Can someone tell Batman why not?!?

this seems as likely a place as any other to post my fave line about Assbats, from CBR: Perhaps this is a book that most people won't look kindly upon because it needs to be viewed in a context they're not aware of yet.

:)

It would be great if someone photoshopped Batman and Batgirl into the "So not gonna happen" picture.

I can't tell if Batman is crying or if it's just the greasepaint under his mask: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/06/18/batman-fan-film-city-of-scars/

I saw that a couple of days ago. Pretty good for fan-fiction, it has to be made by industry ringers, as it is pretty slick. The take on Wesker & Scarface was pretty cool.

It's better than the 20 minutes of Smallville I watched a long time back.

Whoo-AH, Mister Wayne! This is just straight up BAD.
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2010/07/07/get-a-first-look-at-batman-odyssey/
Like joyless bad, not like Frank Miller Combination Pizza Hut & Batman Bell crazy bad but also self-consciously hilarious.

Adams has always been a TERRIBLE writer, and his artwork has totally gone downhill in the last twenty years or so too (my suspicion is that there are lots of assistants doing most of the actual drawing/finishing). RIP Dick Giordano.

The 60s/70s Adams-Batmans really were something to look at tho', back in the day

"He's targetting our - EYYOW! guns."

why does Batman have a gun...?

So that he can learn a very important lesson about the Second Amendment.
NB: there's a Kevin Nowlan-inked pinup at the back of this that does justice to Yr memories of Adams.

skimmed thru this in the comic bk shop yesterday, even more of a trainwreck than i feared, weirdly a cpl of pages are inked by michael golden. can't believe there's meant to be twelve issues of this shit - has adams ever drawn twelve issues of anything, all in a row?

With a decent artist or two, this could be promising. Am I ready to read two ongoing comic books again? http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2010/07/14/meet-your-new-detective-comics-writer-scott-snyder/

why did i read that? now i want to start buying comics again.

I don't quite get the venom being cut loose on the Adams' Batman. The thing is pretty much a straight up bronze age style comic, which should make sense considering who is making the thing. Clean up a bit of the language from Robin and you could drop this thing straight into a 100 Page Detective Batman Family Giant from 78. Maybe I have a heart or a soft head for such comics, I didn't think it was that bad. I just think fans now over think stuff to an extent.

Maybe they should have put on the yellow circle around the bat to make it obvious, I don't know.

As for the artwork, the guy really hasn't lost much at all, some of the pages are almost 3D. The inking style is more Klaus Janson than say Dick Giordano on a lot of the book, which is some of the difference.

http://i.newsarama.com/images/bmody_cv4_02.jpg

wtf is happening there

like, is Batman tripping and someone locked him in a hairdresser's basement or something

lol at the dialogue in that excerpt

TRIPPING BALLS.

tripping hairs

bump

This Neal Adams Batman is so crazy it makes the All Star Frank Miller Batman look like Papa Spank!

wait, wait, wait, Neal! You drew the bullet coming out her back! You can't take that back! But you did, so OKAY.

"What's worse than finding a worm in an apple. Answer... Finding half a worm." NOT THE RIDDLER WHO SAID THAT EITHER.

and that's before Man-Bat calls Batman a eunuch!

and then Aquaman shows up fresh from the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics!

scans, please?

NOTE: This is not the actual Riddler, but salsa singer, former Panamanian Minister of Tourism Ruben Blades, really.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/hukl/tastethatreuben.jpg

lulz at gordon

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/hukl/halfaworm.jpg

whoa

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/hukl/kirk.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/hukl/calgary1988.jpg

I like the idea that Batman names each fist a different sandwich, "Taste that reuben!" POW "Have a bite of this Monte Cristo!" BIF!

I hope this comic sells so strongly that its tone gets adopted by all Batman comics so that Neal Adams can hold the distinction of being the guy who took the camp out of Batman and then 40 years later put it back.

thanks you for posting those.

wow, i may buy that

Yeah, I'm making my first comic store trip for two months today. Will definitely have to get this.

Oh my god, this comic.

should I buy this just for the mindspasm?

wait, when did Aquaman get his hand back

also when did he start killing people

doesn't he get a new hand every three years or so?

also I don't know but I would assume he was killing dudes when he had a HARPOON for a hand

like, presumably he wasn't killing fish with it

but

ut ut ut ut take it to "Can someone tell Aquaman why not?!?""

as someone who doesn't know much about comics i have to ask, did aquaman always have a mullet?

not until the 90s

(maybe 80s? that Craig Hamilton mini with the blue costume?)

I've only ever seen this ad, dunno if that's mullet or bubbles

http://namtab.com/aquablog/aquaman1986ad.gif

In my memory that's a mix between a classic mullet and a Lief Garrett 70s winged monstrosity. By the way, that's his uniform in the mini - he looks like a figure skater covered in kelp.

Despite all that, I remember liking the story. I was young and dumb, I'm sure.

http://www.poeghostal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/aquaman.jpg

Didn't Aquaman have a semi-long hair in the 90s, not a mullet? It was Supes who had the horrible mullet.

I thought Aquaman was now back to his "classic" (pre-90s) look, but apparently not, at least not in this comic.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h9LIEjK3ohY/RsjlsfowRZI/AAAAAAAAAzw/VQaR_dHuud4/s400/aquaman-harpoon.jpg http://www.comics101.com/comics101//images/view.php?src=../news/Comics%20101/224/Aquaman2.jpg http://namtab.com/aquablog/hawkman15pg24.gif

Clearly the 90s Aquaman was inspired by Kurt Cobain, not Don Johnson.

