Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 10/19

The Backstagers #3
Story: James Tynion IV
Art: Rian Sygh & Walter Baiamonte

I have fond memories about both working backstage on student productions and high school theatricals, although not connected (I did most of my production work in college, while I acted in high school. I died on stage twice in one play!). So, because of this, I was drawn to The Backstagers, another of Boom Box's YA titles, along the same lines as Lumberjanes and Goldie Vance, and it is as delightful and charming as those titles, while being its own book. The Backstagers features a cast of five high school boys at an all boys school who are the stage crew on this year's production, a so-thinly-veiled-it's not-at-all-veiled production of Les Miserables. But what makes this more than just a behind-the-scenes of a play comic is that the backstage is full of tunnels, hallways, and passages full of monsters and creatures (which isn't too far off some of the back stages I've been in over the years. While the first two issues did a lot to set the tone and establish the characters through the eyes of new crew member Jory, issue three takes us to that most dreaded of times for a stage crew: Tech Week, the week where you run the show over and over and make sure everything works. This issue focuses on Beckett, one of the long time members of the crew, who has been the most, shall we say, standoffish member of the crew in those first couple of issue. Writer James Tynion IV does a great job of explaining why Beckett is the way he is in this issue, really fleshing out his character; not just establishing his crush on the play's leading lady, Bailey Brentwood, who is by no means the prima donna mean girl that one might expect from a high school drama star, but also exploring that Beckett is a classic introvert, someone who just needs his own time and space, something this introvert respects and understands with every part of his being.. Also, teaming the grumpy Beckett with the joyful little sprite that is other Backstager Sasha creates a classic duo who don't work. The issue has some great art from Rian Sygh, specifically a splash page of a scene from the play with cast members standing on a barricade, giving you an idea of just how weird this play is (it's Les Mis! Only they're clowns! And there's a bear!). And another two page spread that has small panels over a lighting plot where you get to see much of the crew and cast doing their work in little snippets is one of the best comic representations of what I picture as a TV or movie montage that I've ever seen. This issue is a great work in both character and craft, and just a ton of fun. And while this issue has very little of the supernatural aspects that the first couple have had, short of a magic crystal that powers the lights and lighting board, which is something every theater, high school, college, or professional, would love to have, the set up for what's coming next issue has the promise of all sorts of magic and monsters. Between Backstagers and Detective Comics, James Tynion IV is proving to be an amazing writer of ensemble, character based comics, and I'm looking forwar to where he takes this book next. And, yes, I swore after Goldie Vance that is Boom Box did another mini-series to ongoing transition I wouldn't get suckered in, but, well, if the folks at Boom read this and happen to make that decision, I'm in for the long haul.

Batman #9
Story: Tom King
Art: Mikel Janin & June Chung

Detective Comics has been the Bat book that has absorbed my love and attention since the beginning of the Rebirth era, which is not to say that Batman to this point hasn't been a good comic. It's been a solid, big screen action comics with some nice character beats and work establishing Duke Thomas's relationship with Batman and the new character of Gotham Girl. But the new arc that debuts this issue, "I Am Suicide" looks to be a story that is going to take a good book and push it to new heights. Batman has plans to go to Santa Prisca, home of Bane, to retrieve the villainous Psycho Pirate, who used his powers to infect Gotham Girl with a never ending cycle of fear, and to do it, he's going to need backup, and in this case, he's been offered it by Amanda Waller. Yes, Batman is leading a Suicide Squad. Before we get to Batman, though, the issue opens with Bane and Psycho Pirate, and a bit of a recap of some of Bane's formative years, which are horrifying, and why Bane has taken Psycho Pirate, which is interesting. Bane has been an odd character since the New 52 tossed away much of his later character development, returning him to the character he was in his earlier appearances, or worse to the more thuggish version from various media interpretations, but here it seems King is attempting to deepen the psychology of Bane, which makes for a truly creepy few pages. The majority of this issue a classic, "assembling the team," sequence, but it's not in a sunny happy place like the gathering of a new Justice League. Nope, we're in the bowels of Arkham Asylum. Batman walks out of the Asylum with five members for his team, each very different from the next, Firstly we get the original Ventriloquist, Arnold Wesker. Wesker was one of the characters resurrected by the continuity changes of Flashpoint, but has appeared only in cameos, and has been in many ways overshadowed by the new Ventriloquist created by Gail Simone for Batgirl and Secret Six. Here we get a half reformed Wesker who has broken away from Scarface, but still is seeking someone to pull his strings, which is an interesting view of the character. Bronze Tiger has also been a character who the New 52 continuity didn't treat well, turning him from noble fighter fighting his darker urges into just another member of the League of Assassins. This issue, though, returns him to the classic Suicide Squad member and gives him a great two page sparring session with Batman, one that ends with a smile and the two being revealed to share a history. Punch and Jewlee have been minor characters at the best of times, although they do have a history with the Squad as well, and I'm curious to see what King does to make them more than D-List Joker and Harley. And finally, well, here there be SPOILERS ... is Catwoman, awaiting execution for over two hundred counts of murder. When we last saw Catwoman, which was before Rebirth, she had given up leading Gotham's crime families and had returned to her old status quo, so this is a big, big shocker, and I'm curious to see exactly where King is taking this. On top of all of this, the art from Mikel Janin keeps getting better and better, Seriously, how this guy is not a star is beyond me, with a style reminiscent of early J.H. Williams III. The Bane flashback alone is chilling, and his take on Arkham is excellently creepy.This first issue sets up so much promise for this arc, I can't wait to see how it pays off.

