Meandering Bat-Rants

[thehefner]

Every so often, I feel like I need to do a list weighing the things I love and hate about modern superhero comics, to figure out if it's really worth the emotional and/or financial investment anymore. I'm still very much in the pro camp, but damn, it's like every week, something else comes out to anger the blood.



Tony Daniel has left me cold anyway, but the revelation of Selina's new "partner"...? Good lord, and I thought his Bat!Two-Face costume was the nadir of his costume design capabilities. Why the hell hasn't anyone at scans_daily posted this so that we may sufficiently groan and rant about Daniel's foolishness?

Speaking of the horrendous Bat!Two-Face costume (which looks like Harvey cosplaying as Harley... badly), I bought all the issues of the Winick/Bagley run of BATMAN, since it would be cheaper than shelling out for the ripoff hardcover collection. And y'know what? I don't think it's that bad. Actually, I kind of prefer it to Morrison's.

I mean, okay, I'm biased against Morrison, I admit that. But what I particularly dislike about Morrison is how he's all about action and ideas, whereas Winick's BATMAN actually dealt with more internal character struggles. I noticed that some critics felt this was more "same old, same old" in comparison to Morrison's BOLD NEW IDEAS OMG (or whatever his strengths are; outside of Damian, he just leaves me cold beyond anything other than a momentary "well, that was odd and fun"), but frankly, Winick's story felt more like actual "Batman" to me, y'know?

But then, Morrison continues to be a sticking point with me. It's kind of amazing how he never fails to invoke such bitter frustration whenever I see his BATMAN work on the shelves! Today, on scans_daily, I encountered an argument between Morrison and Loeb fans as to which was the superior story: BATMAN R.I.P. or HUSH. In such a battle, no one wins. Or maybe I just especially lose.

So if we're really at a point where the two camps of Bat-thought are between the likes of Loeb and Morrison, is there really a place for fans like me? Well, even if I feel like there isn't one now, I'm sure there will be eventually. That's the great thing about superhero comics: it all comes back 'round eventually. Just as long as one's patient enough to ride the cycles out.

Until then, thank god for outlets like scans_daily. Now seriously, someone post the Catgirl bullshit. I need to vent some fan-steam.

Comments

[lairdofdarkness.livejournal.com]

Ahem...if I may?

Ok you know I am very much Pro-Morrison and I know you aint. I respect your views and enjoy reading them.
I love the character of Batman. The idea and the backstory, the villians and the city. All of it appeals to me and has done from my early teens. However I rarely enjoy the Batman comics. Mainly because I sit there thinking "Why have they done that when it seems obvious to me that they would have been better doing this". The last time I enjoyed Batman on a regular basis was when Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle were on the title. Now Morrison has had his run on Batman (A run I mostly enjoyed although I can see why others may not like the run) and moved onto Batman and Robin, I can honestly say that the issues of that title have been some of my favourites of like...ever!
The nature of comics timelines and continuity means that everything can change in one issue (and in the case of some titles, back again) so I have managed to get to the point where I just enjoy the stories as stand alone tales of the characters. Morrisons take on comics has mostly consisted of Fantastic Ideas often half-realised and in some cases discarded without a second thought(Hef postd a while ago about why the Batman RIP storyline would have been made better by having Hugo Strange as the Black hand and I completely agree - a missed opportunity by Dc and Morrison there). Warren Ellis is similar in his portrayal of ideas but he seems to follow them through better. So why do I prefer Morrison? Well because my mind is always popping with ideas when I read Morrisons comics. He seems to make me think of things that excite me and make me want to find out more. Very few writers elicit that response in me (and to be honest they are mostly all British - put that down to me being Scottish and my exposure to media as I grew up).
Final Crisis is a case in point. Personally I think it is a fantastic, deep and at times frightening piece of work. As a stand alone story, it deserves to be up there with Watchmen and V for Vendetta for me. However as part of the greater DC universe, it has mostly already been ignored (Bruce being dead aside) and that is how it should be. It could very well have been an "Elseworlds" tale and not lost any of its power. Everything that you need to know about the story is there on the pages, if you know the characters you benefit slightly, if you know the history of some of them then that also makes the story resonate more. The main thing is that it works on different levels.
I realise that I am very much in the minority with this view but as Hef says, just wait things out and eventually comics will return to something you can enjoy.
As for Daniels run on Batman, I thought it was ok but Catgirl has come out of nowhere and for seemingly no good reason. I hate it when comic characters have to have female equivalents for no other reason than "It sounds cool".