Interestingly, Neal Adams has no use for continuity. I think it's supposed to be an early adventure, but it's so clearly just Neal Adams doing things the way they should be. As we shall next issue when Batman meets the current president, Ultimate Warrior.

yeah, the Hamilton mini was 1986 [xp to tuomas]

Aquaman was iirc given his hand back by The Lady Of The Lake in return for defeating The Thirst, although this was a water filled glove kind of affair. I think his proper hand came back after he used the bones of it to pull Sub Diego back onto dry land while he was the Dweller In The Depths and was properly fixed while he was a Black Lantern.

I should get out more.

Fucking DC. Return of Bruce Wayne is running so late that he's already back in these bloody 'Road Home' things. Why don't they delay THEm so it all makes sense. And why is Return running late anyway? Each issue has a different artist and they still can't get it right. Fucksake!

Morrison's at fault there, as evidence by artists dropping out when the scripts don't arrive and rush-jobs by hacks going to print late instead.

kinda goes with morrison, but can't believe they don't make him turn in the whole fucking series in advance at this point.

DC have still blown their own scheduling on it though, dropping FOUR of the side-mini-series issues in ONE WEEK and getting the "now read X next!" blurbs wrong in at least one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT0U8-JZyLg

http://newyork.craigslist.org/stn/mis/2049363802.html
the dark night - w4m (gotham city)
Date: 2010-11-08, 3:44PM EST
Reply To This Post

b-man, u are trying to build your life, and I will never, ever come between you and any of that.....I know things are the way they are, and I have agreed to accept it.... but like right now.... when I feel broken.... i think of you and i feel the connection again.... it doesn't matter who i am with.....you know i am always with you -J

http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=What-the-Hell-is-Going-On-Here.html&Itemid=113

Neal Adams: Too lazy to draw a banana.

Batman to Aquaman: "You know...sometimes...not always, but sometimes, you are a scary-looking dude, my friend."

JACKSON H. MONKEYSPIT!

Y're having a laugh, Neal.

the first page of the newest issue!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/hukl/BatmanOdyssey06002.jpg

if this thing was on matte paper I would buy it for the awesome wtfness

"even now, HERE, I can feel my frustration, THEN"
i'm totally buying this in trade

I have no idea what is going on in this comic, but Mr. Adams has kindly put together a recap page like this. Now, having read it, I really have no idea what is going on.

In factttt

it swirled around me... and ra's al ghul... and somehow... oil

professional climbing axe is a rich man's toy

Neal Adams making Frank Miller look completely sensical

honestly, that's too good

okay that is REALLY making me want to buy a Batman comic

there's a very real possibility that this will make even less sense in trade
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/hukl/godrobindick.jpg

lolling here

kinda wanna spam every thread on every board with that image

THEY WERE DOING THEIR TRAPEZE ACT!

this dude has no idea how to use ellipsis

i mean read that panel out loud and give each ellipsis a good 2 second pause and the dialogue gets even wackier

ASK AWAY

I don't think I like the look of this new Phoenix Wright game tbh.

they were shot ... when they ... you can't

I think Neil Adams is secretly doing some cut-up technique shit here

he looks like arnold getting explosively decompressed in Total Recall

so he's saying "ask away." with that face

looks like a cross between jon hamm and christopher lloyd

robin...
dick.

is the storyline that the Graysons stole someone's trapeze moves, and therefore they were justifiably kiled under circus law? And now Batman has to kill Robin under that same circus law, because he's a real stickler for following the law, even circus law?

Robin's... dick is exactly what I would call the rich man's climbing tool in the first image above. Am I wrong? Or does it look totally like a sex toy?

its weird that sienkiewicz is now inking this, after all those years painting himself out of that 'neal adams' copyist tag

For my review of this I was planning on posting that first page and just leave it at that. Sadly, I have no scanner and GIS was coming up with nothing so I just posted two clips from IRMA VEP.

A fellow Miriam Toews fan, huh?

I can't stop thinking about what happened to that axe between panels (and for the rest of the issue!)

oh why did i ever stop following batman...

http://wolkin.com/2010/08/1160/internal-monologue-reviews-batman-odyssey-2/

why didn't I know about this sooner

Has Batman been naked this whole time?

ALSO: special appearance by Bane.

i don't even
http://wolkin.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/odyssey3.jpg

...NUMBED TO VIBRATING OBLIVION, BATMAN IS JACKED AROUND LIKE A PUPPET.

dayummmm

IT... THE BODY JERKS ABOUT SO UNCONTROLLABLY, IT MORE RESEMBLES A MAD MARIONETTE THAN A HUMAN BEING.
IN FACT IT CAN'T FALL UNTIL ALL THE JACKING STOPS.

i have to go get this now, literally tearing up a little

feel I should reiterate the Burroughs parallels here lol

That "...Ruben Blades..." thing is still bugging the hell out of me all these months later.

