#51 - Batman and Harley Quinn

Oh boy, we’ve got a bad one for this entry. And I wanted to start with a simple question. Bruce Timm, what happened to you?

Bruce Timm has become somewhat of a legend when it comes to superhero stuff, being one of the guys behind the excellent DCAU and the very good Green Lantern: The Animated series, which I will eventually cover as a retrospective.

Then he took some time off, when he first came back it was for Justice League: Gods and Monsters; a unique take on the trinity of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman where their morals are more grey than usual. It was good, even great, but then something happened, his next movie was the Killing Joke. I ripped this movie apart back in May, particular for that abysmal opening third featuring Batman and Batgirl having sex on a rooftop.

So, for this story, one that’s completely unique, they wanted to tone down the darker tone and focus on humour. That’s fine. Justice League Action, which is a solid if shallow show did that exact thing. But here’s the thing, being a comedy whilst also being adult-orientated can lend itself to some very bad things. I’m looking at you, FAMILY GUY!

So, are we talking At World’s End comedy or Dude, Where’s my Car? comedy? Would it really be here if it wasn’t the latter?

4 issue test #31 - Titans

It’s DC Rebirth time again!

The return of Wally West, the ginger haired one not the black one which was introduced in the New52, was one of the most celebrated parts of the rebirth special, but where does he go from here, the one place he will always be welcomed, the Titans.

This story is written by Will Abnett, who had written Titans Hunt, a mini-series coming from the wake of Convergence which shows the group coming back together to fight a threat they’d left behind, it’s a good story and worth the trade in my opinion. The artwork is done by Brett Booth, who tends to be hit and miss but there’s no denying it’s more attune to my taste than someone like Frazer Irving, god his art sucks.

Anyway, but how does this new Titans book stack up? Let’s dig into the Rebirth special and #1-4 and find out.

DC Rebirth review - Nightwing/Justice League

Time for me to review an insane amount of comics all in one go, again. Let’s skip the intro and get on with it

#37 - Batman: Bad Blood

Oh boy, we’re back to the New-52verse

You may recall my 4^th rage of this blog was Son of Batman. In it Damian Wayne was forced into Batman’s hands and got the role as Robin. You might want to check out that review, because the plot is ongoing. I also did a review last year of Batman vs Robin, the slightly better sequel. Today we look at the third in the series, and it’s bad, really really bad. This is Batman: Bad Blood. Insert obvious Taylor Swift Joke here.

What we’re looking at is a mish-mash of various bits of Batman history (so what else is knew?). But the biggest influence I can see is Batman Incorporated where Batman assembled a team of not Justice Leaguers to combat a sinister threat. It’s classic Grant Morrison being equal parts awesome, stupid and confusing, especially when Fraser Irving did the art for one issue (rule of thumb, if Frazer Irving did the artwork, it’ll be cr*p) but I suppose I should mention our 2 breakout characters in this.

First we have Kathy Kane aka Batwoman – she was a breakout character from the awesome miniseries 52. In the New 52 continuity, there were plans that she and her long-time girlfriend would get married but the rug was pulled out from under the creative team at the last minute (because, apparently Bat-family characters can’t have happy lives) which lead to the resignation of the creative and the book’s eventual cancellation. She’s currently getting a starring role in Detective comics, I’ll let you know how that turns out in September.

Secondly we have Luke Fox aka Batwing II, the original guy was from Africa, I really have nothing more to say about him because I was not reading Batwing.

With that said, let’s take a look at this piece of trite and see what went wrong.

