New Azrael Mini-Series Announced!

It's right here, folks. Can it be a coincidence that, once again as Bruce Wayne is removed as Batman that Azrael once more takes the scene?

But admittedly, this doesn't sound like Jean-Paul Valley... no matter how much I really want it to be. The solicitation mentions the Suit of Sorrows, so maybe something noteworthy will come out of the truly mediocre resurrection of Ra's al Ghul. (Seriously, DC... if you're going to make such a big deal out of bringing a character back, you should maybe, I dunno, do something with them.)

The fact that this is running in parallel to The Battle for the Cowl means that it's less likely that we'll have a full-on Az-Bats revival, but a guy can hope... right?

The Battle for the Cowl?

So the identity of Batman is going to be up for grabs amongst all of Batman's associates past and present? Who's going to be Batman? Dick Grayson? Jason Todd? Tim Drake? Bruce Wayne? It'll never happen, but here's my pick for the new Batman...



Who is it?

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.
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Jean-Paul Valley!

This would be the greatest sucker-punch in the world. Who has the largest amount of experience as Batman, short of Bruce Wayne? Yeah, sure... maybe he let a murderer die, possibly condemning his last victim to a slow and horrible death. Okay, he's got moments where he goes just bat-sh!t crazy. But I think I would applaud the sheer cojones a move like this would require.

Who says nothing good happened in the 90's?

The Greatest Batman Story Ever!

We've had stories where Bruce Wayne was put on trial for a crime that only revealing himself to be Batman could possibly clear him of. We've had stories that put Bruce Wayne in a wheelchair. We've had plenty of stories where someone close to Bruce has learned that he's secretly Batman.

Blind Justice, running from Detective Comics has them all! That's right, Bruce Wayne on trial over a decade before Bruce Wayne: Murderer! A wheelchair-bound Batman four years before Knightfall! What? You haven't read this epic by Sam Hamm? Told in two oversized issues sandwiching a single issue middle chapter, it's got more story than three normal Batman story arcs!

While investigating a strange series of crimes, Batman learns of a secret government cabal performing research within Waynetech. Disposable villain, Dr. Kenneth Harbinger has been experimenting on implanting chips into people in order to control them remotely. When Bruce threatens to shut them down, they come right back saying that they know his secret. If he moves against them, they'll go public. Unwilling to be bullied, Bruce Wayne prepares to file charges only to find himself arrested and charged as a communist spy! Apparently the cold-war era US government didn't smile on billionaire playboys in charge of multinational corporations who spent a lot of time in Communist China at impressionably young ages. Who knew?

Of course, Bruce could explain that he was training with martial arts masters so that he could become a dark avenger of the night... but yeah, talk like that would put him in Arkham sharing a cell with the Penguin. So instead, he prepares a legal defense. Or he would, except that Dr. Kenneth Harbinger, having permanently shifted his mind into another body to break free of the secret government cabal, tries to gun Wayne down. Failing to kill him, it does leave Bruce paralyzed. Gee, without Batman to do the legwork to exonerate Bruce Wayne, things look bleak don't they?

Enter Plot Device #3, disposable supporting cast. Early in the story, Bruce helped reunite Jeannie Bowen with her long-lost brother Roy Kane, who was one of the innocents the cabal experimented on. Accidentally discovering that Bruce Wayne is Batman, Roy offers to let Bruce pilot his body by remote, allowing Batman to return to duty! Repelled by the notion, Bruce reluctantly agrees. Of course, by learning Bruce's secret we can already guess something about Roy... and as one would expect, he's not getting out alive. While he's able to recover the information he needs to prove that Bruce Wayne was framed, 'Batman' is killed. It seems Roy wasn't quite the athlete that Bruce is. So we also get another level of stuff for Bruce to torture himself over as he torches every last bit of the technology that allowed him to endanger Roy's life.

If you haven't ever seen this masterpiece for yourself, check out Detective Comics #598-600.

Vaya con Dios, Blue Beetle

One of the books that I’m most disappointed about in that regard is a book like Blue Beetle, which we are cancelling. That’s a book that we started with very high expectations, but it lost its audience along the way. Recently, we felt that it was standing on firmer ground, and was getting a more positive response. The problem is that the firmer ground and positive response is not enough to keep the book afloat. So unfortunately, we had to cancel that series.