Wow. Does no one edit Adams' scripts, or did they just not care? I mean, the "jacking" thing is just...words fail me.

the only thing that bothers me is the illegibility of the white text and the cut-and-paste "BADA"s. thank you comicraft for ruining comics forever.

that's the ONLY THING about this that bothers you

all this batmarionette stuff is less bothersome than adams' plate tectonics weirdness. it's good that he found an outlet!

http://wolkin.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/odyssey3.jpg
#1. Visually touch the body in front of you. Caress it with your eyes, drink it in slowly.
#2. Close your eyes; remember the body you've just seen, then slowly undress it.
#3. Reach out, and without touching, show what you want to do to the body in front of you
#4. Put your right hand upon the shoulder of the body in front of you.
#5. Rhythmatically move your body to the beat.
#6. Physically touch the body in front of you in every way imaginable.
#7. Lose complete mental control, and begin to jack.

I would never forgive myself for buying this, but I really want to buy this.

FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE (AND THE BOLD), ACE IN THE HOLE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXNfHb9b6Y0

Dear God. The combination of that incredible Bruceface and the "cross between Jon Hamm and Christopher Lloyd" comment almost killed me. This thread just keeps on giving.

It begs the question, just how deranged and incomprehensible would this have to get before DC would consider not publishing it? And the answer is, of course, they never would, because they know anything with Neal Adams name on it will sell on that basis alone. The quality or lack thereof is basically irrelevant.

The fact that a recent Kevin Smith Batman story had the Caped Crusader admit to pissing himself would indicate Adams has a long way to go before anyone would try to reign him in. The obvious lack of simple copy-editing & continuity-minding speaks volumes too. But, please DC, give me more balls-out insanity of this variety than the mopey Rise of Arsenal stuff.

BATMAN: ODYSSEY: Not a dream! Not a hoax! Not an Imaginary Story (Cuz, Dude - Bane!)!

Never forget.

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well, that didn't work.

Here's a link. I'm headed off to lay my weary head and maybe never get up again.

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/03/08/batman-odyssey-neal-adams-insane/

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2011/03/odyssey-h20.jpg

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2011/03/batman-idiot.jpg

I will never pay $$$ for this series but the individual panels are A+++ lol

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2011/03/odyssey-suspicion.jpg

there are not enough Ws, Ts and Fs in the world for this comic

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2011/03/odyssey-freak.jpg

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2011/03/odyssey-gay.jpg

^kinda want this as my ILX avatar

Laura: The second Alfred/Bruce conversation is almost as nuts as the first, and includes a panel of Bruce Wayne laughing hysterically while saying, "Sworn to secrecy, ha ha! Such a thing! Such an octopus of a thing!"

Please let this panel be online somewhere!!!

it's on this thread! and i had it as my dn for awhile!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/hukl/halfaworm.jpg

Beautiful!

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11274697

http://www.bleedingcool.com/wp-content/uploads//2011/03/BMODY_9_CVR.jpg

^^^next level

That is breathtaking.

it's like he's being eaten by evil sea monkeys

Evil sea monkeys with hairsprayed dreadlocks.

what
the
fuck

i bet i just looked deeply insane sitting at my desk trying to not to burst into laughter while reading that

albino sea monkeys from jamaica

Showing off the sweet discounted utensils they picked up at the military surplus store.

o the lolz

I am so buying this trade

Now, is this better or worse than ALL-STAR BATMAN?

I think better. Maybe.

All-Star Batman was readable and had a story and was in English, so it seems not very crazy in comparison now.

yes but this is way BETTER

http://www.nealadamsentertainment.com/3dani.html

wow. no.

wow YESSSSSSSSSSS

It pleases me to think that we're not even half way through the series.

May your adventures be long and bounteous, naked Batman.

7 amd 8 have been resolicited and the rest have been cancelled tho

The news reports I've encountered say the orders have been cancelled - standard practice in ref. to whatever # of copies the shops have requested - not the series.

Though I'd love to see whatever resolution Adams would conjure up on the quick. Maybe it'll involve ghosts.

Or, rather, more ghosts.

shocked SHOCKED to discover ricardo montelban allergy bee is a Neal Adams project!

Jim Steinman's never produced Batman musical. The Best Thing Ever.
http://youtu.be/SD1OxBTwm8c

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2658/36/85/55919364143/n55919364143_1411791_6696134.jpg
Neal Adams, never change.

Aaaaarrgh!

In other news, most recent Batman Inc was super-fun

Subtext

We're never gonna find out whether Bruce was naked or not.

In other news, most recent Batman Inc was super-fun

Agreed! Also: wow, Grant reads Scalped.

http://twitpic.com/5k1mrw

Try again:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/335999372.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJF3XCCKACR3QDMOA&Expires=1309613086&Signature=AMndt%2FerxijLpFkByUeejNjaEAE%3D

Not me, by the way.

YES!

BATMAN: ODYSSEY VOL. 2 #1

Written by NEAL ADAMS
Art and cover by NEAL ADAMS
1:10 B&W variant cover by NEAL ADAMS
On sale OCTOBER 19 • 1 of 7, 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. See the Previews order form for more information.
BATMAN: ODYSSEY is back in a new volume from legendary writer/artist Neal Adams!
It's finally happened: Batman must kill or be killed. The threat is real and can't be stopped by man or hero. To combat it, Batman must bring time itself to a standstill so that he can embark on an odyssey of self-discovery to a place unknown to mankind, where he can find himself. But is this a place where only failure awaits?

Yay! Maybe they'll collect the first chunk in a trade to coincide.

Maybe I should just hold out for the Absolute edition.

Reading the summary, it's Neal Adams' own BATMAN R.I.P.!

Plus: NOTED USE OF THE WORD "ODYSSEY". Look out!

But is this a place where epic failure awaits?

Did they renumber this to coincide with the DC universe restart? That's hilarious!