Faith #4
Story: Jody Houser
Art: Pere Perez, Marguerite Sauvage, & Andrew Dalhouse

There are times when I feel like heroism in superhero comics are in short supply. DC is trying to course correct more in this direction with Rebirth, and the results are promising but still early. Marvel continues to have its heroes fighting other heroes more than villains, with some exceptions (like Squirrel Girl). But there's one comic you can always go to where heroism is front and center, and that is Valiant's Faith. At the end of last month a magical artifact created a duplicate Faith, and now both Faith's, along with Faith's boyfriend Obadiah Archer, are hunting down the villain who is using the magical duplication artifact to rob a comic con. It would be easy enough to make this an evil duplicate thing, but that's not where this story goes. Instead we have two heroic Faiths dealing with a legion of criminal doubles all cosplaying a character called Murderous Mouse. I again have to applaud Jody Houser for finding a way to make even the second part of a two-parter new reader friendly. You get a good explanation of Faith's status quo and you get to see all the best parts of her. There's a great exchange between the two Faiths about ysalamiri and how much they miss the Star Wars E.U., which touches on Faith's status as fangirl. You get to see her in action, showing her as a superhero. You get those delightful Marguerite Sauvage drawn daydreams, including a comment on how having two of her would make, "dating weird" (which reminds me of a hilarious moment from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, "The Replacement," You know, the one with two Xanders, when Anya talks about keeping both of them around for a while. Hey, I'm reviewing Faith. Pop culture references are a must), which show that Faith has her head in the clouds at times. And at the end of the story, the duplicate Faith performs an amazingly heroic act, one I don't want to spoil, which shows that no matter which version of her you have, Faith is a hero at heart. And I have to say, while I want to see Faith on her own with her regular supporting cast, and Archer needs Armstrong, I would love a quarterly, "Archer & Faith," series where we just see them go on dates and get into crazy adventures because their dynamic is just adorable. Faith remains a book in classic superheroic tradition, where good wins, and good guys are good guys, and I will take that and relish it month in and month out.

The Great Batman: Brave and the Bold Rewatch: Inside the Outsiders!

Season One, Episode Twenty-Four: Inside the Outsiders!
Written by Alex Van Dyne
Directed by Michael Chang

Plot Synopsis

Teaser: Batman and Green Arrow are tied at the top a post that is slowly lowering as large jungle cats growl at them and try to reach them. Green Arrow is irritated that Batman didn't see the trap that got them into this situation coming, as Batman should know better having fought Catwoman numerous times. Batman and Catwoman talk, with batman trying to talk her out of her life of crime, and Green Arrow is shocked (and annoyed) when he realizes they're flirting. As they near the cats, Batman uses a Batarang to sever the ropes tying the heroes and they swing to safety. Green Arrow fights Catwoman's thugs, while Batman fights the villain herself. The heroes defeat Catwoman and her goons, and are preparing to take them in when Catwoman escapes, leaving Batman with a note including her phone number and a message that says, "Call Me."

Episode: Batman runs through a hallway covered in creeoy golden masks that shoot blasts at him, but he makes it through, crashing into a room where the Psycho Pirate sits in a high tech throne. The Outsiders are in glass tubes that are feeding energy into Psycho Pirate, who is feeding on their emotions. Batman plans to open the chambers, but doing that will fry their brains, and the only way Batman has to save them is to enter the dream world of Psycho Pirate to pull them out, so he dons one of Psycho Pirate's helmets and heads in.

He appears in what appears to be a Japanese temple, and he sees a younger Katana and her old master. She has revealed the location of a sword, and an evil ronin has now arrived seeking it. Katana watches her memory play out, seeing her master die, as Batman tries to snap her out of it. Katana tells Batman this is her nightmare, but this time she will get revenge, and grabs the sword to fight Takeo, the ronin. Takeo tells her that it was her mouth that killed her master, and she prepares to strike down her foe.

At the last moment, Batman intercepts her blade with the energy sword from his utility belt, and the two of them commence dueling, Batman telling her this is now their way, or that of her master. Takeo again goads her on, saying she is now silent because she was responsible for her master's death and feels guilty, while Batman says that she is silent to honor him. This reminder snaps her out of it, and she stops fighting. Takeo transforms into Psycho Pirate, who had been playing on her guilt, who then disappears. Batman knows Psycho Pirate feeds off rage, and he thinks Black Lighting is the main course.

Appearing in an alleyway, Batman and Katana head out to find Black Lightning, prepared for the worst. What they find is a Black Lightning who is attacking people not for crimes but for little social infractions and anything that irritates him. Batman talks to him, trying to get him to calm down, and instead Black Lighting attacks, annoyed at Batman's cape. Katana saves a bystander who turns into Psycho Pirate who tries to get her to again attack, but she does not and he seems offput by it.

