Reflections of a Teenage Bat - Inque

Inque, as we see her in the cartoon, is different from most of Terry's other foes. Most of his enemies are people with petty grudges or motivations. Feeling that they are owed more than they've received. Spellbinder is like that. Blight and Shriek as well. Then there are the idealists, the ones claiming to have some higher motivation. It may just be an excuse, but Mad Stan at least appears to have an ideology behind blowing things up. Kobra would fall in that category, as would Stalker, who doesn't go after Batman out of a grudge or for money, but because he wants a challenge.

Inque, though, is a professional. Her goal is money, but unlike Spellbinder, she's not trying to steal it because she feels unappreciated. You hire her, she does the job, you pay her, or else. She never seems to be fighting Batman because she's angry about a previous defeat. She's committing a crime, he finds her, they fight. Of his other foes, I think only Curare, a highly trained assassin, matches that approach. It's not personal. Batman is either a paycheck, or an obstacle, but not some scourge of their nightmares.

Inque tries to destroy Foxteca because Powers pays her. She fights Batman because he tries to stop her. She stows away on his Batmobile not out of some desire to unmask Batman and destroy his career because she hates him, but because it's valuable information.

When she escapes from custody with the help of the orderly that's fallen for her, she does capture Batman and use him to lure "the old man" into a trap. That could be viewed as revenge, because it was Bruce using the resources of the Bat-Cave to help Terry that beat her the time before. It could also be Inque knows he's out there and figures it's better to make him come to her at a time and place of her choosing, rather than give him a chance for an ambush. Batman's clearly not going to leave her be, and so the old man likely won't either. Better to just kill them and remove the obstacle.

(Curare's second appearance is similar in that she returns to Gotham hunting the last surviving head of the League of Assassins who put a price on her for failing a mission on her first encounter with Terry. It could be seen as revenge, but since they won't stop hunting her as long as they're alive, from Curare's perspective, it's a necessary step.)

Inque choosing not to kill Terry first, leaving him able to help Bruce when his heart gives out, does tip it into the revenge category, rather than simple pragmatism. But Ingue could argue Terry works best as live bait, and well, professional or no, Inque is more than a bit of a sadist. She enjoys toying with the dumb orderly, and she's fine with killing people by pouring herself down their throats until they choke or burst, or she tears her way out. Even though she could just cut them or strangle them quickly and efficiently.

Also, if Terry's alive, she might be able to use him as a shield if need be. In one of her last appearances in the series, she tries taking a hostage to make Batman back off. It's her poor luck she chose a disguised Superman.

Inque's one soft spot is her daughter, who she sends money, but rarely if ever interacted with until she needed help. It contrasts with Terry, who tries to maintain a presence in his mother and little brother's lives, even as being Batman pulls him away. He wants to protect them, but he doesn't want to do it like Bruce Wayne, keeping them at a distance, trying to control their lives. So even when they don't know what's causing him to be tired, or miss school, they still worry about him. As opposed to Bruce, who has basically alienated everyone who gave a shit about him by being a complete dick. Inque's daughter, who has only known her money through cash gifts, sees her mother's need for help as an opportunity to make some money. That's what she's been taught to value, and she's learned it well.

The brief Batman Beyond ongoing Adam Beechen wrote in 2011 established Inque had immigrated to Gotham from a country torn apart by civil war, and was then sold into slavery, sexually abused, escaped, only to later be experimented on while she was pregnant. Maybe that explains most of it. Not only treating people as a commodity, worth only what they can get you. But that if you have power, you take what you want. If someone tries to stop you, make sure they don't live to do it again.

Terry and Inque are both fight on behalf of others. Terry for Bruce, Inque for Derek Powers and his ilk. Terry takes to Bruce's mission quickly enough. Inque's more of a professional about it, because it's usually just business. She doesn't care why the person who hired her did so, just so long as they pay when she's done. Terry's been on the receiving end of people abusing their power, and decided to try and save others from a similar fate. Inque decided using her power for her own ends was the best way to go. If you can't beat 'em, get hired by 'em.

Inque, at a certain point, chose to be a weapon. Looked at the hand she'd been dealt, and decided she'd do what she was hired for. There's a freedom in that. She can choose who she works for, but she can also tell herself that whatever she does, it's not her. Someone would have been hired, if not her. Terry's more constricted. He's Batman, and that means working for Bruce Wayne, and doing things Bruce Wayne's way. But, for the most part, their morals align, so it works. Terry may not always agree, but their goals are the same.

But given how well he does as Batman with relatively little training, it wouldn't be too hard to see a path where Terry ends up a weapon like Inque. Maybe not a freelancer; more some bigshot's legbreaker. Someone that tells him the anger's fine, use it on the people I point to and you can do what you like. And once you're done, I'll pay you for it.

There's also the fact Inque was the subject of what were probably illegal experiments. She's a product of the same sort of ethically questionable work that Terry's father objected to. The same sort of work that got his father killed. So she's the cautionary tale of that. Terry fought a fair number of one-off enemies who were the result of accidents due to cost-cutting measures. Those people mostly lashed out in anger, and he had to try and calm them down, keep them from hurting anyone or themselves.

Inque's what happens when that person embraces the hand they were dealt, what can happen if that kind of work continues, and she's Terry's most dangerous opponent. The one I'm not sure he ever actually beats one-on-one. Bruce's involvement helps him twice, and Superman takes care of her once. Which should make Inque terrifying to Terry. Other heroes occasionally have that villain they can't beat alone. Venom was like that for Spider-Man the first several years of his existence. Bane took Batman apart the first time they clashed. But both of those guys were fixated on beating the hero. Venom wanted to kill Spider-Man for ruining their lives, and Bane wanted to test and destroy the Bat. Inque doesn't really give a shit about Batman, he's just in the way, or someone she's hired to kill. Makes you wonder what she would be like if it ever became personal to her.

Reflections of a Teenage Bat - Mad Stan

It's been almost exactly three months since the first of these looks at Terry McGinnis' recurring enemies and what they reflect about him. I started with Spellbinder, and as promised, we're moving to Mad Stan today.

 

(Artwork by Norm Breyfogle and Andrew Elder) 

Stan might be a bit of a cheat, honestly. He's rarely the main villain. In one case, Spellbinder uses him as part of a plan to turn the police against Batman by making it appear Terry killed Mad Stan. In another, he's really just the excuse the plot requires for Terry to miss a date with Dana, so she can be approached by a mutated guy that lives in the sewers.

And that's because Stan's not a particularly varied character. He's always out to tear down the government or elements of bureaucracy, and he always takes the same approach: Blow it up. He reminds me of the Evil Midnight Bomber, What Bombs at Midnight from The Tick, although I think Stan is slightly more focused. Only slightly, as he was prepared to blow up a Department of Health building because they were going to raise the fee for licensing pets. Although I'm surprised Mad Stan would risk his chihuahua, Boom-Boom, being logged in "the system."

Stan doesn't have much of a backstory. He never got an origin episode or issue of the comics, so we don't know what, exactly, made him hate and decry governmental systems and their effect on people, or why he decided the best solution was high explosives. Maybe there's a tragedy, Maybe he read a book that really spoke to him. Maybe he just enjoys it.

Like Terry before he became Batman, Stan's anger is unfocused. Terry would lash out at Jokerz, his father, school bullies, whoever. Stan ostensibly targets "the government", doesn't there's no real plan behind it. No, "take this out first, to cripple response when I target this other thing." Across his appearances he tries destroying a library because there's too much information for people to process, then targets a re-election fundraiser for the district attorney, and the aforementioned attack on the Department of Health over pet licenses.

