Category: Batman

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Batman Chronicles volume 10


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Don Cameron, Joseph Greene, Joe Samachson, Dick Sprang, Jack Burnley, Jerry Robinson, Norman Fallon, George Roussos, Fred Ray & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2895-8

Debuting twelve months after Superman, “The Bat-Man” (joined within a year by Robin, the Boy Wonder) cemented DC/National Comics as the market and conceptual leader of the burgeoning comicbook industry. Having established the scope and parameters of the metahuman in their Man of Tomorrow, the magnificently mortal physical perfection and dashing derring-do of strictly human-scaled adventures starring the Dynamic Duo rapidly became the swashbuckling benchmark by which all four-colour crimebusters were judged.

This tenth volume of chronologically re-presented Batman yarns from the dawn of his incredible career covers Batman #18-19, Detective Comics #78-81 and World’s Finest Comics #11 (spanning August to November 1943), once again featuring adventures produced during the scary days of World War II.

It’s certainly no coincidence that many of these Golden Age treasures are also some of the best and most reprinted tales in the Batman canon, as lead writer Bill Finger was increasingly supplemented by the talents of Don Cameron, Joe Samachson, Joe Green and others, whilst graphic genius Dick Sprang was slowly growing into his role as major creative force for the feature: transforming the Dynamic Duo into another hugely successful franchise.

The war seemed to stimulate a peak of creativity and production, with everybody on the Home Front keen to do their bit – even if that was simply making kids of all ages forget their troubles for a brief while – and these tales were created just as the dark tide was turning and an odour of hopeful optimism was creeping into the escapist, crime-busting yarns and especially the stunning covers: seen here in the work of Jack Burnley, Sprang & Stan Kaye, Jerry Robinson and Kane…

The compelling dramas open with ‘The Bond Wagon’ (by Greene, Burnley & George Roussos from Detective Comics #78) which pushed the patriotic agenda when Robin’s efforts to raise war funds through a parade of historical look-alikes is targeted by Nazi spies and sympathisers, after which Batman #18 opens with a spectacular and visually stunning crime-caper wherein the Gotham Gangbusters clash again with rascally rotund rogues Tweedledum and Tweedledee whilst solving ‘The Secret of Hunter’s Inn!’ by Samachson & Robinson.

Then ‘Robin Studies his Lessons!’ (Samachson, Kane & Robinson) sees the Boy Wonder grounded from all crime-busting duties until his school work improved – even if it means Batman dying for want of his astounding assistance!

Bill Finger and Burnley brothers Jack and Ray crafted ‘The Good Samaritan Cops’: another brilliant and absorbing human interest drama focused on the tense but unglamorous work of the Police Emergency Squad before the action temporarily ends with a shocking and powerful final engagement for manic physician and felonious mastermind Matthew Thorne: ‘The Crime Surgeon!’ (Finger, Kane & Robinson), who tries his deft and devilish hand at masterminding other crooks’ capers…

Over in Detective Comics #79 ‘Destiny’s Auction’, by Cameron & Robinson, offers another sterling human interest melodrama as a fortune teller’s prognostications lead to fame, fortune and deadly danger for a failed actress, has-been actor and superstitious gangster…

The creation of Superman propelled National Comics to the forefront of their fledgling industry and in 1939 the company was licensed to produce a commemorative comicbook celebrating the start of the New York World’s Fair, with the Man of Tomorrow prominently featured among the four-colour stars of the appropriately titled New York World’s Fair Comics.

A year later, following the birth of Batman and Robin, National combined Dark Knight, Boy Wonder and Action Ace on the cover of the follow-up New York World’s Fair 1940.The spectacular 96-page anthology was a tremendous success and the oversized bonanza format was established, becoming Spring 1941’s World’s Best Comics #1, before finally settling on the now-legendary title World’s Finest Comics from the second issue, beginning a stellar 45-year run which only ended as part of the massive clear-out and de-cluttering exercise that was Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Until 1954 and the swingeing axe-blows of rising print costs, the only place Superman and Batman ever met was on the stunning covers by the likes of Burnley, Fred Ray and others. Between those sturdy card covers, the heroes maintained a strict non-collaboration policy and #11’s (Fall 1943) Batman episode revealed ‘A Thief in Time!’ (Finger & Robinson inked by Fred Ray) which pitted the Gotham Gangbusters against future-felon Rob Callender, who fell through a time-warp and thought he’d found the perfect way to get rich.

Detective #80 saw the turbulent tragedy of deranged, double-edged threat Harvey Kent finally resolved after a typically terrific tussle with ‘The End of Two-Face!’ by Finger, Kane, Robinson & Roussos, after which Batman #19 unleashes another quartet of compelling crime-busting cases.

There’s no mistaking the magnificent artwork of rising star Dick Sprang who pencilled every tale in this astounding issue, beginning with Cameron’s ‘Batman Makes a Deadline!’ wherein the Dark Knight investigated skulduggery and attempted murder at the City’s biggest newspaper. He also scripted the breathtaking fantasy masterpiece ‘Atlantis Goes to War!’ with the Dynamic Duo rescuing that fabled submerged city from overwhelming Nazi assault.

The Joker reared his garish head again in the anonymously penned thriller ‘The Case of the Timid Lion!’ (perhaps William Woolfolk or Jack Schiff?) with the Clown Prince of Crime enraged and lethal whilst tracking down an impostor committing crazy capers in his name before Samachson, Sprang and inker Norman Fallon unmasked the ‘Collector of Millionaires’ with Dick Grayson covertly investigating his wealthy mentor’s bewildering abduction and subsequent replacement by a cunning doppelganger…

This fabulous foray into timeless wonder concludes with ‘The Cavalier of Crime!’ (Detective #81, by Cameron, Kane & Roussos) which introduced another bizarre and baroque costumed crazy who pitted his rapacious wits and sharp edged weapons against the Dynamic Duo – naturally and ultimately to no avail…

This stuff set the standard for comic superheroes. Whatever you like now, you owe it to these tales. Superman gave us the idea, and writers like Finger and Cameron refined and defined the meta-structure of the costumed crime-fighter. Where the Man of Steel was as much social force and wish fulfilment as hero, Batman and Robin did what we ordinary mortals wanted to do.

They taught bad people the lesson they deserved.

The history of the American comicbook industry in almost every major aspect stems from the raw, vital and still powerfully compelling tales of DC’s twin icons: Superman and Batman.

It’s only fair and fitting that both those characters are still going strong and that their earliest adventures can be relived in chronological order in a variety of formats from relatively economical newsprint paperbacks to deluxe hardcover commemorative Archive editions.

However, to my mind, such tales of elemental power and joyful exuberance, brimming with deep mood and addictive action are best enjoyed in these pulp-textured, four-colour facsimiles – as close to the originals in feel and tone as we can get these days.

Comic book heroics simply don’t come any better.
© 1943, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman – Streets of Gotham volume 2: Leviathan


By Paul Dini, Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2906-1

With all the furore and hype surrounding the death and inevitable resurrection of Batman cunningly orchestrated by Grant Morrison, everybody seemed so concerned with what was going to happen next that they apparently ignored what was actually occurring in the monthly comicbooks in their hands.

