| |
|
Dark Knight Strikes Again - I still cannot fathom why so many people despised this thing. Ten times the crackling commentary, merging the political/social commentary even more intensely into the comics-commentary, by making Batman the fundamental guiding socio-political force of the planet. From 'Children, put on your tights' to 'We've got dinosaurs' to completly ignoring the really important threads (genetically-engineered slave children thingies, say) for the more media-sexy pop moments... How could anyone hate this? And yet, so many did.
Knightfall - The comics were good, better than similar replace-the-hero storylines, tighter, and more reasonable. But, I'm not talking necessarily about those comics; the prose adaptation by Denny O'Neil was concentrated, controlled, and much more poignant (less Bruce returns by beating the shit out of generic ninja and more, Bruce returns by sitting naked in snow and getting his ass handed to him), and Denny made me see Bruce and Alfred as Bertie Wooster and Jeeves which just makes me giddy in sad fanboyish ways.
Night on Earth - Warren Ellis distilled Batman to a core I haven't seen anyone else take up as 'the core' (unless you want to say by proxy - then Kia Asamiya in the Batman-ish bits of 'Steam Detectives'), and that was Batman as parent. As fundamental parent-figure of everyone. The one who tucks you in at night, makes the monsters go away, and also scares the hell out of you for vague, unintelligible reasons when you know you've done something wrong and you're just waiting to be caught. And, he let Batman save himself, which was really cool and a lot more inspiring than another broody regression to self-destructive parapraxis.
Katsuhiro Otomo's thing from 'Batman: B & W' - I'm not Batman.
A Serious House on Serious Earth - Bat-Jesus in the asylum passion play, oh yes! Morrison said something about this being only thirty-percent or so of his plan, what DC would let him do; anybody know what got forced out? Bat-Christ and his lonely walk through madness, MeMePlex Joker and 'April Fools!', Two-Face's healing-regression form coin to cards to coin to Alice in Wonderland...
All of Morrison's JLA - I don't care if it was 'taking him too far' or 'making of Batgod', in whatever existence, Batman ought to be the pinnacle of human coverage and attempt, and in the superhuman, dayglo fire and cosmic treadmilling source-infused world of the DCU, it should be no different. Superman may eat evil for us, but Bats is there to walk him through, like all good parents guide their kids without overruling them.
Invisibles - Mason Lang is Batman. Batman isn't necessarily about looking good, being big and loud; he's all about the results. The sting.
And, honorary votes to 'No Man's Land', 'Year One', 'Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl and Batgirl', and that Delano oneshot with Manbat in New Mexico... all showing what it's like without (read: absence or merely distance) Batman. |
|
|
