Monitor Tapes for Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
Tony Daniel’s Battle for the Cowl is by and far the most cracked-out vision of a bat-book far beyond anything Grant Morrison has done (thus far) in his recent run. I’ve honestly remarked that often Morrison’s Batman is downright conservative and rather straight-laced when it comes to storytelling (with the exception of Last Rights, but then again really look into Batman’s history and tell me the story was that weird).
I had some honest reservations going into reading it and thought about skipping it for quite a while. Knowing the track-record of artist-turned-writers (to his credit, he has wrote comics in the past, though I’ve not read nor am I fit to judge) especially fresh in my mind with the formation of Image with “artist’s turned writer, creator, producer, and corporation” (“fresh in my mind, it’s been like 16 years, I really think I’m dating myself now…”), I’m naturally cautious about such things.
However, I really think this is a labor of love for Daniel in all honestly. From reading his blog where he’s very enthusiastic about the fact he gets to write Batman, to the actual product it’s self, the man’s a lucky bastard, he knows it, and hell, you’d probably give your first-born, wife, and comic collection to write Batman (it’s a good thing my wife doesn’t read this column, she might actually read through the lines there).
Is it the perfect Batman comic? No, but then again ask anyone and you’ll probably have several different answers, or the five Batman fans who don’t actually read comics regularly site either “The Killing Joke” (not a Batman comic, rather “The Greatest Joker Story Ever Told”) or “The Dark Knight Returns” (an alt-take on Batman who’s crusty and grizzled and hates “the Establishment”). Batman “books” tend to be action, sci-fi, psychological, crime noir and even sometimes straight up superhero just to scratch at a few of the many.
The rundown on the story it’s self-
Gotham, as it does so often goes to hell in a handbasket due to the latest disaster, Batman not showing up to punch people so hard that they sometimes puke, making many of the cacaroch criminal types scurrying out from the shadows without an Orkin-Batman to stomp their asses. What makes the direness of it all as “The Great (Gotham) Disaster” is due to everyone going ape-shit with crime and crime-gimmics all while trying to rule the Gotham underworld via gang wars and gulags.
Black Mask returns from the dead or is possibly an entirely new “Black Mask” (maybe Jason Todd pulling double duty, not unlike his “Red Hood” disguise). Arkham’s inmates get the Suicide Squad treatment working for Black Mask after he blows up Arkham, this will not end well in his favor I guarantee because after all, He’s no Amanda Waller.
And where are the Bat-Boyz-not-in-the-Hood?
Nightwing continues to stare into the abys of Bruce’s union suit, and spars with Alfred (some might think this is a bit out of character, but I’m personally glad that he was retconned into a badass and someone remembered, he’s the Godamn Alfred!). Tim’s out with Squire (another Bat character I love) whoopin’ ass and trying to impress another girl (he’ll no doubt dump in the future). Damian continues to act like a little shit driving around picking up goth girls in his dads car. Chaos ensues, people get killed, and “mysterious” Batmen pop in and out with various gimmicks.
So about the comic it’s self, what did I think, well…
I’m frankly more of a talking heads kind of guy in comics, more writing over art when it comes right down to it. But I’ve got to admit, the art in the book is the best I’ve ever seen from Daniel, its dynamic and action oriented but clearly the man excels at what he does. Going back and looking at the issues scripted by Morrison, I regarded them as serviceable, but really Daniel is a hyper-kinetic action artist who needs to work on projects he’s got a stake in (IE-Writing) or at the very least co-writing or co-plotting. The man’s a cadged tiger on the page under what I’ve seen prior, he’s got to get out there and rip shit up at Mach 7. It’s crazy and frantic and probably what anti-Morrison people want out of Batman with it’s videogame-esque violence and perfectly set up hell scenario as a backdrop. Could I be wrong in saying that TD packs more action and characters into a single issue of BTFTC than both “Maximum Carnage” the 14 part(!) comic series and video game adaptation? I think not!
The bad about it (regarding the writing)? Questionable choices in dialogue here and there, questionable characterizations in some cases, and man I really wish Mutant-Killer Croc would go away (though that’s my personal gripe really). Really though, he’s been dropped into a grey area between Batman’s “death” and Morrison/ Quitely re-launch, so can you blame him for having fun with the whole thing. It’s not going to be as mind blowing as say “Batman: Arkham Asylum”, but then again he does reference characters from “Arkham Asylum: Living Hell” and that’s pretty cool in my book.
I’m going to be honest to all readers here, as for the dialogue writing is not fantastic and I’m probably softballing a bit. Truth be told, I don’t know the man personally, but I can’t keep him down for enthusiasm over writing Batman. Frankly had the art not been so electric and clearly joyous to behold, I’d probably been harsher on it. But the reality of it is, it’s a labor of love on his part and he’s having a blast, so I really can’t blame him for it. Extremely mixed feelings aside, if you just look at it as an action movie, it’s totally popcorn, despite the lack of emotional investment.
DC Comics for Wendsday the 18th, 2009
DC
* AZRAEL: DEATH’S DARK KNIGHT #1 (OF 3)
* THE BATMAN CHRONICLES VOL. 7
* BATMAN: HAUNTED GOTHAM
* BLACK LIGHTNING: YEAR ONE #6 (OF 6)
* THE OUTSIDERS #16
* SUPER FRIENDS #13
* SUPERGIRL #39
* TEEN TITANS SPOTLIGHT: CYBORG
* TINY TITANS #14
* TOR: A PREHISTORIC ODYSSEY
* TRINITY #42
* VIGILANTE #4
VERTIGO
* AIR #7
* AIR VOL. 1: LETTERS FROM LOST COUNTRIES
* HELLBLAZER #253
WILDSTORM
* MYSTERIUS: THE UNFATHOMABLE #3 (OF 6)
* STORMWATCH PHD #20
* WORLD OF WARCRAFT #17
* THE X-FILES #5 (OF 7)
Thanks for reading!