Batman ’66 #3

The Joker has a new enemy in Gotham City — a mysterious gangster called the Red Hood who is demanding the Clown Prince of Crime be turned over to him or he’ll unleash a deadly gas attack against the city. Batman and Robin persuade the doctors at Arkham Asylum to let them escort the Joker to the Red Hood’s meeting place, but the new villain and his minions kidnap the Joker and give the Dynamic Duo the slip. But all is not as it seems — the Red Hood is one of Arkham’s doctors, accidentally hypnotized by the Joker during therapy. And in our second story, Egghead has captured Batman and Robin and plans to drop them to their deaths from a blimp. Can they escape this deathtrap?

Verdict: Thumbs up, at least partly because we get introduced to the Batman ’66 version of Harley Quinn:

I think it would be really cool to see this sort of thing happen more often. Sixties versions of Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Bane, Two-Face, Killer Croc, Clayface, and Professor Pyg? That’d be pretty cool.

Captain Marvel #16

Oh no, it’s another crossover!

Captain Marvel somehow has her Binary energy powers again, just in time to save a lot of superheroes from the alien Builders, but she and a bunch of other heroes still get captured. And then there’s a lot of fighting and nonsense that might make sense if you’ve been following this “Infinity” crap.

Verdict: Thumbs down. I hate these stupid crossovers. They make everything idiotic.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Find out which fictional character shares your birthday. Either you’ll get something incredibly awesome… or you’ll get a character from a soap opera. Good luck!
• Introduce your baby to Cthulhu!
• Jake Lloyd voicing Darth Vader is awesome.
• Here are the weirdest and most beautiful photos ever captured by Google Street View.
• Can churches and charities fill the gap if Congress gets rid of food stamps? Sorry — not a chance.

I ain’t got time for no clever intros! It’s time for the weekend, and it’s time for… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s battle comes to us from August 2003’s Justice League Adventures #20 by Jason Hall, Rick Burchett, and John K. Snyder III. The Psycho-Pirate is messing with the JLA’s minds and emotions, and that means someone’s going to get a superpowered finger upside their skull.

(Grr, inability to erase stuff cleanly in Photoshop…)

You kids get out there and enjoy the weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday.

Owls of the Ironwork Isle #2

It’s been a while since the first issue of this one came out, so let’s review: We’re in a steampunk version of London, following the adventures of Lady Penelope Ayre, a leader of the Owls, a team of secret agents dedicated to protecting the city from all possible threats. Queen Victoria plans to levitate the city with the miraculous aetheric generator, and shadowy forces have taken the announcement as an excuse to attack, and Penelope’s adoptive mother is killed and framed as a conspirator. From that point on, it’s an all-out battle/chase scene between the Owls and the many high-ranking soldiers and officials who are attempting to take control of the city.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Mad props to writer Stephen Phillips and especially to Lubbock’s Will Terrell, who provides the fantastic black-and-white art. This is full of high-energy action, suspense, and drama, fun dialogue, and extremely charismatic artwork. I hope y’all are able to pick this one up.

X-Men #5

Arrgh, crossovers! The bane of a comic fan’s existence! This is part of the “Battle of the Atom” crossover, where the time-traveling X-Men of the past meet the X-Men of the present and then run headlong into the X-Men of the future. Arrgh, time-travel crossovers! The other bane of a comic fan’s existence!

So the future X-Men, who include monster versions of Beast and Iceman, much older versions of Kitty Pryde, Jean Grey, and Deadpool, Charles Xavier’s grandson, and an all-grown-up Molly Hayes, say that the time-traveling original X-Men are going to wreck the future unless they return to the past. And most of the X-Men have basically decided the younger X-Men shouldn’t be in the present anyway — but original Jean Grey and Cyclops decide they don’t wanna go, so they steal the Blackbird and go on the run. Pretty much the whole issue is chasing Scott and Jean around.

Verdict: Thumbs down. Arrgh, crossovers! So destructive to fun comics!

