Legen--wait for it---dary Comic Book Highlight for 4/22/09

Cover of the Week: Thor 601 (Djurdjevic Variant)

So what does a God listen to on his IPod?

Amazing Spider-Man #592 Highlights

Ah, don't you just love these nice father and son moments.

Spider-Man had to ruin such a tender moment.

Spider-Man really knows how to get under the new mayor's skin by making headlines of The DB and Frontline newspapers.

Our first look at the new Vulture. Still don't know what to think of this new version since it only appeared in one page.

Warning the following image may cause temporary blindness. You've been warned!

Not again! My eyes, it burns.

Detective Comics #853

This weeks finale part to "What Happened to the Cape Crusader?" was filled with a ton of great images and I especially like how this one shows that as shown in The Dark Knight Returns that with Batman gone Joker stops being insane and returns to how he used to be before becoming Joker or Red Hood.

It was cool to see that out of all the Robins it was Dick Grayson's version Robin that was given time to tell his story of how Batman fell.

I like that it had been Bruce's mom, or someone who has taken her form that was with him this whole time watching his funeral and the different versions of his death.

With a heroes like Batman, Spider-Man, Wolverine and Superman if their is a way for those iconic characters to go is go out fighting to save others lives.

See the next image.

These three page were flat out some of my favorite images in the past year. I love that how it kind of literally gives Bruce a storybook ending.

And so it begins again!

Daredevil #118 Highlights

Gotta love Master Izo as he lectures Matt on the roof top while also throwing back a few drinks.

Even in death passed girlfriends, or in Wilson's case wife, will find a way to haunt you. It's their gift.

Talk about not seeing this coming. But I have to say with all the crap that is going on in his life sometimes enough is enough and Matt should at least have one friend in his life. Right?

For the first time ever, I am actually interested to see what The Owl does. Will he join The Hand and "betray" Kingpin or will the Hand kill him or something else?

Guardians of the Galaxy #13

I say every team book story arc should start with a barroom brawl. Maybe then all the team books (specifically JLA and New Avengers) can be at least 1/3 as fun as Gurdians of the Galaxy.

This scene just cracks me up. I love how Rocket Raccon just calls dibs on all of the teams heavy hitters and then proceeds to tell Star-Lord not to ruin their nice moment.

See this is why teams should never have more than one psychic on their team. Damn telepathic inside jokes.

Black Bolt's "go f*** yourself" look at Star-Lord's request for this war to end is priceless

Legacy Shorts: Comic Book Reviews for 4/22/09 (200th Post)

For my review of Amazing Spider-Man #592 click here.

Daredevil #118

Creative Team
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Michael Lark, John Lucas, & Stefano Gaudino
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth

Story - Return of the King: Part Three

Review
Even though Brubaker has moved "Return of the King" in a methodical pace so far this has been an enjoyable story. But for some reason the pace of this issue felt more slow than methodical. Don't get me wrong this was still a good read but after the past three excellent issues of Daredevil this issue did not live up to the potential set by the previous parts of this story.

Though I will say that I love the meeting between Matt and Master Izo. Even though it was an obvious question to ask it was nice to see Izo call Matt out on why he is teaming up with the Kingpin and why he is trusting him. I love Matt's answer were he says that while he is teaming up with Kingpin to take down the Hand that he does not trust him. It does a nice job setting up one or both stabbing the other in the back in the future.

Issue Rating
Story: 7.6/10 - Brubaker continues to move this story arc in a methodical pace and does a nice job with all of the dialogue.
Art: 7/10 - Though the art fit the gritty feel of this book I'm still not a fan of Lark's art.
Overall: 7.3/10 - "Return of the King" continues to be a good read but I hope this story arc starts to get things in gear as you can only move in a methodical pace for so long (except if it is Captain America).

Detective Comics #853

Creative Team
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Artist: Andy Kubert
Inker: Scott Williams
Colorist: Alex Sinclair

Story - Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? Part 2 of 2

Review
Though I enjoyed the first part of "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" I was not blown away by that issue. But that changed with this issue. Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert combined to tell one of the best Batman stories that I have read. This issue does a phenomenal job giving the Dark Knight a story book ending of sort.

