Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?

First comic purchase and first review of 202!
Bought at Boocup, Kerry Parkside, Pudong, Shanghai, China.

Title: Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?
Date: October, 2010
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Artist: Andy Kubert, Scott Williams, Simon Bisley, Mark Buckingham, Mike Hoffman, Kevin Nowlan, Bernie Mireault, Matt Wagner, Alex Ross
Colorist: Alex Sinclair, Nansi Hoolahan, Tim McCraw, Joe Matt
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher, John Costanza, Augustin Mas, Todd Klein
Editor: Scott Nybakken, Maggie Howell

The title feature of this trade paperback is the two-part story that spanned Batman #686 and Detective Comics #853, which were the last issues of those series before they were renumbered as part of the New 52. The title is a tribute to the classic Alan Moore two-parter, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, which was published at a similar moment, marking the division between the Pre-Crisis (On Infinite Earths) and Post-Crisis DC Universe.

The story has the Batman attending his own funeral, held in the back room of a Crime Alley bar, where Joe Chill serves as bartender, and all of the Batman's rogues gallery is in attendance as mourners, along with some more respectable members of the supporting cast. All of them are telling stories of the Batman's death while the Batman himself looks on unseen, with a mysterious woman as his guide.

And the stories are all contradictory.

This was an interesting examination of the symbolism of the Batman, and something of a reversal of the typical tale of transition into an afterlife. The fully-realized stories told by Selina Kyle and Alfred Pennyworth read like reasonably decent "What If?" tales, and artist Andy Kubert does a great job of evoking the styles of classic Batman artists. There are also some interesting stories that are just told as fragments from characters like Detective Bullock and Clayface.

The ending is a strange and surreal variant on (of all things), Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon, that should never have worked, but which Gaiman somehow manages to just about pull off.

Backup stories in this volume include a miscellany of Gaiman's Batman writing from Batman: Black and White and Secret Origins. The Black and White piece is an amusing bit of fourth-wall breaking. Of the Secret Origins stories, the Riddler story was the best of the bunch, a loving tribute to the Silver Age, and a lament against the turn toward darker fare that followed.

None of this is anywhere Gaiman's best work in terms of writing, but it's a nice look at his relationship with comics in general and the Batman in particular, and it has a decent number of stand-out moments.

Rating: 7/10

Kay And P #00

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Kay And P
Issue: 00
Date: 2010
Publisher: Jackie Musto
Writer: Jackie Musto
Artist: Jackie Musto

This issue introduces the title characters, a young music student and her best friend, a skeleton named P who is (mostly) invisible to everyone but Kay.

The focus here is almost entirely on the two lead characters, setting up their easy and fun banter as they deal with a breakup of a short-lived relationship and P's interest in celebrity news and pop fashion magazines.

The dialogue flows nicely and the artwork is beautiful. Writer/artist Jackie Musto does a particularly good job capturing Kay's many moods and expressions in this issue, without the pressure of having to do a lot of major plot developments.

This was a good introduction that definitely left me wanting to learn more about these characters and their relationship.

Rating: 8/10

Smile

We bought a boxed set of Raina Telgemeier's graphic novels at the Eslite main store, Taipei's famous 24-hour bookstore. This book was required summer reading for the Kiddo, and I read it with him.

Title: Smile
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2010
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Stephanie Yue
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

Sixth grader Raina is worried about getting braces, but the situation gets a lot worse when she breaks two teeth in an accident. The story, a memoir of the author's childhood in late 80s/early 90s San Francisco, takes place over the following four years of dental procedures interspersed with middle and high school social drama.

This was a charming story with a very sympathetic main character, tons of insightful details, and a sprinkling of history and nostalgia. Raina is easy to cheer for, and her experiences felt very real.

I also learned quite a bit about dentistry through this, and it resonated with my own orthodontic adventures as a teenager, which like Raina's were of above-average complexity (hers were certainly more extreme than mine, though!).

This is a story that leaves a good feeling but has enough depth to get you thinking a bit.

Rating: 8.5/10

Sea Ghost #1

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics, probably by way of the Maine Comic Arts Festival, although I don't recall which year.

