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| Friday, December 5, 2008 02:35 PM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's weekly comic book review post.
This covers new releases from the week of 11/26.
Batman #681
Grant Morrison's epic "Batman R.I.P." story arc comes to an end in this issue. There were times while I was reading this storyline when I thought Morrison had gone off his rocker, and other times when I thought the story was just dumb. But the last issue or two he really started to pull it together, and this final issue is just great. Basically it turns out the entire purpose of the storyline is to point out that no matter how bad-ass you think Batman is, he is way more bad-ass even than that, and whatever plan you have for defeating him is bound to fail, because he's already thought of it first and come up with a way around it. The opening page is really striking and brilliant, with six horizontal panels stacked on top of each other, the first four just completely black, with the last two showing Batman's pupil-less eyes opening in the darkness, and finally a narrative box that says, "But that's the thing about Batman." On the next page we see that Batman has awoken locked in a coffin and strapped in a straitjacket, and the narration continues: "Batman thinks of everything." Heh heh. Word. Next we get an awesome flashback where Bruce Wayne talks with a monk about what he experienced during the extreme psychological ordeal known as Thögal. And then there's poison! Back in the present, Robin is fighting some second-rate bad guys when some second-rate good guys show up and save his ass. Back to the flashback, where Batman is an extreme bad-ass again ("You blinked. I switched cups. Force of habit." Dude, he beat your plan to kill him out of force of habit). God, I love Batman. Back to the present, where the villains wait to see Batman's final moments, and learn what a mistake it is to try to control the Joker. Then, in an exciting twist, that little box that Batman's been carrying around turns out to actually be important. In the flashback, more Batman bad-assery. Back in the present, we reach possibly the pinnacle of Batman bad-assery, as he escapes the latest trap set for him, explaining that it was a tough one, but not too tough. Slowly it's revealed that Batman really has planned for everything, that he knew a trap was closing around him, that he was setting up his counter-attack all this time, that he knows a lot more about his enemies than they could ever have imagined. Some of the character backstory and other explanations that pop up in expository word bubbles and narrative boxes are a little ridiculous, but overall this sequence is just brilliant and awesome. I really, really love the hilarious scene where Damian, driving a red and black Batmobile, knocks an ambulance off the road, an ambulance that just happens to be driven by the Joker. Alfred's like, "Dude, that was an ambulance," and Damian's like, "Whatever. You think my Dad'll let me keep this awesome car??" Okay, those aren't exact quotes, but you get the idea. I love the way Morrison writes Damian.
At this point, the Black Glove guy is still trying to blackmail Batman, and asks him if he's ready to deal. His response? "Not now. Not ever." These are the last words he says aloud before disappearing in an explosion that seemingly takes out him and the Black Glove. There's even a nice visual pun in that final moment: "The Black Glove always wins," says Mangrove, but it's Batman's black glove that punches through the windshield and ends everything. Meanwhile, in narration, Batman is saying that he's afraid he stumbled upon something evil while he was delving deep into himself. "Did I finally reach the limits of reason? And find the Devil waiting? And was that fear in his eyes?" Did I mention that Batman is a bad-ass? Dude, even the freaking Devil is afraid of him.
But is Batman really dead? Personally, my answer is, not a chance. He might take a vacation for a while, put himself back together, but he's totally still alive. Despite what I think, it seems pretty clear that everybody in the comic thinks he's dead, with Nightwing pensively holding his discarded cowl, and Talia planning retribution. Later, Jezebel Jet gets a disturbing phone call and is attacked by weird bat creatures, which is cool (Talia's doing, perhaps?). And then we jump six months ahead in time. Now it seems that everyone thinks both Batman and Robin are dead (probably I'd have to read Robin to know why that is, but there's no chance of that happening; Robin sucks). But then a bat signal shines through a window on some criminals, and it's clear somebody's still out there carrying on the legacy. In the one-page epilogue, we finally learn where "Zur-en-arrh" came from.
