out.

When I think of bad fanfiction, I think less in writing quality and more of a bunch of tired tropes or lazy ideas. Things that have been overdone. Possibly pretentious. Often rooted in a misunderstanding of characters and theme. Or maybe they just make everything really gritty and dark and depressing because that's real, man.

Unrelated to the previous sentence, I joke, the Riddler is a murderer in this comic and the smartest bestest man in the world.

Murderin' Riddler is not a take I like, but whatever, I can deal with it. The Batman had him as a killer and that worked. But that film was also trying to tell a story about class inequality that tied into what Riddler was doing. He, along with Catwoman and Batman himself, was a third of a trio that spoke to three different walks of life, status and privilege. It played to the theme of the film and that's why I accepted it.

In One Bad Day: Riddler, the Riddler decides to just start offing civilians because all the riddles prior to this were just one big game to him. Now he's tired of the game and wants to send a message to Batman that old Eddie is his better. Interspersed with all this are flashbacks to Edwards childhood as the son to the dean of a prestigious school. Said father demands perfection or he breaks out the corporal punishment. One of Edwards teachers likes to encourage outside the box thinking so he puts one riddle at the end of tests. Edward cannot think outside the box and gets frustrated so he cheats. He's caught, but the teacher gently chastises Edward. However, when the teacher mentions he'll have to tell Edwards father and hopes at least it'll be a learning experience, Edward coldly murders him on the basketball court, slamming the teachers face into the pavement until it's crushed. 

That is his "One Bad Day".

It's rather groan inducing, really, when you get to the end of the comic and realize everything has just been a pretentious "the gloves are off, the silly villain everyone laughed at is a grim, dark, gritty killer" story. Hell, it's groan inducing even before you get to that point. In order to make this all work, Edward Nygma is given a competency and cognitive ability that borders on superhuman. But really, it's just kind of stupid.

Eddie always knew who Batman was, you see, along with all of Bruces kids. He's been able to sneak in and out of the Manor a lot over the years, get into safes, even found The Pearls. Seen everyone sleeping. He knows who every cop and guard is, who their family is. There's a confusing sequence late in the book where he seems to be able to lay down on the ground, his words causing the guards to shoot and kill each other. He convinces Film Freak to slit his throat after Nygma bests Film Freak in a film trivia game. He knows about Jim Gordons marriage failing, what happened to Sarah Essen, a bunch of personal events he should never be able to find out because how would he have been there. He was apparently the one who gave Joker the plans that led to the famous apartment shooting in Killing Joke.

You see what I'm getting at here? I didn't even get everything. Written out plain, it's absolutely ludicrous. How hard is it to hit that point in a DC Universe story? Where I accept a man who can fly and shoot heat beams. Where a guy dresses like a Bat to fight crime without being crippled by year three. Where a ring powers up and creates things out of green light. It's sudden over competence, reminding me of some fanfiction I've read in the past where a fan of a minor character is upset at how said character is treated in universe so they're going to make them a real threat.

All in service of an ending you know is coming. I sighed halfway through. The threat in the last confrontation is that Riddler knows everything, he's changed and if Batman ever hits him again he'll kill someone, so Batman has to leave him alone. Then a couple page sequence of everyone being scared stupid by him, where mob bosses and bank heads all decide if the Riddler shows up you give him whatever he wants. Everyone laughed at him but now he's scary. No one can stop him, everyone is too afraid.

Did you guess how it ends?

Batman tells the Riddler that he can change too. That Riddler has been abusing his weakness for mercy. We point of view with Riddler. In the mirror he finally notices Batman behind him. Cut to black. Four whole panels of it.

What can I say but "fuck off".

It's definitely non continuity. I don't think I have to explain why at this point. So you can take it or leave it as a what if. But for my money, it's a comic that is unintentionally sillier than any gimmick scheme Riddler's ever done. The book never tells us that Batman killing the Riddler is the only way, only implying it through a seemingly extreme no win scenario. You'll often see some people excuse storytelling beats like this, where a character who kills is suddenly forced to cross that line because they were "left with no choice". The film Man of Steel is a good example with its climax of Superman being forced to execute Zod to save a family, a hollow sequence that occurs after the two practically level Metropolis amidst their fight and likely kill tens of thousands. But there's always a choice.

After all, everything is as it was written to be.

Batman/Superman: Siege (comics)

Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Ardian Syaf
Collects: Batman/Superman #16-20, Batman/Superman Annual #2, Batman/Superman: Futures End #1

So, now we're at volume four of Batman/Superman. Sadly, we lost Jae Lee along the way. The big Earth Two plotline that dipped in and out of the first three volumes has been scuttled off stage as well, without anything that really feels like a resolution. For better or worse, Siege is something different, holding us over in the time between the prior mission statement and the point where the book has to reflect radical status quo changes for the title characters, born from their solo titles.

Thankfully, it's pretty good. I'd go so far as to argue that it holds together better than anything since Cross World. It's amazing what having one artist draw an entire story or arc can do for you. The past couple of volumes felt patchwork at best, given that it swapped artists like you might change your underwear, sometimes in the middle of an issue. Ardian Syaf brings a stability to the visuals, one that was sorely needed. He has all of the same strengths he did in the third volume of Superman: Earth One, including the expressiveness of the characters.

The story itself is fine. I admit I cringed when I read the synopsis of Superman ending up with his own "Joker". I'm not sure what I expected, but in my head, I envisioned some bad attempt at conjuring an on the nose, Joker style character for Superman to be his new arch nemesis, even if the idea they'd try that seems almost silly. What it ends up referring to is the methodology; a sociopath who is simply out to hurt anyone connected to the hero, just because they can, possibly due to a strange fixation. That's fine, even if the idea of this character being Supermans Joker is directly expressed in dialogue a little too often to illicit anything more than an eyeroll.

Regardless, the danger is real, as this villain hits Superman where it hurts, several times, using what we learn is something directly connected to the Superman corner of the DCU to do it. Despite being heavily tied to the Superman half of the equation, Greg Pak does a fine job of keeping Batman in the mix, rather than letting him fade to the background a bit too much. In fact, at one point late in the volume, Superman impulsively activates his Solar Flare, leaving him powerless for twenty four hours just as a cadre of villains come looking to kill him. Batman has to keep Clark alive from that point on.

Also included is a Futures End tie-in issue. I'll admit I'm interested in the weekly and kind of looking forward to reading it. I also like the idea of an extra issue exploring the alternate world presented to us, much like DC One Million did in the late 90's. Unfortunately, this one is a bit of a wash. It's really just a Batman centric issue, with him dealing with a Superman villain and lamenting the breakdown of their friendship at some point in the history of this alternate future. The issue was kind of left between a rock and a hard place - from what I do know of Futures End, Superman is missing for the first half of it, possibly in a Kingdom Come-esque self exile - but it's still unfortunate. I don't feel like I really got anything out of it, aside from knowing why the Futures End Batmans back is quite possibly wrecked for good.

There's not a lot to say about Siege, otherwise. It's fine meat and potatoes team-up comics. I'd say it's an improvement over the past couple of volumes as well. It's unconnected to anything else, so you could just pick it up and read it if you felt like it. Siege is worth a shot if you're in the mood or don't have anything else to read, I'd say.

