July 23, 1998

Hi everybody.

I was in my local comics store last Thursday (Wilkie's Wonderful World of Comics in Halifax), and started discussing recent Batman issues with the guy from the shop, and two other customers. Turns out they are big Batman fans as well. The conversation centred around the most recent stories and titles in the Batman family of comics.

There seems to be a big push on right now from DC Comics for Batman and JLA related titles. My case in point? Look at JLA: Year One, JLA: The Nail, JLA: World Without Grownups, JLA: Paradise Lost, Young Justice, Martian Manhunter, Birds of Prey, Anarky, Adventures in the DCU, and more.

Let's look at Anarky: here's a B class Robin villain who is hardly interesting. He's a kid who likes to rebel against "the establishment," something all teens tend to do. The recent 4 issue miniseries had Anarky defeating Batman in combat. Okay now - Batman has been so rarely defeated in combat, and those who have, were very capable people (Ra's Al Ghul, Bane, and so on). So how does this kid manage it? Anyway, this was an uninteresting, boring miniseries. So, if the miniseries was this bad, why would I want to fork out another $3/month for a monthly?

The new titles are not the only thing that perturbed me about Batman comics recently. I've found that the quality of many of the recent stories to be less than desirable. As a matter of fact, the only titles I've found to maintain a high quality are Nightwing and Robin.

When I heard about the upcoming Cataclysm crossover, and how much it promised to change the Batman books, I was excited. Wow - here's something that will fundamentally change the Batman world, like KnightFall. Well, I was sorely disappointed. Cataclysm was all about the people hurt in the earthquake - those trapped underground, those who lost their families, and so on. Batman and his group of vigilantes were reduced to either rescuing people trapped under rubble, or stopping two-bit hoods from robbing stores. Why didn't they do more with the major A-list villains who escaped Arkham or Stonegate? Something like that which happened in Knightfall would have provided some excellent stories. And the "Aftershock" stories have continued this unimaginative trend. At least in Robin they have some of Tim's personal life changing. The only real effect of Cataclysm? Wayne Manor and the Batcave were destroyed, and Harold showed up again.

Now they're promising big changes with No Man's Land. Everybody is told to leave Gotham City, and they will blow up the roads and bridges to make sure no one gets back out or in after 24 hours. I hope this arc proves better than the last. What else is positive about this upcoming arc? Almost every single member of the creatives teams have been yanked off their titles.

This last part has excited me more than anything else. Why? Because the current stories, and the artwork, have really bit lately. Let's look at some of the recent stories:

Batman: Wow. Doug Moench really knows what he writes about. Batman's opponents have traditionally not been metahumans or supernatural beings. But for the last year or two, all the Batman title has given us is characters like Deadman, the Demon Etrigan, Ragman, and some other kooky beings. I like dark, but I find it tiring to read about how the Joker has suddenly given up his psychotic behaviour and switched to summoning demons. At least Kelly Jones' artwork has toned down a bit, and was rather suited to these stories.

Detective Comics: Chuck Dixon has been the exception to the trend lately. His stories have been good, featuring stories of him and his colleagues battling crime in Gotham City. This is what Batman is about. Unfortunately, most of these stories have been lacking in the "detective" component. The artwork on this title was top-notch with Scott Hanna; now it is slipping with constantly-changing artists.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat: Ugh. This title has been horrendous recently. A title that provided us with 40 or 50 great issues suddenly hits the big Five Oh and goes flat, just like pop (soda) that's been in the fridge for a month. The constantly changing writers and artists have rendered this title ineffective. So much for the psychologically-edged stories. Buckingham's artwork looks too much like Kelly Jones' work, and his faces look like something from Scooby Doo.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight: Ah.... Refreshing. Recent stories in this title, especially #100, have been incredible. Spook, Duty, The Long Halloween, Dirty Tricks have provided different views of Batman. After the horrible Freakout storyline, this title has been one of my favourites.

Gotham Adventures: Excellent. The first couple of issues (I haven't read #3 or #4 yet) were top-notch stories and well drawn, and the Lost Years miniseries was well done. For being targeted to children, and done in the animated style, this book sure puts a beating into the others.

Azrael. Double Ugh. I'm giving this title five more months, and if it doesn't improve, I'm dropping it. Denny O'Neil has taken a terrifying, violent character, and turned him into a character from the TV show Friends. Each issue seems to cover:

• "Why doesn't Batman like me?"
• "What should I do with my life now?"
• Azrael getting his butt kicked by some hoodlums
• Azrael's supporting cast disappearing

Nightwing: Ah.. a breath of fresh air. Except for the Cataclysm stories, where he ended up saved trapped people, the ongoing saga in Nightwing has been top notch. Kudos to Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel for keeping this title at the top of its game.

Robin: Robin's been getting involved in qutie a bit lately: running away from home; losing Ariana, getting her back, and losing her again, and so on. Chuck Dixon's really focusing on the public side of Robin's life, but intersperses it with his vigilante side. The artwork's been pretty decent on this side too.

Well, there you have it. Hopefully the shake-up of the creative teams will result in better stories to come. I just shudder to think of the potential for a whole year wasted with No Man's Land if they drop the ball on it.

If anyone has opinions on what I've covered here, feel free to send them to me, and I'll attach them to this column. Or, as always, you can post to The Gotham News.

Well, those are my deep, dark thoughts for today.

Patrick

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