The Stephanie Brown Batgirl title was just very good. It and Blue Beetle were competent attempts by DC to create characters that captured that Spider-Man vibe. A lot of people, myself included, were disappointed when the reboot erased Brown and rebooted Blue Beetle into something much less compelling.
Brown was a happy, relatively well-adjusted college kid fighting crime because she was good at it. She made a good foil for the rest of the Bat characters, especially Damian and Oracle.
I didn't like Steph at first, because I'm personally a huge ass Cass mark(Finding out there was a Mute Asian Better at Martial arts then Bruce Wayne Batgirl BLEW MY MIND).
But everything post her strange death was written so well, she just kinda grew on me/people.
It also helps that Steph's Batgirl comic was the place where everyone realized "Hey wait a minute, DAMIAN AS ROBIN JUST MIGHT BE AWESOME" and then he totally was. As much as Damian was defined by his interaction with Steph, Steph's characterization was made clear with her interactions with Damian, which was also awesome, since it showed her as a bright spot foil to the Batman family.
It's sad that they didn't capitalize on that Batgirl run, even more sad that they buried both Steph and Cass, also, sadder that Snyder apparently wanted to use both characters from the get-go but was blocked by DC editorial.
On one hand, I should be happy that they are using Steph in the nu52, but on the other hand, I am terrified.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Steph will get IVF'd by Ra's with a clone of Damian.
It also helps that Steph's Batgirl comic was the place where everyone realized "Hey wait a minute, DAMIAN AS ROBIN JUST MIGHT BE AWESOME" and then he totally was. As much as Damian was defined by his interaction with Steph, Steph's characterization was made clear with her interactions with Damian, which was also awesome, since it showed her as a bright spot foil to the Batman family.
Thats just some straight up heresy right there
Batman and Robin was where Damian Robin was the best
He says him and Gleason still have a bunch more planned for Batman and Robin, and that it's so far mostly stuck to his original story plan from the beginning of the New 52.
But the big news is that the "Quest for Damian" arc that starts this month will be the prologue for a big Bat-crossover in July that DC will be announcing soon. It seems Tomasi is finally going to have his turn at being in charge on a Bat-event, probably as an alternative way to squeeze in a Bat-event in the regular monthlies while Snyder is manning Eternal.
What do you guys think? BC ran a rumor sometime last year saying that Damian would be back before the end of this summer...
Tomasi is a generally great writer, although he has had a few notable misses. He did that horrible GLC story with the reveal that EARTH GUNS are the deadliest weapon in the universe.
But he wrote a fantastic Damian and I would definitely be into a crossover focusing around Damian by him.
+1
Garlic Breadi'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm aRegistered User, Disagreeableregular
I think Tomasi and Mahnke's Batman & Robin has been the best (consistently good) Bat book since the reboot. Some of the Damian stuff after he died has been bittersweet and heartwrenching.
Black Adam: The Dark Age was good (from what I remember), and his Nightwing run was excellent but got killed by Batman RIP.
He wrote the experienced Dick - the one who has been on multiple teams and had proven himself countless times. The one who was friends/comrades with everyone.
I got around to reading the Under the Red Hood arc today, and something occurred during the first issue of the story that wasn't followed up on.
Wayne Enterprises R&D experienced a hostile takeover by some unknown party, supposedly setting up Bruce being deprived of the main supply point for his gadgets and them hitting the open market, but this didn't come into play during the story at all beyond the opening pages of the first issue. Was this fallout from some previous story? It seemed really weird to bring this up and then pretty much drop it immediately. I know Red Hood had a gadget or two from Kord Industries, who were behind the takeover, but it was never made clear how he came into possession of them.
And what was the deal with Bludhaven getting blown up? That seemed like a pretty random thing to happen at the end of the story. Related to something going on in Nightwing at the time?
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RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
I got around to reading the Under the Red Hood arc today, and something occurred during the first issue of the story that wasn't followed up on.
Wayne Enterprises R&D experienced a hostile takeover by some unknown party, supposedly setting up Bruce being deprived of the main supply point for his gadgets and them hitting the open market, but this didn't come into play during the story at all beyond the opening pages of the first issue. Was this fallout from some previous story? It seemed really weird to bring this up and then pretty much drop it immediately. I know Red Hood had a gadget or two from Kord Industries, who were behind the takeover, but it was never made clear how he came into possession of them.
And what was the deal with Bludhaven getting blown up? That seemed like a pretty random thing to happen at the end of the story. Related to something going on in Nightwing at the time?
Bludhaven got blown up due to events in Infinite Crisis and Nightwing, yes.
