Batman

Smallville Season Eleven: Alien #3

/ / Comics

Smallville Season Eleven: Alien #3The third issue of Smallville Season Eleven: Alien features unexpected team-ups. As Chloe spends time in the Batcave trying to pitch Batman on the idea of joining the Justice League, Lois and Nightwing hit the streets and get into a little action while taking down a local gang, and in Russia Clark Kent and Lex Luthor work together to discover more about the identity of the Monitor and his true purpose in this reality.

I enjoyed the scenes of Barbara and Lois together and getting the chance to see Lois kick some butt. However, I question Bryan Q. Miller’s choice to make Lois so capable that she comes off as pretty much equal to Batman’s trained partner in a fight.

Clark and Lex finally catch up with the Monitor (for all the good it does them) leaving that thread on a cliffhanger suggesting Lex Luthor might re-discover Superman’s secret (but I wouldn’t bet on it just yet). The Batman story also gets an unusual ending with the reveal of a Bat-Joker from another world who will no doubt cause trouble for Smallville’s version of the Dynamic Duo in the next issue. Worth a look.

[DC, $3.99]

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Batman #28

/ / Comics

Batman #28Although I’m a huge Batman fan, with distasteful odor of Death of the Family still palpable even today, I decided to give Scott Snyder’s Batman title a wide berth for an entire year, only checking in to look at the Damian remembrance issue ten months ago.

Over the past year I’ve picked up and dropped various of the other Bat-titles but haven’t come back to Batman. This month’s issue reminds me why, but it also offers a glimmer of the promise that the New 52 hasn’t quite stamped everything once enjoyable about Bat-titles completely out of the DCU.

I have to start with Harper Row, who apparently is Batman’s new partner and a better acrobat than Dick Grayson. Other than the asshole New 52 version of Shazam she may be the poster child for everything wrong with the state of the current DCU. The edgy street kid who disobeys Batman and even USES GUNS (which doesn’t bother the Dark Knight) is a perfect example of DC Editorial’s forced gritty vision that has turned off so many readers from their books.

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Batman #28 Read More »

Holy Batman: The Animated Series Toys, Batman!

/ / Toys & Collectibles

btas-toys-news-catwoman-batman

This news makes me insanely happy. Among DC’s new action figures are the Batman: The Animated Series version of Catwoman (still my favorite version of the the character’s costume). Although I have the 3.5in. figure from the original series, its less-than-ideal mold limits how you can pose the figure without it toppling over. Also announced are figures from the revamped New Batman Adventures (the final season of BTAS that featured different designs for several of the characters) including Batman, Mr. Freeze, and Two-Face. You can find the full press release, including news on all the various other toys and figures DC the company plans to release this year, inside.

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Holy Batman: The Animated Series Toys, Batman! Read More »

Batman: Black and White #6

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Batman: Black and White #6The final issue of the latest volume of Batman: Black and White is neither the strongest nor weakest of the six-issue mini-series. Although it lacks a stand-out story, three of the tales present Batman adventures from perspectives other than those of the Dark Knight Detective himself.

Cliff Chiang’s Clayface tale is presented from Dick Grayson‘s perspective in his early days as Robin before he had won over the GCPD. Olly Moss and Becky Cloonan take a look at Bruce Wayne out of the Batsuit from the perspective of former and current flings, and Dave Johnson offers a tale of a four-time loser’s various run-ins with the law and Batman.

The final two stories also have something in common as they present rather mean-spirited versions of beloved characters. Dave Taylor’s tale of robots and conspiracies isn’t half as fun as it sounds and features an extremely unlikable Alfred. Adam Hughes offers us a Catwoman tale that while somewhat plausable makes Catwoman to be one hell of a manipulative bitch whose actions definitely cross a line. Worth a look.

[DC, $4.99]

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Beware the Batman #4

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Beware the Batman #4Obviously set to be released after an episode of Beware of the Batman that never aired, Beware the Batman #4 features a two version of Man-Bat long after Batman‘s unseen first meeting with scientist Kirk Langstrom and includes Barbara Gordon working with Team Batman as Oracle.

Despite building on events and relationships that neither the show nor the comic have covered, the latest issue works well enough playing on a familiar storyline of Batman and Man-Bat working together to find someone else who has been exposed to the serum and transformed into a Man-Bat (in this case the young student Barbara had been tutoring).

With the show not returning to the air in January as scheduled I have a feeling these gaps in continuity could continue which may be why DC has decided to end the comic series after issue #6. As to the fate of the cartoon, given that neither DC nor Cartoon Network have discussed it in months, one has to wonder if it will meet a similar fate. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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