Batman: The Man Who Laughs

Although the one shot prestige format comic book Batman: The Man Who Laughs was only released in February 2005, it can essentially be considered to be one of the first Batman stories, in terms of continuity. As the title might suggest, the story is about one of Batman’s greatest enemies, if not his true nemesis, the Joker. James Gordon is still captain, and the beginning of the book ties into the ending of Batman and the Mad Monk, in which Gordon discovers a warehouse full of corpses.

Gotham City is plagued by a new villain, who kills his victims with a poison that turns their skin white and puts a smile on their face, before they laugh themselves to death. The police force dubs him the Joker. Happy with his new name, he goes on to threaten wealthy members of society, while wreaking chaos on the city, by releasing some of the most dangerous and criminally insane killers onto the streets. In an attempt to save those sentenced to death by the Joker, Gordon and Batman are teamed up in a race against the clock. While the story develops we slowly learn where the Joker came from and what his motives are.

Writer Ed Brubaker manages to gather the essence of what makes the Joker tick and gives us a perfectly insane character description, combined with a nice background story. I especially liked the duality in the voice-overs by Gordon and Batman, showing the reader that these two men are actually not that different from each other, and why their partnership works so well. Not a lot has to be said about Doug Mahnke’s art, as it is in my opinion superb. He draws the Joker just the way he has to be, creepy and funny at once. This book is a must-read for every Joker and Batman fan alike.

“Sometimes I kill me, especially when I think about killing you” - The Joker

Story                  9

Art                      8

Reread Value     7

Overall Rating   8.5/10

DMZ (TPB #1) - On the Ground

DMZ or Demilitarized Zone is a comic book created by Brian Wood and published under DC’s Vertigo imprint. The trade paperback On the Ground reprints the first five issues and starts off the story of Matthew Roth, a small time journalist, who is stranded in Manhattan during times of war. The story takes place in the near future and a civil war has split up the US nation into two factions, the United States of America on the one side and the Free States on the other. Largely underestimated militias have attacked the country from within and left the former great nation in shambles. Manhattan has meanwhile turned into a neutral zone lying on the border of the two new states. After a first negotiated ceasefire agreement, the island is left alone and so the Liberty News Network sends over their most acclaimed journalist together with the photography intern Matty Roth in order to make a documentary on the situation in the DMZ. Shortly after their arrival on the island however, the news team is attacked and killed leaving Matty as a sole survivor in the hostile environment. During his attempt to stay alive, the self-proclaimed reporter meets Zee Hernandez, a former med student, who tries to tend to the victims of the many attacks on the island. Matty learns quickly that nothing in Manhattan is as the news reports have shown and he decides to make his own documentary in order to show the whole world what is really going on in the desolate former metropolis.

Brian Wood introduces some very interesting ideas in his newly created comic series DMZ. The notion, that the US is destroyed by a civil war is not so far fetched, considering the many questionable choices their government has made in recent years and Wood manages to portray the situation in Manhattan in such detail, that the story really comes to life. Small details, like the fact that Ground Zero is off limits for both enemy nations, or that a treaty is in place to protect the old landmark buildings, are, what makes DMZ so special. Plus the art by Richardo Burchielli, who has his debut in the US with this work, is really stunning and extremely detailed. Although the story takes place in the future it is very believable and reads almost like a real war journal. I would absolutely recommend this first paperback collection to everybody, who has not yet read this fascinating story. And for only 10$ it is a bargain too.

Story                  9

Art                      9

Reread Value     8

Overall Rating   9/10

Wolverine: Origin

Last year, at the national Luxembourgish comic festival, I bought Wolverine: Origin by Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada and Paul Jenkins. The illustrations were made by Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove.

There were six issues and the book I bought had all six combined. The issues were published between November 2001 and March 2002. The sixth issue event took the second place in sales of January 2002, pre-ordered 166,997 times. After a big hole in the Marvel budget, the company really needed a story people were waiting for: the story of Wolverine, one of the most popular mutants of the X-Men universe and comic character in general. Some people might just acknowledge the movie version of the Adamantine skeleton, but fans of the original comic series wanted more, another answer to Wolverine’s background.