Gaiman does a great job not only paying respect to all Batman's history but also showing that Bruce Wayne is Batman and that Batman is Bruce Wayne. While it has been argued who is the real persona this issue shows that one exist because of the other.

Issue Rating
Story: 10/10 - Gaiman does a phenomenal job paying respect to all of Batman's history and weaves a story book ending for one of the greatest characters ever.
Art: 10/10 - Even though Kubert may be a slow artist the artwork he provides in this issue was just plain beautiful as he is able to adapt his style to pay respect to the all the artist that have drawn Batman and all of the characters related to him.
Overall: 10/10 - "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader" may go down as one of the greatest stories in the long history of the Dark Knight. This story is made to read in one sitting to get the full experience of how great this story is.

Guardians of the Galaxy #13

Creative Team
Writer: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Artist: Brad Walker
Inker: Victor Olazaba
Colorist: Wil Quintana

Story - Peacemakers

Review
After a string of issues that have lack the punch of the first half dozen or so issues of Guardian of the Galaxy this issue brings back that fun from when this series started. And it is no surprise as this issue is not only a War of Kings tie-in but also brings back the whole team back together to stop the war between the Shi'ar Empire and Inhumans.

From the opening scene in the bar to the Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon scene were Rocket gets dibs on all the heavy hitters for his team to the last few scenes this was pure fun. And after this issue I hope that we get a mini-series seeing the adventures that Rocket Raccoon had with the Starjammers in the past. I would be the first in line to buy that mini-series, so Marvel make it happen.

Issue Rating
Story: 8.6/10 - DnA bring GOTG back to the fun series it was in its first 8 issues as the team tries to stop the war going on with the Shi'ar Empire and Inhumans.
Art: 7.8/10 - Walker artwork continues to improve as he provides this issue with some good art though there are some inconsistencies.
Overall: 8.2/10 - War of Kings and everything related to the event continue to be a fantastic read and I can't wait to read the next issue of all the Marvel cosmic titles.

Battle for the Cowl #2 Review

Creative Team
Writer & Artist: Tony Daniel
Inker: Sandu Florea
Colorist: Ian Hannin

Story - Army of One

Review
Battle for the Cowl #2 was just what I was expecting it to be: Great artwork combined with one of those mindless summer blockbuster movies storytelling. Tony Daniel continues to be a much better storyteller with his artwork than his actual dialogue. In truth his artwork as has never looked better as his work in this mini-series is better than his previous Batman artwork. Though there were some odd moments in the art such as when in one second we see Nightwing confront the two-gunned Batman and in the next second we see Nightwing get hit by three batarangs with no sign of them going to be thrown in the previous panels. Also I cannot see how Tim is not dead since the way Daniel drew the batarang that is on his chest was the size of a football.

The problem Daniel has is that his story is completely predictable. At no point in this story was I surprised about what was happening. All of the dialogue was fine for showing Dick, Tim, Alfred, and the two-gunned Batman's personalities but also felt so generic that the dialogue was dull.

The only actual conversation I enjoyed, even for its predictability, was the Dick and Alfred scene in the Batcave. Even though it is a scene that we have all read before it was still a conversation that felt natural and actually does belong in this event in order to give Dick that final push to take his rightful place and become the one true Batman as Bruce would have wanted all along. It is to bad that we aren't treated with any other scenes like this as the rest of the issue was just a pure waste of characters from Daniel's part.

Just like with the first issue this issue felt that Daniel was just setting up characters for there tie-in mini-series to Battle for the Cowl. For example we get a quick one of appearance of Birds of Prey members Black Canary and Huntress and instead of making them play an important part to the story by having them follow the rogue Batman they are stopped by Nightwing in order to take care of Damien and then we don't see those characters again the whole issue. While I understand that the main Battle for the Cowl series is only for Dick, Tim and Jason it just does not seem that Dick would just stop Black Canary and Huntress from giving chase to the rogue Batman but on the contrary he would have them chase him as he could have easily taken care of Damien.