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Ahem...if I may?



YOU MAY!!!

So why do I prefer Morrison? Well because my mind is always popping with ideas when I read Morrisons comics. He seems to make me think of things that excite me and make me want to find out more. Very few writers elicit that response in me (and to be honest they are mostly all British - put that down to me being Scottish and my exposure to media as I grew up).

Now that, I can understand! I mean, Morrison leaves me absolutely cold in this regard, but I absolutely love it when, say, Alan Moore does that.

Actually, it's funny, just a few hours ago, I was explaining to Henchgirl why I love Geoff Johns' work on GREEN LANTERN. He's not an exceptionally great writer--and while I love love love Hal and Sinestro, Tomasi's GREEN LANTERN CORPS is the far superior title--but lately, he's been a hell of an idea man. Very much in the Silver Age vein too (which Morrison also shoots for, and which worked for me in ALL-STAR SUPERMAN), where earnestness makes even the corniest, silliest concepts fly. That's why the two GL titles are so great: Johns introduces the ideas, and Tomasi actually employs them to great effect through story and character.

And character, as I've mentioned, is one of the most important things for superhero comics, to my mind. Actually, it's the most important thing (and it's also something Johns does well in GL).

So when it comes to character, Batman has one of the best ensemble supporting cast ever. Period. The sidekicks, the villains, the anti-villains, the anti-heroes, the cops, Alfred, Leslie, Lucius... the list goes on and on.

Which is why when you say that you rarely enjoyed Batman comics up until Morrison, my immediate reaction is a kind of ineffectual hand-flappity "But--but--but--but! The characters! Gotham! Arkham! Jim Gordon!"

That's one of the things that really bugs me about Morrison's Batman. He discards virtually all of them. I'm still not sure how I feel about Neil Gaiman's WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CAPED CRUSADER?, but it at least felt far more like a culmination of Batman's life and career than BATMAN R.I.P. did.

I'm actually enjoying BATMAN AND ROBIN in many regards, but I feel like one could make a couple minor changes to Dick and write it as original characters in tribute to Batman, and it'd work even better.

Honestly, if Morrison did that, we might well have a Batman equivalent to Alan Moore's SUPREME! Damn, I wish that had been the case.

[kingrockwell]

The reason no one's posted Selina's sidekick is because no one reads Tony Daniel's Batman. It's the simplest explanation. (i've only ever flipped through one issue myself)

The funny thing about Winick's arc is that I don't typically like Winick so much, and I definitely do not at all like Bagley, but maybe it was just having something actually feel right in the midst of all the Morrison and Daniel at the time?

Batman and Robin #10 is prolly the first tissue in the whole series I actually liked for the story. I've mostly just been enjoying the art from the beginning. I think my initial enjoyment of the series had more to do with Quitely's flying car chases than anything else, and it says a lot that I almost dropped the book during Phillip Tan's run (of course, it didn't help that they were being mean to Jason).

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I certainly hope that explanation extends to the readership in general.

Funny, I never cared much for Jason nor Winick, particularly since Winick seemed to write Jason as his own personal Mary Sue (remember the month when the Red Hood showed up in Batman and Outsiders and Green Arrow, and totally owned everybody because he was soooooo awesome? Correct me if I was wrong about those issues), but after what Daniel and Morrison have done to the character, I actually miss the previous Jason! I just want him to be a bit less forcibly awesome, that's all.