Stan is the adolescent who can see that there are things wrong with society around him, but can't see how to fix them. So he decides the proper response is to just destroy them instead. Maybe Stan has some big plan to build things back up properly after, but more likely he's not given it any thought. Or he hasn't since he decided tearing everything down was the best first step.

That's possibly the path Terry was on before his father died. Going through life angry for reasons he couldn't really explain, picking fights to give an outlet to that anger. Now he. . . gets to put on a strength-augmenting costume and beat people up. Typical caveats about vigilantism aside, Terry is generally trying to protect people from those intending direct harm. Stan probably thinks he's helping people by attacking the structures he believes are strangling their lives, but he doesn't seem terribly concerned if any of the people he intended to help get blown up in the process of him helping them.

At the end of the day, Stan decided to just indulge his anger to its full extent. His dog is safe, but anyone and everything else is shit outta luck if he decides to blow something up while they're nearby.

Reflections of a Teenage Bat - Spellbinder

I've been kicking around the notion of looking at what Terry McGinnis' most common villains reflect about him since I bought the box sets of Batman Beyond from a coworker of Alex during his years in the Town He Tries to Forget. That was a decade ago, and I just kept putting it off. 

There's three villains that show up three times in the 52 episodes. Maybe four, because I don't remember Shriek showing up a third time, but the episode summaries insist there's one where he buried Batman alive and Bruce and Max have to find him. So maybe I'll get to him, but let's talk about Spellbinder.

Spellbinder's shtick in Batman Beyond is basically he's a disgruntled civil servant. More specifically, a school psychiatrist who gets fed up with listening to teenagers talk about the problems their rich parents will fix while he works for relative peanuts. So instead of using hypnosis to help them reach the root of their problems, he uses it to let them experience their fantasies, while they're actually committing crimes for him. When that first scheme fails, he tries a VR interactive experience thing that is highly addictive, so they'll willingly steal to pay for another turn. His third appearance, he gives up on getting people to steal for him, and instead tricks the police into thinking Batman killed Mad Stan (we'll probably get to Mad Stan the next time I do one of these).

Terry's thing is that he had a lot of anger about a lot of stuff. Probably the failure of his parents' marriage, certainly about his father Warren's willingness to be the good corporate drone and eat shit with a smile. Then Warren's murdered, because he was going to stand up and do the right thing, and there's even more anger. And Terry ultimately, once he's gotten his hands on Batman's suit, uses it and his anger to fight crime. Protect people from people with power who try to abuse it.

Spellbinder obviously took his grudge and his power and used it for himself, which is Villainy 101. He's also a twisted reflection of both Terry's father figures. Warren McGinnis in the sense that both of them are ultimately workers beholden to higher authorities. Spellbinder worked at a school. He's got rules and regulations he's gotta follow. Every few months, he's probably gotta bring something to put out in the break room. Chip in for community coffee even if he doesn't drink it. Be there for school dances and shit.

Terry's dad is a researcher, and a good one. But at the end of the day, he works for Wayne-Powers, and so he answers to a shitbag like Derek Powers. He doesn't have much control over his life. He's forced to do ethically questionable things or risk his job (or his family's well-being.) Warren decided to stand up against his boss, while Spellbinder decided to punch down at his patients. Differing responses to the pressure of being a cog in the machine.

Bruce Wayne is no cog. He's either the one controlling the machine, or by the time the series begins, a person with enough money to remove himself from the mess entirely. But Spellbinder mirrors Wayne in that he manipulates teenagers to do shit for him. His first two appearances are both about Spellbinder getting high school kids to steal for him, so he doesn't have to be at risk. Bruce isn't Batman anymore because he couldn't hack it. Because he didn't think he could actually protect people without becoming something he despised (a killer), not because he wasn't willing to risk himself. And Terry approached him, which makes a difference. 

But Bruce definitely understands what makes Terry tick, and he certainly uses that to his advantage. Terry wanted the chance to bring his father's killer to justice, and he got that chance because Bruce Wayne let him use the suit. Just as Spellbinder can use what he knows about his students to make illusions or hypnotic suggestions that are most effective on them. Terry works better when he has something to push back against, so Bruce is in his ear all the time, giving him that something if nothing else is available. Maybe Terry would have gone off the rails badly without that opportunity, and so Wayne is ultimately looking out for him, while Spellbinder doesn't give a damn about people who are supposed to be able to trust him to help.

Although there's also that episode of Justice League Unlimited where Terry has been Batman for years and is clearly chafing under Bruce forcing him to keep secrets from Dana and do everything Bruce's ways. A universe where Bruce Wayne is a bitter, lonely old man estranged from every former love and protege, with a Gotham even shittier than his was. Basically defeated on every conceivable level. So maybe Bruce isn't looking out for Terry, and is using him as much as Spellbinder does. 

But that episode also said Terry was genetically Bruce's son due to some bullshit Amanda Waller set up to try and make sure there was always a Batman, and that's honestly better left shoved into a dustbin and forgotten.

The third episode is really more about Barbara Gordon as Commissioner, and her doubts about both Bruce and Terry. She knows Terry's Batman, knows why he's Batman. Knows about his anger issues in the past. Knows from experience how Bruce Wayne can twist people around and drive them until they burn out. So it's not hard for her to think Terry could go too far and kill a bad guy. Still, Spellbinder's shifted his style a bit. Still manipulating others, but instead of targeting the relatively powerless, who inevitably lead the authorities (or Batman) right to him, he targets the authorities to send them to Batman. Plays off the fear of vigilantes. Sure, it's fun to see someone in a costume saving lives and punching bad guys, but that's only as long as you agree with who they're punching, and how much damage they're doing. It doesn't take far to tip the perception from "costumed do-gooder" to "loose cannon."

Spellbinder's ultimately the guy with no power for years, feeling put upon and powerless, who then abuses his power as soon as he gets some. (Pretty sure Darkseid made a demonstration like that once on Apokolips by turning his slaves into overseers.) The kind of person teenagers suspect most adults are; ostensibly there to help, but really there to control and condescend to them.

Sunday Splash Page #76

"New Gym Teacher's Weird," in Batman Beyond Unlimited #5, by Adam Beechen (writer), Norm Breyfogle (artist), Andrew Elder (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer)

In late 2010, Adam Beechen and Ryan Benjamin did a 6-issue Batman Beyond mini-series, focused on a mysterious new version of Hush who was going around killing Terry's enemies. Once it ended, they immediately started an ongoing series with the same creative team, only for that to be canceled after 8 issues because of the New 52 reboot. Then we got Batman Beyond Unlimited, which was really an anthology of stuff that had been released digitally first, then in physical copies later. You had Beechen and Norm Breyfogle on Batman Beyond, Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs on the future Justice League, and J.T. Krul and Howard Porter doing Superman Beyond.

Eventually they released a trade of just the Batman Beyond stuff, 10,000 Clowns, which is what I really was interested in. The idea is that one member of a Jokerz gang has figured out how to organize and gather all the different sects from across the country and bring them to Gotham, then drugged them until they're a mass of suicide bombers.

I'm unclear on why there would be people devoted to the Joker in Opal or Star City, but I guess we're rolling with it.

