Category: Batman

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Batman: Streets of Gotham volume 1 – Hush Money


By Paul Dini, Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-85768-853-8

With all the furore and hype surrounding the epic 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 sidebar-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 of the Dark Knight with Bruce Wayne’s assassin-trained son Damian continuing as the headstrong and potentially lethal latest iteration of Robin, the Boy Wonder…

This volume collects the contents of Detective Comics #852, Batman #685 (both March 2009), before re-presenting the first four tension-drenched issues of Batman: Streets of Gotham spanning June to September of that portentous year, and deals with the strange fact that although most of the masked hero community knew the tragic truth, the general populace was blithely unaware that the true Batman had been replaced…

As if all that complex crossover-ry wasn’t enough, also working hard to ensure that no reader would dare miss a single issue was a project dubbed ‘Faces of Evil’ in which DC villains took centre stage in every comicbook that month. Thus, in the aforementioned Detective #852 and Batman #685, one of the hero’s most pernicious and obsessive foes reappeared to rebuild his empire of evil after the last crushing defeat at the gauntleted hands of Batman…

Sublimely illustrated by Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs, the saga was another triumph for award-winning animator and director Paul Dini who once again proved himself the very best of contemporary Batman writers with a chilling, suspenseful epic of revenge and obsession featuring Bruce Wayne’s ultimate adversary Dr. Tommy Elliot, a beloved boyhood friend as warped by his own mother’s malign influence as the boy Bruce was transformed by the murder of his beloved parents Thomas and Martha Wayne.

Eminent surgeon Elliot became the twisted, sadistic and obsessive Hush to obtain vengeance on his only friend and childhood companion: one who had been perpetually held up to him as a perfect example of a son by Elliot’s disabled and deranged mother. Tommy even divined the billionaire’s greatest secret – the true identity of the Dark Knight…

After many deeply personal and lethally psychotic attacks on Wayne’s legacy and Batman’s friends, Hush took the ultimate step in his psychological war against his oldest pal by surgically transforming himself into Bruce’s doppelganger – attempting to entirely usurp his life.

After nearly killing Selina Kyle by literally stealing her heart, the faux-Bruce was only narrowly defeated and the captive Catwoman restored to some semblance of her former self (see Batman: Heart of Hush)…

Now in ‘Reconstruction’ a broken Elliot wanders the snowy shady docks ofGotham before tumbling into the freezing river. Everything is over: his best efforts to destroy the Wayne myth have all failed and, in revenge for his attack on her, Catwoman has tracked down all his hidden bank accounts and stolen every penny he had – $200 million dollars – giving it all away to bleeding-heart charities…

Expecting to die, Elliot awakes on a boat, saved by hard-working stiffs who believe they’ve rescued wild-partying playboy Wayne from a drunken accident. Inspired, Elliot doesn’t disabuse them and begins to trade on his stolen looks to rebuild his fortune and take another stab at revenge…

Luck is with him: for some reason no one has seen either Bruce Wayne or Batman for weeks. Using the playboy’s reputation, Hush makes his way to the Caribbean, leaving a well-concealed trail of bodies and empty wallets behind him. By the time he reaches Australia he’s feeling pretty cocky but after being spotted by shapeshifting local hero Tasmanian Devil, Elliot heads for Vietnam, eager to put more miles and far less friendly borders between him and his inevitable pursuers. It’s a near-fatal mistake…

The tale concludes in ‘Catspaw’ as “Bruce Wayne” is kidnapped by bandits from an animal poaching ring and finds himself face-to-stolen-face with Catwoman who has taken over the pet traders to actually save endangered species. Always willing to bear a grudge, she is delighted with the opportunity to put her former tormentor at the top of that list…

However the cat burglar has gotten in too deep and her greedily impatient gang are fed up with their animal-loving leader. Sensing a coup, Selina agrees to a truce with Elliot until they can escape the jungles and the bandits. To that end, she despatches her two most faithful henchmen to bring Hush to safety, but unfortunately nobody could leave a trail like Elliot’s and not be noticed by the well-schooled heirs of the World’s Greatest Detective…

Streets of Gotham debuted scant months later with Elliot an utterly isolated prisoner of the new Batman and Robin…

In ‘Ignition!’ a fresh era began with a reformed Harley Quinn making a nuisance of herself and distracting the Dark Dynamic Duo’s attention from a real threat. In the power vacuum following all the concatenating crises, many of Arkham Asylum’s inmates had absconded and were loose in the city, and flamboyant gangster Black Mask was celebrating his victory over rivals Two-Face and the Penguin – and subsequent elevation to supreme boss of the underworld – by recruiting the more biddable escaped maniacs to his team…

With a mysterious new vigilante called Abuse adding to the general atmosphere of tension, one of Black Mask’s wildest employees finally slipped into total psychosis. Third-rate arsonist Garfield Lynns suddenly stopped torching buildings as Firefly and began turning random civilians into spontaneously combusting human torches…

Taking full advantage of the situation in ‘City on Fire’, Hush then broke out of his velvet-lined cage whilst Batman and Robin tackled the utterly demented arsonist and again used his perfect imposture of Bruce Wayne to outmanoeuvre his foes.

Before Grayson, Damian and former Robin Tim Drake could react, Elliot made a very public appearance on TV and offered to bankrupt “himself” to rebuild Gotham’s shattered infrastructure and decimated industries…

The Batman Family had never accepted that their mentor was dead and all their actions were predicated upon the premise that he would eventually return to reclaim his mantle. Thus as ‘Hush Money’ opened, they were all forced to publicly accept and even join the returned “Bruce Wayne” as he effectively dismantled the lost hero’s life’s work to popular adulation…

Simultaneously in the city’s darkest nooks and crannies Black Mask’s disciples began to chafe under his increasingly oppressive and unpredictable yoke. The mobster’s most radical action was to give free rein to knife-wielding serial killer Victor Zsasz, offering to bankroll the butcher’s scheme to industrialise and mass-produce his particular brand of bloodletting…

As the new Batman finally finds a way to neutralise Hush’s bold imposture, this initial volume concludes with a dark and nasty tale following Zsasz’s escalation of terror and slaughter by focussing on the tightrope-thin line career criminals must walk in Gotham. ‘Business’ invades the personal space of illicit fixer the Broker as the premier “go-to guy” in the city at last discovers to his surprise that there some things he won’t – can’t – do, no matter how big the pay-off might be…

With astounding covers by Andrew Robinson, Alex Ross, J. G. Jones & Dustin Nguyen, this visceral, imaginative and deliciously off-balance frantic psycho-thriller sets the scene for even darker strides down the darkest avenues in all of comics…

© 2009, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Robin Archives volume 1


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Win Mortimer, Jim Mooney & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0415-0

Robin the Boy Wonder debuted in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940), created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger & Jerry Robinson and introduced a juvenile circus acrobat whose parents were murdered by a mob boss. The story of how Batman took the orphaned Dick Grayson under his scalloped wing and trained him to fight crime has been told, retold and revised many times over the decades and still regularly undergoes tweaking to this day.

In the comics continuity Grayson fought beside Batman until 1970 when, as an indicator of those turbulent times, he flew the nest, becoming a Teen Wonder college student and eventually leader of a team of fellow sidekicks and young justice seeker – the Teen Titans.

He graduated to his own featured solo spot in the back of Detective Comics from the end of the 1960s, which he alternated and shared with Batgirl, and held a similar spot throughout the 1970s in Batman and won a starring feature in the anthology comic Batman Family and the run of Giant Detective Comics Dollar Comics. During the 1980s he led the New Teen Titans, first in his original costumed identity but eventually in the reinvented guise of Nightwing, re-establishing a turbulent working relationship with his mentor Batman.

His creation as a junior hero for younger readers to identify with has inspired an incomprehensible number of costumed kid crusaders, and Grayson continues in similar innovative vein for the older, more worldly-wise readership ofAmerica’s increasingly rebellious contemporary youth culture… but his star potential was first realised much earlier in his halcyon career…

From 1947 to 1952, (issues #65-130) Robin the Boy Wonder had his own solo series and regular cover spot in Star Spangled Comics at a time when the first superhero boom was fading to be replaced by more traditional genres such as crime, westerns and boys’ adventure stories. The stories blended in-continuity action capers with more youth-oriented fare with adults Batman and Alfred reduced to minor roles or entirely absent, allowing the kid crusader to display not just his physical skills but also his brains, ingenuity and guts.

This stellar deluxe hardback Archive compilation gathers together the first 21 tales from Star Spangled #65-85 covering February 1947 to October 1948, recapturing the bold, verve and universal appeal of one of fantasy literature’s greatest youth icons, opening with a fascinating Foreword by Roy Thomas, who discusses the origins and merits of boy heroes and the history of the venerable anthology title before offering some insightful guesses as to the identity of the generally un-named writers of the Robin strip.

