As I noted, last week we had some issues with the blog, so I wasn’t able to get my thoughts about the first week of DC’s soft reboot up until this week, but I’m going to try to post them on Thursday or Friday of the week they come out, just to be timely. Remember when I was able to post entire review columns on Thursday or Friday of the week comics came out, and sometimes even on the Wednesday they showed up? How the heck was I able to handle that? Jeez, being old sucks. Anyway, this was a small week for DC ALL IN, with only three comics showing up, but maybe they did it because IT’S ABSBATS WEEK!!!!!! Whoo-fucking-hoo!!!!!!
Absolute Batman #1 (“The Zoo Part 1 of 5”) by Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, Frank Martin, and Clayton Cowles. $4.99, 42 pgs.
I mean, ultimately (you see what I did there?), this is just another Batman story. Sure, Snyder tries to twist it a bit, with the BIG TWIST coming 36 pages in, but it’s still just a Batman story. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but the question becomes: Why do we need this? I mean, yes, why do we need any comics, I get it, but if Snyder wanted to write Batman again, why didn’t he just tell DC he wanted to write the regular book again? Did he just want to be the sole arbiter of what Batman is, and this is “his” Batman so he can do … well, not new things, exactly, and certainly not terribly interesting things, but … slightly different things, I guess? I’m disappointed in this not because the craft isn’t there – Snyder certainly knows how to write a story, and Dragotta’s art is terrific as usual (although there are some weird things that I’ll get to). It’s just that … DC is invested in Batman, right? So they’re never going to let him stray too far from the template, even in an “Absolute” Universe, and Snyder himself does not seem like the kind of person who wants to stray too far from the template. So making Alfred Pennyworth a British secret agent isn’t all that clever, as it’s already been established in the “real” DCU, plus it’s the most obvious choice you can make in a universe founded on the principle that men (and women) of action are the only ones worth caring about. Of course Alfred hadn’t been a butler his entire life! Here, Snyder is just cutting out the “boring” parts of his character – who wants to read about a dude who simply dedicates his life serving a rich dude? Making a lot of Batman’s villains childhood friends of Bruce Wayne is fine, I guess, but because of the inevitability of superhero universes, I doubt if it will be long before “Eddie, Harvey, Oz … [and] Selina” turn up evil. And of course, at the end of the book, we get the Joker. It just feels like it’s all been done before. I mean, it has, and I didn’t love it even back when Marvel introduced the Ultimate Universe. That doesn’t mean this can’t be a great book, of course, and this is not a bad first issue, it’s just … who reads this and gets all excited about it? I mean, it’s Batman. I love Batman! But it’s still just Batman.
Some things, of course, are just silly, but we have to accept them if we’re living in a comic book. The fact that 24-year-old Bruce Wayne is proficient in mixed martial arts, is a genius, was arrested for something (we just see his mug shot), then goes back to school and gets a scholarship to play football, then studies “applied mechanics … chemistry … criminal psychology … military theory … [and] sociocultural history,” then works for Gotham City in a variety of professions, on the “power grid,” the “water department,” “sanitation,” and as intern at City Hall (with a criminal record, mind you), and then as an engineer, all by the time he’s 24 years old, mind you (see above), is a bit hard to believe, especially as he manages to keep his body in rock-solid shape as well. I mean, it stretched the boundaries of our disbelief when blue-blood Bruce did it, but he didn’t have to work for a living, so it was at least the tiniest bit plausible. The “inverse ninja” theory has always bugged me, and the fact that this Bruce doesn’t have access to high-tech materials (but I suppose he made them himself because he’s such a genius?) means that dozens of gang members with automatic weapons attacking him should put more of a dent in his sculpted bod. Again, I get that we’re living in a comic book universe and this is something we just have to accept, but it does bug me. Waylon Jones just straight up carrying around a crocodile is just weird. Dragotta draws Bruce a bit strangely. His thighs are ridiculously wide, and his head looks too small for his wildly ‘roided-up body. Dragotta’s Batman is superb, and everyone else in the book looks fine, but his Bruce is just … off. Overall, the book looks really nice, and the story zips along, and Roman Sionis as the bad guy is … fine, and it feels like a solid comic. I guess I’m just jaded. I keep expecting the other shoe to drop, when “Harvey” gets his face scarred and “Selina” decides she likes shiny things and the pale-skinned, normal-looking “Joker” gets dropped in a vat of corrosive sludge. I’m trying not to be cynical, I promise! I just don’t get why you would want to do a Batman without wealth if you’re simply going to make him a super-genius who can do everything rich Batman can do, just without the mansion. I mean, what’s the point in that?
Sigh. I’m sure smarter people than I loved this. Let’s head off to the interwebs!