Also, this may just be me but I did not like the fact that Catwoman was so easily taken out by the rogue Batman so easily. Even though I am not a big Catwoman fan I would think that she would have fought back and that it would take more than one kick to knock her out. And also I just can't see how the rogue Batman could actually seek up on Catwoman as she has always been able to tell when Bruce or any of the other character was behind her.

Another poor interpretation of a character was Damien. I just don't get how someone who was able to beat Tim in a fight was shown to be such a chump in this, and the last, issue. Throughout these two issues Damien has really come across as a novice with very little training before hand and only does so in order to conveniently transform him into a rookie Robin for Dick to train.

But even though these are all cases of poor character work the worst case of just poor character development is the gun-totting Batman who is clearly Jason Todd. Throughout this issue Jason was treated as nothing more than DC's version of the Punisher. Daniel has done his absolute best to give Jason no redeeming qualities as in this version he is willing to shot anyone even little kids in order to get what he wants. But I guess I should not be surprised as Jason has been poorly used since Under the Hood storyline. Jason just like with Bucky over in Marvel had a lot of potential when he returned from the dead. But unlike Bucky who has actually been developed well enough that he has actually taken over for his mentor and become the new Captain America that is just as, if not more, interesting as his predecessor Jason has been so underdeveloped that all that potential the character did have has gone away and has only just become another typical Batman villain. At this point Jason cannot play another role than just Red Hood as even before Battle for the Cowl he was rarely used in any of the Bat-titles that any involvement he does get after this event will feel forced and not a natural progression of his character like Dick becoming the new Batman, Damien becoming the new Robin, and Tim becoming Red Robin.

And again just like the last issue were Daniel overused Tim's inner monologue we yet again get some more overused inner monologue but this time by Jason. While the opening inner monologue when Jason was escaping from Nightwing and Damien was interesting enough the rest of the inner monologue became very tedious to read as it was similar to Tim's inner monologue from the last issue. Also when the hell did Jason or anyone ever call Bruce "Brucie" in any comic. That whole "Brucie" line by Jason was so lame that made me wonder if this was actually a professional writers words or the words from some sort of fanfiction.

Finally I will say that after reading Batman comics for as long as I have this whole gang war going as the back drop to this mini-series is nothing new and very uninteresting. The problem I have is that again it is a gang war with Black Mask as the main villain behind it as I have been getting annoyed by the character over the past few years. The only thing I may find interesting about the character is that if it is Hush disguised as Black Mask, as Kirk Warren points out in his review for this issue (read here), since it could be interesting to see why Hush choose to become Black Mask and not just continue to masquerade as Bruce Wayne. Though I will admit though that Daniel doesn't write a half bad Two Face.

Issue Rating
Story: 3.3/10 - Daniel's writing was very generic that lacks any creativity.
Art: 8.6/10 - Again Daniel's artwork shines over his writing as he is a much better storyteller with his artwork than his writing though there were a few odd moments with the artwork.
Overall: 5.95/10 - While I'll admit that Battle for the Cowl is a nice jumping on point for new readers this series does not help long time Batman readers be excited about this "new" direction for the Batman franchise. So if your expecting a great read with good character work than you may be disappointed as Battle for the Cowl reads more like a summer blockbuster movie that looks great in the trailer but when you actually see the movie you are disappointed by the story and the characters.

Battle for the Cowl #1 Review

Creative Team
Writer and Artist: Tony Daniel
Inker: Sandu Florea
Colorist: Ian Hannin

Story - A Hostile Takeover

Review
After Batman RIP and Final Crisis as well as the Batman and Detective issues that followed those two major storylines my expectations for Battle for the Cowl has cooled especially when I heard that Tony Daniel was going to be both writing and drawing the series. It is nothing against Daniel but I never have read any of his writing before this series. Now even though I was not blown away from Battle for the Cowl #1 I was impressed that Daniel was able to make me buy into the idea that there is much potential to the next two issues. Also it seems that with the few months he has had off since RIP really help his artwork as it has never looked better.