My Opinion: Try It

Batman/Superman: Second Chances (comics)

Writer: Greg Pak, Jeff Lemire
Artists: Diogenes Neves, Karl Kerschl, Jae Lee, Marc Deering, Cliff Richards and like ten others
Collects: Batman/Superman #10-15

Don't let that Jae Lee cover and top artist billing on it fool you, his work is barely in this trade.

At this point I feel like this book is starting to fall apart on a bunch of different levels and none of them are the fault of any one person. It started out strong, with a punchy, well written and dynamically drawn opening arc involving the first meeting of the titular heroes and an encounter with their Earth 2 counterparts, but since then the regular artist has not exactly been what you'd consider a regular, the art has suffered and it's beginning to bring down what are otherwise fine comics.

On the upside, we've finally returned to the stuff the book began with, mainly that initial Earth 2 encounter, Kaiyo the Chaosbringer and the suppressed memories of the entire thing. Aside from some lip service during the First Contact arc of the prior volume, it's been mostly absent for about five issues - plus two of Worlds Finest - and an annual. Kaiyo's back and screwing with the duo, giving them a chance to change the events of Earth 2, then afterwards stripping them of their memories and tossing them in the world to figure it out from there, for kicks.

It's too bad it doesn't really go anywhere, doesn't wrap up and isn't likely to be continued. I don't know if it's because DC just gave up on Jae Lee penciling for the series, but the series takes a hard left into different territory from here on. The next arc is, from what I've read online, entirely about Superman ending up with his own "Joker". By the time that's done, the Jim Gordan and Truth eras of Batman and Superman, respectively, are in full swing, meaning this book has to fall right in line. Aside from the fact that the two remember the first arc now, nothing is really accomplished. It might have been better if the book never called back to it and left it at that.

There's also a fill-in issue where Superman teams up with the Atom to save Batman from something inside his brain. It's a pretty decent one off adventure and I've always enjoyed Jeff Lemires writing, but there isn't a lot to say about it.

Anyway, the issues with the story are kind of outside of its control, due to real world circumstances and pertaining more to the future of the book, so it's a bit easier to give it a pass. After all, the book is otherwise a fun enough read. Unfortunately, we get to the real problem, which is the art.

As mentioned before, Jae Lee is done after this. It was inevitable, really, and I suspected as much back when I reviewed the first volume. It's not exactly ideal, but something had to be done, because the art situation is completely out of control. I only listed five artists up top, but that's only because I didn't want that to run on much further than it did. No joke, we literally have twelve to fourteen pencillers contributing pages across six issues. Every issue but one - Jae Lees - has at least two artists. The issue closing out the volume has four.

Diogenes Neves does a passable Jae Lee impression - and if I'm being honest, I'm down to see more of their work elsewhere - but no one else comes close. Worse still, there isn't even any consistency in the issues themselves, for obvious reasons. A lot of them do their best chameleon job - and none of the transitions are as jarring as the annual in the prior volume - but if you look you can see the seams.

We'll see what the next volume brings, but as it is, there's not much reason to read this.

My Opinion: Skip It

Detective Comics: Emperor Penguin (comics)

Writer: John Layman
Artists: Jason Fabok, Andy Clarke
Collects: Detective Comics (2011) #13-18

Chew made me a fan of John Layman, so I was interested when I heard he would be taking over the New 52 volume of Detective Comics after Tony Daniel left. The two volumes of the book prior to this had been middling at worst and merely okay at best, leaving a book that didn't have much to offer and hadn't even managed to distinguish itself yet. Unfortunately, the third volume doesn't get the chance either, so we're stuck waiting to see if volume four can pull it out.

Part of the problem is that the first couple of years of Batman in the New 52 were dominated by what Scott Snyder was doing in the flagship book. I don't necessarily mean that in terms of status quo changes, which is fine, but in tie-ins. It seems like every story Batman did through Zero Year saw the line saddled with tie-ins. With some, it was fine. The Night of the Owls tie-ins were a single issue. At worst, it was a brief break between story arcs. Death of the Family, meanwhile, ends up involving itself in several issues, leaving the writer to have to do something related.

It's worked in about as well as you could expect. The main story of the volume, involving a Penguin henchman getting froggy and seizing his empire, takes a backseat for a couple of issues, allowing that to gestate in the background while Joker copycat gangs make some noise in Gotham. The henchman only has the chance to begin with because Joker scares the piss out of Penguin and forces him to assist the clowns latest scheme. I'm not averse to that. It's Gotham. There's going to be overlap sometimes.

The thing I take issue with is that it's not exactly explained enough. Penguin just exits the book for a couple issues a third of the way through, handing everything off to the henchman to look after until he returns. We don't know what Joker asked of him or why he has to hang in Arkham for a bit, just that, judging by the way he's pissing himself after meeting with Joker, he doesn't exactly have much choice. The worst kind of tie-in is the one that interrupts another story, but doesn't explain or give context to the elements that bleed in. It's one thing to work in a tie-in to your story. It might even be the best way. But almost expecting that you've read the other is off-putting. I expect at least enough distance and explanation so I can read it on its own without wondering what was so important a character suddenly blew dodge, allowing the crux of the story to even happen.

Otherwise, it's a perfectly fine comic. Not quite the immediate knockout I'd thought or hoped, but we seem to be playing the long game here anyway. The Emperor Penguin story has only just kicked into gear by the end of the volume, so we'll see where it goes. I do hope something a bit more exciting happens going forward, though. Much of this volume is either playing set-up or involves a lengthy tie-in. It looks nice, though, thanks to the presence of Jason Fabok on art.

If nothing else, Emperor Penguin is better than the preceding volumes and may lead to better things, so we'll see how it shakes out. For now, I'd say it's worth a look if you can find it in the library.

My Opinion: Try It

Batman/Superman: Game Over (comics)

Writers: Greg Pak, Paul Levtiz
Artists: Jae Lee, Brett Booth, RB Silva, Kenneth Rocafort, Phillip Tan
Collects: Batman/Superman #5-9, Batman/Superman Annual #1, Worlds Finest #20-21

After I read and enjoyed volume one of the New 52 Batman/Superman title, I'd hoped that would extend to the second. Unfortunately, Game Over is not quite as strong as Cross World for a variety of reasons. Part of that is down to some uneven stories. The rest is art clash.

Plotwise, there are three arcs over the course of this volume and they range from okay to good, without anything really standing out. The first is the one the volume takes its name after. Toymaster has a new augmented reality video game which can, without his knowledge, take control of actual people and heroes, thanks to meddling by Mongul. Since it's just a video game, the players decide to fight heroes. Sadly true to life, as plenty of people get their rocks off playing evil pricks in video games, when given the option. The second takes place over the entire annual and is something of a sequel, involving Battleworld, Monguls son and a tournament for right of succession. The last is a crossover with Worlds Finest, where the titular duo finally meet the multiverse lost castaways from Earth 2. Can family get much more extended than "from an alternate universe"?

The first is just okay. There's an interesting plot to be made with the idea of an alien like Mongul using the bloodthirsty nature of "gamers" to his advantage and attempting to turn them into something he can use. "Gamers" are assholes, or at least a good portion of them are. Twenty plus years playing them and exposing myself to online communities did a lot to clue me in to that. But it's undermined a bit by feeling too much like a generic action story in the visual terms. There are no HUDs, no indicators that might resemble anything you see or link to a game. The only out of place thing is chibi versions of the players hovering around like they're goddamned Mr. Mxyplkt; not exactly a common sight. At best, it's like some weird AR game.