So yeah, this final issue actually pulls this whole series together, and the whole thing somehow feels like it makes sense, something I never thought would happen when I was reading the first couple issues. Not only that, it's freaking awesome. I'm not always a fan of Morrison's weird, mystical take on Batman, but I love what he did with the character in this storyline. I think he really captured the essence of Batman, not to mention the Joker. He sort of summed up everything that's great about these character and this universe, while taking them all in an interesting new direction. I'm looking forward to the next couple issues, "Aftermath." These are going to be released in quick succession and will bridge the gap between R.I.P. and Final Crisis. I'm not sure I want to bridge a gap that has Final Crisis on the other side of it, but I trust Morrison enough with Batman now to give it a try.
Thumbs Up
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #19
The incredibly late final issue of the "Time of Your Life" story arc has at last arrived! But is it worth the wait?? I'd say so. We get huge climactic battles in the present and the future, we get to learn who orchestrated Buffy's trip to the future and why , we learn the identity of the person with whom Buffy had that mysterious rendezvous right before she jumped forward in time (but the art isn't that great, so I'm not entirely sure who it is - I think that one guy she liked that everybody hated?), and see the sad end of Willow's story (why Buffy has to be the one to do the deed is not entirely clear - "it's a long story" - but it makes for a very dramatic and powerful moment). Or, one possible ending, at least. It's deep stuff, very well done. And plus, there's the usual super-smart, super-funny Whedon dialogue. Awesome.
Thumbs Up
Captain America #44
Brubaker continues to weave the latest Cap story across multiple time periods. We already know Cap and Bucky were sent to save a Chinese scientist during the war. Now we learn that in '68, acting as the Winter Soldier, Bucky was sent to kill the same scientist. But the scientist recognized him as the one who'd saved him, and this recognition threw Bucky off balance. Then a mysterious protector in a hat and trench coat came out of the shadows to face-off against Bucky. In the present, the new Cap finds the UN is trying to hide something from him. But what? Hmmm. Meanwhile, he follows the trail of Batroc to a raid on some secret government cargo. But it's a setup, and he finds himself facing off against that same mysterious dude in the hat and trench coat again. Is it Death-Stalker? I'm not sure, but I assume all (or at least, most) will be made clear in the next issue, as that issue will be the last in this three-part story arc.
I like the way Brubaker is jumping from time period to time period here, weaving together a fascinating multi-layered story. And I like the way he's playing with Bucky's old Winter Soldier identity, and the character's guilt over what he did under that name. It's a very powerful, dramatic moment when the Winter Soldier's target recognizes his potential assassin as Bucky, his old savior. I'm also intrigued by the subplot about the UN hiding things from Cap. We'll have to see where this all goes...
Thumbs Up
Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch #2
This book opens with Danny's technomancer friend saving his butt, then cuts to him in his apartment the next day, where the mysterious woman from the bar the night before comes to talk to him. Here's where you see how far Danny's fallen; he's living in a dump full of garbage, walking around drunk in his underwear throwing up all over the place. He's also pretty thick, and totally doesn't put together who the woman is and what she wants (although admittedly he didn't know at the time that there were other Ghost Riders). We know, of course, that she's trying to recruit him to help save the other Ghost Riders, who at this point are already being killed off by someone. This is interesting, as we also know that in the present storyline, Danny himself is the one responsible for Ghost Riders getting wasted. So who was doing it before him? Hmm. Anyway, later on the technomancer girl (who seems to have an unrequited thing for Danny) tries to help him again, only to have him run off on her. (During their conversation, a disturbing and shameful fact about Danny's past comes up, making us realize all over again how lost he is without the Ghost Rider's power.) He follows the mysterious bird (who now has a name: Mister Eleven. Cool name!), with the hope that it will help him get the power back. That's when he figures out who the girl from the bar really is.
This miniseries is maybe getting slightly melodramatic, but overall Danny's addiction and desperate desire is handled pretty well, and the story remains interesting. I'll definitely be sticking around.
Thumbs Up
Jack of Fables #28
In a lot of ways, this issue just feels like padding: a buffer issue between the last story arc and the big war that's coming. A few important things happen, but mostly it's just people waiting or preparing for stuff that's going to happen later. Which is a little disappointing. Still, the art (pencils by Tony Akins, inks by Jose Marzan Jr., colors by Daniel Vozzo) is truly excellent (I particularly like the way Gary is drawn), and there are a couple of neat moments, like when Kevin shows his true colors by making use of a magic pen that apparently causes to happen whatever events you write about with it. That is cool stuff. Plus, Jack gets a funny moment or two (like the thing with the tacos at the end). And next issue, we finally get the big war! Should be fun.
