My life has been a mess ever since Bruce Wayne died (or did he?). Every now and then I read an argument online, hear one among friends, or see one on Big Bang Theory about who the next Batman should be. Some say Dick Grayson because he is the most mature and has had the most development under Bruce’s wing. Others say Tim Drake because he has grown out of the Robin suit and the whole point of Nightwing was to get away from Batman’s shadow. The comic shop owner in Big Bang Theory (idiot) say Jason Todd because he is undergoing a reformation, and the other two are two wrapped up in their own thing. The list goes on.

I say this: Has the world gone mad? There is no Batman without Bruce Wayne! Jean Paul Valley is dead, Dick Grayson belongs to the Nightwing persona, Tim Drake is booked to be Red Robin, the Bat-ladies aren’t men and therefore can’t be BatMAN, the Knight is way too British, Jason Todd is a known murderer, Damien is a child, and I need to finish my Bachelor’s degree. Even if any of those people could overcome their obstacles and become the Dark Knight, it just wouldn’t be right. There is no way I could enjoy Batman comics if anyone but Bruce Wayne wore the cowl.

That being said, I enjoyed Battle for the Cowl 1. Someone out there is dressed up as the Bat, but no this isn’t a Bat comic about Batman. It’s a Bat comic about the absence of Batman; not just the absence of his tactical expertise and his abilities, but also the effects of the absence of his presence in Gotham. BftC 1 brings back a modern villain that I haven’t seen in awhile, and I am pretty excited about his return, which is making a Hush-sized villain-team-up. No, it isn’t Hush. Besides that looming catastrophe, there is plenty more involving Damien, Nightwing, Robin, Catwoman, and a few select others. Regardless of my position on the necessity of this storyline, I have to admit that the book itself is pretty cool.

Let’s not forget the art. Sandu Florea is a great artist, and this book is certainly no exception! From his work here, you can tell that he is probably influenced by the work of the great Jim Lee. That, or Jim Lee is influenced by Sandu Florea. I don’t know who takes after who, but enough chicken-or-the-egg talk. Either way, the art is fantastic, and that includes the covers which were done by Tony Daniel (artist with Morisson for Batman R.I.P.).

If Battle for the Cowl continues as it began, we are going to get one hell of a mini-series here. Sure we may hate the fact that these vulture-ized heroes are all fighting over the late Bruce Wayne’s scraps, but this issue sets up some stuff that would be hard for any fan of Batman not to get sucked into. Pick it up!

(3.5/5)

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In my lifetime I have known Kevin Smith first as Silent Bob, then as Kevin Smith the moviemaker, then as Kevin Smith the public speaker, and now as Kevin Smith the comic book writer. Smith has been writing comic books for quite awhile now, but this is regrettably the first of his that I have read. I must say, I look forward to reading more of his work.

First of all, I need to point out that this review for Cacophony is neither for a single comic nor for any hardcover or paperback yet to come. Because this mini-series has already ended, I thought it would be best to review issues 1, 2, and 3 as a whole rather than individually.

Art in the series (by Walter Flanigan), frankly wasn’t exactly Alex Ross caliber. But seriously, I get kind of sick of Alex Ross. Flannigan’s artwork here is the kind you can’t get sick of; its clean, fun, and true to the characters. When I first saw the covers, I thought this was going to be something a bit grittier. Upon seeing the first few pages of artwork, I was a bit scared because I have seen artists like this who leave out details (like settling with solid color backgrounds instead of taking the time to draw a cityscape). Flannigan doesn’t disappoint at all. He brings you consistent and fresh looking artwork frame after frame, page after page, issue after issue. Kudos!

I can’t really pinpoint what it is about Kevin Smith’s writing here that makes it some of the more fun than most anything I have read in- well, forever. The opening narration in the first issue was smooth-sounding, funny, and ironic. I was so captivated that when I was a couple of pages deep, I had to go back and look at the artwork I had been ignoring. I guess you can say that Kevin Smith’s writing is a piece of art in and of itself.

The plot here is has a few different threads. Firstly, we have a new drug called “chuckles” that was synthesized from Joker’s very own poison, and is quickly becoming Gotham’s biggest problem. Secondly, Joker isn’t too happy about his poison being misused and has a bone to pick with Maxie Zeus, the supposedly reformed mob boss who is the drug’s suspected distributer. Lastly (and definitely not the least of our worries), we have a strange new villain who speaks to us only in sound effects, and just may have a penchant for knocking off masked vigilantes. Everything about the story kept me entertained and making guesses (mostly wrong or unconfirmed) throughout all three issues.

