Special anniversary issue - cover dated October 1986 - Price $1.50
60 pages of story - two page text introduction by Stephen King, and four pin ups.
Written by Doug Moench
Artists: The story contains 11 chapters. Each chapter is illustrated by a different artist/art team.
Plot: As Batman marks the anniversary of the night he first donned the cloak of the bat, dual explosions rock Arkham Asylum and the State Penitentiary. Dozens of Batman's greatest villains are released. They make plans to meet the mysterious man behind their release, and join him in his plot against Batman.
Julia Pennyworth is abducted by the Scarecrow. Harvey Bullock is kidnapped by Poison Ivy. Vicky Vale is taken by the Riddler and the Black Spider. Killer Croc brutalizes and abducts Alfred.
The Joker, Penguin, Killer Moth, Deadshot, the Mad Hatter, and Cavilier attack Gotham Police headquarters taking Gordon, GPD officers and staff hostage.
Ra's Al Ghul is revealed as the mastermind. He offers to kill all the villains if Batman agrees to join him as a partner in reshaping the world. Batman refuses.
Batman, Robin (Jason Todd), Catwoman, and Talia join forces to free the hostages, go after the villains and confront Ra's Al Ghul.
My opinions:
This is an issue worth owning for the grand scale of it all. The writing is solidly in line with the Moench era Batman. Moench wrote Jason Todd well and put together an interesting supporting cast. Batman's motivations sometimes felt off during his run. All of that holds true here.
Ultimately, this story both succeeds and fails due to the art. Steve Lightle does the pencils on the opening chapter. His work is striking and leaves you hungry for more. Lightle passes the baton to George Perez who delivers his expected high level of quality. After that the art gets really bumpy. Sudden changes of styles disrupt the story. Much of the art looks rushed. Bill Sienkiewicz turns in an overly dark and poorly stylized chapter that pretty much destroys the flow of the story. His chapter is the one that reveals Ra's Al Ghul as the master villain and presents a symbolic moment of the giant penny in the Batcave crashing to the floor. The work is so murky that Ra's is not recognizable during the reveal and the falling penny loses most of its effect.
However, there is some redemption in the final chapter by Brian Bolland. Man, I wish I owned more Batman work by Bolland.
There's also an awesome pin up by Mike Grell.
Final grade: B-
The issue gets an A for effort, but the delivery is all over the map.
[ December 13, 2011, 08:56 PM: Message edited by: Jerry ]
-------------------- No regrets, Coyote.
From: Missouri | Registered: Oct 2003
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Avengers Sanction as the prelude to Avengers vs. X-Men
(even though is weird because Storm and Wolverine are on both teams, and then there's Hank the Beast ... )
anyway, art is a little bit like Art Adams which is ok.
Click Here For A SpoilerCable returns and is taking out Avengers because of some vaguery about their involvement in Hope's disappearance and since she's gone, in the future she won't be around to save the world and the world is destroyed. so Cable thinks he can save the world by killing the Avengers, and save his daughter Hope. a couple nice bits ... he puts Cap in a Magneto designed restraining chair that turns his motor skills to that of an infant ... this chair appeared a long long time ago in the Uncanny X-Men. Also, Cable is called Askani's son ... which i thought was nice and hasn't been used, maybe since the 90s. Anyway ... Cable shoots Captain America in the head. or something, the screen goes black so we're not sure. He's going after Iron Man in issue #2. I'm no fan of either Cap or Tony but .... MEH!!!!! oh and Cable is drawn really sketchy and large ... liefeld-esque.
Well, I wanted to give it a shot, but now I won't be getting number 2, and I'm not sure if I'll be following the Avengers vs. the X-Men at all.
Maybe I will just dig out these and read them:
Mark Silvestri was ON FIRE back then.
From: Ninja Land | Registered: Nov 2004
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Special anniversary issue - cover dated October 1986 - Price $1.50
60 pages of story - two page text introduction by Stephen King, and four pin ups.
Written by Doug Moench
I remember being furious after this issue because I didn't understand that this was mostly a capping off of the Pre-Crisis Batman and all the stories afterwards (Year One was a few issues away), were basically new continuity. The plot of the story has R'as free all the villains, and a handful of them sticking around to knock off Batman. By the end of the story they make a point of noting that other than the villains Batman re-captures here (Joker, Penguin, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter, etc), all the rest are out there and need to be brought in again.