I saw they're making a Batman t-shirt with an image from this on the front. I'd totally buy it if it was hirsute Bruce, but alas it is just running Batman.

If it was hirsute Bruce talking about being on a t-shirt in a non-sequitur manner, I would wear it every day.

I'd only buy one shirt, but still wear it daily because being smelly and weird kind of fits with the tone of the comic

man even the synopsis makes no sense

i was talking about this series with a friend while we were in a comic store and the guy behind the counter had clearly not read it and clearly didn't know adams and couldn't figure out why i was so excited by its existence

how can you work at a comic store and not know Adams

that seems like working at a jewelry store and not knowing about bracelets

file under: kids these days

he interrupted my diatribe to ask how it was any different from any other cape/tightfest and i showed him the iceaxe splash page and he glanced at it, shrugged and said it didn't seem any different from morrison so go figure

well there's the thing where Morrison's sentences all seem to be related to each other, for starters

that's.... sad

xp

in dude's defense, grant morrison is also bonkers.

sure, but Morrison's stories tend to be crazy in the sense of "I can't believe he just did that", not in the sense of "what the fuck does this mean"

eh I dunno some of his stuff can be pretty oblique, especially if you aren't paying close attention to seemingly minor details. otoh the clerk's comment just seems wrong

maybe Morrison is in control of his madness, where Adams is not

Morrison does a lot of big picture crazy where all the details really only make sense if you look at the whole storyline (and have a deep understanding of kabbalah).

Adams is just nutso

the only Morrison thing I've read that I thought didn't make sense no matter how many times I read it was Mr Miracle and that was only because it relied heavily on assumed knowledge outside of the book; even Shining Knight had a massive "A-HA!" moment that made the first two issues intelligible in retrospect

well there's the thing where Morrison's sentences all seem to be related to each other, for starters
― a variable (sic) "League of Nations" (DJP), Wednesday, July 20, 2011

TBF, that is hardly a consistently accurate assumption

lol being a Kirby nerd I had no problems with Mr. Miracle

The main criterion one should have of a solicitation is "Does it make me wish to read the book in question?" This one, in all its jolly oddness ("...BY MAN OR HERO."; "...BRING TIME TO A STANDSTILL.") most certainly does.

I think what's drawing the most attention is the lack of any exclamation marks, thus rendering all its absurdity po-faced. Absurdity is always better sans hyperbole - who knows what awaits?

Adams has been a mentalist very occasionally making terrible, unreadable comics for thirty years now (until Odyssey, which is either terrible and compulsively readable, or amazing and unreadable) - clerk otm

TIME... ITSELF!

http://i.newsarama.com/images/bmody_v2_cv2_r1_02.jpg

It's BEAUTIFUL.

What the hell? The head cages made of tusks - how are they attached? And why?

Can't guess how, but as to why I'm postulating those are like the lampshade things vets put on pets so they don't lick/bite a healing wound or surgical scar etc.

So that they can't attack the rider or people standing nearby when stationary, I think

Has anyone ever addressed the unlikely coincidence that Bruce Wayne & Boy Wonder share the same initials? If not, I have a pitch for THE summer event of 2013!

Batman: Odyssey is the only Batman book I ever want to read

^

just read this whole thread, i am dying

it's a tragedy if this was canceled

it's still running; they started a volume 2

need to sit down and reread all of these

gonna do a first readthru finally in about five minutes

oh my god every page is immensely impossible and utterly insane
this is kind of magic

I liked Ra's moping around like Charlie Brown. "Sigh..."

i was drowsy when i read this and i fell asleep and when i woke up everything i heard or read sounded like gibberish to me

i was drowsy when i read this and i fell asleep and when i woke up everything i heard or read sounded like gibberish to me

So Batman: Odyssey was the only sane thing in an insane world? Awesome.

Might as well post this here because it's a goddamn Batman book by any other name -- but omg, Holy Terror is so insane and bad. Miller didn't even try to make it good, he just had to get the loathing down on paper as quickly as possible.

explains why he spent eight years working on it

oh what an octopus of a thing

he did a fantastic job of making it look like he spent three weeks working on it

Margaret Atwood on Batman http://www.beamsandstruts.com/bits-a-pieces/item/653-atwood-on-batman

real insightful there

jesus fuck, adams is digging a lot deeper than atwood there.

bought v2 #1 today because of this thread. jesus. <3 neal adams

When is Odyssey going to be collected? I hate buying floppies but want to support this madness.

Volume 1 should be available by now.

Holly crap! Odyssey just keeps getting better. If this isn't hailed as a classic when it's through I weep for humanity.

coming in September:

BATMAN: ODYSSEY HC
Writer: Neal Adams
Artists: Neal Adams, Josh Adams, Michael Golden, Kevin Nowlan, Bill Sienkiewicz, Scott Williams and Paul Neary
Collects: BATMAN: ODYSSEY VOL. 1 #1-6 and VOL. 2 #1-7
$29.99 US, 368 pg

I am so there.

All that crazy for only thirty bones? THAT'S A LOT OF CRAZY.

It'll do until we get the ABSOLUTE LUNACY EDITION

this is full of double pp spreads y/n? will be unreadable in DC's glue-bound, no-gutter-space binding if so

hmm. Hadn't thought of that.

It'll probably do until the IDW artist edition.

Bill Sienkiewicz,

wait waht

He's been inking most of the second volume. You can tell.