Title: Sea Ghost
Issue: 1
Date: 2010
Publisher: Nemo Publishing Group (Capt'n Eli's Soda and Comics)
Writer: Jay Piscopo
Artist: Jay Piscopo, Ramona Fradon, Danny Kelly, Robert Caine Jeffcoat

Maine publisher Nemo, which is affiliated with Capt'n Eli's Soda, presents this homage to classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

Sea Ghost, who lives in an undersea fortress/lab in the ruins of Atlantis with his two children, investigates a strange machine, which ends up transporting him to a distant world. He soon finds himself in the midst of a seemingly endless war between two civilizations there, one land-based and the other sea-based. But there is a more dangerous and sinister force lurking behind the conflict.

This was a good, complete story that showed Sea Ghost both as warrior and peacemaker. There was enough conflict to keep things moving along, as well as some good worldbuilding and the potential for further adventures.

The story was definitely successful in capturing the Hanna-Barbera vibe, while still being reasonably original, considering that the lead character is pretty much a mix of Space Ghost and Aquaman.

All in all, this was a fun story that worked well in the flavor it was aiming for.

Rating: 7.5/10

Amulet Book Three: The Cloud Searchers

From the school library.

Title: Amulet Book Three: The Cloud Searchers
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2010
Writer: Kazu Kibuishi
Artist: Kazu Kibuishi
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

My review of Book One is here, and my review of Book Two is here.

The ancient city of Cielis was incinerated by the elf army, leaving only a smoldering crater. Or was it? Stories persist that the city, home of the Council of Stonekeepers that formerly ruled the world of Alledia, now floats in the air, hidden withing a vast unending storm.

That's where Emily and Navin and the rest of their crew are headed, along with some surprising new allies to accompany them, and a deadly assassin in pursuit.

The elf prince Trellis and his soldier Luger are the surprising stars of this volume as they get a ton of interesting character development along with new roles in the story. The supporting cast expands quite a bit, with a new villain, some new companions for the group, and a bunch of additional new characters introduced in the final scenes.

This issue had some of the most interesting character development of the series, and it also featured some spectacular visuals as Emily and Navin travel by airship searching for Cielis.

Rating: 8.5/10

Eensy Weensy Monster Volume 1

I have a box of unread manga in my storage unit that I got years back when I was selling books online. This volume was dug out of that box. I'm listing this copy on Bookcrossing and "releasing it into the wild" (Bookcrossing ID #088-15140289, track its progress here).

We're reaching the end of summer vacation, and we've only got a couple more days before we fly back to Shanghai. I've got a small stack of 5 or so graphic novels that I'd like to read, rather than take with me, so I'm going to see how many I can get through in the next two days. Expect a flurry of reviews here if I manage to make progress on them!

Title: Eensy Weensy Monster
Issue: Volume 1
Date: December, 2010
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Masami Tsuda
Artist: Masami Tsuda

Nanoha Satsuki is a hardworking but struggling student, outshined by her two best friends who are beautiful, brilliant, and popular. When she meets the arrogant "Prince" of the boys in the school, she loses her temper, and the little monster inside her totally tells off "Prince" Hazuki Tokiwa.

The result is a surprising series of changes for both students as they are forced to reexamine their own personalities and their places among the school culture, along with their feelings about each other.

This was a surprisingly introspective romance, paced slow enough to get to know the characters. It's got a big supporting cast that gets lost in the shuffle in places, but there are some nice touches of humor, and the artwork is lovely. The writing is quite self-aware, playfully making fun of some manga tropes as the story progresses.

Rating: 7.5/10

Scott Pilgrim Volume 6: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour

From the school library. Done with this series. Now to see what other graphic novels or manga they have in stock.

Title: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour
Issue: Volume 6
Publisher: Oni Press
Date: July, 2010
Writer: Bryan Lee O'Malley
Artist: Bryan Lee O'Malley
Editor: James Lucas Jones
Cover: Bryan Lee O'Malley, Ben Berntsen


Scott drifts through life lost, feeling the dread of the impending confrontation with the final evil ex-boyfriend, and wonder if there is even any point to it all, since Ramona has left him.

The final villain is great, and the last fight scene is epic. There are also some really funny moments, and a lot of touching and fulfilling ones as well.

This is a nice goodbye to these characters with an ending that is romantic, but still "real" (in spite of how ridiculous all of this is).

Worthy conclusion to a fun series.

Rating: 8.5/10

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Volume 3 (Hardcover Library Edition)

The library at the school where I work has a surprisingly extensive collection of Star Wars graphic novels, much to the delight of my son, who brought this one home today. He previously brought home Volumes 1 and 2 of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, which I reviewed here and here.