So sayeth Dan Didio in a recent interview with Newsarama.

I've been thinking a lot about the Blue Beetle for the past couple of days. While having lunch with a friend yesterday, I remember saying that I just didn't love it as much as I did when John Rogers was writing it but I couldn't really come up with a reason why. And it's not the first time I've had that opinion of the series... I initially dropped it after the sixth issue, learning that the Scarab was a piece of alien technology. I don't know if it was that conclusion specifically, but something in the book failed to grab me at that point, and it took me eight months to give it another chance.

Now, I haven't dropped the book. I thought about it after Will Pfeifer's two issues, but ultimately decided to hang in there to see if Matt Sturges could do anything. I thought about all this while I tried to pinpoint what it was that was missing, and after a day and a half or so, I think maybe what's gone missing is a sense of direction. When John Rogers introduced the Reach in issue #12, he started a story that essentially ran for 14 issues, and provided the Blue Beetle with a threat that only he could sense, much less stop. And the last four issues of his run were a thundering conclusion that cemented Jaime Reyes as a hero... and brought that story to a close.

The thing is... direction requires time and stability. Following Rogers, we got three issues that could essentially have been skipped. Jai Nitz' experiment in Spanish-language comics, and two stories by WIll Pfeifer did more to hurt the book, I think, than anything. Hindsight is 20/20, and it seems to me that following Rogers' run on the book, what it needed was someone who was going to stick with it, and take it somewhere. That's why I've stuck around, even though the book doesn't feel to me that it's 'as good'. I want to give Matt Sturges a chance to get his feet under him with the character, and try to go somewhere. Too bad it sounds like he won't get the chance.

DC Has Issues...

There's a great article over at the Comics Should Be Good blog discussing the astonishing silence of DC Editorial in regards to both Grant Morrison dishing on the inconsistencies between Countdown, Death of the New Gods and Final Crisis. It also goes into the matter of Chuck Dixon's mysterious, and apparently unsought departure from DC.

While both issues strike me as being Editorial in nature, the occurences themselves don't disturb me. Stuff happens all the time, right? But the deafening silence from DC is astonishing. You'd think that as a major publisher, you'd want to keep plot points straight for your major Summer Event... especially on obscure little details like who dies and when.

But I can look at that screw up, roll my eyes and forget about Death of the New Gods. I did that about Countdown months ago. But when DC made such a noise about the return of Chuck Dixon not just to DC, but to several of the Batman-related titles to see that they almost don't want to acknowledge that he's gone is shocking. I know we don't have any right to the details, but right now all we have is Dixon's terse confession that his departure from DC was not voluntary. It's showing a lot of restraint and professionalism on Dixon's part while DC continues in an ominous silence.

I don't know what's going on over there, but it would be nice to hear something from them. Especially at a time when I'm dropping DC books with greater and greater frequency. I don't see myself staying with Batman and the Outsiders beyond Dixon's last issue... and I'm not exactly joined at the hip with Robin either. Dixon's return to the book, and the return of Stephanie Brown kept me from dropping it a couple months ago. Looks like it might be headed back to the chopping block after Batman: R.I.P.

Sightings - A Rant

It seems like only yesterday that DC's editorial staff told it's readers that special books with something important would carry this special 'SIGHTINGS' banner, and that within those issues would be something the readers would want to see. My personal understanding of the concept was that when something big enough to reflect notice in the DC Universe at large happened, this banner would appear on the cover of the book, so that fans would know to look. It's a good idea.

In my opinion, it's been misused completely in the two books I know of that have carried it.

Justice League of America, Vol. 2 #21 carried thie banner. What happened in Justice League #21? Libra recruited a loser criminal called the Human Flame for his new incarnation of the Secret Society, or Injustice League, or whatever they're deciding to call the faceless mass of supervillains for this Crisis. And I guess they beat up a few Leaguers doing it. Well... was there anything in this mess that wasn't covered by the first issue of Final Crisis? Not that I'm aware of. By comparison, Final Crisis #1 did not carry the 'SIGHTINGS' banner, and in that issue they killed a prominent mainstay of the Justice League. That would seem slightly more important to me.

