A Month With Batman

Sorry that this comes nearly a month after I finished my Batman-themed Reading Challenge for December, but here we go:

In December I read thirty one volumes of both Batman and Batman related stories from the recent “New 52” relaunch over at DC comics.

The stories definitely worked better when read together, and with the exception of a few crossovers with other DC characters (The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Superman all appeared in the first trade of Batman: The Dark Knight) the stories were largely contained to Gotham, with a few fieldtrips by various Gothamites thrown in here and there as they worked to solve various mysteries.

The two main crossovers, Night of the Owls, and Death of the Family were both incredibly well done, and left me wanting more as the stories really built up the tension level and felt like they would have a lasting effect on the story.

Favourite part of the series: The introduction of Bat-Cow in Batman and Robin – yes it was silly, but also a nice reprieve from the darkness that fill most of the titles

Least favourite part of the series: The Switch in Batgirl from writer Gail Simone to Cameron Stewart, the entire tone of the comic changed, but seemed unwilling to separate itself from the main Batman title or from Birds of Prey, both of which worked quite well with Simone’s Batgirl and not quite as well with the new, stumbling through college Cameron Batgirl

Creepiest Moment: The recently returned Joker taunting Damien in Batman & Robin, wherein (sorry for the mild spoiler), he does something so creepy with his face it stuck with me for days – or maybe the proposal the Joker makes in Batgirl, actually, there is an awful lot of creepy going on in Batman comics.

Will I read more: Absolutely – at this point I’m sitting about one collection behind the current issue for each title and the overall story is a lot of fun!

Will I choose the Distinguished Competition over the folk folks at Marvel: Although the Batman comics are pretty great, I’m actually really enjoying the world-building sensation of reading all of the Marvel Now! titles over the last few months, I think I’ll keep up with Batman, but in terms of the majority of my comic reading right now?


Make Mine Marvel.

Catching up on Batman: Week One

Using the resources of my local public library (epl) and my youngest daughter (Kaia), I have begun the process of working my way through the various Bat-Titles in the DC's 2011 launch, The New 52.

This week I was able to read through the first Detective Comics, Batman: The Dark Knight, Batman, and Batgirl collections.

I've seen Batman fight the Joker, team up with the Flash and Superman, have his first encounter with the Court of Owls, and begin the story of a post-wheelchair Barbara Gordon as she takes back up the mantle of Batgirl.

As compared to most of the Marvel titles I've read over 2015, these are fast, gritty, and often surprisingly fun collections. Each one (excluding Batgirl) adds another love interest for Bruce, and each came with some fairly shocking plot twists overall, beginning with the Joker's interaction with The Dollmaker in issue one of Detective Comics, carrying into a run of Bane-venom infused Villains in Batman: The Dark Knight (highest on action, lowest on story of the titles I'm reading), and the eerily impressive introduction of the Court of Owls in the main Batman title.

Batgirl begins with the introduction of a new villain, Mirror, who targets people who should have died, but didn't, and aims to finish the job - basically someone who saw the Final Destination franchise and thought - how can I get in on this crazy action?

So far I'm having a lot of fun - it is interesting to see how many monthly Batman titles can dance around each other and I'm definitely interested in reading the first crossover this weekend, Night of the Owls.

My Batman Advent Calendar!

So here we are at the beginning of December, and I've realized that with the exception of Sandman Overture, and a couple Fables trades, I haven't done a deep dive into DC comics in over a year!

Luckily, my youngest daughter is an avid Batman collector, so for the rest of the month I'll be reading five great Bat-titles from the 2012 New 52 release.

Detective Comics
Batman and Robin
Batman: The Dark Knight
Batman
Batgirl

I'll still be blogging about all of my regular stuff, but each week I'll wrap up with a weeks worth of Bat-tastic info!

Happy Holidays!
Your Old Pal, Bookmonkey