Now with the dust long settled let’s take a look at one of the better satellite-series to come out of the braided Batman R.I.P./Final Crisis/Last Rites/Batman Reborn/Return of Bruce Wayne publishing events…

In the aftermath of the epochal loss of the Gotham Guardian, a sustained and epic Battle for the Cowl ensued amongst the fallen hero’s closest allies. Eventually Dick Grayson succeeded his lost mentor, carrying on the tradition if not the methodology of the Dark Knight, with Bruce Wayne’s League of Assassins-trained son Damian continuing as the headstrong and potentially lethal latest iteration of Robin, the Boy Wonder…

This sterling submission, illustrated throughout by Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs, collects the contents of the monthly Batman: Streets of Gotham # 5-11 (October 2009-April 2010) and offers grim glances at the hellish everyday lives of citizens in the worst city on Earth, beginning with the 2-part ‘Leviathan’ – scripted by Chris Yost – wherein the life of a young, hope-filled Gotham priest is examined and tested over painful years before a calamitous crisis of conscience bloodily erupts…

As his faith falters, the unpredictable Huntress frantically stalks Man-Bat Kirk Langstrom, convinced the self-mutated manhunter has finally slipped into carnivorous madness. Ignoring orders from Birds of Prey leader Barbara “Oracle” Gordon to merely subdue her quarry, the ruthless vigilante is determined to end forever the leather-winged horror’s attacks on Gotham’s citizens before eventually their ferocious extended struggle sends them smashing through the skylight of St. Aloysius‘ to land at the feet of troubled Father Mark.

…And that’s when the poor padre hears the voice in his ear telling him to kill both “The Beast” and “The Harlot”…

As Batman and Robin track new esoteric stealth weaponry being sold to premier gang boss Black Mask, in the church’s vault Father Mark struggles to carry out the Word of God. The order keeps coming, somehow further infuriating the already rabid Man-Bat, and Huntress at last realises that rather than going rogue Langstrom has been reacting to a threat only his bat-like super-senses can detect.

As the invisible killer forgoes cunning enticement for heavy ordinances the Dark Knight crashes in to save the day, but it’s Father Mark who actually executes a benison of salvation and finds redemption…

Scripted by the superb Paul Dini, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ then offers a dark Seasonal treat as Batman and Robin track demented tinkerer and part-time Santa Humpty Dumpty to his lair and discover a dormitory full of dead children.

However, as monstrous vigilante Abuse has already found, the tragic felon isn’t a killer, but instead is simply trying to “fix” the broken creatures he keeps finding floating in the river…

The discovery deeply affects the usually cocksure Boy Wonder, who is as determined as orphan Colin Wilkes, who escapes the nuns’ scrutiny every night to hunt adults who hurt children as the hulking, mutated Abuse…

And further upriver, psychopathic serial killer Mr. Zsasz puts his latest acquisitions to work, duelling to the death for the appreciative viewers and bettors of his underground juvenile gladiatorial bouts…

The case goes onto the backburner in the 2-part ‘Hardcore Nights’ (written by Mike Benson) when Jim Gordon alerts Batman to a spate of savage killings. Every victim is a career criminal and the Commissioner’s thoughts naturally tend to another vigilante in town, but the Gotham Gangbuster uncovers a link to a certain sex club worker and a darkly devious web of deceit, jealousy and murder…

Dini returns to script the last two tales in this compilation as ‘Heroes’ reveals how frail Colin gained his strange powers and abiding passion to punish abusers after the fear-mongering Scarecrow used the boy as a guinea pig for the madman’s terror-toxins and doses of super-steroid Venom.

Origin over, the tale returns to the present day as the lad uses himself as bait for whoever is snatching kids and runs into the scarily intense Damian trying the same stratagem…

Soon shanghaied by Zsasz, the over-confident boys are soon fighting for their lives in the mass-murderer’s ghastly arena, but by the time Batman arrives for the ‘Final Cut’ they have already demolished the foul fight club and one of them had to talk the other out of taking vengeance Old Testament style…

Bleak, ominously poignant and powerfully downbeat, Streets of Gotham is a visceral, imaginative and deliciously off-balance stage for the varied bat-cast to display their efficacy in frantic psycho-thrillers and moody crime capers set on the darkest avenues in all of comics…
© 2009, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Bruce Wayne – The Road Home


By Fabian Nicieza, Mike W. Barr, Bryan Q. Miller, Derek Fridolfs, Adam Beechen, Marc Andreyko & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3081-4

At the climax of a harrowing and sustained campaign of terror by insidious cabal The Black Hand and following an all-out invasion by the New Gods of Apokolips, the original Batman was apparently killed.

The world at large was unaware of the loss, leaving the superhero community to mourn in secret whilst a small, dedicated army of assistants, protégés and allies – trained over years by the contingency-obsessed Dark Knight – formed the Network to police Gotham City in the days which followed: marking time until a successor could be found or the original restored…

Most of the Bat-schooled battalion refused to believe their inspirational mentor dead. On the understanding that he was merely lost, they eventually accepted Dick Grayson (the first Robin and latterly Nightwing) as a stand-in until Bruce Wayne could find his way back to them…

This companion volume to Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne features eight one-shot specials depicting how after the original Dark Knight (marooned in the corridors of history by Darkseid) got back, he created a new identity to scrutinise just how his absence had affected the friends and deputies who soldiered on without him in the urban hell-pit he called home.

Collecting the outrageously tongue-twisting octet Batman: Bruce Wayne: Batman & Robin #1, Batman: Bruce Wayne: Red Robin #1, Batman: Bruce Wayne: Outsiders #1, Batman: Bruce Wayne: Batgirl #1, Batman: Bruce Wayne: Catwoman #1, Batman: Bruce Wayne: Commissioner Gordon #1, Batman: Bruce Wayne: Oracle #1 and Batman: Bruce Wayne: Ra’s Al Ghul #1 from December 2010, the drama begins with ‘Outside Looking In’ by Fabian Nicieza & Cliff Richards and a covert scrutiny of Bruce’s son Damien Wayne and Grayson – the triumphantly innovative new Batman & Robin…

As these Partners in Peril are foiling an attack on Mayor Hady by super-assassins the Hangmen, former star reporter Vicki Vale is nailing down the story of her life.

She has spent months assiduously gathering snippets of information, following hunches and piecing vague suspicions together and is now convinced that she has identified the secret identities of all Gotham’s Bat guardians – and that her old boyfriend Bruce is Batman.

All she needs is proof, and when she finds a bat-bug placed on her by Dick, she has it…

As the Dynamic Duo follow the last Hangman, they are unaware that they are in turn being tracked by an enigmatic armoured figure whose all-encompassing bodysuit mimics the many powers of the Justice League…

Elsewhere caretaker patriarch Alfred Pennyworth enacts a desperate plan to deceive Vicki, blackmailing Tommy Elliot – the villain Hush, who had turned himself into a perfect duplicate of Bruce – into again impersonating the missing playboy, but the canny journalist is not fooled…

Elsewhere the enigmatic Insider rendezvous with Tim Drake AKA Red Robin.

The third Boy Wonder already knows who is inside the super-suit and tentatively acknowledges the necessity of keeping the return a secret, but comes bearing critical new information. He has discovered the abortive scheme to murder Hady was only part of a concerted international effort by cadres of assassins to eradicate city leaders across the globe…

With a live case going global Bruce is forced to adapt his reconnaissance assessment mission on the fly…

The saga continues in Batman: Bruce Wayne: Red Robin #1, where ‘The Insider’ (Nicieza Ramon Bachs & John Lucas) sees Tim head for Amsterdam and a confrontation with killer cabal The Council of Spiders. The battle leads to a reunion with unpredictable erstwhile companion Prudence, a former member of the League of Assassins and devout follower of immortal conqueror Ra’s Al Ghul.