… Yep, I’m in the minority. Most people are blown the fuck away by this incredibly fresh take on Batman. I guess. Listen, it’s fine. It’s competently done, it offers cosmetic twists that will shock! and amaze! (that is, if you’ve never read a comic before), and it looks keen. I don’t hate it. It’s just … I recognize the limits of what you can do with the character, and the small stuff that Snyder futzes with aren’t enough, for me, to ignore the fact that the big stuff remains in place. They might be for you. That’s cool. I’m just one dude with a keyboard, after all. Maybe you will be ALL IN with Absolute Batman!
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
One totally Airwolf panel:
Action Comics #1070 (“Phantoms Part One”/”Where Are You Going?”) by Mark Waid, Clayton Henry, Matt Herms, and Dave Sharpe; Mariko Tamaki, Skylar Patridge, Marissa Louise, and Becca Carey. $4.99, 30 pgs.
It appears that Action Comics is only weekly for 6 weeks, and, I mean, what’s the point of that? Did I misread the solicits? Do they mean Waid’s main story is a 6-parter, but the “weekly” part will continue? I think it’s a terrible idea – selling a 5-dollar comic four times a month adds up quickly – but especially if it’s only a 6-week experiment. But what do I know? I don’t have a fancy marketing degree.
Waid’s story is fine – the Phantom Zone thingy gets cracked for some reason (I should say, for no discernible reason: Page 1, Panel 3 shows it fine, and Panel 4 shows a crack, and there’s nothing to indicate why it would occur) and a horrific, three-fused-into-one prisoner escapes. Superman and Supergirl fight it for a while until Supes realizes they can’t beat it, so he grabs some gold Kryptonite and uses it (well, Jimmy Olson uses it, but whatever). Supes realizes some has gone horribly wrong in the Phantom Zone (it’s like Krypton’s Guantanamo Bay – what could possibly go wrong?), so he zips off to check it out, which, as the last page shows, might not be the best idea. So we’ve got a whole adventure in the Phantom Zone lined up!
Meanwhile, in the back-up story, Supergirl has to go somewhere in deep space, but she can’t let anyone know she’s going, so she wipes the memory of everyone she comes in contact with as she’s preparing to do so. That’s it. It is a back-up story, so it’s not surprising it feels a bit less revealing than the main story, but plot-wise, that’s it. So, what do we think?
The main story is fairly intriguing. The creature is horrifying, and the fact that Superman can’t beat it makes the fight resonate a bit more, and the deus ex machina of Kryptonite is always the tiniest bit annoying, but … I don’t know, Waid makes it work, somehow. It seems foolish of Superman to simply jump right into the Phantom Zone, considering what came out of it, but he’s a superhero, and in superhero fiction, the heroes are always just the slightest bit stupid, because otherwise there’d be no story. It’s a solid Superman story, in other words, and while I’m not terribly interested in Superman in general, this is a nice start. I’ve never loved Henry’s art, and his Superman looks downright weird in some panels (his head and neck are bizarre in some places, like they’re too long for the rest of his body), but he’s not terrible, and he’s hatching a bit more – not a lot, but a bit – and Herms adds some nice shading to the art. Much like Sami Basri in Birds of Prey, Henry is a guy who has learned over the years how to make his art less sterile, and that’s nice. As for the Supergirl story … it’s fine. Just a set-up, but the fact that Kara can’t/won’t tell anyone what she’s doing and is actually using a machine to wipe their memories is interesting, and Patridge’s rough, Ming Doyle-crossed-with-Michel-Fiffe art is pretty cool. Plus, Power Girl’s costume is hella fierce.
This is a perfectly cromulent comic book. If you’re a fan of Superman, you’ll probably like it more than I did, but I certainly didn’t hate it. Waid does his thing – tells solid superhero stories. Ain’t nothing wrong with that, if you’re looking to go ALL IN!
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
One totally Airwolf panel:
Green Lantern Civil Corps Special (“The Call to War”) by Jeremy Adams, Philip Kennedy Johnson, Salvador Larroca, Luis Guerrero, and Dave Sharpe. $5.99, 40 pgs.