Action Comics #866 arrived in stores today, and once again, another book bearing the banner. I've been steadfastly ignoring Geoff Johns' run on Action Comics for several reasons, so once again... a book that I wouldn't have normally read has a banner telling me something important is happening. It's a light week, so I nibble. I don't see anything noteworthy in the title, except that Johns is now apparently re-telling or re-imagining Brainiac's pre-Crisis history. (For the sake of further spoilage, I won't go into it here, but Wikipedia sums it up nicely.) Where's the landmark event in this book that makes it a must-read? Could someone please tell me?

Well, THAT'S pretty sudden...

While peering through my RSS feeds during my siesta, today, I observed a short post on Occasional Superheroine indicating that Chuck Dixon is no longer employed by DC Comics. Seriously, the post on his own forums is right here. It's too short to be cryptic per se, but it does lead me to wonder what precisely happened?

What... did he kill Dan Didio's dog or something? Did they just hire him back to revive Spoiler, and salvage a few issues of Batman & the Outsiders?

On that note, does anybody think that Batman & the Outsiders will continue beyond what Dixon already had in the pipe?

Secret Infinite Final Civil War Crisis on Infinite Earths Wars

I got to thinking about big 'event' comics the other day, and the differences between the way Marvel and DC tackle them.

It all sprang with me trying, again, to pin the tail on why I've found DC to be so disappointing. And mentally, I figure I trace the beginnings of my disappointment back to the end of Infinite Crisis. And the conclusion I think I've come to is this: It doesn't feel like we're getting stories out of DC that could only be told after Infinite Crisis.

Maybe it's just my opinion, but I kindof feel that if you're going to have a massive event for the reason of making massive changes to the status quo then you should follow two fairly important rules:

1. Have the changes make sense within the context of the story being told.
2. Ensure that the stories following the event are impacted in some way by the event.

The two most recent, completed events we have to look at are Infinite Crisis and Civil War. Of the two, I liked Infinite Crisis better as a story. But in a turnaround, I'm of the opinion that Civil War was a more successful crossover in regards to it's effects on the status quo.

The events of Infinite Crisis had Alexander Luthor and Superboy Prime conspiring to destroy the DC Universe to form it into something they felt would be better. The feeling was that the DC Universe had be come too dark and grim, losing sight of the good and hopeful outlook DC has traditionally held. The powers that be wanted the DC Universe to be a place for heroes again. And yet take a look at Bard Meltzer's first six issues of Justice League of America... Red Tornado tears Solomon Grundy to bits... on panel, very graphically. On top of that, there were a bunch of other changes made with little explanation or use. We know that Bullock's a cop again, and that Jim Gordon has been called out of retirement as Commissioner. We don't even know why these things are the case really. Or at least, I don't. Continuity gaffes and sloppy fact checking seem to abound in the current DC Universe.

The Marvel Universe is a pretty stark contrast. Civil War was a decent story, and a really nifty idea that felt to me like it was adapted to fit an editorial mandate to shake things up a bit. There's nothing wrong with that... things need to be shaken up now and again. And while I didn't like the story in Civil War as much, and it seemed to me that several of the key players were a fair bit off character... I do have to say that Civil War has had definite impact on the Marvel Universe. And it's an impact that you feel almost everywhere. Every hero in the Marvel Universe had to choose a side, and it's messed with all of their relationships with one another. And, outside of the X-Men books, the stories that I'm reading could not have happened without the Civil War. Spider-Man's a desperate fugitive because of Civil War. The New Avengers are forced to hide and keep a low profile because of Civil War. Iron Man's the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Cap's dead because of Civil War. The Initiative and New Warriors are directly spun out of Civil War. I just feel a lot more energy and excitement in the Marvel Universe coming out of Civil War than I feel at all in the DC Universe.

I was a DC fan first. I want to be a DC fan. But I have to agree with those who say that the DC Universe post-Infinite Crisis just doesn't make as much sense as it should.

Not Another DC Rant... I Promise!

While I was in ye olde local comic shoppe this week, I was struck by whimsy. Well, more realistically I was struck by my amazingly positive feelings about the Blue Beetle in last week's Brave And The Bold. So whimsy struck, and I found myself purchasing not one, but two issues of DC's current Blue Beetle series. And you know what?

I enjoyed them.