Beechen keeps a lot of other plots and subplots going simultaneously. Some of them are good; the two-parter where we learn Hush didn't kill Mad Stan after all, turns out to be a good reminder other problems aren't sitting still while the Jokerz gather. Some not so much; Beechen introduces a new Vigilante, who turns out to be the guy who killed Terry's father, and his last name is "Chill". Like, Joe Chill, get it? *facepalms*

Norm Breyfogle gives each group of Jokerz their own distinct look, while maintaining the greasepaint clown makeup look. It helps carry the impression of dealing with a bunch of loosely affiliated groups. Bruce Wayne looks like an older man who has tried to stay in shape, but is losing that war. The Joker King has a distinct look. Probably falls into the same trap people say a lot of George Perez' designs do (where he's the only one who can draw it well, which is a dumb complaint, like it's George Perez or Norm Breyfogle's fault other artist aren't as good as they are). There are a lot of fight scenes, and Breyfogle and Elder make those look good. It's easy to follow the progression of the action, how what happens in one panel leads into the next.

I'll Just Write My Own Post-Apocalypse Story. With Blackjack, And Hookers!

I’ll probably pick up the last few weeks’ books later this week, and get some reviews going early next week. In the meantime, it’s been awhile since I’ve done a post where I just rambled on in a series of vaguely interconnected points. No time like the present, and that's what this one ended up as.

Something I probably ought to have figured out before now is it's dangerous to buy a series based on the concept. Based on the writer or artist, sure. I know their past work, I have some idea of their strengths and weaknesses, their tics and preferred themes, I know what to expect. Even based on the characters isn't bad, if I feel confident the things I like about them will be touched on by the creative team. But the concept, the setting, the hook, whatever you want to call it, that seems to be a mistake. The comic is the product of minds that aren’t mine own, with their own goals, interests, and influences. The odds they’re going to produce exactly what I’m looking for are pretty small, assuming I even know exactly what I’m looking for.

When I first heard about the current Batman Beyond, I was intrigued. I pictured Terry (because I didn’t know it was Tim Drake in the suit) in one of DC’s post-apocalyptic locales. Kamandi’s, the Atomic Knight’s, OMAC, that future Jonah Hex went to for awhile back in the ‘80s, some amalgamation of those and more, whatever. He’d be in the middle of nowhere, scattered settlements (if that), possible hostile locals, alien territory to a city boy like McGinnis. He’d have the suit, but the suit has limits. Only so much power, only so many Batarangs, even if Terry had the Batcave he probably couldn’t fix every problem, and he wouldn’t have the Batcave (unless he found it eventually, since yeah, Bruce would probably design the lair to survive the end of humanity). He’d have to save it for critical moments, and get by on everything else he’d learned up to then. He is more than the suit, he's been trained, but how much, and how far he could get by on that in a strange setting would be up in the air. He’d likely run afoul of some local bandit or self-appointed Big Man, and dealing with that would probably bring him to the attention of some bigger fish, who might or might not have the solution to Terry’s being stranded there.

Thinking about it, it’s a bit like Fallout 3, or maybe Samurai Jack, but we’ll stick with the video game for the moment. I didn’t love everything about that game, but I did like the very real sense the first time I exited the Vault that I was stepping into a world neither I nor the character know anything about. Usually your character at least understands the rules of the world they’re in, even if you don’t, because they already live there. We meet them with their life already in progress. But the Wanderer was so sheltered he’s as in the dark as the player controlling him. He doesn’t really know what kind of threats are out there, or what he’ll find to work with. So you have to decide when you can afford to challenge someone directly, when you can afford to use that rocket launcher, and when you can’t.

I know resource management is maybe not the hot thing to draw in readers, and it’s kind of an artificial story construct to drive conflict (though considering the whole thing is the product of a writer's mind, could you say that about everything. None of the challenges exist until the writer decides they do), but I think it could be an effective tool. Really play up the idea of there being consequences to Terry’s decisions one way or the other. Does using the suit make him more terrifying to people he’s trying to help, or do they more readily rally to him because they think he’s more than human? Does using it for one fight come back to bite him down the line? How do his enemies respond? What happens if he tries to get by being sneaky on his own, does he wind up hurt, or fail to save the day? Can he cobble together some substitute? If you wanted to convey that this is a world where survival is difficult, showing just how hard it is to find anything useful could be part of that. Maybe Terry has to use the suit’s flight capabilities just to find some water before he dies of thirst. It’s a moot point, because I don’t think that’s what Jurgens and Chang have planned for the series. I might be surprised. Tim could escape from Brother Eye’s clutches and end up in the middle of nowhere, confronted with what’s happened to the rest of the world outside Gotham. There have been a couple of references to the state of things outside Gotham already, but we’ll see.

Batman Beyond isn’t my first try at a series I thought would roughly be about the hero being stranded in an unknown wasteland sort of location. It’s what I was hoping for from Rick Remender’s Captain America, with the whole Dimension Z thing. That turned out to be entirely too much about Steve and his adopted son, and we only got glimpses of the world he was in. It’s why I hunted down Bishop: The Last X-Man in back issues. That was closer, but still didn’t quite work for me. Not entirely sure why, possibly because I’ve never exactly been a huge Bishop fan (although I really thought a different sort of post-apocalyptic world would be a good setting to put him in).

There’s something theoretically cool to me about taking these characters and putting them in largely new landscapes where they don’t understand the rules. It’s a good way to look at the core of the character. When you take away what’s familiar to them, place them on uncertain footing where they have to rely on themselves, and any connections they make have to be built from the ground up, what do they hold on to? What shines through about them? Remender tried this, but I think he narrowed the focus a little too much. There were hints of things besides "always get up, never stop fighting", like the few scenes showing him and Ian settling in with the group they'd met. Steve Rogers as someone who builds bridges with others, doesn't isolate himself, that's good, but it didn't get touched on much. With Bishop, he sort of seized on twin duties: As a cop, to bring in Fitzroy once and for all, and as an X-Men, to carry that name and what it stands for forward into a new generation. The more I think about, the more I feel like I should have a better opinion of Bishop: The Last X-Man. I wasn’t expecting that when I started typing this.

What I Bought 7/2/2015 - Part 1

Remember how I said 10 books over 4 weeks was pretty sorry? Now it’s 5 books over 3 weeks. Months with 5 Wednesdays are frequently disappointing.

Batman Beyond #2, by Dan Jurgens (writer), Bernard Chang (artist), Marcelo Maiolo (colors), Dave Sharpe (letters) – I can’t think of much to say about this cover. I feel like Batman should be trying to stop the cyborgs shooting at people rather than fleeing? Inque should maybe get her hip back out of sight, because it might ruin her element of surprise?

Max and Barbara try to keep Tim alive while cyborgs gather all the new arrivals for “processing”, which is to say Brother Eye pumps them full of drugs and scopes out everything they know, leaving them grinning, mindless husks. Lovely. Max gets caught, and before Babs and Tim can escape, Eye has their faces from Max’s memory, and his chief overseer at this place is Terry’s old foe, Inque. Tim’s first attempt to fight one of Terry’s rogues doesn’t go so well, because apparently he left his brain back in the past. If water proved to be a weakness of hers in the past, it stands to reason she’d be prepared for you to use it. Maybe he should have used Mad Stan as a warm-up? He gets captured, Barbara gets captured, and a shadowy figure on the Moon Eye is using for a host body demands they be processed.

I feel like Brother Eye must have moved the Moon closer to Earth for the picture on that first page. Both bodies seem too large for our vantage point. Either the Moon should be smaller, if we’re close to Earth, or vice versa. Maybe I’m wrong, or maybe Brother Eye really did hook the Moon up with an independent propulsion system. Darkseid has one for his world, Ego was forcibly given one, it’s all the rage with planetary-level threats. Chang and Maiolo are still using the panels with a blank red background, and the figures either in all black and white. They even stepped up usage, since there are about 15 panels in this issue like that. I still like it, it’s a very cool visual effect, the panels really grab the eye, but I worry they might be overusing it. There was a nice bit on page 8, at the bottom, where as Max is being interrogated, over three consecutive panels, the view keeps zooming in, and the colors shift from the more normal scheme in the first one, to the red-heavy style in the third, with the second in-between, heavily orange, but still with other distinct colors. I guess to symbolize her resistance being worn down, and the third panel being the point where she (and Tim and Babs by extension) are sunk, because the best lie she could manage didn’t take. I will say, I don’t understand why they tried to play Inque up as this shadowy, unseen figure for half the issue, considering she’s right there on the cover. It wasn’t exactly a surprise when she attacked Tim and Barbara. Catwoman would have been a surprise. Inque just on the cover as a ruse, to throw the reader off.