This comic is a mess, as it’s coming to us very in media res, but Adams and Johnson don’t really make any attempts to explain what’s been going on (except for a very brief box on the credits page, which doesn’t do too much to fill us in), so even if we’re long-time comics readers (like I am), there’s still a steep learning curve as we’re reading. As usual, caveats apply: I don’t want every comic to have a page or two of a character flashing back in rounded panels to fill us in, but it feels like the status quo of the Green Lanterns has changed so much that something would help, but we get very little. I mean, it’s a comic book, not Proust, so I can figure it out – there are bad guys being bad, the Green Lanterns are all square-jawed and pure-hearted (even Guy Gardner is not terribly obnoxious, which … well, I hated obnoxious Guy Gardner, but that was the point – he was at least interesting) and will fight the evil bad guys. But there’s a lot going on, and even the artificially created “kewl” moments – the appearance of Alan Scott, for instance – makes no sense unless you’ve read a different comic! Sigh. The story is fine but bland – there’s a dictator in charge of the United Planets, and he’s blockaded Sector 2814. The “Unseeing” are now in charge of Oa, and they’re enforcing the blockade. Hal, John Stewart, Guy, Carol Ferris, and some rando redhead dude head off to try to stop them. Guy and Redhead Dude sneak onto Oa (with the help of a distraction from Alan Scott) and wreak some havoc, while Hal, John, and Carol go to Thanagar to convince them that the dictator, Thanos … whoops, I mean Thaaros, is really a bad dude. Fight fight fight – you know the drill – and the book ends with a BIG SHOCK! that will continue in the next issue of Green Lantern. Goodie?
This is about as perfunctory a superhero comic as you can get, down to Larroca’s typically sterile but functional artwork. I opened it without checking the artist and saw, on the first page, the first two panels:
These are gorgeous, and I didn’t know yet who drew them. I turned the page and my heart sunk. I mean, Larroca was decent once, decades ago, and he’s not a bad storyteller, so the book looks fine. He does get to draw some cool stuff – Thaaros summons … something to fight the GLs, and whatever the Durlans summon to fight Thaaros is pretty keen – but it’s just kind of … there. It’s meat-and-potatoes art, going with a meat-and-potatoes story. There are good guys and bad guys, and the good guys fight the bad guys and seemingly win, but on the final page there’s a cliffhanger that leads us to yet another meat-and-potatoes story. Hey, I like meat, and I like potatoes, but not necessarily in my comics. If you’re in the mood for a mildly entertaining superhero comic that you will instantly forget, feel free to pick this up. It is, of course, 6 dollars, which might make it a bit harder to go ALL IN, but I’m not going to stop you!
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
One totally Airwolf panel:
Well, this was kind of a blah week for the new initiative, wasn’t it? I assume DC thought we’d all be slobbering so much over ABSBATS that they wouldn’t need to do much more with their books, but if there’s one thing you know about me, it’s that I tend not to slobber over the books everyone thinks I should be slobbering over! I’m glad Dragotta gets to draw for the Big Guys again, so there’s that. I will, of course, be back next week, going ALL IN once more!!!!!
I wish I could find the interview since just read it a week ago but Scott Snyder said his son and his friends couldn’t relate to billionaire Bruce Wayne so that’s one of the changes that he made when he was conceptualizing the whole thing.
Just saw that the book sold over 250, 000 copies to comic stores and is already getting a third print so there is definitely an audience out there and if it gets more people reading comics that’s a win.
I think between AbsBats and Hickman’s Ultimate Spider-Man (another huge hit this year) people are looking for fresh starting points with top characters with no continuity attached. Obliviously this will all be moot in a couple years when the continuity starts to pile up but for now eh I’m fine it.
I like how they can’t relate to a billionaire genius who’s in ripped shape but they can relate to a non-billionaire genius who’s in ripped shape. Batman is a fantasy, no matter how you slice it, so this one isn’t any more relatable than the billionaire one, in my view.
I don’t put too much stock in sales figures, as there were at least four covers, so I imagine some people bought all of those. But good for it, anyway.
I don’t disagree with your contention about fresh starting points, but, as you note, that won’t last very long! I don’t begrudge the success of ABSBATs any more than I begrudge the success of any comic. I think it’s great. That doesn’t necessarily make it all that good a comic! 🙂
DarkKnight, Greg: “…a billionaire genius who’s in ripped shape but they can relate to a non-billionaire genius…”
A billionaire genius is more likely to be in ripped shape than a non-billionaire genius because a billionaire genius can afford the time – and of course money – to employ the best personal trainers.
It’s why Madonna looks like Madonna and we look like schlubs (oh and plastic surgery helps, too). YMMV on the merits of “duck lips” and other side effects of “having work done”.
Are people necessarily going to relate to an ultra powered guy who rockets to Earth from Krypton, or four humans transformed by cosmic rays, or pick any example across 100s of hero/fantasy books. As Greg basically says, it’s comics, innit?
I 100% that it’s just comics. I had no problem enjoying any of these characters as a kid. Maybe it’s a Gen Z thing and an overall disdain for the Musk’s and Bezo’s of the world.
“Batman Goes Broke” in 1945 made that point — when Bruce loses his money (reimbursing investors who lost everything to his embezzling accountant) he tells Dick there’s no way they can train, maintain equipment, etc. so after One Last Case they’re done.