Batman: Li’l Gotham #6

This issue focuses on both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Damian and Colin hang out, make fun of the old Robin costumes, and then go out to fight crime together, with Colin stealing a spare Bat-costume and using his muscle-growing powers to impersonate the Dark Knight. Later, Colin takes flowers to the nuns who raised him, and Damian gets to spend quality time with both Batman and Talia. In the second story, Commissioner Gordon and Barbara Gordon go out for a Father’s Day dinner, but have to share a table with Ra’s al Ghul and Talia, which makes for a pretty tense meal. The rest of the Bat-family, meanwhile, tries to make dinner for Alfred, which makes for a pretty tense kitchen…

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s adorable and funny — and it’s set in the pre-reboot universe, so it’s something all sensible comics fans can enjoy.

Today’s Cool Links:

• More commentary on the ongoing trainwreck at DC Comics.
• Seriously, Bob Kane really was the worst.
• The headline says it all: The world’s largest walking robot is a fire-breathing dragon.

Two nice little anthologies came out this week. Let’s take a look at ’em.

American Vampire Anthology #1

Well, obviously, it’s a collection of short stories, all set in the “American Vampire” universe, focusing on characters like Skinner Sweet and Hattie Hargrove, along with plenty of new victims and monsters. The creators in this one include Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque, Jason Aaron, Jeff Lemire, Ray Fawkes, Becky Cloonan, Francesco Francavilla, Greg Rucka, J.P. Leon, Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon, Gail Simone, and plenty of others.

Verdict: Thumbs up. There’s not a single bad story in this entire anthology. That isn’t something you can say very often about anthologies. But everything in here works. Some of it is pretty gut-wrenching, even if the gore isn’t very heavy. But if you’re familiar with American Vampire, you knew that already. At any rate, this is definitely worth picking up.

Batman Inc. Special #1

Once again, a collection of stories, all focused on the members of Batman Inc. Batman Japan and Canary take on a metahuman organ harvester; the Squire slowly recovers from the death of the Knight and the end of Batman Inc.; Raven Red engages in a high-speed, high-rise pursuit and tries to talk down a man who may be contemplating suicide; Nightrunner, Dark Ranger, and el Gaucho battle a zombie master and a city full of his mind-controlled minions; and Bat-Cow stops some thrill-riding kidnappers.

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s all pretty good. I really, really enjoyed the story with the Squire — Beryl is one of my favorite characters, and it’s a pity that she isn’t used more often. The story in Japan is pretty good, too. The only one that really falls down is the Bat-Cow story, which you’d think I’d love… but it was written by Dan DiDio, and there’s just no good reason to let that guy write comic books.

Batman ’66 #2

The Penguin is back in Gotham City, and he’s parked a gigantic iceberg in the middle of Gotham Harbor to block shipping traffic. And he’s somehow managed to get his iceberg declared a separate nation, meaning the police are helpless to run him off. And just to make things worse, his accomplice in this caper is the dastardly Mr. Freeze! Can Robin save the day when Batman is captured by the cold-hearted criminals? And in the backup story, Bruce Wayne takes Kathy Kane on a date to see a performance by reformed piano-playing crook Chandell. But his co-performer is Lorelei Circe, the Siren, and she uses her hypnotic voice to make all the men in the audience her slaves. Batman, luckily, has made himself immune to her spell, but she uses a mysterious vocal treatment to make the Caped Crusader hallucinate. Can anyone save Batman from the Siren’s song?

Verdict: Thumbs up. The thing I’m really enjoying about this series is it lets us get an idea of what the producers of the campy ’60s show could’ve done with a big budget. Giant icebergs and submarines? Sure. Lengthy hallucinatory episodes? Why not! It’s great fun, and I’m looking forward to more.

X-Men #4

While most of the new X-team is trying to rescue a crashing jetliner (and while Storm and Rachel Grey argue with each other about whether Storm is fit for leadership), Jubilee takes Wolverine and her adopted baby Shogo on a tour around Santa Monica, California, where she grew up.

