JLA: American Dreams (1998, DC Comics) ***

W: Grant Morrison P: Howard Porter, Oscar Jimenez I: John Dell.

The JLA face the heavenly host and their old enemy the Keymaster.

Second collection of Morrison’s JLA stories ups the ante with regard to spectacle but loses some of the diamond-sharp focus that the first book had.  Tomorrow Woman story that opens volume has all the hallmarks of a modern classic.

JLA: New World Order (1997, DC Comics) ***1/2

W: Grant Morrison P: Howard Porter I: John Dell.

The Justice League of America face the Hyperclan, a newly arrived team of superhuman aliens who claim to want to help the world.

First book collecting Morrison’s acclaimed run on JLA fuses silver-age romanticism and 90’s action with his own sense of mad inventiveness and wit.  Porter’s artwork too seems to fuse an older story-telling style with a level of modern gloss.  While Morrison’s characterisation of Batman catches the attention, it is his inexpert, awe-struck Green Lantern that is at the heart of the book. Extremely lightweight and vastly enjoyable – superheroes at their very best.

1. Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli

It seems like the obvious choice because almost every Top 10 list has this in at least the Top 3 with most of them having it as the number one.  The reason: this piece of work is just that good.

Mazuchelli furthers the graphic medium in strange and ingenious ways to depict time, characters, moments, emotions all in separate visual ways.  The art and the writing combine to make the piece extraordinary.

The story follows Asterios Polyp, a tenured professor of architecture, who, due to circumstances, removes himself of all of his possessions and travels to the Midwest to rediscover himself.  Through the novel, we’re treated to glimpses back to what has made Asterios who he is and what he feels is wrong with his life.  Memorable characters are abundant throughout, and I only wish I could have as many philosophical conversations in one lifetime as Asterios does.

Frankly, this is the perfect exercise of what comics are, what comics can become, and what makes comics – and frankly storytelling – so goddamn enjoyable.

2. The Life and Times of Savior 28 by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Cavallaro

What is the use of a superhero once they start advocating for peace through nonviolent means?  No beat ‘em up, no entertainment, no thrills, no deaths, no nothing… just a message.

DeMatteis explores this question among many others in his pinnacle achievement of Savior 28.  This comic came out so strong because it explored national identity, personal identity, and the human condition of morals, beliefs, and love.  What started out as a rejected Captain America pitch from 20 years ago turned into one of the best superhero comics of, honestly, the decade.

The art isn’t anything special, but I’m a fan of that for this story because readers need something simple to latch onto while they face some very complex thoughts.

It challenges the status quo, and shows that superheroes can be people who fuck up, too.

3. Donatello: The Brain Thief by Jim Lawson

There was no better comic to come out of Mirage this year than Jim Lawson’s miniseries on Donatello.  First and foremost, I have to admit that Donatello is far from my favorite turtle.  Nevertheless, Lawson captured something special in the character that made him fresh and exciting.

Jim Lawson’s illustrations are often stark and barren, but somehow still filled with incredible amounts of minute detail.

And frankly, the last issue where he inks his own work (Eric Talbot inked the first three) you can see a master at his best.

The story resonates as a mystery comic with mixes of science fiction and fantasy, but it is still incredibly accessible to new readers.  Sure, it’s a ninja turtle comic, but whoever said that was a bad thing?

4. Batwoman in Detective Comics by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III

Powerful female lead(s), the strongest portrayal of a homosexual character in any comic I have ever read, and by far the most beautiful artwork in mainstream comics.  I have been a fan of this from the get-go, and have probably shoved it down everyone’s throats with all of my reviews.  Nevertheless, people even interested in comics need to read this one!

Williams III switches between styles to display different parts of Kate Kane’s character, but it is still distinctly his work.  Plus, all of the styles he uses are on the level and often exceed the work of contemporary, modern artists in any field.

Not only does it achieve great things for women and homosexuals with incredible artwork, but this comic contains a hell of a story!

5. Blackest Night by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis

Probably the greatest crossover book of the decade, and it’s not even finished yet.

Sure, the premise is kind of stupid: let’s bring back all of the dead characters in the entire universe whether they were good or bad before, and turn them into the equivalent of flesh (and emotion) eating zombies.  There are dozens of zombie books on the market, why would anyone want to read one from a mainstream publisher?

Well, somehow the simple concept becomes something much more complex, and Geoff Johns writing far exceeds most of his peers.  He can take this mildly goofy premise and turn it into something that actually feels like it matters.

Plus, he throws in hell of some surprises along the way.

Zombie Aquaman sharks, attack!

6. Nine Ways to Disappear by Lilli Carré

I love Lilli Carré.  She is probably one of my favorites of all time.  I follow her work with a devotion unlike any other, and her latest work is no exception to the high quality of work she has already produced.

The little book feels like a treasure when you hold it, and you read along and absorb these nine wonderful stories.  Most of them may not be as quirky as Woodsman Pete, but I love them nevertheless.

Her illustrations are sometimes zany, other times brilliantly simple, other times filled with pattern-like complexity.  After reading this book, I felt like I had learned something about myself and the world… So, I read it again.