I’m still not sure this is going to be what I was looking for. The potential is there – I would have been fine with Tim gradually working his way towards a Big Bad he discovers is causing a lot of misery, just not immediately, I guess. Also a little concerned about Max now. Not really excited for Jurgens to take a weedwhacker to Terry’s old supporting cast just because Tim’s in there now, so hopefully this isn’t the start of some trend. Maybe she can bounce back from it?

Harley Quinn and Power Girl #1, by Amanda Conner, Justin Gray, and Jimmy Palmiotti (writers), Stephane Roux (artist), Paul Mounts (colorist), John J. Hill (letterer) – Harley’s hairstyle is just bizarre, even for her. It’s like a Marge Simpson split in two.

The entirety of this mini-series already took place between two panels in Harley’s ongoing series, but we hadn’t gotten to see what happened. Now we do, and the answer is, they wound up back in the pre-Flashpoint DCU, ran into some creepy Yoda-guy with a pet Hydra (I feel like these are jokes about Star Wars and Marvel both being under Disney’s umbrella now, but I could be wrong), then stumbled across one of Vartox’s headships. The ship, once it realizes one of the heroines is Power Girl, is only too eager to take them back to his homeworld, which has fallen under the boot of some uptight jerk named Oreth Odeox. Upon arriving at Valeron, they’re immediately shot down, then nearly charged with being prostitutes, until Harley “accidentally” blows the guy’s head off with something she took from not-Yoda’s weapon cache. About that time, Vartox’ chief science guy shows up, we get some discussion of how this is definitely the universe where Peej helped Vartox save his planet, then more of Oreth’s goons show up.

It’s all entirely goofy, but that’s fine. I’m not sure whether it’s Roux inking his own work, or if it’s Paul Mounts colors, but I really like Roux’s work more now than I have in the past. When I’d see it on Birds of Prey, there was always something about it that threw me off (there’s one cover with Misfit and Black Alice on it I’m thinking of in particular). Expressions were exaggerated to a comical extent, but it was trying to look realistic. The overall presentation clashed in my head. Not the case here. Harley’s expressions in particular are fairly exaggerated, as she tends to talk with her entire body, lots of hand gestures and such, but it works really well. Maybe it’s the silly tone of the book, or Harley’s character in general (though Power Girl has some excellent faces as well), but the whole thing just works.

I see why they titled this issue “Extrastellar Exploitations”, given there are more than a couple of panels that provide a pretty decent close-up on Power Girl’s rear end. They still work for conveying relevant information, but they probably didn’t have to be angled that particular way, you know? Or maybe they did, given this book. What the heck, right?

Also, I probably shouldn’t be surprised Vartox had Power Girl androids made, but I am a little bit. I thought he regarded her too highly for her assistance to his people to resort to pale imitations. Though I’m sure whenever Harley and Peej meet one, Vartox will insist it was done as a measure of respect for her.

What I Bought 6/12/2015 - Part 1

I found everything I wanted that’s come out in the last 4 weeks. It’s pretty depressing that 4 weeks adds up to only 10 comics. We’ll get to Secret Wars tie-in stuff in due course, but for now, let’s do some vaguely Bat-related books. Can the DC You win me over?

Batman Beyond #1, by Dan Jurgens (writer), Bernard Chang (artist), Marcelo Maiolo (colors), Dave Sharpe (letters) – On the left side of the cover, who is the guy below Batsy’s fist? With the spit curl? I’m not up on my “DC Apocalyptic Future” characters.

Something I didn’t realize going into this, it’s following up on stuff from Future’s End. It’s Tim Drake in the suit, not Terry McGinnis, and Brother Eye is still a big problem. I wish they’d let Brother Eye drop for awhile.

Drake’s in the Terry’s time, more or less, trying to be Batman. We learn that Gotham has some sort of program that shield it from Brother Eye, so it’s still a relatively OK place to live, by Gotham standards. The rest of the world is presumed to be an apocalyptic hellhole, and Tim goes out to see, only to be attacked by a Superman who’s been turned into one of Eye’s dupes. He fends off the less-than-Superman, but shorts out the suit, leaving his as just Tim. Then he finds some sort of camp where people are being herded in, including Barbara Gordon and Terry’s old friend, Max.

The book isn’t, based on the first issue, quite what I was hoping for. It might turn out to be, but not as this point. I could have done without any connection to Future’s End, and with no Brother Eye, at least not the current version. Kind of sick of that guy. I don’t have a feel for this Tim Drake, either. A lot older, I guess he’d been jaded and given up until recently. Curious if Jurgens will play up the man out of time aspect. Tim mentioned he promised Terry he’d stop Brother Eye, and he feels like he failed, so maybe he’s going to be fixated on that, taking foolish risks.

Bernard Chang’s work is solid, his Batman has an angularity that reminds me of the cartoon, which is never a bad thing. He – or Marcelo Maiolo –does this one thing where, in certain panels, the background vanishes, replaced with a solid color. Something very bright, orange or red. Any figures are uncolored, white, but outlined in red. Except for Tim, when he’s in the suit, and he becomes solid black. They use it three times during the opening scuffle with the Jokerz, then a couple more times after that. Once when Tim talks to Nora and Matt, the other when Techno-Superman first attacks him. It’s a real attention-getter, but I’m not sure what it signifies, other than Tim being exposed to something new. He learned about the Jokerz, about the Veil program, about New York being annihilated, Superman being an enemy, and Nora told him he’s their only hope (something Tim isn’t comfortable with). Be curious to see if the art team keeps that up in subsequent issues.

All-Star Section Eight #1, by Garth Ennis (writer), John McCrea (artist), John Kalisz (colorist), Pat Brosseau (letterer) – I can only assume Six-Pack thinks he’s having a team up with Comet, the Super-Horse. At least, that’s what I hope he thinks is happening.

DC has come calling, and in truest tradition of serialized fiction, the hero’s happy ending must be undone so he can resume publication. So it is that Sixpack, having become a renowned art critic after saving the earth from other-dimensional horrors, accidentally drinks a rye and coke, and reverts back to his alcoholic alter ego, convinced he must put his team back together to save the world from some huge threat (or something to that effect, the whole art critic thing may have been a hallucination). Except the whole team died against the aforementioned other-worldly horrors. After dismissing every other hero that came out of Bloodlines (the same event that gave us Tommy Monaghan, and as a result, Six-Pack), he manages to pull together some other schlubs, plus Baytor. Which gives him seven guys, and look there’s Batman. But he’s too busy arguing with a cop over a parking ticket he got while he was trying to hit up an ATM. I get what he’s saying about those fees for using a different bank’s machine, though. Whatever is threatening the world is clearly already affecting Batman, because he keeps looking like he’s being drawn in other styles, like Neal Adams or Kelley Jones. Gasp, what can it mean? Then Batman drives off, pissed about the ticket, and with no time for Six-Pack.