Title: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Issue: Volume 3
Publisher: Lucas Books, Dark Horse Comics, Spotlight
Date: 2010
Writer: George Lucas, Bruce Jones
Penciler: Eduardo Barreto
Inker: Al Williamson, Carlos Garzon
Colorist: Cary Porter
Letterer: Steve Dutro
Cover: Dave Dorman

My first experience with Star Wars was not the original film in the theater, although I did see it somewhat late in its initial release. My first Star Wars experience was with the Marvel Comics adaptation of the film, and specifically, with the third issue, since I had missed the first two.

This new adaptation (also volume 3) covers almost the exact segment of the film: The flight from the Death Star to Yavin and the opening moments of the final battle with the Death Star.

In terms of story, this has some great interactions between Luke, Han, and Leia, plus some of the truly iconic Star Wars visuals ("Lock s-foils in attack position!"). There is a surprising amount of character development in these scenes, considering the frantic pace as the Rebel Alliance prepares for impending doom.

The artists do a good job with the characters. They look like the actors, which is not always the case in movie/TV adaptations. Facial expressions and body language are effective. The initial space battle between the Millennium Falcon and the TIE fighters falls short of capturing the pacing and action of the scene, but the lead-up to the final Death Star battle looks pretty good.

Dave Dorman's cover is gorgeous, and his three bonus pin-up pages look great too.

I still feel like a hardcover edition of a single issue of a comic is a bit of a waste, but library editions are odd beasts, and this does have the advantage of being durable when bounced around in my son's bookbag.

It was fun to see a new take on this story in the comics medium.

Rating: 7/10

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Voume 2 (Hardcover Library Edition)

Another item that the Kiddo brought home from the school library.

Title: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Issue: Volume 2
Publisher: Lucas Books, Dark Horse Comics, Spotlight
Date: 2010
Writer: George Lucas, Miles Lane
Artist: Douglas Wheatley
Colorist: Chris Chuckry
Letterer: Michael David Thomas
Cover: Dave Dorman


This is the second volume of Dark Horse Comics' adaptation of Episode III. My son brought home the first volume in this series from his school library a few weeks back and I reviewed it here.

This issue focuses heavily on the political intrigue within the Republic and the conflicts that are beginning to tear Anakin Skywalker's loyalties apart. The dialogue builds on this idea nicely, with all of the forces around Anakin manipulating him, and the persistent voice of Chancellor Palpatine sowing doubts about the nature of the Jedi Order in Anakin's mind.

When the book finally returns to some action scenes at the end, the battle between General Grievous and Obi Wan Kenobi feels rushed although the art does make some good use of larger panels, especially in the opening moments of the fight. The climax of the battle could have been given more space and more attention, though, and a cut back to Palpatine and Anakin hurts the impact of the scene.

The artwork is generally faithful to the film, and this issue contained some of what I thought were the stronger script elements. Adapting a film into multiple comic book issues is challenging, but I do think the pacing of this volume could have been improved.

Rating: 5.5/10

Origins of Chinese Martial Arts

Here's a graphic novel about the history of Chinese martial arts that I bought in a bookstore in Shanghai.

Title: Origins of Chinese Martial Arts
Publisher: Asiapac Books
Date: 2010
Artist: Jack Cheong
Editor: Loh Chong Chai

Nice overview of the Chinese martial arts, mixing prose historical passages with comic-format short stories. The stories are mostly mythical in nature, although some are more historical, including a short biography of Bruce Lee. My favorite of the stories was the origin of Yue Maiden Sword, a tale of a girl who matches martial arts skills with a stick-wielding ape, and goes on to create a whole new style of sword techniques.

If found the very beginning to be a bit shaky, as it gives some vague speculation about the prehistoric beginnings of the fighting arts (accompanied by silly illustrations), but once the book got into the founding of the Shaolin and Wudang schools, it definitely kept my interest.

Jack Cheong's illustration style is clear and vibrant, and nicely captures the martial arts technique. I appreciate his mixing of male and female martial artists on the exercise technique illustrations that the book concludes with.

Rating: 7.5/10

Spectra #2

More laser-powered educational comic goodness from the American Physical Society. This is part of the stack of educational comics I brought home from the National Conference on Science Education.
 