Black Lightning continues to attack Batman, Psycho Pirate growing more powerful, and then Black Lightning sees on TV... Uni the Unicorn (an homage to Barney the Dinosaur), and his anger grows. Black Lightning says hugs don't solve everything, and Batman tells him neither does rage, and that his anger was just making Psycho Pirate stronger. Psycho Pirate disappears in a flash, but as he does he causes Uni to leap from the screen and break through the glass. Black Lightning blasts him into confetti, but an army of Uni's come at him. Batman again tells him to channel his anger and energy into stopping Psycho Pirate, and this time Black Lightning listens. he embraces the possibility of happiness and the Uni's disappear. Again Psycho Pirate disappears, and Black Lightning is sure the worst is behind them, since Metamorpho is a happy guy. But as the clouds turn into a huge, angry Metamorpho, Batman knows that the worst is yet to come.

Now in what looks like the wreck of a city, Metamorpho transforms into more and more destructive forms, destroying everything. Batman realizes that Metamorpho's bottled up rage has been fueling Psycho Pirate all along. Psycho Pirate hovers near Metamorpho's ear like the devil on his shoulder, feeding his anger: anger that he is a freak who can't go out in public, anger that part of him believes his friends are laughing at him, not with him. and Metamorpho attacks.

Batman tells the Outsiders they can't harm Metamorpho, since he would be hurt in real life too, and so they have to reason with him. Black Lightning tells him they count on him, that he has the coolest powers in the world, but Psych Pirate counters that all they're doing is using him, and Metamorpho attacks again, saved only by Batman flying them away in his jetpack. He tells Black Lightning and Katana to keep reasoning with Metamorpho while he takes care of Psycho Pirate.

While the Outsiders dodge Metamorpho, Batman attacks Psycho Pirate. Black Lightning and Katana stand under the giant Metamorpho, and it's Katana speaking that stops him. They talk to him, telling him that they're a team, friends, and that they need him, and as he calms down, Batman begins to gain the upper hand on Psycho Pirate. Finally, Metamorpho shrinks down and hugs his friends, back to his normal self.

The dream world splits apart, and Batman awakens, but finds Psycho Pirate out of his throne, standing by a switch which the villain throws, obliterating the Outsiders. In a rage, Batman begins to pound on Psycho Pirate, who is feeding on the anger of the righteous, but Batman realizes this is still a dream, and Batman centers himself, feeding Psycho Pirate happy thoughts, which he can't take, and proceeds to happily knock out the villain.

With the Psycho Pirate finally defeated, Batman and the Outsiders stand over the defeated Psycho Pirate. As Batman walks off to call the authorities, the Outsiders wonder what are Batman's happiest thoughts.



Who's Who

Black Lightning (Voiced by Bumper Robinson)

First Comic Book Appearance:  Black Lightning #1 (April, 1977)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Six- Enter the Outsiders!

Katana (Voiced by Vyvan Pham)

First Comic Book Appearance:  The Brave and the Bold #200 (July, 1983)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Six- Enter the Outsiders!

Metamorpho (Voiced by Scott Menville)
First Comic Book Appearance:  The Brave and the Bold #57 (January, 1965)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Six- Enter the Outsiders!

Psycho Pirate (Voiced by Armin Shimmerman)

First Comic Book Appearance:  Showcase #56 (May-June 1965)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Twenty-Four: Inside the Outsiders!

The Psycho Pirate who appears in Brave and the Bold is the second character to use that name in the comics, Roger Hayden. He was a villain of Earth-2, the Justice Society's Earth, who received the Medusa Mask, a relic that allowed him to manipulate emotions, from the original Psycho Pirate. Psycho Pirate would be a thorn in the side of various members of the Justice Society, but would reach new prominence during DC's legendary crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earths, where he would become an accomplice and agent of the Anti-Monitor. He would survive the Crisis, and would be the only person with a full memory of the existence of the Pre-Crisis multiverse, knowledge which drove him mad. He would appear very sporadically over the course of the next twenty years, most notably in Grant Morrison's Animal Man, before he was recruited by Alexander Luthor during Infinite Crisis, where he was killed by Black Adam. Psycho Pirate has recently reappeared in the Rebirth era Battman series, as a part of Task Force X, and is the mcguffin of the new arc of that series, which begins today. While Psycho Pirate has no innate abilities, the Medusa Mask which he possesses allows him to force emotional states on others and to enhance emotions they already feel.

Green Arrow (Voiced by James Arnold Taylor)
First Comic Book Appearance: More Fun Comics #73 (November, 1941)
First Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode One- Rise of the Blue Beetle


Catwoman (Voiced by Nike Futterman)
First Comic Book Appearance:  Batman #1 (Spring, 1940)
First Full  Brave and the Bold Appearance: Season One, Episode Twenty-Four: Inside the Outsiders!

Selina Kyle is Batman's most persistent female foe. Her origins have changed and morphed over her more than seventy-five years of existence, but it always comes around to her being the world's best cat burglar and a lover of all things feline. In some versions she is abused wife, in others a prostitute, and other times simply a runaway kid. She and Batman spar, each often trying to win the other over to their side of the law, and in recent years, she has been as often an anti-hero as she has been a villain. She is probably Batman's greatest love interest (at least in my opinion), and in more than one universe in the multiverse or adaptation of Batman in other media, it is Catwoman who Batman winds up with. She is one of the greatest characters in comics, and one of the most visible female characters, bot defined by the male hero she is attached to, by clever, powerful, and often wickedly funny in her own right. Catwoman has no superhuman abilities, but is an expert thief, acrobat, escape artist, and hand-to-hand fighter. Her weapons of choice include a cat o'nine tails whip and claws built into her gloves.

