Okay…
…seeing a complaint about this in this week’s Wizard was the last straw. So, one more time….
The “bizarre” dialogue in this panel, from Frank Miller and Jim Lee’s All Star Batman & Robin #2, which has caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth at Batman’s “out of character” behavior:
…is explained in this panel, on the very next page:
It is explicitly stated in the narrative that Batman is behaving in such a fashion to test Dick Grayson’s reactions.
I don’t know…maybe my copy of the comic was the only one that had that second panel in it.
Not saying the comic is perfect, but I’ve seen too many people present that first panel (or other panels of Batman’s extreme behavior) as if it were how Batman is normally characterized in this book, not mention the explanation on the very next page, and go into hysterics about “Miller ruining Batman.” If you don’t like the whole sequence (or the whole book, for that matter), fine, but don’t pretend that particular piece of dialogue just came out of nowhere, with no context. I mean, you wouldn’t catch me doing that.
Okay, now that I’ve alienated everybody…let’s talk about New Comics this week:
First off, we were shorted a bunch of titles, including the new issue of Walking Dead (which, according to our distributor, we may or may not ever receive) and Giant Monster #2 (sorry, Ross!), plus several other smallish-press stuff. Very annoying.
Comics Journal #272, which we did get, reprints some choice pages from John Stanley’s Thirteen Going on Eighteen comic. Great stuff, and well deserving of a full reprinting.
The new issue of Warren Ellis’ Jack Cross came out, and was met by a handful of customers telling me that this will probably be their last issue. And it seems to me that, looking at some online reviews, a lot of people don’t care for the series. (And by “online reviews,” I mean reviews from reasonable and rational people, who more often than not are Ellis fans — not knee-jerk “I don’t like Ellis he’s weird” message board reviews from people scared and/or jealous of him.) I don’t see this as being any better or worse than other Ellis projects of this type, but I haven’t really given it a careful reading, so I’m not the best judge. Reasons I’ve heard include “confused politics” and “going to the ‘I’m a Hard Man‘ well too many times.” Well, if things go south, they can always retroactively make this a DC Universe title and turn Jack Cross into the new Spectre. (Just kidding, please don’t kill me.)
Evil Ernie in Santa Fe #2 – Hey, that offer on the back cover stating that readers can return their copy of the comic to the publisher if they don’t like it, and get their money back? Can retailers do that too?
Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories #663 – New Don Rosa story, featuring Donald Duck reteaming with the rest of the Three Caballeros. It’s part one of (I think) three, and it’s a whole nine pages, which kinda steams my clams. But nine pages by Don Rosa is like 27 pages by anyone else, so I guess I can let it slide.
Holy smokes, a new Palookaville (#18) is out, featuring the continuation of Part 3 of “Clyde Fans.” Filmed in “Depress-o-vision,” certainly, but a new Seth comic is always something to celebrate. I just hope the story wraps up before I hit retirement age.
Okay, so remember a couple days ago when I was poking fun at reporters who use the forty-year-old cliche of “POW! BAM!” headline titles?
Well, here’s another one, but this title is funny, and therefore exempt from my scorn:
“Bif! Pow! PLOTZ! Jews and the invention of the American comic book”
Ah, “plotz,” truly you are a great word.
