Age of Ultron is barely over, but Marvel is already rolling out Infinity, which is the latest major event from the publisher. Events can be a divisive topic for a lot of comic fans, but I tend to enjoy them as long as they’re telling stories that have been properly set up and they don’t derail other stories in progress. That was my biggest issue with Age of Ultron–it felt like it didn’t matter and was an unnecessary hiatus from other, better stories. There were a lot of other issues, but Kari has already covered most of them in her article Comic Events and Consumer Affairs: Age of Ultron, so I’ll move on to discuss Infinity, which I actually have high hopes for. ...

Even if you don’t read DC comics or are uninterested in the Batman family, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard of Batman Incorporated. The fourteen-issue series, which wrapped up at the end of July, made big waves in late February when Damian Wayne, the most recent Robin, was killed. The series serves as Grant Morrison’s farewell to Batman comics, and unlike a lot of Batman fans, I say good riddance. ...

This week I came across the following quote from a Paul Pope article: Asked by Yang if he had tried to do an all-ages book with a franchise character, Pope said he did test the waters, only to be knocked back. “Batman did pretty well, so I sat down with the head of DC Comics. I really wanted to do ‘Kamandi [The Last Boy on Earth]’, this Jack Kirby character. I had this great pitch… and he said ‘You think this is gonna be for kids? Stop, stop. We don’t publish comics for kids. We publish comics for 45-year olds. If you want to do comics for kids, you can do ‘Scooby-Doo.’ And I thought, ‘I guess we just broke up.’” ...

Should a superhero kill? What happens if he does? Those are questions that are constantly being asked by creators and fans of superhero comics. Every character approaches that question differently: Batman never kills, but Superman has under extreme circumstances even though he has a strict moral code against it. Part of Wolverine’s popularity centers on the fact that he is a warrior who will do what he deems necessary, which includes killing. Then you have characters like the Punisher, who are popular because they feed into our id by killing criminals without hesitation and with great prejudice, the way we know we never can. ...

Batman Annual Vol 2 #2 tackles two very interesting and interrelated topics concerning the DC Universe. The main premise of the issue is that Batman is testing security at Arkham Asylum, a Cardboard Prison. I understand the problem the writers of the many Batman books have. On the one hand, they need Batman to succeed in stopping the criminals. Given how amazing Batman is supposed to be in both mental and physical abilities no one would believe that the criminals would always get away - Batman would plan for that eventuality after the first of such encounters. So the villains need to be able to break out of Arkham or else the Batman writers would constantly need to create new enemies for Batman. The most acceptable method, and one that has, therefore, seen a lot more use in recent times involves the inmates bribing or corrupting the guards. This method would not, of course, be caught by the incredible anti-escape measures put in place in the wing Batman is testing. Just as in Jurassic Park, an insider threat is almost impossible to counter. Additionally, one must consider the way in which Harley Quinn became an enemy: Joker’s cunninMany of the the villains at Arkham have incredible mental faculties including Joker, The Mad Hatter, and The Riddler. Any one of them (and possibly others) could trick the guards into putting them into an escapable situation. Also, many of the female villains have used their bodies to give them an edge to escape. Regardless, it would be irresponsible of the asylum not to have safeguards against their escape and it would also be irresponsible not to have Batman test them. At the very least it would imply a seal of approval. ...

Earlier this week, Eric took a look at how Bruce Wayne interacts with his sons and with Barbara Gordon. Today I’m going to do a similar thing, but instead of focusing on Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian, I’m going to take a look at the other two ladies of the main continuity Bat family – namely, Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown. Since neither woman has yet made an appearance in the New 52, this article will focus on the pre-reboot continuity. ...

We often refer to all the Batman heroes as the Bat Family. That’s, of course, literally true when talking about Batman and the Robins, but it’s also metaphorically true when you rope in Batgirl (which would have been literal if Barbara had accepted Dick’s proposal). Batgirl and the Robins often strike out on their own, as children do, but they just as often work under Bruce’s command. So how does Bruce do as a father? ...

It could be argued that in recent decades, Wolverine has been the face of Marvel. The only character that gets more exposure is Spider-Man. If you go to the comic store today and look at the shelves you’ll find Wolverine, Savage Wolverine, Wolverine Max, and Wolverine and the X-Men, not to mention that he is a featured member in several other Avengers and X-Men books. This weekend he also gets the honor of appearing for the sixth time in the movie theater. ...

I’ve bee waiting for this series ever since I first heard about it. It has Matt Fraction (who I LOVE from Hawkeye, Fantastic Four, and The Defenders) and it has a ridiculously fun sounding premise. Suzie has a secret. When she has sex, she stops time. She’s alone with this secret until she meets John, a young man with the same “gift.” In the new Image Comics series SEX CRIMINALS by Matt Fraction (SATELLITE SAM) and Chip Zdarsky, Suzie and John embark on a journey of self-discovery, intimacy, and… well, actually, they do what every time-stops-when-you-have-sex couple would do: They rob banks. ...

note on all the image scans: they are correct manga-style so they are read right to left Spend enough time doing critical readings of media and you come across the assertion that all media tells you about the culture it was written in. Sometimes, as in contemporary media, this is easy to tease out. Other times, as with science fiction, it’s by extrapolation. So I thought it might be interesting to re-read Love Hina, by Ken Akamatsu, as a way to to understand Japanese culture. Part One can be found here. ...