I got around to reading the Under the Red Hood arc today, and something occurred during the first issue of the story that wasn't followed up on.
Wayne Enterprises R&D experienced a hostile takeover by some unknown party, supposedly setting up Bruce being deprived of the main supply point for his gadgets and them hitting the open market, but this didn't come into play during the story at all beyond the opening pages of the first issue. Was this fallout from some previous story? It seemed really weird to bring this up and then pretty much drop it immediately. I know Red Hood had a gadget or two from Kord Industries, who were behind the takeover, but it was never made clear how he came into possession of them.
And what was the deal with Bludhaven getting blown up? That seemed like a pretty random thing to happen at the end of the story. Related to something going on in Nightwing at the time?
Bludhaven got blown up due to events in Infinite Crisis and Nightwing, yes.
Actually, it was just due to Infinite Crisis. Here's what Devon Grayson, the writer of Nightwing, has to say about what happened:
God no, Blüdhaven was not supposed to be destroyed. Totally the opposite. I’d put Nightwing through hell, breaking him down to build him back up (as we often do in serialized stories) and his narrative redemption hung on this deal he had made with Slade Wilson to save Blüdhaven. And in my story, the deal—though controversial and not without complications—was totally supposed to work. Blüdhaven was supposed to have become—at least for a while—a city with neither superheroes nor supervillains, the one place in the DCU that was actually, oddly, safe. That’s the outline I turned in, and it was approved, and two issues into it (it was supposed to be a six issues arc), I was told that Blüdhaven was being destroyed in the next issue and that that would be the last issue of the series I would write. It was the absolute worst thing that could have happened within the logic of the story and it felt pretty awful on a personal level, too. The combination of the intended length of my story arc, the abrupt nature of my dismissal from the title and the event that cut off my arc mid-stride all resulted in a complete narrative failure. The fans and the character deserved better.
The whole interview is interesting, as she did a lot of controversial stuff with Nightwing, and she finally talks openly about a lot of it. If you like Nightwing, its an interesting read for that part of his comic history.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
That's a good interview. I'm glad she realized how messed up that Tarantula scene was after killing Blockbuster, but she's still wildly defensive about Tarantula in general, and to hide the character being called out for being terrible with the reasoning that it's only misogynist to do so, that's too far. Since Grayson's Nightwing run is largely considered to be similar to Daredevil, no one ever accused Nocenti of making Typhoid Mary a Mary Sue, there was actually something there about destroying Matt's life based on his previous inability to keep a relationship and self-destruct. And at least there you have Matt realizing he's screwing up as he did it.
Nightwing never really had that problem, and he was still relatively new into his relationship with Babs at the time, much of it was their usual flirting via telephone. And then Tarantula was introduced and about ten issues later she's with Dick and Babs was acting out of character getting all pissed because Dick was essentially "showing off" in front of her that he could use his legs, it was a mess, which really makes me wonder if the proposal at the end was in her outline or if it was a way to just try and buy back some goodwill, because basically everything at the end of her run with the undercover mob boss stuff was bleh.
And Tarantula isn't the only character to be nothing more than a writer's attempt to have their own stamp on a character's history, Bendis has Milla, Millar had that chick who was going to marry Ben and pretty much only lasted his FF run, Wolfman and Terry with TT, Rucka with Lady Punisher, Brubaker with Dakota in DD, etc, it's just one of the more blatant attempts and since it failed it's even more noticed.
(But I'd seriously take Grayson's run over anything DC is doing these days anyway)
Blüdhaven getting blown up made no sense at all. There was barely any real consequences other than screwing up Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl. They basically just acted like Blüdhaven never existed afterwards.
Stumbled across this on Amazon. If it's legit, I hope it's the start of some long overdue reprints of the Batman Adventures comics. The original series is still aggravatingly incomplete on comiXology, unfortunately .
It's a real shame that they didn't continue those Adventures books based on the DCAU, they were great. Batman Adventures had so many stories should have been made into episodes. They did a great job of fleshing out all the villains and showing what motivated them. In fact, the Adventures Mr. Freeze stories were better than all the Freeze episodes between "Heart of Ice" and "Meltdown."