Not quite what I was expecting, which is both good and bad. I was worried this would be one of Ennis’ more ugly, mean-spirited jaunts into the cape comic stuff, but it doesn’t seem like it. It also doesn’t appear he’s going to be sweating too much on this one, if the “You people” joke is any indication. So OK, this probably won’t be a classic like Hitman, or his Punisher run. Assuming we actually get to see Section Eight try to do something in subsequent issues, it should still be funny, at least (simply making a new Dogwelder, seemingly just like the old one, but African-American, was a cute joke, if also a little depressing). That would be just fine. I’m actually really excited to see Baytor fight crime, given he’s the lord of criminal insanity, that should be an impressive disaster.

McCrea’s work has more of a sketchy, rough look to it than it did in the original Hitman stuff. Which is fine, because it makes Sixpack look like a real train wreck, with the stubble, the snot, the persist piss on his trousers, the red-rimmed eyes. I had food poisoning once, and looked in the bathroom mirror right after I pulled my head out of the toilet at 5 a.m. I still didn’t look half as bad as Sixpack does. And Bueno Excellente looks even more creepy and disturbing, which I didn’t really need, but what the hell. I’m in for at least another month. Place your bets now as to whether Baytor is going to accidentally dissolve Hal Jordan’s hand next month, so Hal can have lots of angst and turn back into Parallax (only until the end of the issue, naturally)!

The Dark Night Outlasts The Dark Knight

So I rewatched Batman: Mask of the Phantasm last night, which is still probably my favorite Batman movie. Certainly its Batman is the closest to how I see him. But watching the film, seeing the flashbacks to when Bruce met Andrea, I started thinking about the Animated DC Universe. Justice League, Batman Beyond, the Timmverse stuff.

It's how Bruce and Gotham end up. By the time of Batman Beyond, Bruce is a bitter old man living alone with his dog in a largely shuttered mansion. Tim Drake stays away from him, Grayson wants nothing to do with him, Barbara only comes to see him once Terry dons the costume. If Superman shows up, Bruce is hostile towards him. This isn't totally surprising if you've been reading Batman comics over the last 20 years, but in the cartoons, he seemed to have accumulated lots of people around him that cared for him, and that he cared about. But even in the cartoons, Batman was often obsessed to the point of damaging his relationships with people. He can't find the balance between fighting crime and having a family, even when that family helps him fight crime.

What's a little more disappointing is the state Gotham's in. It's kind of a dump. There are Joker gangs running amok, people using what's left of his company for nefarious deeds, the cops aren't openly corrupt as far as I can tell, but they sure aren't very effective, lots of people living in poverty on the lower levels. I know it's necessary to show Gotham has problems as sort of an impetus to convince Bruce to let Terry keep using the suit. At the same time, it kind of makes Batman look futile. Not just as a crimefighter, but all those dollars, all the philanthropy Bruce Wayne was involved in, did any of it do any good?

You could probably ask the same question of The Dark Knight Returns universe, which looked worse in some ways than Batman Beyond's, but maybe not across the board. I know Batman's goal, as created when he lost his parents was, "stop crime", and that's probably completely unrealistic, so maybe a true happy end for Batman is out of the question. But is the end result of that necessarily that Batman lives to see it all come for naught? That his options are to either try and throw the suit on again and hope his heart doesn't give out, or find some other poor, angry kid he can aim at the problem?

I'd like to think all that work he put into being the Night and rebuilding Gotham would have helped a little, but it's hard to tell. If Batman is as obsessed with an unattainable goal as he appears to be, there's no reason he couldn't continue to fight what crime, even as crime dwindled because he was actually having success in improving Gotham and addressing some of the causes of crime. There would still be a few crimes, a few criminals, and he's still be obsessed with stopping them, because even one crook is capable of stealing away some child's parents. But things would be better, overall.

Maybe that goes against Batman, somehow. He's not a source of hope, like Superman, he scares criminals rather than inspiring people. And fear only goes so far. But then how do you account for Dick Grayson, the boy Bruce Wayne raised specifically so he wouldn't end up like Batman, and who did, indeed, prove much better at sustaining interpersonal relationships? Although, he didn't come out so well in either of those futures. Frank Miller in particular did him no favors, which I can't say surprises me. So Batman's own nature, his obsession, undermines the very goals he hopes to accomplish?

What I Bought 6/29/2013 - Part 4

Hey, I'm back home for a few weeks! No boonies, no drunken idiot friends of Alex, no dogs. Whoo! I'm going to try and avoid direct human contact for the next three weeks.

Batman Beyond Unlimited #16 & 17 - At least they finally let Breyfogle do a cover, which if nothing else, saves me from having to use another awful Porter cover. Pity he's not drawing any of the stories. Anyway, let's do this up, one story at a time.

"Undercloud: Supersonic" and "Undercloud: Metal and Men", by Adam Beechen (writer), Adam Archer (artist), Andrew Elder (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer).  While Terry tangles with Shriek, Max is stuck helping Rebel One while she tries to devise a way of contacting Terry. She figures out a way, but it's a little late, as Alloy is up and running and wrecking Gotham. Terry's not having much luck stopping it, and it gets worse when Alloy stops obeying Rebel One's commands. Surprise, the baddie didn't understand the responsometers as well as she thought. A little electricity lets the Metal Men reassert autonomy and try and minimize the damage they caused. Things are looking up, but Rebel One isn't giving up and she's ready to try something desperate to she her plans succeed.

I think they needed to label the Metal Men for Elder, because he had some trouble getting the colors right. You know, Lead being red, Platinum being yellow, stuff like that. I don't blame him, if there isn't any dialogue, he's trying to color roughly similar sort of blobs, so how can he tell? Archer's art is pretty good, actually. He does some great work with Maxine's facial expressions across both chapters. There's one pair of panels where Rebel (now sans mask) is ranting while facing one way, then facing another in the next panel, but Archer drew it so that her hair in the second panel is a continuation of the first so that I didn't realize they were meant to be two separate panels originally. That's kind of cool. Archer's work gets a little sketchy, light on the details at times, especially in the fight with Shriek, but there's definite skill.

Two interesting things in the story. One, Grayson mentions that Barbara Gordon has mechanical legs. So is that a Killing Joke reference, or something else? Either way, it's not an addition I think was needed. I'd prefer the idea that Barbara quit costumed crime-fighting because she wanted to, or because she thought it was too limited, not because she was gravely injured. Which might be the case, since she was retired in the original Killing Joke. Two, Grayson is sleeping with the new Catwoman (the one who's also the daughter of Multiplex). We might need to talk more about that later, but one thing that bothers me is she gets colored white. I don't seem to have the Batman Beyond mini-series Beechen and Ryan Benjamin did in 2010 any longer, but I recall her being dark-skinned in that story. Like I said, I don't have it handy to confirm that one way or the other.

"In Gods We Trust", chapters 2 & 3, by Derek Fridolfs (writer/inker), Ben Caldwell (penciler), Randy Mayor (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer). Kai Ro (the kid GL) is having trouble adjusting to this new school, especially since he doesn't have his ring (or remember he should have it). He did meet a sweet, feisty girl named Mary, though. It's no fun getting in trouble alone. And since the Justice League went down like chumps - again - there aren't gonna be much help. In fact, they're going to be telepathically assassinated with Kai. Right up until Mary remembers her special word and transforms into - Captain Marvel?! The Brain Trust is sent packing, and the children are saved, as we find out Mary, Billy, the Wizard, CM, and Teth Adam are all sharing a body. That seems horribly awkward.

