Gotham Adventures, Batman Adventures Holiday Special

Gotham Adventures 13-15

A nice final string of stories to close out the issues that I own.

Issue 13 - Kelley Puckett returns to write the final Mastermind/Perfesser/Mr Nice story.  Mastermind and Perfesser bid a tearful goodbye to their old friend as the readers and creative team do the same for Archie Goodwin (Mr Nice’s real life inspiration, who had recently passed away when the issue was published).  It’s a very sweet issue, with a delightfully whimsical explanation for Mr Nice’s departure:

Issue 14 - Harley Quinn coats the pages of her new novel with a mind control drug (borrowed from Poison Ivy, naturally).  But while Batman prepares for everything (including this), it raises a whole other disturbing line of questioning...

Issue 15 - Bane plays the long game, earning the trust of a poor neighborhood in Gotham by playing the Robin Hood role, thus securing their loyalty for future schemes.  But until those schemes are realized, do his motives really matter if the people’s lives are truly improved with no strings attached? The Bat family doesn’t have the answer, and Scott Peterson writes the story in such a way that I don’t either.  Nicely done.

Poor form by Bane.  He's not generating any power with that swing.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Harley and Ivy 1

Paul Dini and Bruce Timm reunite for this three issue miniseries.  I only bought the first issue (it was fun but not that fun). Poison Ivy could just as easily have been replaced by the Joker, for all the antics Harley employed to thaw her sullen mood.  Still, it was entertaining enough. Ivy’s always been a better, healthier partner for Harley, and their adventures are a lot more fun than Harley/Joker’s.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Batman Adventures: Holiday Special 1

Now this was a treat.  Paul Dini writes five short stories, and there not a clunker among them.  Harley and Ivy take a reluctant, mind-controlled Bruce Wayne on a shopping spree, and their unfettered glee brought me joy as well.

Bruce's lack of enthusiasm is just as hilarious.

The Mr. Freeze story ends on the melancholy note that all good Mr. Freeze stories seem to end on.

And it turns out Batman and Commissioner Gordon meet for a cup of coffee every New Year’s.  Unsurprisingly, Batman always pays the bill along with his customary disappearance.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Gotham Adventures

Gotham Adventures 1-3,7,10-12

The reboot really gave the animated Batman comics a much needed jolt of energy.  There’s an amazing zip to Burchett’s art that makes every panel fun to read. The stories by Ty Templeton are also more inspired.  There’s a level of complexity that raises it a level above Batman and Robin Adventures.

Issue 1: The father of a Joker victim puts a 50 million dollar hit on the Clown Prince.  Batman and his team spend the issue keeping the Joker alive. Batman defuses the situation by plopping the Joker in front of the father, who can’t bring himself to pull the trigger.  Not the first time that ploy’s been used, but it’s well executed.

I’m generally not as much a fan of the reboot’s art style, but I do like what they did with the Riddler.  The bald head and dapper bowler is a great look on him.

This Joker is way less intimidating than the Batman Adventures version, but he’s pretty terrifying on this page:

Issue 2: A nice bit with Two-Face and his father, but the highlights are the action scenes.  The Batgirl re-design is really sweet, and Burchett draws the hell out of her in action. Her color scheme is also superior to the old one.  

That's an odd way to hold binoculars.  Great colors by Lee Loughridge.

Love that profile of Batgirl.

Issue 7: The initial Dagger story in Batman and Robin Adventure 14 was snooze-worthy, but this one adds a dimension I hadn’t seen before.  Tim Drake’s father’s reformed criminal partner discovers Robin’s secret identity.  Financial woes lead him to blackmail Tim, even though he’s genuinely concerned about Tim’s well-being.  When the Penguin gets involved, Dagger does the right thing and keeps the secret to himself. It’s a nice character study of Dagger, I liked the issue.  

Issue 11: An original take on the Riddler.  Realizing that he likes it when Batman solves his riddles, he starts using them to lead his nemesis to other criminals.  He views it as a win win win - Batman gets the bad guys, Riddler gets to practice his craft, and he avoids capture. Unfortunately for Mr Nygma, Batman still manages to locate him, leading to this new insight:

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Batman and Robin Adventures, Lost Years

Batman and Robin Adventures 21-25

This is not a title that’s conducive to binge reading.  Like the tv show it emulates, there’s absolutely no continuity from issue to issue, and unless the stories are top notch, they can get stale and repetitive really quickly.  These stories aren’t stale, but they don’t stimulate either. Three things stood out to me across these five issues, and two of them are art related:

I mentioned the Vargas comparison a few days ago.  It goes from inspired-by to straight up homage on the cover of issue 21.  (I just spent way too much time looking for the best Vargas reference.)