The Blue Beetle is apparently being written to fill the 'Spider-Man' niche in the DC Universe. He's an awkward teenager, not completely at ease with his powers, in awe of the superheroic community he's been thrust into, and generally flying by the seat of his pants. And I really think DC needs that. So many of DC's more widely-known heroes are so confident and secure in their roles as heroes that they just can't seem awkward or unsure in quite that same way. I mean, even the Teen Titans have that air of infallibility around them. Well, except for the Titans that died in World War III. (Sorry... it was impossible to resist that shot.)

And that's the whole reason Spider-Man's been around as long as he has. Because since his beginning, he's had problems and issues that readers could relate to. He's just as messed up as the rest of us... and because of leading a double life, maybe a little moreso. I've only been reading comics for a few years, but even DC's C-list heroes seem to have a firm, commanding grip.

I started looking into the new Blue Beetle when the title launched after Infinite Crisis. I dropped it after about six issues. I think I'm regretting that. The title's survived over a year, and it fills a second important niche for DC. It doesn't take itself too seriously. There are a few books that stand out clearly in my head for that one fact alone. I think I'm going to add this one back to my sub form.

I'm still working on what I'm going to remove. But that can be saved for another post.

52 #51

Nope, it's not a preview of Countdown, it's my thoughts on the penultimate issue of DC's weekly series.

I want to start off by saying here that overall I've enjoyed 52, and I don't feel that DC has somehow scammed me out of my money without providing a decent book. I'm a fan of 52. But whether it's my own nature, or just the nature of fans in general, I'm probably going to speak a bit more about the things that I wasn't happy with than with what I like about the book.

Having read issue #51 a few hours ago, and having just skimmed over it as I wrote a plot synopsis for collectorz.com's online comic book database, I have to say that the overall impression that I get is one of missed opportunities. This is something my neighbor Chad and I have discussed some. 52 had a lot of plots flying around, but in all honesty the thread that feels the most ignored to me is the one that seems to have been the main plot.

Which story do I mean? Ultimately, I guess I mean Booster Gold and Skeets' story. Why do I think this one was meant to be the main story? Skeets actually seems to have some idea of what '52' means. When 52 first came out, monthly books, taking place One Year Later would occasionally have references to the number 52, including the Guardians of the Universe all saying '52' at the same time, referring to something that Hank Henshaw might know. Red Tornado, one of the heroes who fought in space during the Infinite Crisis spent the missing year with the number stuck in his voice box. DC's even teased us with advertising asking us if we've figured out the mystery yet! Umm... what mystery? That Renee Montoya is the new Question? Yeah, I figured that one out a few weeks ago, thanks.

I like Renee Montoya as much as the next guy, and I know she was always meant to be one of the main characters in the series... but was her story always supposed to be as large as it turned out to be? As near as I can tell, she appeared in 28 issues of 52. That's over half of them. The previous Question, Vic Sage appeared in 20 issues. Now I know Montoya/Sage's story wasn't the feature story in every issue, but that's a large portion of the series.

Some could say that I've just got a case of sour grapes that my favorite storyline in the series didn't get quite as much attention. I'd answer by pointing out that this story was important enough that apparently the book was titled after it, and it was mentioned elsewhere in the DC Universe. That's more editorial attention than World War III got, and we got five books full of World War III in one week.

I just caught myself saying that I wish we'd get four one-shot issues to wrap up the Booster/Skeets story. But after having read World War III, maybe I should be glad we haven't. But then again, maybe we're about to. The first issue of Coutdown is scheduled to hit a week after 52 ends, right?

The Post All About World War III

I originally posted this over on my Livejournal blog at http://daeddwin.livejournal.com/2007/04/21/ . But deciding to start a blog here specifically relating to comics, it felt like I should re-post it.

I've read a few friends' opinions specifically on World War III, and the way that 52 shifted away from it's stated goals on their blogs, and like any schmoe with something to say, I feel compelled to put my own thoughts out there. That's what the internet's for... right?

I'll start by saying I'm disappointed that 52 was off-track by it's second issue, as stated by Dan Didio. Seriously. Two issues down, fifty to go... and you're already veering away from your stated goals? And you said nothing about this until week 50? That doesn't seem a smidge... dishonest? To be perfectly honest, I'd probably have still bought the book. I've generally found it to be an enjoyable read. I've had some of the plots that I've enjoyed more than others, true, but for the most part my impression of the weekly series had been a good one. And it was good enough that I don't plan to drop it.

But let's talk for a minute about the train-wreck that is World War III.