The voices feel off, too, which is probably why it's a bad idea to try too hard to imitate the voice of any particular group. Maybe it would have felt more authentic if the players were incredibly toxic and blindingly racist. Five minutes playing any multiplayer game with randos would tell you that's how "gamers" really sound.

I might like the annual the best. It's a done-in-one, using the oversized special for one story involving Battleworld, making it a bit of a follow-up to the first arc. It may just be that it has the first whiff of Jae Lee art in the volume. I'm not sure. But it was fun enough watching the two families battle in a gladiator tournament, helping Monguls son keep his throne.

Rounding out the volume is a crossover with Worlds Finest, where Huntress (Helena Wayne) and Power Girl - castoffs from Earth 2, dumped into the main universe in that comics first issue - meet the main universe counterparts of their father and cousin, respectively. It was an inevitable encounter, one Pak and Levitz mine for all the awkward comparisons and strained bonding you would expect. I feel like I might have pulled more from it, were I familiar with what Paul Levitz had been doing in Worlds Finest - I assume the antagonist and area the group ends up in was set up in previous issues of that book - but it holds together well just on the emotional weight of the meeting and their continued sadness over being cut off from home. It ends on an interesting look at what I assume are at-the-time recent developments in the Earth 2 comic proper; I'd always meant to read more of that, but to date have not managed to pick up the second volume.

So, all well and good on the story end, but nothing too spectacular. It might have been elevated with top shelf art, but unfortunately that's not exactly a given with this book. You saw the number under "artists", right? Five of them, not including Scott McDaniel, who did breakdowns for an issue late in the volume. I like the work of most of them.

One problem. They're not Jae Lee. Or, more accurately, some of them don't really gel with Jae Lee.

Maybe I just got the wrong idea, but I kind of assumed this book, at the start, was going to be more of a Jae Lee project, with him doing the bulk of the art. If you're using that guy, you'd want to have him doing as much as possible, right? Even if it leaves the book just kind of doing it's own thing. I mean, its nothing new. Remember the pre-Flashpoint Superman/Batman title? A good book, half the time, and mostly divorced from whatever else is going on in the universe. So there's precedent. But instead we kind of end up with fill-in guest arcs and while at least one story was tailored for that - I can't really picture Game Over being done by Jae Lee, even if there wasn't much done artistically with it as is - it's not really what I wanted.

But you know, that's fine too, because that's an artist for an arc. There's a clear breaking point. It's iffier when you're alternating artists with Jae Lee in one story or arc. Jae Lees work is distinct. No one else looks like him. I liked the annual a lot, but when art duties switched to Kenneth Rocafort - an artist I like a lot - for part two, it stood out. It's even worse when Batman/Superman alternates chapters with Worlds Finest, because RB Silvas artwork - which is also pretty good on its own - may be the furthest removed from Lees style, leaving zero visual consistency between issues. It leaves the First Contact arc feeling like patchwork, artistically. I feel like Lee should have either done the entire annual or the entire crossover, but not both.

The end result is a volume that feels uneven. Nothing inside is what I'd consider outright bad, but the Game Over arc is forgettable and the art feels like it whips all over the place. The book hasn't gone back to the events of the first volume yet either, aside from the title characters having an occasional inkling that they'd forgotten something during First Contact, so if that's what you're looking for, you're not going to find it here. I'd go so far as to say you can probably give this volume a pass if you want. Next volume seems like it might be more substantial anyway.

My Opinion: Skip It

Batman: Earth One vol. 2 (comics)

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Gary Frank
Original Graphic Novel

Volume One was a pretty decent start, but suffered from a weak antagonist that detracted from an otherwise compelling portrayal of Bruce Waynes extremely rocky road to basic competency as a vigilante. Volume Two builds off what the first started, but it's an upgrade in a lot of ways without sacrificing what worked the first time around.

Much like Supermans second Earth One outing, we're veering into this continuities version of classic rogues. This time, it's the Riddler taking center stage, with a subplot involving Killer Croc. Riddler basically starts giving riddles to groups of Gotham citizens. If they answer it correctly, they live. If they fail, they're dead.

On its surface, the idea of murderin' Riddler is a bit off-putting, as it seems pretty grim-dark at first glance. I've always felt his stint as a private detective, competing against Batman for fame and glory, was as good as the character has ever been. But in the context of a new continuity divorced from the main line, it works. He's tied to events in the first volume and ends up with a fairly clear motive that works for the world that has been set up so far.

Of the two, I like what they've done with Croc more. Croc is a character that, if you think about it, is easy to give a sympathetic angle given some of his varying origins, but I can't think of too many times they've gone with something other than a thug or monster. Here, Johns and Frank decide to buck trend a bit, giving us a Croc who's just the victim of a skin condition and, frankly, might not even be all that bad a guy. His role in the story is brief, but by the end he seems set to become a recurring character, which I'm actually all for.

If there's a reinvention of a rogue that poses a problem, it's the one for Two-Face. Without giving too much away, it seems JMS and Geoff Johns both had the same idea. The situation in this volume echoes what was done with a classic Superman rogue in volume three of that Earth One series pretty heavily. The two were even released but a scant three months apart. It's not a huge deal, but if you've read both series you're going to notice it.

Before moving on, I should say that I appreciate that Earth One has completely eschewed use of the Joker thus far.  He is a classic villain by all counts, but it's nice to have a build-up for once and use different people. Joker's going to show up at some point, let's not even kid ourselves, but I'm hoping we make it through another volume or two before we get there. Superman only made it to the third volume before it went to the Luthor well.

A lot of the aspects I enjoyed from the first volume are back, including the new version of Alfred. As I suspected, he hasn't given up on his mindset, though we've yet to see any major fight over it quite yet. It seems inevitable, though. I enjoy the differences from classic Alfred, especially the fact that Bruce Wayne now has a test of his resolve not to use guns and not to kill coming from within his inner circle. Our Earth One version of Harvey Bullock takes a back seat this volume - a shame, as I do enjoy this iteration - but he has enough page time to advance his character arc from where we left him at the end of volume one, despite so much else going on in this volume.

As for the Geoff Johns version of Batman, I like how this version of the character seems like he has to build himself from the ground up through literal on-the-job training. It's different from the norm, where Bruce Wayne takes, like, a ten year sabbatical to ready himself for his mission. In the first volume, he barely had a single clue what he was doing. Now, he's getting the hang of the fighting, but other aspects elude him. He doesn't know the first thing about being a detective, which becomes an issue in the midst of the story, and ends up having to ask Jim Gordon to teach him.

That's an interesting take. It suggests maybe this version of Bruce Wayne should have thought about what he was getting himself into and trained beforehand, like every other version, but as a reader it's something different and a worthwhile angle to explore with the character. Even in Year One, where things get off to a rocky start, the guy at least had a general idea what he was doing in most areas.

Gary Frank does as well as ever as the artist. He understands storytelling and action well. Two volumes in, I'm still a bit unsure about leaving Batmans eyes open like that, though. It might just be that I'm so used to the white eye lenses. In fairness, it does lend itself to a bit more details in expressions on the characters end. Anyway, there is what seems to be an art hiccup early in the book - Gordon is trying to get Bullock away from booze, Bullock says no, then the next panel has Gordon pour Bullock a drink - but that may be down to a coloring mistake on the coat, since we only see the torso and the drink pouring. So it's probably not on Frank anyway.