So does that mean we're on the other side of the mirror here? Didn't Bill S. start out very much in the vein of Adams (along with half the other artists who started out in the 70s).

WE'VE CROSSED THE STREAMS.

adams even drew a cartoon for the comics journal basically accusing sienkiewicz of copying his old batman comics for moon knight

but then adams has often surrounded himself w. 'school of adams' associates and fellow travellers - for example, the DC artist mike nasser/netzer was a straight adams copyist who went on to do an awful lot of 'ghosting' for adams on shit like ms mystic and skateman. almost everything adams has signed his name to since the late seventies - and possibly earlier - has been the work of 'diverse hands', inc colouring, inking, layouts, etc.

it is incredible, tho, what has happened to bill sienkiewicz's career - did he lose interest, heart, credibility, compulsion?

I get the feeling he never wanted the ultra-high profile he was getting. He also stepped away into commercial art for a while.

I know there was a documentary done a few years ago about him but I never saw it.

He always did commercial art on the side AFAIK, another aspect of following Adams – his turn to inking schlock in the 90s seemed to me to be entirely of a piece with that, something he could churn out quickly for money, except without dealing with revisions from ad house art directors.

I’ve also always taken as significant that he abandoned storytelling in comics completely* two episodes into A River In Egypt – he was starting his third self-written story ever, what was meant to be a second major work, and it immediately revealed itself to be about the same topic as his previous two stories (ie ǝsnqɐ pʃıɥɔ). It looked to me like he’d realised this was the main theme that was going to come out every time he wrote, and he made either a deliberate or visceral reaction to walk away, for understandable reasons.

*As far as I know, the only pages of comics he’s done himself since then were for the Endless Somethingorother hardcover – and there, he turned in 20-some paintings for a 12-page story (or whatever), including multiple takes at various ones, and not matching the script - such that Gaiman ended up picking the ones he liked the look of best, choosing an order for them to go in, and rewriting a new story over the top.

Also he started advocating for earth expansion theory

always thought of him as a great illustrator, not a good comic artist.

i dunno, was never much of a fan of 'painted comics', but the fact that sienkiewicz had done a long hard slog as a penciller beforehand meant that his more illustrative stuff still had a comic book vitality and sensibility, it wasn't static or frozen on the page.

yeah, forks is offtm - Sienkiewicz' New Mutants are ASTOUNDING comics for BigTwo of the time, Elektra #1 I'll rep all day every day, and #2-8 obviously come from a passionate desire to expand, push forward, and express himself through comics, not single paintings.

dude, i own all those! I just am not a fan of him as a graphic storyteller! Great illustrator but he's not strong with narrative

he got a lot better in a really short span -- I don't have any problem with his layouts and storytelling on Elektra Assassin

Gotta agree with Forks here: even if Elektra Assassin looks great, it's still a struggle to read through as a narrative. The same goes for his other "post-modern" stuff that I've read, except maybe for New Mutants.

His New Mutants run is largely responsible for why I still read comic books, tbh.

Bill S on New Mutants -> greatest thing ever

nah, pretty pictures but the same old claremont guff

underrated sienkiewicz comics - his moby dick adaptation, the first six issues of the Shadow w/ Helfer, his half of the brought to light gn

Yeah, Claremont...

not all Claremont has aged well but Demon Bear still amazes me

at this point, I like it more than the Dark Phoenix saga

i tell you what, i just found a bunch of x-factors in a box when i moved and the first 20 issues so far are TIGHT

my fave sienk comics are the Shadow run; he found a balance there.
A lot of the late New Mutants stuff is hyperkinetic to the point of near unreadability to me

I liked Moon Knight. And New Mutants. And Stray Toasters. And The Shadow. And Elektra.

I guess I'm a bit of a SInk stan.

Demon Bear is the one ish of New Mutants I've read that, without seeing again, I'd be certain I could recommend to someone as ace (nb I am allergic to claremont generally)

underrated sienkiewicz comics - his moby dick adaptation,

lent this to someone in 94 and never got it back, have now become ;_; about it for the first time

the first six issues of the Shadow w/ Helfer,

absolutely, but justly outshone by the subsequent issues by Baker (also iirc the colourist didn't rly know what to do with him. should reread!)

his half of the brought to light gn

an amazing piece overall, but I can give forks this one on the illustration front - one could argue it strongly as being more like political cartoons than comics/cartooning/storytelling

I have that Moby Dick adaptation too! Quite good.

I realize the work I go back to most often is the Bill Sienkiewicz Sketchbook that Fantagraphics published back in1990.

The latest:

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/p615/mrpaulisaacs/stringknees.jpg

wow

that computer lettering really lets the entire tone down, imagine it with Gaspar Saladino

I can't imagine a context that would make that set of panels make any more sense

Adams' Batman: Odyssey = Loutallica's Lulu?

Way better than Lulu

^^^

WHAT"S A HENWAY?

About four pounds?

you scared the string out of my knees!

