Batman

[Philip Ayres]

I looked at the first page and new that, Marvel Junkie that I am, I had to have this.

[The Doctor]

Been burned too many times with Quitely's inability to stay on schedule. Pass.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Morrison Interview

He can take forever as long as it looks good. GM's X-Men has taught me it's worth waiting for the best artist.

[The Doctor]

Not for me. Periodicals should be published on schedule. If the artist can't do it, either publish it as an OGN, replace them or editorial should ensure the product is completed before it is solicited.

I don't care what the frequency is (monthly, bi-monthly, quaterly), but it should come out on that schedule. End of story. No excuses. Professional companies, not folk in bedrooms making them after all.

My patience for tardy creators, wafer-thin at best, evaporated when comics became expensive and when I became re-accustomed to the UK newsstand where the TF comic is never late.

Comics are disposable media, not Great Works Of Art.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Apparently FQ's only doing the first arc.

[blueshift]

It's an interesting argument. Personally I would rather something late yet amazing, than on-time and mediocre.

[Philip Ayres]

Jun 4, 2009 21:11:18 GMT blueshift said:

It's an interesting argument. Personally I would rather something late yet amazing, than on-time and mediocre.

To the polls !

[blueshift]

Make it so!

[Andy Turnbull]

My copy of Batman and Robin #1 has yet to arrive but as I paid for one I didn't feel bad acquiring a yarr version to tide me over.

Cracking stuff. Worth getting, a reader friendly Batman title with new villains and great artwork.

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

Mine came this morning. I'm saving it as a post nap treat.

[blueshift]

Pyg has already appeared actually, at the start of Morrison's 'future' Batman story in Batman #666

[Philip Ayres]

Jun 5, 2009 11:15:54 GMT Andy Turnbull said:

My copy of Batman and Robin #1 has yet to arrive but as I paid for one I didn't feel bad acquiring a yarr version to tide me over.

Cracking stuff. Worth getting, a reader friendly Batman title with new villains and great artwork.

Andy

What Andy said. Loved it. Grant M & Frank Q can do no wrong in my book. The intention appears to be to use rotating art teams and getting Frank's issues in the bag here. Little touches in this like the bat shaped blank tombstone. One page of art looks suspicously unQuitely - the one that starts with Alfred leaning over Damian's shoulder (is it Philip Tan - one of the other artists due to draw the book)(note how Damian only addresses Alfred by his Surname)

I'm not a DC fan but this might be making the pull list.

[Andy Turnbull]

No it's all Quitely. I think he's still doing digital inking as opposed to pencils. My hard copy arrived today and I have to say I am very happy with it.

Nicely reinvigorated Batman title, with the new Batmobile being quite a nice trick, especially given that in Grant M's first issue Bruce was working on the new one.

Andy

[Cullen]

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is pretty fucking good. Discuss.

[Andy Turnbull]

I don't think we need to bother with spoiler tags.

Always been a fan of it, although I think Year One is the better story. Frank Miller's use of the sixteen panel grid is superb throughout. Also you can see his lineart become looser throughout the books. It pretty much casts a long shadow on all Batman comics for good or ill that endures to this day.

Andy

[Cullen]

I really enjoyed it. The 16 panel grid allowed for very interesting story tellying. The overall plot reminded me a lot of Watchmen (retired superhero comes back to right wrongs set against escalating tension between the US and Russia), but felt quite different overall. Both of those owe quite a lot to Days of Future Past anyway. I didn't like Superman in it at first but his appearance is fully justified from a story point of view by the end.

Is the sequel worth picking up? Things were kind of left hanging at the end of Dark Knight Returns and I'd like to see what happens next but I'm wary of sequelitis.

I might have a look at Year One too, if you think that's good. I've started reading E is for Extinction today and its already paling by comparison.

[Andy Turnbull]

I would say you might want to avoid the sequel The Dark Knight Strikes Again. It's quite different in both tone and execution. It also suffers as well due to the hasty rewrites post 9/11 of the third and final installment.

Superman works tremendously well in the story and Miller sets his stall out to show that him and Batman are the two leading lights of the DC universe. (DC however, keep trying to ram Wonder Woman down our throats as the third big player - total bollocks but I digress) Their methods and methodology are so contrasting you know right from their first face to face that there is going to be a fight somewhere down the line and it doesn't disappoint.

Dark Knight never really needed a sequel. Batman is dead at the end of it, he has no need for the mask. He is now going to train up an army who think and fight like he does to set the world to rights.

A lot of books would suffer when placed next to DKR but I am a big fan for E is for Extinction. In a few short issues Grant Morrison injected fresh momentum into the X-franchise and sadly editorial at Marvel pissed it away. After Claremont's first return on the books, which was a bit of a misfire sadly they needed the jump start that GM gave them.

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

We did tell you.

[The Doctor]

DKR is a good book. Made a huge impact on me as a young Teenager. I don't think it holds up as well today but it deserves its place in comic fame. The sequel was crap though: pointless and the art/colouring is, at best, generously described as 'experiemental'.