Title: Spectra
Issue: 2
Publisher: American Physical Society
Date: 2010
Writer: Rebecca Thompson
Artist: Kerry G. Johnson

It's rematch time between Spectra and Miss Alignment, but first, Lucinda needs to make amends with her friends after having a bit of an issue with her newfound laser powers going to her head.

She also gets a ghostly mentor, the ghost of pioneering laser physicist Irnee D'Haenens. This issue gets a bit more educational content, but it flows pretty smoothly.

The confrontation between Spectra and the villainous Miss Alignment feels a little bit like too much of a repeat of the climax from the first issue, but it does go to a decisive finish this time.

This series still seems to be trying to find its stride as it experiments with getting the right mix of physics content, character development, and plot.

I did like the "if it weren't for those meddlesome kids" line that got thrown in at the end. Cute touch.

Rating: 6/10

A Robot And His Monkeys

Another minicomic from the backlog. I found a stack of minicomics buried in the pile of unread full-format comics.

Title: A Robot And His Monkeys
Publisher: A Boy and his Robot
Date: 2010
Writer: Jesse Durona
Artist: Jesse Durona

This is a minicomic story based on a webcomic called A Boy and His Robot. The webcomic appears to be offline, and the link above goes to the artist's blog.

In this issue, Kevin visits the zoo with Isaac the robot, who ends up in the primate exhibit following a series of mishaps that also result in a bit of temporary digital amnesia.Isaac is befriended by a troop of monkeys and ascends to their leadership, organizing them for battle against the apes.

Meanwhile, Kevin is searching the zoo for Isaac with his friend Nora, wondering how much trouble one robot could possibly get into. Not surprisingly, the answer is quite bit.

Backup story has Kevin and Isaac searching the woods for the perfect tree-fort tree.

This was cute fun, with enough plot twists to keep it interesting in spite of the small page count.

Rating: 7/10

SXSW 2010: A Comic Synopsis

Here's another minicomic from the backlog. Once again, it's from my favorite minicomic subgenre: Geeky autobiographical comics.

Title: SXSW 2010: A Comic Synopsis
Publisher: Brew For Breakfast
Date: 2010
Writer: Nomi Kane
Artist: Nomi Kane

Lovely string-bound minicomic about the artist's trip to the 2010 SXSW festival in Austin TX with her parents.

A twelve-page minicomic can't really do the gigantic festival justice, but the artist includes a nice sampling of the musical acts she got to see (Smokey Robinson was the only name that I recognized, but it looked like a pretty eclectic mix of musical styles), plus some of the general mayhem of the festival. The "shuttle of shame" was amusing as was the discussion of the physics involved in weatherproofing a mowhawk.

Nomi Kane ends the comic by saying she'll be heading back in 2011. Hopefully there is a 2011 minicomic version of her adventures out there.

Rating: 7.5/10

HelLA #2

I've reviewed three others from this minicomic series, not in order. This is the second issue.

Title: HelLA
Issue: 2
Date: 2010
Publisher: Cody Pickrodt
Writer: Cody Pickrodt
Artist: Cody Pickrodt

 HelLA is Cody Pickrodt's journal minicomic about the time he spent living in the Los Angeles area.

The cats and ferrets totally steal the show in this issue. Aside from the animals, this one had a recurring theme of hormones and a fair amount of focus moments between the protagonist and his girlfriend. A few "Oh no, he did not just go there!" kinds of moments, and a few that felt very down-to-Earth real.

Not as much nerdy content in this issue, but the cats and ferrets somewhat make up for that, and the artist does some interesting experiments with parallel ferret cartoons at the bottoms of the first few pages.

I like the other books in this series better than this one, but this was still definitely interesting. And did I mention cats? And ferrets?

Rating: 6/10

HelLA #3

Title: HelLA
Issue: 3
Date: 2010
Publisher: Cody Pickrodt
Writer: Cody Pickrodt
Artist: Cody Pickrodt


Another installment in this autobiographical (and geeky!) series about the artist's time living in Los Angeles.


This issue includes weirdly deformed tonsils, a mesmerizing pocket protector, nasty neighbors, and the guy rocking out at the chain bookstore music station.


There is also some of the best artwork in the series, particularly on a strip about the canyon behind the artist's house, and on his makeup with his girlfriend after a fight.


Artistically the best in this series, and some good quirky stories too.