The story takes place on a noble property with a giant mansion, approximately around the late 19^th century. Three generations of gentlemen, the Howletts, lived there. The youngest, Master James, meets his new companion, Rose, at the beginning of the book. The 12-year old girl gets sent to the house to keep Master James company, who suffers a lot from allergies. She learns at her arrival, that the house is a sad place to live in. A tragedy has torn the family apart. Master John’s wife, James’ mother, returned from a mental institute and since then she has been locked away in her room, most of the time. We get to meet the family and see the whole story through Rose’s eyes. She starts to like Master John, the man of the house. But his father is an old and rude man. She also meets “Dog”, the boy of a farmer named Logan, who often has bruises and whose father drinks a lot. The whole story seems like a simple cliché, but it does take some interesting turns. And in the end you do understand why Wolverine turned out the way he did…

The illustrations by Kubert (pencils) and Isanove (colors) are very powerful and dynamic, though dark at times, when they need to be. The art varies from very detailed in close-up views to very vague in wider images. This is one of the first works to feature Kubert’s “enhanced pencils” technique, which later on also uses in Marvel 1602 (review here).

Story                  8

Art                      8

Reread Value     6

Overall rating    7.5/10

Malik

Marvel 1985 #4

The first half of Millar’s story has been told and with the fourth issue out now, we are one step closer to the conclusion of this intriguing tale. Last time we left Toby and his father, when they were attacked by the Lizard. The military has in the meantime put up blockades in order to protect the town from the invasion that has occurred over night. When the Lizard takes Toby hostage, his father is unable to act and the boy is only freed when a few soldiers open fire and chase of the reptilian foe. While Toby’s father tries to get to his ex-wife in order to evacuate her from the town under siege, Toby himself tries to convince his friends to go after the supervillains (I admit I had to laugh at his theory that they are practically supervillain specialists because of their comic book habit). He finally decides to try and find the source of the invasion himself and this is when things go kind of wrong.

In this issue Millar sends even more villains into Toby’s world to wreak havoc, among them being popular characters like the Mandarin, Bullseye, the Abomination and the Blob. Still, I think the overall action packed theme of this episode kills the mystical atmosphere the previous issues presented. The sense of wonder from the first three comics is replaced with the destruction of the town by the different villains and it all seems a bit too normal again (normal for comic standards that is). The art by Tommy Lee Edwards is still very fitting and I would even go so far to say that it saves this issue from completely falling into mediocrity. However, at the end Edwards’s style coloring style changes in order to fit the Marvel universe and I’m still not sure if I like this change or not. I guess it will either unfold or crumble in next months issue.

Story                  7

Art                      7

Reread Value     6

Overall rating    6.5/10

Superman Returns again, Watchmen in danger, Smallville secrets unveiled

It’s finally time for a new link collection.

The Registration for the San Diego Comic-Con 2009 is open. Tickets are available here.

The release of the upcoming Watchmen movie is in danger, due to a copyright infringement. Apparently Fox had the rights for the Watchmen franchise at the moment that WB decided to do the movie and now they want a piece of the big cheese. Read all about it here.

After the mediocre Superman Returns movie, Warner Bros. plans to once again reboot the franchise in the hopes of riding the success wave of The Dark Knight. More here.

For all of you who can’t wait until the Fall TV season starts we have found a preview into Smallville’s next season: Reinventing Smallvile with Slavkin & Swimmer.

And finally, the new Lucasarts game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed gets its own comicbook.

Thor

Mythological Thor

Thor, the Norse god of thunder, is one of the three sons of Odin, the chief god of Norse paganism. He yields the mighty hammer Mjolnir to fight off Giants and has to wear Megingjord, a magic belt, and Jarn Griepr, the iron gloves, to be able to lift the hammer. The short-handled hammer has become one of the most iconic signs in Norse paganism. Adding to that image of a Pagan God is his chariot that is pulled by the two goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr. With a lot of ruse and cunning, Thor solved the challenges posed before him (he once had to dress like a woman to trick the king of the Giants). But at the end, when everything else failed, he could rely on his strength and his mighty weapon.

Thursday was named after Thor, along with other Norse gods whose names were used to form the days of the week. Friday is named after Freyja. Wednesday is named after Odin (Wodanaz / “Wotan” in German).

With all the heroic stories of mythological gods, it is not really a coincidence that Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby got the idea to turn Thor into a comic character and superhero.

Graphical Thor

Marvel Comics first introduced Thor in Journey into Mystery #83 in August 1962. After that he continued his journey in “The Mighty Thor”, a 13-page feature.

