Batman

It’s really interesting to think about how quickly the world changes around us. Whether we’re talking about popular culture, politics, or technology, things are constantly moving. The media produced during any given time period tends to reflect this; things produced today have up-to-date smartphones, fashion, and cars, and current sentiments are reflected in the story lines. This isn’t a new phenomenon, so when we look at media produced twenty years ago, we get a snapshot of those same things from that time period. Comics are especially good at this, because they’re consistently released on a monthly basis. They evolve as they continue, showing us a constant stream of snapshots. ...

I came across this awesome parody strip which Kerry Callen even took the time to make look as though they were from an old Batman comic about how Batman is a hoarder. It’s funny because my wife and I were just having a conversation about all the crap in the Batcave and how some artists make sure to include it all and others leave the Batcave a bit more spartan. Batman is a Hoarder - by the way, the items on the bottom three panels are actual items from Detective Comics! ...

Mainstream comics have traditionally featured superheroes or, more recently, anti-heroes. Whether it’s Batman, Starfire, Captain Marvel, or Iron Man, the characters that inhabit most of the comics published by the Big Two – and, to a certain degree, smaller publishers as well – feature someone (or a team of someones) who beats up the bad guys to protect the innocent. What drives someone to put on a costume and use his or her powers for good, though? ...

Super hero sidekicks almost have the same joke status nowadays as Star Trek’s Red Shirts. In a lot of ways they’re a relic from an old era before people asked questions about reckless child endangerment. We seem to have transitioned away from the sidekick to the teen hero as a substitute. The main exception is Batman who has a Robin for historical reasons. Even there, the trend for more realism in comics (kicked off in large part in the 1980s) we’ve seen the consequences as two Robins have been murdered. (Although Damian is more of a bit of family violence than being targeted for being a sidekick - if you want to get technical about it) ...

It used to be the case that there were eight page Batman stories and one issue would contain a few stories. Marvel was the pioneer of having long story arcs. But for a few decades now both DC and Marvel have been story-telling via decompressed story arcs. (Best illustrated by Brian Michael Bendis stretching the Spider-Man origin story in Ultimate Spider-Man from 11 pages into 180 pages over seven issues) For those who have followed my thoughts here, on Comic Vine, or when I wrote for Player Affinity - it’s no secret that the one DC Comics title I have stuck with in the New 52. Scott Snyder has been knocking it out of the park pretty consistently on Batman Vol 2. Twenty issues in we’ve only really had four stories. ...

Hey, Comic POW! readers! I’m Kari, and I’m thrilled to be joining the team here. Check out the “About the Writers” page to get to know me a little better. One thing that you should know about me right off the – heh – bat: I love Batman. I’ve read a lot of Batman comics. I won’t claim to have all of them, or even most – that’s a lot of comics, and I’m working my way through them – but I’ve read enough to have more than a passing familiarity with the different men who have filled the Bat-suit over the years. I’ve been thinking about Batmen recently, and after rewatching The Dark Knight, was really struck by the line used in the title of the article. If you need a refresher, it’s part of a line that then-Lieutenant James Gordon delivers; when asked by his young son why Batman is running away, Gordon replies, “Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.” ...

Dan and I take some time to discuss our top picks from the 2012’s Comics of the Year. http://youtu.be/Uifp0tTlYxA Top Marvel Book: right at the beginning Top DC Books: 7:20 Top Creator-Owned Book 12:40 sec Top Marvel Arc 19:14 Top DC Arc 23:46 Top Creator-Owned Arc 27:49 Best Old Comic 31:35 Biggest Surprise 40:14

[caption id=“attachment_634” align=“alignright” width=“195” caption=“Detective Comics Vol 2 #13”] [/caption] I did not like Detective Comics under Tony S Daniel’s short run. It just wasn’t a good time for him. He had to assume the mantle on Detective Comics after Scott Snyder’s phenomenal run. And Snyder has also been going gangbusters on Batman. This was not a time for anyone writing Batman that wasn’t in the top tier. So I stopped reading after the first story arc. Then, a few months ago I heard that John Layman of Chew was going to be taking over the writer’s chair on Detective Comics. This was something that for the next two months I had an impossible time wrapping my mind around. ...

[caption id=“attachment_528” align=“alignleft” width=“195” caption=“Batman Vol 2 #6”] [/caption] Batman Vol 2 #6 - see the linked review Nightwing Vol 3 #6 - the story is near its conclusion and it’s still pretty great Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2 #679.1 - a great one-off that gives us more time with Uatu Jackson and sets up a future storyline Uncanny X-Men Vol 2 #7 - this arc is about one issue too long, but it continues to have some great action. Red Hood and the Outlaws #6 - see the linked review X-Factor #232 - The story arc ends with a lot of great humor and possibly setting up some future arcs

When I was around five or six years old, my aunt gave me Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) as a present. My parents watched it and decided it was not appropriate for me to watch at that age. Once I was close enough to 13 that my parents would have let me watch it, I was busy spending my allowance on renting new movies and video games. So I never saw it until I recently rented it via Netflix to watch on a plane ride. ...