Oh, totally. I just finished a reread of the first series (that took a couple months total of on and off reading) earlier this week and there are very, very few stories in it that I'd consider weak. That series is as good and as consistent as TAS itself is, and has some absolute gems in it. And the stories felt like TAS stories. The voices of the characters were spot on, like they were adapted scripts. Every issue I'd hear Kevin Conroy and Efram Zimbalist and Dave Warner and Robert Costanzo while reading. The artwork was almost deceptively simple. It nailed the style of the show and the feel of Gotham on a surface level, but once you started paying close attention you'd appreciate the differences between Parobeck and the then guest artists, and you'd suddenly appreciate just how fantastic Parobeck's art was and how amazing he was at conveying emotion. Guys like Ty Templeton did fine work filling in and eventually taking over when Mike Parobeck was taken from us way too soon.
They did do a pretty good job adapting some of the stories from the Adventures comics in The New Adventures. Holiday Knights is one of my favorites because of Santa Bullock and the Harley and Ivy story. They even did a great job adapting the mud pit fight from TDKR.
WTF is with how Batman is being written these days? From the end of Forever Evil to Robin Rises, it seems like Batman is now in a phase of "RAWRRR I CAN'T CONTROL MY EMOTIONS OR THINK STRAIGHT ANYMORE. SON'S DEATH ANYONE? HERE LET ME PUNCH LUTHOR IN A BLIND RAGE AND BREAK MY HAND ON SHAZAM'S FACE", and Luthor's now taken the role of the cool headed planner guy.
It seems like he's stuck on Anger then, because that's how it was in Forever Evil, and that's still how it is in Robin Rises. I didn't read any of it, but didn't he work through all this in the non-event books? Honestly Batman feels like a chump from these two stories. In Forever Evil - empty posturing at Luthor's group instead of silently calculating, not really making any plans, not being able to figure out a way to save Nightwing, really doing nothing in the whole event. In Robin Rises, it's more of the same, angry yelling and doing stupid stuff because GRIEF.
It seems like he's stuck on Anger then, because that's how it was in Forever Evil, and that's still how it is in Robin Rises. I didn't read any of it, but didn't he work through all this in the non-event books? Honestly Batman feels like a chump from these two stories. In Forever Evil - empty posturing at Luthor's group instead of silently calculating, not really making any plans, not being able to figure out a way to save Nightwing, really doing nothing in the whole event. In Robin Rises, it's more of the same, angry yelling and doing stupid stuff because GRIEF.
I thought Batman's reactions were pretty fair. The JL jumped into the situation without understanding what was going on and didn't ask ending up screwing some things up. Its the kind of rookie shit the JL seems to be known for in the new 52.
And Lex wasn't cool headed. He was a dick.
Sidenote: "I'm Lex Luthor Welcome to Earth" has me sold on Luthor as a JL member. Seems like a fun time.
EDIT-And it wasn't just grief. Batman just discovered Damian might be coming back to life and he's in the hands of Darsied. That's stressful.
*The four part story in Batman #291-294 (Silver Age stories where the villains are all claiming to have killed Batman and Two-Face is acting as Phoenix Wright and pointing out the contradictions that prove they couldn't have done it).
*Gotham by Gaslight: I haven't actually read this but have always heard it's good and it has Mike Mignola art.
*Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #65-68 is the four part story "Going Sane" where Joker thinks Batman is dead and resumes a normal life.
*Detective Comics #475-476 is probably the most memorable of the Englehart Batman...the Laughing Fish story that was adapted into a BtAS episode.
*Detective Comics #826 is a stand alone Paul Dini Joker story where he kidnaps Tim Drake at Christmas and drives around in an SUV.
*I've also heard good things about all the story arcs from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #1-20 that are listed towards the end (not sure why they are separate from where #65-68 were), but haven't personally read them yet.
I am so fucking annoyed the rest of Strange Apparitions isn't on comiXology. Or any of the original Ra's al Ghul stuff. Two of the Batman runs I want to read more than any others at this point.
How is Brubaker's work on Batman and Detective? I really liked The Man Who Laughs, but I haven't heard anything about the rest of his stuff.
I guess I'll add my own recs:
Paul Dini's Detective Comics run - Dini's entire run starts with #821, but there are some issues scattered in between #821-852 by other writers. Just check each issue to make sure you have the right ones. (#825's cover is incorrect. Dini didn't write it.) Seconding #826, and #831 is a semi-standalone that features Harley Quinn going on a touching, selfless quest to help someone who can't help himself. The whole run builds to a conclusion in #845, which also sorta sets up the "completely separate from the rest of the run" Heart of Hush that runs from #846-850. A non-essential yet worthwhile epilogue to HoH runs in DC #852 and Batman #685.
Batman 686/Detective 853 - Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? by Neil Gaiman. A truly wonderful and touching epitaph that ran after RIP.
