Written by Kelley Puckett. Pencils by Matt Haley. Inks by Karl Kesel.
Colours: Kevin Somers. Letters: Willie Schubert. Editor: Scott Peterson.
Batman: Batgirl 1997 (SC GN) 48 pages
Written by Kelley Puckett. Pencils by Matt Haley. Inks by Karl Kesel.
Colours: Kevin Somers. Letters: Willie Schubert. Editor: Scott Peterson.
Rating: * * * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
With the release of various of the Batman motion pictures, DC published one shot/graphic novels focusing on or otherwise utilizing key characters that appeared in that year's movie. Usually that meant the villains, either being a story focusing on the villain (ie: Mr. Freeze) or still focusing on Batman, but in conflict with the villain (Poison Ivy), or somewhere inbetween (like Catwoman Defiant). But since Batman Forever also featured Batgirl...it led to this one shot featuring everyone's favourite flame haired bat suited heroine. And though these were specials released to cash in on the movies...they featured the comic book versions of the characters, not the movie interpretations (so Batgirl here is Barbara Gordon...not Alfred's niece as she was in the movie).
And this was the longest single issue Batgirl story published to that date (the previous longest -- 1985's Batgirl Special -- was 38 pages). And possibly one of the longest Batgirl stories -- page count wise -- even including multi-part stories serialized in the back pages of Detective Comics and elsewhere. Of course, I say "page count" wise because, when you factor in the big panels and the sometimes brevity of verbiage, one could debate whether it's the longest in terms of actual content.
The other significant thing is that this is a "retro" tale, published more than a decade after Barbara had been crippled, and stopped being Batgirl (having adopted the persona of the wheelchair-bound cyber hacker, Oracle).
And the result...is pretty good.
It's set during the early days of Barbara's Batgirl career, featuring her first encounter with the Joker -- and as such is meant to be a slightly gritty tale, being a kind of "loss of innocence" parable as the easy going Batgirl must confront, for the first time, true, random evil in the form of the psychotic Clown Prince of Crime. It's not exactly a densely plotted epic of twists and turns -- writers tending to use the Joker as an excuse not to have to come up with much in the way of surprises (it's not like his scheme will have a hidden agenda or that the villain will turn out to be someone we didn't suspect). And the telling itself, with big, bold panels -- sometimes just three to a page -- hardly lends itself to layered plotting.
But on that level, it's enjoyable and briskly paced. One could argue, should Batgirl really be re-positioned as a female Batman? -- maybe her appeal should be that while Batman tackles killers like the Joker, she can battle bank robbers. But despite the desire to move her into the dark n' grittier milieu of Batman stories, writer Kelley Puckett does a good job of maintaining Barbara's distinctive personality -- so even though she's battling Batman's foe, she's not written as just a Batman substitute. A sequence where she is trying to escape from the Joker's hideout is effective precisely because Batgirl is more human and vulnerable, creating suspense as she must act with stealth as much as pugilism.
And the story is also nicely self-contained, resisting the urge to try work in too much continuity baggage (even though it's a retro story, there's no framing sequence tying it into then on going events). You can read it for itself.
Another plus is the art. Matt Haley has a clean, uncluttered, realist style -- with some nice use of shadows and mood. Although it is marred a little by a slight cartooniness that I can't fully put my finger on, moreso here than other pieces I've seen by him (perhaps a result of Karl Kesel's solid, un-nuanced inking?) Here it reminds me more than a little of Terry Dodson's style -- with a similar mix of pluses and minuses, and where the pluses more than carry the equation. Haley also draws a pretty Barbara. In fact, what's funny is that there are panels that seem to lean in a deliberate cheesecake direction (not something necessarily associated with Batgirl traditionally). Yet one wonders if this was Haley's inclination...or whether he was acting on instructions from above. Because although there are some shots of Batgirl in her sleek, form fitting Batgirl suit, emphasizing her physique (her cape conveniently flung aside) there are other panels in which Barbara's posterior is featured prominently in a panel...while wearing loose fitting pants that are hardly sexploitive! As though Haley was ordered to toss in some gratuitous shots of her backside...but deliberately did them in a way to mute the sexiness. (And I've probably wasted more time on this topic than it warrants, because this is a far cry from some exploitive "Good Girl Art" portfolio and female readers are unlikely to find much that is too distractingly salacious).
