Goodnight, Batman

     Neil Gaiman’s swan song for Batman, Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader, finishes in the newest issue of Detective Comics.  Contrary to my original beliefs, the mysterious woman is not Death of the Endless.  It would have been nice to see her in mainstream comics, but oh well.  She is really Martha Wayne, Bruce’s mother.  The story details the various other testimonies of Batman’s death, testimonies by people like the Joker, Robin, and Ra’s al Ghul.  Bruce realizes that he’s having a near death experience, somehow induced from whatever it is that Darkseid put him through in Final Crisis.  No, he doesn’t mention Final Crisis, but all the different testimonies are a lot like what the Omega Sanction puts you through.  You could consider that my interpretation.  In the end, he realizes that Batman always fights and always goes down fighting, no matter the circumstances.  Even once he dies, he will come back again as Batman.  More evidence of what I mentioned about Final Crisis.  And it ends with him being reborn again, with another new lifetime as Batman ahead of him.

     Neil Gaiman gets to the core of what makes Bruce Wayne Batman, especially through Superman’s testimony.  Batman never gives up, and he never surrenders.  He may use fear, but he uses fear for the purpose of helping people, of bringing justice to the lawlessness of Gotham City.  He never loses sight of that, even in his darkest moments.  It may not be the most innovative interpretation of the Caped Crusader, but it’s one of the truest and most time-honored.  Andy Kubert proves why he’s been one of my favorite artists in comic bookdom for such a long time.  His run on the actual Batman series with Grant Morrison was just a low point.  But he draws all the characters so well, and I love the way he distinguishes between the different eras of Batman with the way he draws.  It’s superb.  This is a fitting end to the legacy of one of the three greatest superheroes in comic book history.  If you’ve ever read or liked Batman, you should take a look at this.  It’s well worth the money.

Plot: 9.5      Art: 9.5      Dialogue: 9.5      Overall: 9.5

Terrible Parents

     Wait a minute!  That’s not the cover of the newest issue of Green Lantern Corps!  Or at least, it’s not the cover for the copy that I have.  But for some reason, there are no good pictures of that cover that I can find.  So this will have to do.  The newest issue has two major plotlines going on at once.  On Oa, one of the members of the Red Lantern Corps is wreaking havoc, prompting all the Green Lantern Corps members not currently heading to deal with Larfleeze to move out.  At the same time, Arisia and Sodom Yat head to Daxam to try and rescue the Daxamites from the Sinestro Corps, which has taken control of the planet.  There’s a giant, planet-encircling snake (I HATE SNAKES!) and some great dialogue between Yat and his dad.  His dad convinces a huge number of Daxamites to commit suicide, and Yat doesn’t take too kindly to that.  At the end of the issue, Sinestro reveals just who his daughter is: Soranik Natu (DUH!).

     I love this series so much.  It’s the perfect companion to the great work that Geoff Johns does over in Green Lantern.  For one, it fits right in with what’s going on in the other series (the whole breakout/Larfleeze thing).  It also spotlights the characters that we don’t normally see in the main series.  Hal Jordan and to a lesser extent, John Stewart, are far more important in the main series, while here, we get to see Yat, Arisia, Natu, Guy Gardner, Kilowog, Kyle Rayner, and the rest of the cast.  I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen with the leadership of the Sinestro Corps.  And now I know not to say the M-word to Arkillo, because it won’t end well for me.  Peter Tomasi knows exactly what he’s doing here, and Patrick Gleason’s the perfect artist for this.  The only art complaint I had in this issue was a really funky drawing of Sodom Yat’s dad’s face.  That’s it.  Otherwise, another quality issue from a great team.

Plot: 9.3      Art: 9.0      Dialogue: 9.2      Overall: 9.2

Double Date

     I think it’s safe to say that the newest issue of Secret Six is the weakest one thus far.  At some indeterminate time after the events of the whirlwind beginning arc, the Six are relaxing, for reasons which are not at all explained.  We’re reintroduced to Liana Kerzner, the lesbian stripper that the Six hired to try and make Scandal Savage feel better after Knockout was killed.  We also get to see a really funny guy named Insignificus who works for Jeannette, though we have know idea in why or in what capacity.  Ultimately, she and Scandal double date along with Deadshot and Jeannette, beginning at a superhero-themed costume club.  Some Neo-Nazi guy from earlier in the series comes and tries to kill them, but fails miserably multiple times.  Scandal decides to start some kind of relationship with Liana, and Ragdoll gets his own segment after he is locked in the Six’s car trunk for a few days.

     This issue surprised me, because it was nowhere near as good as the past ones.  For one, there’s no setup as to what’s going on, who Insignificus actually is, or anything else.  The Six are oddly forgiving of Deadshot, and I have no idea what happened to Bane.  The dialogue is funny at some times but bizarre at others, especially during the awkward morality dialogue.  Then there’s Carlos Rodriguez.  His art is a bad combination of that of Nicola Scott and Eddy Barrows.  At times, a person’s face looks like it’s just melting into itself.  The Ragdoll segment is just odd, and not in the funny way that he normally acts.  Amanda Gould’s art is just disturbing, and likewise not in a good way.  I’m sure part of this is because Gail Simone is in the middle of two big arcs, and this was meant to provide a bridge.  While it was amusing at parts, this was not the kind of bridge I was hoping for.  Since I know that Gail Simone will do better later, I’ll just think of this issue as the result of a few bad days or something.

Plot: 7.8      Art: 7.2      Dialogue: 8.2      Overall: 7.8

In Brightest Day…

     Sorry for the small cover, but it’s all I could find.  In DC Comics’ contribution to Free Comic Book Day, Geoff Johns gives us a prologue to the big, upcoming Green Lantern/DC event: Blackest Night.  The issue is largely about a meeting between Hal Jordan and the recently returned Flash, Barry Allen.  Johns great contrasts the personality of the two, especially with Hal’s comments about how the two died.  We get a further illustration of how far behind the times Barry is, and the two of them think about the three founding JLA members that are currently deceased: Aquaman, Batman, and Martian Manhunter.  As the issue ends, Black Hand, the man behind the Black Lantern Corps, takes Batman’s skull out of its grave and begins to do something funky to it, presumably to revive him.

     The latter half of the issue shows the rosters of each of the Lantern Corps.  We know the Green Lantern Corps, and we mostly know the Sinestro Corps, the Red Lantern Corps, and the one-man Orange Lantern Corps.  The Star Sapphires and the Blue Lantern Corps show us a few new members, the Indigo Tribe just shows us their leader, Indigo, and the Black Lantern Corps shows a dozen or so hands popping up out of the ground.  I don’t know my DC hands as well as I should, but I did notice Mirror Master’s hand, indicating that the original will be joining this corps that already includes the original Firestorm, Ronnie Raymond, Kal-L, the Earth-2 Superman, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and probably Batman (though I’m not sure how that works out).  I still love Geoff Johns, and even though it’s not incredibly revealing or groundbreaking, this issue reminds me why.  Ivan Reis’ pencils are still top-notch, and Doug Mahnke is a great replacement.  I can’t wait for this event to get going, which is something that I almost never say.

Plot: 8.8      Art: 9.5      Dialogue: 9.3      Overall: 9.0