Category Archives: Batman
The World Wonders If Robin Finally Gets R.I.P.’D In Batman Inc. #8 On The Wednesday Run – February 27, 2013
A few weeks back, this column highlighted Batman #17, the final chapter in a storyline entitles “Death of the Family”. If you missed it, you can read about that particular issue here.
Now, it’s not really a spoiler to say that no one really died in the Batman family (Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, etc.) in that issue – but they were left quite distraught and distrustful of their patriarch hero.
Batman Inc. #8, perhaps the most amazingly wacky and fun series that still somehow seems to exist within regular DC “New 52” continuity, without giving too much away, may have an entirely different kind of ending.
Let me help you get caught up.
Tainted Love for the DC Comics Trinity
Last February I talked about the trinity of DC Comics – Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman – and who their true loves should be. This year I’m going to take a different tact. I’ll be talking about those particularly twisted folks who think they should be their true loves. Yeah, baby, that’s right. I’ll be talking Super-Stalkers after the jump.
The Death Of The Family Is Promised In Batman #17 On The Wednesday Run – February 13, 2013
We’ve been here before. Sort of.
Flashback: It’s the fall of 1988 and I, along with thousands of other Batman fans, excitedly pick up the double-sized Batman #426. The Mike Mignola cover (along with a wave of advertising) promises that the “A Death in the Family” four-part storyline, written by Jim Starlin ad illustrated by Jim Aparo, would prove absolutely epic. The final page, a preview of what was to come promised that “Someone will die because the Joker wants revenge. But you can prevent it.”
Me? How? I’m just a reader!
That fall, DC Comics made readers writers – and the unprecedented responsibility of a characters life – or death – was in fandom’s hands!
Guest Blogger Jason Lapidus on Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2
‘Batman fanatic’? That would suggest that if a product contains Batman, I’m a fan. Far from it, in fact. I’m more like… um… a ‘Batmanologist’.
Too long had he tried to restrain himself within the shackles of apathy and alcohol. Too long had the people been without their hero. After a ten-year exile, Batman finally burst through the smog and filth, defeating the gang that ruled Gotham, and humiliating their leader. Now that the city is reclaimed, all that stands in his way are his deadliest enemy and his most powerful ally.
Today, the culmination of the dreams of countless Batman fans comes to fruition with the release of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 on DVD, BluRay and digital download. The first of two instalments impressed fans last fall (see review here), leaving most excited about the emotional and action-packed conclusion. This direct to video animated feature is based on the highly acclaimed and much beloved limited series turned graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns (1986), by writer/penciler Frank Miller (Sin City, 300, Batman: Year One), inker Klaus Janson, and painter Lynn Varley.
Ten years after the last sighting of the famous crime-fighter/vigilante known as The Batman, the rise of a violent gang forces his return to Gotham City. TDKR Part 2 follows the media’s heated debate, the return of a rejuvenated Joker, and the inevitable confrontation with Superman, who now quietly acts on behalf of the United States government. The story is filled with Batman staples, like Robin, Alfred, Gordon, colourful villains, the cave, the car, cool equipment, cool fights, and a cool climax.
Read the rest of this entry
Biff Bam Pop’s Holiday Gift Guide: DC Comics: Year By Year A Visual Chronicle Updated Edition
Our friends at DK Publishing produce some truly amazing books but they’ve outdone themselves this year with their 2012 version of the slipcase hardcover: DC Comics: Year By Year A Visual Chronicle Updated Edition. Not only is it a great looking tome, but DK has actually made some sense of the DC Universe’s intricately tangled (and fanboy infuriating) eight decades worth of story continuity while laying the groundwork for the next set of important stories to unfurl.
It’s a lovely sight to behold!
The Waiting Is Over But The Joke’s On Batman #13 On The Wednesday Run – October 10, 2012
A year in the making.
That’s how long it’s been that the fanboys and fangirls of DC’s “New 52” have been waiting for the return of Batman’s arch villain, the Joker.
Oh, yeah, you remember: the final scene in the pages of last September’s Detective Comics #1 - the scene where Joker really goes off the deep end and, as part of some sick, twisted scheme, has his outer epidermis savagely sheared from his face and left behind, pinned to a wall as a trophy – no – as a warning, for Gotham’s finest?
A “rebirth”, Joker called it.
We haven’t seen him since that issue. And now it’s October. 2012. And Joker’s back. You don’t get a better Halloween treat than that, do you? Yes you do!
There’s a trick to go with that treat!
Exclusive Review – Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1
BBP contributor and Batman fanatic Jason Lapidus (aka ohthree) was kind enough to drop by with an exclusive early review of The Dark Knight Returns: Part 1. Take it away, Jason!
“This should be agony. I should be a mass of aching muscle — broken, spent, unable to move. And were I an older man, I surely would… But I’m a man of thirty — of twenty again. The rain on my chest is a baptism — I’m born again… I smell their fear — and it is sweet.”
Twenty again? More like fourteen, actually. I first read those words the night my parents took me to see Batman in 1989. I stopped by the merchandise stand before the movie started and bought my first copy of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. I was introduced to the most influential interpretation of the character since his inception in 1939, and I was so lost in those words and images that I didn’t want to put the book down once the lights dimmed. Since then, I have wanted to see an animated adaptation of the story more than any other before it or since.
Back to School – Dick Grayson Goes to College
Art by George Perez
Let me tell you a little known comics secret. Dick Grayson, alias Nightwing, alias the first Robin, Bruce Wayne’s ward, is a college drop out. And he attended for over a decade (well, not in comics time). Meet me after the jump and I’ll tell you all about when Dick Grayson went to college.