Verdict: Thumbs up. I know, I didn’t spend a long time describing the plot, ’cause it really didn’t need a whole lot of space. They’re both absolutely outstanding stories — the plane rescue is tense and exciting, and the argument between Storm and Rachel is quite well done — their disagreement makes perfect sense, and their views are honestly presented, with neither one assumed to be correct. But I thought the high point was Jubes and Logan hanging out and chatting in California. They’re great characters, and they play off each other really well. I think I’d be A-OK with Marvel making a “Wolverine and Jubilee Hang Out and Chat” comic book.

Today’s Cool Links:

• This pretty much covers everything I believed about the bogus “Batman killed the Joker in ‘The Killing Joke'” controversy.
• Prince put Dave Chappelle (as Prince) on the cover of his new single, and it was awesome.
• Supreme Court justices playing video games sounds a lot more than “kind of hilarious.”
• This animated beard video was absolutely the funniest thing I’ve seen all week.

Astro City #3

A small mountain village in Ecuador has been revealed as the secret headquarters for a gang of international terrorists and mercenaries called the Skullcrushers. They’re laying waste to the local police forces, the army, and the villagers — and Marella Cowper, the newest employee of the secret dispatch center that helps the Honor Guard respond to global emergencies, is convinced that it’s all her fault, because she assumed that an emergency call a few days ago was merely a domestic situation instead of a supervillain crisis. Wracked by guilt, she takes several days off work so she can use the Honor Guard’s teleportation systems to volunteer as an aid worker. Can she ever forgive herself for her mistake? Can she find the family who originally called her for aid? And when it turns out that all the Skullcrushers haven’t been captured yet, can she even survive?

Verdict: Thumbs up. An outstanding story, worlds of suspense and drama and compassion, grand characterization, very nice action, and so much more. If you love comics, you need to be reading “Astro City.” But all you guys already love comics, so you’re already reading “Astro City,” right?

Batman: Li’l Gotham #5

In our first story, Mr. Freeze has been diagnosed sane and discharged from Arkham Asylum. He’s very pleased with what he sees of Gotham — everyone is happy and friendly, even to a former supervillain. And since everything has gotten so nice, he decides he wants things to stay nice forever. And that means he’s gotta freeze everything. Looks like the Bat-family is going to have to drag Mr. Freeze back to Arkham again. Meanwhile, in our second story, everyone’s celebrating Cinco de Mayo, mostly by fighting Bane and his gang of luchadors and… making tacos?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Very cute and funny all-ages comics. Both stories have a ton of action and humor, but I probably enjoyed the Cinco de Mayo story a lot more. And how nice is it to have stories that spotlight Damian, Oracle, and all of the pre-Reboot members of the Bat-family? It’s very, very nice, that’s what it is.

I had high hopes for every single comic I got this week, and every single one of them let me down. Here’s the damage.

Batman Inc. #13

The final issue of Grant Morrison’s multi-year Batman epic, this one splits its story between Bruce Wayne, beat like a rented mule and arrested for various crimes, being interrogated by Commissioner Gordon, and Batman’s final duel against Talia, leader of Leviathan. Wayne tells Gordon how the murder of his parents left a hole in his heart and how he filled the hole with… something else. And Talia poisons Batman to get a device that will let her destroy cities with a new kind of energy — only to be betrayed by Jason Todd and killed by… someone else. Can Batman continue on, or is his time over?

Verdict: Thumbs down. This one got a lot of hype, and a lot of people who just knee-jerk loved it. I didn’t think it lived up to the hype. The art’s gorgeous, yes. I was pretty satisfied with Wayne’s talk with Jim Gordon. But the rest of it was predictable and pedestrian. Sorry, I wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t do it.

FF #10

Dr. Doom wants the aged, time-traveled Johnny Storm dead, and he’s ordered the blackmailed Alex Power to commit the crime. So he asks Ahura, Tong, Onome, and Bentley-23 is they know anyone who’s ever killed someone. Sure, says Ahura, let’s go talk to my uncle Maximus. And Maximus plays a game of 20 Questions with them to get them to set him free. Meanwhile, Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, and Darla Deering, along with Leech and Artie, take Tom Brevoort, Matt Fraction, and Michael Allred on a tour in the microverse that ends with everyone getting stalked by a miniaturized giant tiger.

