Well, the way they draw Luthor creeps me out, but in general I liked the comic.  It has the same zany energy as the show.  The pace is fast and action-oriented.  Seriously action-oriented.  Of twenty-two pages, fifteen of them show something being smashed.  That kind of action-oriented.

This comic also has the sort of kitschy villains and monsters that enlivened the old Batman TV Show, and that you can’t really get away with in today’s gritty, more realistic comics.  The result is the triumph of imagination; fun, creative, outrageous and interesting.

The one main weakness of the comic is the same weakness of the show.  There seems to be a Very Special Lesson to be learned in each comic, and no subtlety in the teaching of it.  I realize that this comic is meant for children, but it frustrates me a little, knowing that if a character talks about their love of strength in the first five minutes, they’ll lose all their strength in the next five minutes.  What is most irksome about it is the show lays the groundwork for each Special Lesson well enough that it never has to be said out loud.  With the deletion of a few lines, each Lesson could be a character trait, each predictable reversal a fresh plot twist.

Still, the energy, the creativity and the joy that is shown all make this comic shine.  If you’re thinking about giving a young child a good education in all the DC characters, and, incidentally, entertaining them, this is a great comic to pick up.

Puns.  Who can argue with puns?

You say you can?

Then I say good day to you.

The latest issue of Faces Of Evil, has Deathstroke turning over a new leaf by beating up his kid, shooting down some military helicopters, blowing up all evidence of his past life, taking in a runaway to train, and deciding to become a ‘weapon of righteous anger.’

I approve of the change of direction.  Deathstroke, from The Judas Contract through his early years, was never supposed to be a generic baddie with plans for world domination.  This move is getting back in line with the original character, who was defined by his own morality and who often helped various heroes get certain missions done.

However, I am a bit tempted to swap out the end of the issue of Faces Of Evil and substitute the end of Faces Of Mischief, from the Tiny Titans.  One minute Slade is swearing to end the cycle of violence and the next he’s . . . taking Rose fishing, and to a baseball game, and to an amusement park.  Now that would be a new leaf.

However, if the overall arc of Faces Of Evil is sweeping change for the bad guys, there is another big change that would be possible with Deathstroke.  I think the biggest change of all would mean that he gets his ass surgically removed, wrapped in protective cellophane, packed in ice, wrapped up, given to a reliable next-day-delivery company, delivered, and officially handed to him by some character in the DCU.  Honestly.  Someone ought to be able to beat the guy, right?  Anyone?

That being said, what with the ten thousand AUs and the various universes, are there any stories in which you would mix and match the characters?  I Can’t Believe It’s Not The Justice League’s Max Lord being put into Infinite Crisis’ storyline comes to mind.

Fine, we all know that Marvel wrote President Obama into that Spider-man comic.  It’s still DC that has the best potential storyline with the new President.

Speaking at a Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, then-Senator Obama said, “I was actually born on Krypton, and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the planet earth.”

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I was reading a scans_daily post about a Wonder Woman story quite some time ago.  In the story a deranged Green Lantern was attempting to destroy a race which had slaughtered his people.  The discussion threads were pretty standard; lewd comments, art critique, Simone-worship, and snarking about the story.  In other words, all the reasons why people read scans_daily.

But one comment stood out.  A poster went off, just went off, about how this comic was another horrible smear on the name of the Green Lanterns, and how there seemed to be a sort of conspiracy dedicated to refusing to let the Green Lanterns be the noble, scrupulous guardians of the galaxy they used to be.

From what I remember, the comment was not received well.  The responses ranged from telling the commenter to relax because that wasn’t the intention of the story, to outright mockery of the fan’s rage.  Still, I think that that comment struck a chord, because is there a fan in the world who is sure that they won’t be next?  Who among us doesn’t have a few characters that, if they’re not handled in a way we approve of, will have us do the forum-post equivalent of biting the head off of a live chicken painting our faces with its blood?

What I’m saying is; batten down the hatches and don’t read any more if you don’t want to be spoiled for Robin #182.

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I was planning to see Watchmen when it came out in theaters, but I wasn’t particularly excited about it.  As I’ve said before, it follows the extra dark trend of superhero movies.  For me, an extra dark superhero movie is like extra dark chocolate.  Yes, it’s trendy these days, and everyone agrees that it’s classier, but most of the fun has gone out of it. 

However, then I learned that Fox started legal proceedings against Warner Brothers and the movie would be delayed, or perhaps even, (gasp), never released.

So of course then, I wanted to see it, needed to see it, started concocting I Love Lucy type schemes in order to get to see it, like unearthing one of those suits that I bought when I thought going to work meant wearing suits when in actuality going to work means advancing far enough that you don’t need to wear suits anymore, and pretending to be a lawyer (I would also probably need a briefcase) and saying that I represented one side or the other in order to get to see it.  Or perhaps I would find someone on the internet to whom it had been leaked, and beg it off of them, and transfer it to others using the netname Rorschach/Owlman4evah.

And now, the legal issues have been settled, and the movie is out in March, and I’m thinking, ‘Okay.  I’ll see it.  If it’s playing at that theater where they let you pump your own butter on to the popcorn.’

It’s sad when you’re a grown woman and you realize that you would be easily tricked into helping Tom Sawyer whitewash a fence.

Know what sucks about character death?

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The things you learn when you mess around with the subtitles on your Batman: The Animated Series DVDs.

Although in Spanish, Batman is still called Batman, Bruce Wayne’s name has changed to Bruno Díaz.

I’m guessing this is an across-the-board name change, and not just a blip for the animated series.  Does anyone know why it was necessary?  Does ‘Bruce Wayne’ mean ‘Your mother’s a whore,’ in Spanish?

Sometimes you’re on your computer, you’re not going anywhere, and you just want to yack about a comic with people.

Go below the cut to start flapping your fingers about Secret Six.  Don’t click if you don’t want to get, as the kids say, ‘spoiled.’

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Something strikes me as a bit out-of-sync about All-Star Batman and Robin.  Now, now.  Settle down.  I’m not trying to start anything.

What jumps out at me is the juxtaposition of the outrageous, film-noir-on-acid dialog by Frank Miller, and the finely drawn art by Jim Lee.  Although Lee’s intricate art serves the story well in large-scale panels, like the fold-out wide shot of the Batcave, it seems like the characters need chunkier lines and more high-contrast colors to have the same impact as the words.

Still, I wonder if my reaction to this is based only on the fact that this is the first time I’ve seen this type of art work paired with Frank Miller’s writing.

Does anyone think that this type of art suits Miller’s style just as well as the art we’ve seen in DKR?  Or better?

Does anyone else have examples of when an artist seems perfectly paired with a writer, or when it’s a match made in hell?