7. Chew by Jon Layman and Rob Guillory

If you went back and reread all of my reviews that I did of Chew, you probably would not expect it to be found anywhere near this list.  In fact, you may have imagined it on the worst of list.

Really, I wouldn’t have been too surprised either about a month ago.  Then, I reread all of them, and I realized that I was wrong.  There is a brilliance in this series that far surpasses most comic books on the market with its crazy and original content.

Hell, the created dictionary-like terms for most of their characters that will forever easily be said in lore as if they didn’t come from a comic.  “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if you could be a cybopath!”

Tony Chu works for the FDA.  He eats things.  He solves crimes.

8. The Walking Dead: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirman and Charlie Adlard

Robert Kirkman sure is consistent with his output.  This was a great story really digging in to tell how far humanity can get away from being human when under forced circumstances.

Plus, the standoff is probably one of the most badass moments in the entire series.  I gasped aloud and reread that issue.

If you’ve never read this series and are either a) interested in comics b) interested in zombies c) interested in human morality systems amongst many other things, then you should read this.  No doubt.

9. Invincible Iron Man by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca and Frank D’Armata

The best series out of Marvel, by far.  Watching Tony Stark erode and work backwards through his past to become a cripple was strangely one of the most entertaining things I looked forward to every month.  I came onto this series midway through, and it didn’t scare me at all.  It made sense with its small cast of characters.

I can’t really say much else about this one because it seems so inherently obvious that it deserved a place on this list, and that others should check it out.

10. Tales of the TMNT #56, 59, and 61 by Tristan Jones and Paul Harmon, Tristan Jones and Paul Harmon, and Tristan Jones and Andres Ponce, respectively.

Tristan Jones, you brought the grit back to the Mirage Universe for the handful of issues that you got to work on before the end of the series.  You made the turtles kick ass again.  You made new characters in the Turtles-verse which, in a single issue, suddenly reminded me that the Turtles can lose.

I loved each and every one of these comics, and I know it seems unfair to pick and choose from the run, but these were some of the best of the entire volume two of Tales of the TMNT.

Paul Harmon and Andres Ponce, you guys made B x W comics look way better than most colored comics in my entire collection.

Notables: Batman and Robin (issues #1-3, at least… 4-6 were really bad), Batgirl, Secret Six, Incredible Hercules, and Barack the Barbarian (I love this mini more than I probably should).

Things ranked high on other lists that I still haven’t read and may have placed on the above list: Stitches by David Small, Scalped by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guéra, Driven by Lemons by Josh Cotter, Parker: The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke, and The Photographer by Emmanuel Guibert and Didier Lefevre.

The Worst of 09:

I thought about doing a separate blog post about these, but really… it would just be a lot of me bitching, and I’m tired of working on best list for the last three hours.

1. Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth
2. Dark Wolverine #78 to current
3. Batman: Battle for the Cowl
4. Buck Rogers (everything except #0)
5. and everything else I tried to avoid.

I have one more exam tomorrow, and I barely studied for it. It’s an English exam, so I assume that I can figure things out as long as I’ve read the books. But I’ve been wrong before! Many times before.

Grant Morrison has a new Vertigo series starting next month. I’m still waiting for the second Seaguy series to be collected, so it’s going to be a long, long time before I’ll read this one. I just don’t think I can get into single issues.

He also has two other projects that are nowhere to be seen. I want them, Morrison. GIVE THEM TO ME.

Welcome!  As the decade comes to a close, just about everyone under the sun begins to bust out their BEST OF THE DECADE lists.  Best books, best TV shows, best movies… well, we here at Read/RANT are nothing if not trend-followers-setters!  So, with that in mind, and with a few weeks left in 2009, we bring you the first of three BEST OFs.

This decade was undeniably good to comics.  Besides seeing old favorites like Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore return in some drastically new capacities, we also saw an awful lot of breakout talents.  Masterpieces were produced.  Internet outrage was shouted from the rafters over everything from implied rape in a Spider-Man comic to Final Crisis being strange.  Both Hal Jordan AND Barry Allen came back to life, while both Batman and Superman left the planet.  Marvel’s ULTIMATE line grew, flourished, weakened, literally drowned, and was reborn only months ago.  Captain America became a vital character.  It was, all things considered, a busy, crazy, wonderful decade of comics.

Who are our Top 10 writers this decade?  Well, read on…

10. Gail Simone

Gail Simone is certainly one of the decade’s breakout creators.  While her name doesn’t pull in the same numbers as a few other creators on (and even off) our list, her creative output still stands up to scrutiny.  Simone’s stories tend to be a little quieter, a little smaller in scale, than many of her counterparts on the list, focusing instead on a bizarre, character-driven combination of humor – sometimes incredibly dark humor – and action.  Books like Birds of Prey, Agent X and Secret Six perfectly exemplify these trends, attracting loyal cult fan bases and critical praise.  At her best, Simone is capable of switching from laugh-out-loud to heartbreak without any warning, and without detracting from either.  Despite an uneven run on Wonder Woman - and even that is leagues above most folks’ handling of Diana – Simone has improved a great deal over the course of the decade.  While a number of her books ended earlier than they deserved (The All-New Atom and Welcome to Tranquility, to name two of the strongest examples), none of them have been anything less than a pleasure to read.  In an era dominated by high-concept, big-action blockbusters, Simone’s quiet humor and obvious love for the craft have been an oasis.

9. Greg Rucka

Greg Rucka, it’s safe to say, has a ‘type’, a fact that quickly became evident this decade.  Filling your books with savvy, ass-kicking female heroes is a surefire way to flop in today’s market, but Rucka has proved time and again an exception to this rule.  Whether it’s writing one of the strongest runs Wonder Woman has ever seen or trusting fans to understand Renee Montoya’s progression from a cop in Gotham Central to P.I. in the excellent 52 on through her new superheroic identity in two or three more books, Rucka spent the years finding increasingly fresh ways to help his heroines grow, change and find an audience.  Meanwhile, over the course of the decade, Rucka also wrote nearly 40 issues of the excellent Queen and Country with Oni Press, netting him an Eisner and a dedicated fan base.  His increased profile is evident from his latest assignment: he’s the first writer ever to simultaneously write DC’s flagship titles, Action Comics and Detective Comics.  Astonishingly prolific, timely and with a gift for espionage and crime comics, Rucka has been a defining voice for the decade’s heroines, as well as a damnably fun writer to read.

8. Matt Fraction

Only writing in the latter half of the decade, Fraction has already proved himself as a cut above the rest.  His breakout work, Immortal Iron Fist, ended up becoming one of those great, character redefining runs that only come around every five years, if that. Besides making Danny Rand cool, Fraction successfully reintroduced Frank Castle into the Marel U proper. Realizing that the Punisher’s not meant for such a zany world, Fraction avoided the grim & gritty. Instead, Frank fought absurdly stupid villains, with hilarious results. Immediately following those successes, Fraction took the Uncanny X-Men reigns, producing the finest work that title has seen in over a decade. And, last but not least, Fraction helmed Invincible Iron Man, following the wildly popular movie. He managed to easily match the quality fans expected after seeing Favreau’s film. So much so, in fact, that Jon Favreau actually consulted with Matt Fraction for Iron Man 2. As if all that wasn’t enough, Fraction’s independent comic, Casanova, is one of the finest works of the decade. Fraction has a fresh, powerful voice, unafraid of filling his comics with women and, most importantly, fun.

7. Garth Ennis

In the beginning of the decade, Garth concluded his magnum opus, Preacher. Most creators take a break after completing something so brilliant. Not Ennis. He just keeps on writing, immediately moving onto another great project. I’m talking about Garth’s Punisher run, of course. Frank Castle’s been around and loved since the 70’s, but nobody’s left a mark on him like Ennis. Hell, both Punisher movies and a video game were inspired by Ennis’ work. Writing around 100 issues with the character, Ennis took Frank to dark, humorous places, creating one of the most reliable comics of the decade. Never missing a beat, when Ennis stopped writing Punisher comics, he already had a start on his next popular series, The Boys. Ennis’ writing is well-known for its intense, human drama, so it’s only natural that Garth’s passion, War Stories, would be so damn good. Utilizing extensive research, Ennis always writes fabulous recreations of often-unknown battles. There are several worthwhile pojects I haven’t even mentioned. Garth Ennis is a true professional, writing great comics month after month.

6. Brian Michael Bendis

Easily one of the most influential writers of the decade, Bendis IS Marvel, and it all happened in the 00’s. Exploding at the start of the millennium,  Bendis wrote several great works that will be remembered: Alias, Daredevil, Powers, and Ultimate Spider-Man. Bendis’ Daredevil is the best work Murdock’s seen since Miller in the 80’s. Ultimate Spider-Man broke the Lee/Kirby longevity record, and it gave Spider-Man fans a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Sadly, Bendis’ work in the latter half of the decade is hated by many, and rightly so. But even if the poor characterizations and decompression are bringing you down, Bendis can still be admired for his wonderful ideas. There’s a reason why he’s been behind nearly every Marvel event this decade. His high concepts are exciting and ambitious. With Bendis’ return to Powers, Ultimate Spider-Man surviving Ultimatum, and that Daredevil project on the horizon, Bendis may have another great decade ahead of him.

5. Robert Kirkman

Breaking onto the comics scene at the birth of the new millennium, Kirkman took the world by storm with Battle Pope! Ok, maybe not, but a couple people at Image liked it, and after a few years, Kirkman was given the chance to write two ongoing books for the company in 2003. Invincible, an amalgam of every superhero trope in the benday dot covered book, and Walking Dead, a George Romero-inspired zombie epic, eventually became two of the most successful Indie books ever. Then, like all fresh-faced comic writers, Kirkman spent some time at Marvel, penning books like Marvel Team-Up and the insanely popular Marvel Zombies. Also like many writers, Kirkman grew tired of Marvel. However, few leave in such intriguing fashion. Along with that startling video came the news that Kirkman was made a partner at the company he loved so much. That was only a year ago, and already Kirkman’s been instrumental in making Image cool again.  Teaming up with Todd McFarlane to create the monstrously successful Haunt, and reuniting all the Image founders on Image United, Kirkman’s like the young D’Artagnan, inspiring the old Musketeers.