I started out mentioning that some of these Batman movie related one shots are legitimately "Batman" stories...while others feature Batman rather peripherally. Here Batman appears in barely more than a cameo. Yet because it focuses on Batgirl -- a heroine, and veteran of her own (long ago) solo adventures -- you don't feel cheated despite his name on the cover or like you miss him the way you might if the story focused on a villain.
Despite its length, Batman: Batgirl isn't vieing for a nomination as the definitive Batgirl epic. But it nicely satisfies as a stand alone thriller that harkens back to the days of Barbara/Batgirl's solo adventures, but presented in a later day prestige format of heavy paper, crisp colour, and solid writing and attractive art, with a decent sense of Barbara as a person, not just costume. And the very simplicity of the story, the brevity of the telling, allowing it to clip along and not overstay its welcome.
An enjoyable adventure.
Original cover price: $4.95 USA.
Batman: Black and White 1998 (SC TPB) 240 pages
Writers/Artists:
various
Reprinting: the four issue prestige format mini-series (1996) - plus covers
Additional notes: in black & white. Published, not quite at tabloid dimensions, but larger than the average TPB. Featuring an introduction by co-editor Mark Chiarello; layout examples; pin-ups; creator bios; cover reproductions.
Rating: * * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1 (and some stories more)
Various writers and artists deliver 20 eight page black & white stories of the Dark Knight. Black and White (the first volume -- there was a second one) delivers stories featuring various artistic intrepretations of Batman, ranging from mainstream fan faves like Brian Bolland to avant garde artists like Denmark's Teddy Kristiansen. The end result is a collection of interesting stories that are, for the most part, good. None are great, but as something to have on your shelf, to be delved into from time to time when you've got five or ten minutes to kill -- not enough time to tackle a full length comic -- then these hit the spot.
There's a sense the emphasis here was on the artists more than the writers -- the majority of the stories are by writer/artists, even a couple who aren't usually known as writers particularly. And when placing bios of the few writer-artist teams, the artist's bio is given prominence. Only five writer-only types were included, three of whom already had a long association with Batman (Denny O'Neil, Chuck Dixon and Archie Goodwin). The emphasis on art could explain why most of the stories aren't much more than O.K. And for all that Batman has long been cited as comicdoms most complex character, many of these stories aren't really about Batman-the-man so much as Batman-the-icon or Batman-the-myth. In some stories the Caped Crusader only appears as an enigmatic figure in a few panels!
The art varies wildly, from realist artists like Bolland, Howard Chaykin, Kevin Nowlan and the beautifully delicate line work of Gary Gianni to acquired taste, eclectic types like Kristiansen, Bill Sienkiewicz, Kent Williams and Matt Wagner. Though interesting, there's an ugliness to those affecting an underground style that can be a tad unrelenting if read together in one sitting. Strangely, despite the Black and White angle, much of the artwork doesn't actually seem to benefit from the presentation, either by exploiting black on white contrasts, or delicate, nuanced shading. Instead, much of it just seems like work that was intended for the colourist...but never made it that far.
Despite the claim that they recruited comicdoms best and brightest, reiterated in somewhat cloyingly sycophantic biographical paragraphs, many of the superstar names that are proudly proclaimed on the back cover (Frank Miller, Alex Ross, Neal Adams) only contributed a pin-up or a cover, implying that when it came to the stories themselves, the editors often only managed to recruit the best and brightest of those who had nothing better to do.