Verdict: Thumbs down. Comic creators showing up as guest stars in Fantastic Four comics are a long-running tradition — Stan and Jack used to meet the original FF all the time. But this time is just plain uninspired — the creators were completely unneeded. And the bit with the genius kids getting completely played by Maximus was really just not very interesting. Sorry, I wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t do it.

Captain Marvel #14

Again, it’s a crossover with “Avengers Assemble,” so we miss about half the story — but I can’t actually tell the difference this time. Anyway, an old Kree supervillain named Yon-Rogg has it in for Carol Danvers and has a whole bunch of robotic Kree sentries converging on NYC. He’s somehow using the robots and his close proximity to Captain Marvel — and a piece of himself that he’s somehow implanted into her brain, which is what’s been causing all her medical difficulties — to materialize an ancient Kree city, which he’s going to use to crush the Big Apple. So she flies into space and dies to shut down the power source and save the city.

Verdict: Thumbs down. Man, it just made so little sense. And she’s not even going to stay dead a whole issue, ’cause we already know she’ll be back in a month, doing some kind of transformation into her old Binary identity. Sorry, I wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t do it.

Daredevil #29

Nate Hackett, former childhood bully of Matt Murdock, on trial for crimes supposedly committed as a member of the Sons of the Serpent, has just been shot… by the trial judge. He’s a member of the Sons, too, as is the bailiff, the prosecuting attorney, several cops — half the folks in the courthouse are members of the Sons of the Serpent. Can Daredevil save Nate, save the innocent paramedic who’s been picked as the fall guy, save everyone else in the courthouse?

Verdict: Thumbs down. I got closest to liking this one, but it just went past my ability to take seriously. If so many cops, judges, and civil servants were secret members of a racist supervillain conspiracy, Nate and Matt and half the superheroes in New York would’ve been taken out by snipers ages ago. Sorry, I wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t do it.

X-Men #3

While most of the team travels to Budapest pursuing Arkea (in the body of Karima Shapandar), Kitty Pryde stays home to deal with an attack on the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning by Arkea’s drones. Bling ends up doing most of the work — and seems vaguely ominous while doing it, though we have no real idea why. Meanwhile, the team pursuing Arkea tracks her to a hospital, where they’re attacked by a bunch of cyber-enhanced patients who’ve been possessed by Arkea. They somehow bluff their way into a victory and even get Karima back alive and more-or-less intact mentally.

Verdict: Thumbs down. I loved the art, but the rest of it? It was all just too abrupt. Fighting against an enemy who scared the crap out of Sublime, who planned to kill every living creature on the planet, and they run her off so quickly, with such a small team? It was too anticlimactic. Sorry, I wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t do it.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Kelly Sue DeConnick has some advice for you aspiring comics creators out there.
• Michelle Rodriguez and other actresses make the point: When entertainment sucks, all of us should work to make entertainment that doesn’t suck.
• A superhero in a burka? Is this a problem? (Truth to tell: No, I really don’t think so.)
• Here’s an interesting article/discussion on what makes a superhero.
• It’s Tales of Metropolis, starring Lois Lane!
• Pen-and-paper RPGs may be getting more popular, even with electronic games to compete with.
• Please enjoy ALL THE ACTION TRAILERS!

Batman ’66 #1

This was not something I was planning on picking up. Just seemed more like a cry for help from the desperate-for-attention DC Comics. But honestly, seeing that Jeff Parker, whose work includes the brilliant “The Age of the Sentry” and the very best issues of “Marvel Adventures,” would be writing this title convinced me to give it a shot.

So here we are in the world of the campy 1960s “Batman” TV show starring Adam West and Burt Ward. The Riddler is on a robbery spree, stealing sculptures by an eccentric sculptor. He raids a civic event and steals the priceless Lady Gotham statue, making his escape in a stolen biplane. He leaves a riddle behind that leads the Dynamic Duo to a dance club owned by a kinda-sorta reformed Catwoman. After a fight and an attempt by the Riddler to blow them all up with a bomb, Catwoman joins forces with Batman and Robin, and they do some more research into the stolen sculptures. Can their detective work solve the case? Or has the Riddler outsmarted them all at last?