TV Retrospective: Young Justice Invasion Episodes 16-20

We return one final time to take a look at Young Justice Invasion

TV Retrospective: Young Justice Invasion Episodes 11-15

I know, this first week of X-men month has hardly any x-men in it. Bear with me, there are only 7 movies I could cover plus one tv series, next 2 weeks will each have 2 movies, and the final week of July (going slightly into August) will have 3 entries. This crossover review could've come out at any time. In the mean, more Young Justice

TV Retrospective: Young Justice Invasion Episodes 6-10

 

TV Retrospective: Young Justice: Invasion Episodes 1-5

It’s time to get started with Young Justice Invasion

Batman: Arkham Knight Review

I've spent quite a considerable portion of the last two weeks playing this game and have managed the following

1. 100% of main game
2. 100% of new game +
3. 100% Red Hood Pack
4. 100% Harley Quinn pack
5. 9/9 stars Scarecrow Nightmare missions

To do a review justice, I will have to talk spoilers eventually. But I'll discuss gameplay first for those who don't want spoilers for the full game

Mini review: Batman vs Robin

Well, you can remember my opinion of Son of Batman, IT F*CKING SUCKS so not surprisingly given DC’s track record, it got a sequel Batman vs Robin. Sort of the Based on Scott Snyder’s the Court of Owls stories, also sort of based on some other stories that have come out from Batman’s line on the New52, whilst also telling an original story, you can tell this story is going to be a bit of a mess. Having said that it’s a marked improvement over Son of Batman. Spoilers to follow

#5 Batman Annual #1 (The New 52)

You've been waiting for it (probably) and here it finally is: Batman Annual #1 (The New 52)

And so we've come to another rather divisive comic. There are people who really like this comic, and there are people, like me, who hate it. I really, really hate it and it's weird because it isn't an all-round bad book. The artwork is good and in spite of it taking place during a crossover event, it is both integrated and self-contained.

Before I can get into exactly what I hated about it, let's give a little background. Mr Freeze's character had undergone radical changes over the years. He debuted as a character named Mr Zero, but then the Adam West Batman series called him Mr Freeze and show was popular enough for the change to stick. Several iterations of his origins have been told over the years but the most famous is the Batman: The Animated Series' Heart of Ice. Where Victor Fries (convenient name) steals resources from the company he works for, GothCorp, to restore his sick wife, who had been cryogenically frozen. But when GothCorp's CEO, Ferris Boyle, discovers what's going on, he causes a cryogenic accident that affects Fries' skin. Now he cannot survive in normal climate and must use a suit to survive.

Batman The Animated Series made an iconic Mr Freeze, and almost every other origin since has p*ssed all over it

This origin has been butchered in the past. Batman and Robin made Freeze a punning psychopath, wanting to hold the city to hostage to complete his cure (because robbing a bank is too conventional, I guess) and any sympathy for the character was lost because you were too irritated at every freeze-related pun and that fact his plan was ridiculously over-complicated.

Even the DCAU made some slip ups with Mr Freeze, having him descend into stealing hope and living for revenge, both of which made him a lesser character (in my opinion). There were also attempts to use Dini's origin in the mainstream DC Universe. I haven't read the issues so I'm not really qualified to comment on it. In September 2011 DC rebooted their line with the New 52. The idea that continuity is the reason people aren't reading comics is ridiculous anyway (I started reading comics with a number 2 issue) but I digress, it was a perfect opportunity to revisit Mr Freeze, and who better to write his origin that Scott Snyder, who’s work with both the Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne versions of Batman have received high critical acclaim.

Now let me summarize the story of the comic and expect a lot of rage this time.

#4 Son of Batman

DC’s line of animated movies have been a joy over the last few years, but have varied in quality. Superman unbound is probably the least favourite of the ones I’ve watched, Batman: Under the Red Hood being one of the best. But after a few years of making mostly decent adaptations, they started bringing a new 52 vibe to their adaptations. Justice League: War, and adaptation of the opening arc of Geoff John’s Justice League series is somewhat a guilty pleasure of mine, it’s far from seamless, it makes a mockery of Wonder Woman, ignores Aquaman in favour of Shazam (or Captain Marvel), and is all action with very little actual story...

Batman is a seller for DC, no question about this. It's the main reason he’s in the sequel to Man of Steel, and it's the reason the majority of DC adaptations feature Batman in some way. In 2014 (perhaps down to it being the Dark Knight’s 75^th Anniversary) all 3 of their adaptations feature Batman, with Batman being the star of 2 of them. Whilst the third film, set to bridge a gap between Batman: Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum isn’t due for release yet, the latest DC animated Batman adaptation is Son of Batman.

This review contains lots and lots of spoilers, you have been warned