It's also kind of funny how, whenever people criticize superhero comics, it's usually to deplore the emphasis on violence, fisticuffs and mayhem, yet when artiste types, as many here are considered, take their shots at the genre...we get a surprisingly monotonous stream of inner city violence of street gangs, muggings, and serial killers. No "Batman tries to reunite a homeless woman with her estranged family" stories, no "Batman is in a race against time to locate a diabetic Alzheimers patient who's wandered off without his insulin", no "Alfred attempts to show Bruce the true spirit of Christmas" sort of things. And few stories stray outside the confines of established Batman "reality".
An exception is Neil Gaiman-Simon Bisely's amusingly surreal "A Black and White World" and the beautifully drawn "Heroes" by Goodwin-Gianni, which places Batman in the 1930s. Other memorable stories include Chaykin's wry "Petty Crimes" and a few others. In one of the editorial comments, Chiarello refers to a scene in a story by Klaus Janson that was changed from the original draft, a change that Chiarello still feels was not the right one. Whatever my two-cents are worth, it was the right change. The ending as originally envisioned would've been just plain wrong. You'll have to read the book to understand to what I'm refering.
This warrants a nominal Mature Readers warning.
Cover price: $31.00 CDN./ $19.95 USA.
Batman: Blind Justice 1991 (SC TPB) 160 pgs.
Written
by Sam Hamm. Pencils by Denys Cowan. Inks by Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin.
Colours: Adrienne Roy. Letters: Todd Klein. Editors:
Dan Raspler, Denny O'Neil.
Reprinting: Detective Comics #598-600 (1989)
Rating: * * * * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 3
I should apologize to writer Sam Hamm.
Hamm co-wrote the 1989 Batman movie which I regard as, well, pretty awful -- in fact, all of the big budget Batman movies have been pretty excruciating. As such, learning DC had landed Hamm to write a genuine comic book story, I figured I'd give it a pass. I mean: puh-lease! Compounding my ambivalence toward this saga was my mixed feelings towards artist Denys Cowan's work. But my curiosity got the better of me, particularly as I started hearing how, like just about every screenwriter before him, Hamm's screenplay had been somewhat mangled before it hit the screen.
And so, I picked up the three issues (amounting to about 150 pages as the first and third issue were "80 page giants" in which, in addition to filler pieces -- art and short essays -- commemorating Batman's 60th anniversary, the story itself was some 60 pages each issue) that comprise Sam Hamm's Blind Justice in a back issues bin about four or five years ago. And I've read it a few times since -- and each time (with only a few minor quibbles here and there) I emerge, if anything, even more impressed with it than I was before. Quite frankly, I consider it one of the best Batman sagas ever written and may well be the best mainstream Batman saga ever.
What do I mean by mainstream? Well, I'm discounting stories like Frank Miller's Batman: Year One and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (not to be confused with the dreadful Dark Knight Strikes Again) as both, though brilliant, were a little atypical (one chronicling Batman's beginning, the other his end). And precisely what made them so effective, also made them a bit unsustainable. Miller's slightly unhinged version of Batman worked well in finite, stand alone stories, but probably couldn't have carried an on going series. Whereas Sam Hamm's Batman is very much a mainstream Batman -- dark, tormented, yes, but also rational and more easy to empathize with. And this is very much the comic book Batman, not the armour wearing, blow-up-the-bad-guys one from the movies.
Where to begin trying to explain why this is such an impressive effort?
How about the way Hamm deftly mixes nice, familiar super hero adventure, as Batman prowls the night, getting into battles with the Bonecrusher, with a sophisticated detective story where Hamm's not afraid to have scenes of people just talking, or of generating suspense and tension through sinister machinations as much as fight scenes? How about the clever plotting that means the story often zigs when you expected it to zag, going farther and farther afield before twisting about upon itself, so your constantly curious about how the seeming disconnected elements relate, yet in a way that rarely seems contrived or slapdash? How about the grown up use of "guest star" characters, such as the woman searching for her brother, and the brother himself, when so many comics are satisfied with just wrapping the story around the same old familiar hero, recurring villain and regular supporting characters? How about the artful way we are treated to clever analysis of Batman's character and motivations...without it seeming as though Hamm is so in love with his psychobabble, he's forgotten to tell a story?