Continuity, Comics Connections, and Notes

So, if you're watching along on DVDs, you will notice that this is not the next episode on the DVD. There care three orders in which the last three episodes of Season One  ("Inside the Outsiders", "Menace of the Music Meister", and The Fate of Equinox") can be looked. There is the DVD order, which places this episode last in the season, the order in which they were aired which puts Music Meister before this episode, or the episode numbers, which is the order I chose, meaning this episode is next, followed by Music Meister, and and ending with the Equinox episode, which feels like a season finale.

Catwoman gets her Who's Who entry this week, despite having cameoed twice before, in Legends of the Dark Mite! and Hail the Tornado Tyrant! However, both of those were silent cameos, and this being her first full appearance, I held off spotlighting her until now.

Armin Shimmerman, who voiced Psycho Pirate this episode, and is best known to genre TV fans as Quark on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Principal Snyder on Buffy the Vampire Slayer,  has appeared on Brave and the Bold once before, voicing Calculator in Night of the Huntress, and will appear one more time, but that's for the future.

I just want to call out a very cool visual in this episode. During the Black Lightning sequence, the whole world in in grey scale except for the people who are frustrating him, who appear in color.

Recommended Reading for 10/16: Tales of the Multiverse- Batman: Vampire

Batman can trace  his literary roots back to a lot of different sources. The pulps are a major source, especially The Shadow and Zorro. But going deeper in, there are two Victorian characters who are hugely influential: Sherlock Holmes and Dracula. I discussed Batman's meeting with Holmes nearly three years ago to this very day. And Batman has met Dracula as well, in the fist of a trio of original graphic novels we'll be discussing today.

The three volumes, Batman/Dracula: Red Rain, Batman: Bloodstorm, and Batman: Crimson Mist were all written by then Batman writer Doug Moench, with art by Kelly Jones, who had been doing covers for Batman for some time, and during the years the trilogy would be released over, would spend some time as regular penciler on the title. It's a tale of horror and superheroics mixed and about the downfall of a good man to the curse of the vampire, as we watch Batman fall into the trap Nietzsche laid out, about those who fight  monsters being careful to not become monsters in the process.

The Batman: Vampire trilogy came out at the height of Elseworlds, DC's tales of heroes in unfamiliar circumstances, and is by far one of the most popular and successful, having spawned one of the 52 Earths of the current DC Multiverse. And while these stories take place in a Gotham nearer to the one we're familiar with in monthly comics, one not as removed as the Victorian Gotham of Gotham By Gaslight or the church-ruled one of Holy Terror, it is a Gotham of even darker corners, and of a constant red rain falling from the sky, pollution run rampant that now portends the coming evil.

Batman/Dracula: Red Rain, the first in the series, seemed to be written to be a stand alone novel. In it, Batman finds Gotham's homeless being murdered, and their throats slashed, and learns that the cut throats are to mask the telltale vampire bites. He comes into conflict with the hordes of the undead and their leader, Dracula, and is aided by a group of reformed vampires, those who drink a serum that satisfies their bloodlust, led by the beautiful Tanya, who had been turned by Dracula himself and after years of being his consort, realized the horror of what she was doing and vowed to stop him. Tanya gifted Batman with her blood, giving him vampire powers without the weaknesses, but at the story's end, Dracula's bite finishes the transformation, and a vampire Batman is born. 

The story is itself a wonderful horror yarn, with the vampires mostly monstrous bloodsucking creatures with no mind or soul, with the traditional weaknesses to sunlight, stakes, crosses, etc. Batman is himself at a loss at the beginning of the story, outmatched by the vampires' powers, and only through becoming more like them is he finally able to stop them. It's a gorgeously gothic landscape as only Kelly Jones could craft, but I'll spend more time on the art later.

The world of this book is interesting in the slight differences between it and the Gotham we are accustomed to. There seems to be no Robin or other superheroes of any kind in the world, making it a world of a more lonely Batman. This is a Batman who, as committed to his principles as he is, is somewhat darker, not having that grounding in his humanity. While Alfred and Jim Gordon are still there, this Batman seems less emotionally involved with either of them, but whether that is his nature or a part of his vampiric transformation remains a question left to the reader.

Moench's Dracula isn't the cape and amulet wearing Bela Lugosi version, or sympathetic either. His Dracula is a mad, monstrous creature who knows nothing but his hunger for blood. Not as mindless as his spawn, his goal is simply to build an army of vampires and feed. While there aren't a lot of levels there, it works very well with Dracula as a character; he is bloodlust incarnate. Tanya is a character with an... interesting design. No traditional vampire wife of Dracula, she's in a one piece purple bathing suit with knee-high purple boots for much of the story; how very '90s. But she's a sympathetic character; she is completely driven to destroy Dracula, even at the cost of her own life, but does it to prevent anyone else from falling to his curse, making her an interesting parallel to Batman, who reacts the same way to his traumatic experience; he is willing to sacrifice himself to stop crime in the same way she is to stop vampirism.