Well, bringing in Captain Marvel and his crew is a good thing. I think Fridolfs might be trying too hard to put the cheesy in "Big Red Cheese", but at least he's not snapping necks or asking people he saved to pay him 20 bucks. I don't mind going too far away from that. Pity Fridolfs had to nerf the JL in the process. I mean, McGinnis has held his own against the Brain trust previously, but here, they got taken out - twice! - in a couple of pages. Barda has suddenly developed a glass jaw, when she ought to be slugging it out with that big muscled lump.

"United Front" and "Point of No Return", by JT Krul (writer), Howard Porter (penciler), Livesay (Inker), Carrie Strachan (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer). J'onn brought in Barda, Kai, and Starfire, and they all set to fighting while Superman keeps trying to convince people to stop fighting. The evil general guy tries to use an untested ultimate weapon, but Supes convinces the scientist to shut it down, then makes a big speech about how both sides need to stop fighting and focus on peace. And there are some people on both sides who are down with this, so the costumed types leave. I don't think it's a great solution, but it's probably one of the better ones I can see. Supes ultimately got them to stop killing each other long enough to at least try and talk peace. The rest is up to them. The cynic in me expects those who want to fight to drown out the moderates, but hopefully the Trillians and Mangals are smarter than we are.

Also, Starfire is apparently lonely and violent now, wandering through space looking for fights. She also has become a jaded cynic. Yay, she abrely resembles any version of the character I give a damn about! Wait, what do I care? This is the last issue of this I'm buying, and I've been down on the Superman stuff since they started throwing it in there. It's a wonder I even wasted my time on it, but what the hell, right?

What I Bought 5/27/2013 - Part 3

Today it's the books I won't be buying in another month. Fearless Defenders #4 didn't show up, and I started to call him about that, but then I remembered I was dropping it soon, so why sweat it?

Batman Beyond Unlimited #15, with "Coming of Age" by J.T. Krul (writer), Howard Porter (penciler), Livesay (inker), Carrie Strachan (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer); "In Gods We Trust" by Derek Fridolfs (writer/inker), Ben Caldwell (penciler), Randy Mayor (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer); "Undercloud: The Sound and the Fury" by Adam Beechen (writer), Norm Breyfogle (artist), Andrew Elder (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer) - Since Temofonte always letters all the stories, should I just list her once at the end, or stick with listing her for each story? I don't mind the way I'm doing it now, but it does feel a redundant.

Superman finds out about the horrible breeding operations the Trillians were running on the Mangals, but being Superman, still advises the Mangals not to go to war. Then the Trillians show up with their army, and Supes is stuck in the middle trying to keep anyone from getting killed. At the end, J'onn shows up with a few other heroes to try and help out. It's hard for me to see this as a situation where the Trillians aren't entirely in the wrong here, but Porter is at least emphasizing that Superman is trying to find a solution that doesn't involve violence. It's not working, because no one is inclined to listen to him (and he doesn't have a real answer at this moment), but that seems right for Superman.

In the second story, Kai-Ro (the kid that's Green Lantern) has gone missing, captured by the Brain Trust, who I vaguely remember from Batman Beyond. Fridolfs does try to get us some idea what they're about. Namely, taking children with powers and brainwashing them into serving the Trust. The trail leads to Fawcett City, which is apparently stuck in the '50s, judging by the greaser that nearly had a car accident from gawking at Barda. I don't blame him for gawking, I too would probably gawk at Barda (why did she ditch the armor? I've never understood that, it's such a cool look). Two members of the trust appear, kick the crap out of the Leaguers, then leave again. Not sure why, they were doing fine. They can't have been scared of Warhawk.

Caldwell's art looks different here from the last time I saw it (that Barda origin story this title did late last year). That might just be the coloring. That story was very stark, deep blacks or pure white, to let the reds or greens jump off the page. This is a little more, normal, I guess. Not so German Expressionist. Makes some of the quirks of his faces stick out a little more. Old Man Wayne looks like Emperor Palpatine, for example, and there's something about Superman's neck that freaks me out. Too thick, probably. His work is very expressive though, creepy when it needs to be, funny, lots of action.

Finally, we get to Undercloud's big plan. A giant robot that will be controlled by the responsometers that went into the Metal Men, and will flatten Gotham. Max is meant to help program the doohickies, and if she doesn't, snap of the fingers, loved ones die, blah, blah. McGinnis, meanwhile, is drawn to a bomb threat at a concert and runs afoul of Shriek. Terry's still feeling the effects of the throwdown with the Joker King, so this could get ugly for him. OK, I knew I'd seen that robot before. It's Alloy, from, ugh, Kingdom Come. Great. Look, I'm sure that's a wonderful story, but like most wonderful stories, it's been bastardized and co-opted by people who may have completely missed the point it was trying to make. So I'm not overjoyed parts of it are seeping into the Beyond Universe. I guess that Justice League/Brain Trust story will end up involving a mind-controlled Captain Marvel, too. Boy I hope I'm wrong about that.

Um, something positive. Oh, Norm Breyfogle's back! Rebel One has a good design. It works for someone who wants to have no distinguishing characteristics to hint at their identity, but not in a complicated way. it's a black jumpsuit with a mask and some big goggles. Simple, effective, kind of spooky.

Fearless Defenders #3, by Cullen Bunn (writer), Will Sliney (artist), Veronica Gandini (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Oh sure, Hippolyta, you think it's a good idea to get your team name tattooed to your back now. What happens when you get traded to the Secret Avengers, or this team gets canceled? You're gonna feel stupid then.

Hela is adamant that Valkyrie not go after these Doom Maidens, but won't exactly say why. She does tell us how incredibly good they are at killing things. Except Amazons, apparently. She wants them stopped because after they kill everything on Earth and Asgardia, they might come after her realm. They already abducted Dani, and she's Hela's shield maiden, damn it! One thing that amuses me about the big muckety-mucks in the Marvel Universe, be it gods or cosmic abstractions like Galactus, is they're just a bunch of cliquish teenagers at heart. They're on top of the heap, and all that really riles them is someone trying to supplant them, or mess with their turf. Thanos, Death Maidens, it doesn't matter. End digression.

The All-Mothers decree everyone will go, including Annabelle Riggs, plucky archeologist. They travel to a seemingly empty town, Val senses something which draws them into a cavern and whoops, the Maidens are loose, the heroes are losing and oh, Val used to be one of them. So that's possibly bad. Annabelle and Misty may have rescued Dani Moonstar just in time for them all the be decapitated together.

So things are a bit more interesting. I can't figure why Hela didn't explain why Val shouldn't be involved. She had a reason, I presume it's Val being one of the Doom Maidens, wouldn't explaining it have been more effective than merely hinting? Also, Hippolyta's a little more bloodthirsty and rude than I was hoping for. She certainly takes after her father, but I was hoping for more similarity to Hercules, or the Aquaman on the Brave and the Bold cartoon, since those are kind of how I picture Wonder Woman's mom during her stint on the JSA, and that sounded pretty cool. She's not a bad character, has some potential, just not quite what I was hoping for. I like the color for Hippolyta's tattoo. That electric blue really stands out, guides the eye up to her face, which is a nice touch. Also, I find Le Fay tedious. All the mocking she does towards Dani is terribly dull. It's not even good villain monologue, more some bratty kid.

There was one page Sliney drew that caught my eye. Page 12, as Val senses something and leads them in the church. The point of view starts low, at her feet, and as we progress across the page and through the panels, it pulls back and rises, then gradually moves closer and continues to rise. By the end, we're somewhere above her head, looking down on her and the stairs she's descending. It's a nice effort, but the last panel is crowded. There wasn't enough room for Val at the top of it, so she takes up some much of the rest the stairs probably aren't as prominent as they ought to be. Plus, having the first panel on the opposite page be the stairs from a different angle creates a confusing effect. I almost start to think they're the same panel, but then realize that doesn't make any sense.