Now anytime I read a new mini-series I try to see if it is something that a new reader can get into since I know a lot of people who want to get into comics but they don't know were to start. So one of the things that surprised me about this issue was that Daniel made this issue as new reader friendly as possible. There really isn't much for a new reader to know about other than that Bruce Wayne is dead or at least missing. As long as a new reader knows that and that Nightwing is the grown up first Robin and that Tim Drake is Robin the basic idea of all of Batman's allies coming together to defend Gotham City as the the city has gone to hell without Batman around. And if a new reader wants to be able to know what lead to Bruce Wayne's disappearance there 3 stories all in trade paperback form that you can read:

Batman: Batman and Son
Batman: The Black Glove
Batman: R.I.P

All three should already be in local comic shops and book stores since if there is one character DC has done a great job in collecting and distributing their story it is Batman. Now even though those stories aren't necessary to read BFTC if anyone is interested that would be the reading order before reading this issue.

Something else that Daniel was able to do well with his writing is how he wrote Dick, Tim, and Alfred's personality shifts with Bruce's not being around. It was interesting seeing Dick and Tim argue about Gotham needing Batman. Dick as the bigger brother in the family feels that as Nightwing along with the Network they can protect Gotham and that Batman is not a mantle and should die along with Batman, similar to how many fans feel about Batman. It continues what Tomasi was doing over in Nightwing as Dick as a character continues to move more towards being more like Bruce without realizing it. During that one page training sequence were Dick was breaking every one of the training dummies gives off some sort of deep anger Dick has as he has never been a fighter to use brute force but is more about finesse because of his acrobatic background. I will be interested to see when the real fight happens between Dick and Jason in BFTC #3 if Dick will employ more of the brute force he showed here or if he will keep his more acrobatic type fighting style.

I also thought it was cool seeing Alfred pick up more of a father role to Dick as he agrees with like Tim think it is only Dick's self-doubt that is holding him back from becoming Batman. It will be interesting to see if with this new Batman Alfred will be able to give Dick that push he needs to pick up the mantle as he tells him that he should realize now with a gun-totting Batman needs to be stop by the true heir to Bruce's legacy.

For Tim it has been interesting to see Daniel continue what Dixon and Nicieza have been doing with Tim continueing his evolution into a solo hero. With him taking up Squire as his "sidekick" it seems with this move along with him dressing up as Batman it is the final push to show he is ready to move on and pick up a new role as Red Robin. Tim's evolution from the Robin character is very similar with what happened with Dick once he quit being Robin and became Nightwing. Even though he did not have a fight with Bruce he has grown into being the leader of his generation of heroes by leading the Young Justice and Teen Titans, he has left the Titans to protect Gotham and to see were he should go with his career. While not completely similar the situation seems to be calling for him to be the new Red Robin we have been hearing about. And I think it would be cool if in the Red Robin series that Squire would become a supporting character at least as Tim and Squire share a fun chemistry as partners.

Now even though I thought Daniel nailed those three characters down I was disappointed to see that Daniel did not pick up on the video wills Bruce left behind for Alfred, Dick, Tim, and Jason. Through The Outsiders Special and Robin #183 we know that Bruce left different messages for each member of the Batfamily and so far we have only seen the message Bruce left for Alfred thus far. I was hoping that we would see one of the other video messages Bruce left behind for each of the Robins since they may play a role as to why each Dick, Tim, and Jason are acting the way they are in this issue.

One of my biggest problems with this issue is that this issue was to predictable. After reading the first few pages I felt that I could tell what was going to happen in this issue and the mini-series in general. The whole issue felt like it was going from point A to point B without doing anything to add a little mystery to various plotlines going on the story like the identity of who is the gun wielding Batman, more on him in a second.

The inner monologue of Tim started to get annoying towards the end as Daniel used it to much of a crutch to tell the story throughout the issue. It kind of felt like I was reading Bendis's New Avengers with the amount of inner monologue Daniel used in this issue. Hopefully he is able to tone it down in the next two issues.

Also I did not like that it was Black Mask who has turned up as the leader of most of Gotham's supervillains. Even though it is within his character we just have not seen enough of the character the past few years, especially within the last two years were he has been almost non-existent in the Bat-titles like Jason Todd. I would have much rather had preferred if it was Two-Face or Penguin who have both hinted at starting a gang through the various Bat-titles over the past year. I think the most logical choice would have been Two-Face since in the last story arc in Nightwing Two-Face seemed to have planned on being at Arkham and that he had some sort of plan for Gotham now that Batman is not around.