Cacophony: (noun) harsh discordance of sound; dissonance. Yes, I had to look it up. Suck it! On the surface, the title is probably referring to our new audiophile of a villain. But when I think of “harsh discordance of sound”, I’m thinking about a busy city street, a drugged out rave party, or the Joker’s laugh. I am positive that this series is much more than meets the eye. Despite all of the silly fun and exciting action, there is some real substance here. It’s obvious from much of the content included in the final issue (including a deep conversation with the medicated Joker and some final revelations about the namesake villain) that Smith is making some serious commentaries on Batman, his world, and the readers who love it all.

Cacophony is a super cool read, and I recommend it to anyone who likes Batman in any degree. The hardcover will be released on September 22 of this year, so I the mean time I think it’s definitely worth going to a comic book shop for and shelling out the measly twelve bucks that the whole series will set you back.

(4.5/5)

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When it comes to the Flash, I am greener than Hal Jordan. The extent of my Flash reading includes one trade paperback featuring Wally West and a few team-up stories in which the Scarlet Speedster was far from the spotlight. I have read a lot of trash-talking about this issue, mostly dealing with the mishandled history of Barry Allen and Flash mythos. I am in no way knowledgeable on those topics, but I have read my fair share of comic books over the last few years. With that in mind, understand that I am reviewing Flash Rebirth 1 here as a comic book, and not as much as a Flash story.

For starters the art by Ethan Van Sciver looks epic and amazing. So much attention is put into lighting and detail, while Alex Sinclair’s coloring work is so vivid that it probably depleted DC’s ink supply. Artwork of this magnitude definitely fits into the event-comic shoes that DC has slipped onto this project.

I remember back to a little bit less than a year ago, when I couldn’t look through a comic book shop without seeing the Final Crisis headline, “Where were you when Barry Allen returned?” To all you die hard speedsters out there, don’t shun me for having thought, “Wait, where did Barry Allen ever go?” To those of you who don’t know, I have since learned that Barry Allen was sucked into the speed force and never heard from again, until Final Crises. What’s the speed force? In a nutshell, the speed force is a supernatural realm/dimension/something that most of the “Speedsters” draw their power from.

I picked up most of this information during FC, especially my favorite part of that event, Rogues Revenge. Still, this comic book isn’t really the most accessible thing for the casual Flash reader to just pick up. There were a few characters and references that I didn’t recognize, but maybe you will. If you do, you will have to tell me just what Barry Allen is in for during the rest of his Rebirth. I did recognize a frame filled with those Rogues I mentioned earlier, but from the content, I am not so sure they will have much involvement. We’ll see.

The issue opens with a POV of a mysterious crime that draws the reader in pretty well. After that, we see a few welcome back party set-ups all over the country. Who else could have multiple parties in one day held on opposite sides of the U.S.? Okay, maybe Superman… Right, and Wally West… And Donald Trump, okay okay. It’s still a cool idea.

From there we see a regretful Barry Allen make his way through the Flash Museum, just to “catch up”. He isn’t sure if he is really supposed to be back or what he is supposed to be doing, but buddy Hal Jordan is trying to convince him to just relax and enjoy being home.

Rebirth 1 is a decent reintroduction into the Barry Allen character, and it leaves a good amount of loose ends for its sequels to tie up. Overall, I would recommend it to someone who cares about the Flash world, but not so much to a casual comic reader. The collector however may be a bit more interested. Last I checked, the first print of this cover (rated at 9.8) was already going for $60. I have half a mind to seal mine up, but I’m not even sure how to get that done. Yeesh!

(3/5)

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At the 2008 San Diego Comic Convention I attended a Batman Panel featuring Grant Morrison, Dustin Nguyen, Paul Dini, and Jerry Robinson. Most of the material involved Batman of course, but one interesting question to the panel was, “What do you think is the best way to depict the Joker?” If my memory serves me correctly, the general consensus was that Joker is a bully. Since then, I have read comics with the Joker looking for those bully aspects and it became apparent that most DC writers thought so. Though it was a revelation for me at the time, it doesn’t surprise me to see him depicted that way anymore. Brian Azzarello takes the character one step further in his graphic novel “Joker”, and then he takes two steps more.

“ Joker” begins with the laughing maniac himself being released from Arkham. That’s right, he didn’t escape, but he was released. Nobody knows how, and he seems pretty set on keeping it that way. Since he had been locked away, the rest of Gotham’s underworld had picked away at all he controlled (since when did the Joker dabble in mob collections? But that is neither here nor there.). Obviously, no god-fearing criminal is about to go pick up the most dangerous man in Gotham when they know they’ve done him wrong, but one low-level degenerate named Johnny Frost takes the job. From there on out, Frost is the narrator, and his narration may just be the best noir writing I have seen.