As for 'E is for Extinction', I think it's tremendous. Made me a regular x-men reader for a few years. I loved the density of ideas. Once again proving that the modern idea of 'every comic story must be 6x22 pages' is utter bollocks.

-Ralph

[legios]

DKR is a very impressive piece of work. One of my favourite pieces of Frank Miller's work. The dichotomy that is set up between Superman and Batman, in their methods, their outlook and even in the colour pallete of their panels all point the story toward an inevitable confrontation. It puts a weight behind the battle that is more than just two iconic characters locked in battle - it is two outlooks and world-views colliding.

It is in many ways the foundation of modern DC Comics - in asmuch as it created the sense of Batman and Superman as being the iconic embodiements of the two faces of the universe. (Forget all that DC want to convince us that their is a Trinity at the heart of the DCU, for practical purposes it balances on the Superman-Batman axis).

DKR are is one of these stories where even when I'm not sure that I agree with the writers viewpoint I am interested to see where they will carry the story.

I'm not sure that it has aged well. It is very much a product of its times - with the Cold War having loomed over us for decades, and the threat of nuclear annihilation without warning having been a constant factor in our early lives. I'm not sure that it has quite the same resonnances now as it did then. But on a technical level I cannot but admire it. Page layouts that work so well for the story, a pacing that drags you along with it whether you want to go or not, it is very, very well put together.

I haven't bothered to read the sequel. I couldn't see the point, not only does DKR not require a sequel its ending feels like it categorically denies the possibility. All done, move on.

'E for Extinction' I think is fantastic stuff as well. Grant Morrison just gets stuck in to the X-Men, strips the whole thing back to brass-tack and then starts throwing buckets of ideas at the reader. It has a real energy to it, and a sense of someone finally breaking the X-Men out of the pointless rut that they had been going round and around in for so many years. Despite having been an on-again, off-again X-Men reader since I was a nipper the Morrison run is the only one I have any significant number of trades of on my bookshelf. (He wins extra points with me for being one of the few writers to actually "get", and seem to quite like Cyclops - rather than most who tolerate him as the price of getting to do X-Men).

Karl

[Andy Turnbull]

Matt Fraction seems to like Cyclops as he gives him a decent showing in UXM. Sadly marred by frequent outbreaks of Greg Land.

Andy

[Shockprowl]

Just discovered the wonders of the Superman Batman monthly comic from DC. Freakin' brilliant. Leob's run the best so far. I'm upto Enemies amoung us. I particularly enjoy the 'thoughts' of Superman and Batman relating to each other. I'm getting the trades, but, disapointingly, certain stand-alone episodes aren't included in them. So I'll have to track them down at some point. I'm more of a Marvel man than DC, but this series is certainly spanking my monkey. Oh and, in the style of the mighty Hero, Despero rules!

[blueshift]

Jan 29, 2011 17:26:51 GMT Shockprowl said:

Just discovered the wonders of the Superman Batman monthly comic from DC. Freakin' brilliant. Leob's run the best so far. I'm upto Enemies amoung us. I particularly enjoy the 'thoughts' of Superman and Batman relating to each other. I'm getting the trades, but, disapointingly, certain stand-alone episodes aren't included in them. So I'll have to track them down at some point. I'm more of a Marvel man than DC, but this series is certainly spanking my monkey. Oh and, in the style of the mighty Hero, Despero rules!

I generally liked Loeb's run, but I still find the ending of the first arc really confusing. Lex Luthor loses and stops being President because uh... he... uh.... JUST DOES OK?!?!

Also Pat Lee did one of the fill-in issues, so by not including them, that is money in royalties that he doesn't get

[Andy Turnbull]

It's decent tosh, not great comics but fun entertainment.

Luthor stops being president because he lied to the american people and also was allied with Apokolips (a hostile power) so I dare say he was impeached off camera.

Andy

[The Doctor]

Where is my glasses case!!!!<>??

[Shockprowl]

Jan 29, 2011 17:31:50 GMT blueshift said:

Also Pat Lee did one of the fill-in issues, so by not including them, that is money in royalties that he doesn't get

Of course! Genious!

[Dark Stranger]

For my brother's 30th birthday, I want to make him his own Batman comic (he's a fanatic), and change the dialogue to reference a load of in-jokes and history between us.

Has anyone done anything like this before? Seems like a brute of a task - currently trawling Photobucket for inner comic images.

Donal

[Andy Turnbull]

Might be worth seeing if you can pick a single issue to use, but yeah I've done similar.

Andy

[Dark Stranger]

I'm considering the single issue actually, seems way too difficult to seek out and cut and paste individual frames.

How did you do your comic Andy?

[Andy Turnbull]

I just put the pages into photoshop and whited out all the balloon on each page.

I only did a wee eight pager and to make things hard I started at the last page and worked my way back.

Wish I could track it down, but that was a few computers ago,

Andy