Red Rain also spends some of its time pursuing far more real world issues than either of its successors. The fact that he victims are all homeless, and that the mayor actively tells Gordon to keep a lid on it because he doesn't want to start a panic and who cares about these people anyway is an indictment on society in general's treatment of the homeless. Also, signs throughout the issue in the background of scenes are for vaccinations, and so the idea of vampirism as a disease is eased out; published in 1991, at the beginning of the time when AIDS was coming into the forefront of social consciousness, it's not hard to link vampirism and blood borne illness either, and also to hear Dracula ant about how mankind has poisoned its blood with disease and drugs adds to this elemen.

Bloodstorm, the second volume of the trilogy, begins bringing in figures from the established Batman mythos, as the Joker uses his wiles to become leader of the remaining vampires and begins a war to take over Gotham's mobs. Batman, now a full vampire, must fight the call to drink blood, instead subsisting on Tanya's blood substitute formula as the hunger increases. But his mind is put at ease when he meets Selina Kyle, in this reality a were-cat after being bitten by Creach, Joker's right hand vampire who was in a wolf form at the time, and he two hunt together until Joker kills Catwoman, and Batman finally breaks, killing Joker and drinking his blood, leaving it up to Gordon and Alfred to do what must be done, giving us one of the book's indelible images, of them driving a stake through Batman's heart, reciting the mantra Tanya introduced in volume one, "To death... in peace."

While the plot seems very similar to the first volume, with Joker taking Dracula's place and Selina taking Tanya's, they are very different stories. Most importantly, this story is not about Batman discovering and coming to terms with the existence of vampires, and about being haunted by visions of Tanya until he realizes the truth, but about him fighting the beast inside him. Much of Batman's internal narrative is about how hard it is to resist the urge to drink blood. It shows Batman's strength of will, and more how insidious the vampire disease/curse is, and makes it all the more tragic when he finally submits to it.

Joker and Catwoman work well as deepening the connection between this world and the prime DCU while also pointing out how different they are. Joker is, well, pretty much Joker, mad and cunning, using the vampires to turn mobsters instead of the homeless, while still staying human. It's interesting that Joker does not seem to desire the immortality of the vampire, but instead simply uses them as a means to an end. Keeping him human establishes him even more as a counterpoint to the vampiric Batman. Meanwhile, the Selina Kyle of this world seems to bear little resemblance to her traditional counterpart, other than her affection for cats. There is no indication that she is a thief, but instead just a woman who wound up on the wrong side of a vampire. She is also tremendously noble, often addressed as an innocent woman, since it is the love of an innocent woman that is said to hold off the curse. More than that, it is her nobility that leads to her downfall, as she takes a crossbow bolt meant for Batman.

This second volume takes the horror of the first volume and amps it up to eleven. There's almost a black comedy vibe, appropriate for a Joker story, as the vampire deaths and murders seem more grotesque, from Creah tearing himself open to expose his internal organs to a mobster before tearing ones face off with his fangs (that vampire is later seen with his face stitched on) to a vampire who was shot in the head before being turned having a small Band-Aid to cover up the wound. Also, Batman gets a new weapon that is just so cool I have to call it out, these silver-cored wooden throwing knives with bat-tooled hilts; even when he's slaying vampires, Batman does it in style.

You'd think that being staked would put an end to Batman's problems, but you would be wrong. In this vampire mythos, a stake just immobilizes a vampire, and only beheading or sunlight seems to make he undead permanently dead. And when the costumed criminals of Gotham run completely amok, Alfred makes the hard decision and pulls the stake. Batman rises from the dead, more monstrous than ever, and begins to hunt down and slay Gotham's criminals unrepentantly, but still enough of himself to behead each one to not spawn more vampires. Finally, after a series of atrocities, it comes down to an unholy alliance between Jim Gordon, Alfred, Two-Face, and Killer Croc to put an end to the vampire Batman. And in a final battle with a body count straight out of a Shakespearean tragedy, Batman is given his final rest, along with everyone else.

By this point in the series, the vampire Batman has become nearly entirely a monster. He hangs onto his humanity by barely a thread, and its only there in that he only kills the guilty, but he is constantly tempted to give in and just drink from anyone else he runs across. Still, the haunting narration has Batman almost as a passenger in a body driven by his hunger. I say almost because even he acknowledges that it's still him in there, just with the hunger pushing him. One of the major differences between this volume and the former two is that Batman is the only vampire in the story, and while not the only monster, he is by far the scariest.

The other monsters in the story are pretty much all of Batman's remaining major rogues, who pop up to mostly be victims of Batman's insatiable thirst. Some appear as they traditionally have: Penguin, Poison Ivy, Black Mask, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, and Two-Face all look like you'd expect. Riddler, though, gets a creepy resdesign, with question marks etched into his face and chest with stitching. I also seems that the timeline is different than what we're used to, as both Two-Face and Scarecrow are just being introduced to the world, with no previous history with Batman. It's Two-Face who is the most used of the villains, as most fall pretty quickly. Two-Face, with Croc as his henchman, is the one planning on finding a way to eliminate Batman and ascend o king of Gotham, and its a Two-Face similar to the one Moench wrote when he was writing Batman, whose personality is far more split than he's often portrayed, referring to himself as "we."