SWOOSH!

http://www.comicsbeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/530036_10150980554384152_577369151_13100274_1150568266_n.jpg

Batman is nice?!

yeah, lol, batman is a textbook jerk

third cirle oughtta be "rich", not "nice"

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj242/donaldparsley/batmandiagram.png

circles from memebase intersect at supes, obv

the intersections of handsome and smart are loser? i question this diagram's accuracy

yeah, handsome smart & poor = loser, in comparison to the batman pool

sorry for the lack of Adams content but I am lolling at the fanboy furor this is going to spark (it's already brewing in the comments): http://whatculture.com/comics/grant-morrison-says-batman-is-very-very-gay.php

His comments almost seem Kevin Smith-esque in terms of its nature as cultural deconstruction/social commentary but he has neither the insight or humor that Kev has.

these comments have gotten off to a great start

I don't think these guys are getting the diff between "this character is written as a homosexual" and "the life this character is portrayed as living is la vida loca"

comic book fanboys not understanding nuance? GET OUT

I know, I keep expecting them to want to read things for reasons other than "Batman is really cool and likes to punch stuff"

i think people are also tripping cuz morrison has certainly done MORE fucked up things with batman then reimagining him as a gay man and OMIGOD IF HE MAKES IT CANON WHATEVER WILL WE DO

Blame Morrison for saying Batman has a gay context. Go to store and buy more Batman: Odyssey

A dramatic read-along, complete with sound effects and background music, of BATMAN ODYSSEY:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YJHCekr8CE

They've done a couple of issues thus far. So good.

gonna definitely have to set aside some time for this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZlqupV2p7I

i woke my girl up last night laughing hysterically while rereading Batman Odyssey
such an octopus of a thing

Hi all, long time no etc. I did a thing that may appeal (exclusively) to members of this board (circa 2004-06). http://emmetmatheson.blogspot.ca/2014/07/richard-meltzer-imagines-batman.html

can someone recommend a decent batman graphic novel from the last 10 years? i think the last batman i bought was dark knight strikes again...

Nobody suggest Batman Odyssey ffs.

it's amazing though!

I've been enjoying the Batman Incorporated stuff, altho the gore sometimes seems gratuitous. The one where Bruce Wayne travelled forward in time from the stone age was also fun, I forget the title of that one

the morrison run of batman had a few gns if i remember correctly
and yes batman odyssey is the correct answer

I was really surprised at how good The Long Halloween is, just checked it out recently

I have the floppies of that and should dig them out. Arkham asylum also need revisiting, if I can find it.

How is 'Dark Victory'?

It's also quite good, it's a proper sequel to Halloween though so it doesn't quite have the freshness of Halloween. That said it has the most rational introduction of Robin I've ever seen. Both books are really noirs borrowing from The Godfather, and are also intended to follow directly after Year One, so there are a ton of Year One callbacks, which aren't heavy handed

It's a shame that all this was retconned out of existence, I have no idea what the actual sequence of events are in 52-Bats

Oh and I have to say after the hermetic convoluted insanity of the Morrison run (which I enjoyed) it's a total breath of fresh air to read what is just a solid, well thought out mystery

One insane Batman book - the David Lapham series, City of Crime, which made NO sense but in a way is totally modern Batman nuttiness (grimy underclass life mixed in with bizarre mud-people dopplegangers!)

The Morrison run start to finish is fucking boss, bigger investment than 1 GN though

oh! if you don't mind batman being more of an ominous background force (which is how i think batman works best because otherwise you're dealing with a focal character who is a dork in tights), gotham central is really really good. up there with year one (which works with batman as the focus because it's constantly pointing out how dorky he is).

Yeah, the Morrison Bat-Opus is maybe my favorite mainstream comics thing from the past five years or so.

People seem to be pretty keen on Synder's run but I haven't read any of it. That might be a place to start.

Snyder, rather.

i remember "Joker" being okay

I have no idea what the actual sequence of events are in 52-Bats

lol yeah wasn't GMoz just given carte blanche to continue doing his thing totally independent of the rest of the DC Universe?

he must have because if that shit is canon, canon ate itself

Yeah I've been reading Snyder's run which is great (the colorist is fantastic) but this Year Zero thing totally confused me as to what exactly the Bat history is now. I don't have the fortitude to actually find out, I'm just along for the ride

lol yeah wasn't GMoz just given carte blanche to continue doing his thing totally independent of the rest of the DC Universe?

If I remember right he had just gotten going on Bats Inc when the 52 rug was pulled out and there was no way Inc could have existed in continuity, so he just said 'look at least let me finish this damn book' so Inc kept right on going

I'm not absolutely sure about that, so please correct me. One of the hangovers from this reboot is Memento-esque brain damage

IIRC, Batman Inc and Johns's GL were the only New 52 books generally unaffected by the reboot.

they should just abandon continuity altogether imo

I think you could make a solid argument that they already have, however unintentionally.

i believe that's known as "the liefeld effect"

I loved it in the recent Inkstuds pod where Matt Fraction compared the new 52 to putting your dick on a table and handing somebody a ruler to hit you with

Intrigued by this one, which came out a year ago but which I only just found out about -- Batman vs architecture

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/P/B009MD2N5Q.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

two years ago!

I love the 70s

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WStGdxfxH0o/VElwkqCBvMI/AAAAAAABEe8/RnnUC4Ryv5c/s1600/3978.jpg

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theledger/obituary.aspx?n=stephen-merrill&pid=174158574

WINTER HAVEN - Stephen Merrill, 31, passes away February 12, 2015, due to a uppercut from Batman.
He was born January 28, 1984, the son of Larry Ronald Merrill and Bridgett I. Dotson Merrill. He was in retail sales at The Big Shop in Legoland, Florida.
In addition to his parents, Stephen is survived by his fiancée, Stephanie Vella; son, Noah; and sister, Kimberly.
Visitation is Tuesday, February 17, 2015, from 12-1PM with a celebration of life at 1PM, both at Ott-Laughlin Funeral Home, Winter Haven. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theledger/obituary.aspx?n=stephen-merrill&pid=174158574#sthash.qRsMf30j.dpuf

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/winter-haven-mans-obituary-lists-cause-of-death-uppercut-from-batman

http://i.imgur.com/EV4wiZA.jpg

This is the best batman story I've read in tears

I mean years, but tears too

I picked up the Alan Davis batman book in the sale. It's fun and campy. Never heard about this run before.