As a whole, the second volume is an improvement on what was already a decent enough start with the first volume. Everything is pulling together a bit better and this volume doesn't have the issue of a weak antagonist like the first. If this continues, this version of the character and his world might end up a genuinely worthwhile entry in the expansive, varied Batman franchise.

My Opinion: Read It

Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (animated film)

Voice Actors: Justin Chambers. C. Thomas Howell, Michael B. Jordan, Kevin McKidd

DC's animation has always been better than Marvels. I don't think that's really disputable and it goes all the way back to the days when Batman: The Animated Series went up with Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man and the others that were tossed an animated show back in the 90's. Their films have, as expected, been mixed, but I'd say there have been more hits than misses. Up to this point, they had all mostly been their own entities. After this point, they endeavored to connect them all a bit more in a loose continuity.

In a way, the Flashpoint Paradox ends up serving the same purpose it did in the comics, if not quite as directly; as a bridge between the old and the new.

The plot is a fairly basic messy alternative timeline tale. Barry Allen wakes up at his desk one day to find that everything has changed. His mother - murdered when he was still a boy - is alive, his wife Iris is married to someone else, Bruce Wayne died in the alleyway instead of his parents and his powers are missing. What's resulted is a dark, bleak alternative timeline where the world stands at the gate of annihilation due to a looming war between the forces of Wonder Woman and the forces of Aquaman, each ruler of their respective kingdoms. Flash has to find a way to figure out what happened and fix it before it's too late.

I like these kind of stories, typically, because you can go places you usually can't. That said, this tale, much like the comic it's based off of, goes a bit too far, in my estimation, and ends up feeling very much the opposite of what the DC universe should. It comes down to a lot of things that build to a whole and not any one thing.

The part that chaffes the most is that, in painting this bleak setting, this film - and the comic, really - went a little too far with the characters in this timeline. Of the groups we see, only a few are true heroes, not including The Flash. That's Cyborg and the people he associates with, including the Shazam kids. Everyone else has gone crazy loco to the point that it's hard to believe even the ripple effects in time surrounding a point of divergence would do this.

Wonder Woman, for instance, has gone full straw feminist, to the point of suggesting she might just kill off men at the climax of her fight with Aquaman. Speaking of Aquaman, he's now completely unreasonable and nuts on the level you might expect from his brother, Ocean Master. He has a doomsday device that sank a good portion of Europe in an attempt to strike at Wonder Woman and not only does he not care, he seems alright with the idea of sinking all of land right up until it's suggested using his doomsday weapon again might kill everything. Not even JLU Aquaman was this unreasonable, and when he first appeared he was kind of a prick.

Wonder Womans entire deal is compassion. I'm not even a huge fan of the character, but you're going to have a hard time convincing me she could go this far over much of anything. I have a hard time believing she'd just behead Mera amidst an assassination attempt and wear her crown like a trophy. I have a harder time believing she'd become the killer of kids, even if those kids could become Shazam with but a word. Seriously, she kills Billy Batson near the end.

There's also the case of the film alluding to - or showing in truncated form - a lot of the subplots and side stories the comic event had in its tie-ins. In some cases, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's all but outright stated that the loss of Bruce drove Martha Wayne insane, to the point she became this worlds Joker, but thankfully they don't try to waste everyones time showing the story of the tie-in in truncated form. Instead, it gives just enough hints to inform Thomas Waynes character and make you wish you could see that story without wasting time giving a version without proper attention. Lois Lanes "Resistance Fighter" plotline is given a few minutes, but manages to tie into the main plot by ultimately giving Flash a clue, so that's fine.

Others, however, are pointlessly done. There's a subplot about the US government trying to find and disable the doomsday weapon that ends up utterly pointless. It shows Deathstroke and what he did in truncated form, seeming to build that whole thing up, but 'Stroke doesn't get anywhere other than informing them where it is. Then Hal Jordan's the second part of this subplot, wrenching in his story from the tie-in miniseries. Only, oops, he can't get the job done. The US brass give up and hide at this point and Aquaman doesn't even bother to retaliate. At the climax, the weapon goes off. So we wasted a good ten to fifteen minutes trying to tie both in to the film in some way, ultimately going nowhere. The Superman arc doesn't fare much better; they rescue him mid film, he flies off, then he returns at the climax, fails to save Cyborg and ceases to be a part of the overall struggle. So, why even bring him into the film?

You could argue that it gives the world color, but you know, that's what the comic tie-ins were meant to do. Here, we're supposed to be adapting the main story and if the side stuff can't really be tied into that, there's no point. They could have cut twenty minutes of this movie, come up with ten minutes of original stuff to connect the dots more and get the runtime back up a bit and ultimately end up with a tighter movie.

But those are mostly problems with structure. They're not so glaring that they really kill the film. Plus, they could be fixed. No, the real problem with this film is the same problem the actual comic it's based on had.

This just isn't a very heroic story.

Spoilers Ahead.

As it turns out, the cause of the altered timeline isn't even the Reverse Flash, as we assume along with Barry. Nope, that's the twist. The culprit is actually Barry Allen. See, Barry went back in time to save his mother, but that one act unfortunately had a ripple effect, as Barrys run to change time caused some kind of sonic boom in time that threw everything off or something. Hence why everything went wrong.

Okay, so, not a big deal. Flash made a mistake, right? Heroes can do that. He can fix it. That's what the story is about.

The problem is Barry cannot even save the world he's in before he changes everything. To his credit, it's every bit his intention. He does not want to go back and fix the timestream until he's saved THIS world, because dammit, that's what heroes do. But he can't. Everything goes horribly wrong. The climax of the film is pretty much everyone dying in the big, final fight while Reverse Flash beats the crap out of Barry. Then, the doomsday device goes off and everything dies. The world is actually ending and Flash has to run fast enough to escape that, go back in time and stop all of it.

The climax of the film is constructed so that the world basically ends, the hero cannot save it and he actually has to run away from it and hope that changing the timeline means it never existed. That's your ending. The day is saved by the hero running away from doomsday, because he could not stop doomsday and ultimately accomplished nothing there, in the world his actions created. If there's an animated multiverse and that world split off and ended up one of them when the timeline was changed back, safe to say it's freaking gone.

Yeah. I don't know either, man.

You probably think I might hate this film by now. It would be a safe guess. The comic series itself wasn't one of my favorites for similar reasons. Yet, somehow, I kind of enjoyed this?

I'm not sure how, but I had a decent time watching it. Maybe it's just because it's hard to get me to hate something, I don't know, but there were good qualities, including the animation. The bookends were great too, with Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen interacting. The last scene, with Barry giving Bruce a message from his father, had some weight. The first scene had the Flash in top form, fighting some of his rogues and calling his friends for help in the League, who manage to handle the situation well. Batman shows a subtle moment of caring about Barrys well being. The action scenes were nice. The voice cast worked well, with some old school favorites returning to voice the role they - or in one instance, their father - are best known for; Sam Daly as Superman, Ron Perlman as Deathstroke, Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne, so on.

I don't know. It's not the best story and it's not a particularly heroic story, which I think is something DC really ought to play up more. But I had fun with it? It's hard to explain. It's troubled but still strangely enjoyable. You might still like it. Just be aware going in that it has problems. If it doesn't sound like your cup of tea - and I completely understand that - you won't miss anything if you give it a pass.