The young god Thor is sent to Earth by his father, Odin, to learn how to be humble and therefore is placed in the human form of the partially disabled medical student, Donald Blake, with no memories of his divine abilities. Thor later on discovers his powers and discovers his compassion and loyalty for the human race. He sees himself as the protector of Midgard (Earth) and has to fight all kinds of supervillains, like the Destroyer, the Midgard Serpent or Mangog. His nemesis remains to be his adopted brother Loki, who has hated Thor since they were children. In his fight against his enemies, Thor manages to find allies and becomes part of the group called “The Avengers”.

Thor’s adventures have later on, after discovering his true identity and powers, been of epic proportions and therefore his enemies were in a different league than those an earthly hero like Spider-Man, Flash or Iron Man had to face.

That is exactly what I really like about the Thor comics. Thor being a god, you could not just send the Green Goblin or the Mandarin after him. He would crush them in the blink of an eye. A god needs devine enemies, like the God Eater, Thanos, Mephisto, Ego the Living Planet and the Dark Gods are much scarier foes than we are usually used to in the Marvel universe. The Thor’s battles against these adversaries are often epic- the ideal material for a blockbuster movie in the times of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight.

Thor - The Movie

It took nearly 50 years to bring Thor to the big screen and I hope it will not disappoint. In 2010, the blond Norse god and his hammer Mjolnir will have their feature film. There is not much information available on this project. And the discussion about the actor to play Thor has already started. Next to Brad Pitt, Christian Bale and Karl Urban, actors who have played a mythological hero, the dark knight and a Norse fighter (all very important characteristics of Thor), the wrestler HHH (brute vampire in Blade:Trinity) was considered to play the main character.

I personnally would have liked a young Vladimir Kulich to play Thor. I have never seen a Norse clan chief die with such dignity on his own throne as Kulich in “The 13th Warrior“. But with his 52 years, he might already be too old for the part. I guess that depends on what part of Thor’s life will be shown. Or why not have Til Schweiger (King Arthur), the German Hollywood actor, have a crack at it. We’ll see…

Malik

The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch

Those of you, who know Neil Gaiman are probably not surprised by the long title of this book, as he has written several stories with two (or even more) line titles. The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch is one of his not so well know short stories, that had only been published in a program book and a magazine before it was thrown into one of Gaiman’s collections.

It is a story told by a writer (not unlike Gaiman himself), who has returned to England to write a script for a movie, in the hopes that it might be easier to work at a hotel there than at home. He is however invited to join his friends to catch a show at the theatre. They are trying to entertain an old acquaintance and so they thought it might be nice if the author joined them. When we meet the young woman, who is only called Miss Finch (although the author insists that it is not her real name), it becomes clear, why the couple wants to have him tag along, as their guest seems to be a bit of a know-it-all. However, the planned trip to the theatre is replaced by a circus show and that’s when complete strangeness sets in. At first the circus performance seems to be a normal freak show, but this changes, when one of the audience is granted a wish. I don’t want to give away the ending and so I’ll go on with a few words about the artists.

The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch is a typical Gaiman story, full of his specific kind of language and very strange in its down to earth kind of way. Michael Zulli adapts the story in his unique way and brings it to life with his special art style. His art might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but I must say it was perfect for this story and as such I enjoyed it. This might not be one of Gaiman’s best works, but it is intriguing, short and fun to read. Yet, I still think it will mainly sell because of the name Neil Gaiman and sadly not because of its quality.

Story                 7

Art                     8

Reread Value    7

Overall rating   7.5/10

Spawn

When Spawn first came out in Europe I had been convinced by a friend to see if I might enjoy it and become a collector. So I went and bought the first issue of Spawn in German. It was the beginning of a long friendship that was ripped to shreds by all kinds of different factors.

But let me start at the beginning of the series. “Spawn”, to me, had always been a fascinating character. Al Simmons was the kind of man that would do anything for his wife. He was a secret government hitman with military background, before he decided to quit the force. But the military would not let him quit… they killed him during his “last” mission and send him to Hell. And somewhere on the lower planes of Hell, Malebolgia heard him scream his wife’s name and decided to offer him a deal; one of those deals that usually don’t end well. Al Simmons was offered to see his wife again and in return would become the leader of this particular demon’s army against the forces of Heaven during Judgment Day. He accepted, but of course there was a catch. Al Simmons arrived on Earth as “Spawn”, a demonic figure with evil powers, five years after his death. His beloved, Wanda, was already married to Al’s best friend, Terry, and they had a little girl, Cyan. When he realized this, Spawn became a desperate and miserable figure and hid in the shadows of the backstreets of the city. His only friends became the bums and the rats. He tried to avoid everything and everyone around him, but was constantly confronted with evil and pain. He tried to hold on to the last good thing that still breathed somewhere deep inside of him… the memory of his loved ones. However, the forces of evil came after him, as he was supposed to train and evolve his powers, so that he could be a perfect leader to the armies he had signed a contract with his blood for.