E.g.

https://i.imgur.com/LlG4xdd.jpg

And also

https://i.imgur.com/IELzvR4.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/u92lgNq.jpg

Here's the first one without the first half of the gag cut off

https://i.imgur.com/CpULv1P.jpg

And my favourite trope, where batman can only enter a room by crashing through some wooden blinds

https://i.imgur.com/kicFJIO.jpg

That short Barr/Davis run truly is delightful. Should have lasted longer.

those are painful to look at, like every time ppl on the internet post old Marvel comics from online services

Good stuff -- is it this?: http://www.dccomics.com/graphic-novels/legends-of-the-dark-knight-alan-davis

Yeah that's it. the run is only six issues or so. the book's padded out with a (not very good) graphic novel included.

I take sic's point but the recolouring isn't quite as heinous as on e.g. the neal adams reissues

Seems to be OOP...

My son, unclear on the concept, play-acting young Bruce Wayne discovering the Batcave:

“Alfred! — I fell into a big hole in the backyard... it was a cave that had a computer built into the wall!”

hahahahahahaha!

Well, I managed to avoid the nyt spoilers, but that was a bit fucking boring either way

I’ve never seen the appeal of full-page posters in the middle of a comic, and there are some spectacularly butt-ugly examples in this issue

King is entering his bad Malick phase, it seems

I just saw a long article about the “NY Times spoiler”... Umm, people read about comics in the NY Times(?)

It was in the Weddings section

One more in a long list of recent black marks on the Times, I guess.

Spoiler question about #50...

Wait, so who was the Batman in the last frame? And are we supposed to believe Bane somehow set this all up?

Damn, Norm Breyfogle died! My favourite Batman artist by miles, stupidly uncollected for such a long time.

https://i.imgur.com/wdoonko.jpg

His run with Alan Grant is probably still my favourite extended run on Batman. RIP.

Aw, crap. My favourite too. The Grant/Breyfogles are my ideal Batman comics.

In response, an audience member yelled, “F— Trump.” West added, “Now you got a situation where we need to have a dialogue and not a diatribe because if you want something to change, it’s not going to change by saying, ‘F— that person.’ Try love. Try love. Try love. Try love.”

Some audience members laughed. “You see they laughing at me. You heard ’em, they scream at me, they bully me. They bullied me backstage they said, ‘Don’t go out there with that hat on.’ They bullied me backstage. They bullied me. And then they say I’m in a sunken place. You want to see the sunken place? Okay, I’ma listen to y’all now.”

He removed his MAGA hat before putting it back on. “Or I’ma put my Superman cape on, which means you can’t tell me what to do,” he said.

Can someone tell Kanye why not

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/01/09/1400000-batman-comics-stolen-storage-unit/

in awe of the size of this bat. absolute unit

I read that West quote above, and in this thread context, wondered a) Adam West is speaking about loving Trump? and b) isn't he dead? (Fun fact: Walla Walla, WA - his birthplace - has had two Adam West Day events.)

that would be a quote from kanye west, not adam west, iirc

lol

now wondering who would play robin in a world where kanye took on the mantle of the 60s batman

I’ve never had a chance to mention this to anyone, but I loved it... at an auto show, four years or so ago, I saw a guy wearing the following T-shirt (picture the final line in super-big text):

CHRISTIAN BALE
GEORGE CLOONEY
MICHAEL KEATON
VAL KILMER
ADAM WEST — FUCK THE REST

I TAKE MY BATMANS LIKE I TAKE MY T-SHIRTS: WHIMSICAL AND LIGHT-HEARTED, YOU MOTHERFUCKERS

now wondering who would play robin in a world where kanye took on the mantle of the 60s batman

Robinfest

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/66cc0e40441121d3a5443b1af9b2cab24b4695c0/0_0_1900_1264/master/1900.jpg?width=1920&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=dce2e9e8e9b8be6068a52b85c5a1f796

New 52 Batman is trying way harder to share his feelings than Bat D1ck of the DC New Earth from Batman Year One on. That said, the dude goes through planes and cars like mad though in the current comics.

New Adams Batman on the way shortly!
https://www.cbr.com/batman-vs-ras-al-ghul-neal-adams/

John Carpenter is also writing a Joker comic, which is kinda neat.

Neal Adams' artwork has all those thick lines, it looks more Kubert than himself in a way. I'm guessing he works on a digital board probably drawing on top of scanned thumbnails now. That modern style has altered the look of quite a few comic artists earlier works.

I know he’s a consummate professional, but I’d buy a Batman series where Neal incorporates his growing earth theories

I mean, professional and wouldn’t throw personal causes in

"Neal incorporates his growing earth theories"

You know he could just do a Warlord series and be able to make it work 'kinda' in-continuity.

Probably could somehow work it with K'un-Lun in Iron Fist perhaps too.

I always thought that one could easily do some AM radio crank character in the Marvel Universe reading into all this madness always going on in the comics upon the people. I'm kind of surprised that someone like Bendis did not do it, as it would have worked in some of his story lines.