This volume also spends considerably more time developing both Jim Gordon and Alfred's character arcs. While both have had parts in the first two volumes, it is here they not only come into their own, but in the final battle show their defining characteristics. Alfred sacrifices himself to Batman's thirst after Batman is struck by a crossbow bolt so Batman can stop Two-Face from killing Gordon, showing his intense loyalty, and Gordon finally hits a detonator that opens to cavern ceiling above the Batcave, showing his resolve by being willing to not only kill his one-time friend but in the end dying to stop him. The last page, spotlighting the three fallen friends and heroes, is another one of the series highlights.

While Moench's story is excellent and haunting, I don't think this story would stick out as one of the greatest Batman Elseworlds stories if not for the art by Kelly Jones. Jones is a master of horror, his art very stylized and exaggerated to almost the point of the grotesque, with many great horror comics in his past, one of the most notable being the legendary Sandman: A Season of Mists. Gotham, though, seems to be a place he was meant to draw. His Gotham is one of the most haunting versions out there, with gargoyles and creepy buildings at every turn. The red rain and he general atmosphere gives the already horror filled story an extra edge.

And even if Gotham wasn't at it's darkest, Batman most assuredly is. Jones is most famous for how he portrays Batman's cape, competing with Todd Macfarlane for artist who draws the biggest, most billowy, most almost alive cape award, but here he adds Batman's slow descent into monsterdom; it is perfectly shown in the art. Batman starts out looking exactly like you're used to seeing him, and over the course of the first volume, he changes slowly, but even at the end he's pretty much the same, only with wings and fangs. By the second, he is slightly more grotesque, broader and more haunted looking, with he fangs ever evident. By volume three, Batman is a revenant, basically a walking corpse, with ribs evident, his vertebrae appearing almost as spikes down his back, sallow skin, and regularly shifting into a form similar to Man-Bat and to the titular crimson mist. It's Batman as the biggest, scariest monster in the series, and that makes it all the worse, as he is the guy you want to root for now transformed into the terror of the night.

Of the other monsters and villains, the designs are similarly spectacular. The were-cat Selina is lithe and sexy, while still being a terrifying monster when she is in combat. The various vampires are all hideous and scary, and I really like the design for Creach as a werewolf; he's a massive hulking brute. Oh, and the Joker has crazy long hair, almost pushing mullet levels. Nowhere else will you see a mullet Joker.

Before I close up, I want to toss in a few other interesting Batman Elsworlds and vampire stories. Sadly not as well known or in print as these ones, Moench and Jones did another Elseworld Batman original graphic novel, Dark Joker: The Wild, set in a fantasy world with Joker as an evil sorcerer. Also, for a very different take on Baman fighting Dracula, there's the direct to DVD Batman Vs. Dracula, the one feature length animated film from the continuity of the oft-forgotten animated Batman series, The Batman. Its probably the best part of that series, with some really atmospheric moments, and is well worth watching if you have the time.

Elseworlds stories range from the sublime to the, well, the stuff I don't talk about on this blog, and as there were more Batman Elseworlds than any other character, you would expect a mix of both. The Batman: Vampire trilogy falls in the sublime category, mixing the elements of Batman with some great horror elements to create a vision of Batman like no other.

All three books in the Batman: Vampire series are in print and available as one volume, whose name I used for the title of this post, Tales of the Multiverse: Batman-Vampire.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 9/9

Atomic Robo and the Ring of Fire #1
Story: Brian Clevinger
Art: Scott Wegener & Anthony Clark

Atomic Robo is back, and now coming out from IDW! And after all the recent stressful events in his life, he's taking some time off in the '60s to tour with Johnny Cash! Oh, wait, no it's a completely different ring of fire. We're back in the present this story, and following Bernie, Lang, and Vik, the Action Scientists who survived Robo's "final" clash with Dr. Dinosaur, months after that battle, and things are not looking good. Majestic, the secret government agency, has claimed all of Tesladyne's property, arrested all the employees they know are alive, and Robo is presumed dead. Of course, if you read Knights of the Golden Circle, you know where Robo wound up, and this issue, with some spiffy science that I didn't completely understand (it involved a fifth dimensional cardinal direction called zorth), the team, along with new member Foley, head out to retrieve a package that the reader knows is Robo. The four scientists are distinct in personality: Vik sort of den father to the team, Bernard frustrated with the situation and having to pull himself out of a bottle, Lang staunchly dedicated, and Foley as the newbie. The mix of personalities gives a nice conflict. Breaking into Tesla's old Colorado Springs facility is a fun caper sequence, with decoy drones, soldiers, and a warehouse that makes the one from Raiders of the Lost Ark look like a filing cabinet. And once it's done, the team is rewarded. All of that would be enough for most comics, but in Japan, Majestic is encountering a whole other set of problems, a "biomega" threat that can't be any good for anyone, but will involve giant mech suits, which is always a major plus. Atomic Robo is a comic full of big crazy ideas, as well a lot of fun moments, and well written characters. With distribution through IDW, a higher profile can only help get Robo out to more people, and that's great news. There's only so many times and ways I can say it, but I'll say it again: GO READ ATOMIC ROBO!!!