Thumbs Up
Secret Invasion: X-Men #4
I had been really enjoying this miniseries, but this final issue does some things that I don't think make a lot of sense. It opens with the Skrulls giving the X-Men a terrible ultimatum that forces our mutant heroes to make a tough decision very quickly: surrender in the hopes that it will save innocent humans; fight back with the very strong chance that many humans will die; or save humans by using germ warfare to commit genocide against the Skrulls. Scott chooses the latter option so fast, it really kind of disturbs Hank, who's a lot more unsure about taking such a horrific step. Anyway, soon they put the plan into action, and there's a final stand-off followed by a pretty bloody resolution. It's a fascinating, thought-provoking, tense, exciting, dramatic story. But here are my issues (plenty of spoilers ahead): first of all, why doesn't the virus affect the X-Men, too? They never even talk about this possibility, and it seems to me like it's a pretty important question! Maybe I'm just lacking basic information about the virus that the writers are assuming everyone will know. But it still seems like a weird omission. I mean, we know they have a cure for the virus, but does that mean all the mutants took the cure ahead of time, as a sort of vaccine? How could they have had time to do that? If they didn't take the cure first, how come they didn't get sick, too? If they did take it, why didn't it just kill the virus before they even got to the Skrulls, thus making it impossible for them to infect their enemies?
Maybe I'm over-thinking that part, I don't know. But the very end also bugs me. The Skrulls blow up all their spaceships. This means huge pieces of wreckage should fall all over San Francisco, killing many people. You could explain this away by making the assumption that the ships just completely disintegrated, leaving no wreckage behind, but it seems pretty clear from the illustration of the explosions, and the picture on the final page that shows a giant piece of Skrull spaceship jammed into a skyscraper, that that's not what happened. And if tons of wreckage did fall, killing many people, I very much doubt the citizens of San Francisco would be as celebratory and as thankful toward the X-Men as they are at the end of this comic. They'd probably actually be cursing the X-Men for waging such a destructive and costly war.
Maybe I'm picking at nits. But these issues really did take away from my enjoyment of what was an otherwise well done miniseries.
Thumbs Sideways
The Umbrella Academy: Dallas #1
Woo hoo! New Umbrella Academy miniseries! Very exciting. The first thing you'll notice about the book is that the back cover is done up to look like the front cover of a beat up old vintage issue of a magazine called The New Era, with a picture of Kennedy in the Oval Office, and headlines about "Kennedy's Secret Meetings," Lincoln's birthday celebration, and rumors of a little girl with god-like powers. Inside, we get a look at one of those "Secret Meetings," wherein Kennedy is asking Sir Reginald for help in subduing a rampaging Lincoln Monument. We cut to the fight, where Kraken makes a funny reference to their previous monument fight (remember the Eiffel Tower mission?), and the Rumor takes out Lincoln in hilarious fashion (I love the image of the giant John Wilkes Booth statue running away in the distance). Next we jump ahead to the present and find out where all the team members are at now, after the apocalyptic events of the last storyline. Spaceboy's taking it easy and really being kind of a lazy slob; Seance is primping and enjoying his newfound fame; the Rumor is torturing the White Violin (I know she tried to destroy the world and all, but that's still a pretty brutal scene); the Kraken is beating up guys and doing some detective work; and Number Five is throwing his money away at the track. Things seem pretty calm and quiet and normal, in other words - until a whole army of guys shows up to take out Number Five. From his conversation with them, it sounds like he was recruited into their organization, and they want him to complete some job, but he's gone rogue. Then there's a fricking insanely brutal, amazing, Matrix-style-but-bloodier, epic fight scene, with Number Five screaming out various crazy jungle and animal metaphors while he kills everyone. AWESOME. At the very end, the last of the weird army dudes, as he's dying, calls in some folks named Hazel and Cha-Cha whom even Number Five seems to be terribly afraid of.
Woah. Gerard Way, Gabriel Ba, and Dave Stewart have done it again. Totally intriguing story, fascinating characters, great art, insanely amazing action, and a twisted and hilarious sense of humor. I love this book!
Thumbs Up |
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Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