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s a clever story, full of more action than you’d expect, nice dialogue, and plenty of nods to the TV show, including the familiar sound effects, over-the-top narration, and a special guest star who Batman and Robin meet while climbing up a building. The art by Jonathan Case is nice, too — the coloring might be a bit too luridly technicolor, but it does the job of evoking the feel of the ’60s TV show and of old four-color comics.

FF #9

While Bentley-23 makes his own documentary about his undersea classmates, the Uhari, the entire Future Foundation pays a visit to Charles Cotta, C.E.O. of Julian Enterprises, who is hosting a pool party for everyone. Cotta reveals that he’s actually an immortal alien who pretended to be Julius Caesar in the distant past, and he’d like to repay a favor that the Fantastic Four did for him by helping the FF locate and rescue them. Meanwhile, a splash fight in the pool gets to be more and more epic and apocalyptic. The grownups are doing fine and preparing to go save the Fantastic Four — but the kids may have lost their innocence and friendship.

Verdict: Thumbs up. The splash war really is pretty amazing — simultaneously hilarious, frightening, and sad. It’s another great, weird issue.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Geek girls and the Doubleclicks have “Nothing to Prove.”
• The original “Star Trek” series in the 1960s had a more progressive view of women than the reboot movies do. That’s not a good thing — that should embarrass the heck out of J.J. Abrams.
• You need some baby ostriches in your life.
• And to close things out depressingly: We live in a more and more insane country, where it’s declared racist to point out obvious racism, where murder is legal under the right conditions, and where the Cult of the Gun is elevated above everything else.

Daredevil #28

Matt Murdock is trying to get his life back together again. He’s putting his practice back in order. He’s helping Foggy Nelson get through his cancer treatments (despite the fact that his enhanced senses can pick up the nauseating scent of the chemotherapy drugs in Foggy’s system). And he runs into a new client — Nate Hackett, the schoolyard bully who made his life hell as a kid. Nate needs legal help — he used to be a member of the Sons of the Serpent — before they went 100% bad — and he’s been arrested and falsely accused of crimes that the Serpents actually committed. But Matt doesn’t really represent clients anymore — he trains them to represent themselves. Can Nate manage to beat the rap? Or is he in bigger trouble than he ever expected?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Excellent art and writing, as always. Nate makes a great foil for Matt, and his attempts to operate in a court of law are both funny and inspiring. The cliffhanger is pretty nice, too.

Batman: Li’l Gotham #4

Our first story is set on St. Patrick’s Day as someone — possibly a leprechaun — is framing all the villains in Gotham City for a series of robberies. Can Batman figure out the lucky crook? And when did the Batmobile get such a roomy back seat? The second story is set on Easter — the Mad Hatter has capture Batman and Robin in a Mad Tea Party, and he’s hidden a bomb at an Easter egg hunt! Can Batman stop the Hatter and his henchmen? Can Robin find the bomb before it blows up a bunch of kids?

Verdict: Thumbs up. These fantastically cute and clever stories are great fun to read. Don’t know what else I can say but that…

Today’s Cool Links:

• The 9th Art Award is a new graphic novel prize that’ll be awarded in Glasgow, and they’re doing a little crowdfunding for it. I know some of the folks putting it together, and it promises to be a pretty nifty award. Would you consider dropping a little money on it to help make it happen?
• Anyone who tells you that a Wonder Woman movie would be impossible to make just isn’t using a single iota of their imagination.
• This book by Mort Walker, creator of Beetle Bailey, on the secret language of cartoons, looks incredibly interesting.
• Just for you — Rammstein’s brand of German industrial metal, as performed by a choir.

Time for the weekend! And no time for cleverness! Because it’s time for… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s bout comes to us from May 1979’s Justice League of America #166 by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin, as Blockbuster battles the Batman!

That’s it! Go have a great weekend now!