What I Bought 4/2/2013 - Part 3

Today's for Batman Beyond Unlimited 13 and 14. So I figured I'd just hit each story individually, and list the credits as I go along.

"Flashdrive", parts 1, 2, and 3, by Derek Fridolfs (writer/inker), Jorge Corona (penciler), Nick Filardi (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer) - Bruce has another cave under the reguler one, where he stores the corpses of super criminals, because Harvey Dent got a law passed that said he could, basically. This feels like it would run up against the same issues as Marvel's Super Hero Registration Act, namely, what constitutes a "super criminal". Also, the criminals may lose all rights, but what about any family or loved ones? Something to consider later.

A fellow named Ronald Tagg has the ability to copy powers and memories of anyone or anything he touches, and he's been a busy boy down in the Vault. Hmm, if they're corpses, would their cells still have anything in them to download? Something else to consider later. Now he's on his way to the Flash Museum, and while he handles the Justice League pretty easily, he can't handle the new Flash, a young lady named Danica. Her connection to the Speed Force lets her communicate mentally with all the other Flashes, and she uses that to overwhelm Tagg's mind.

I'd like to see what Nguyen would have done with a speedster artistically, but oh well. Corona's OK, though there isn't any flow to the fights scenes. Most of it feels static. Also, he drew Mr. Miracle as being taller than Barda, which, no. Then again, Fridolfs wrote dialogue which suggests Barda likes for Scott to carry her (and that Barda didn't like Wally West), which again, NO. The story's a good intro to the new Flash, but other than that, it's pretty weak.

"10,000 Clowns: Conclusion", by Adam Beechen (writer), Norm breyfogle (artist), Andrew Elder (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer) - Even working together, Grayson and Terry can't handle the Joker King. Because he's nuts, I guess. Dana rushes in and is taken hostage, Doug ranting about how he's won, he's gonna kill one more person, then Dana elbows him in the ribs and they both fall off the building. Terry catches her, Doug's foot gets tangled in a rope and his head hits a girder. Terry says they won, but Doug's corpse sure does look happy. Also, Undercloud's about to make their big play, which looks like it involves a robot I could swear I've seen in Metal Men.

The thing about villains like Doug, it's hard for me to care, because he's a petulant kid denying reality. If you stop him from killing his sister, or from killing you, well so what? He didn't need to do that anyway, man. If you keep any more of his followers from killing themselves, he doesn't care, because he'll claim it was a victory just getting them here. Even if you punched him out the second he left jail and threw him back in, he'd still claim he "won", because you had to waste time stopping him or something. He keeps moving the goalposts, and if he's going to keep doing that, eventually I'll stop caring. Punch him out and move on. If we accept everything is meaningless, then what he did is meaningless. People will eventually forget what he was after, if they even know. They'll rebuild, move on, and probably learn nothing from it. Ultimately he killed some people, but hell, everyone was gonna die someday, some way, so what did he accomplish?

"Legends of the Dark Knight: Dana", by Adam Beechen (writer), Peter Nguyen (penciler), Craig Yeung (inker), Andrew Elder (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer) - Dana reflects on her childhood in the aftermath of her brother's death. There's a lot about Doug and her father fighting, her trying to ignore it all, and then she tells Terry and Bruce she knows their secret. Good luck with that one, Dana. Good news, they found a new liver for Mr. Wayne. Doug's. I suppose we should worry about what sort of Joker toxins might be in there, but Bruce had so many painkillers running through his system for so long, he probably wouldn't notice.

The part I found most interesting was when Dana says that while Doug was in jail, she'd pretend she didn't have a brother. At the same time, she'd wonder whether she'd let him down somehow, like it was her fault. That seemed real, a kid simultaneously wanting to deny unpleasant truths, and to fix them. I'd prefer more of that, and less of Terry making up stories to protect the secret identity. Nguyen's artowrk looks stiff, people are kind of oddly shaped, faces lopsided at times. Maybe it's supposed to be more realistic, but there are only a few times Dana actually looks like she usually does. Elder also turned down the intensity of the colors for this part. Normally I'd be opposed to that, but it works pretty well for what's meant to be a period of decompression for the characters. The worst is over, now they have to regroup, reassess, so the adrenaline wears off and things get a bit duller.

"Judgment Day" and "A Gift From Above", by J.T. Krul (writer), Howard Porter (penciler), Livesay (inker), Carrie Strachan (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer) - Superman's been captured by the Trillians, and their leader promptly sets to torturing him for the masses. The lead scientist who captured Supes - really, it was Lobo - has doubts, especially when his kid asks if he can flip the switch next time. Tyro and Supes talk a bit, then the Mangals show up and rescue Superman, bringing him to their home in the forests. One is left behind, who Epoq starts torturing for the location of that home. Superman is busy learning that the reason the Mangals look so much bigger now is they were children when he last saw them. Because there were only children left. Because the Trillians killed all the adults.

I had thought this was going to be a story about the dangers of butting in without understanding the situation, as the U.S. frequently does, then leaving a big mess behind. It still might be, if Superman decides he really should have stuck around to help the Mangals and Trillians learn to work together without subjugation. That was going to be tricky, considering the Trillians had enslaved the Mangals, and outright denied they had the capacity to govern themselves, but I don't know, there might be a way to pull it off. Maybe a plague had struck the Mangals, the Trillians originally (generations ago) took them in to help, and that was lost over time? Maybe not.

However, once you introduce the idea that one group killed every single adult of the other group, that's out the window. At that point, I'm not wondering if Superman should have stuck around to help them work together, I'm wondering if he should have used his heat vision to burn every trace of the Trillians off that planet. Which is not a Superman thing to do, but that's where my mind went.

Best I can figure, Krul's trying to show us something about privilege. Tyro's not a bad guy, he doesn't approve of torture, worries that his son's excited by it. At the same time, he buys into the party line that the Mangals were basically meant to serve the Trillians, and that it was wrong of Superman to free them. Because it inconveniences Trillians (though their homes and cities look fine, people aren't afraid to gather in one place to watch a torturing. it's not '90s Kosovo or '80s Beirut). So Superman's going to have to convince the Trillians to change their perspective, I guess. Not sure how that'll work when they all hate his guts.

What I Bought 2/25/2013 - Part 2

I keep promising myself I'll stop reading comments sections on major websites, and I keep breaking that promise, and I always regret it.

Batman Beyond Unlimited #12, by J.T. Krul (writer), Howard Porter (pencils), Livesay (inks), Carrie Strachan (colors), Saida Temofonte (letterer) for "War Crimes"; Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen (writers), Fiona Staples (artist), Saida Temofonte (letterer) for "Beyond Origin: Micron"; Adam Beechen (writer), Norm Breyfogle (artist), Andrew Elder (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer) for "10,000 Clowns: No Future" - Is that supposed to be something wrapped around Lobo's arm? Or is it just a random scrap of fabric? I could see him wrapping part of a Green Lantern uniform around his arm, just to show off, but otherwise.

Superman visits J'onn in his current civilian identity, and the Martian helps him remember why the Trillians want him dead. Then Lobo attacks, and the two heroes team-up to fight. Seems to be going well until the Trillians catch J'onn by surprise and Superman folds his tent. Really, he basically just gives up. He's captured, and brought to the Trillians' homeworld to be tried for what he did. Maybe I'm to infer Supes surrendered to protect J'onn. As far as this thing with the Trillians goes, I want to hear from the Mangals, the ones Superman freed. Or at least see what they're up to, because while I'm inclined to believe Superman, given the way things go in comics these days, it's possible he really did screw up. I doubt it. More likely he'll face a kangaroo court situation, but it's possible.