Well, so much for a little storyline. Don’t worry, for those that have never read Spawn, this wasn’t really a spoiler, because all of this can be read in the first issue or seen in the movie “Spawn”, one of the first main stream movies about a non-Marvel/DC character, after the Crow and Crying Freeman. Although it never became a big blockbuster, I did enjoy it, especially the hilarious performance by John Leguizamo, playing the Violator.

Spawn has a solid base story, but over the years, it seemed that the writers had a lot of trouble keeping the story interesting. I guess this was mostly due to the fact that the Spawn story can be divided into an introduction (creation of the superhero/villain), a middle part (discovering what he can do, dramatic turn of events) and an end (Judgment Day). But as far as I could read, before they changed the publisher in Germany, they never really got to the end. Instead, they just kept on trying to continue the line of events, even introduce several side stories (Violator, Angela, Curse of Spawn, Spawn - the Dark Ages, Bloodfeud…) or put heaps of merchandise, especially action figurines, on the market to keep people interested. I myself bought a very fine looking Spawn figurine with angel wings (Redemption Spawn). My sources from beyond the grave (Wikipedia) though tell me, that the story did continue by taking epic proportions and culminating in a raging and devastating climax. I will try to acquire those last issues that never made it into the bookstores in Luxembourg and hopefully find a more satisfying ending to Spawn’s story than the one I got.

I think you could compare the success behind the Spawn comics, to the success of the Batman comics. Spawn lives in a city full of misery and pain, the kind that you can mostly find in Film Noir, and he himself is a questionable hero, having been created out of a personal tragedy. He seems to be a good man underneath his demonic appearance, but he is still supposed to be the leader of Hell’s armies, so his destiny is unknown and he is constantly challenged to turn evil. But in that lies the controversy: Does “not being bad” means “being good”? Does the absence of darkness equal the presence of light? Spawn has given up on his life, his destiny, his very existence. He wants to be left alone. It is only out of mere self defense that he fights. So can he really be a superhero? Does he have to be, to be interesting?

I don’t think so. Antiheros are much more interesting nowadays than shiny cape-wearing heroes (although Spawn is wearing a cape, and a pretty long one too). So, if you are the kind of person that likes to see a broken man, trying to mind his own business but always being pushed to his limits and if you like the mysterious and terrible depths of Hell depicted in a great style by the genius of Todd McFarlane and Greg Capullo, go and get Spawn, the first comic I ever collected and one very fascinating bad/good guy.

Malik

Welcome Malik!

After one and a half months of solo work, I finally got the first new author to join Comic(s) Relief. He has been a close personal friend of mine and I hope we will have a fruitful cooperation. With his adition to the team, I will also add a new category called Overview. It will feature general introductions into specific topics like a series, a comicbook character or other things connected to our main topic.

He is new to the world of blogging and has created this page to get acquainted with everything. Welcome aboard, dude!

Angel – After the Fall #11

The second last issue of Angel - After the Fall has hit the shelves last week and as expected, Brian Lynch finally throws the two former allies Gunn and Angel into the ring. Angel discovers that Gunn was turned and of course he tries to save his former friend. At first, it seems like the two could work together but then the demon in Gunn takes over and he overpowers Angel. Gunn goes as far as to dispel the glamour that was preventing everybody from seeing Angel’s newfound mortality. The cliffhanger ending of this issue is one of the best in the series so far and with only one book left to finish the mini-series, the anticipation is enormous. Too bad it will be another month until the conclusion is finally unveiled.

I must say that I found some of the dialogue in this particular issue a bit out of place. Especially Angel’s text parts where sometimes a bit too over the top for the character. Other than that it was a solid issue with a nice crescendo towards a hopefully amazing climax. The last issue could go either way and killing Angel might be one of them. I’m actually more intrigued to find out if they will continue the series or call it quits. Let’s hope Angel – After the Fall generated enough sales to continue into a seventh season. Although I must say I would prefer a return to the old format. Dragons and L.A. turning into hell were a bit much for me, but as a real fan of the characters I could stand it. I guess the whole series will really stand or fall depending on the ending.

Story                  8

Art                      7

Reread Value     7

Overall rating    7.5/10