100 Days of Batman, Day 71

Continuing on with Batman and Robin (2009-2011) Vol. 1 Batman Reborn with Revenge of the Red Hood Part One: Red Right Hand by Grant Morrison and art by Phillip Tan. Wow that is a mouthful. Anyways Red Hood has returned to Gotham City with the sole purpose of revenge. He has also recruited a young girl who has had her face altered by Pyg and is now struggling with who she has become and if she could ever look normal again. Oh and this strange duo is pretending to be the Dynamic Duo themselves, causing some strange chaos throughout Gotham.

Well I don't really know what to say about Red Right Hand but I will do my best. The book is COMPELLING yet is still lacking the dynamic that the first two issues of the volume contained. I think Morrison is focusing so much on the story he has forgotten how important the characters are. You can have an amazing story but if your characters are not highlighted it will suffer over all. Hopefully as the story progresses over the next few issues it will give the characters themselves some more love.

N.S.

100 Days of Batman, Day 70

Part Three: Mommy Made of Nails is the conclusion to Grant Morrison’s first Batman and Robin story arc. Robin has gotten himself captured by Professor Pyg and his bizarre creations. Maybe he shouldn't have run off on his on. Now Batman has to figure out where Robin is being held before Pyg turns him into just another mindless drone.

In Part Three: Mommy Made of Nails of Batman Reborn the story falls flat. Which is disappointing when it was doing so well. Now it has fallen flat but that does not mean it was bad, it just was not up to the caliber of the previous issues. The biggest issue was the lack of dialogue between Batman and Robin. Instead writer Morrison and artist Quietly chose to give a much more action centered issue.  Even bigger issue to the lack of dialogue was what villain was doing. Apparently he was creating a “disease” to inflict upon Gotham. I must have missed that entire plot point during the first two issues because I was under the impression he was just performing bizarre surgeries on people making them his mindless “perfect” henchmen.  Regardless it is simply poor writing when your reader apparently has no idea or completely misses an entire plot point. Because it finishes up the Batman Reborn arc and its previous issues were so good I would have to say Part Three: Mommy Made of Nails is WORTH YOUR TIME.

N.S.

100 Days of Batman, Day 69

Continuing on with Batman and Robin (2009-2011) Vol. 1 Batman Reborn we pick up with Part Two: The Circus of Strange by Grant Morrison and art by Frank Quitely. Picking up shortly after the events of Part One: Domino Effect Dick Grayson is struggling.  Trying to emulate Batman as he was is difficult and he does not believe he will be able to portray his now dead friend and mentor. Not to mention the difficulties of training a young ten-year-old boy. This is going to be far more difficult than he thought.

Morrison is only two issues in and all ready has me completely intrigued with the direction he is taking Batman and Robin. The dynamic that Dick has with Damian is great and I am excited to see it evolve. Now Damian Wayne has never been a character I found to be all that interesting. Mostly I find him to be an obstinate little punk that is in serious need of discipline. Granted it is not all that surprising considering who raised him for the first ten years of his life. Regardless I can understand the pressure that Dick is feeling. Raising a child can be difficult and I can only imagine how much harder it would be to raise one that started out with a group of assassins as his role models. 

Dick Greyson feeling the weight of the cowl. 

The tension is fun and believable between Batman and Robin. Watching Dick picking up the mantel and trying to make it his own I am sure will be a fun adventure in its own. Having read Batman: The Black Mirror I know the caliber of a Batman Dick becomes making his early days that much more interesting.  It is exciting watching what events molded him into that Batman. Not to mention Morrison has chosen a villain I know almost nothing about so it makes things exciting to read. He also has a bit of a creepy factory going on which all of you that have been following along know I love in a Batman book. Morrison delivers another MUST READ book with Part Two: The Circus of Strange. 

N.S. 

100 Days of Batman, Day 68

Well another day with increasingly lower views. Oh well I will continue on ire-regardless, although it is disappointing. Anyways I am glad to be done with Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again. On to bigger and better Batman stories and at a friends suggestion I picked up Batman and Robin (2009-2011) Vol. 1: Batman Reborn. So I started with Part One: Domino Effect written by Grant Morrison and art by Frank Quitely. Bruce Wayne, the Dark Knight, Batman, has died. Dick Greyson, Nightwing and the original Robin, has assumed and taken Bruce's place. Things are changing for Dick and one of the biggest is he must now work with Bruce's son and new Robin, Damian Wayne.