Over in Gotham, Terry narrowly avoids strangulation, and escapes, pondering what the hell he's doing this for as he passes out. Which leaves Dick Grayson to do a Frank Miller Batman impression as he squares off with the Joker King. And Max learns the truth about Undercloud, which is disappointing, but not surprising. It's like Payback said, you go up high enough, there's always one guy. I like how Breyfogle managed to draw Grayson in silhouette as he swung in so that his jacket looked like a short cape, ala his Robin costume.

There's also an origin for Micron, which was pretty good. I'm impressed his mother could afford to keep moving on a paramedic's salary, especially if his size-changing kept wrecking the places they were living. Not getting the security deposit back from that. It's nice she's his inspiration, and that using his powers to help people is how he found himself, without a bunch of missteps along the way.

Dial H #9, by China Mieville (writer), Alberto Ponticelli (penciler), Dan Green (inker), Tanay & Richard Horie (colorists), Steve Wands (letterer) - I saw that cover and just assumed it was some play on the Human Centipede's name and nature. That he was a predatory, insect-like mind. Either that, or the dial picked up on it when he used it. Wrong on both counts. As with most things, the correct answer was focus group testing.

For some reason, the dial won't work for the Centipede. Which gives Roxie time to tase him and dial up a hero herself, allowing her and Nelson to escape. In the aftermath, we get a look at what the department Centipede works for looks like, what they know (a lot, and different stuff from Roxie), and the problems they're facing. Namely, their chosen dial user can't seem to retain control out in the field. Centipede has theories, but as we've seen, he has plans of his own and keeps mum. Making him wear that helmet didn't make him any more inclined to share, I imagine. Nelson dials up The Glimpse and sneaks into the headquarters in hopes of finding the Canadians' dial. He locates it, but Centipede suckers the user into dialing up to fight him, which is where it ends.

Is Ponticelli the new regular artist? That'd be fine, if he could make Roxie a little less weathered. I know she's supposed to be an older lady, and normally, no concerns. But there were a couple of panels where she started to resemble Aunt May at her most wrinkly, and I don't know if that's quite what Mieville's looking for. That may just be an aspect of Ponticelli's style I'll adjust to. It's not a big enough deal to detract from the rest. Somehow, he's able to draw a lady minotaur in such a way that it looks strange, but not absurd, but get across how ridiculous the Centipede looks with the bug head. Maybe that's the juxtaposition with his suit, but he looks as silly as I imagine he feels.

"Whiny Eagle" as the Canadian designation for the U.S. is great. It's interesting to me that Nelson and Roxie seem relatively able to function when they dial, but have a hard time getting a hero they feel will fit the task at hand. Personally, I think Cloud Herd would have worked fine, but they disagree. meanwhile, the Canadian soldier can't control himself in the field, but his dial brought up a hero perfectly suited for confronting The Glimpse on the first try. Is it just a sign of how imperfect all the dials are, that each is deficient in their own way?

What I Bought 12/17/2012 - Part 2

Most of the comics in the latest shipment were from titles that have shipped twice since the last one. There are 6 that weren't, though. We covered 2 yesterday, and I thought about just splitting the other 4, but I figured I'd do the DC one today, and cover the 3 Marvel titles tomorrow.

Batman Beyond Unlimited #10, by Dustin Nguyen (writer & pencils), Derek Fridolfs (writer & inks), Randy Mayor (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letters) for "Konstriction Chapter 10: The Mortal Coil"; Adam Beechen (writer), Norm Breyfogle (artist), Andrew Elder (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer) for "10,000 Clowns: Lights of Gotham"; J.T. Krul (writer), Howard Porter (pencils), Livesay (inks), Carrie Strachan (colors), Saida Temofonte (letters) for uh, I don't know what that title is - Everyone in Future DCU is so judgmental? They're all giving me the eye! Don't blame me for the nu52! You could have done something, Old Superman!

Justice League: Etrigan's out, and attacking everyone. Superman, the Hawks, and fortunately the Serpent. It just so happens the Serpent is vulnerable to fire, as deduced by Bruce Wayne based of what he heard of what happened on Apokolips. Marina gets Micron out from under Spellbinder's control, and the two of them plus Barda deal with the head of Kobra. Then there's a lot of follow up, with the League deciding to expand, Mr. Miracle reuniting with Barda, and Jimmy Olsen's funeral. I'm surprisingly sad about that, but better him than the Wall.

This story had a pacing problem. I feel like things moved too slowly through all those 10-page installments, and now things had to move at light speed. So Etrigan shows up and dispatches the Serpent, and then pick up the pieces. It hurts the sense of scale of the story because the story just ends because it has to end right now. That said, I did love the emotion of the story. Barda and Scott's reunion was lovely (and it's great that Nguyen remembers Barda is much taller), Superman's sorrow at Jimmy's death, Bruce's concern for Terry, contrasted with his willingness to risk Terry's neck (and possibly his soul).

This may be a result of reading too many comics Ennis wrote with Etrigan, but Nguyen and Fridolfs need to up their game on the rhymes.  The ones they had were this combination of simple, awkward, and stilted. Ennis wrote them in a way that the cadence of the sentences suggested Etrigan's personality, but these are sort of there. He's speaking in rhymes because that's what he does. It's the sort of rhyme I'd write, in other words.

Batman: Dana's brother explains to his pal what the Joker got wrong, and sets off to kill Dana and the rest of his family. Tim heads into the cave. Bruce refuses to be evacuated until Dana's father is, staying with her. The heroes (Terry, Catwoman, Grayson, Vigilante) get together just as a power plant explodes, but Terry has a plan cooking, something to do with that explosives trigger he got away from Mad Stan. Meanwhile, the only thing standing between the Joker King and his family is one sickly old man. A sickly old man very excited at the prospect of getting to pummel one last Joker.

Breyfogle's kicking butt as usual. The way he draws Bruce combines perfectly with Andrew Elder's colors to suggest how sick the guy is. The colors, especially, as Bruce is this sort of gray-green that clashes with the colors of everyone and everything else. Combine that with the look on his face in the first panel of the last page, and he's kind of terrifying. Some dying otherworldly horror, determined to get the last laugh.

Also, I like the fact that even as he's gotten older, Dick Grayson apparently still has great hind end. At least, if Catwoman's comment is anything to go by. It amuses for some reason.

Superman: I seriously have no idea what that title is. I think it might just be his Superman emblem, but they've cut off the bottom of it with a panel, which makes it looks like "N7", or "ND" or something. Nice work, people.

Clark's doing the fireman thing, then ducking out when Superman's needed to save one of his coworkers. Bennett doesn't think he needed any help. Afterward, the firemen have a discussion about whether they should just let Superman handle all this stuff, with Bennett saying no, they can't always expect someone else to handle things, they have to do it themselves. Clark, sorry "Kal" agrees, but thinks there's nothing wrong with accepting help when you need it. This will certainly not be a key aspect of this story arc, I'm sure. Also, there are some aliens called Trillians here for Superman because he destroyed their world. Hmm, well, that's ominous.

I can appreciate that Krul's trying to address some of the aspects of Superman and how people would perceive him, but he's being a little too obvious about it. Maybe demonstrate it more through Superman's actions, less through pointed conversations with a specific character in each arc. Bennett in this one, that cop Walker in the previous arc.

So Justice League was good in theory, a little spotty in execution. I loved the art on the Batman part, and Superman's jut sort of there. Business as usual, then. Tomorrow, Captain Marvel, Defenders, Secret Avengers! I'm more disappointed than you might think that Diamond ended up getting Jack his copies of Defenders.