Although almost universally unrecorded, most historians consider Batman co-creator Bill Finger to be the author of most if not all of the stories in this volume and I’m going to happily concur here with that assessment until informed otherwise…

Star Spangled Comics #65 started the ball rolling with ‘The Teen-Age Terrors’ illustrated by regular artist Win Mortimer (with the inking misattributed to Charles Paris) in which the Caped Crusaders’ faithful butler happens across an unknown trophy and is regaled with Dick’s tale of the time he infiltrated a Reform School to discover who inside was releasing the incarcerated kids to commit crimes on the outside…

That tale segues seamlessly into ‘The No-Face Crimes’ wherein the Boy Wonder acted as stand-in to a timid young movie star targeted by a ruthless killer, whilst #67 revealed ‘The Case of the Boy Wonders’ which saw our hero as part of a trio of boy geniuses kidnapped for the craziest of reasons…

An outrageously flamboyant killing in #68 resulted in the pre-teen titan shipping out on a schooner as a cabin and spending ‘Four Days Before the Mast’ to catch the murderer, after which modern terror took hold when Robin was the only one capable of tracking down ‘The Stolen Atom Bomb’ in a bombastically explosive contemporary spy thriller.

Star Spangled Comics #70 introduced an arch-villain all his own as ‘Clocks of Doom’ saw the debut of an anonymous criminal time-and-motion expert forced into the limelight once his face was caught on film. The Clock‘s desperate attempts to sabotage the movie Robin was consulting on inevitably led to hard time in this delightful romp (this one might possibly be scripted by Don Cameron)…

Chronal explorer Professor Carter Nichols succumbed to persistent pressure and sent Dick Grayson back to the dawn of history in #71’s ‘Perils of the Stone Age’ – a deliciously anachronistic cavemen and dinosaurs epic which saw Robin kick-start freedom and democracy, after which the Boy Wonder crashed the Batplane on a desert island and encountered a boatload of escaped Nazi submariners in ‘Robin Crusoe’ in a full-on thriller illustrated by Curt Swan & John Fischetti.

In #73 the so-very tractable Professor Nichols dispatched Dick to revolutionary France where Robin battled Count Cagliostro, ‘The Black Magician’, in a stirring saga drawn by Jack Burnley & Jim Mooney, after which the Timepiece Terror busted out of jail determined to have his revenge in ‘The Clock Strikes’, illustrated in full by Mooney who would soon become the series’ sole artist.

However Bob Kane & Charles Paris stepped in for the tense courtroom drama in #75 as ‘Dick Grayson for the Defense’ found the millionaire’s ward fighting for the rights of a schoolboy unjustly accused of theft, after which cunning career criminal The Fence came a cropper when he tried to steal 25 free bikes given as prizes to Gotham’s city’s best students in ‘A Bicycle Built for Loot’ (Finger & Mooney).

Prodigy and richest kid on Earth, Bert Beem was sheer hell to buy gifts for, but since the lad dreamed of being a detective, the offer of a large charitable donation secured the Boy Wonder’s cooperation in a little harmless role play. However when real bandits replaced the actors and Santa, ‘The Boy Who Wanted Robin for Christmas’ enjoyed the impromptu adventure of a lifetime…

Another rich kid was equally inspired in #78 and became the Boy Wonder of India, but soon needed the aid of the original when a Thuggee murder-cult tried to destroy ‘Rajah Robin’, whilst in ‘Zero Hour’ (illustrated by Mooney & John Giunta) The Clock struck one more with a spate of regularly-scheduled time crimes before Star Spangled #80 saw Dick Grayson become ‘The Boy Disc Jockey’, only to discover that the station was broadcasting clever instructions to commit robberies in its cryptically cunning commercials…

Robin was temporarily blinded in #81 whilst investigating the bizarre theft of guide dogs, but quickly adapted to his own canine companion and solved the mystery of ‘The Seeing-Eye Dog Crimes’, but had a far tougher time as a camp counsellor for ghetto kids after meeting ‘The Boy Who Hated Robin’. It took grit, determination and a couple of escaped convicts before the kids learned to adapt and accept…

A radio contest led to danger and death before one smart lad earned the prize for discovering who ‘Who is Mr. Mystery?’ in #83, after which Robin tried to discover the causes of juvenile delinquency by going undercover as a notorious new recruit to ‘The Third Street Gang’, and this initial outing ends on a spectacular high as the Boy Wonder sacrifices himself to save Batman and ends up marooned in the Arctic. Even whilst the distraught Caped Crusader is searching for his partner’s body, Robin has responded to the Call of the Wild, joined an Inuit tribe and captured a fugitive from American justice in #85’s ‘Peril at the Pole’…

Beautifully illustrated, wittily scripted and captivatingly addictive, these stirring all-ages traditional superhero hi-jinks are a perfect antidote to teen-angst and the strident, overblown, self-absorbed whining of contemporary comicbook kids. Fast, furious and ferociously fun, these are superb tales no Fights ‘n’ Tights fan will want to miss…
© 1947, 1948, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman Archives volume 6


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Edmond Hamilton, Don Cameron, Lew Sayre Schwartz, Win Mortimer, Jack & Ray Burnley, Jim Mooney, Charles Paris & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-4012-0409-0

Debuting a year after Superman, “The Bat-Man” (joined eventually by Robin, the Boy Wonder) cemented National Comics as the market and genre leader of the burgeoning comicbook industry, and the dashing derring-do and strictly human-scaled adventures of the Dynamic Duo rapidly became the swashbuckling benchmark by which all other four-colour crimebusters were judged.

By the time of this the tales in this superb sixth deluxe hardback compilation (collecting the Batman adventures from Detective Comics #120-135, spanning cover-dates February 1947-May 1948) the Dynamic Duo were inescapably a co-operative effort with a large and ever-changing creative team crafting increasingly varied and captivating escapades for the heroes. One further note: many of the tales in this tome carry no writer’s credit but are most likely the work of pulp writer Edmond Hamilton, so apologies for the less than usually clear attributions throughout…

As discussed in the Foreword by celebrated critic and historian Bill Schelly, the post-war years saw a careful repositioning and reformatting of the heroes, as the publishers cautiously proceeded to tone down outlandish violence and nightmarishly macabre villains in favour of a wide variety of more mundane mobsters, gangsters and petty criminals, plus a few of the most irrepressibly popular favourites such as Penguin and The Joker.

Even so the former felon even gets cover billing in the opening costumed drama, reproduced in full from Detective #120; another riotous romp co-starring the rakish, rotund rogue indulging in ‘Fowl Play!’

Illustrated by Win Mortimer, this yarn describes how the pompous Penguin responds after an ornithologist is cited as America’s Greatest Bird Expert, leading to a campaign of fresh feather-themed crimes before the Dynamic Duo once again caged the crafty crook.

In #121 Hamilton & Howard Sherman take a rare look at corruption when Gotham’s top cop is forced from office by blackmailers exerting pressure on the Mayor. However, even whilst ‘Commissioner Gordon Walks a Beat’ Batman and Robin are tracking down the true cause of all the city’s woes…

Bob Kane & Charles Paris limned the uncredited (but probably Hamilton) case of ‘The Black Cat Crimes’ in the next issue as the sinisterly sultry Catwoman busted out of jail and ruthlessly, spectacularly exploited superstitions to plunder the city, whilst with Ray Burnley on inking in #123 ‘The Dawn Patrol Crimes’ saw a trio of aged pioneer pilots fall prey to the insidious schemes of a criminal mastermind in their fevered desperation to fly again. Happily the sinister Shiner had not reckoned on the Batman’s keen detective ability or the indomitable true grit of the patsy pilots…

The Joker returned in #124 as ‘The Crime Parade’ (Hamilton, Kane, Lew Sayre Schwartz & George Roussos) found the Mountebank of Mirth turn a radio chart show into his own private wishing well of inspired brazen banditry, after which ‘The Citadel of Crime’ (scripted by Bill Finger in #125) saw the Caped Crimebuster infiltrate a fortress where reformed crooks were imprisoned by a deranged maniac dubbed the Thinker and forced to build deadly weapons for a criminal army. Although credited here to Dick Sprang, this is actually one of the last art strips by the superb Jack Burnley, ably inked by his brother Ray and Charles Paris.