Conceptually, I suppose I could be alright with it. Since 52 has veered away from what it's supposed to be, DC wanted to put out a small series (or in this case, strangely, four single-issue one-shot series) encompassing an event that would address most of the changes made to the DC universe over the missing year. I'd even be alright with the notion of showing us what a superhuman World War would be like... but that might be due to the fact that I've never read Grant Morrison's World War III arc in JLA. I might have to rectify that in order to get the taste of this from my palette.

So... I'm alright with the concept. But the execution... wow.

Just... wow.Let's start with a comment by someone calling themselves michael rocketship on Chris' Invincible Super-Blog. They pointed out that Ralph Dibny and Felix-Faust-disguised-as-a-piece-of-headware got help obtaining a mystical artifact from the Dweller in the Depths several weeks ago. And yet, during week 50, we clearly see blonde-haired, blue-eyed Aquaman raise the city of Sub Diego, and as a price for that act, being transformed into the Dweller. But we're not done there. Not only did this little gaffe slip by Michael Siglain, but apparently nobody let word out to either Kurt Busiek or Tad Williams that Sub Diego was no longer submerged. In Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #51, which hit the stands on the same day as WWIII, Sub Diego is still submerged.

The timeframe on this is all messed up too. Aquaman was missing a whole TWO WEEKS, prompting legends regarding his disappearance? Maybe time just seems to pass a lot more slowly underwater... but my parents don't freak out if I don't give 'em a call for a couple of weeks. Heck, even your average bill collector will give you a month or two before they start harassing you.

But I think the thing that disappoints me the most about World War III (the 52 one... not the Grant Morrison JLA run that I haven't read... remember?) is that it's ALSO off target for what it's supposed to do. Let me put this in a seperate paragraph to try to break it down clearly. I've got the feeling this is going to be confusing.

52 was planned to address the changes between the DC Universe at the end of Infinite Crisis to the beginning of One Year Later. It went off course as of the second issue, when the writers decided to write something else, so the editorial staff planned a big event for the end of 52 to address the changes between the DC Universe at the end of Infinite Crisis to the beginning of One Year Later, and that's World War III. And it did it really well... if the only change was Martian Manhunter freaking out.

But there were a lot of changes that were completely ignored or were left sorely undertreated. We got a couple panels of Harvey Dent fighting Killer Croc. Now I keep a database of my comics, and one of the things I try to be good about is tracking character appearances. I don't recall ever being shown Batman telling Harvey Dent that he's leaving Gotham in his hands for the missing year. Am I wrong? I mean, with Montoya, the Question, the new and late Batwoman and Nightwing running around for the past 50 weeks, it's not like he's been needed. So Harvey was Gotham's guardian for two weeks before OYL, and he's pissed off that Batman's not more greatful?

Speaking of stuff in the Batman books OYL... what about this case that gets Bullock reinstated as a police officer? Something about corruption in the ranks, leading to the return of Jim Gordon as comissioner? I sure as heck never saw anything about that story. Did I miss something?

We got a couple of panels of Deathstroke talking to Batgirl... the one member of the Bat-Family apparently not invited to the Bat-cruise. I thought we were moving away from homo-erotic subtext in Batman comics, DC. We got a couple panels of Jason-Todd-as-Nightwing killing a few muggers. We got a couple panels about Supergirl.

That's just it... all of these things got 'a couple panels'. Each one of those plots deserved more, in my opinion. The fact that they apparently couldn't take the focus off of Black Adam fighting lots of people to explain these OYL changes... which was the goal of both 52 and World War III... it's sad. And it's expensive.

Before I close things up, I want to also talk about Nightwing Annual #2, also released this week. Why? Because this does, at least for Nightwing, what 52 and World War III couldn't do for anybody except J'onn Jonzz. It explained why Nightwing went from a bright young hero who had rediscovered his own sense of heroism who proposed to Oracle on the eve of his greatest battle to a guy without anybody, living in New York. It could have done it better, but there was a story there, and they told it. Wouldn't it be nice if DC did that for Batgirl, Jason Todd, Jim Gordon & Bullock, Harvey Dent, Aquaman and a whole host of other characters?

My reaction to World War III isn't as sharp as some of my friends, but I'm definitely re-evaluating my DC comics purchases. I swore off the new Justice League and Justice Society series' a month or so ago. I think I'm about to add to that list.