Everything Morrison. Starts with "Batman and Son" in Batman #655. Worth noting that this is the first time all of the single issues from The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul and The Black Glove have been on sale, but The Black Glove was recently included in a sale on the "Batman and Son (Deluxe Edition)" collection sale from a month or two back. He also wrote the story "Gothic" that runs in issues #6-10 of the original LotDK series.
Batman #251 - A hardcore classic Joker story which also features one of the most iconic Batman splashes ever. It's perma-priced at $1 though, so pick it up at your leisure. To add to @Lars, it was actually combined with The Laughing Fish to form one uber-story in TAS.
Skip the 2012-2013 LotDK issues. There are some good stories there, but they're also perma-priced at $1/issue.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Brubaker's Batman is pretty solid. I bought the issues because Scott McDaniel is his artist for almost all of that run, and as someone who isn't really a big Brubaker fan, he works well covering both the Bruce and Batman aspects each issue. There is a fault right before he left the book where he tries to say Bruce isn't the mask in the Bruce/Batman dynamic but it never sticks, but it was one issue before Loeb and Lee took over and you can ignore it, because everyone else did.
So in addition to all of the issues on sale, comiXology is running a $3 sale on Batman collections. The singles for some of these are still on sale. Don't buy them. Buy the collections instead. You'll save so much money.
Also, the special edition Detective Comics #27 is available for free.
I don't know how you folks feel about the new 52 Batman, but I finally got around to reading the first court of the owls trade and had an absolute blast with it. I'm also a huge fan of Capullo's way of drawing Batman. Does the series stay this good?
I don't know how you folks feel about the new 52 Batman, but I finally got around to reading the first court of the owls trade and had an absolute blast with it. I'm also a huge fan of Capullo's way of drawing Batman. Does the series stay this good?
Pretty much. Court of Owls is a definite high point, but Snyder's Batman is a consistently solid title.
Posts
I became a Steph fan when she was Spoiler on Dixon's Robin series.
Brown was a happy, relatively well-adjusted college kid fighting crime because she was good at it. She made a good foil for the rest of the Bat characters, especially Damian and Oracle.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Most redundant spoiler tag ever
But everything post her strange death was written so well, she just kinda grew on me/people.
It also helps that Steph's Batgirl comic was the place where everyone realized "Hey wait a minute, DAMIAN AS ROBIN JUST MIGHT BE AWESOME" and then he totally was. As much as Damian was defined by his interaction with Steph, Steph's characterization was made clear with her interactions with Damian, which was also awesome, since it showed her as a bright spot foil to the Batman family.
It's sad that they didn't capitalize on that Batgirl run, even more sad that they buried both Steph and Cass, also, sadder that Snyder apparently wanted to use both characters from the get-go but was blocked by DC editorial.
On one hand, I should be happy that they are using Steph in the nu52, but on the other hand, I am terrified.
That's edgy, right?
Thats just some straight up heresy right there
Batman and Robin was where Damian Robin was the best
Lord Death Man is back.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
I really dig Bluebird
He says him and Gleason still have a bunch more planned for Batman and Robin, and that it's so far mostly stuck to his original story plan from the beginning of the New 52.
But the big news is that the "Quest for Damian" arc that starts this month will be the prologue for a big Bat-crossover in July that DC will be announcing soon. It seems Tomasi is finally going to have his turn at being in charge on a Bat-event, probably as an alternative way to squeeze in a Bat-event in the regular monthlies while Snyder is manning Eternal.
What do you guys think? BC ran a rumor sometime last year saying that Damian would be back before the end of this summer...
But he wrote a fantastic Damian and I would definitely be into a crossover focusing around Damian by him.
Black Adam: The Dark Age was good (from what I remember), and his Nightwing run was excellent but got killed by Batman RIP.
He wrote the experienced Dick - the one who has been on multiple teams and had proven himself countless times. The one who was friends/comrades with everyone.
The Nightwing that was killed by New52.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
And what was the deal with Bludhaven getting blown up? That seemed like a pretty random thing to happen at the end of the story. Related to something going on in Nightwing at the time?
Bludhaven got blown up due to events in Infinite Crisis and Nightwing, yes.
Actually, it was just due to Infinite Crisis. Here's what Devon Grayson, the writer of Nightwing, has to say about what happened:
The whole interview is interesting, as she did a lot of controversial stuff with Nightwing, and she finally talks openly about a lot of it. If you like Nightwing, its an interesting read for that part of his comic history.