Outside of Dick, Tim, and Alfred Daniel does not do anything to develop the rest of the characters involved with the Network. Outside of a few panels none of the Network had a big moment in this issue which is something that peeves me off to see that in order to see what Oracle, Batgirl and other major Batman allies don't get any time to react to what is going on since the narrative of this story looks to be told from the perspective of one of the Robins each issue with this issue having Tim do the monologue and next issue will probably be Jason. Seeing what Oracle and Catwoman were thinking could have added some more weight to the story and a different perspective than just Nightwing and Robin arguing of who should be Batman.

I especially hated how Daniel portrayed Damien in this issue. I have always found him to be an annoying character but in this issue Damien did not act in any way like Morrison portrayed him. For character that has kicked Tim's ass and also shown to have no fear to anyone but his dad I thought Damien was a little chicken as he was shaking in his boots when confronted by Killer Croc. I just can't see Damien be scared of Killer Croc as he should have been more than happy to take on one of his father's rogues to show he is the heir to Bruce's thrown.

But my biggest problem with the issue was Jason all of a sudden becoming a gun wielding Batman. Even though Jason appeared for about a total of two issues in the last Robin story arc Jason last major story involvement in the Batuniverse was the One Year Later storyline over in Nightwing that involve him impersonating Nightwing. So because of that Jason as a character feels like he has become irrelevant within the Batuniverse compared to all the other characters, both hero and villain, in BFTC. It is not really Daniel's fault since one of the DC editors should have pointed this out sooner and had Jason more involved in one of the Batman titles storylines, maybe RIP for example. But because Jason has not been involved in any of the Batman storylines his involvement in BFTC just doesn't feel as natural.

Issue Rating
Story: 7.7/10 - Daniel was able to impress with his writing ability but the dialogue felt predictable and Tim's inner monologue throughout the issue got annoying at times.
Art: 9/10 - Outside of a few panels Daniels artwork was even better than his art in RIP. The team of Daniel, Florea, and Hanin gave the story a big budget movie feel to this issue.
Overall: 8.35/10 - Though I was hesistent about Daniel handeling both the writing and art duties he showed that Battle for the Cowl has plenty of potential and I look forward to the next issue.

Batman #686 Review

Creative Team
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Artist: Andy Kubert
Inker: Scott Williams
Colorist: Alex Sinclair

Story - The Beginning of the End

Review
I have to admit that Batman #686 maybe one of the weirdest comics I have had to review since I started this blog. After the first read through I thought the first part of Neil Gaiman's "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" to be a very straight foward and simple homage of all the various era's of Batman that include both the comic book, live action, and cartoon version of Batman.

The odd thing about this issue when I first read it is that I questioned the timing of this two part story by Gaiman. Just about a month ago we already had Morrison pay homage to all the various eras of Batman in his "Last Rites" two parter. So for us to get another tribute-type story so soon after getting one feels like Didio and Marts did not clue in on what Morrison had planned in Final Crisis since here we see Batman's body in tact and not the bag of bones we saw at the end of Final Crisis #6.

Also unlike the current made for trade paperback type stories in the current era of comics this Batman story feels Gaiman wrote this story not to be split into a two-parter but to be a single oversize issue. The whole format of this story being a story within a story within another story just makes this an odd read. Even the ending wasn't much of an ending or cliffhanger.

Now this is not to say I did not like this issue but I just feel that I will enjoy this story much more when I am able to read the second part of "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" Also this is a type of story that would work well if I read it 6 months to a year from now since I still have Morrison's "Last Rites" two-parter fresh in my mind.

I have to give it to Gaiman and Kubert though because this is a type of issue that you can't just read it once since this issue is pact with a lot of cool things for Batman fans that may be missed with only one read through.