I think I must be the only person who didn’t like Snyder’s first run on Batman, so I’m in no rush to read this one.
I mean I’ll get around to it at some point but I’m sure there are far better comics out there to entertain myself with for now.
His run on Detective right before the nu52 was quite good (I didn’t love the ending, but such is life), but yeah, his nu52 Batman run wasn’t great. We shall see what this turns out to be!
I had forgotten Snyder had wrote ‘Black Mirror’ but then again Jock and Francavilla can make anyone look good.
I didn’t care for Snyder’s Batman at all. I tried the Absolute preview in the app and I’m put off by the absurdly bulky Batman on the cover. Plus I have other stuff to read.
Didn’t Batman & Robin #14 come out this week too? It’s the start of the Phillip Kennedy Johnson run and should have an All-In cover.
I ordered AbsBats #1 out of curiosity though it didn’t arrive yet– and I’ll likely get the trade. I dig Dragotta and I’ve liked a lot of Snyder’s previous Bat-stuff. But I also am unsure of these Absolute titles and who the target audience is. It’s a “fresh start” but by its very nature, the hook is that it’s completely different from the “real” Batman. So will it be able to transition readers to other Batbooks? Do you need to be familiar with the Bat-history to “get” why this is different or interesting? Batman’s the most versatile character in fiction, so I’m not too worried, but still. I have the same feelings about Marvel’s new Ultimate line. Originally it was supposed to be a sort of clean slate, modern adaptation of the characters, but now the goal seems to be to make it as different from the OGs as possible.
Also, you know, the fun of DC and Marvel is that those universes were built up both organically *and* contradictorily over years, so trying to remold it into a more coherent shape over a much shorter timespan always does too much too fast and makes the universe seem smaller. I don’t love hearing that all of Bruce’s friends are also all of Batman’s villains.
Nice to see bang for the buck with a 42 page issue, though.
I’m wondering if Action is burning through an inventory story in prep for some big launch, as it’s rumored Batman is also doing. I presume Aaron, Simone, Waid, and company were maybe all working on their arcs simultaneously since Action’s gone anthology lately. But who knows? Anyway, it’s not Action Comics Weekly without Wild Dog!
I enjoyed the first trade of Adams’ Green Lantern, and the first trade of PKJ’s John Stewart series was solid. But I was waiting for it to inevitably expand in scope and get into cosmic and/or continuity stuff I’d be less interested in.
“trying to remold it into a more coherent shape over a much shorter timespan always does too much too fast ” While I enjoyed the post-ZH Legion of Superheroes reboot it always felt too damn neat and tidy, with none of the oddness and wildness of the original.
Bill: Shoot, you’re right – B&R did come out, and I just missed it. I don’t think it had a distinctive cover, unless I just saw the “regular” cover. Shoot. I’m sure my store will still have it, so I’ll grab it this week.
I’ve always liked the fact that the “continuity” was built up haphazardly, but over the past, what, 30 years, both companies have tried to force it too much, and it’s gotten wonky. That’s why I try not to worry about it, but it does bug me because they claim they care about it … but then they don’t. Pick a lane!
Action Comics Weekly would be MUCH better with a Wild Dog back-up story!!!!
Okay, I’ve caught up on the All-In Special, which is what I feared– mostly hogwash. So much exposition, and yet it’s total nonsense. I wish DC could just do the thing instead of publishing a one-shot or mini-series trying to explain what the thing they’re doing is.
However, I was very pleasantly surprised by Absolute Batman #1. It gave me that tingle at the back of my neck like I felt with the early issues of Morrison and Quitely’s New X-Men. Nice amount of pages with a lot of panels, Dragotta very much doing his own thing but with a soupcon of Frank Miller’s DKR aesthetic. And I think it threads the needle between playing with fan expectations and known concepts, and working for new readers– if this was baby’s first Batman, it would still work on its own. I also dig the multiple fakeouts when they trick us into thinking we’re watching Bruce when we’re not.
So in reading these and reading a little more about the upcoming AbsSupes, the in-universe idea is that Darkseid creates a world that sucks, and these are the superheroes that rise up in it. And I think this is very much in response to what’s going on in our real world, which also sucks and seems to be getting worse and more hopeless every day. Of course, this is an exaggerated DC version of our “real” world, but I like that they’re trying to imagine what these characters would look like if they were created today. Surprised they didn’t go with a more specific school shooter angle on Batman’s origin.
There’s also another metatextual element, which is: If you took away all the trappings of these characters, all the external elements and circumstances that make them who they are, the stuff everyone knows about them, changing both nature and nurture– are they still the same characters? And I imagine the answer will turn out to be “yes,” but it’s an interesting angle.
Hate self-cover comics, though. Feel like they’ll disintegrate in my hands. I should’ve ordered the cardstock!