I love the design for the Batwing.  

Issue 25 - Ty Templeton writes a great inner monologue for Batman as he falls from eighteen thousand feet.  Objectively, it’s nothing more than a narration of his actions, but it’s an awesome bit of insight into his frame of mind as he faces what should be certain death.  When coupled with Batman’s amazing feats of physical strength and dexterity, it creates one of the best action sequences in the run.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine

Batman Adventures: Lost Years 1-5

Continuity!  Character growth!  What a breath of fresh air after 60+ issues of not having any.  (Minus that three-parter where Batman lost his memory and the couple of issues where Batgirl gained some experience.)  

The series fills in the three years between animated series, which allows Dick Grayson to transition into Nightwing, going on a journey of education and personal discovery similar to Bruce when he first trained to become Batman.  Tim Drake and Barbara Gordon join the Bat Family as well. There’s actual change, and that makes this a welcome addition.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine

Batman Adventures, Batman and Robin Adventures

Batman Adventures 31-36

The last of the Puckett/Parobeck run.  (Mike Parobeck would pass away a year or so after the final issue of this series came out.)  The final three issues formed a rare multi-issue arc in the title. Hugo Strange wipes Batman’s memory, reducing him to his seven year-old mental state.  It creates a couple of funny moments, particularly when Bruce discovers that he’s the Batman.

It also allows for one of the few moments where Batman is able to break through Catwoman’s affectation of not caring about what Batman thinks of her.  

I was moved by the tragedy of Hugo Strange’s predicament.  

This title is light and fun, with a nice touch of poignancy.  But a good portion of my affection for Batman Adventures comes from the fond memories I have reading these with my sister when we were in high school.  I’d buy these again if faced with the choice, but much of it would be for sentimental reasons. I don’t have the same feelings for the followup titles, as will be evident in my future reviews.

 

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Batman and Robin Adventures 1-20

Paul Dini wrote the first three issues, and Ty Templeton took over after that.  The stories are serviceable for the most part, but not really memorable. I’m sorely tempted to keep only the few issues that made any kind of impression on me, but I’m still undecided.  Part of me is thinking that it’d be nice to share these with my kids someday. Here are the highlights:

Issue 6 - A tabloid headline announces that Batman fired Robin, which leads to an epidemic of sidekick wannabes.  Batman and the very-much-employed Robin have to deal with these nuisances while trying to locate a kidnapped Robin pretender.  One of the applicants bears a striking resemblance to Frank Miller’s Carrie Robin, though she’s not nearly as competent.

Issue 8 - Poison Ivy mind controls Robin with a kiss, adding an unwelcome addition to her partnership with Harley Quinn.  Harley bristles at her new role as third wheel, and resorts to drastic measures to restore the status quo. A hilarious story, and like issue 6, also drawn by Rick Burchett.  I wonder why he inked most of the issues, when he’s a far better artist than the other pencillers (Brandon Kruse, Dev Madan, Joe Staton, and the truly regrettable Tim Harkins)

This is Burchett, not the regrettable Harkins.

Issue 20 - It turns out the GCPD has a nightly betting pool on how many criminals Batman and Robin will bring in.  Detective Bullock is stuck with the the high number of twenty, and spends the night rooting for the Dynamic Duo. It’s an amusing little hook, and adds just enough spice to an otherwise pedestrian night of crime fighting.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No.  Yes for 8 and 20.

Rating: Fine.  Nice for 8 and 20.

Skyward, Mister Miracle, Pearl, Strangers in Paradise

New comics!

Pearl 2

Things are definitely on a slow burn.  Not a complaint this time around, as Bendis shows us a younger Pearl learning the tattoo craft from her mother.  Michael Gaydos does a great job in these flashbacks, and Pearl’s practice bananas are works of art in their own right.  I’m still in.

Strangers in Paradise XXV 6

Terry Moore gives us way more Francine than he has in previous issues, and it’s wonderful.  There’s nothing inherently exciting about what he shows us - Francine takes her kids to visit her ailing mother.  But the interactions ring true with their verisimilitude and the emotions are genuine. It’s a beautiful slice of life.  