Detective Comics #126’s ‘Case of the Silent Songbirds’, by Hamilton(?) & Jim Mooney, again found The Penguin purveying his particular brand of peril and perfidy by stealing the voices of nightclub singers as part of the world’s most incredible protection racket until Batman stepped in, whilst #127’s ‘Pigmies in Giantland’ – featuring a rare pencil and ink outing for Charles Paris – saw the outrageous Dr. Agar shrink his wealthy victims to the size of dolls until the Dynamic Duo unravelled the impossible truth…

Only The Joker could conceive of ‘Crime in Reverse’ (Hamilton, Kane & Ray Burnley) as he proceeded to once again attempt to bamboozle Batman and Boy Wonder, whilst in

Detective #129 Finger, Jack Burnley & Paris took our heroes to ‘The Isle of Yesterday’ where a rich eccentric had turned back time to the carefree 1890s for all the bemused but unstressed inhabitants. Such a pity then that a mob of modern crooks were using the idyllic spot as a hideout… but not for long…

In #130 Finger, Kane & Paris described the horrific fate of a string of greedy crooks who tried to open ‘The Box’ but it took Batman’s razor-keen intellect to finally solve the decades-long mystery behind the trail of bodies left in its wake, after which Don Cameron, Kane, Sayre Swartz & Paris examined the tragic lives of two brothers doomed by dire destiny: one a callous racketeer and the other a good man forced by family ties to become ‘The Underworld Surgeon’…

In #132 esteemed escapologist Paul Bodin retired to raise his daughter, but within months ‘The Human Key’ began robbing vaults using all the master’s tricks. Only Batman could see through the open-and-shut case to discern the truth in a powerful human interest tale illustrated by Mooney & Paris, whilst ‘The Man Who Could See the Future’ (Hamilton, Kane, Sayre Schwartz & Paris) offered a moody counterpoint as the Gotham Gangbusters exposed an unscrupulous charlatan clairvoyant whose uncanny predictions always led to shocking disasters and missing valuables.

The Penguin opened ‘The Umbrellas of Crime’ in Detective #134 (Finger, Mooney & Paris) but his innovative inventions couldn’t stop Batman closing down his latest crime spree, and this blockbusting barrage of vintage Bat-tales comes to a blistering climax with #135’s ‘The True Story of Frankenstein’ (Hamilton, Sayre Swartz & Paris) as the Caped Crusaders were drawn back in time by Professor Carter Nichols to save a rural village from an incredible monster and the brute he manipulated into acts of evil…

With stunning covers by Jack Burnley, Paris, Mortimer, Kane & Sayre Schwartz, Mooney and Dick Sprang, and full creator biographies included, this supremely thrilling, bombastic action-packed compilation provides another perfect snapshot of the Batman’s amazing range from bleak moody avenger to suave swashbuckler, from remorseless Agent of Justice and best pal to sophisticated Devil-May-Care Detective, in timeless tales which have never lost their edge or their power to enthral and enrapture. Moreover, these sublimely sturdy Archive Editions are without doubt the most luxuriously satisfying way to enjoy them over and over again.
© 1947-1948, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: the Brave and the Bold volume 1


By Matt Wayne, J. Torres, Andy Suriano, Phil Moy, Carlo Barberi, Dan Davis & Terry Beatty (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2878-1

The Brave and the Bold began in 1955 as an anthology adventure comic featuring short complete tales about a variety of period heroes: a format which mirrored that era’s filmic fascination with historical dramas. Devised and written by Bob Kanigher, issue #1 led with Roman epic Golden Gladiator, medieval mystery-man The Silent Knight and Joe Kubert’s now legendary Viking Prince. Soon the Gladiator was increasingly alternated with Robin Hood, but the adventure theme carried the title until the end of the decade when the burgeoning costumed character revival saw B&B transform into a try-out vehicle like Showcase.

Used to premiere concepts and characters such as Task Force X: the Suicide Squad, Cave Carson, Hawkman and Strange Sports Stories and the epochal Justice League of America, the comic soldiered on until issue #50 when it provided another innovative new direction which once again truly caught the public’s imagination.

That issue paired two superheroes – Green Arrow & Martian Manhunter – in a one-off team-up, as did succeeding ones: Aquaman and Hawkman in #51, WWII Battle Stars Sgt Rock, Captain Cloud, Mme. Marie & the Haunted Tank in #52 and Atom & Flash in #53. The next team-up, Robin, Aqualad & Kid Flash, evolved into the Teen Titans and after Metal Men/the Atom and Flash/Martian Manhunter appeared a new hero; Metamorpho, the Element Man debuted in #57-58.

From then it was back to the extremely popular superhero pairings with #59, and although no one realised it at the time, this particular conjunction, Batman with Green Lantern, would be particularly significant….

After a return engagement for the Teen Titans, two issues spotlighting Earth-2 champions Starman & Black Canary and Wonder Woman with Supergirl, an indication of things to come came when Batman duelled hero/villain Eclipso in #64: an acknowledgement of the brewing TV-induced mania mere months away.

Within two issues, following Flash/Doom Patrol and Metamorpho/Metal Men, Brave and the Bold #67 saw the Caped Crusader take de facto control of the title and the lion’s share of the team-ups. With the exception of #72-73 (Spectre/the Flash and Aquaman/Atom) the comic was henceforth a place where Batman invited the rest of company’s heroic pantheon to come and play…

Decades later the Batman Animated TV series masterminded by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini in the 1990s revolutionised the Dark Knight and subsequently led to some of the absolute best comicbook adventures in his seventy-year publishing history with the creation of the spin-off print title.

With constant funnybook iterations and tie-ins to a succession of TV cartoon series, Batman has remained popular and a sublime introducer of kids to the magical world of the printed page.

The most recent incarnation was Batman: the Brave and the Bold, which gloriously teamed up the all-ages small-screen Dark Knight with a torrent and profusion of DC’s other heroic creations, and once again the show was supplemented by a cool kid’s comicbook full of fun, verve and swashbuckling dash, cunningly crafted to appeal as much to the parents and grandparents as those fresh-faced neophyte kids…

This stellar premier collection re-presents the first 6 issues in a hip and trendy, immensely entertaining package suitable for newcomers, fans and aficionados of all ages and, although not necessary to the reader’s enjoyment, a passing familiarity with the TV episodes will enhance the overall experience (and they’re pretty good too)…

Following the format of the TV show, each tale opens with a brief vignette adventure before telling a longer tale. Issue #1 has the Caped Crimebuster and Aquaman putting paid to robotic rogue Carapax. This fed into main feature ‘The Panic of the Composite Creature’ (by Matt Wayne, Andy Suriano & Dan Davis) wherein Batman and the pulchritudinous Power Girl saved London from Lex Luthor‘s latest monster-making mechanism.

Phil Moy then illustrates Superman and the Gotham Guardian mopping up the terrible Toyman before ‘The Attack of the Virtual Villains’ finds the Bat and Blue Beetle in El Paso battling evil Artificial Intellect The Thinker in a compelling computer-game world…

After an introductory battle between Wonder Woman, Dark Knight and telepathic tyrant Dr. Psycho‘s zombie villains, ‘President Batman!’ (Wayne, Suriano & Davis) sees the Great Detective substitute for the Commander-in-Chief with Green Arrow as bodyguard when body-swapping mastermind Ultra-Humanite attempts to seize control of the nation. Then, in the full-length ‘Menace of the Time Thief!’ Aquaman and his bat-eared chum prevent well-intentioned Dr. Cyber from catastrophically rewriting history, following a magical and too brief prologue wherein sorcerer Felix Faust is foiled by a baby Batman and the glorious pushy terrible toddlers Sugar and Spike…

J. Torres, Carlo Barberi & Terry Beatty stepped in for both the chilling vignette wherein the nefarious Key was caught by Batman and a Haunted Tank whilst ‘The Case of the Fractured Fairy Tale’ began when the awesome Queen of Fables started stealing children for her Enchanted Forest and the Caped Crusader needed the help of both Billy Batson and his adult alter ego Captain Marvel…

This first compilation concludes with a preliminary clash between Hourman and Batman against the crafty Calculator, after which ‘Charge of the Army Eternal!’ (Torres, Suriano & Davis) finds the villainous General Immortus at the mercy of his own army of time-lost warriors and bandits and desperately seeking the help of the Gotham Gangbuster and ghostly Guardian Kid Eternity.

Although greatly outnumbered, the Kid’s ability to summon past heroes such as The Vigilante, Shining Knight, Viking Prince and G.I. Robot proves invaluable, especially once the General inevitably betrays his rescuers…

This fabulously fun rollercoaster ride also includes informative ‘Secret Bat Files’ on Luthor, Power Girl, Thinker, Blue Beetle, Ultra-Humanite, Green Arrow, Dr. Cyber, Aquaman, Queen of Fables, Captain Marvel, General Immortus and Kid Eternity, and the package is topped off with a spiffy cover gallery courtesy of James Tucker, Scott Jeralds & Hi-Fi.