She claims to serve Tim now but the lad has his doubts…

Even together they are barely a match for the arachnoid assassins, but then the Insider appears…

In Gotham Alfred plays his final card and tells Vicki everything she’s compiled and deduced is true. While she’s reeling he then swipes her only piece of evidence…

Back in Holland Insider, having infiltrated the Spiders, uses their initiation assignment to test Tim’s combat skills in a no-holds barred rooftop battle, having discovered the planet-wide contract on city leaders is part of a mystery manipulator’s vast, inexplicable Tournament of Death…

When Batman’s methods clashed with the JLA’s scruples, the Dark Knight formed his own superteam. Eventually he dumped them, only occasionally reuniting with Geo-Force, Halo, Looker, Katana and the rest.

Now in Batman: Bruce Wayne: Outsiders #1, (‘Inside Interference’ by Mike W. Barr, Javier Saltares, Rebecca Buchman & Walden Wong) the returned crusader travels to European kingdom Markovia to find his former followers in the midst of civil unrest with their current leader targeted for death…

Having sorted that crisis with a little inside help, Bruce confronts his forth sidekick Stephanie Brown…

Daughter of C-list bad-guy Cluemaster, she began her costumed crime-busting career as the Spoiler, secretly scotching Daddy Dearest’s schemes before graduating to a more general campaign against the city’s underworld.

Eventually, she undertook a disastrous stint as the fourth Robin: a tenure which provoked a brutal gang war which devastated Gotham and ostensibly caused her own demise under torture at the red hands of psychopathic mob boss Black Mask.

When Stephanie returned to Gotham after months in self-imposed exile, she overcame incredible obstacles – the greatest of which was the Bat-family’s deep mistrust – and inherited the role of Batgirl from Cassandra Cain, a former assassin who had revived the role after her own predecessor was crippled and forced to retire…

Batman: Bruce Wayne: Batgirl #1, ‘Batgirl’ by Bryan Q. Miller & Pere Perez sees the Insider directly assault the flamboyant, cocky teen tornado, simultaneously testing her fighting skills and deductive abilities even as elsewhere the undaunted Vicki Vale attempts to push original Batgirl Barbara Gordon into an unguarded admission…

Selina Kyle had taken Bruce’s death hard, aligning herself with known felons Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. In Batman: Bruce Wayne: Catwoman #1, ‘Lifting the Vale’ by Derek Fridolfs, Peter Nguyen & Ryan Winn, the former thief and her new gal-pals save Vicki from disaster when she invades an underworld auction. It’s all a scam however as the feline fury only wants to copy all the journalist’s findings for Bruce…

The most impressive chapter here is the stark and shocking ‘Gotham’s Finest’ (Adam Beechen & Szymon Kudranski) from Batman: Bruce Wayne: Commissioner Gordon #1. In it the Tournament of Death takes a personal turn when Vicki becomes the target of The Penguin‘s metahuman mercenaries and Gotham’s top cop has to fight his way out of his own HQ with her, whilst every bent officer on the force tries to kill them.

With the Insider almost too late Jim Gordon proves just why he’s the man Batman respects and trusts the most…

Police Commissioner’s daughter Barbara became computer crusader Oracle after her career as Batgirl ended when the Joker blew out her spine during one of his manic kill sprees. Although trapped in a wheelchair, she still hungered for justice and found new ways to make a difference in a very bad world.

Reinventing herself as a cyber-world information gatherer for Batman, she became an invaluable resource for the entire superhero community, before putting together her own fluctuating squad of crimefighters – the Birds of Prey.

With the grudging acceptance of stand-in Dark Knight Dick Grayson, she mentored Stephanie as the troublesome teen attempted to combine undergraduate studies with her compulsive mission to save lives and help the helpless…

In ‘Oracle’ by Mark Andreyko & Agustin Padilla (Batman: Bruce Wayne: Oracle #1) Babs makes the missing connections and works out who’s behind the massed assassin squads around the world… and how it impacts the entire Bat Network.

However with the legendary Seven Men of Death moving to silence Vicki – now revealed as the ultimate target – Oracle sets the Insider to guard the journalist while she activates all her available Birds (Man-Bat, Hawk & Dove, Ragman, Manhunter and Batgirl), but even their massed might is insufficient to prevent the reporter being abducted by Batman’s hidden foe: a man who will let nothing sully the pristine reputation and myth of the only person on Earth worthy of his respect…

With a cover gallery by Shane Davis & Barbara Ciardo, the sprawling, explosively absorbing saga concludes with the inevitable confrontation between the resurgent Bruce and his polar opposite as Batman: Bruce Wayne: Ra’s Al Ghul #1, (by Nicieza, Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens) details the final fate of Vicki in ‘A Life Worth Saving’…

Fast, furious, complex and enticing, this is a spectacular and accessible yarn that stands on its own merits, so even the freshest newcomers and the very antithesis of Batmaniacs can enjoy the helter-skelter thrill-ride in perfect confidence of a great read.
© 2010, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: the Return of Bruce Wayne


By Grant Morrison, Chris Sprouse, Frazer Irving, Yanick Paquette, Georges Jeanty, Ryan Sook, Lee Garbett & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3382-2

At the climax of a harrowing and sustained campaign of terror by insidious cabal The Black Hand, immediately followed by an all-out invasion of Earth by the hordes of Apokolips, the Batman was apparently killed – slain by Darkseid‘s lethal, time-rending Omega beams.

Although the larger world was unaware of the tragedy, the superhero community secretly mourned and a small, dedicated army of assistants, protégés and allies – trained over years by the contingency-obsessed Dark Knight – formed a “Network” to police GothamCity in the days which followed: marking time until a successor could be found or the original returned…

Most of the Bat-schooled battalion refused to believe their inspirational mentor dead. On the understanding that he was merely lost, they eventually accepted Dick Grayson – the first Robin and latterly Nightwing – as a stand-in until Bruce Wayne could find his way back to them…

That fantastic voyage was detailed in the 6-issue miniseries Batman: the Return of Bruce Wayne (July-December 2010), scripted by Grant Morrison and following the indeed alive Wayne as he leaped through the eons, gradually getting closer and closer to his home, each chapter a different era illustrated by all-star creators…

It begins with ‘Shadow on Stone’ (limned by Chris Sprouse & Karl Story) as a hunting party of the Deer tribe discover a gleaming fallen “sky-cart”. The object is in fact a time capsule from our time and nearby Bruce Wayne is slowly adapting to being marooned in Palaeolithic times. His gradual acceptance by the awestruck cavemen is interrupted by the attack of marauders from the Blood tribe, led by the immortal killer the future calls Vandal Savage.