What a refreshing story to follow up with after the previous. So lets start with the one thing that I was not super impressed with. Simply it the design of the Batmobile. Its a bubble. A bubble that can fly and has wheels. It is a minor complaint but lets be honest the Batmobile is iconic and has had far better design choices.

The Bubblemobile, oops I mean Batmobile. 

Pretty funky huh? As far as complaints go it is absolutely minor. The book is old enough that I should not take any backlash for spoiling plot points so here we go. Who is Pyg? I have only ever seen this particular villain in the video game Batman: Arkham Knight, but I did not give him much thought at the time. Now I am super intrigued. He was creepy in the game and he is creepy in the last few panels of Domino Effect. He has a strange view of perfection and in order to achieve perfection he performs horrendous surgeries to alter the human form. I must be honest I can not wait to dig further into this story and find out more about this creepy character. Batman and Robin (2009-2011) Vol. 1: Batman Reborn. Part One: Domino Effect is more than WORTH YOUR TIME. 

N.S. 

100 Days of Batman, Day 67

 Well I decided to finish Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley. I did it so that it could not be said that I didn't give the story the chance to win me over. I will describe book 3 for that matter the entire story in one word: garbage. Garbage story, garbage art, plain and simply it is garbage. Now that I have finished the story I think it can be summed up as thus: The villains Lex Luthor and Brainiac are the rulers of earth and have enslaved or forced the heroes of earth into hiding. Batman decided it was time for a change and revolted.

Honestly the basic plot is not terrible and had the potential to be great. Miller and Varley decided to write a giant mess of a story with no structure. Im still not sure how the book arrived at certain points it just sort of did. Also why was Dick Greyson the Joker? A Joker who I may add is nearly un-killable. He just kind of randomly shows up to torture Carrie Kelley who was Robin but is now Catgirl. Also the Batcave is a volcano that Batman drops Dick Greyson in to kill him. This entire book is a sorry excuse for a Batman story and A GIANT WASTE OF TIME. Do not give this book the time of day. Avoid it and read anything else.

N.S.

100 Days of Batman, Day 66

Ugh if it were not the only Batman comic book I currently have that I have not read I would have stopped reading half way through Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again Book Two, if not sooner. If I had any idea as to what was going on I would write you a synopsis. I have no clue. It is the biggest book of nonsense I think I have ever read. I cant be the only one who does not like this book, can I? Maybe I am. The absolute wort part was the end when Batman reveals himself to the world as Bruce Wayne. Mostly because of the awful writing and line Frank Miller wrote which I will not bother disturbing your eyes with. Besides that the entire sex scene with Superman and Wonder Woman was atrocious and out of place. I could go on with so much more about what I hated with absolutely nothing good to say, but I do not want to. Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again Book Two by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley is A GIANT WASTE OF TIME. Now, I only have book three remaining and likely will not have time to pick up another book until Sunday so I will likely finish it tomorrow. Maybe it will surprise me but I seriously doubt it.

N.S.

100 Days of Batman, Day 65

So I finished up with Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again Book 1 by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley. It is boring with terrible art and a lame story. This is disappointing and also the first story line I am actually seriously considering not finishing. It is even difficult to write about. I want to look at it and write a fair opinion on it especially since it is a comic that is loved by many people. I can not for the life of me understand why. Anyways the reason I do not like it is because I just do not ever see it happening. All of the heroes essentially are slaves to the government. Batman of course is the only one able to do anything about it. It is just a lame story and straight up A WASTE OF TIME. I will try and push on to see if it improves but I recommend you skip this one and just read Batman: The Dark Knight Returns which is a far superior book, minus the art.

Well I think the majority of my readers have begun to lose interest. In the last few days the average views a day have dropped from 20-25 down to 2-4. Which lets be honest, sucks plain and simple. If no one is reading why should I bother to continue to write? Whatever I suppose I am doing this blog for my own improvement in my writing. That is not to say having a small group of people reading was not a great motivator to continue on. Hopefully the views will start to go back up, if not 100 Days of Comics will likely end with the first installment featuring Batman.

N.S.