DC’s Cartoon Network imprint is arguably the last bastion of all-ages children’s comics in Americaand has produced some truly magical homespun material (such as Tiny Titans or Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!) as well as stunning interpretations of such television landmarks as Scooby Doo, Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10, Dexter’s Laboratory and others.

The links between kids’ animated features and comicbooks are long established and, I suspect, for young consumers, indistinguishable. After all, it’s just adventure entertainment in the end…

Despite being ostensibly aimed at TV viewing kids, these mini-sagas are also wonderful, traditional comics thrillers no self-respecting fun-fan should miss: accessible, entertaining, well-rendered yarns for the broadest range of excitement-seeking readers, making this terrific tome a perfect, old fashioned delight. What more do you need to know?
© 2009 DC Comics. Compilation © 2008, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman Archives volume 5


By Bob Kane, Alvin Schwartz, Don Cameron, Bill Finger, Dick Sprang, Win Mortimer & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-725-3

Debuting a year after Superman, “The Bat-Man” (and later Robin, the Boy Wonder) cemented National Comics as the market and genre leader of the burgeoning comicbook industry, and the dashing derring-do and strictly human-scaled adventures of the Dynamic Duo rapidly became the swashbuckling benchmark by which all other four-colour crimebusters were judged.

This fifth fantastic deluxe hardback compilation collects the Batman yarns from Detective Comics #103-119 (spanning cover-dates September 1945-December 1947) and safely saw the indefatigable icons delete Nazi spies and saboteurs from their daily itineraries. From this point onward, the stalwarts would again concentrate on home-grown mobsters, monsters, menaces and their ever-active and growing rogues’ gallery of vile villains as the vicissitudes of war were replaced by the never-ending travails of black-hearted crooks and domestic killers…

After a spirited discussion of the days after peace broke out from celebrated bat-scribe Dennis O’Neil in the Foreword, the costumed dramas begin to unfold in #103’s ‘Trouble Incorporated!’ written by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Jack Burnley & Charles Paris. Herein a well-meaning retired college Professor set up a free advice service and inadvertently gave the thugs next door a hotline to illicit gain until Batman and Robin offered their own bombastic expertise: also gratis and extremely educational for the eavesdropping creeps…

In Detective #104 Schwartz & Dick Sprang’s ‘The Battle of the Billboards!’ proved a breathtaking and imaginative yarn with blackmail racketeers using prominent signs to publicise the secret crimes and peccadilloes of Gotham’s elite – unless the victims paid off by hiring the signage space themselves.

With no laws broken, the Dynamic Duo were forced to take bold action to end the unique protection scam…

When Bruce Wayne‘s accountant and treasurer embezzled all the company funds in #105 the fallout had appalling consequences for Gotham. ‘The Batman Goes Broke!’ by Don Cameron & the marvellous J. Winslow “Win” Mortimer, saw the heroes reduced to penury and forced to sell their crime-busting possessions and even obtain menial jobs so that they could complete their last case…

Happily the financial absconders were caught – by regular cops – and the Wayne fortunes restored. ‘The Phantom of the Library!’ eerily stalked retired law officials who foolishly visited the city’s repository of knowledge: in search of vengeance on those who had long ago sentenced him to death for murder. Cameron’s run of ingenious crime dramas continued after this spooky mystery by Bob Kane & Ray Burnley, after which a crafty charlatan who preyed on greedy, superstitious businessmen debuted in Detective Comics #107. The wicked Scorpio believed himself above the law and beyond all harm until Batman and Robin invaded his sinister citadel on ‘The Mountain of the Moon!’ – illustrated by Mortimer who had the lion’s share of drawing at this time.

Police officer Ed Gregory was framed by crooks and became ‘The Goat of Gotham City!’ in a moving thriller by limned by Sprang, but as always the Gotham Gangbusters were able to deduce the truth before taking down the villains in a spectacular airplane duel.

A perennial Prince of Plunder returned in #109 as the manic Joker went on a crime spree that lured Dark Knight and Boy Wonder to a deadly purpose-built trap inside ‘The House that Jokes Built!’.

Faithful butler Alfred had a starring role in #110 as ‘Batman and Robin in Scotland Yard!’ found the Masked Manhunters in London to help capture an incredible modern-day Moriarty, after which a trip to ‘Coaltown, U.S.A.’ saw the Caped Crusaders convince a miserly mine owner to listen to his striking workers and modernise the death trap he operated…

Detective #112 riffed delightfully on the classic film The Shop Around the Corner as a small family business was torn apart by the theft of $99. Embroiled in the melodrama was customer Bruce Wayne whose covert investigations uncovered four culprits all eager to confess in Schwartz & Mortimer’s heart-warming tale of ‘The Case Without a Crime!’

Plundering pirates and sinister smugglers were the bad-guys in ‘Crime on the Half-Shell!’ by Bill Finger, Sprang & Gene McDonald, but the story really centred on the tragedy of a blind oyster boat captain and the feisty daughter who took over his “man’s work”, whilst #114 saw the Joker again test Batman’s wits and patience in a sharp puzzler that turned Gotham into the ‘Acrostic of Crime!’ (by Cameron & Mortimer).

‘The Man Who Lived in a Glass House!’ by the same creative team found the Dynamic Duo aiding an inventor against an unscrupulous rival determined to sabotage his life’s work, after which Bruce’s old friend Professor Carter Nichols used his time travelling hypnosis trick to send Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson to Feudal England. Oddly however it was Batman and Robin who came to ‘The Rescue of Robin Hood!’ in a properly swashbuckling romp by Cameron & Mortimer in #116, whilst that writer’s contemporary research made ‘Steeplejack’s Showdown!’ (Kane & Ray Burnley) and the heroes’ campaign against a ring of sky-high bandits a grippingly authentic thriller worthy of Hitchcock…

Issue #118, by Schwartz & Howard Sherman, offered one last hurrah for the Harlequin of Hate as the Joker again attempted to trump the Dark-Knight Detective with The Royal Flush Crimes!’ only to go bust in the wilds of the cowboy West, before this classic collection of seldom-seen tales concludes with Finger, Sprang & McDonald’s gloriously madcap excursion ‘The Case of the Famous Foes!’ wherein a cunning crook recruited George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln to mastermind his crime campaign – straight out of Gotham Sanitarium and into blazing battle against the mystified manhunters…

These evocative, bombastic and action-stuffed yarns provide a perfect snapshot of the Batman’s amazing range from bleak moody avenger to suave swashbuckler, from remorseless Agent of Justice and best pal to sophisticated Devil-May-Care Detective, in timeless tales which have never lost their edge or their power to enthral and enrapture. Moreover, this supremely sturdy Archive Edition is indubitably the most luxurious and satisfying way to enjoy them over and over again.
© 1945-1947, 2001 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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DC Universe Online Legends volume 1


By Marv Wolfman, Tony Bedard, Howard Porter, Adriana Melo, Mike S. Miller & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3218-4

No matter how much nostalgic old geezers like me might wish it otherwise, most of the classic American Superhero characters have far outgrown their static 2-Dimensional origins and are far more creatures of the screen now: Movie, TV or Computer – and often all three.

As such it’s no longer odd to see such veteran pen-and-ink superstars return to funnybook pages as their own spun-off avatars, in adventures where they are transformed, sometimes bastardised versions of (to me at least) their “true” selves.

One of the better examples in recent years of this chimerical commercial alchemy was a phenomenal Armageddon Epic based on a computer game starring the Justice League of America which actually surpassed much of the company’s contemporary output vis á vis thrills, chills and old fashioned comicbook class…

DC Universe Online Legends first appeared as a 27-issue series running from March 2011 to May 2012, based on a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (or MMORPG for those computerati already in the know). It featured the final triumph of paramount Superman villains Lex Luthor and Brainiac as the starting point for a blistering “Twilight of the Gods” scenario and this first compilation volume gathers #1-7 of the fortnightly series and also includes the “issue #0” which came free with the game itself.

‘Prelude’ by Tony Bedard and artists Oliver Nome, Michael Lopez & Livio Ramondelli, starts the ball of doom rolling as cosmic marauder and collector of civilisations Brainiac launches a harrowing assault on Metropolis, and the JLA – Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Superman and Batman – mobilise to stop him. Unbelievably they fail…

Marv Wolfman, Bedard, Howard Porter, John Livesay, Adriana Melo & Norman Lee then kick things into high gear with ‘Legendary’ as in the near-future Luthor, now more machine than man, finally slays his life-long nemesis in the ruins of a ravaged Earth and leaves the Kryptonian to rot amidst the corpses of his fellow fallen heroes.