One last note. Despite the billing, this isn't really a Justice League film. It's very much a Flash movie in disguise. Maybe more of a team up film between the Flash, an alternate Batman and Cyborg, really. The actual Justice League, as a team, is only in the opening.

My Opinion: Skip It

Heartwarming Batman Moments: Reverse Flash basically tells Flash, at the end of the opening scene, that he can never save everyone or get the job done when it counts. Batman immediately moves to dismiss those words before they can get to Flash, saying the man is a sociopath who knows just how to get under your skin. When Barry still seems affected, Batman cares enough to ask Barry if he's okay. Later, when Barry gives him the letter from his father, he actually tears up a bit and tells Barry he's a hell of a messenger, which is obviously an unspoken "thank you".

Batman and Robin: Dark Knight vs White Knight (comics)

Writers: Paul Cornell, Peter J. Tomasi, Judd Winick
Artists: Scott McDaniel, Patrick Gleason, Greg Tocchini
Collects: Batman and Robin #17-25

This, my friends, is what we call a holding pattern.

Grant Morrison had just finished up on this title - its part to play in his ongoing Batman Epic over - and despite the insistence it should be by armchair analysts who feel they know it all, it wasn't cancelled. In fact, they had a pretty exciting team lined up to take over. Peter J Tomasi and Patrick Gleason.

Well, turns out Flashpoint was just around the corner, so there's some time to kill; might as well get an arc out of the two with the old status quo, rotate some other teams in and start their actual run in earnest with the relaunch.

That's not to say Dark Knight vs White Knight is without merit. Of the three arcs collected, two are decent to good, with only one dropping to mediocre. Paul Cornell's story has an old flame of Bruce Waynes come back to haunt his sons, seemingly for Bruces negligence. Tomasi's arc concerns a new villain, the titular "White Knight"; the name is lame, but he has an interesting hook in that he aims to kill off the family lines of everyone in Arkham to stop the spread of their "evil".

Only Judd Winicks arc really falls below par. It concerns Jason Todd - a character Winick knows well - and while that's enough to get your interest it never really goes anywhere. It seems to exist mainly to undo the position Todd had been put in at the end of the second arc of Morrisons run on the title. Why? I don't know. The relaunch was right around the corner. I mean, we don't even find out the motives of the group that's after him; they're just there, seemingly for no other reason than to give the three sons of Batman someone to fight. It's competantly written and has a few fun scenes, but once you get to the end and nothing feels truly resolved, the whole thing feels like stalling.

For some reason I can't fathom, the last issue of Batman and Robin - issue #26 - is absent. Why? I haven't a damn clue. the trade was already nine issues. There's no good reason not to slip the last issue of the volume in, especially considering there is nowhere else it would fit and as such it went uncollected. No, it's fine, it's not like it was the issue I wanted to read the most out of the ten.

The art is, for the most part, pretty damn good. I'm not always the biggest fan of Scott McDaniels art, but there's no question it works for Batman. Patrick Gleason is just excellent and rightly goes on to be a steady hand in the Bat books from here on out. But it's the last arc that stumbles. The first issue of the three is a half and half job between Guillem March and Andre Bressan. That's not so bad; Bressan does a good enough job aping Marchs style. No, where things go sour is when we switch to Tocchini for the last two issues.

Now, I like Tocchini's artwork - his style reminds me a bit of Frazier Irving, though part of it comes down to the coloring - but stylistically it's the most jarring shift you could ever ask for mid-arc. Why? Hell if I know.

But hey. Two out of three ain't bad, right? Aside from the missing issue, which probably annoys me a hell of a lot more than it would you, this is a fairly solid volume. Not something you just gotta have, but for something coming out sandwiched between two long, acclaimed runs, you could do a lot worse.

My Opinion: Try It

Batman: The Dark Knight - Mad (comics)

Writer: Gregg Hurwitz
Artists: Ethan Van Sciver, Szymon Kudranski
Collects: Batman: The Dark Knight #16-21, Annual #1

Three volumes in and The Dark Knight seems to be settling in to its own niche as the "villain origin" book. Last volume, the debut of Gregg Hurwitz as the new ongoing writer, focused on the Scarecrow. It was decent, but not something I was in a rush to review; if I had, the vast majority of it would have focused on the fact that Batman hooked himself up to a device on the Batplane and bled all over the city to cure Scarecrows latest toxin, because reasons.

Perhaps the most "important" development of this comic has been the introduction of a new love interest for Batman. We almost immediately dropped into familiar territory with that one, with Bruce almost immediately feeling she's "the one". Also familiar is his desire to share his secret identity with her, as well as the desire to retire from crime fighting to foster said relationship.

Do I even need to tell you where this is going? If you answer "they fridged her", well, of course they did. Barring the animated Phantasm movie that kind of development never goes in any other direction. Which leads you to wonder what the point is. Creating a love interest only to kill her off in a short span of time, said event accomplishing nothing, really.

That's really the problem here; familiarity is the death of this volume. It's a Mad Hatter story and it's the exact Mad Hatter story you're thinking of. You know the one. He concocts a Wonderland for his Alice - an unrequited crush from the past - and then attempts to kidnap her. I suppose I understand the desire - Batman: The Animated Series nailed it on the first try, but the comics never really translated it into a "definitive" story - but it adds to that derivative feeling.

One thing I do enjoy regarding Hurwitz approach is his use of flashback. We cut to them fairly often, each one showing the past events that led the villain to their current state. It started last volume with the Scarecrow story and continues here. It's an obvious pattern, but it does allow us to get into the things that made them who they are a little better.

I'm hoping they lay off the childhood trauma bit, though. I can appreciate it in certain characters, but at times it feels like all writers think a villain needs a sympathetic connection to the reader stemming from some form of abuse. While that's a very true to life scenario, it's getting to the point of over-saturation. Sometimes, a villain should just be left as an evil dickbag.

Oh, there's an annual too. It focuses on a few of the rogues this series has handled thus far getting themselves trapped in an old, abandoned asylum for crazy kids and scaring themselves senseless out of fear that it's a trap set by Batman. In an amusing twist, they're at least half right.

The art is by Ethan Van Sciver. I hear he's popular with some folks. His work here is clean and fairly expressive. There's not a lot to talk about. Szymon Kurdanski handles the annual and one issue of the arc. His ark is murkier than Van Scivers. This helps sometimes, especially given the tone of the annual, but on the downside it leads to a few instances of unclear storytelling within his issues.

Overall, I wouldn't say this is a bad volume. There are parts of it I enjoyed. It's just derivative. There are worse things to be. It would be nice if we could get past that whole "create a female character for the sake of killing" deal though.

My Opinion: Try It

Overall, there are some scattered scenes I enjoyed

Batman/Superman: Cross World (comics)

Writer: Greg Pak
Artists: Jae Lee, Ben Oliver
Collects: Batman/Superman #1-4, Justice League #23.1: Darkseid

A good writer paired with a fantastic, but slow, artist. Said team is put on a monthly. Guess what went wrong?

By now, Batman/Superman has a bit of a reputation. It's constantly late, with delay after delay marring its schedule. Prior to the relaunch, this kind of thing wasn't as big of a deal unless the delays got out of hand - see Superman: Last Son - but after a relaunch that's done a good job of reigning in a publishing line riddled with delays, a comic like this will stick out like a sore thumb.

