Batman - U - V
Batman: Venom 1992 (SC TPB) 132 pages
Written
by Dennis O'Neil. Layouts by Trevor Von Eeden. Pencils by Russell Braun. Finishes by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.
Colours: Steve Oliff. Letters: Willie Schubert. Editors: Kevin Dooley & Andy Helfer.
Reprinting: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #15-20 (1992)
Rating: * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 2
Distraught by his failure to save a little girl's life, Batman begins using super-steroids designed by her scientist father -- which prove addictive and make Batman overly aggressive and unstable. After shaking off the effects, Batman pursues the scientist -- and his partner, a rogue general -- who are using the drugs as part of an unsanctioned experiment to create super soldiers.
The art for Venom is an unusual tag team, with two of the greats -- Trevor Von Eeden and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez providing layouts and finishes, respectively, and the (to my mind) lesser known Braun the pencils. The result is striking, realist art, though Von Eeden's layouts are maybe not as eclectic as you might expect from him. It's the sort of art that in service of a great, down-to-earth tale would really enhance it. This is a "human" Batman -- who looks like a guy in a suit, more than a mysterious creature of the night.
Unfortunately, the story doesn't live up to the art.
Denny O'Neil is, to my mind, a problematic figure in comics. He's definitely something of a giant, generally respected -- I believe -- both by peers and fans. And I'll admit, I've read some memorable stuff by him (mainly Green Lantern comics)...but my visceral reaction to seeing his by-line is a certain unenthusiasm. Too often his plots tend to be simplistic, his dialogue unmemorable, and his characterization one-dimensional. And Venom falls squarely into that category.
The premise has potential: Batman developing and then overcoming an addiction. In fact, I had some vague feeling I'd read that O'Neil himself had had a drinking problem long ago, in his youth. If true, you might expect a penetrating insight into the mind of the dependent. But I just didn't really feel we got that. In fact, O'Neil might've been better to have spared a few pages to showing us Batman as a genuinely more effective crimefighter using the drugs -- so that we can understand why he might rationalize their use. Instead, he starts taking the pills...and then we jump three months to when he's basically an uncontrolled vigilante, hassling thugs for no reason.
As in his inaugural LOTDK story arc, Shaman, O'Neil seems to like playing around with time in a way that, in one of the regular Bat-titles, it would probably mess up continuity. The downside is, the numbers don't always add up. At one point there seems to be a five month gap where it's unclear what Batman was doing all that time. Or, even more peculiar, when faced with an obligatory death trap, the stated time frame goes from 24 hours to three days in the space of a few panels!
But the problem with Venom -- and, indeed, many of the longer LOTDK story arcs -- is it just doesn't justify the length. The Batman-addiction thing only takes up the first half of the story, and the plot overall is pretty simple and straight forward. And the villains are one-dimensional, so-evil-they-ooze, bad guys. Maybe O'Neil's sense of morality means he can't bring himself to try and humanize villains, but in a 126 page saga where the villains and their conversations take up an awful lot of page time, we need something more than just constantly cutting to them being evil and sleazy. It's not like mad schemes to create super soldiers are exactly a radical concept in fiction (even Alfred refers to it as "trite" at one point). Nor are the occasional supporting characters any better fleshed out -- the few that arise existing just enough to further a plot point.
In fact, the whole thing seems just a touch...tired. Admittedly, maybe it was fresher at the time (though I doubt it), but it seems you can scarcely pick up a Batman story without it involving Bats being driven "out of control", becoming a more brutal, undisciplined crimefighter. That's the problem -- as I've alluded to before -- with the current vision of Batman as a kind of limited personality type...there's only so many things you can do with him. Perhaps more disturbing is that, even though it's meant as a "criticism" of his actions, writers do it so often, one can't help thinking they kind of enjoy a vicarious thrill writing Batman this way. As well, the basic story is pretty humdrum. After Batman shakes off the drugs, and we're moving into the final confrontation, there's little to really intrigue or excite. There are no twists or turns we're anticipating as the whole thing trundles along predictably.
And there's a looseness and implausibility to the plotting. The very catalyst for the story -- Batman's failure to save the girl -- itself isn't really explained. Why did the scientist arrange the kidnapping and murder of his own daughter? Simply to ensnare Batman in his plans? But how could he know Batman would fail, or that Batman would come to him afterward, or be so emotionally distraught he'd take the drugs -- and why, if you're trying to test super soldier drugs, would you use a guy who's already the most fit guy in Gotham? Part of the story is showing how Batman loses his judgement when he takes the drugs...but in order to have him take the drugs, he has to act like a complete dork to begin with, not apparently noticing how really odd the father is behaving!
There's a kind of emotional vacuum in Venom -- and, indeed, a lot of modern Batman stories. So determined to write Batman as this one-note obsessive, writers like O'Neil fail to give us a complex human being. And O'Neil's bled much of the warmth out of the surrounding relationships -- Alfred now makes a lot of tart wisecracks (that aren't that funny), rather than seeming like he has a real relationship with Batman, and James Gordon insists that Batman keeps their relationship purely business. And, as noted, for a story that (at least at first) is very much intended as a character study -- I didn't feel we got any real convincing insight into Batman or addictions.