The obsessive villain had long ago entered into a devil’s bargain with Brainiac and now intends to rule the remains of Earth, but soon discovers that the Scourge from Space (an implacable, unstoppable planetary plunderer who has destroyed most of the civilised universe and even crushed the immortal Green Lantern Corps) has played him for a fool and now acts to assimilate the planet’s remaining valuable resources – which includes Luthor’s mind – and eradicate the gutted shell…

Realising too late the horrific mistake he’s made, Lex swiftly formulates a plan to undo the damage he’s caused and repay Brainiac for his treachery. The first step is to gather all the surviving metahumans – heroes and villains all oblivious to the fact that Luthor has already slain their greatest champions – into an attack force whilst the infuriated evil genius prepares to unmake recent history…

Meanwhile, several years earlier, a fully human and hero-hating Lex Luthor is contacted by a drone from deep space and enters into a sinister alliance with the alien reiver whose mutual dream is to destroy Superman forever…

Scripted by Bedard, ‘Control’ finds Luthor directing his rag-tag team of deeply suspicious resistance fighters (Dr. Fate, Mr. Freeze, August General in Iron, Solomon Grundy, Power Girl, Cheetah, Blue Beetle, Black Canary and the Atom) in forays against the extraterrestrial Exobyte nanomachines and robot drones disassembling the world, unaware that they were secretly produced in the malign magnate’s factories years before…

In those long-ago days, Brainiac’s probing attack has captured the Daily Planet building in Metropolis. The alien inquisitor apparently needs test samples of base-line humanity to examine before he can calibrate his ghastly devices and begin harvesting Earth’s metahuman resources…

In the furious future the schemer’s pawns continue their missions utterly unaware that, to ultimately save humanity, Luthor plans to sacrifice them all…

Wolfman, Mike S. Miller, Melo & Norman Lee disclose the master manipulator’s ‘Betrayal’ of his team after Power Girl discovers the corpse of her cousin Superman and the resistors demand vengeance. After first setting a horde of bloodthirsty villains upon them, Lex then murderously saves his squad of heroic stooges, pleading repentance and offering to surrender to justice once earth has been saved.

Of course, he’s still lying…

In the present, whilst Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White explore their options as captives of Brainiac, an increasingly unstable and impatient Superman chafes at the JLA’s caution, unaware that the cosmic conqueror is planning an imminent and devastating sneak-attack of the League’s satellite citadel…

Bedard & Porter take the creative lead for the all-action episode ‘Strike Force’ as, in the world of today, the Justice League battle valiantly but futilely against swarms of Exobytes which readily bypass all their defences and begin stealing the powers of the embattled defenders. In the Foredoomed Tomorrow, Luthor leads his duped disciples in a fool’s errand onto Brainiac’s ship, tasked with recovering a city-full of yellow power rings, originally used by the minions of renegade Green Lantern Sinestro, whilst the master manipulator himself plans to confront the invader face-to-face…

Wolfman & Miller produced the shocking ‘Three Minutes’ in which the JLA lose their holding action and have to abandon their orbital Watchtower to the Exobytes – but not every hero escapes – whilst in the future the raid has gone equally badly and one of Luthor’s key pawns is maimed, leading to time-split ‘Downfall’ (Bedard, Porter, Livesay & Pop Mhan) for both teams of champions.

In our time, after warning Luthor to get out of the city, Brainiac casts the Watchtower out of orbit and aims it at what’s left of Metropolis, with the Man of Steel desperately attempting to rescue his stranded comrades and simultaneously save his hometown, whilst in days to come Luthor, Atom and Black Canary split up…

The heroes now carry a canister of retrieved Exobytes holding all the planet’s harvested super-powers – enough to turn all Earth’s survivors into metahuman warriors – but the disgraced Machiavelli who guides them is determined to personally destroy the alien who played him for a fool…

In the past, Superman narrowly saves Metropolis, but fallout and debris from his last-ditch attempt falls on the fleeing Luthor, crushing his body whilst in the future the cyborg genius at last battles Brainiac but is easily and resoundingly beaten…

This first explosive chronicle concludes with the revelation that Luthor has a secret ally as, in the untitled seventh chapter (by Wolfman, Porter & Livesay), a Batman also more mechanoid than mortal manhunter acts with a band of freshly created superheroes to use the Exobytes in a bold and radical manner.

Rather than boost the dying earth’s meagre surviving population with the stolen super-powers, what if the nanobots were taken back in time and used to turn an entire overpopulated earth into a planet of “metas” before Brainiac’s invasion beachhead was established?

Of course even here in Earth’s final hour, Luthor cannot resist betraying his comrades but has again underestimated the sheer dogged determination of the demi-digital Dark Knight…

This high-octane Fights ‘n’ Tights shocker also includes a selection of covers and variants by Carlos D’Anda, Jonny Wrench, Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Alex Sinclair, Ryan Sook, Ed Benes, Randy Mayor, Jorge Gonzalez, Tony Aviña & Carrie Strachan as well as pages of behind-the-scenes character, tech and scenario designs and sketches from the game iteration.

Fast, furious, spectacular and devilishly devious, this is a sharp, no-nonsense graphic Götterdämmerung saga that will delight traditional comicbook action fans as well as all those young plug-in babies of the digital age.
© 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Outsiders: Five of a Kind


By many and various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1672-6

Set after and resulting from the earth-shaking events of 52, this tension-drenched, fast-paced series always combined gritty metahuman angst with ferocious action and a huge helping of wry, bleak cynicism as it followed a band of outcast and undercover champions into places and situations safe, regular superheroes wouldn’t and couldn’t go, but times and changing fashions – and probably shrinking sales – eventually predicated the return of Batman to the masthead and the mix of epic unrealpolitik and edgy, cynically grim-and-gritty nastiness…

Finally exposed to a world which had believed them all dead, and also blamed for setting off an atomic blast which devastated a large part of Russia, the underground metahuman coalition known as The Outsiders – “rogue” superheroes who proactively sought out threats and ignored political boundaries or repercussions – found themselves on the edge of oblivion as their series hurtled towards a blistering climax and a major reboot.

Following the spectacular crossover Outsiders/ Checkmate: Check Out this concluding collection gathers five one-shots (released under the umbrella title Five of a Kind) in which Batman auditioned established members and intriguing alternates to form the core of a new covert unit which worked on the peripheries of the system, beyond the niceties of the law, but always at the Dark Knight’s express command…

Collecting Nightwing and Captain Boomerang Jr., Katana and Shazam!, Thunder and Martian Manhunter, Metamorpho and Aquaman, and Grace and Wonder Woman as well as that climactic last issue finale in Outsiders #50, the drama begins after a mercifully concise text recap with ‘Grudge Match’ by Nunzio Defillipis, Christina Weir & Freddie Williams III, wherein the super-fast son of Digger Harkness and Batman’s oldest protégé were dispatched to investigate a space station that had gone ominously dark, only to find a deadly chemical menace and brutal betrayal…

‘The Queen of Swords & the King of Rock’ by Mike W. Barr, Kevin Sharpe & Robin Riggs, saw Katana and magical maven Captain Marvel invade the ghostly realm where her sword imprisoned the souls of all the people it had killed to forestall a rebellion of the doubly-damned…

‘Bug-Eyed Monsters’ (Tony Bedard, Koi Turnbull & Art Thibert) found J’onn J’onzz and the tempestuous daughter of Black Lightning investigating an alien incursion miles beneath the Earth’s crust, only to stumble into Grayven, Prince of Apokolips, a murdering maniac fleeing the unstoppable eradicator of his species (for which check out the imaginatively titled The Death of the New Gods), whilst ‘Rogue Elements’ by G. Willow Wilson & Josh Middleton saw the Chemical Crusader and a very raw replacement Sea King try to save an aquifer under the Sahara Desert from contamination and corporate exploitation with the unexpected assistance of Arabic Avenger Hadya.

Finally ‘Member of the Tribe’ (Marc Andreyko, Cliff Richards & Thibert) plunged irascible orphan Grace into a storm of anti-Amazon prejudice and a potential nuclear nightmare that not even distant cousin Wonder Woman could help her with before all the weary applicants reluctantly reunited for a fraught epilogue by Bedard…

The convoluted  casting-call concluded with ‘You Killed the Outsiders!’ by Bedard, Matthew Clark, Ron Randall & Art Thibert, as the Dark Knight sent his newly-minted but utterly unhappy undercover ultra-squad to infiltrate a nightclub where only the weirdest and wildest of Gotham’s criminal underworld hung out.