Rating: 7.5/10

HelLA Special Edition

Title: HelLA Special Edition
Date: 2010
Publisher: Cody Pickrodt
Writer: Cody Pickrodt
Artist: Cody Pickrodt


Short vignettes of the artist's life in Los Angeles. This issue is slightly more raunchy and contains fewer geeky references than HelLA #1. It is very quirky and odd in a "truth is stranger than fiction" sort of way. Topics covered include flossing, massage, cuttlefish, and the classic West Coast experience: an earthquake.


Plenty of amusing and unexpected observations in this issue.


Rating: 6.5/10

Fruitless

Here's another minicomic of unknown origin from the backlog.

Title: Fruitless
Publisher: Allie Kleber
Date: 2010
Writer: Allie Kleber
Artist: Allie Kleber

Tragic love story involving a robot, a squirrel, a scientist, and a snowman set in a post-apocalyptic outpost in the Arctic. The squirrel serves as the serpent in this version of the Garden of Eden.

Cleverly told and fun.

Rating: 7.5/10

Rival Angels: Rookie Year Volume 2

Title: Rival Angels: Rookie Year Volume 2
Date: 2010
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley, Dan Head
Artist: Alan Evans, Dan Head
Colorist: Dustin Yee, Jessica Hunsberger, Marcia da Piedade Nunes Patricio


Trade paperback compilation of the Rival Angels webcomic. I picked up the first volume last summer at Otakon, and bought this one when I ran into creator Alan Evans at Anime Boston 2013.

This is a pro wrestling comic, telling the story of fur rookie wrestlers in their first year in the "big league" of the Rival Angels federation. Kayfabe story. All of the in-ring action is considered real.

In the previous review I mentioned that Alan Evans knows his wrestling. The action is familiar enough to be authentic and original enough to stay interesting. There were some in-ring moments that would look awesome in an actual wrestling match (the "tsunami"!).

What I especially liked in this volume, though, was the out-of-ring character development, especially the relationship between "Ultragirl" Sabrina Mancini and "Lil Dragon" Sun Wong. They have some great scenes just developing their friendship, even as events are happening that will threaten the friendship down the road.

The story had good, complex backstage intrigue happening, and it also used flashbacks to give more insight into the backgrounds of some of the lead characters, including what amounted to a complete origin story for Sun.

This volume showed a lot more character depth, and the out-of-ring storylines moved away from the reality-TV flavor that characterized the first volume.

I'm a longtime wrestling fan. I bought this volume because it was a good story about wrestling. I'll be buying the next volume just because it's a good story.

Rating: 8/10

The Bards Comic Relaunched #1

Nikki O'Shea was one of the first artists I ran into at Anime Boston's artists alley this year, and I picked up this compilation of her webcomic.


Title: The Bards Comic Relaunched
Issue: #1
Date: 2010
Publisher: Dragon Press Graphics
Writer: Nikki O'Shea
Artist: Nikki O'Shea

Standard comic format collection of the Bards Comic webcomic. This collection introduces Jack and Samantha, two new members of the Bards.

This issue starts off with a series of strips about something I could definitely relate to: the difficulties of creative work done in the presence of toddlers and cats. This was some good, funny, geeky, and true-to-life material.

From there, it was time to put the band back together, or rather, to recruit some new members of the Bards before the intrepid musicians (and artist!) set out on their latest adventure.

As you have probably figured out from past reviews, I'm a sucker for a good geeky autobiographical comic, so I was having a lot of fun reading this just because of the familiarity of the different personality-types who appeared in the story.

The jokes were good, and the plot looks like it has potential, although a lot of the second half of this issue was setup and introductions. The comic suffers a bit in its transfer to print in terms of layout and small font sizes, but that is partly the result of trying to get a decent number of comic strips (41!) into one issue.

Overall, this was entertaining and fun with lots of good nerdy references.

Rating: 7.5/10

Brain Parts #2

Title: Brain Parts
Issue: #2
Date: 2010
Publisher: Holly Foltz
Writer: Holly Foltz
Artist: Holly Foltz

Some entertaining slice-of-life tales about work in customer service. Plus X Files vs. Fringe, reality TV, cats, and sexist superheroes.

Fun collection of mostly one-page gag stri. I didn't laugh out loud at everything here, but there were plenty of chuckles to be had).

Ten-page bargain minicomic. Fun.

Rating: 6/10.