Re-reading it, I appreciate Hamm's clever turns of phrase, his thoughtful use of text captions. For a screenwriter, used to working only with dialogue, Hamm takes to the "multi-media" nature of comics quite well. There's a subtly written passage near the beginning, as Hamm relates how Batman can ignore pain, ignore discomfort, and ignore his nightmares, that takes a moment to sink in (ignoring pain, in his line of work, is good, but ignoring the neuroses at the root of recurring nightmares is potentially dangerous).
Everytime I read this, I'm reminded of just how good it is, how Hamm elevates the story with elements borrowed more from mainstream thrillers and detective stories, without ignoring, or belittling, the inherent colourful, comicbooky nature of the character and the medium. There are exciting action scenes, but also a leisurely restraint to other scenes. And he creates a saga that comes around upon itself, and intelligently threads themes of loss and family throughout (the woman searching for her brother is, like Bruce, an orphan).
And then there's the art by Denys Cowan, inked by Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin. I've generally had mixed feelings about Cowan's art, but here, combined with the inkers, it truly impresses. Cowan has a nice, eclectic eye for telling a story, an edgy use of close ups, and appropriate angles, but his style often looks rushed and hasty, with deliberately scratchy pencil lines. But Giordano and McLaughlin smooth that out, adding definition to his figures and faces, letting the best of Cowan's style shine through, while reining in the excesses. The result is art that is moody and compelling, and brings the story to life with a sophistication that matches the script.
What just leaves me stunned...is how much this saga seems to have been ignored by fans and pros alike (even though some of the plot would seem to have been cannibalized for the later Knightfall Saga). I mean, sure, it has been collected in a TPB, and generally when people mention it, it's favourably. But they don't seem to mention it very often. I find it amazing that in a medium desperate to find smart, sophisticated works, and where Alan Moore, Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, and others are held up as the "It" writers, Hamm's saga is generally ignored. Of course, part of that may be that industry folk figure there's little point in celebrating a story written by a man who isn't a comics writer by nature. What's the point of celebrating it, when Hamm presumably has little intention of writing anything more in the field (and maybe Hamm himself could never rise to this level again)?
Occasionally I wonder if I've exaggerated its greatness. Maybe it's not that cleverly plotted, maybe the characters aren't that carefully handled. But then I read it again...and, once more, I'm dully impressed. It's a little bit like reading J.M. DeMatteis' Going Sane and wondering how that can be ignored, while Alan Moore's The Killing Joke is held up as one of the greatest comics ever written?
I just don't get it.
I often find myself reading comics, looking for that "perfect" story, or story arc; the comic that has it all -- character exploration, clever plot, cool scenes -- and can almost be viewed as "the" definitive story of a certain character. The story that is "the" Superman story, or Spider-Man, or whomever. The story where, if I had to sell off my collection, and could only keep one story for each character, that would be the one -- the true "graphic novel". I haven't found my saga that so perfectly epitomizes Superman, or Spider-Man, or whomever. But I sometimes think that, when it comes to Batman, I have in Blind Justice. In many respects, it is "the" Batman saga.
Not that I want to get rid of my collection. But if I ever did...
The story has Batman investigating when a new, murderous super villain arrives in town -- the Bonecrusher; a mysterious foe who seeming can die, then come back the next day. Meanwhile, in his alter ego of Bruce Wayne, he becomes involved in a woman's search for her brother, a Wayne Enterprises employee who has vanished. Both trails ultimately lead to a sinister conspiracy involving mind control within Wayne Enterprises itself -- and, no, the Joker, or Two-Face isn't behind it all. Hamm actually treats us to original foes.
This is a review of the story originally serialized in Detective Comics.
Original cover price: $11.59 CDN./$7.50 USA
Re-issue price: $__ CDN./ $19.99 US.
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