A tribute character to Art Bell would be cool, but I think that would work better in the DC comics.

Man this looks cool:

https://i.imgur.com/XG2wn9B_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

recoloured by Continuity iirc?

https://www.polygon.com/2019/11/20/20972541/batman-vs-ras-al-ghul-neal-adams-recap

Laura Hudson and David Wolkin have done a sequel to their Batman: Odyssey recap and, folks, it's once again a wild ride

jazz wizards!

One of my all-time favourite scenes pic.twitter.com/zA7rJ6VJ7w

— Chip Zdarsky (@zdarsky) December 26, 2019

I’m finding this much funnier than I should

good work chip

the batman who shits

that dark knight returds

Stoked that someone will finally be exploring “the darker aspects” of Bruce Wayne:

https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/batman-begins-david-s-goyer-podcast-spotify-1234786099/

Kind of wild the idea that the radio drama making a comeback like 70+ years later.

...I haven't clicked that link but what do you think the last radio drama was

nice white parents iirc

The Archers has only been running for 69 years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS4QGEQaclk

that's TV iirc

Technically it's youtube

guessing this isn't technically radio tbf

batman-begins-david-s-goyer-podcast-spotify-1234786099/

Update on the storage locker guy: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/batman-comics-auction-stolen-randy-lawrence

Just to say Cliff Chiang‘s Catwoman miniseries is friggin DELIGHTFUL and I recommend it HIGHLY. It’s a standard DKR “what if but old and more dystopia” miniseries setup, but the execution is wonderful. WHY ARE NOT MORE COMICS LILE THIS, THINKS OLD MAN

Heard a lot of good things about this! Also about gentrification supposedly?

Yeah it feels like the first DC comic I've read since the 90s that was **about something** instead of the usual self-regarding DC bullshit about **what I means to be an icon** etc etc

But it wears all that lightly - mostly it's just a delightful, grounded, fun "one more heist" story with a good villain, and makes a couple staple characters (Croc, Riddler) more interesting than I've seen them before, possibly ever. It's **really** good if it's Chiang's first writing job.

Kind of reminds me of the Cooke runs on Catwoman and Spirit in the '00s

It's fun. Really love his artwork

(surprised by how much this was, £5.60 for 50 pages on comixology, but then wonder if that's just inflation for you)

(TDKR was $2.95 in 1986 which would be $8.84 in 2020, about £6.50, physical copy, so maybe ok)

(but i will wait for a sale)

I’m mostly still a shameful stealer but this is the first time I’ve read and enjoyed something enough to buy it in print

Don’t want to oversell it! But it’s definitely actually-good not graded-on-a-curve-good

Lonely City is a Black Label book, so it's being printed in oversize magazine format. That's probably why the digital price seemed jacked up, to match the physical

This does look cool, thx for the rec

Yeah the two physical issues (so far) seem to be $8.99 / $11.99 for 48 pgs. (each); vs. $2.95 cover price for my 1986 copy of TDKR 3 (46 pgs.) = $7.50 in 2021 dollas… I’ll wait for the collection, I guess.

my 20th anniversary hardback copy of tdkr now goes on ebay for less than i paid for it, even before inflation. and i don't think i've actually read it, other than the extra bits.

but every 5 years that seems to have an anniversary edition. or they decide to reprint it without the colouring or some crap. did they ever fix the swastika tattoo on that one woman's chest?

omg

I am once again thinking about how an obscure PBS documentary got Adam West (RIP) to read 20 seconds’ worth of narration from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, and how those 20 seconds are my favorite Batman movie: pic.twitter.com/eKenX2hz6H

— Abraham Riesman אברהם ריסמן (@abrahamjoseph) March 14, 2022

wow!

Strongly dislike Riseman, but good clip!

he's in that category of people I see on twitter (I don't follow him) but don't really know what their ~deal~ is

His Stan Lee biography is really good (if, like me, you're firmly in the Stan = old fraud camp)

I believe he was involved in some online harassment a while back, that put him firmly on my “fuck this guy” list, but I may be misremembering

Otherwise I just hate the way he writes, he seems part of that AV Club influenced-turn in alt-weekly style culture writing to overinflated word counts and boring personal anecdote

Is the new movie any good? y/n

(Or maybe that’s a pitchfork thing but I don’t read pitchfork.)

Anyway: Adam west really hits that both-funny-and-scary sweet spot with this. Should have had him on all-star Batman too

morrisp, there’s a thread Robert Pattinson IS The Batman

I would say it’s fine, Adam West reading the script might be better

I ended up with this huge hardcover of a thing called Gotham Central Omnibus (a guy was cleaning out his office, and gave it to my wife). Is it good / worth getting into? Looks like Batman isn’t in it very much!

it's decent pulp - Rucka and Brubaker writing different shifts of weary regular cops but! in a supervillain world

very fond memories of it

The first arc is a little stiff, but after that it gets better and better.

Greg Rucka is a good influence on Ed Brubaker but an inferior writer in almost every way. One Brubaker leaves, it gets less interesting, but it's still worth finishing.

It exists in an interesting space where crime writers still wanted to riff on Homicide: Life on the Streets (a huge influence, even down to the colouring) but no one was really watching The Wire yet.

Allen and Montoya were two fun characters that DC lost sight of because of racism and editorial carelessness

*Once not One

Really nice Michael Lark art on the early issues.

Montoya hasn't been completely forgotten at least, she later became The Question II and has showed up in various films and TV series. Crispus Allen for sure though