It’s far more interesting than the main storyline, although stark raving furious Katchoo is laugh out loud entertaining.

Skyward 6

I’m discovering that this title is pretty much guaranteed to provide at least one or two stunning art moments every issue.  This one is no different. Lee Garbett was born to draw this series.

Beautiful eyes in the bottom panel.

Joe Henderson can also be counted on to add another cool dimension to his gravity-free world concept every month, and this time around it giant bugs.  Put the idea and the art together and you get comic magic.

Small figure amidst a stunning landscape.  Garbett's got it down.

Mister Miracle 11

Tom King and Mitch Gerads continue to mix the banal and otherworldly to perfection.  They constantly jerk around the reader’s frame of reference, and each transition is jarringly glorious.  Take a look at how much the creative team yanks us back and forth:

1. Parents packing an outing with their kid.
2. Travelling by boom tube to another planet.
3. Darkseid eating carrots from a veggie plate
4. Scott and Barda trading their kid in exchange for ending a war.
5. The kid pulling on Darkseid’s nose.  
6. Darkseid pulling his own eye out of its socket.
7. Barda crushes the eye.  
8. Barda zaps Darkseid.
9. Darkseid beats the crap out of Barda and Scott.
10. The kid cries because of the loud noises.
11. Scott stabs Darkseid in the face.
12. Barda admonishes Scott for swearing in front of the kid.

The best moments occur on that razor thin line where the mundane and the decidedly not juuust touch up on each other.  Of course I mean Darkseid munching on healthy veggies and staring at his grandson.

One issue to go, and I can’t wait to read this whole thing in one sitting.

Batman Adventures

Batman Adventures 21-30

Good clean comic book fun.  There’s not much to get into detail on, but there are a lot of little things that I liked.

Issue 22 - I’m a big fan of the cover, but I’m not sure why.  I like the distinct elements to each layer of depth: Batman in the front, Two-Face behind him, and the bank of monitors backstopping it all.  Mike Parobeck’s clean art makes each section pop.

Issue 23 - This is my favorite design for Poison Ivy.  Simple costume, solid colors, not supermodel skinny, plenty of lethal attitude.

None of this stick-thin, green-skinned, angular crap.

Issue 25 - Batman teams up with animated Superman!  This was a big deal for me when this first came out.  As with most team ups with these two, it’s their back and forth that makes the issue fun, not so much the adventure itself.  

Issue 26 - Kelley Puckett really knows when to throw in a Robin/Batgirl story to break up a string of Batman issues before they get too monotonous.  This one was a lot of fun. The MacGuffin pistols made me chuckle. Batgirl’s hair looks like it could provide excellent cushioning neck support during long plane rides.

The effort Puckett and Parobeck put into this throwaway gag is commendable.  It’s also something that I haven’t seen before or since, and the uniqueness impresses me.

Issue 30 - Like clockwork every ten issues, Mastermind, the Perfesser, and Mr Nice make their return, this time to present their origin stories.  Mr Nice’s doesn’t disappoint, and he remains as likable as ever.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Batman Adventures

Yep, this is the good stuff.  Something about Mike Parobeck’s art just clicks perfectly with Kelley Puckett’s scripts.  

A few of the highlights:

Issue 8 - Clayface misses out on a chance at true love, and to make the lost possibility all the more painful, Puckett ends the tale with a stab at poignancy.  It’s something that he aims for in a good number of these stories. He doesn’t always completely succeed, but I always appreciate the attempt, and he certainly nails it with this one.  

Issue 10 - The first appearance of Mr Nice, Mastermind, and the Perfesser!  Inspired by Archie Goodwin, Mike Carlin, and Denny O’Neil (three DC editors), this trio combine to form the best part of Batman Adventures.  Though if I’m being honest, it’s all about Mr Nice.  

Issue 13 - Another bittersweet love story, since that’s the only way Batman and Talia team ups ever end.  

Issue 18 - Parobeck draws Batgirl like a Vargas girl.  There's something specific about the posing and roundness of her figure that makes the comparison particularly apt.

Issue 20 - More Mr Nice!  And he’s thwarted by the most dastardly of nemeses:

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice.  Pure Joy for 20, Pretty good for 7,12,13,18