So who are the villains in the next few issues of Batman and Detective? The Joker, Mad hatter, Penguin and the Scarecrow. 12 year-old me almost had an aneurysm as this blatant continuity face-slap.
From: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
I tend to think of most DC comics that were printed soon after Crisis as occurring in a "ripple reality" - not quite the pre-Crisis universe but not quite the post Crisis universe. Kind of an Earth in transition. If I recall correctly, the plan wasn't to create a new origin and continuity for Batman until after the success of "Dark Knight." Miller was then allowed to re-imagine Batman in Year One. It could be that Moench wasn't fully aware of this plan when he was plotting #400.
-------------------- No regrets, Coyote.
From: Missouri | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying the 2 newest titles from Bongo Comics: Spongebob Comics-full of indy cred. on a monthly basis, and Sergio Aragones' Funnies-the man's a genius.
From: elizabeth,nj | Registered: Jul 2003
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It's a good mix of satisfying junk food action, more complex twists (some you see coming and some you don't), meta conversation on what if superheroes actually existed, dripping with personality character dialogue, and way out there sci fi.
one story arc i personally got a kick out of was the outlaw of super powers, and then of course ... the villains are criminals ... and continue to use their powers, ignoring the law .. duh .. and all the heroes retire like good law abiding citizens ...
leaving our non powered detectives with their hands full ...
bwahahaha .. that is the kind of sh@* that would happen in real life!
From: Ninja Land | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
Everlast by Chad Michael Murray, art by Robbi Rodriguez, Andrew Huerta, J.K. Woodward and Trevor Hairsine. Published by Archaia
I've enjoyed many of the Archaia publications that deal with ancient mythical themes and Everlast is no exception.
There's a long history of stories about an Earthly paradise hidden within the hollow core of the planet. The book opens with a two page overview of this idea.
Derek Everlast has a job. He is one of a team selected - pre-ordained at birth, really - to find the 144,000 people who will be saved at the End of Days and transport them to Haven, the hollow-core paradise. (This isn't a Christian or religious story, it just takes that apocalyptic theme as a basis.)
Of particular importance are 12 figures who are necessary for the countdown to the end times to begin. Everlast has found the last of the 12, and must get her to Haven.
There's a problem, of course. Everlast's original mentor has turned against them, claiming that they are serving evil forces and Haven must be stopped. Who's right? Since the author himself describes this guy as the villain, you assume he is - but doubt lingers.
There are four different artists on the book, with very distinctive styles, each one chosen for a particular character's point of view. I thought this was very successful in contributing to the story's mood.
The book ends with the possibility of a sequel, which I suppose will depend on how this one sells. However, the story stands alone; you don't have a sense of something missing - although a sequel would be welcome, given the quality of the tale and the artwork.
posted
Glory #23 by Joe Keatinge and Ross Campbell.
I have only bought one issue of Glory, a Christmas special which had a story about her by Liefeld, and a Youngbloods story Todd Nauck did the artwork on. At least, I think it was the Youngbloods. I've been trying to get issues of the Avatar run, but I haven't seen all the covers.
This reworking of Glory...
Ross Campbell doesn't draw a waif thin, back caving in on itself porn star knock-off of Wonder Woman. Glory is beautiful, but it's not in the cleavage. She doesn't show off cleavage. This woman is a body builder. The first page of her in action has her simultaneously ripping a Nazi's arm off as she's throwing a tank. She has a discussion with Supreme, who has also received a redesign which we don't fully see. He's talking about how there are other super heroes popping up, but, he doesn't trust them or Glory. Because in his words she's second only to him in terms of power, reckless, lacking respect in higher authority, and that, her behavior is "unacceptable".
This is her response.
Glory: Unacceptable? By whose standards? Yours?
She then talks about her upbringing, a union between two warring nations which united her mother's people and her father's people, and how since she was born they trained her either to rule those two races or destroy one if they broke the peace. And how, despite that, she left and took her training to the human world because she saw their potential to be great.
Glory: Let's talk about all this and really think if I give a damn about what you command. You want to determine my role? I'll tell you my role. I'm here to stay and make this world a better one. Despite everything. Especially you.
Supreme: ...