Nightwing never really had that problem, and he was still relatively new into his relationship with Babs at the time, much of it was their usual flirting via telephone. And then Tarantula was introduced and about ten issues later she's with Dick and Babs was acting out of character getting all pissed because Dick was essentially "showing off" in front of her that he could use his legs, it was a mess, which really makes me wonder if the proposal at the end was in her outline or if it was a way to just try and buy back some goodwill, because basically everything at the end of her run with the undercover mob boss stuff was bleh.
And Tarantula isn't the only character to be nothing more than a writer's attempt to have their own stamp on a character's history, Bendis has Milla, Millar had that chick who was going to marry Ben and pretty much only lasted his FF run, Wolfman and Terry with TT, Rucka with Lady Punisher, Brubaker with Dakota in DD, etc, it's just one of the more blatant attempts and since it failed it's even more noticed.
(But I'd seriously take Grayson's run over anything DC is doing these days anyway)
He gets worfed constantly. Murdered in alternate-universe stories. Has (at least) twice been a rape victim...
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
They did do a pretty good job adapting some of the stories from the Adventures comics in The New Adventures. Holiday Knights is one of my favorites because of Santa Bullock and the Harley and Ivy story. They even did a great job adapting the mud pit fight from TDKR.
Robin Rises #1 is a nice 'higher stakes' continuation to B&R run.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Tomasi has been going through them in order since Damian's death in Batman & Robin
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
I thought Batman's reactions were pretty fair. The JL jumped into the situation without understanding what was going on and didn't ask ending up screwing some things up. Its the kind of rookie shit the JL seems to be known for in the new 52.
And Lex wasn't cool headed. He was a dick.
Sidenote: "I'm Lex Luthor Welcome to Earth" has me sold on Luthor as a JL member. Seems like a fun time.
EDIT-And it wasn't just grief. Batman just discovered Damian might be coming back to life and he's in the hands of Darsied. That's stressful.
Sorry.
"Ride or Die" confirmed Dominic Toretto, as they took off to find the Dragon Balls in hopes of reviving their friend Sonic
*The four part story in Batman #291-294 (Silver Age stories where the villains are all claiming to have killed Batman and Two-Face is acting as Phoenix Wright and pointing out the contradictions that prove they couldn't have done it).
*Gotham by Gaslight: I haven't actually read this but have always heard it's good and it has Mike Mignola art.
*Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #65-68 is the four part story "Going Sane" where Joker thinks Batman is dead and resumes a normal life.
*Detective Comics #475-476 is probably the most memorable of the Englehart Batman...the Laughing Fish story that was adapted into a BtAS episode.
*Detective Comics #826 is a stand alone Paul Dini Joker story where he kidnaps Tim Drake at Christmas and drives around in an SUV.
*I've also heard good things about all the story arcs from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #1-20 that are listed towards the end (not sure why they are separate from where #65-68 were), but haven't personally read them yet.
How is Brubaker's work on Batman and Detective? I really liked The Man Who Laughs, but I haven't heard anything about the rest of his stuff.
I guess I'll add my own recs:
Paul Dini's Detective Comics run - Dini's entire run starts with #821, but there are some issues scattered in between #821-852 by other writers. Just check each issue to make sure you have the right ones. (#825's cover is incorrect. Dini didn't write it.) Seconding #826, and #831 is a semi-standalone that features Harley Quinn going on a touching, selfless quest to help someone who can't help himself. The whole run builds to a conclusion in #845, which also sorta sets up the "completely separate from the rest of the run" Heart of Hush that runs from #846-850. A non-essential yet worthwhile epilogue to HoH runs in DC #852 and Batman #685.
Batman 686/Detective 853 - Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? by Neil Gaiman. A truly wonderful and touching epitaph that ran after RIP.
Everything Morrison. Starts with "Batman and Son" in Batman #655. Worth noting that this is the first time all of the single issues from The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul and The Black Glove have been on sale, but The Black Glove was recently included in a sale on the "Batman and Son (Deluxe Edition)" collection sale from a month or two back. He also wrote the story "Gothic" that runs in issues #6-10 of the original LotDK series.
Batman #251 - A hardcore classic Joker story which also features one of the most iconic Batman splashes ever. It's perma-priced at $1 though, so pick it up at your leisure. To add to @Lars, it was actually combined with The Laughing Fish to form one uber-story in TAS.
Skip the 2012-2013 LotDK issues. There are some good stories there, but they're also perma-priced at $1/issue.
Also, the special edition Detective Comics #27 is available for free.
I generally don't like asshole Batman to begin with, but he seems even more crazy/asshole than ususal.
PSN - CardboardNine
Pretty much. Court of Owls is a definite high point, but Snyder's Batman is a consistently solid title.