What they didn’t know was that the sting wasn’t to trap bad guys but rather off-the-books government spooks illegally rounding them up and deporting them without due process to an alien world…

For the end of that tale you’ll need to see the companion graphic novel JLA: Salvation Run…

As much a clearing of the decks as cleansing of the palate, this last hurrah still delivers a supremely stylish knockout Fights ‘n’ Tights punch that older fans will truly appreciate and if you love outrageous adventure, sexy heroes and truly vile bad-guys (many of them working for “our side”), this deliciously dark, utterly OTT compilation has great pace, superb dialogue, loads of gratuitous violence and beautifully cool art.

Brutal, uncompromising and savagely action-packed, the maverick tendencies of the Outsiders ended long ago, yet these painfully plausible superhero sagas are still gripping, shocking and extremely readable: compelling comics tales which will enthral all serious fans of the genre.
© 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: KnightFall volume 1


By Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, Alan Grant, Jim Aparo, Norm Breyfogle, Graham Nolan, Jim Balent, Bret Blevins, Klaus Janson, Mike Manley & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-78116-094-7

The early 1990s were troubled times for the American comicbook industry with speculative collectors rather than fans driving the business. Many new companies had established themselves using attention-catching gimmicks augmented by new print technology and outright pandering to sex and violence and the tactics had worked, sparking a glossy, four-colour Gold-Rush amongst fans and, more importantly, previously disinterested outsiders.

With vapid ploys and fleeting trends fuelling mass-multiple purchases by buyers who were too scared to even open up the hundreds of polybagged, technologically-enhanced variant-covered issues they intended to pay for college and a condo with, the major publishers were driven to design boldly bonkers stunts just to keep the attention of their once-devoted readership. At least here, however, story-content still held some worth and value…

In 1992 DC began their epic Death of Superman story-arc and clearly immediately afterward began preparing a similarly tradition-shaking, continuity-shattering epic for their other iconic household name property. Groundwork was already laid with the introduction of Jean-Paul Valley, a mild-mannered student utterly unaware that he had been programmed since birth by his father and an ancient warrior-cult to become an hereditary instrument of assassination (see Batman: Sword of Azrael) so all that was needed was to sort creative personnel and decide just how best to shake up the life of Gotham Guardian…

KnightFall and the subsequent KnightQuest and KnightsEnd, follow the tragic fall, replacement and inevitable return of Bruce Wayne as the indomitable, infallible Batman and was another, spectacular success from the old-guard which showed all the comicbook upstarts and Young Turks the true value of proper storytelling and the inescapable power of established characters, as the world was gripped by the Dark Knight’s horrific defeat at the hand’s of a superior foe.

The crossover publishing event impacted many comics outside the usual Batbook suspects, spawned a bunch of toys, three novelisations, many (necessarily incomplete) trade paperback collections and even jumped the pond to Britain’s staid BBC who turned it into a serialised audio-play on Radio One…

In 2012 DC finally began collecting the entire saga into three huge chronological compilations which, whilst still not truly complete, render the tale a far smoother readable experience for older fans and curious newcomers…

Batman: KnightFall volume 1, which could be best codified as and divided into ‘The Breaking of the Bat’ and ‘Who Rules the Night’, gathers the pertinent contents of Batman: Vengeance of Bane Special #1, Batman #491-500, Detective Comics #659-666, Showcase ’93 #7-8 & Batman: Shadow Of The Bat #16-18 – spanning January to October 1993 – and covers the most traumatic six months of Bruce Wayne’s adult life in instalments of a shared and progressing narrative alternating between Bat-titles.

What you won’t find out here: in the months preceding the start of KnightFall (roughly correlating to Batman issues #484-489 and Detective #654-658), a mysterious new criminal had covertly entered Gotham, discreetly observing the Caped Crimebuster at work as the hard-pressed hero tackled sinister crime-lord Black Mask, psycho-killer Metalhead and juvenile military genius The General, whilst foiling an assassination plot against Police Commissioner Jim Gordon.

On the edge of exhaustion, Wayne began seeing doctor and holistic therapist Shondra Kinsolving, whilst assigning Tim Drake – the third Robin – to training and monitoring Jean-Paul Valley, with the intention of turning the former Azrael‘s dark gifts to a beneficial purpose. Kinsolving was also treating Drake’s father, crippled after an attack by another of the City’s endless stream of criminal lunatics.

The cold observer Bane revealed himself and designed further tests for the depleted Dark Knight, challenging Batman for the right to rule Gotham, and manufacturing confrontations with Killer Croc and The Riddler, the latter augmented and driven crazy by a dose of deadly super-steroid Venom…

The action begins here with the origin of the challenger in ‘Vengeance of Bane’ by Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan & Eduardo Barretto, wherein the hulking brute is fully revealed. Years ago on the Caribbean island of Santa Prisca, the ruling junta imprisoned the pregnant wife of a freedom fighter. When the baby was born he was sentenced in his father’s stead to life on the hellish prison rock of Pena Duro where he somehow thrived, touched by the horror and madness to become a terrifying, brilliant master of men.

Not merely surviving but educating himself and ultimately thriving on the hard medicine of life, the boy knew he had a destiny beyond those walls. Eventually he named himself Bane.

His only non-hostile contacts became his faithful lieutenants, Trogg, Zombie and the Americano Bird, whose tales of the Bat in Gotham City fired the eternal prisoner’s jealousy and imagination…

Santa Prisca’s entire economy is based on drug smuggling and Bane’s moment came when one of his periodic rages crippled thirty inmates. After finally being subdued by an army of guards he was turned over to scientists testing a new iteration of the muscle and aggression-enhancing formulation Venom. The effects of the steroid had caused the death of all previous candidates, but Bane survived and the delighted technologists devised biological implants that would deliver doses of the drug directly into his brain, enabling him to swiftly multiply his strength and speed at the press of a button…

A plan formed and the patient faked his own death. Disposed of as trash, he returned, seizing the Venom supply, rescuing his comrades and indulging in a fearsome vengeance against his oppressors. Then he turned greedy eyes towards Gotham and the only rival he could imagine…

KnightFall proper begins after Bane’s challenge to the already on-the-ropes Gotham Gangbuster with Batman #491 as ‘The Freedom of Madness’ by Doug Moench & Jim Aparo sees the ambitious strategist steal National Guard armaments and use them to break free every insane super-criminal locked away in Arkham Asylum. Pushed almost beyond rationality, Batman orders Robin to stick with his mission to train and de-program Jean-Paul and sets out to recapture all his most dangerous enemies, whilst Bane sits back, watching and waiting…

Issue #492 sees the round-up start with the Mad Hatter in ‘Crossed Eyes and Dotty Teas’ (Moench & Norm Breyfogle) and proves that even Bane can make mistakes, for whilst Batman acts according to plan and scotches the Hatter’s main party, the Mad Cap Maniac has already despatched a mind-controlled Film Freak to track down their mysterious liberator…

Detective Comics #659 opens with god-obsessed Maxie Zeus, innocuous Arnold Wesker and hyperthyroid brute Amygdala fleeing the broken Arkham in ‘Puppets’ (Dixon & Breyfogle) as Batman is called to the alley where the broken, lifeless body of Film Freak was found.

As The Ventriloquist, Wesker used the gangster doll Scarface to express his murderous schemes and with Amygdala now in tow has begun a lethal search to get back his old boss. The Dark Knight is obsessively locked on recapturing all his old enemies and ignores Robin’s pleas for rest and reason before tackling the hulking brute, but the confrontation does allow the cool-headed Boy Wonder to turn the tables on Bird, secretly following the Dynamic Duo for Bane.

However the Pena Duro inmate is too much for the apprentice adventurer and only Bane’s order stops Bird from killing the boy too soon. The chaos is building in Gotham and the master planner wants nothing to spoil his intricate schemes…

Moench & Breyfogle then contribute ‘Redslash’ in Batman #493 as knife-wielding maniac Victor Zsasz invades a girl’s school. The blood-soaked psycho marks each kill with a new scar on his own body and it’s been too long since his last, but by-the-book cop Lieutenant Stan Kitch‘s wait-and-see policy only results in two more deaths that Batman cannot scrub from his own over-worked conscience.

In the final confrontation patrolwoman Rene Montoya needs all her determination and utmost efforts to prevent the Dark Knight from beating Zsasz to death…

The chaos grows…

When they last met, Bane nearly crippled Killer Croc and the diseased carnival freak goes looking for payback in Detective #660, but his ‘Crocodile Tears’ (by Dixon, Jim Balent & Scott Hanna) lead Robin, still craftily tracking Bird and Bane, into a deadly trap in the City’s sewers whilst Batman #494’s ‘Night Terrors’ (Moench, Aparo & Tom Mandrake) finally sees the re-emergence of the Joker, having fun his way whilst looking for a partner to play with.