Still, I'll give O'Neil props for the climactic death trap -- ludicrously elaborate deathtraps are a staple of comics, but here, O'Neil both justifies it (the villains have a goal in mind) and comes up with a reasonably clever solution as Batman has to think his way out of it (you could almost use it in school textbook: Billy has to apply 800 pounds of pressure to point A, but...).
For continuity buffs, this also introduces the drug Venom that would later fuel the villain, Bane, though strangely, the name Venom is used nowhere but in the title!
This is a review of the story as it was originally serialized in the mini-series.
Cover price: $__ CDN./$12.95 USA
Batman vs. Predator II: Bloodmatch 1995 (SC TPB) 144 pages
Written
by Doug Moench. Pencils by Paul Gulacy. Inks by Terry Austin.
Colours: Carla Feeny, Lovern Kindzierski. Letters: Todd Klein. Editors:
Michael Eury, Scott Peterson.
Reprinting: Batman vs. Predator II #1-4 (1994 mini-series)
Co-published by Dark Horse Comics
Rating: * * * * 1/2 (out of 5)
Number of readings: 2
Suggested for mature readers
For more Predator see Predator vs. Magnus Robort Fighter
While a slew of mob hitmen are gunning for him, Batman must also face an alien Predator looking to put
his head on its trophy shelf. His primary ally: The Huntress, the -- slightly -- ruthless vigilante he doesn't really approve of and who is eager to help, but whom he frequently rebuffs.
This is the second of what would end up being three or four different
Batman vs. Predator mini-series. The Predators being alien big game hunters
that like to hunt plucky humans, originating in a hit motion picture, and
a not-so successful sequel...but morphing into a major pop culture force by virtue of the concept spinning off onto various paperback novels and Dark Horse-produced comics, including a slew of cross company character match ups, Predators having fought everyone from Judge Dredd to Tarzan to multiple Aliens vs. Predators grudge matches (can a Predator vs. Archie & Jughead be far behind?) But you knew that, right?
And with their outting, surprisingly Moench and Gulacy manage to deliver the equivalent of a big budget Hollywood action movie.
I mean, I luv comics (that goes without saying) and action-adventure superheroes, but comics, being
a static medium of panels and word balloons, they rarely capture that kind of
visceral adrenalin rush a motion picture can. That's not a criticism of
comics, it's merely a limitation of the medium (just as movie rarely
captures the same spirit, the same grandeur, the same introspection, that
a good comicbook can). Yet here Moench and Gulacy come darn close, crafting
action scenes that are breathless in their pacing, unnerving in their depiction
of the unstoppable Predator -- even a little scary -- and generating tension
within scenes and building to an exciting climax. This is partly attributable to Gulacy's knack for breaking down fight scenes into feints and blocks, honed years ago doing The Master of Kung Fu comics with Moench. So you can really feel the drama and tension of a fight, rather than it just being a splashy panel of comic booky "pows!" and "biffs!".
Monech throws in so many elements running about at cross
purposes -- Predators (there's actually more n' one), various colourful hitmen,
a government Task Force -- that it can make you dizzy, with the result
that the action only occasionally lags. All the while he stays focused
on Bats and the Huntress, remembering they're the stars. Huntress is depicted
rather more scantily clad than I've seen her in some other stories, but I don't
know if that was Gulacy's decision, or whether I'm just not sufficiently
familiar with her "look".
Gulacy's detailed, realist art, though prone to a bit of awkward distortion, is generally great to look
at (this being before the more cartoony style he's tried in more recent years) and he's aided a lot by inker Terry Austin, a master of detail himself. And with Gulacy's cinematographer's eye for panel composition, it's not too
surprising that the story can evoke a movie at times.
Of course, this is just mindless action -- again,
mimicking a Hollywood blockbuster. There are attempts at
character bits, like Batman's conflicts with the Huntress over her more
ruthless style -- conflicts that would have more weight if Batman wasn't
often depicted as a guy who can be pretty rough himself. Even in this issue
he does things like yanking a guy off a moving motorcycle -- by his neck.
That's a move that would kill a man in real life, folks! But, nonetheless, Moench manages to make it seem reasonably sincere. In fact, though this remains squarely focused on The BATman (he's barely out of costume for more than a few panels) Moench mantains a human, sympathetic air to him. In fact, Moench has been a long time, on again/off again Bat-scribe...and one I've never fully grooved to. Though his stories often don't lack for ambition or deeper character themes, I've often found his stuff derivative, his handling of themes/characters heavy handed. Yet here, tackling a blantantly superficial story, with a pretty trite premise (as I said, Predator vs. ___ comics could take up their own shelf) -- he actually delivers one of his best, most riveting Bat-stories!
So much so, that it makes you overlook the obvious contrivances: the hitmen who are really there just to pad the page count, the government Task Force who are there to be the Straw Bureaucrats, criticized by Batman and Commissioner Gordon both even though they aren't really acting that stupid. Even the fact that we never really get an understanding of why this rogue Predator has such a hate on for Batman. But viscrally: the story is fast paced, exciting entertainment. If you liked the first Predator movie, or just
want lots of running about and thrashing things, this delivers the goods.
It's also worth noting that it's a bit gorier than the average Batman comic,
though probably not as much so as the Predator movies.
This is a review of the story as it was originally serialized in the mini-series.
Cover price: $__ CDN./$7.95 USA
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The Untold Legend of the Batman Published
in 1982 by Tor Books, re-issued in 1992 - Black & White