Batman #44
Story: Scott Snyder & Brian Azzarello
Art: Jock & Lee Loughridge

While I love Scott Snyder's long story arcs on Batman, I've found that some of his best stories have been the shorter one or two issue stories he has done. This issue (with a writing assist from 100 Bullets creator Brian Azzarello) is another of those impressive single issues, one that, while set long before the events of the main story, establishes some of the background of the new villain, Mr. Bloom, and also tells a tale of Gotham City and the crime that we don't often see Batman deal with. It's an issue that pulls in a lot of the issues we're dealing with in society, issues like the origins of urban crime, of police shootings, and gentrification, but the comic never forgets it is a story about Batman, and never preaches. The story begins with Batman finding the body of Peter Duggio, an African American youth who has not only been shot repeatedly, but seems to have been dropped out of a plane and onto the marshes outside the city. Batman follows a trail that leads him to The Corner, a part of Gotham's crime ridden Narrows, where Duggio's father owned a shop, and on to the Penguin, the local gang called the Four Fives, to a police officer, to Bruce Wayne, and finally to a mysterious alley where (unbeknownst to Batman) Mr. Bloom had set up shop. We see exactly how far the circumstances of his life led to Peter's death, and how no one was there to help him when he needed it. The narrator of the story if omnipotent, not the usual first person of many of Snyder's Batman stories, and may well be Gotham itself, talking about Peter, about Bruce as a young man, and about all the people who were involved to get Peter to the place he ended up. And at the issue's end, we see that Batman might have learned something, something about how he must be as much a part of the city as he is above it, and how he must listen to it. I have written before that I feel like Batman needs to be a character who does his best to protect the innocent as much (if not more than) punish the guilty, and a Batman who will listen to the people of the city is a step in that direction. On top of an excellent story, this issue is drawn by Jock, who worked with Snyder back on his impressive Batman debut, "The Black Mirror" in Detective Comics. Jock's rough, dark style really works with this tale of Gotham's gritty side, but also has faces that express the pain and frustration of people on The Corner, and Batman's own anger at the death of Peter Duggio. He also draws an impressive monster, but you'll have to read the comic to find out why that talent in required for this story. If you've read my reviews of this title, or anyone's, and have been curious to see what this book is really like, I can think of few better issues than this one to try out.

Harley Quinn Road Trip Special
Story: Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti
Art: Bret Blevins, Moritat, Flaviano Armentaro, Pasquale Qualaro, Jed Dougherty, Mike Manley, & Paul Mounts

These Harley Quinn jam specials are some of the most fun comics DC puts out, and I'm glad to see Conner and Palmiotti continuing to do them. After an annual, the Holidays, Comic Con, and Valentine's Day, this special focuses on Harley on a road trip with her gal pal, Poison Ivy and Catwoman. I like that Harley Quinn as a series remains unbeholden to so much of the continuity of the New DC, as Harley has interacted little with Catwoman since the relaunch, but that doesn't matter for this story. The plot revolves around Harley finding out that her beloved uncle Louie has passed away, and it's up to her to not only pick up her inheritance (a classic RV) in Los Angeles, but drive it and Louie's ashes back to New York so he can be buried with his wife, Aunt Alice. With a couple of phone calls, Harley recruits Ivy, who is mid-battle with Batman, and Catwoman, who was considering going out to L.A. anyway to steal a necklace someone stole before her anyway, and they're off to California. The comic is a wild road trip story, with the Sirens (yes, I know they're never addressed as Gotham City Sirens anywhere, but it's a good shorthand), going to parties in L.A. and Vegas, having some of the RV, a brief run-in with Bizarro and Jimmy Olsen on their own road trip in the Bizarro mini-series, and running afoul of Darwolf, the thief Catwoman liberated the necklace from. There's really no threat there, because let's be fair, very few people could stand up to these three. The story is as bawdy as readers have come to expect from these Harley stories, with more double entendres per panel than pretty much any comic you can imagine. An if that's all that this comic had, it would be perfect bubblegum comics: not filling, but a ton of fun. But we get Harley dealing with the loss of her uncle, and some smart character work with Harley and her ever growing extended family of wacky characters. Poison Ivy, who in many other comics is portrayed as cold and calculating, has her best nature brought out by Harley, and while I'm enjoying Catwoman the crime boss in her won book, it's fun to get a classic version of the character here. And I'd have to go back and double check if it's in all of them, but this is at least the third of the big Harley issues with a crazy hallucination/dream sequence, this time from Moritat, one of my favorite artists in comics now. And it was great to see Bret Blevins back. Blevins draws about half this issue, and has a long history with Batman, having drawn a sizable run on Shadow of the Bat back in the day. If you're looking for a great comic to wind down the summer with as autumn grows nearer, you should check out the Harley Quinn Road Trip Special.

Recommended Viewing: The Dark Knight Rises

Like there was anything else I'd write about today.

I think I'm really going to need more time to really sit back and process everything that happened in The Dark Knight Rises. The film is nearly three hours long, and is a dense movie, with tons of stuff happening, plus lots of symbolism and weight. I can say that I loved it, that I thought it was an excellent film in general, and an incredible superhero film in specific.