But hey, do you know what people never remember after a book has hit collection? Yup. Delays. Lucky, then, that Batman/Superman is good enough that it will probably overcome its punctuality issues as years go by.

It never hurts to start from the beginning. Cross World is the story of the first meeting of Batman and Superman in the New 52. It may even be the first time their initial adventure as a duo has been told in decades. So already it has instant appeal. Throw in alternate Earths, doubles from said Earth, even the impending threat Darkseid and stir. Not a bad concoction.

Cross World is not nearly as earth shaking as I probably make it out to be, but it serves its purpose well as an introduction to the Worlds Finest Team. Pairing them with older, wiser versions of themselves on their first adventure - who are, in contrast to "our" Batman and Superman, long time best friends - is an inspired move that serves up a nice contrast. Nothing groundbreaking, but it doesn't need to be; you don't always have to reinvent the wheel.

One thing I particularly enjoy is that it has a place in the puzzle of the DCU's beginning. There are plenty of things to criticize when it comes to DC's approach to the New 52 initiative, but one thing they did right was to stagger the rollout of any origin stories, taking that task one piece at a time. The end result is a linear telling of the DCU's opening year, starting with Batman: Zero Year, feeding to Batman/Superman to Grant Morrisons Action Comics run to the Origin arc of Justice League.

Say what you will about some of those stories - you may recall that Origin is not my favorite comic - but we have a straight line through the big milestone moments. That may be a first for DC. Most attempts to tie things together in the past were wild and often contradictory, leaving plenty of questions as to what was canon and what wasn't; see the did-it-or-didn't-it-happen dance around JLA: Year One for just one example.

If anything bothered me, it's the ending. Essentially, the adventure is wiped from their minds, save the scenes in the park where they meet for the first time in their civilian identities. Obviously, that's not built to last - you just know they'll remember the events at some point - but it feels like a cheap out. That said, it doesn't ruin the book.

Jae Lee's artwork really elevates the material, in my eyes. This would be a perfectly readable arc without it, but Lee's style goes a long way toward making it a must read. Lee is minimalistic in regard to background, but coupled with his sense of design and panel composition, it works amazingly well. Your eye sticks to what it needs to. I'm sure this comic is maddening to read in single installments, given the mammoth delays, but as a collected edition it has none of those issues and holds together beautifully as a result.

I doubt Lee will be on the book for long - when you need six months worth of fill-in to keep a book going between arcs, even with a crossover, the writing is on the wall - but it's nice to have while it lasts, even if DC ought to have known better.

Also collected is the villains month issue for Darkseid - also written by Pak - which serves as something of an origin story for the New Gods. I'm not sure if it's all new material - I'm not well versed in the Kirby lore - but it's fairly compelling backstory. It may be the first concrete details we have regarding the New Gods in the New 52. I'm not entirely sure. Either way, it fits in well, given its ties to a character that played a major role in the events of Cross World.

One more thing to note. I don't know if it's just the copy I got from the library or it's a recurring issue, but several pages of the first issue collected were quite blurry. Production error? Whatever the case, it's distracting and can make the test difficult to read. I hope it's not a major problem.

All told, I don't have any major complaints with Cross World and I liked it enough that I'll be back for more.

My Opinion: Read It

Detective Comics: Scare Tactics (comics)

Writers: Tony Daniel, Gregg Hurwitz, James Tynion IV
Artists: Tony Daniel, Ed Benes, Pere Perez and a metric ton of others in the backups
Collects: Detective Comics (vol. 2) #8-12, #0, Detective Comics Annual #1, plus all the backups

Volume One was a swing and a miss. The focus on a new villain was laudable, but Daniel forgot to make him interesting, despite having six issues to do it. Volume Two manages to fix some of the issues that plagued the first, enough to be worth the read, but it's also Daniels last. He seemed to catch on to what needed fixing just as he was leaving.

Figures, right?

Length has a lot to do with the improvement. Perhaps it's because he was winding down his run, but Daniel decided not to go with another six issue plotline; instead, he busts the page space into smaller chunks. None of the stories go past three issues. In fact, the majority of them are all of a single issue. As regards actually writing a comic, Tony Daniel is as hit or miss as they come. By keeping the length under control, he's made it easier to deal with the losers of the bunch; after all, if a given story is a dud, it's far easier to sit through when it's only a single issue as opposed to six.

As a side benefit, there's a fair bit of variety to Scare Tactics. The Court of Owls are around for an issue, the Mad Hatter pops up, Dr. Strange cameos, Daniel introduces what I believe is a new villain in Mr. Toxic - who holds the only multi issue plot in the volume - and Catwoman even pops in for a few pages. Scarecrow's around too, but despite the obvious allusion to him in the title, he's there for all of two pages. The book doesn't just sit around, content to stick with one focus; since one issue stories make up the majority of the volume, we're constantly moving to something different.

The annual is the last issue Tony Daniel scripted. In a way, it's his run on the character coming full circle. Life After Death was far from the greatest comic to ever hit the racks, but it's easily the biggest story Tony Daniel ever did with Batman; it warranted tie-ins, a miniseries that acted as a prologue or side story and references throughout the line. Fitting then that Daniel revisits the Black Mask one more time before departing.

It's the quintessential "putting the toys back in the toybox" story. Life After Death was meant to retool the Black Mask character in the wake of his death way back when, putting a new face beneath the mask. With the relaunch, that's no longer necessary - plus that story sort of removed the one Arkham figurehead Batman could interact with - so with a a cursory reference to his death and a handwave, Roman Sionis is back. It serves its purpose - and what follows is a fairly decent little adventure - but it's far from remarkable.

Part of the problem is that I just couldn't get used to Daniels take on Black Mask. My favorite voice for the character has always been the one we got out of Judd Winicks "Under the Hood"; Winick gave him intelligence, purpose and a dark wit that elicited sincere laughter out of me on several occasions. In comparison, Daniels take lacks personality; as a result, it feels as though he's only used so Daniel could use the relaunch to fix a few things.

None of the stories are all that remarkable, but at least I didn't forget it after about a week like the last volume. The collection finishes with a series of backup strips; I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I believe it's every one up to the last issue of this collection. They range from good to dull to outright bizzare; Two-Face chills with some zen monks or something? The one about Jokers severed face is the best. They aren't worth the price of admission alone but they're nice extras.

My Opinion: Try It

The last hurrah of Tony Daniels Detective Comics is an improvement over the prior volume, yet still far from remarkable. Worth a read if you see it in the local library, since there's no need to have read the first. Not sure it's worth a purchase though.

Batman: The Dark Knight - Knight Terrors (comic)

Writer: Paul Jenkins, David Finch
Artist: David Finch
Collects: Batman: The Dark Knight #1-9

Of the New 52 line, The Dark Knight is one of the books I had the lowest expectations for. Golden Dawn was not what you'd call high art and that's without taking into account the fact that Finch couldn't even manage five full issues of art in a years time. Hard to have much confidence in that.

Knight Terrors exceeded my super low expectations, but that's not saying much. The comic is still a hot mess.

Do you enjoy reading a Batman who's kind of an idiot? Yeah, me neither. The Batman we get in Knight Terrors simply cannot put two and two together even when the clues all but slap him in the face. It's not like there's some complex caper going on, either; you can guess who's behind it on the last page of issue one and you're not even supposed to be a great detective!