One of those moments is right at the start of the issue and continues as the various villains enter the bar for Batman's funeral. I may be wrong about this but the red haired kid that keeps asking each villain if they want them to watch there cars is actually the pre-Crisis Jason Todd, though aged a bit. My knowledge of the pre-Crisis isn't great but I remember reading that when Jason Todd was first introduced he had red hair but dyed it black because the Batman writers of that time wanted Jason to be a carbon copy of Dick Grayson (read here). Also it would make sense since the kid had a deep seeded fear when he talked to the Joker and continuously saying that the Joker will kill him.

Also Gaiman gave me one those rare moments were I actually stopped for a second and went back to read the line were the bartender is telling Selina his name. I thought I read it wrond but it was Joe Chill otherwise known famously for being the one who killed Bruce's parents. It was one of those moments were I just went "Wow" and just knew I was in store for a crazy read.

Also with all the material Gaiman pact into this book it definetly gave Kubert a lot of room to flex his artistic muscle as he drew almost every era of Batman. We get the Golden Age, the Adam West version of Batman, Batman: The Animated Series, and some of the post-Crisis Year One through Three versions of Batman. For me it was cool seeing Kubert drawing the Joker the same way he was drawn as in the Batman: The Animated Series version since that is the series I grew up with and Mark Hamill's voice as the Joker is usually the voice I hear when reading the Joker in comics. And for many fans Kubert really pacts this issue with a lot more cool moments that I sure all Batman fans will enjoy both old and new.

Issue Rating
Story: 7.8/10 - This story just feels like a retread of the Last Rites story we got a month back. Still Gaiman did a good job paying homage to the various era's of Batman and can't wait to see what he does with the other villains version of Batman's death.
Art: 9/10 - Kubert did an awesome job showing off that he is adapt at drawing various versions of Batman.
Overall: 8.4/10- With all that said I got to say that I am going to actually wait to make my complete judgement about Gaiman's story since it really does feel that we need the second part to judge this story as a whole. Though I wish we didn't have to wait for a month to get the next part of the story in Detective Comics and find it weird that it is coming out a week after the first issue of Battle for the Cowl.

Legen--wait for it---dary Comic Book Highlight for 12/10/08

Cover of the Week: Detective Comics #851

Even though I was disappointed by this issue that brought the return of legendary writer Dennis O'Neil I have faith the his next issue will be much better. In any case I love the cover for this issue Detective Comics and gives more fuel to the fire that Dick Grayson will be the new Batman.

Detective Comics #851 Highlights

See comment for the next image.

These two images show how much respect Dick has for his father, Bruce. I love how O'Neil shows that Dick feels uncomfortable suiting up in the Batcave knowing Bruce isn't there anymore.

Final Crisis #5 Highlights

I hope this means that it will be Hal that is one of the big heroes of Final Crisis and it does not end up being Superman just like in all the other DC big events.

Finally our heroes do something about the hell they are other than talking.

We finally get the answer of why Mary Marvel has been acting power hungry for the past two years.

No DC big event is complete without showing the multiple Earths.

I really don't know were Morrison is going to take this development of the Monitor that regained his memory.

Green Lantern Corps #31 Highlights

The Guardians are seemingly writing there own demise with each new law they come up with.

I don't think this is what the doctor meant when he talks about giving a C-section.

Nightwing #151 Highlights

This was just a phenomenal scene and Tomasi has now made Two-Face to be Nightwing's arch-nemesis.

This whole skydiving sub-plot Tomasi started from issue one nicely highlights the difference between Dick and Bruce: Dick is a performer who enjoys life while Bruce is a soldier who is dead pan serious and only thinks of the next job never resting.

You can really feel how much Dick, Tim, and Alfred miss Bruce physical presence. Tomasi knows that scenes like this don't need any dialogue or thought bubbles/squares and allow his art team convey the emotion in this scene.

Superman/Batman #54 Highlights

Having powers sometimes only goes to peoples heads as Bruce we'll learn by the end of this story, while not having powers sometimes sucks just as Clark learns here.

X-Men/Spider-Man #2 Highlights

This was just a great fight scene and Alberti brought a lot of energy to this scene with his artwork.

With Kraven dead I wonder were Mr. Sinister plan, and what that plan is for that matter, goes from here.