In my commentary on Starman, I mentioned that I feel, with the continuing nature of superhero comics, characters rarely change, and endings are at best artificial. Christopher Nolan, knowing that he was building a trilogy, actually created a final chapter for his Batman. While I'm sure another writer/director could pick up the character and run with this version of it, I think that would be a disservice. Nolan, over the course of his trilogy, has crafted a complete tale: the beginnings of a hero is Batman Begins, the hero at the height of his legend in The Dark Knight, and the hero giving the last full measure of devotion in The Dark Knight Rises. When all three films are watched together, as I did at one of the marathons last night, you can see a very clear arc for Nolan's Batman, one that I will get into in a little bit.

Nolan has done something throughout his trilogy that previous Batman films have not: he has taken inspirations from specific comic book stories and played with them to best fit his view and themes.The three that leap immediately to mind for this film are not three you would expect to be mentioned in the same breath: the quintessential Dark Knight Returns, and the mega-Bat-family crossovers Knightfall and  No Man's Land. Nolan takes aspects from each, an aged Batman who has retired and a city under siege by villains, and puts them together in a way that works.

This film is a bigger movie than it's previous two installments. It's longer, of course, but more than that, it has more of a superhero plot, with massive armies of criminals, super science, and as many settings as Batman Begins. The more fantastic aspects might seem to counter to what Nolan had done before, especially in the supremely gritty and "real" world of The Dark Knight, but one of the themes established in the first film is one of escalation; that great acts of heroism only inspire greater acts of villainy. And so a plot that seems a bit more outlandish than the previous two films (one of which ended with a train chase and a microwave emitter, so you know we're really into sci-fi land here) feels acceptable.

Beyond the theme of escalation, Nolan continues to touch on the two othemes that have run through his trilogy. The first is that of terrorism. Nolan's villains are never addressed as criminals, or supervillains; they are terrorists. Bane is even more of one than Ra's al Ghul or the Joker. He uses peoples' fears against them to turn society on its ear. We watch Gotham deal with a world where right and wrong have been overturned by the rule of fear and madness, and how people deal with that. More than terrorism, though, the theme of belief in something comes through. Whether it's Bane's belief in the decadence of the world and his right to change it, or John Blake's belief in the Batman, what we believe in, and how far we are willing to go for it, is a string part of the film.

But the theme I feel is most central to what Nolan is doing in his films is that of the definition of a hero. Bruce Wayne begins the film as a shell of his former self. He must rebuild his life and his heroic persona. He must choose what is right and what is heroic. He is given numerous opportunities to quit, or to leave, but he chooses not to. In the end, he gives his all to Gotham. The other characters on the right side of things are also shown struggling with doing what is right, specifically Jim Gordon, who begins the film still struggling with his choice from eight years prior to let Batman take the fall for Two-Face's crimes. Gordon has been as central to Nolan's films as Batman has, and so it's important to follow his journey to its conclusion as well. And the introduction of new character John Blake, a young idealist, stands as something that the others can look to as a reminder of what they were before the world tarnished them.

Nolan has made excellent casting choices in his films, and this one is no different. While I'm sure we'll hear the same complaints about actor Christian Bale's Batman voice, I think he did a tremendous job in this film. He does spend a good amount of time out of the mask, allowing to see his face and to see him work. He has a journey to make through this film, from broken man to ascendant hero, and he pulls it off. The rest of the returning cast, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine, are all legends for a reason, and none of them do anything but play their characters pitch perfectly.

As for the new cast, Tom Hardy spends the entire film under mask as Bane, but does a good job of using his eyes and his body language to make his character. The Bane voice is clearly computer altered, but not to a degree that loses Hardy's personality as Bane. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays John Blake with an earnestness that is lacking in so many of the other characters. He is a young man, noble, with aspirations to make the world a better place, and Gordon-Levitt plays his in a way that does not make his lines seem, "Gosh golly," naive, but a person who is a true believer in something. Marion Cottilard's  Miranda Tate is one character I would have like to spent a bit more time with, to make her motivations a little more clear, but Cottilard plays her as a woman who believes that she can make the world a better place, and has the steel in her spine to do it.

The final new character in the film is Selina Kyle, Catwoman, and she is ably played by Anne Hathaway. Catwoman has been played by many different actresses over the years, more than any other of Batman's rogues, and Hathaway has become may favorite. She's tough, she's sassy, she's sexy, she's everything I would want in a Catwoman. More than that, though, she has a heart, and that "will they/won't they" thing that is the cornerstone of her relationship with Batman. She had excellent chemistry with Bale, and the scenes between the Bat and the Cat popped off the screen for me.

As with all of Nolan's films, the look of the movie was stunning. Nolan does a great job of using effects not as a crutch but as something to heighten a scene. The scenes in Bane's former home of the prison were stunning, the world there so distinct from Gotham. And watching Gotham change under the actions of Bane, and seeing the way the people there reacted to it, added a layer to the film.

The Dark Knight Rises isn't a perfect movie, but really there are very few films that even approach perfection. What it is, is a film that does what it intended. It raises questions, it makes you think, think about heroism and terrorism, something that most summer blockbusters would never try. And it gives a glorious send off to an excellent interpretation of one of the most interpreted characters in modern culture. Kudos, Mr. Nolan, kudos.


On a more serious note, my heart and thoughts go out to the people hurt and killed in the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting.