Amateur Batfan: Volume 16 – The Widening Gyre

Hello and welcome to the sixteenth installment of Amateur Batfan, a series of blogposts here at Kincrimsonblog where I try something new. Instead of writing exclusively about music like I usually would, I’m dipping my toes into the field of writing about comics. I’m fairly new to comics. You can read about my history with the comics medium in the first entry of the series.

Long story short, I liked comics-related stuff but found the whole idea of being a comics fan too embarrassing, and some of the comics I did try were lacking-in-depth, so I didn’t like comics themselves until my friend Paul opened my mind, multiple times over the years until I finally allowed myself to enjoy them. I had a sort of snobbery to overcome. Its been overcome now though, and I’ve spent most of the last year buying and reading Batman comics, which I will now blog about for your reading pleasure and commenting-inspiration (seriously, I want to know what you think about these comics).

Following my previous discussion of Kevin Smith’s Batman debut Cacophony; I will spend today writing about the second part of his Batman work, The Widening Gyre.

Cacophony was 3 issues long. ‘Gyre was double that length at six. With more space to play with, it is a lot wilder and more adventurous. Its a lot less enclosed and more sprawling. Its picked up on the most bombastic elements of its predecessor and used that as the default. Its also added a whole romance and couples-having-fun-and-being-silly-together angle, as well as taken a shining to highlighting the less realistic side of Batman comics.

The linear notes credit Walt Flannegan’s requests to draw numerous favourite characters as a reason for this as much as Smith’s initial story vision, and the fusing of these two goals creates something pretty memorable. If you are kind its a colourful (arguably gaudy), less-psychedelic and metaphore-filled version of what Grant Morrison was doing. If you are unkind, its an anachronistic mess and self-indulgent wish-fulfillment session by a duo with no taste.

Where do I sit, kind or unkind?

Batman

Batman – The Widening Gyre:

– Writers: Kevin Smith
– Art: Walt Flanagan
– Colours: Art Lyon

– Continuity: Post-Crisis, Pre-Flashpoint

– Timeline Position: Late Career, but Pre-Morrison’s story.

– Batman is: Bruce Wayne

– Villains: Baron Blitzkrieg, Atomic Skull, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Joker, Deadshot, Calendar Man, Crazy Quilt, Polka Dot Man, Cornelius Stirk, Black Manta, Funland, Mr Freeze,

– Allies: Alfred Pennyworth, James Gordon (Police), Baphomet, Dick Grayson as Robin & Nightwing, Tim Drake as Robin, Catwoman, Superman, Aquaman,

– Bystanders: Silver Saint Cloud, Gavin Adam, Mulligan, Arvin Flemming, May, June, Dirty Dan Yellpoon, Barry “Stiff” Saunders, The Spade of Clubs, Dr. Wolper,

– References: Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd, Mad Hatter, Onomotepeia, Riddler, Clayface, Connor Hawke as Green Arrow, Etrigan the Demon, Tweedledum, Two-Face, Evan Gregory, Toyman, Aqualad, Cyborg, Changeling, Kid Flash, Raven, Starfire , Wonder Girl, Black Spider , Doctor Phosphorus; Harley Quinn, Ocean Master, Planet Master; Captain Stingaree, Cavalier, Killer Moth, Kite-Man , Black Lightning, Geo-Force, Halo, Katana, Metamorpho, Baron Bedlam, Coldsnap, Heatstroke, New Wave, Shakedown, Windfall, Swamp Thing

– Story: [/Spoilers] Nightwing calls Batman to Bludhaven to view an old villain’s costume in a fit of sentimentality, as well as to inform him of a murder by Poison Ivy. Batman goes to meet Ivy in Arkham, where he finds out she is trying to hide from Etrigan the daemon. Etrigan turns on Batman, and Batman is overpowered, but saved at the last minute by new superhero Baphomet. Fearing Tim Drake will one day leave him just like Dick Grayson did, Batman starts toying with the idea of partnering-up with Baphomet, who is nervous and over-familiar, but likeable nonetheless. Bruce respects Baphomet’s lack of publicity-seeking or media interest, and Baphomet catches a villain that Bruce lets escape in order to save a hostage, making the two seem like a good team.

Multiple flashbacks to various periods in Bruce’s past go on through the story to underscore points. Scenes are saw of Batman with a young Robin, with a teenage Robin, with Robin becoming Nightwing, with Batman joining The Outsiders.

The other part of the plot is that Batman’s former lover Silver St Cloud returns and the two start a relationship that builds and builds until Batman eventually proposes to her, and the two get engaged. Silver allows Bruce to feel less obsessed with crime-fighting than usual and he starts to question his future.

Batman spends more time with Silver and leaves Gotham to Tim Drake and Baphomet. He is mistrustful of the new people in his life but after investigating them both all fears are removed. Life is good. Bruce is becoming a little too happy… maybe he’ll give up the Batman career in a few years.

I won’t spoil the ending because it is really, really strong.

– Art: Much less inconsistent than Cacophony in terms of quality, but fittingly inconsistent in style to reflect all the different eras of Batman. Its well done. There are hidden View Askew references (Buy Me Toys, Nails Cigarettes etc). There is a lot of detail, a lot of effort is clearly vissible. I don’t really like the style myself on a personal-taste level, but a lot of effort has gone into it, and it is functionally good as well as a huge improvement over the previous installment.

– My Thoughts: This is a real multiplication of the first one. Everything that was wrong with the first one (inappropriate language and swearing, jokes that don’t fit, dialogue Bruce would never say by any other writer’s choice, open discussions of sex, rude jokes etc) are here, way less subtly, way more often. If you don’t like the sound of that, you won’t like this book.

If you think it’s a bad idea for Catwoman to say “Wait, I’m not wearing any panties” then you won’t like this book at all. Because she does indeed say that in this book. Poison Ivy also tries to get Batman high on cannabis. Its Batman as written by Kevin Smith… so if you don’t think Smith’s personal taste fits in with the tone you want from Batman, then avoid, avoid, avoid!

Even I had huge problems with some parts, and found it difficult to continue reading at points. (And there’s a lot of Jewish jokes that seem a bit dodgy to me).

Once you get past the taste issue, the story is a big, colourful, bombastic tour of Batman’s history, as I’ve stated its very much like Grant Morrison’s “it all happened” style with a lot of references to the past and obscure characters and things like Batman’s work in teams (Justice League/Outsiders) with Superhumans. If you only want Batman to be realistic and only deal with humans… this isn’t the book for you…

Then there’s the love story. The Bruce can retire because he found love story. The Bruce lightens up a bit story. Depending on your taste this can be interesting or really lame.

As for the controversial “Batman wet himself” thing that people obsess over in this book… it is really not a big deal, or sacrilegious or anything like that. That issue is blown way out of proportion, and out of all the non-Batman things in the book, that is probably actually the least important. Its arguably handled rather well in the book actually.

On the plus side, some of the comedy is good (Calendar Man’s attitude to being sick was funny), some of the story is interesting, some of the references are neat (a young Dr. Wolper in particular). Baphomet is a good character and really likeable. The ending is superb. The ending is worth reading the book for alone. I won’t discuss it further to avoid spoilers or hype-disappointment-syndrome.

Overall; a very hit and miss book. It really depends on your mood and your sensibilities. It is intended to be colourful and fun and show off the bits of the Batman universe that aren’t over-done all the time in the grim and gritty era. Just like everyone praises Grant Morrison for. Smith definitely has a unique voice too. The ending is great, the amount of effort is great and the new guy is great.

However… there is so much just, un-Batman stuff in there that even with the biggest leniency and fandom for Smith, and a “this is his take on it, not mainline continuity” attitude, all the dirty jokes and drugs-talk and madcap ideas work way better on a podcast as a hypothetical than in the actual comic. Its kind of Smith-has-gone-too-far almost.

Its hard to get over that, and recommend it for being the very good book that it is, because I know fine rightly how awful it might seem if you aren’t forgiving of the sheer un-Batmanness. Smiling-Batman-of-the-70s as a fun book yes! Recall that spirit, good idea. A Bruce Wayne that isn’t psychologically tortured or borderline insane, yes! Refreshing, good idea.

Calling people “bitches” “turds” “emo-boys” “goths” and being overtly sexual… not for me thanks. That aspect, while again, it would be great to hear on a podcast with excitement in Smith’s voice and his co-host laughing, just doesn’t sit right with me in a comic.

So; In answer to the question, “where do I sit?” I’m afraid my answer is “On The Fence.”

Amateur Batfan: Volume 9 – Heart Of Hush

Hello and welcome to the ninth installment of Amateur Batfan, a series of blogposts here at Kincrimsonblog where I try something new. Instead of writing exclusively about music like I usually would, I’m dipping my toes into the field of writing about comics. I’m fairly new to comics. You can read about my history with the comics medium in the first entry of the series.

Long story short, I liked comics-related stuff but found the whole idea of being a comics fan too embarrassing, and some of the comics I did try were lacking-in-depth, so I didn’t like comics themselves until my friend Paul opened my mind, multiple times over the years until I finally allowed myself to enjoy them. I had a sort of snobbery to overcome. Its been overcome now though, and I’ve spent most of the last year buying and reading Batman comics, which I will now blog about for your reading pleasure and commenting-inspiration (seriously, I want to know what you think about these comics).

[First off, why not listen to this while reading this article:

, that’s probably the way to get the most out of the experience.]

At the minute, I’m happily making my way through reading No Man’s Land, and just like last time, since I’m not finished it yet, that won’t be the subject of this week’s entry. I’ve also received Batman: Demon in the mail. It may surprise you to know that its not about Ras Al Ghul like Son Of The Demon and Birth Of The Demon and all those other Demon books… its about that Etrigan The Demon guy, who I only know from one of Kevin Smith’s two Batman books. He rhymes a lot. Is that a permanent character point or just a Smith thing? I’ll find out soon enough…

Anyway; Last time on Amateur Batfan, I covered Hush Returns, which was a bad story featuring the villain Hush. Today, I read an interesting article about how the original Hush book was quite poor (Read it here). The thing is I really like Hush (the character). I like him to the point where I frequently think the sentence “if I was ever in charge of a Batman Comic/Movie/Videogame then I’d make Hush one of the main villains” (Along with Onemotapia and The Architect in case you were wondering).

When I first heard of Hush, I went into reading the original book with a negative eye, expecting to be disappointed, as my friend and Batman-advisor Paul had said that it wasn’t good (and after I read it and asked why, he said “because it treats the reader with absolutely no intelligence”), but I remember at the time really really enjoying Hush (damn its getting confusing having the book title and the villain both be called Hush, isn’t it?) partly due to Jim Lee’s beautiful artwork… (that’s how I want all comics to look, even if he could do with being less sexist. Also, everyone online ever also informs me that all his male characters have the same face and body). It was also partly due to the entertainment value. Its not a strong mystery at all, and the “insert thing into the past” line of story telling is one of my pet peeves (…and its actually doubly unnecessary here, because if Loeb wasn’t so attached to the name Tommy Elliot, he could have used the Bruce’s childhood friend character from Batman Gothic and then he’d just be expanding rather than shoe-horning) but I think the whole ride was pretty fun in a low level blockbuster sort of a way.

I also remember disliking the [Spoiler]Clayface/Jason Todd plot point a lot though. So… I guess you could say that I disliked THE POINT OF THE BOOK. But I enjoyed the ride. I really ought to re-read it and see where I stand; because of Paul (my friend, not Paul Dini), and a coincidental series of other people disliking it, I kind of assumed most people hated it. I was reading a lot of reviews about it today though, and it seems almost universally loved. I guess it’s the Metallica thing. Everyone loves Metallica, but you see a lot of criticism too. Is Lars a bad drummer? I can’t even tell anymore. Linkin Park are the same… if you’re actually in a University Halls Of Residence, you are never more than 10 feet away from at least 15 people who love Linkin Park, but go on Blabbermouth and you’d think they were the most reviled band on the planet.

Given that those two other Hush books aren’t very strong (or maybe Hush is… I’m still not sure), I’m not really certain why I enjoy Hush so much as a villain… but I do. I was even really pleased when he had a brief cameo in Gates Of Gotham, it really put a smile on my face! …Maybe its just because he looks cool. Maybe its just because I hadn’t heard of him before and I then when I saw him at the right time, I bonded to him, like how a zoo animal thinks the puppet that the Zoo Keeper uses to feed it is its mother. Maybe its because he shows up in Arkham City, and that game was great. Who knows? Anyway, this week, I’ve decided to cover a Hush story that isn’t poor. In fact, its one of my favourite Batman books so far. In fact, this story is almost like an apology or justification of the original Hush’s flaws.

As an example of those flaws, I’ve heard the motivation of Hush in the original Hush (confusing aint it?) described as “ludicrously juvenile.” Hush’s motivation is more understandable once he is more deeply characterized here though (heck, even his costume is). As an example of how Dini has retroactively rectified those flaws: While still having to work with what he’s been given (the car crash, wanting his parents inheritance, Wayne Sr. saving his mum plot), Dini manages to add depth and therefor quality by making the reader understand that Hush as a character is a ludicrously juvenile person, and that its not just bad writing. The guy is a total born prick, and he is also tortured emotionally by a belittling and draining upbringing. His parent’s inability to let him grow explains, in part, his ludicrous childishness, which only compounds his born wanker-ness. Its quite a clever workaround.

You know what else? I really hate shoe-horning in a previously unknown childhood best friend into any story (just like I hate a long-lost brother, or a secret lovechild), but when this is the third appearance, and its already established… its kind of dulled, or lessened. Its not a shoehorn anymore, it just “is.” Hush, by this stage, just is Bruce’s childhood best friend and we all know it, and its no-longer an insult on our sensibilities so we can now all just get on with it. Consequently, that particular turd isn’t gathering as many flies in this book. It left me softened up and more ready to just enjoy the story.

Speaking of softened up… as a sort of apology to what I’d said last week… I also had another thought when reading through several reviews and Wikipedia articles about all three of the Hush stories I’m talking about which softened me up a little to Hush Returns, which I had criticized for mis-characterizing Hush as a brawler when the original establishes him as a slow-strategist type (a callback to Bane’s wearing Batman down with villain after villain?). This softening-thought was that in Hush (the book) itself, it wasn’t Hush (the villain) who came up with the slow long-game plan, it was The Riddler. I’d forgotten about that by the time I’d read Hush Returns. So Hush wading in himself in Hush Returns isn’t so out of character after all. I can admit when I’m wrong.

Also, because I can’t completely divorce myself from writing about music, I just thought I’d inform you that at the time of writing, I’m currently listening to The Glorious Burden by Iced Earth, featuring Tim Ripper Owens, specifically the epic three-part, 30-minute long “Gettysburg.” If you haven’t heard it but like Heavy Metal in the vein of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, its an absolute gem. That’s my Heavy Metal recommendation for the day. You can all sleep easily now.

Batman

Batman Heart Of Hush:

– Writers: Paul Dini
– Art: Dustin Nguyen
– Colours: Derek Fridolps

– Continuity: Post-Crisis, Pre-Flashpoint

– Timeline Position: Very Late Career, Ties in with Batman R.I.P

– Batman is: Bruce Wayne

– Villains: Hush, Dr Aesop, Scarecrow, The Walrus, The Carpenter, The Joker, Mr. Freeze

– Allies: Alfred Pennyworth, Tim Drake as Robin, Dick Grayson as Nightwing, Barbara Gordon as Oracle, James Gordon (Police) Bullock (Police) Montoya (Police), Catwoman, Zatana,

-Bystanders: Detective Sam Emerson Bradley, Colin, Peyton Riley

– Mentioned: The Ventriloquist

– Cameos: Harley Quinn, Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Killer Croc, Thomas & Martha Wayne, Poison Ivy, Tweedledum & Tweedle Dee, Mid-Nite, Mr. Terrific

– Story: [Spoilers Ahoy:] The story takes place between the events of the books The Black Glove and Batman R.I.P, as the Black Glove Organization’s threat on Batman’s life drives Hush’s egotism into action. Hush is an asshole and he has to be the one to kill Batman. He sets up headquarters in the abandoned hospital that he mentioned in passing in Hush Returns, where now he has kidnapped and drugged-up a number people to use as almost zombie-like helpers. It might be a slight callback to The Cult… seeing as how Hush books love calling back to things. His plan involves attacking the people Batman cares about, including Alfred and Catwoman. The original Hush book saw Batman and Catwoman developing a romance, so after distracting Batman with decoy plans including an innocent little boy being given venom (…a callback to Batman Venom?), he goes as far as to actually surgically remove Catwoman’s heart. It is cryogenically frozen with help from Mr. Freeze to lure Batman into a trap.

There are multiple flashbacks to Hush’s childhood throughout the book, explaining the toxic relationship between him and his domineering mother (who’s bandaged face after the car accident from the previous Hush story adds an extra layer to the whole plastic surgeon and bandage themes from the previous book, rather than letting them be throw-away parts of a Two-Face subplot). Flashbacks also indicate that Hush’s councilor following the accident was Dr. Crane before he fully became Scarecrow. Hush teams up with Scarecrow as an adult, so that Hush has some help in his anti-Batman plan.

Batman infiltrates Hush’s Hospital but is drugged and wakes up strapped to an operating table. Hush uses his plastic surgery skills to make his own face an exact match for Bruce Wayne’s in a move that would have lasting impact outside this book. (Damien Wayne even spends time with Hush to feel like he is spending time with his dad later on in future Batman comics.) Hush, disguised as Bruce Wayne, infiltrates the batcave hoping to kill Alfred, Dick and Tim, and then mascaraed as Bruce to tell the Justice League that Batman is retiring and quit Wayne Enterprises. Batman escapes the hospital as you’d expect and tracks down Hush; there’s a fight between Hush and Batman in the Batcave, assisted by Nightwing and Drake-Robin, and when trying to escape, Hush’s bandages get caught in the rotar-blades of the gyro-copter that he is trying to commandeer, and he crashes into the water. His body isn’t located, meaning he escaped but isn’t an immediate threat.

With Hush out of action temporarily; Batman saves Catwoman and the two start a brief romance. In revenge for what happened to her, Catwoman dedicates her time, resources and favours/debts all to ruining Hush, by siphoning his money away (although graciously using it to compensate the zombified hospital workers) and leaving him a big “fuck you” sort of message. The book ends with an injured Hush receiving the message and hobbling off into the night, broken.

– Tone: I really enjoy this book. It tries to balance the supposedly roller-coaster ride feel of the original with having an actual plot. It brings in extra characters but doesn’t drown you in them. The original suffered from being a mystery that wasn’t mysterious enough… here, with no intention of being a mystery, it can’t fail on that regard and so is free just to be pure entertainment, at which it most certainly succeeds. The tone is a mixture of dark at times and yet there’s that comic-book feel to it too. Its not all grim horror, but its not all aliens and magic and long-lost twins either. Its good. Its a good comic book. Its what comic books fans talk about when they talk about comic books even if non-fans think of the B.S. (Like how non-Metal fans think its all noise and screaming and satanism… and no quality musicianship or intelligent songwriting).

– Art: In my opinion, Nguyen’s art isn’t as good as Jim Lee’s. Its good though. Very good. It really reminds me of Gates Of Gotham actually, its kind of stylized in a way that feels like the comics-equivalent of cell-shaded videogame graphics. It reminds me of Zelda Windwaker for some reason. Its not just as stylized as Broken City though, which I include as another random reference point.

Just because Jim Lee’s is prettier though, this is by no means an ugly book… its very good looking indeed (and in fact, better than Lee on the non-sexist drawings and varied character models side of things). I like how this book looks a heck of a lot.

– My Thoughts: If this book is a flop, and I was to imagine what everyone was to criticize this book for I’d guess just comparisons to other stories, or the fact that Hush is in it at all and they didn’t like the original. I mean, sure it borrows ideas from Face Off, and even Batman The Cult, but it does them well. I also have already explained how this improves immensely on the Hush story, so I’d say this is a good book to read if you disliked Hush. Its like “Ok… but do it properly this time.”

I guess the whole Aristotle thing, and all the Heart metaphors may come across as a bit cheesy to some, but I feel the right balance has been struck. I think it works well. Its not like in the Scarface videogame where they take the one off line from the film about Ice-Cream and then decide that in the game, Tony should mention Ice-Cream every five-minutes.

I don’t think it was a flop though.

Also, compared to Hush Returns… it actually ends. It wasn’t abandoned halfway through. It doesn’t massively misread the characters (Joker isn’t pining for a lost wife here).

There’s something that’s difficult to articulate… and that’s the fact that, its just good. It just is! It’s a very good book. I advise you to read it and find out why. Its well written. It flows well. Its entertaining. There’s nothing that makes you think “well, that was really annoying.” Overall; I really enjoy this book and I’d like to spread the word. So consider the word spread. Heart Of Hush is a good Batman book and you should totally check it out. (That’s my Batman recommendation for the day… what else needs recommending?)

Amateur Batfan: Vol. 7 – Batman Year Two Fear The Reaper

Hello and welcome to the seventh installment of Amateur Batfan, a series of blogposts here at Kincrimsonblog where I try something new. Instead of writing exclusively about music like I usually would, I’m dipping my toes into the field of writing about comics. I’m fairly new to comics. You can read about my history with the comics medium in the first entry of the series.

Long story short, I liked comics-related stuff but found the whole idea of being a comics fan too embarrassing, and some of the comics I did try were lacking-in-depth, so I didn’t like comics themselves until my friend Paul opened my mind, multiple times over the years until I finally allowed myself to enjoy them.

Today I’m in a good mood, listening to Killswitch Engage’s stupidly good (and secretly good – its so much better than you remember, even when you remember that its awesome) new album Disarm The Descent, and I’ve finished reading the lengthy Knightfall storyline at last. When I was reading that, several things reminded me of this entry’s book and put me in mind to write about it for this blog series, such as the presence of the character Dr. Leslie Thompkins.

When I was reading Knightfall, apart from the excellent prequel and follow-up stories packaged in with my edition, I felt like it was really old, and from an era before comics were marketed towards adults as much. I thought back to things like Batman Gothic and Batman Venom and Year One, and I thought to myself, Knightfall must be before all of those stories. Even the artwork for them most part wasn’t a patch on them.

Much to my surprise, Knightfall was actually newer than all of them, and newer than this book, which it often reminded me of, Year Two Follow The Reaper (A two part collection from 1987 and 1991 respectively, but that works nicely as a single book).

Its about a villain called The Reaper who looks interesting and, like Knightfall’s Azbats is a vigilante just like Bruce Wayne’s Batman but without the mercy. (If you haven’t read Knightfall, its about Bruce Wayne getting his back broken by Bane and then letting Azreal become Batman, but Azreal-Batman [“Azbats” for the purpose of convenience and distinguishing him from the real Batman] proves to be a crazy, violent and dangerous Batman). The Reaper carries around big scythe-blades and likes to be much more violent and permanent in his dealing with criminals than Batman does, slicing people up etc.

Personally; I liked this guy better than Azbats (well, in the first story; its two different people in the two different stories). I don’t know why I feel so compelled to compare the two stories though, maybe because they were both printed on similar type of paper, instead of the nice thick glossy paper that all my other Batman books are. Or maybe its just because of Dr. Leslie Thompkins, who knows?

Anyway; much like the character, I like the book too. It might have no big revelations or character deaths/injuries that echo for years to come, but I found it a rather good read; better certainly than the amazon reviews would suggest. I mean; it might be a bit heretical to say, but I thought this was a more solid and well written story than The Dark Knight Returns… I just didn’t fall in love with that book the way popular opinion suggests I should have.

I think if I ever wrote a Batman story I’d like to include the Reaper or at least reference him tastefully.

Batman

Batman Year Two Fear The Reaper:

– Writers: Mike W Barr
– Art: Todd McFarlane, Alfredo Alcala,
– Colours: Steve Oliff, Gloria Vasquez, Olyoptics

– Writers Full Circle: Mike W. Barr
– Art Full Circle: Alan Davis, Mark Farmer
– Colours Full Circle: Tom Ziuko

– Continuity: Post-Crisis, Pre-Flashpoint
– Continuity Full Circle: Post-Crisis, Pre-Flashpoint

– Timeline Position: Year One
– Timeline Full Circle: Early, but Post-Robin

– Batman is: Bruce Wayne
– Batman is Full Circle: Bruce Wayne

– Villains: The Reaper (Judson Caspain), Joe Chill, Mr. Morritz,
– Villains Full Circle: The Reaper (Joseph Chill Jr.), Marcia Duncan,

– Allies: Alfred Pennyworth, Dick Grayson as Robin, Dr. Leslie Thomkins, James Gordon (Police)
– Allies Full Circle: Dick Grayson as Robin, Alfred Pennyworth, Dr. Leslie Thomkins, James Gordon (Police)

-Bystanders: Rachel Caspian, Greta (Caspain’s Butler), Blinky Sutton, Moran Jones, Jonathan Heymer, Martin (Heymer’s Bodguard), William Golonka, Bukowski (Police), McGinley (Police)

– Bystanders Full Circle: Joan Lincoln (Reporter), Joey Chill III., Rachel Caspian, McSurely, Moose, Morgan Jones, Miranda (Hooker), Rhonda (Hooker),

Cameos: N/A
Cameos Full Circle: The Joker, The Penguin, Two Face

– Story: [Spoilers Ahoy:]

In the first story, James Gordon is promoted to Commissioner. The story begins with him on a television talk show denouncing Batman but defending him against comparisons to a more violent vigilante from Gotham’ past called The Reaper.

Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne is involved in the construction of a new Wayne Foundation building, and dating a woman called Rachel Caspain, who’s mother was murdered before the story begins.

Rachel’s father, Judson Caspain is then revealed to be The Reaper, and the story follows some of his violent reprisals on criminals, motivated by the loss of his wife to crime.

Gordon, who has warmed to Batman since the events in Year One, signals Batman to meet him and tasks him with stopping The Reaper. Batman locates him trying to kill prostitutes (who are still criminals in his eyes) and they fight, Batman is outmatched and returns home injured. Dr. Leslie Thompkins patches him up, but he awakes he reaches for a gun, suggesting it might be the only way to fight crime successfully.

Later The Reaper kills a criminal in the middle of a Police Swat Team stand-off situation ramping up the stakes for Gordon. Batman meanwhile is learning to be a better marksman at a shooting range, much to Alfred and Dr. Leslie’s distaste.

During the next battle between the Reaper and Batman (now carrying a gun), Gordon mistakes Batman to be just as bad as all the other criminals and looses faith in him. Batman then makes a deal to team up with gangsters in order to catch The Reaper, as it would be mutually beneficial to them, and the gangsters make Joe Chill (the man who murdered Batman’s parents) Batman’s partner for the duration of their plan. There are plenty of flashbacks and Batman finds this whole thing incredibly distasteful but goes along with it initially. Chill and Batman confront The Reaper but Batman finds it difficult to use a gun.

Later Batman has to foil some Police plans to preserve his own agenda and this further strains the relationship between him and Gordon. Furthermore his Reaper hunting limits the time he can spend with Rachel, straining that relationship too.

Bruce then lures Joe Chill to Crime Ally to murder him where Chill murdered Bruce’s parents, but before he is able to pull the trigger, The Reaper shows up and kills Chill. The two fight it out, stumbling into a construction sit and up a building, Reaper is exposed as Judson Caspain while about to fall to his death, Bruce attempts to save him, but Caspain chooses to fall instead. Bruce then buries the gun in the foundations of the still-under-construction Wayne Foundation building forsaking guns forever.

The story ends with a distraught Rachel becoming a nun.

In the second story The Reaper returns, only it turns out to be Joe Chills son, out for revenge against Batman, and teamed up with the equally dangerous Marcia Duncan.

Rachel learning of the Reaper’s return is hounded by press, and moves in with Leslie to lay low. Reaper steals the gun buried in the Wayne Foundation building and plans to kill Batman with it. Leslie is beaten up and Rachel is kidnapped to lure Batman.

Batman confronts and defeats Reaper only to be shot in the back by Marcia, and wake up in a death trap bombarded with reminders of his parents murder, designed to make him kill himself. Marcia and Reaper fall out when it is revealed she doesn’t care about revenge but making money from a bounty on Batman.