A collapsed tunnel saves Robin, but Bruce Wayne seems hell-bent on self-destruction, unable to relax until the maniacs are back behind padded bars.

Ignoring all pleas from Alfred and Tim, he heads out into the night and narrowly prevents Jim Gordon’s murder at the hands of illusion-casting cannibal Cornelius Stirk, but is unaware that the Clown Prince has allied with the Scarecrow and kidnapped Gotham Mayor Armand Krol…

In Detective #661 the Arkham Alumni terrorise Krol, forcing him to sabotage the city through emergency edicts whilst pyromaniac Garfield Lynns sets the ‘City on Fire’ (Dixon, Nolan & Hanna). Having allowed Robin to tag along, Batman allows the Boy Wonder to tackle the Firefly whilst he searches for less predictable prey. Meanwhile  Wesker is closing in on his Scarface and a recently de-venomed Riddler can’t pull off a robbery because there’s nobody around to answer his obsessively-constructed crime conundrums…

Barely breaking stride to take out the Cavalier, the Caped Crusader stumbles across the Firefly and almost dies at the hands of the relative lightweight in ‘Strange Bedfellows’ (Batman #495,  Moench, Aparo & Bob Wiacek) as, impatient to help, Jean-Paul takes to the streets on his own, eager to help in a makeshift masked identity…

Finally convinced to take a night off, Bruce attends a civic gala and is recognised by Bane just as Poison Ivy turns up to kidnap all of Gotham’s glitterati. As Batman fights floral-based zombies, Gordon and his top aide Bullock lead the GCPD into a perfect ambush set by Scarecrow and the Joker…

Detective #662 sees Robin spectacularly if injudiciously tackle Riddler’s ‘Burning Questions’ (Dixon, Nolan & Hanna) as Batman at last ends Firefly’s horrific depredations, and unsanctioned vigilante The Huntress secretly joins the battle to stem the rising tide of chaos, after which Batman #496 begins the climactic clash between the completely exhausted Masked Manhunter and his maddest monsters in ‘Die Laughing’ (Moench, Aparo & Josef Rubinstein), as Scarecrow and Joker explosively seal off the Gotham River Tunnel with the broken Mayor at the bottom of it.

Only the detonation of the tunnel roof and a million gallons of ingressing river prevent Batman from beating the Harlequin of Hate to death, but Detective #663 proves there’s ‘No Rest for the Wicked’ (Dixon, Nolan & Hanna) as the hero frantically hauls Krol to safety, merely to fall victim to a concerted assault by Bane’s hit squad. Narrowly escaping, the harried hero heads home only to find Alfred unconscious and his home invaded by the orchestrator of all his woes…

Batman #497 presents the end of the road in ‘Broken Bat’ by Moench, Aparo & Dick Giordano as Bane finally attacks in person, mercilessly beating the exhausted but valiantly battling hero, ultimately breaking his spine in a savage demonstration of his physical and mental superiority.

Detective #664 sees the beginning of Bane’s Reign in ‘Who Rules the Night’ (Dixon, Nolan & Hanna) as the Scourge of Pena Duro drops the broken Batman’s body in the middle of Gotham and publicly declares himself the new boss. Even after Alfred and Robin intercept the ambulance carrying their shattered friend and mentor, saving his life proves a touch-and-go proposition and in the interval Joker and Scarecrow come to a parting of the ways and the Ventriloquist is reunited with his malevolent master Scarface. Gotham is a city at war and soon Boy Wonder and ex-Azrael are prowling the rooftops trying to stem the tide…

The tale diverges here to reveal the contents of Showcase ’93 #7 and 8, wherein Alfred, Robin and Jean-Paul restlessly wait by the comatose Wayne’s bedside, and traumatised Tim Drake recalls how mere days previously they thwarted the latest murder-spree of erstwhile Gotham DA Harvey Dent.

‘2-Face: Double Cross’ and the concluding ‘2-Face: Bad Judgment’ by Moench & Klaus Janson found the Double Desperado again challenging his one-time ally by setting up a hangman’s court in a confused and tragic attempt to convict Batman of causing all the former prosecutor’s problems…

Batman #498’s ‘Knights in Darkness’ (Moench, Aparo & Rick Burchett) saw the shattered remnant of Bruce Wayne regain consciousness as a paralysed paraplegic wreck, only to reveal an even greater loss: his fighting spirit. Faking a road crash to explain his massive injuries, Tim and Alfred consult blithely oblivious Dr. Kinsolving in an attempt to restore the billionaire’s shattered spirit and broken body, whilst Bane goes wild in the city, brutally consolidating his hold on all the various gangs and rackets.

To further his schemes and swiftly counter any stubborn opposition, the King of Gotham then recruits Catwoman as his personal thief and retrieval service…

And in Wayne Mansion, as Shondra begins her course of therapy – knowing full well her patient’s injuries were not caused by pranging a Porsche – Tim Drake carries out Bruce’s wishes and offers Jean-Paul the role and Mantle of Batman…

Gotham City is a criminal’s paradise with thugs big and small running riot now that the Dark Knight has been so publicly destroyed, but Detective #665 reveals ‘Lightning Changes’ (Dixon, Nolan & Giordano) as the new but still inexperienced Batman and Robin start wiping up the street scum and making them fear the night again, under strict instructions from Wayne to avoid major threats until they’re ready. Valley however, seems to be slowly coming unglued, happily using excessive force and chafing to test himself against Bane.

Meanwhile a demoralised and wheelchair-bound Bruce Wayne is becoming increasing dependent on Shondra. When he can’t find her, he wheels himself through the gardens to the adjoining house of Tim’s father Jack Drake in time to interrupt an abduction by masked gunmen. Despite his best efforts, he is unable to stop them taking Shondra and the elder Drake, whilst in Gotham the new Bat has overstepped his orders and determined to go after Bane – even if it means allying with gangsters and risking the lives of innocent children…

One final diversion comes next in a sidebar tale from Shadow of the Bat #16-18 wherein Alan Grant, Bret Blevins, Mike Manley & Steve George describe how the sinister Scarecrow returns to his old college life long enough to turn innocent students into his phobic slaves as part of a grandiose and clearly crazy plan to turn himself into ‘The God of Fear’…

Juvenile ideologue and criminal genius Anarky escapes prison just in time to see “Batman” facing off against his first fully deranged super-villain and realises that the Dark Knight is a much a threat to the people as the Tatterdemalion of Terror. The young rebel decides that for the good of the common man he should take them both out…

It doesn’t quite work out that way, but after Scarecrow exposes Batman to his fear gas and it doesn’t work, they combine to vanquish the failed deity. Valley, in an increasingly rare moment of rationality, lets Anarky off with a pretty scary warning. The former Azrael muses on how his programming had made him immune to the fear chemicals, but he couldn’t be more wrong…

The Beginning of the End starts in Batman #499 with ‘The Venom Connection’ by Moench, Aparo & Hanna, as the replacement’s ruthless savagery and burgeoning paranoia drives a wedge between him and Robin, whilst oblivious to it all, the rededicated and driven Bruce Wayne uses the sleuthing skills of a lifetime to trace the kidnappers to Santa Prisca…

In the Batcave, Jean-Paul realises he is still subject to the deep programming that created Azrael when he falls into a trance and awakens to find he has designed deadly new high-tech gauntlets to augment his war on crime. Bane, meanwhile, ignores all entreaties to act, refusing to bother with a mere impostor.

In a blistering raid, Batman and Robin capture Bane’s lieutenants, although the Darker Knight coldly risks children’s lives to achieve victory. Alienated and deeply troubled, Tim determines to tell Bruce but finds the Mansion deserted, Bruce and Alfred having left for the Caribbean, unaware that they have a svelte stowaway in the form of Catwoman Selina Kyle…

Detective #666 pushes things to fever-pitch with ‘The Devil You Know’ (Dixon, Nolan & Hanna) as the augmented, ever-angry and clearly losing it Batman breaks Trogg, Bird and Zombie out of jail and follows them back to Bane, only to fall before the blockbusting power and ferocity of the Venom-addicted living juggernaut…

Batman #500 is divided into a landmark two-part conclusion. ‘Dark Angel 1: the Fall’ by Moench, Aparo & Terry Austin, sees Batman frantically escape certain death at Bane’s hands and retreat to the Batcave where the Azrael’s submerged programming – dubbed “the System” – takes temporary control and devises a perfectly honed technological suit of armour that turns Batman into a human war-machine. Far more worrying is the rift that drives Robin, Nightwing and every other possible ally away as Valley prepares for his final confrontation with Bane…

The infuriated King of the City wants it too and challenges the impostor to a very visible duel in the centre of Gotham in ‘Dark Angel 2: the Descent’ (illustrated by Mike Manley), a blockbusting battle which comprehensively crushes Bane and publicly proclaims the return of a new, darker Champion of the Night. As Batman narrowly chooses to leave Bane a crushed and humiliated living trophy rather than dead example, Robin – who had to save a train full of innocent bystanders from becoming collateral casualties of Batman, not Bane – realises something very bad has come to Gotham…

To Be Continued…

There’s something particularly enticing about these colossal mega-compilations (this one’s 640 pulse-pounding pages) that sheerly delights the 10-year old in me: proven, familiar favourite stories in a huge, wrist-numbing package offering a vast hit of full-colour funnybook action, suspense and solid entertainment. There’s also a superb gallery of covers from Glenn Fabry, Kelly Jones, Sam Kieth, Bill Sienkiewicz, Brian Stelfreeze, Joe Quesada & Kevin Nowlan and Mike Deodato Jr. and even tantalising ads for other books you just gotta have!