The plot is almost as dumb; very action figure-y, much like Golden Dawn. It does, however, give Finch plenty to draw. If he didn't get to tackle everything he wanted to with the first story, I'm sure he has now. Just about everyone shows up in Knight Terrors, whether they add to the story, such as it is, or not. If you really like David Finchs art - or hell, are even jonesing for some classic rogues* - that may be reason to check this out.

I'll give Finch credit; he defied my expectations. He actually manages seven full issues before a guest penciller has to step in for an issue. Really makes you wonder what the hell the problem was with the first series. His work is typical David Finch; maybe a little less detailed due to the strict deadlines, but still easily recognizable as his. That includes the drawbacks.

Artists who like to draw females on the verge of cheesecake are pretty common in comicss, but Finch kind of takes it to a new level here. The White Rabbit is just... wow. Here we have a character who is literally running around, occasionally tormenting Batman, in her underwear. White corset and pink panties. Dead serious. The White Rabbit is a walking ass shot. Even Psylocke - Miss Ass Floss herself - would look at her and go "damn, put it away girl".

The highlight of the whole book is probably the last issue, a Court of Owls tie-in. Judd Winick scripts, giving us a tale of an old Talon the court retired when age dulled his skills. It's a nice one-shot, giving some background to one of the numerous Talons the Court employs. Winicks best work has always been with Gotham, in my opinion, so it's always nice to see him jump back in. The issue even has David Finch on art, so he's actually lending his work to a story that makes sense! I know, I'm as surprised as you are.

But regardless of how good it is, one issue cannot save an entire volume.

Oh, one last thing. I mentioned in the review for Golden Dawn that I had no clue if anything from that volume would re-appear. Now I can say that's a no for sure. I have zero faith anything from this volume will be resolved either, since a new writer is on board for the next volume.

My Opinion: Skip It

This comic almost makes me want to re-evaluate my stance on Faces of Death. At least that one kind of held together. If you really like the artwork of David Finch, you can bump the score up one. Otherwise, I'd wait for the next volume of this book or just read another Batman book instead.

* The other Batman books are mostly concerned with new villains. I could be mistaken, but I think The Dark Knight is the only one that didn't follow this trend.

Detective Comics: Faces of Death (comic)

Writer/Artist: Tony Daniel
Collects: Detective Comics (vol. 2) #1-7

I've always liked Tony Daniel as an artist, but as a writer he leaves something to be desired. The plots are rarely gripping and it's easy to forget a lot of what you just read. Even with this book, which I read a week or so ago, I've been struggling to recall what happened without going back to the book for a refresher. Never a good sign; even worse when we're talking about one of the flagship Batman books in the wake of a line-wide relaunch.

Don't be fooled by the cover, either; after the first issue, the Joker vanishes, not to be seen again until Scott Snyders "Death of the Family".

Faces of Death actually focuses on a new villain. A laudable approach that I'm all for DC doing more of. Trouble is, said new villain has no spark. The Dollmaker is not much of a character beyond the fact that he cuts faces off, which is an MO we could get from any old grimdark comic book. Without an interesting threat, the book just kind of falls apart.

Still, I enjoy Daniels artwork, as always. A lot of people give him flack for being too "90's", but his style's always worked for me. He's not quite as reliably good an artist as some - he seems to like to experiment with technique a lot, which doesn't always pan out - but when he's on top he can make some really memorable images. Memorable as in "wow, that's a cool splash", not "uhh... huh, a splash page of Jokers severed face". Unfortunately, those type are in short supply here, but the art is still pleasant enough.

Even so, there's nothing here that you just gotta see and it's not quite good enough to make up for the lackluster story.

My Opinion: Skip It

Faces of Death isn't really "awful", but it's forgettable enough that I'm comfortable saying you don't need to bother. Kind of a dud, all things considered. Tony Daniel's done better.

Batman: Earth One (comics)

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Gary Frank
Original Graphic Novel

The only thing that surprises me about this is how long it took DC to put Geoff Johns on a Batman project. Teaming with him for it is Gary Frank, the artist of Geoffs all too brief run on Action Comics. It sounds good creatively, but do they manage to make a good book?

Right away, it's apparent this isn't the Batman we know. DC has done more than their fair share of stories regarding Batmans early years, but despite his inexperience or mistakes he makes, there's still a baseline level of competance there. In Earth One, Batmans first night out is an unmitigated disaster; his grapple gun backfires, he misses a jump and ends up in a trash heap. Hell, by the end of the book, it's plain to see that the legend of the Batman far outstrips the reality; Bruce Wayne will have to work hard to actually be on the level the public immediately assumes he is.

Alfred is one of the biggest changes. I remember during the hype phase when a lot was made about the characters new background as a Royal Marine. It isn't without merit, because it alters the dynamic completely; Alfreds mindset is that of a soldier, putting him at odds with Batman, who is against guns and killing. The new dynamic makes the book, providing ample fodder for an endlessly interesting take on the vigilante and his butler.

One aspect I like about the interaction is that Alfred does not understand why Bruce Wayne will not use guns as Batman. Obviously, his rule against guns is, by now, ingrained into the character. When you think a lot about him, the reasons make sense. We understand why he does not use them. But it's rare anyone ever challenges him about it. Everyone simply goes along with Batmans rules. Alfred doesn't push the matter too far here, but it does not seem like an issue he will just drop. It could be interesting to see a full scale blowout over the issue, with the mindset of a soldier clashing with the mindset of a man who wants nothing more than to keep someone else from losing their loved ones to a criminal act like he did.

Johns version of Harvey Bullock is also compelling. Essentially a glory seeking reality TV cop, Bullock comes to Gotham when his show dries up looking for new prospects. Everyone immediately writes him off, especially Gordon. But as we go on Bullocks better nature comes to the fore, his nature as an outsider shining a spotlight on just how screwed up Gotham has become.

Unfortunately, not every change works. So far the Earth One books seem intent on using original villains in their first outing. Trouble is, they're duds right from the start. Superman was saddled with a new villain who was as cookie cutter as it gets and ultimately amounted to little more than a plot device. A familiar rogue does come out to play in Batman: Earth One, but his role is minor. No, the book hinges on finding the victims of the new guy before he butchers them.

I'm talking about Birthday Boy, our "paint by the numbers" serial killer. He is ridiculous. That's not a bad thing to be, but taken in the context of what Johns and Frank have set up, he sticks out like a sore thumb. I mean, here we are with a relatively down to Earth take on the genesis of Batman and along comes this hulking behemoth with a party hat who says "make a wish, but don't tell anyone" before stabbing his victim. The only hint of motive is a throwaway line near the end and he lacks any sort of interesting facet to him. He's just there so Batman can fight someone in the third act. They could have slipped Zasz in there and I don't think anyone would know the difference.

What this leaves us with is a book without a compelling challenge for Batman, whether we're talking physical or psychological. Thankfully, the obvious challenges that face Bruce Wayne take up the slack. Johns and Frank do a fine job of showing us a Batman who might just be in over his head - who might not even be ready for the task he's set for himself - and that's where the heart of the book lies. The book could have done with saving any of the rogues gallery for the next volume and would probably have been better for it.

Luckily, what's good about Earth One is good enough to come back and see where Johns and Frank might be going with it.

My Opinion: Try It

Between this and Superman, it's clear the Earth One line is not for purists. Some people have very clear opinions about these characters and often lash out at anything that deviates. Trouble is, Earth One is all about the deviation, which puts it at a critical disadvantage. Walk in with an open mind and there's a good chance it will work for you.

All Star Batman and Robin (comic)

Writer: Frank Miller
Artist: Jim Lee
Collects: All Star Batman & Robin #1-9

Frank Miller's at a point where he's not the surefire hit he used to be. Oh sure, he'll probably sell a lot of copies of whatever book he's putting out, but critically he's fallen pretty far. Kind of hard not to, though, when you put out shit like Holy Terror.

If Dark Knight Strikes Again was the book that made everyone realize he could, in fact, do wrong, All Star Batman is where people started to turn on him. The book is a love it or hate it affair among fans these days, but for a while there it was the joke of the internet for several reasons. The dark mirror of the universally beloved All Star Superman.

Its reputation is somewhat deserved. I've rarely seen a book filled with characters this unlikable. Wonder Woman is a radical misandrist - she calls a random passerby a "sperm bank" for no other reason than he had the misfortune of walking near her - Batman is the guy forching a freshly traumatized child to eat rats, Commissioner Gordon is a guy who chats on the phone with his former flame while his wife is in the other room and so on. If there's a single decent person in this book, it's Alfred.

Frank Millers typical traits are on full display. Everyones a slut, whore or at least dresses like one. First time we see Vicki Vale she's on the phone in her lingerie while inexplicably wearing high heels in the comfort of her penthouse. An ass shot follows within three panels, of course. The protagonist is a cackling, uber-violent maniac. It's like Miller never managed to dial things back after Sin City.

Worse still, it feels like it takes forever for the book to go anywhere. Only in the last issue or so do we get the idea that Miller may be going somewhere with this. Where that is, only he knows. After all, this volume collects nine of the ten issues released in the seven years since the book started. As it stands now, the book has vanished into the ether with the six issue conclusion wildly off schedule*. It's tempting to wonder if anyone will even care by the time this finishes.

Is there any merit to the story? I suppose. Millers Batman has always openly opined that his fight against crime is a war, which is taken to its absolute breaking point with Robins recruitment. Dick Grayson is practically drafted into this "war" and the parallel doesn't stop there. In the old days, part of the point of the training was to break you, to mold you into the killer the army wanted and needed. The effects were, frankly, real bad; we hear a lot about how utterly broken many soldiers were after wars**. The cruel treatment of Grayson seems a similar attempt to mold him and it seems just as likely to break him. It likely even explains the murderous psychopath he became by DKSA; like a soldier, it seems this treatment had ill effects that never truly went away and going by this book the blame can be laid entirely at Batmans feet.

The Batman Miller has been writing since DKSA is a hell of a lot less heroic - despite the good his actions inspire - and definitely more of an outright psycopath. I suppose that's a perfectly valid interpretation and there's certainly no harm in it existing as a contrast to the typical heroic Batman. Still, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

Using Jim Lee for the artwork is an odd choice, one I'm not sure paid off. We'll set aside the delays it caused for now; the problem is more that Lee does not seem to suit Millers world. When we think of Millers Dark Knight work, we visualize his artwork, faults and all. Lee, however, is much more mainstream with his art; it's cleaner, brighter, smoother and suited more to a regular depiction of Batman. The result is a man doing the best art of his career on a book that isn't quite suited to it.

Perhaps when the conclusion hits at some vague point in the future this book will hold up better, but as is it's a curiosity at best.

The Score: 6 out of 10

Lee's artwork is worth an eight, at least, but on the whole this book is a misfire. It has merit, but little I can really appreciate. I can understand why others like it - it can be funny at times if taken as a deliberate parody of Millers typical work - but I don't think it's for me. Not something I can recommend.

* Fitting, I suppose, given the books notorious delays. At one point there was something like a year between issues. All Star Batman truly is the Duke Nukem forever of the comic world. Ten to one it'll disappoint just as badly.

** My step-fathers father was a particularly bad case. His war was Nam. He came back an abusive, horrible man who had any good in him destroyed by the experience. Stories of my step-fathers childhood are pretty heartbreaking in regards to the abuse. I've also heard plenty about how his father would wake up from a dead sleep, dive for cover, flip the coffee table and scream about Charlie over the ridge. Chilling stuff to hear about.

Batman: Bruce Wayne - The Road Home

Writers: Fabian Nicieza, Mike W. Barr, Bryan Q. Miller, Adam Beechen and others
Artists: Cliff Richards, Roman Bachs, Pere Perez, Scott McDaniel and others
Collects: All eight "Bruce Wayne: The Road Home" one-shots

Kind of inevitable that DC would want to capitalize on Bruce Waynes return from that whole time traveling thing, right? So I can't blame them for this. But these kind of "shove some product out there to get some extra scratch" projects rarely produce anything of value. The Road Home is no different.

Taking place in some nebulous time period where Bruce is back but Dick and Damian have conveniently forgotten this fact*, dude decides "hey, may as well check up on everybody and see how they've done in my absence". Of course he doesn't tell any of them he's back and screws with their operations to test them. That's right folks, we're in Batstard territory; right after Grant Morrison went through all that work to close the book on the whole "Batman treats his comrades like crap" meme.

Meanwhile, Vicki Vales continued snooping into the identity of the Caped Crusader finally lands her in real trouble**, as someone has put a big ol' bullseye on her back.

Originally I thought this miniseries existed to show the Bat families reaction to Bruce Waynes return. Turns out there's only a little of that, since Bruce is hiding his return for most of the book. In order to give this story some manner of an overarching plot, Fabian Nicieza decided to use it to finish up the Vicki Vale subplot he's been toying with whenever he got hold of a Bat family book for a bit.

It's a good idea, but the problem is that Fabian only writes three of the eight one shots. The Vale plot is still carried through the others, but as a consequence it's decompressed. We take some slightly ridiculous turns - such as Vale getting herself involved in the Gotham Underground in her quest to prove Batmans identity, because that's somehow necessary and couldn't possibly go wrong - leading to things like Batmans rogues going after her for her knowledge when they have no bearing on the endgame. As a result, things lose focus and what could have been an interesting story had Fabian handled the entire thing is instead stretched to its breaking point.

Which is kind of a shame, because I like Fabians writing well enough when he's on his game. I think I would have enjoyed this plot with Vicki Vale chasing the identity of Batman and his family under normal circumstances, like a four or five issue arc in one of the Bat titles. Sadly, the patchwork nature of this format assures it does not get the sendoff it needed.

Outside of all that, there are some nice touches. I quite enjoyed the Batgirl issue, done by the usual creative team of her ongoing at the time, even if there was a bit too much Batstard involved. The Commishioner Gordon issue had some nice, moody art. It's just not enough to raise this fairly disappointing volume.

The Score: 5.5 out of 10

Don't bother. It's not really worth the money. A possible exception may be if you've been following the Vicki Vale story prior and want to see how it ends.

* That or Batman & Robin Must Die has yet to take place. I suppose, if you must place this somewhere in continuity - I say "why bother" since it's not that great, but some folks prefer knowing - it's probably right after Return of Bruce Wayne but before Batman & Robin Must Die. Kind of hurts the climax of that one, if you ask me.

** It seems the lions share of this subplot took place in Red Robin.