The plot of “Joker” is pretty straight forward. We are following Joker and his new-found henchman on their rampaging joyride through Gotham as he tries to take it all back. Along the way we meet more realistic versions of the well-known Batman villains: a more human-like Killer Croc, a sniveling Penguin who can make dirty money turn into more dirty money, a Riddler that looks like Bono on heroin, stripper Harley Quinn, and Two-Face looking and acting the way we are all pretty much used to. Joker himself looks a bit more like the Heath Ledger Joker we have all been drooling over.

Lee Bermejo has worked with Brian Azzarello as an artist before with “Lex Luthor: Man of Steel” (haven’t read it just yet), and they work fantastically as a team. When Joker’s feeling especially crazy, he is looking especially crazy, and it frankly makes me go a bit bonkers. One of my favorite traits in a comic artist is the ability to make something look like a photograph and a painting/sketch at the same time. Jim Lee is a good example of such an artist, but Bermejo does it just as well in his own style. The cover is a good example; it is obviously a drawing, but it looks absolutely real and it disgusts me. So it should.

Let’s face it, the Joker character’s wide appeal is confined to the page or the screen. If I had the knowledge that this guy actually existed, I would have to change my shorts about twenty times a day. In that respect, Azzarello is honest with the character. He doesn’t sugar-coat him or make it seem as if he is a fun guy to be around. The prevailing metaphor for the Joker used throughout the novel is a disease; a disease that transfers to every desperate or amoral soul in Gotham.

As a comic book and science fiction fan, I am used to suspending belief, but every now and then it’s nice to have some of those questions answered that I would never frustrate myself by asking before. Here, we have the question answered of why henchmen end up with the Joker. Everything about him promises that his proximity will bring around either a gruesome death at his hands or an equally gruesome butt-kicking by Batman. Regardless, Johnny Frost takes up the henchman position with pride. Prepare to learn the reason behind Johnny’s madness and that of all the other poor lackey souls.

Overall, this is a solid book that really gives some dimension to the Joker. Sure there are scenes that disappoint me a bit- Joker doesn’t cry! But most of the scenes are genuinely mind-blowing, and the last fifteen pages or so are both exhilarating and thought-provoking. This is a must-read for any fan of the Batman universe or of villains in general. Goths who dressed up as Heath Ledger last July and then as vampires for Twilight six months later need not bother. The 2008 hardcover edition offer nothing in terms of extras, but believe me when I say you have everything you need here and more.

(4.5/5)

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Ever since this recent series of Secret Six started, I have been in love with it! It’s like the Pulp Fiction of comic books! It’s funny, gruesome, stylish, vulgar, clever, and offensive all at once. In its first seven issues SS has had a get-out-of-hell-free card, conjoined twin hitmen/lackeys, a cross-dressing cannibal, Batman versus Catman, love between heroes and villains, a roided out sweetheart (yah that’s the same dude that broke Batman’s back, if you can believe it), backstabbing criminals (wait, that isn’t surprising), and lesbian lapdances. This is comixploitation at its finest!

And what does this new issue bring to the equation? Plenty! In her supermarket trip with her surprisingly self-torturous servant, Scandal runs into that stripper that reminded her of her former lover Knockout and gets the digits. Meanwhile Floyd Lawton AKA Deadshot is trapped in a date with the much older SS member Jeanette. Wait a minute! This is starting to sound a heck of a lot like a romantic comedy isn’t it? UGH! Well, take my word for it, it usually is not.

That isn’t to say that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy this issue, because I totally did. Double Date is just a break from the hectic shenanigans of the last 7-issue story arc. Not to worry, the violence is still there. You rowdy comic fans will still get your no-BS, eye-gouging, face in the toilet fight scenes when those Nazis from the first issue show up.

Another change from the first seven issues is the artist. Gail Simone is still writing and doing a bang-up job of it, but Carlos Rodriguez has taken over for Nicola Scott in the art department. I really loved some of Scott’s work, especially the title page of Secret Six 7 which I still look at in awe every chance I get. Rodriguez is no lightweight. His artwork perfectly displays the silliness found in Simone’s writing. I love all of the ridiculous faces you can see random people making in passing or in the background. Scott’s work can still be found on the cover, but I have to say that I miss the covers by Cliff Chiang (emphasis on issues 2 and 4). They seemed to fit the general feel of the stories a bit more.

Overall, a really fun read! This might not be the best issue to start with if you are just getting into Secret Six, but either way there is no chance of not smiling for the duration of the experience.

(3.5/5)

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