Just like this one…
© 1993, 2012 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman’s Dark Secret


By Kelley Puckett & Jon J Muth (Cartwheel Books/Scholastic)
ISBN: 978-0-43909-551-8

We insular and possessive comics fans tend to think of our greatest assets in purely graphic narrative terms, but characters such as Superman, Spider-Man and Batman have long-since grown beyond their origins and are now fully mythologised modern media creatures instantly familiar in mass markets, platforms and age ranges.

A case in point is this beguilingly enthralling retelling of Batman’s origin intended for the very young as part of the Hello Reader early-learning program devised by Children’s publisher Scholastic.

Categorised as Level 3 (school years 1 and 2, with Level 2 being kindergarten and 1 as pre-school) the story crosses that crucial divide wherein parents still read to their kids, but the little tykes are also beginning that wonderful, magical journey into literacy by themselves…

This clever, sensitive and age-appropriate retelling by Kelly Puckett follows young Bruce Wayne as he enjoys a movie-night revival of the swashbuckling film Zorro and the life-altering encounter and tragic fate of his parents in that dank, enclosed, lightless alley behind the cinema. The loss and trauma led to the orphan becoming solitary, sad and afraid of the dark despite every effort of butler-turned-guardian Alfred until an unhappy accident turned the boy’s life around forever…

One day Bruce stayed out in the rolling grounds of Wayne Manor far too late until he suddenly realised that the sun was setting. Racing back to the bright, luminescent safety of the big house he abruptly fell through a weak patch of ground into a huge cave beneath the mansion and found himself in utter blackness.

Fighting blind panic he brushed past many tiny bats, but they didn’t scare him. However when a giant, red-eyed, leather-winged monster started towards him Bruce swung wildly at it and realised that the big bat was actually afraid of him. Something changed in him then and fear left his heart forever…

He knew that he could fight wicked things with fear and the dark as his weapons…

This enthralling little adventure is a perfectly balanced and well-gauged baptism into Batman’s world, magnificently complemented by thirty stunning painted illustrations by master of mood and mystery Jon J. Muth that will delight kids and astound even their jaded, seen-it-all-before elders.

No Batfan should consider their collection complete without a copy of this wonderful little gem and Batman’s Dark Secret is the ideal introduction for youngsters to their – hopefully – life-long love affair with reading…
© 1999 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman and the Outsiders: The Snare


By Chuck Dixon, Carlos Rodriguez, Julian Lopez, Ryan Benjamin, Bit & Saleem Crawford (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-136-6

Following the forcible dissolution of Nightwing’s covert and pre-emptive strike force, Batman resumed leadership of the Outsiders and, after a daunting series of on-going auditions, settled on a core squad comprising Metamorpho, Grace, Katana, Geo-Force, Batgirl and Green Arrow, keeping mass-moving powerhouse Thunder on a short probationary leash and with standby options on a number of others…

This second slim tome collects issues #6-10 of the return run of the Dark Knight’s covert operatives – the first occurring during the 1980s and as yet only partially re-presented in Showcase Presents Batman and the Outsiders volume 1. This epic middle section of a triptych of books (the last still forthcoming) deals with an epic struggle against a terrifying extraterrestrial plot which threatened to engulf the Earth…

Written throughout by Chuck Dixon, the action starts with ‘Ghost Star’ – illustrated by Carlos Rodriguez & Bit – as elemental changeling Rex Mason drifts helplessly in space, trapped aboard a space shuttle commandeered by the employees of mystery plutocrat Mr. Jardine.

Orbiting the far side of the Moon, Metamorpho observes a titanic alien structure under construction. When the marooned hero finally contacts Earth, Batman, who had assumed his agent had burned up in the ship’s launch, immediately sets a rescue-plan in motion. Worryingly, it involves stealing a rocket from a top-secret and ultra-secure Chinese military base…

Meanwhile Rex has infiltrated the mystery construct and discovered it to be manned by possessed human astronauts all working like soulless drones to complete the cosmic conundrum…

And on Earth, Outsiders Green Arrow, Grace and Katana are captured by Chinese metahuman guards Dragonfire, Angry Wizard and Barefoot Tiger. A massive international incident seems inevitable but the general in charge seems to prefer a quieter, far more final solution…

In ‘The Snare’ Batman allows his new boffin Salah Miandad access to the Batcave supercomputers to defeat the Chinese electronic security measures as, half a world away, Batgirl attempts to free the captives from their brutal interrogators and Geo-Force seeks assistance from the US Pacific Fleet.

Beyond the Moon, Metamorpho is running for his life from the mindless construction slaves only to be ejected from the bizarre artefact into hard vacuum…

The rescue of Rex’s rescuers gets underway when the Dark Knight brings in old Outsiders team-leader Nightwing, but before he can begin, Batgirl is forced to very publicly save her comrades from a firing squad in ‘The Hard Way’ (pencilled by Julian Lopez). Out in space Rex manages to find sanctuary on the space-shuttle he’d previously vacated and discovers the purpose of the mystery device when it unleashes a devastating particle beam at the Lunar surface, shattering the crust and vaporising untold tons of dust, rock and lunar ice…

In Inner Mongolia things look bleak for Batman’s overmatched and outgunned operatives until Nightwing and Thunder appear, teleported in by the reconfigured and repurposed Observational Metahuman Activity Construct – now dubbed Remac.

The former Omac – originally designed to nullify metahumans – is under the telemetric control of Salah (still safely closeted away in the Batcave) and together they make short work of the Chinese super-squad, leaving Nightwing and Thunder free to help the already-liberated Outsiders trash the conventional military forces on the base before beaming back to Gotham City…

By the time ‘The Uninvited’ begins, Metamorpho has returned to Earth and been arrested by the Europeans for hijacking their space-shot – although he quickly escapes in his own uniquely embarrassing manner – whilst Outsiders science officer Francine Langstrom has been piecing together the informational snippets Mason had gleaned whilst aboard the astral weapon…

For months Jardine has been covertly co-opting astronauts from many nations, using them to build his honking giant space-gun; returning them to earth with their memories erased. His goal, now apparently realised, was to vaporise moon ice and store it beneath the satellite’s surface. Luna now has an underground sea at its core… but why?

To answer that question Batman determines to probe the subconscious of the unwitting astronauts and calls on the particular talents of Lia Briggs: once the psionic Outsider Looker and now an even more formidable telepath, thanks to her death and resurrection as a Vampire Queen…

Her mental probing almost costs Lia’s undead life but she discovers that the abductees’ minds were temporarily switched with those of incomprehensibly alien mentalities with dark designs upon our world. She also finds a connection to a rave-bondage club in old Gotham…

This tome concludes with ‘Monsters’ (illustrated by Ryan Benjamin & Saleem Crawford) as a raid on the club reveals a ghastly form of Russian Roulette where thrill-seeking kids pay to be attacked by a monstrous alien parasite. For most it is instant death, but a very lucky few find the fatal bite activates their latent metahuman powers…

However the gullible super-stooges have no idea just what their benefactor’s true agenda actually is and, even as Batman and his team pursue the creature, back at base, Francine and her newly-returned husband Kirk (Man-Bat) Langstrom can only watch in horror as Salah’s consciousness is absorbed into and trapped within Remac…

To Be Concluded… One day, I hope.

Fast, furious, cynically clever, beautifully illustrated and utterly compelling, this is another old-fashioned rollercoaster romp that fulfils every dyed-in-the-spandex Fights ‘n’ Tights fan’s fevered dreams and art-lovers will also adore the gallery of superbly evocative covers by Doug Braithwaite, J. Calafiore, Mark McKenna & Brian Reber.

Straight-shooting rough and tumble comicbook clamour at its very best…
© 2007, 2008, DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.