Glory: Right. That's what I thought. In a way, I appreciate it. You care about the greater good. Despite somehow having narcissistic motives. If anything, you amused me. Finding something to laugh about is rare during wartime. For that I thank you, but I've got work to do. You should do the same. Be good.
Supreme: Hm.
I admit it, I love this woman.
This whole issue brings the reader up to speed on Glory and her life, through the eyes of Riley Barnes, a young woman who has been dreaming about Glory all her life and has started to search for her. Her journey leads her to a small French town, where she meets American Gloria West. For anyone who'll remember, Gloria West was Glory's alter-ego in Alan Moore's run. Joe Keatinge blends together Glory's original run with a touch of revamp and reboot, connecting it with Alan Moore's short lived run and adding in a satire of Wonder Woman's comic book history. Joe has taken Gloria and transformed her from Glory's secret identity to being a human woman who shared her consciousness with Glory. Glory and Gloria had fused because Glory wanted to truly know what it was like to be a human being. Glory existed in Gloria's subconscious without stealing her life from her, and Gloria came to embrace the fusion and the excitement of Glory's life. Then one day, she stopped becoming Glory. This issue shows what happened to Glory after all of these years, and I won't reveal what.
The highlight is Ross Campbell's artwork. His redesign of Glory, her people, and has ability at body types and giving people distinctive features is amazing. I was expecting something along his fascination with Big Beautiful Woman, ala "Water Baby" and "The Abandoned". I was wrong.
Glory was conceived as an anti-hero Wonder Woman. With one issue they've taken her beyond that. There is no cheesecake in this book. There is violence, but it's not quite over the top 90s violence. Glory does not snarl or rant about how much of a bad ass she is, but she is confident and strong with hope for humanity, beautiful, and refuses to bow before the so-called authority of people like Supreme without threatening to disembowel him.
I want more.
-------------------- I want to be hated by lies - Bring Back Lian Harper
posted
So in typical Cobie fashion, I made a mistake I make about once a year. I found a series that I really thought was great but never ordered it; so by the time I recalled that it was out, I started hunting down back issues or the first trade. In the meantime, I continued to collect the current issues, not reading them, until I could get the first ones. So by the time I started reading Blue Estate by Image, I had already purchased the first (8) issues. And honestly, while it was okay, it’s not a series I think I want to continue.
I should have been tipped off when Lardy didn’t like it; usually we’re on the same page though there are times when one of us really likes something the other doesn’t. Here, I went in expecting a noir / crime / thriller type comic based on the covers of the issues and the praise I’d read online about it being very much in the pulp tradition. That might be true but not in the sense I wanted; instead this is actually a much more humor-focused comic book than anything, and that threw me for a loop. It focuses on several different characters, all with very serious motivations and circumstances, but the delivery is done in a very humorous style. And actually I found that dichotomy to not really work all that well; there is a definite disconnect between the tone and characters / subject matter. The series Chew is able to pull that off really well month in and month out, but here, it just couldn’t get over that hump from slightly amusing into something really incredible (like the aforementioned Chew).
On top of that, the art is pretty inconsistent and really not suited towards me. It’s cartoony at time and anime-ish at times, but stuck between switching from one to the next. That inconsistency continually took me out of the story.
After reading (8) issues (ugh, Lady Cobalt prob shouldn’t know how much that cost), I felt I didn’t really have enough interest to go on. This isn’t a bad series, per se, but its just not really for me.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
SK – great review on Glory! I actually may pick it up now and give it a shot, especially since I was so impressed by Prophet.
FC – glad to hear that you liked Everlast. It’s a series I’d heard about and I’m interested in. I’ve seen interviews with Chad Michael Murray, who is an actor among the younger set, and he actually comes off as the real deal to me. Someone who loves literature in all its various forms and would prefer to be a writer over an actor.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Too pressed for time to really review, but figured I'd offer:
Grabbed Glory based on Sarky's rec (which is highest compliment I can offer in this forum). I had high expectations and I can say they were exceeded!. Everything Sarky says is dead on and I'd also add that it's a pretty nicely layered storytelling and excellent character work. The two characters intro-ed are terrific, and I'm looking forward to seeing them interact with Glory.
I also picked up Superbia by Boom! It was actually really good--I liked it a lot! Felt very fresh and energetic, taking a 'kinda' popular concept and injecting quite a bit of story and character into it. Best thing from Boom I've ever read.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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