Despite valiant resistance the Deer warriors die, until only the bat-draped stranger and a lone cave boy remain. Badly wounded and taken for sacrifice, Batman is later rescued by the lad who brings trinkets from the time capsule and the time-lost hero’s utility belt. As an eclipse covers the sun, Man of Bats routs the Blood Mob and defeats Savage, before plunging into a pool and vanishing…

Only the boy remains and he is met by gods. Superman, Green Lantern, Booster Gold and Rip Hunter are tracking Batman through time and arrive just as he vanishes. They are determined to stop him returning to the 21st century at all costs…

Even as the amazed boy begins to record the stories of the mysterious Bat warrior, Wayne resurfaces in Puritan New England, saving a woman from a hideous tentacled demon…

Illustrated by Frazer Irving ‘Until the End of Time’ relates how, even with his memory failing, Wayne impersonates a witch-hunter and befriends shunned spinster Goodwife Annie Tyler in the failing colony of Gotham. As Brother Mordecai he is a most unconventional witch finder, ignoring obvious signs of Satan and solving a murder with unseemly observational tricks…

Vanishing Point is a fortress-university at the End of Time and here, as Reality counts down its final minutes, a quartet of costumed time-travellers quiz the Biorganic Archivist AI, hoping to track Batman’s erratic course through the time-stream. They’re all painfully aware that cruel, subtle Darkseid has turned their friend into a weapon to destroy Earth if the Dark Knight ever reaches his home time…

Superman meets and almost stops him at Vanishing Point, but Wayne has already slipped back into the time-stream, having instituted his own ingenious survival plan…

Tragically the paranoia of 16th century Gotham and Mordecai’s waning influence won’t spare Annie, especially as the time-monster Batman initially drove off is still haunting the woods around the settlement and chief inquisitor Nathaniel Wayne is sworn to eradicate all vestiges of the unholy.

The pious Puritan earns Annie’s dying curse for his entire line as he hangs her, but his roving descendent cannot hear. He has fallen centuries ahead and – more memories eradicated – landed at the feet of legendary reiver Blackbeard Thatch…

‘The Bones of Bristol Bay’ (art by Yanick Paquette & Michel Lacombe) finds the amnesiac mistaken for heroic third-generation buccaneer the Black Pirate and forced to lead the murdering corsair Thatch through the winding, yet strangely familiar cave system beneath Gotham County.

In search of buried gold the murderers encounter instead the deadly traps of the unspeakably ancient Miagani: troglodytic native tribesmen known as the Bat-People…

In the 21st century, the Justice League hold a war council, heatedly debating how to stop their indomitable comrade from returning and setting off Darkseid’s ultimate booby trap. Tim Drake has searched old records and interpreted 40,000 years of myths and legends following his mentor’s trail through history, but Red Robin is only there as an advisor and cannot make the adults listen to him…

With Blackbeard beaten, the memory-challenged wanderer examines the sacred relics of the Bat People – a battered cape, trinkets, a fragile yellow belt of many pockets – and something stirs in his clouded mind…

Georges Jeanty & Walden Wong then illustrate a violent stopover in 1870s Gotham as ‘Dark Knight, Dark Rider’ initially shifts focus to the hereditary guardians of the records and artefacts left by grateful folk who have encountered the Bat over unceasing centuries.

One such family is slaughtered by outlaws working for undying but cancer-ridden Monsieur Sauvage, and their surviving daughter taken to explain the secret of the box with a bat-shaped lock…

Katie‘s abductors have been remorselessly stalked by a bat-garbed stranger who doesn’t carry a gun. The silent avenger has tracked them back to boomtown Gotham, mercilessly depleting their numbers, but the immortal Frenchman is confidant that his tame medicine man Midnight Horse and debased Barbatos-worshipping doctor Thomas Wayne can make the girl talk before the hunter finds them.

Even if he does, his newly hired gunfighter Jonah Hex should even the odds…

The stranger rescues the girl and foils the villains but not before the bounty hunter gut shoots him…

He wakes in a Gotham of recent vintage, a place of glitz and glamour but one morally broken and irredeemably corrupt.  ‘Masquerade’ – with art by Ryan Sook, Pere Perez & Mick Gray – sees the memory-wiped hero hired from a hospital bed by Martha Wayne‘s best friend to prove that the tragic socialite was murdered by her husband Thomas, who faked his own death and abandoned their young son Bruce…

Illustrated by Lee Garbett, Perez, Alejandro Sicat & Wong, the intricate machinations of Darkseid grow closer to fruition as the hero, stripped of everything but innate deductive instinct, uncovers a sinister, bloodthirsty plot by new criminal organisation the Black Hand. His instinctive struggle against the schemers won, the time-nomad makes the final short hop to the now where his arrival will instantly trigger ‘The All-Over’ …

Batman, of course, is the most brilliant escape artist of all time and even whilst being struck down by the New God of Evil had devised an impossibly complex and grandly far-reaching scheme to beat the devil and save the world…

With a covers-&-variants gallery by Adam Kubert, Sprouse, Irving, Paquette, Cameron Stewart, Sook, Garbett & Bill Sienkiewicz, this grandiose, gripping and astonishingly complex epic odyssey is a devious delight that will delight modern fans and casual visitors alike and this sterling compilation also includes the revelatory 15-page art feature ‘Back in Time: The Return of Bruce Wayne Sketchbook’ by Morrison, Kubert, Sprouse, Irving, Paquette & Sook.
© 2010, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman/Batman: Supergirl

New Revised Review

By Jeph Loeb, Michael Turner & Peter Steigerwald (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-4012-0347-7

In a shock of sheer horror, I realised over Christmas that I’ve been doing this for over 20 years: firstly in magazines like Comics Forum and books like Slings and Arrows, then as an online critic for the Comics Creators Guild website, before starting the independent Now Read This! in 2007.
Moreover many of those early efforts weren’t particularly fair or good – a side-effect of being literally bombarded non-stop with volumes one wouldn’t generally pick to read.
Thus in a probably futile effort to be less judgemental I’ve been going over older reviews, rethinking some previous pronouncements and will be making amends over the months to come.
What’s really worrying is how many I haven’t changed my mind about…

For many years Superman and Batman worked together as the “World’s Finest” team. They were best friends and the pairing made perfect financial sense as National/DC’s most popular heroes could cross-sell their combined readerships.

When the characters were redefined for the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths 1980s, they were remade as cautious but respectful co-workers who did the same job whilst deploring each other’s methods. They preferred to avoid contact whenever possible – except when they were in the Justice League – but then, the character continuity of team titles has always been largely at odds with heroes at home in their own titles…

After a few years of this new status quo the irresistible lure of Cape & Cowl Capers inexorably brought them together again with modern emotional intensity derived from their incontestably differing methods and characters.

For decades DC really couldn’t make up their minds over Supergirl. I’ve actually lost count of the number of different versions that have cropped up over the years, and I’ve never been able to shake the queasy feeling that above all else she’s a concept that was cynically shifted from being a way to get girls reading comics to one calculated to ease young male readers over that bumpy patch between sporadic chin-hair outbreaks, voices breaking and that nervous period of hiding things under your mattress where your mum never, never ever looks…

After a few intriguing test-runs she debuted as a future star of the ever-expanding Superman pocket universe in Action Comics #252 (May 1959). Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El had been born on a city-sized fragment of Krypton, hurled intact into space when the planet exploded. Eventually Argo City turned to Kryptonite like the rest of the detonated world’s debris and her dying parents, observing Earth through their vision-scopes, sent their daughter to safety as they apparently perished.

Landing on Earth, she met Superman who created the identity of Linda Lee and hid her in an orphanage whilst she learned of her new world and powers in secrecy and safety.

Her popularity waxed and waned over the years until she was earmarked for destruction as part of the clearout of attention-grabbing deaths during the aforementioned Crisis on Infinite Earths.

However as detailed in scripter Jeph Loeb’s introduction ‘On the Roller Coaster or, How Supergirl Returned to the DCU for the First Time’, after John Byrne successfully rebooted the Man of Steel, non-Kryptonian iterations began to appear – each with their own fans – until early in the 21st century the company Powers-that-Be decided the real Girl of Steel should come back… sort of…

Thus this visually intoxicating version (reprinting Superman/Batman #8-13, May-October 2004) resets to the original concept and has a naked blonde chick arrive on a Kryptonite meteor, claiming to be Superman’s cousin…

Written by Loeb with captivating art by Michael Turner & Peter Steigerwald, the action commences in the aftermath of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies wherein a Green Kryptonite asteroid crashed to Earth. Now in ‘Alone’, as a quarantined Superman chafes at enforced detention, the Dark Knight explores a section of the meteor submerged in Gotham Bay.

The JLA have all been active, clearing away the deadly fragments, but this last one is most disturbing. As Batman quickly grasps, it’s a ship but its single passenger is missing…

Soon the Gotham Guardian is tracking a wave of destruction caused by a seemingly confused teenaged girl with incredible powers and only Superman’s unwise early intervention stops the mounting carnage. Their subsequent investigations reveal the comely captive to have all the Man of Tomorrow’s abilities and she claims – in fluent Kryptonian – to be the daughter of his long-dead uncle Zor-El…

The mystery further unfolds in ‘Visitor’ as a deeply suspicious Batman and ecstatic Superman continue their researches, arguing their corners as the most powerful girl on Earth becomes increasingly impatient. Fuelling the Dark Knight’s concern is superdog Krypto‘s clear and savage hostility to the newcomer and Kara‘s claims that she has amnesia…

Then as Clark Kent endeavours to acclimatise his cousin to life on Earth, on the hellish world of Apokolips vile Granny Goodness and her Female Furies are ordered by ultimate evil space-god Darkseid to acquire the pliable naive newcomer…

Before they can strike, however, an attack comes from an unexpected source, as former ally Harbinger, ruthless hunter Artemis and beloved ally Wonder Woman ambush the Kryptonians. …

Princess Diana has acted arbitrarily nut from necessity: kidnapping Kara and bringing her to the island home of the Amazons to be trained in the use of her powers as a ‘Warrior’. Superman’s growing obsession has rendered him unable to see her potential for destruction, despite a cryptic message on her space ship from Zor-El, and Wonder Woman decided to strike first and ask later…

With tempers barely cooled, Dark Knight and Man of Steel are invited to observe Kara’s progress weeks later, just as the tropical Paradise is assaulted by an army of artificial Doomsdays manufactured on Apokolips…

The wave of slaughter is a feint, but by the time the horrors are all destroyed, the Female Furies have done their work, slaughtering Kara’s only friend and stealing her away…

In ‘Prisoner’, DC’s superheroic high trinity enlist the aid of Apokolyptian émigré Big Barda and stage a devastating rescue mission to Darkseid’s homeworld, but not before the Lord of evil apparently twists the innocent Girl of Steel into his tool: a ‘Traitor’ to the living…

The Master of Apokolips has never faced a foe as adamant as Batman and the quartet are unexpectedly victorious, but after returning Kara to Earth and announcing her as the new Supergirl, the heroes discover that they are not safe or secure, and in ‘Hero’ Darkseid horrifyingly returns to exact his ultimate revenge…

This hardcover collection also includes a covers-&-variant gallery by Turner, Steigerwald, Jim Lee & Scott Williams, assorted roughs and a wealth of production Sketches, and a nifty 2-page translation key for the Kryptonian Alphabet.

For me, the most intriguing aspect of this sometimes overly-sentimental tale is Batman’s utter distrust and suspicion of Kara as she is hidden from the world while she assimilates, but there’s plenty of beautifully rendered action (plus oodles of lovingly rendered girl-flesh and titillating fetish outfits jostling for attention amidst the lavish fight-scenes and interminable guest-cameos) and enough sheer spectacle to satisfy any Fights ‘n’ Tights fans.
© 2004, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman/Batman: Night and Day


By Michael Green, Mike Johnson, Scott Kolins, Francis Manapul, Rafael Albuquerque & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2808-8

For decades Superman and Batman were quintessential superhero partners: the “World’s Finest team”. The affable champions were best buddies as well as mutually respectful colleagues, and their pairing made sound financial sense since DC’s top heroes could happily cross-pollinate and cross-sell their combined readerships.

In darker post-Crisis on Infinite Earth Times, the champions were retconned into grudging colleagues, at odds with each other over their methods and attitudes: as different as night and day, but with the passage of time the relationship was revitalised and renewed and the World’s Finest Heroes were fully restored to their bizarrely apt pre-eminence, regaining respect and friendship even though they were still in most ways polar opposites.

Finally, after a few tentative miniseries forays, in 2003 the World’s Finest Superheroes bowed to the inevitable and officially reunited in a new team-up series entitled Superman/Batman: an angsty, edgy, post-modern take on a relationship almost as old as the industry itself.

Reformed as firm friends for the style-over-content 21st century, their new stories were all big blockbuster events by major creators, designed to be repackaged as graphic novels. Eventually however the momentum slowed and shallow spectacle gave way to some genuinely interesting and different stories…

This volume contains Superman/Batman #60-63 and #65-67 (from 2009 and 2010), offering just such intriguing glimpses at other, lesser seen aspects of the mythology surrounding the Cape and Cowl Crusaders.

‘Mash-Up’ (by Michael Greene & Mike Johnson with art by Francis Manapul from Superman/Batman #60-61 from July & August 2009) apparently finds the Dark Knight and Man of Steel side-slipped into yet another alternate Earth where old and familiar faces take on new and disturbing forms. However, as they join the heroes of the valiant Justice Titans in battle against Lex Joker and Doomstroke, the razor sharp intellect and obsessive suspicions of Batman slowly determine a far more logical cause for their current situation; something only one of their old foes could possibly be behind…

There’s a far darker tone to ‘Sidekicked’ (Greene, Johnson and illustrated by Raphael Albuquerque from #62) as Tim (Robin III) Drake and Linda Lang AKA Supergirl meet for lunch and reminisce about their first meeting.

Left alone after their respective mentors were called away to a JLA emergency, the kids had to respond when a riot broke out at Arkham Asylum, but although Robin was worried that the sheltered ingénue from Krypton might not be prepared for crazed killers such as Joker, Two-Face, Scarecrow, Clayface, Mad Hatter, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy and Mr. Zsasz, it was his own sanity that nearly sundered before the kids finally triumphed…

‘Night & Day’ – Greene, Johnson & Albuquerque – from Superman/Batman #63 – finds Batman the last person free on an Earth dominated by super-gorilla Grodd. With Superman trapped off-world by a planetary Green Kryptonite force screen, the Dark Knight is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice to save his world – but once again, nothing is as it seems…

This volume omits #64, but resumes with more mindgames as ‘Sweet Dreams’ (#65 by Johnson, Matt Cherniss and artists Brian Stelfreeze, Brian Haberlin, Kelly Jones, Joe Quinones & Federico Dallocchio) depicts Superman’s greatest failures and Batman’s final breakdown – or at least that’s how the Scarecrow prefers to remember it…

The macabre madness of Blackest Night features in the concluding 2-parter by Scott Kolins from Superman/Batman #65-67 (January-February 2010) , as undead muck-monster Solomon Grundy is possessed by a Black Lantern ring and goes hunting for life to extinguish.

With every hero dead or preoccupied, tragic Man-Bat Kirk Langstrom and debased Superman clone Bizarro become unlikely defenders of humanity, with only the ferocious Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein of Super-Human Advanced Defense Executive to assist them. And ultimately at stake on the ‘Night of the Cure’ is salvation and peace for each of the ghastly travesties of life…

With a stunning gallery of covers by Manapul, Brian Buccellato, Albuquerque, Dustin Nguyen, Scott Kolins & Michael Atiyeh, this book delivers a superb series of short and sweet sharp shocks that no lover of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction could resist.
© 2009, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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World’s Finest


By Sterling Gates, Julian Lopez, Ramon F. Bachs, Jamal Igle, Phil Noto & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2797-5

For decades the Man of Tomorrow and Caped Crusader were quintessential superhero partners: the “World’s Finest team”. The affable champions were best buddies as well as mutually respectful colleagues and their pairing made sound financial sense since DC’s top heroes could happily cross-pollinate and cross-sell their combined readerships.

During the 1950s most superheroes of the American Golden Age faded away leaving only headliners Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman (plus whoever they could carry in the back of their assorted titles) to carry on a rather genteel campaign against a variety of thugs, monsters and aliens.

With economics and rising costs also dictating a reduction in average page counts, the once-sumptuous anthology World’s Finest Comics (originally 96 pages per issue), which had featured solo adventures of DC’s flagship heroes plus a wealth of other features, simply combined the twin stars into a single lead story every issue, beginning with #71, July-August 1954.

And so they proceeded until 1970 when another drop in superhero fortunes saw WFC become a Superman team-up book with rotating guest partners. However, after a couple of years, the original relationship was rekindled and renewed and, with the World’s Finest Heroes fully restored to their bizarrely apt pre-eminence, enjoyed another lengthy run until the title was cancelled during Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985-1986.

The maxi-series rewrote the DC universe, and everything was further shaken up by John Byrne’s subsequent retooling The Man of Steel which re-examined all the Caped Kryptonian’s close relationships in a darker, more cynical light.

When the characters were redefined for the post-Crisis era, they were recast as suspiciously respectful co-workers who did the same job but deplored each other’s methods and preferred to avoid contact whenever possible – except when they were in the Justice League of America (but for the sake of your sanity, don’t fret that right now!).

Over the following few years of this new status quo the irresistible lure of Cape & Cowl Capers inexorably brought them together again, but now with added modern emotional intensity derived from their incontestable differences.

Moreover, sentimental fools that we comics fans are, the sheer emotional cachet (and perhaps copyright value of the brand) ensured that every so often a new iteration of the singular title was released to keep all interested parties happy…

Thus this moody, cleverly post-modern 21st century spin on the irresistible combination of heroic dynasties which gathers World’s Finest volume 4, #1-4 from December 2009-March 2010, set during the period of the recent overarching Superman publishing event “World of New Krypton/World Without Superman”, wherein 100,000 Kryptonians who have escaped imprisonment in the Bottle City of Kandor gain superpowers under Sol’s light, and build themselves a planet in our solar system…

The book also contains supplementary material from Action Comics #865, 2008 and DC Comics Presents #31, 1981.

With the Man of Steel’s arch-nemesis General Zod prominent and pre-eminent in the newly re-established society of New Krypton, and most of Earth crazy-paranoid about a world full of belligerent supermen flying around in their backyard, Kal-El has abandoned his adopted homeworld to keep an eye on the system’s newest immigrants…

Earth is not completely defenceless, however. As well as the JLA and Superman’s hand-picked replacement Mon-El of Daxam, Supergirl and a mysterious “Superwoman” still fly the skies and top-secret, sinister paramilitary, anti-alien task force Project 7734 is watching, certain that there are other ET insurgents just waiting in hiding…

Against such a backdrop this quartet of interlinked team-ups written by Sterling Gates charts a heroic procession which begins with ‘Nightwing and Red Robin’ (illustrated by Julian Lopez and Bit) and finds the latest Kryptonian to use the appellative seek out the third Boy Wonder’s aid in rescuing his partner Flamebird from the insidious criminal broker The Penguin…

In Case You Weren’t Paying Attention: “The Dynamic Duo of Kandor” were first created by pulp author Edmond Hamilton with artists Curt Swan & George Klein for Superman #158 (January 1963, ‘Superman in Kandor!’) which saw raiders from the Kryptonian enclave attacking the Man of Steel and painting him as a traitor to his people.

The baffled Superman then infiltrated the BottleCity with Jimmy Olsen where they created Batman and Robin-inspired masked identities Nightwing and Flamebird to ferret out an answer.

Over intervening decades the roles were reprised by a number of others in Kandor and on Earth, before eventually being appropriated for Bat-characters when Dick Grayson became Nightwing and original Batgirl Bette Kane re-branded herself as Flamebird.

The latest heroes to use the names are Kryptonians masquerading as human heroes during this time of xenophobic hysteria: failed soldier and former priest Thara Ak-Var and Lor-Zod, a boy born in the Phantom Zone and briefly adopted by Lois and Clark Kent (for further details check out Superman: Nightwing and Flamebird volume 1).

With Thara captive, the former Christopher Kent has tracked down Tim Drake, whom he had previously met. They unite to rescue Flamebird, consequently uncovering an insidious, wide-ranging plan involving many members of their respective crime-busting clans as well as villains Kryptonite Man and the robotic Toyman…

With mission accomplished the heroes are replaced in #2 by ‘Guardian and Robin’ (art by Ramon F. Bachs & Rodney Ramos) as the clone of 1940s mystery man Jim Harper tries to fill the Man of Steel’s shoes in Metropolis, battling human Xerox machine Riot, only to run into the latest iteration of Robin (Damien Wayne, son of Bruce and Talia Al Ghul).

The acerbic, abrasive, assassin-trained 10-year old is tracking stolen Waynetech gear and won’t let super creeps like Mr. Freeze or the life-leeching Parasite stand in his way – even if it means having to work with sanctimonious old fogeys like the Golden Guardian. Sadly neither generation of hero is aware that Toyman will intercept their prisoners as soon as they hand them over to the cops…

In another part of Metropolis, cyber-crusader Oracle contacts the undercover Girl of Steel for a mission. The enigmatic data-wrangler has tracked Freeze and Kryptonite Man to Gotham but her usual operatives have been captured by the mystery mastermind behind the plot. Flying to the rescue, Kara Zor-El effects their rescue but chooses not to work with the morally-ambiguous Catwoman. She has no problems pairing with the junior partner, however…

‘Supergirl & Batgirl’ (illustrated by Jamal Igle, Jon Sibal & Jack Purcell) finds the Kryptonian bonding with Stephanie Brown (daughter of C-list bad-guy Cluemaster, and previously known as The Spoiler and fourth Robin) tracking the nefarious trio of nogoodniks and uncovering the truth behind the far-reaching plot.

The original aged paranoid inventor Toyman wants to remove forever the threat of the aliens above him. To that end he has constructed a monolithic Superman/Batman Robot, stuffed it with lethal Green -K ordinance (courtesy of reluctant hostage Kryptonite Man) and sent it hurtling towards New Krypton.

At least he would have if those interfering kids hadn’t become involved and set the monstrous K-droid rampaging through downtown GothamCity…

Everything pulls together for the climactic ‘Superman & Batman’ – with art from Phil Noto – as replacement Dark Knight Dick Grayson convinces the original Man of tomorrow to temporarily abandon his clandestine assignment on New Krypton to join him in stopping the rioting robot.

The new Daring Duo are as much hampered as assisted by Robin and Batgirl, and things go from bad to worse when the manic mechanoid finally launches for space with Supergirl and Batman still aboard…

Despite a lot of potentially confusing backstory to navigate, this is a tremendously engaging Fights ‘n’ Tights romp, packed with rollercoaster pace and drenched with light-hearted action: even finding room for a portentous teaser of more sinister games in play. As such it should amply reward fans of either or both franchises, but this tome also includes even more comics thrills, chills and spills.

It starts with an introduction from Sterling Gates dealing with how star scribe Geoff Johns married a myriad different and conflicting versions of one of Superman’s oldest foes into a viable and thoroughly competent revival, revealing the life-secrets and horrific motivations of ‘The Terrible Toyman’ (Action Comics #865, July 2008, illustrated by Jesus Merino) to doomed hostage Jimmy Olsen and, of course, us…

Dick Grayson also gets a another shot sharing the limelight with the Man of Steel as ‘The Deadliest Show on Earth’ (by Gerry Conway, José Luis García-López & Dick Giordano from DC Comics Presents #31, March 1981) concisely describes the odd couple’s pre-Crisis battle against a psychic vampire predating the performers at the troubled Sterling Circus…

With covers and variants by Noto, Kevin Maguire, Brad Anderson, Ross Andru & Giordano, this is a surprisingly satisfying superhero treat for all fans of Costumed Dramas and raucous rowdy adventure.
© 1981, 2008, 2009, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Impostors


By David Hine, Scott McDaniel & Andy Owen (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3144-6

At the climax of a harrowing and sustained campaign of terror by insidious cabal The Black Hand and following an all-out invasion by the New Gods of Apokolips, the original Batman was apparently killed. Although the world was unaware of the loss, the superhero community secretly mourned whilst a small dedicated army of assistants, protégés and allies – trained over years by the contingency-obsessed Dark Knight – formed a “Network” to police GothamCity in the days which followed: marking time until a successor could be found or the original returned…

Most of the Bat-schooled battalion refused to believe their inspirational mentor dead. On the understanding that he was merely lost, they eventually accepted Dick Grayson – the first Robin and latterly Nightwing – as a stand-in until Bruce Wayne could find his way back to them…

None of that is germane to this sleek and sinisterly straightforward vigilante adventure, designed to tie-in with a videogame release (and thus deliciously free of extraneous subplot) which first ran in Detective Comics #867-870 from September to December 2010, and can be accessibly consumed as a cunning and compelling case of heroes vs. impending chaos…

It all begins with ‘Laugh and the World Laughs with You’ wherein yuppies and bored Gothamites take up the latest recreational drug and craze of the spoiled and over-privileged: snorting non-lethal, metamorphic Joker Juice before going wilding through the city.

The transformed Jokerz then indulge in liberating, conscience-free vandalism, chaos and carnage until the Juice wears off. It’s a rush but nobody really gets hurt. Not really, truly, fatally hurt…

However, the recurring, ever-expanding “mad mobs” are actually being orchestrated by a king Joker; someone not submerged in temporary insanity but rather following an appalling secret agenda…

As the new Batman, Oracle and Gotham’s police struggle to maintain order without bloodshed, tempers are beginning to fray and when one young cop is wounded in a scuffle, he responds with deadly force…

The king Joker is plagued with memories of the night he was an unwilling witness and a collateral casualty in a terrifying clash between the true Harlequin of Hate and the Dynamic Duo. Of course, the heroes rushed him to hospital and his life was saved from the toxins sprayed on the rooftops during that particular murder-spree – but in their haste the heroes missed his girlfriend. She died in ghastly agony all alone…

The death of the first party-rager polarises the city and The Impostor is quick to capitalise on the tragedy, calling for a massive Jokerz rally to show support and solidarity for their fallen comrade.

But when the Dark Knight leads squads of strictly-censured police officers in trying to contain the subsequent riot, three cops are ambushed and assassinated…

A new factor then weighs in: an Impostor Batman calling on all decent, hard-working citizens to take back their city from the drug-addled, party-crazy Jokerz. Soon there is open warfare in ‘The (s)Laughter of Fools’ and Batman is forced into a desperate experiment and takes a dose of the Joker Juice to discover just what he’s up against…

Whilst he’s trapped in the throes of the psycho-drug, both Impostors are busy exhorting their growing followings to even greater acts of violence and there are even rumblings of mutiny in the GCPD ranks.

Eventually the inevitable occurs and a gang of Jokerz are found shot to death from behind. They were fleeing, not attacking, and the Guardian Bats all claim that it was the Impostor Batman who murdered them…

By day ten the brutality is almost commonplace and industrialist Winslow Heath, the survivor of that long-ago rooftop battle, calls his chief chemist Doctor Kaligari for a progress report. He wants to know when the next Joker Juice upgrade will be ready for distribution…

‘Laughter out of Bellies’ sees top cop Harvey Bullock helpless to prove his suspicion that his own men are bolstering the ranks of the Guardian Bats gang: crippling, maiming or killing Jokerz in the streets. It’s a small mercy that the supply of J-Juice has dried up, although the hopelessly “Jonesing” junkies don’t think so…

After a week without liberating transformations, the thousands of Juicer addicts are going crazy… which is when philanthropist Heath announces his Bartholomew’s Fair as a way of soothing tempers on all sides. He’s also ready to release his brand new Joker Juice hyper-amped onto the bloody, fun-starved streets…

Batman can’t prove Heath’s involvement, and his terse confrontation with the philanthropist doesn’t shake the vengeful maniac from executing his insane plan in ‘Last Man Laughing’, but as the Fair explodes into a vast, orgiastic bloodbath, all the hard-pressed hero can do is hope to take out both Impostors before the city becomes a living Hell on Earth… 

Complete with a cover gallery by Peter Nguyen, this is a splendid, stripped down, all-action tense suspense thriller (designed to tie-in to the Videogame of the same name) elevated by the ingenious efforts of scripter David Hine and penciller Scott McDaniel – two of the modern industry’s most underrated and undervalued talents – ably augmented by inker Andy Owen – that will delight any Fights ‘n’ Tights fanatic
© 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: The Collected Adventures volume 2


By Kelly Puckett, Mike Parobeck & Rick Burchett (DC Comics/Titan Books)
ISBNs: 978-1-56389-124-3 (DC)                   978-1-85286-563-6 (Titan)

As re-imagined by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, Batman: The Animated Series aired in America from September 5th 1992 until September 15th 1995. The TV cartoon series – ostensibly for kids – revolutionised the image of the Dark Knight and happily fed back into the print iteration, leading to some of the absolute best comicbook tales in the hero’s many decades of existence-year publishing history.

By employing a timeless visual style (dubbed “Dark Deco”), the show mixed elements from all iterations of the character and, without diluting the power, tone or mood of the premise, re-honed the grim avenger and his team into a wholly accessible, thematically memorable form that the youngest of readers could enjoy, whilst adding shades of exuberance and panache that only most devout and obsessive Batmaniac could possibly object to.

The comicbook version was inevitably prime material for collection in the newly-emergent trade paperback market and this long out-of print second volume – published in America by DC and by Titan Books in Britain – gathered issues #7-12 of The Batman Adventures all-ages comicbook (originally published from to April -September 1993) in a stunning, no-nonsense furore of family-friendly Fights ‘n’ Tights fantasy.

After a mere half-dozen superb stories the comicbook adventures took a step towards total sublimity when rising star Mike Parobeck assumed the pencilling duties.

Although his professional comics career was tragically short (1989 to 1996 when he died, aged 31, from complications of Type 1 Diabetes) Parobeck’s gracefully fluid, exuberant and purely kinetic fun-fuelled animation-inspired style revolutionised superhero action drawing and sparked a resurgence in kid-friendly comics and merchandise at DC and elsewhere else in the comics publishing business.

Following an ‘Introduction by Bruce Timm’, accompanied by a wealth of series concept sketches, the stories – all divided into three chapters scripted by Kelly Puckett and inked by Rich Burchett – begin with ‘Raging Lizard!’ which sees shady pro wrestler Killer Croc face a long dark night of the soul in ‘Requiem for a Mutant!’ when he’s scheduled to fight Masked Marauder – a grappler who humiliated and broke him in their last match…

Batman meanwhile is searching for Chicago mobster Mandrake who’s planning on taking over Gotham by ousting reigning crime czar Rupert Thorne in ‘Eye of the Reptile!’ and naturally all those trajectories converge in the third act for a major throw-down ‘Under the Waterfront!’…

In issue #8 ‘Larceny, My Sweet’ begins with the hunt for an unstoppable thief who can ‘Break the Bank!’ with his bare hands, whilst TV reporter Summer Gleeson divides her time between chasing scoops and being romanced by a dashing stranger in ‘Love’s Lost Labours’. Sadly when the Gotham Gangbuster ends the crime-wave he also exposes a monstrous old foe and ends the affair of ‘Beauty and the Beast!’

In #9 ‘The Little Red Book’ everyone is chasing holds all Thorne’s dirty secrets and Commissioner Gordon is presiding over a ‘Gangster Boogie!’ with the cops and entire underworld looking to win out over ‘The Big Boss’. It takes all Batman’s energy and wits to bring the diary to District Attorney Harvey Dent for the beginning of ‘Rupert’s Reckoning!’…

‘The Last R?ddler Story’ describes ‘Nygma’s Nadir!’ as the perpetually frustrated Prince of Puzzles considers retirement. Dispirited because the Caped Crusader always solves his felonious games, the villain is convinced by his faithful hench-persons to give it one more try in ‘Days of Wine and Riddles!’

How upset would Eddie Nygma be if he knew Batman isn’t even aware of him, absorbed as he is in apprehending the infamous trio Mastermind, Mr. Nice and The Perfesser in ‘Triumph or Tragedy …?

‘The Beast Within!’ features obsessed scientist Kirk Langstrom who believes he, is uncontrollably transforming into the monstrous Man-Bat in the ‘The Sleeper Awakens!’ The truth is far more sinister but incarcerated in ‘G.C.P.D.H.Q!’ neither the chemist nor his beloved Francine can discern ‘The Awful Truth!’ Happily Batman plays by his own rules…

This fabulous foray into classic four-colour fun finishes with a shocking shift in focus as young Barbara Gordon makes a superhero costume for a party in ‘Batgirl: Day One!’ and stumbles into a larcenous ‘Ladies Night’ when the High Society bash is crashed by Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.

With no professional help on hand, Babs has to act as ‘If the Suit Fits!’ and tackle the bad girls herself… but then Catwoman shows up for the frantic finale ‘Out of the Frying Pan!’…

Breathtakingly written and iconically illustrated, these stripped-down rollercoaster-romps are the ultimate Bat-magic, and this is a collection every fan of any age and vintage will adore.

Pure, unadulterated delight – so keep kicking and agitating for new editions now!
© 1993, 1994 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: The Collected Adventures volume 1


By Kelly Puckett, Marty Pasko, Ty Templeton, Brad Rader & Rick Burchett (DC Comics/Titan Books)
ISBNs: 978-1-56389-098-7 (DC),      978-1-85286-521-4 (Titan)

Batman: The Animated Series launched in America on September 5th 1992 and ran until September 15th 1995. Masterminded by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, the show revolutionised the image of the Dark Knight and led to some of the absolute best comicbook tales in his almost 75-year publishing history.

By employing a timeless visual tone (dubbed “Dark Deco”) the show mixed elements from all iterations of the character and, without diluting the power and mood of the premise, perfectly honed the grim avenger and his team into a wholly accessible, thematically memorable form that the youngest of readers could enjoy, whilst adding shades of exuberance and style that only most devout and obsessive Batmaniac could possibly find fault with.

Naturally the comicbook version was an cast-iron contender for collection in the newly-emergent trade paperback market and this long out-of print edition – published in America by DC and by Titan Books in Britain – gathered the first half-dozen all-ages epics from The Batman Adventures comicbook (originally published from October 1992 to March 1993) in a smashing, straightforward sampler of Fights ‘n’ Tights fantasy.

Preceded by ‘An Introduction by Paul Dini: Batman’s Most Animated Adventures’ and accompanied by a plethora of pulsating storyboards, the action begins with ‘Penguin’s Big Score’ by Kelly Puckett, Ty Templeton & Rick Burchett.

Each story was divided into three chapters and ‘Charm School Dropout!’ found the Bird of Ill Omen taking tips on how to rehabilitate his nefarious reputation from The Joker, whilst in ‘Top of the World, Ma!’ the Foul Fowl’s new standing as a philanthropist had all Gotham agog.

The sinister scheme was finally exposed by Batman in the climactic third act ‘Power of the Press’, but the hero had no idea that the real winner was the Clown Prince of Crime…

In issue #2 ‘Catwoman’s Killer Caper’ (Puckett, Templeton & Burchett) kicked off with a gem heist before, on Joker’s urging, sultry Selina Kyle visited England’s Tower of London to swipe ‘The Family Jewels!’

In hot pursuit, the Gotham Gangbuster headed across The Pond to quell ‘Panic over Londontown’ and solved the mystery of a seemingly impossible theft in ‘Midnight Madness’ – but not before the Harlequin of Hate snatched the real prize…

All that crafty conniving culminated in ‘Joker’s Late-Night Lunacy!’ by Puckett, Templeton & Burchett, with Gotham’s airwaves hijacked and Commissioner Gordon kidnapped by the larcenous loon who made himself literally unmissable viewing in ‘A Star is Born!’

‘I Want My JTV!’ saw District Attorney Harvey Dent make it onto the Joker’s inescapable guest list, but Batman was again one step ahead of the game and lowered the boom in the explosive ‘Flash in the Pan!’

Writer Marty Pasko and penciller Brad Rader joined inker Rick Burchett for a gripping two-issue tale of terror guest starring Robin as ‘Riot Act’ describes ‘Panic in the Streets’ after a strange plague caused citizens to lose the ability to read.

Even with utter chaos gripping the city the Teen Wonder’s ‘Help on the Wing’ results in a huge step forward but when ‘Robin Takes a Fall’ the mastermind reveals himself and the drama intensifies in #4 with ‘Riot Act: Johnny Can’t Read!’ as the Scarecrow steps up his campaign to teach the slackers of the modern world a lesson….

However, the Dynamic Duo are well aware of the ‘Hi-Fi Hijinx’ at the root of the problem and, with the help of a repentant henchman, end the crisis in ‘Those Who Can’t Do!’

This initial foray into classic four-colour fun ends with a stunning change of pace as Bruce Wayne is arrested for murder in ‘The Third Door!’ Crafted by Puckett, Rader & Burchett, the cunning locked-room mystery opens with ‘The Party’s Over’ as the prime suspect details the facts of the case to young Dick Grayson, before being locked up with a mob of dangerous thugs in ‘Crime and Punishment’ leaving the kid to ferret out the real  killer in the tense conclusion ‘War and Peace’…

Compellingly written, superbly designed and spectacularly illustrated, these stripped-down rollercoaster-romps are quintessential Bat-magic, and as a host of big name bad-guys vie with timeless crime scenarios on every page, this is a book any fan of any age and vintage will adore.

Sheer, unadulterated magic – so start agitating for a new edition now!
© 1992, 1993 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.