4. Brian K. Vaughan

Brian K. Vaughan was a relative unknown at the start of the decade, having penned a few single issues here and there.  In the early 2000s, he was still working on a string of small arcs, jumping from book to book, though the profile of the books – Wonder Woman, JLA, X-Men, Batman, Detective Comics – had risen significantly.  Still, it wasn’t until 2002 that he really broke out.  With the release of Y: the Last Man, Vaughan proved himself.  60 issues later, one of the defining comics of the decade came to a conclusion with a few of the most heartbreaking moments we’ve seen.  If Y were all he achieved this decade, it would still be a rock solid body of work, but Vaughan also created Ex Machina over at Wildstorm, an impressive post-9/11 political superhero story, and the powerful Pride of Baghdad.  He also had a successful time over at Marvel Comics with the enjoyable (if ultimately unsuccessful) Dr. Strange: The Oath and Logan, and the vastly more successful The Hood.  Finally, he did something that has become nearly impossible in today’s stagnant modern environment: he created a successful new franchise for Marvel in Runaways.  Vaughan’s work has run the gamut from teenage rebellion to the end of life as we know it, and throughout, he’s kept it honest, emotional and fun.

3. Ed Brubaker

Ed Brubaker’s pre-2000 work largely consisted of a string of mostly unknown independent single issues.  In the late 90s, however, a few small Vertigo projects apparently got him enough attention to net him a few small issues on Batman, Robin and Detective Comics, and it wasn’t long before Brubaker took off from there.  An impressive array of noir-influenced crime superheroics followed, from his surprisingly successful and critically acclaimed relaunch of Catwoman to his collaboration with Greg Rucka on the stellar Gotham Central.  Meanwhile, over in Wildstorm, Brubaker began to push things in a different direction.  Ideas like Point Blank and the following Sleeper began to take a more active interest in meshing the superhero genre with the pulp criminal underbelly.  There, he could push things further and do what he needed to do to his brilliant cast of dark characters and he managed to shape the Wildstorm Universe for a good few years.  His move to Marvel seemed at the time to be a strange fit, but no one can deny that his relaunch of Captain America has been the single most successful take on the character in years, and he proved an inspired choice to follow Brian Michael Bendis on the surprise hit Daredevil.  Working with Matt Fraction, he turned The Immortal Iron Fist into a successful franchise that lasted beyond the creative team’s departure.  And, finally, he reunited with the gifted Sean Phillips to lend some much-needed gravitas to Marvel’s ICON imprint with two books: the pulp supervillain story Incognito and the superior critical darling Criminal.  Following a loosely-connected group of crooks in exciting, heartbreaking standalone arcs, it is almost hard to believe that Criminal has gone on as long as it has, but it remains an impressive accomplishment, and one of the decade’s most enjoyable books.

2. Warren Ellis

Warren Ellis came out of the last decade on an impressive high note: halfway through his stellar Transmetropolitan and having just completed his brief, game-changing run on The Authority.  Transmet was a near immediate success, being taught in Political Science courses, a rare mainstream success for comics, and it would have surprised no one if he’d channelled that success into more high profile, mainstream work at the Big 2.  Instead, he used his new pull to launch a string of relaunches and creator-owned projects that ranged from good to absolutely stellar.  Nextwave was a gloriously fun satire on the genre.  Global Frequency was a brilliant combination of sci-fi and horror, and if the premise didn’t entirely make sense, the execution more than made up for it.  His creation of The Authority in 1999 and run that lasted well into 2000 quite nearly defined how mainstream action comics would work.  Meanwhile, he repeatedly launched increasingly impressive array of books with Avatar Press, from the gritty supernatural Gravel books through the dark examination of super-heroics in Black Summer and No Hero and on into glorious sci-fi worldbuilding books like Doktor Sleepless and Anna Mercury.  Very few writers have displayed the sheer versatility that Warren Ellis has, and the decade saw him gather an impressive array of titles under his belt.  It’s my humble opinion that he could’ve made the list off of nothing but Transmetropolitan and Planetary, but Ellis is hardly the type to rest on his laurels.

1. Grant Morrison

I don’t think it’s a secret that we’re all big Morrison fans. We could produce a “Top Ten” list using Morrison’s work alone, and that list would have more quality than half the lists you’ll find on the Interwebs. Kicking off the decade with the most radical X-Men run ever produced, breaking away from the dusty, old Claremont mold and replacing it with a new shadow for the franchise. Many fans prefer the safe, crowd-pleasing Whedon run, which is amusing, since Whedon’s run couldn’t really exist without Morrison’s. Before leaving Marvel, Morrison wrote Marvel Boy, a wonderful Marvel love letter, while maintaining that Morrison freshness. Many people have forgotten it, especially since Noh-Varr has recently been bastardized, but Marvel Boy is a great example of what Marvel’s Ultimate Comics line should’ve been. Returning to his beloved DC, Morrison produced the experimental Seven Soldiers, a bold comic introducing several great, new characters. Moving into the latter half of the decade, Morrison began his run on Batman, pitting Bruce Wayne against madness, Satan, and his bastard son, Damian. Morrison also helmed his first major company event, Final Crisis. It’s a summation of nearly every Morrison work to date, and it was too earth-shattering for many to handle, but it’s one of the finest events ever produced. Though Morrison’s known for being odd and extreme, few could complain about All Star Superman, a work so tender and pure. Not only is it Superman’s finest adventure, it somehow enriches every other Superman comic. So much accomplished, and I haven’t even gotten to Morrison’s fabulous Vertigo work, which includes We3, The Filth, and Seaguy. Morrison remains one of the strongest, boldest voices in the medium, and his enormous amount of successful output makes him a perfect candidate for best writer of the decade.

… and there you have it!  Our TOP 10 list has what I’m sure many people will consider to be some significant omissions.  Like any Best Of, it’s limited by what we read, how we assessed it, the context in which is was read.  It was limited by the consistency with which they produce their best material, and how much we keep talking about it, months or even years later.

So, anyone who’s interested: what’s your Best Of list look like?  Who were comics’ strongest writers, this decade, and why?

Join us next week as we bring you our Top 10 Artists of the decade, and have yourselves a happy holiday season!

For more comic goodness, go here.

Kill Your Boyfriend
(1995, DC Comics/Vertigo) ****1/2

W: Grant Morrison A: Philip Bond AA: D’Isreali.

Morrison brings his familiar theme of revolution to bear on episodic story of two lovers on the run from the law.

Treated lightly, replete with murder, sex, drugs, general desecration and cake thievery, this is guaranteed to offend more conservative readers.  Stellar art by Bond, who grounds the whole thing with his oddly glamorous style.  Non-British readers may be baffled by references to The Double Deckers and Blackpool tower.

Also known as Vertigo Voices: Kill Your Boyfriend.

A superhero presumed dead but in fact lost in time?

That doesn’t sound familiar at all! Captain America fans riot in the streets!

According to USA Today’s article and interview with writer Grant Morrison, the real Dark Knight will come back into the fold with The Return of Bruce Wayne, set to launch in Summer 2010.

In Morrison’s series Final Crisis, villain Darkseid shot Batman with the Omega Sanction. Batman catapulted back in time, though Superman and the other heroes believed he was dead. Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing and the first Robin, took up the mantle of Batman, while Damien Wayne, Bruce’s son, became Robin. (that’s a lot of robins.) The year-long series Batman: Reborn has continued with Dick as Batman and Damien as Robin. But that’s all about to change.

In the six-issue series The Return of Bruce Wayne, Bruce struggles to regain his memory and return to his time, travelling through different eras, including Paleolithic, Pilgrim, Western, pirate, and so on. Does this mean Batman is immortal or reincarnated, or somehow found some fancy time-travel gadgetry (with a flux capacitor)? Not sure. But one thing is: Morrison is unafraid to take great leaps and risks, and he promises “major twists and reveals, and…big changes to the Batman universe status quo.” If Morrison’s at the helm, anything can go down.

While the interview with Morrison is a fan must-read, the article shies away from that giant elephant in the room: When Bruce Wayne returns, who will be Batman? Would Dick Grayson just hand back the cape-and-cowl and return to his Nightwing duties? Will Bruce Wayne be working with his son Damien, or will Damien choose to work with Grayson? Once again, anything can happen.

As for me, I’ll definitely read the comic, but always with a level of skepticism I’ve grown with over Morrison’s work. Unlike other authors, Morrison’s Bat-verse comes with a required reading list, as his series constantly references one another. (Case in point why I disliked Batman: RIP so much). And I’ll never forgive him for creating Damien, when everyone knows that Terry McGinnis is Bruce’s real son. We’ll see what happens, but until then, I’m holding off the Batman comics, which I haven’t really kept up on since Neil Gaiman’s farewell. (I do the same thing with X-Men comics since Kitty Pryde. Like I’ll ever read another X-comic again.)

PS-If you voted Bruce Wayne in the earlier “Who Will Return First?” poll, I guess you win. Cyber Bat-cookies to you!

What do you think about ‘The Return of Bruce Wayne?’ How do you think Grant Morrison is handling the Bat-verse?

Last we saw of Bruce Wayne he was hit by an energy beam from Darkseid and was sent tumbling way back into the past.

The DC Universe at large thing he’s dead and Dick Grayson has taken on the mantle of the Bat. All of this was the brainchild of Grant Morrison.

Next year DC Comics will launch a new six issue series by Morrison called Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne. In it we will see Bruce trying to reclaim his memory, his identity and his proper place in time and space.

Morrison spoke to USA Today about the series and here are some of the highlights.

Return is a fairly intricate time-travel story in which the world’s greatest hero, the optimum man, is up against the supreme challenge to his ingenuity and skill. How does Batman get out of the ultimate trap? It has a mystery and an apocalyptic countdown going on, there are some major twists and reveals, and it sets up big changes to the Batman universe status quo.

The first episode is set in the Late-Paleolithic Era, the second is in Pilgrim-era Gotham Village, and we also get to see Gotham in Western or noir style.

Each of the stories is a twist on a different “pulp hero” genre — so there’s the caveman story, the witchhunter/Puritan adventurer thing, the pirate Batman, the cowboy, the P.I. — as a nod toward those mad old 1950s comics with Caveman Batman and Viking Batman adventures. It’s Bruce Wayne’s ultimate challenge — Batman vs. history itself!

I’ve tried to thoroughly research each time period so that the stories work not only as at least fairly plausible reconstructions of life in the real 17th or 19th centuries but also as romanticized “pulp” versions too, while at the same time referencing the more extravagant history of the fictional DC Comics Universe in the background.

This is more for me about putting Batman/Bruce Wayne through my own, and my collaborators’ version, of the ultimate test of who and what he is. So far I’ve had him overcome the Devil, Madness and Death; now we see him, truly lost, amnesiac, and stripped down to basic human survival mode in some extremely hostile environments and unfamiliar situations. He’s the best fighter in his world, he’s one of the smartest and most driven men who ever lived, but we’ve seen him outwit the Joker 10,000 times. This was a way of taking the character off the grid, as they say, and reminding readers what kind of man he is and what he’s capable of. If you wonder why Batman is so cool — here’s why Batman is so cool.

This is an attempt to look at a very familiar character from some unusual angles. And it’s about Bruce and who he is — I want to remind people how the man and the mask are inseparable parts of a terrifying whole.

Speaking of Batman…

So DC’s giving the whole new reader-friendly line of comics another shot. This time it’s called Earth One. Can it succeed where All Star only partly failed (All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, I’m looking at you). Well, I don’t know either way, but find out more here!

G.

… but finally, my foolish account of the comic that never was – Milk & Honey: A Controversy, finally gets an illustration of the cover of the final issue. This, folks, is all that remains of insane genius, J.. Bennett Stott’s frankly demented final issue of Milk & Honey.

THAT cover - The Death of Sugar, by J. Bennet Stott

I really do have too much time on my hands. I’ve got a novel to be writing…

If I may be so bold as to paraphrase the mighty Salt-N-Pepa: ‘Lets’s talk about books, baby.’   At least I think that’s what they said.  Anyway, as always, my ‘to be read’ pile of books are kept in chronological order, and I alternately read the book I’ve had longest (marked B.H.L.), followed by a free choice (F.C.).  For a full description of my insane book selection rules, please click here.

Books Read

Sometimes you have to meet your fears head on and I’m definitely scared of 1000-page books.  That’s why I chose to read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (F.C.) by Susanna Clarke.  It’s an alternate history novel that’s set in a nineteenth century England where there has been no magic for a few hundred years until two magicians arise (the titular characters) who will bring the art back to its former glory.  It’s a fantasy novel, so I definitely mean ‘magic’ and not ‘illusion’.

It was going to have to be pretty special to keep my interest over such a length, but, fortunately, it was.  It’s written as if it were a novel of the period and it was a delight to read.  The fantastical elements were done so cleverly that they didn’t seem at all out of place.  It was more like reading a 19th century novel from a world in which magic exists than a 21st century novel from a world which it doesn’t.

If you’re going to write a book this long then you’re going to need to make it sufficiently complex and Clarke weaves a rich tapestry.  As the story progresses, the two main characters come in to conflict, but neither is clumsily drawn as the villain.  You’ll probably side with one over the other, but they both clearly have their strengths and both definitely have their weaknesses.  After originally filling me with dread, I really enjoyed it and look forward to the proposed sequel.

The next book of the month was Kidnapped (B.H.L.) by Robert Louis Stevenson.  It was quite a short novel and I imagined it would be a ripping yarn, so it seemed like the best way to refresh my palate.  Sadly, it was like eating a musty kipper (I don’t really know where I’m going with this).  Let’s just say that I gave up after 40 pages as I found it arduous and unfulfilling.  Someone should have taught him how to write in English.

Luckily, I chose a very slim book for my next choice, Batman: Digital Justice (F.C.) by Pepe Moreno.   This is a 1990 graphic novel which was one of the first comics to be produced entirely on computer.  I was fascinated at the time, as it seemed so futuristic, but I never got around to buying it.  It was on my wishlist because it was part of Grant Morrison’s recommended reading list for The Invisibles and I bought it because it was only about £2.50 for a nice hardback edition on Amazon Marketplace.  Anyway, as you would imagine, it has dated quite badly – there is a boast of a computer having a whole 2Gb of storage – but, despite it’s relative clunkiness, there is still something about it.  It’s set in a dystopian Gotham at the end of this century and, for all its flaws, it manages to create a vivid world, that somehow just about stands up.  I wouldn’t recommend that anybody rushes out and buys it, but it’s certainly an interesting curiousity.

I didn’t really have a clue about the next book, The Speckled People (B.H.L) by Hugo Hamilton, as I got it free with a newspaper a few years ago.  It turned out to be a memoir of growing up in 1950s\60s Ireland, with a German mother and a fiercely patriotic father (they weren’t allowed to speak English).  As you might imagine, it wasn’t the jolliest read imaginable.  Despite being well-written, I thought I was going to struggle for the first third of the book.  I did eventually become engrossed in their lives and it was very moving.

I decided to finish the month with a bang and read Fight Club (F.C.) by Chuck Palahniuk.  The film is a modern classic but I only added this to my wishlist when it kept cropping up on my Amazon recommendations.   It was an excellent read and was as taut and brutal as you’d imagine.  My only regret is that I didn’t read it before I saw the film.  I kept asking myself whether I would have guessed what the twist was if I didn’t already know.  Some passages seemed to be blatantly telling you, but if you you didn’t know, then the clues might be easy to miss.  Sadly, I’ll never know.

Books Acquired

Things Snowball by Rich Hall – British Heart Foundation shop – This wasn’t on my wishlist, but I’d seen Hall live only a few days before when I saw the book, so I had to have it.  My review of his gig is here.

Eric by Terry Pratchett – Amazon Marketplace.  I managed to track down Moving Pictures, last month, and so needed this one to complete a run of about 5 books.

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby – Bookmooch – So, you’re reading a 1000-page novel and you know, as a result, you’re likely to read less books this month than usual.  What’s your best course of action?  To randomly look through available books on Bookmooch and see if there’s any that you like?  Yeah, it wasn’t the brightest thing that I’ve ever done.

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle – Bookmooch – See above.

Atonement by Ian McEwan – Bookmooch – See above

The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry – British Heart Foundation shop – I really don’t understand poetry.  I don’t see that as a good thing as all those intellectual types seem to love it.  This is a book that attempts to teach you how to write poetry and so I thought it might give me a bit of an insight.

Books Given Away on Bookmooch

Billy by Pamela Stephenson – You’d imagine that a biography of Billy Connolly written by his wife would be pretty entertaining.  It wasn’t.  I was more than happy to give it away.

Result

Books Read 5 (yes, I’m counting Kidnapped) – Books Acquired 6, result – a loss.

So, it’s my first loss in the history of Reading Habits.  Annoyingly, it was completely self-inflicted

Here’s the trailer for the new documentary Talking with Gods about comic book writer Grant Morrison directed by Patrick Meaney:

The film is directed by Patrick Meaney, who’s been chronicling the life of Grant Morrison – writer of We3, The Invisibles, Animal Man, Doom Patrol and many more – for quite a while now, and interviewing various personalities in and around the comics scene. Among the many notable comic creators that appear in the trailer are Jason Aaron (“Ghost Rider”), Matt Fraction (“Invincible Iron Man”), Geoff Johns (“Blackest Night”), and Mark Waid (“The Flash,” “Incorruptible”).

Source: MTV

Grant Morrison, on why he doesn’t envy the president. Any president.

I tend to agree.

WHAT ARE YOU WEARING, TWO-FACE?!

Okay, I won’t lie: as a Batman purist, I couldn’t stand Battle for the Cowl or anything that came with it. Not the constant presence of Damien Wayne, not even the Black Casebook. Nothing.

I’ve never liked opening the world of the Dark Knight to too much ridiculousness or soap-opera style death and undeath (except in the case of Ra’s al Ghul, of course). But despite my feelings on the matter, Morrison continues to push ahead with all this and DC Direct has released the first series of non-Batman Batman figures under the name BATMAN REBORN, where everyone who isn’t Bruce Wayne gets a shot at being Gotham’s protector.

Sigh. At least the sculpts are done well. They all stand about 6 inches tall and come with relevant accessories. They do not, of course, come with the 3-D glasses that the Harvey-Dent-as-Batman costume would seem to demand!

Personally, I tend to think that when former Robin/Spoiler Stephanie Brown’s action figure look is the least garish of all the options, it’s time to bring back Bruce! …Or maybe just Darwyn Cooke. He could fix this.

Devo ammettere subito che Grant Morrison  forse è il mio autore di fumetti preferito, e devo anche subito dire che io adoro il Batman, probabilmente è il mio eroe preferito e uno dei punti fermi della mia infanzia, più del calcetto e dei panini. Era destino che i due si incontrassero prima o poi.

Diciamolo chiaramente:”Batman RIP” è bellissimo.

Non intendo fugari i vostri dubbi: “  Ma quel RIP? Ma Batman muore sul serio?“
Sarà qualcosa di peggiore della morte. Lo dirà il Joker in persona:

“Il funerale della tua anima”.  Batman affronterà, forse, la sua più grande sfida.  La domanda non è più “Chi è e perché lo è diventato?” , ma “Chi è? e perché continua ad esserlo?“.

E se l’evento principale della vita di Bruce Wayne non fosse così chiaro come ci è sempre stato raccontato? Se dovessimo mettere tutto in discussione? Se dovessimo prendere in considerazione davvero i 70anni di continuity di Batman, avventure Sci-fi comprese, se davvero l’uomo pipistrello nell’arco dei 15anni della sua “missione” personale avesse vissuto tutte quelle avventure senza far finta che non siano mai avvenute? Batman dovrà essere più forte del suo passato, del suo presente e del suo futuro.

Morrison fa un lavoro sopraffino recuperando vecchi miti e dandogli una nuova forma smagliante, ma coerente con quella passata, e deliziando i lettori, che siano veri segugi della continuity, semplici appassionati o alle prime armi.
Non mancheranno i colpi di scena, le atmosfere allucinate/allucinanti ed esplosive tipiche dell’autore scozzese.
Si aggiungeranno nuovi tasselli al mosaico delle avventure del crociato incappucciato:
Cosa è il Thogal?
Chi o Cosa c’è dietro il Guanto Nero?
Come sarebbe Gotham se non ci fosse mai stato un Batman?
Cosa sarà di Gotham dopo Batman RIP?
Cosa farà la “famiglia” di Batman? Robin, Nightwing ed il giovane Damian?

Le matite di Tony Daniel fanno il loro dovere,  anche se non approvo il suo Joker, decisamente troppo splatter e “”"moderno”"”.

Bellissime le copertine di Alex Ross. Ma che ve lo dico a fare?

Una storia con Bat-Mite, due statue di Gargoyles che parlano e elicotteri che esplodono. Oh, cosa volete di più?

Zur – En- Arrh!

Drinking stolen wine, and smoking cigarettes rolled from the pages of a bible, I begin again.

-sigh-

When you really break it all down, what’s the point of it all?  I ask myself.  I’ve asked this numerous times, only to have the answer bite me in the ass over and over and over again.  I’ve pissed away a good few years worth of Life in the search for ‘It All’ and all I’ve really come up with is ‘Just Because’.  There remains a distance I try to keep between me and the words I write, but I realize that the distance is what becomes me.  No matter the content, intent, or goal, it’s all just another attempt to find meaning to it all in the world around me.  Something that has been tried hundreds, or thousands, or millions of times before this one.  Whatever the number that has proceeded this single attempt amongst many, I move forward, claiming neither experience nor insider tips towards the matter.  After all, I’m just one voice amongst the millions on the Internet that feels the need to throw their thoughts at the ink and see what sticks to the paper after the initial shit storm has passed.

I’ve never had formal schooling, and while I wish I had, that option hasn’t presented itself as yet, though I know I can’t just wait for opportunities to appear, but must make the opportunities for the one who would take them as they come.  Namely, Me.  This really goes for anyone else out there that would begin as I would; Ass Backwards and trying to figure out just what the fuck is going on in this world.  I know others like myself exist.  I know I’m not unique, and if I am, I’m unique just like anyone else you could pick from this floating ball of rock, hurtling through space at about 67,000 miles per hour.  Hell, even my American upbringing has distanced me from the rest of the globe as everyone else uses the metric system.  If I could simulate rolling my eyes here, I would.

Whatever the case may be, I made a choice to keep going in the direction I’m in, and do my damned best to keep myself going, no matter how bad things get.  And believe me, things get pretty damn bad, especially for one as imaginative as myself.  There’s all forms of danger to be lurking in the blackness of the unknown, waiting around every corner to trip and devour you at the slightest sign of weakness.  That’s the world for you.  Fierce, vicious, and none too picky about what it devours to keep going.  Earth is a monstrous engine that is fueled by the blood of Man.  We die so that it might continue.  If humans died out completely, Earth would advance and forget about us.  We are short lived, troublesome, violent, and self destructive.  It’s bound to happen eventually, right?  Well, judging by the patterns at least.  Earth has a memory, but one that measures against the Galactic Ruler.  Our one hundred year bottle rockets are no match at all for the Class D bombs it has to deal with.

We are here and gone in a blink of an eye.  Look at our history and you’ll notice that the longer we lived, the longer we were able to keep ourselves alive, the more logical our deductions about our home became.  When our lives were capped at around thirty to forty years we worshiped anything that we did not understand, and back then, that was just about anything we saw.  As the years progressed we came to understand our surroundings and the ball of rock we lived on.  Hell, for the longest the world was thought to be flat.  You can even compare this to the way humans think about things.  It’s never as multidimentional as we’d like it to be, being only able to observe (for the most part) in a 2-D to 3-D point of view.  When you introduce meditation, ‘outside-the-box-’ thinking, etc, we really only add a fraction of what really is.  That the world is but an atom in the unfathomable build of a gigantic dildo, placed away in someone’s closet until the next moment the husband, wife, or dry spell comes up, is only a small percentage in the whole fucking system of it all.  For all we know, we’re atoms that make up the code of a horrible virus that is, right as you are reading this, tearing the life from a life force that has family, friends, and lovers as you all do.

Who cares, right?  We’re either too big or too small to give credit to such things?  We aren’t effected by the events of these worlds, so why bother thinking of them?  Why not?  Why not give into these ponderings in the dark?  Because it shakes what you are to the core.  It challenges your set views of a world where You are the biggest, most valuable, pawn on the whole chess board, and a polite ‘Go fuck yourself’ to anything that would challenge this existence where You remain an ‘Important’ piece in the Game of Life.  Perspective kicks us in the balls again as we delve into the possibilities that we aren’t the Big Cheese in the main run of things.  Even that line of thinking can be credited to Religion.

I really don’t want to get into a discussion of religion right now because it would ruin my buzz, but I’ll just end this topic here by saying that Religion has been the biggest cause of Death in our entire existence as sentient creatures on this this floating rock.

We believe because we CAN.

At any rate, I’m off to bed.

Fuck you, fuck your beliefs, and most of all, fuck bananas.  Because I can almost never remember how to spell the fucking things…

Whatever,

Peace and enlightenment be upon you Traveler.

~K.S.