Robin comes to save Batman, ineffectively, but the threat to Robin’s safety motivates Batman enough to man up, escape the trap and stop Chill Jr.

Chill Jr.’s own son Chill III has been following them throughout the whole story and observed all of this. Finally he falls from his hiding spot and lands by the defeated Reaper. Batman uses Chill III as emotional leverage to convince Chill Jr. to stop being the Reaper, disposes of the gun once more (along with the Reaper’s mask) and Rachel goes back to her life as a nun.

– Tone: I have no problems to report with the tone. It isn’t too silly, it isn’t too dark. Its kind of somewhere in the region of the other two Wagner Batman books I discussed. This is what I’d like to call the standard Batman tone. It has a similar tone to the aforementioned Batman Venom and if you discount the supernatural elements, kind of similar to Batman Gothic. As I mentioned above; I’ve recently finished Knightfall which included The Revenge Of Bane and Batman Prodigal packaged in with it; Both those bonus stories share a kind of similar tone to this as well. Its not 100% gritty realism, but its not aimed exclusively at children either. The only problem I have is that they try to establish Robin as being fun, but sometimes its clumsy, as with the line ‘Surfs Up Dude.’

– Art: The art is rather good. Its better looking than the aforementioned Gothic and sort of similar to Venom, Prodigal and The Revenge Of Bane. It’s a lot better than most of Knightfall, better than Gotham By Gaslight but not as good as the modern stuff by Jim Lee or Greg Capullo. Not that you would expect it to be. For its time I think it looks pretty good. I think if you printed it up on glossy paper it would look pretty solid.

Overall: I got given this title by Paul as a much appreciated Christmas present; we had discussed it before when I mentioned I might buy it due to its at the time low price and low and behold now I have a copy! He didn’t rate it all that highly, but I am fairly impressed.

I guess at the time it was released, it might have felt like a bit of a disappointing sequel to Year One, but for me, now, with my tastes and particular set of Batman readings thus far, I found it to be wholly worthwhile.

For me; Fear The Reaper is a pretty damn enjoyable book, with a nice linear and easy-to-follow (but still entertaining) story, adding a bit of depth to the characters. It looks good, it’s a decent length and it has a villain that hasn’t been used to death already.

You know what, too? The Reaper just looks and acts cool. I know that’s a very adolescent way to look at things but it can’t be helped. I really like Spawn for the same reason… because he’s just cool. Maybe its all the Metal music I listen to, but a mixture of Black, Red, Skulls and Blades/Chains is usually pretty cool looking to me. Fun fact – Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn, was an artist on this book (in case you skipped the credits above).

Reading it through; it felt like two good episodes of an hour-long HBO TV Show. The Reaper being Bruce’s love interests dad is a cheesy idea on paper, but it actually worked well in context, the team-up with Joe Chill seems like a bad idea on paper, but when its actually going, the mixed feelings it creates are actually entertaining.

The only two major flaws with it I can find are that The Reaper uses his catch-phrase way, way, way too often (seriously, a drinking game based on it might make you quite ill quite quickly) and that the whole Batman might use a gun thing is a bit of a cheap story to tell.

Batman doesn’t use guns. Everyone knows that. Its one of the most Batman things about Batman. If Batman uses a gun, you automatically go “that’s not Batman” in your head. I know this is an early-days look into the character and trying to establish the fact that Batman doesn’t use guns for a new generation (at the time) but at the same time, it seems like a bit of cheap drama to even suggest he might use one. He won’t. Everyone knows he won’t. Unless this is the very first bit of Batman you ever read, the suggestion that he might just will never ring true.

With those exceptions (and y’know, “Surfs Up Dude”) being expected, I think this is a pretty solid read, and I would recommend it.

[Ps. In case you were wondering; here’s my current Batman collection at the time of writing. It doesn’t include what I’ve been lent, like Killing Joke or Man Who Laughs or Year One or Dark Knight Returns, but its everything I own myself at present (with the exception of No Man’s Land, which I didn’t photograph due to having not received volume-3 in the mail yet]

My Batman

My Batman 2

My Batman 3

My Batman 4