Monday 18 March 2024

Batman #5 - DC Comics [Part Two]

BATMAN (FACSIMILE EDITION) No. 5, February 2024
Starting out the second half of this comic with a truly disturbing tale which actually sees the titular character threaten to cold-bloodedly murder a hapless physician if the man doesn’t save Robin’s life, Bill Finger’s "The Case of the Honest Crook" certainly should have kept its audience on the edge of their seats. True, parts of the thirteen-page plot are a little unbelievable, such as Batman singlehandedly defeating Smiley and the crime lord’s gun-toting gang despite being shot three times during the fight. But just as soon as the Boy Wonder is clobbered close to death, this narrative proves particularly enthralling, and the Dark Knight’s invulnerability to bullets could arguably be written off as simply being a result of his anger-driven adrenalin.

Bob Kane’s artwork is also rather beguiling, due to the artist pencilling plenty of panels depicting Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego aggressively punching and kicking his numerous foes to the floor. Indeed, it’s debatably hard to imagine a more brutal Caped Crusader than the one sketched in this story, as he savagely batters any and all who would stand in his way – including a medical doctor who’s door the cowled crime-fighter just happens to knock upon in his bleeding sidekick’s moment of need; “That’s the first time I ever saw it look like that! It- It was terrible… Like a demon’s!”

Likewise, "Crime Does Not Pay" provides some intriguing insights into Batman’s additional arsenal of crime-fighting tactics, courtesy of the “strange creature of darkness” donning the disguise of an out-of-town mobster in an attempt to infiltrate a murderous team of bank robbers. Furthermore, there’s a genuine notion of teamwork between the Dark Knight and Robin in Finger’s script, which helps better establish them as a legitimate dynamic duo, rather than the Caped Crusader simply sending his colourfully-costumed partner off on various errands.

Perhaps this comic’s best visual moment also appears in this yarn’s opening sequence, as the two super-heroes swing down from a high-storey rooftop so as to fall upon a pair of hoodlums. Kane provides a strong sense of momentum to this action, largely thanks to a well-drawn splash page showing his co-creations’ viewpoint from their great height - which later ends with the antagonists both careening into their fleet-footed opponents on the ground with bone-breaking force.

Writer: Bill Finger, Penciler: Bob Kane, and Inkers: Jerry Robinson & George Roussos

Saturday 16 March 2024

Batman #5 - DC Comics [Part One]

BATMAN (FACSIMILE EDITION) No. 5, February 2024
Pitching the Dark Knight against arguably his greatest adversary, the Joker, Issue Five of “Batman” certainly must have started well for its audience way back in March 1941. Indeed, Bill Finger’s plot for “The Riddle Of The Missing Card?” is arguably fairly intriguing as the Clown Prince of Crime surprisingly teams up with Queenie, Diamond Jack Deegan and the oafish Clubsy, so as to commit a series of burglaries against Gotham City’s wealthiest gamblers; “My – My… Look at all the people anxious to lose their money.”

Of course, the fact the titular character's co-creator rather boldly announces early on in the tale that Bruce Wayne’s shaving cut will inadvertently later save the cowled crime-fighter’s life, does debatably ruin the shocking notion that “one person other than Robin [now] knows the true identity of Batman.” But this premature revelation doesn’t detract too much from an adrenalin-packed narrative which requires Bob Kane to sketch both “the first appearance of Batmobile with a bat-shaped ornament and also the first boat owned by Batman”, simply so the reader can visually keep up with the comic’s fast paced chase sequences.

Unhappily, "Book of Enchantment" is debatably far from as entertaining, largely due to it relying upon the Dynamic Duo facing off against an increasingly silly line-up of personalities taken from various nursery rhymes and folk tales. Furthermore, the preposterous suggestion that the masked vigilantes just happen to have thwarted a crime on the doorstop of a scientist who can somehow physically whisk them away to a dragon-infested Land of Fantasy is surely a step too far for even the most imaginatively willing of Bat-fans to reconcile with.

Kane’s layouts are also something of a mess with this story, requiring any perusing bibliophile to follow the odd pointed panel arrow and numerous corner numbers so as to actually understand which disappointingly pencilled picture is next. The artist’s firedrake does admittedly look pretty good. However, its appearance is disconcertingly brief, so simply gets swallowed up by Bob’s seemingly never-ending merry-go-round featuring a one-eyed Cyclops, Jack’s long-bearded giant, Humpty Dumpty, Simple Simon, and numerous other man-eating minions locked within the Wicked Witch’s bizarrely populated “torture dungeon”.

Writer: Bill Finger, Penciler: Bob Kane, and Inkers: Jerry Robinson & George Roussos

Friday 15 March 2024

Ghost Rider/Wolverine: Weapons Of Vengeance Omega #1 - Marvel Comics

GHOST RIDER/WOLVERINE: WEAPONS OF VENGEANCE OMEGA No. 1, November 2023
Opening up with as bloodthirsty a welcome as any one new to this “brutal team-up” could want, Benjamin Percy’s script for Issue One of “Ghost Rider/Wolverine: Weapons Of Vengeance Omega” also arguably does a good job of bringing such oblivious bibliophiles bang up to speed with what’s occurred in this mini-series’ previous instalments. Admittedly, much of this context is established via a significantly wordy summary at the comic’s start. However, this initial ‘info dump’ is then enthrallingly built upon by Talia Warroad, when she decides to enlighten the hapless Jeff Bannister as to the birth of Bagra-Ghul, and the demon’s subsequent grafting onto baby Bram’s body.

Such ‘straight to the point’ penmanship easily allows the audience to subsequently experience Hellverine’s internal battle when it comes to the hellfire-flamed killer being ordered to murder an infant mutant, whose parents have just ruthlessly incinerated an innocent family simply for the crime of owning the “biggest house on the neighbourhood”. This diabolical dilemma really lies at the very heart of the thirty-page plot’s resolution, establishing a line in the sand that even a heavily mind controlled Logan won’t easily cross, and one that enables the X-Man to mentally fight back for command of his adamantium-laced body; “I got your pitchfork right here.”

Likewise, the American author delivers when it comes to pitching the two titular characters against one another in an exhilarating, dynamically drawn action sequence by artist Geoff Shaw. Indeed, this ‘white knuckle ride’ repeatedly ‘wrong-foots’ the reader by persistently suggesting that perhaps one of the finale’s onlookers is about to die during the conflict - Whether that be Bram, Father Pike, or the gun-toting C.I.A. agent who “really preferred my life before I met you and Johnny”.

Lastly, Percy should be congratulated for providing both the aforementioned Warroad and Bannister with plenty of beguiling personality throughout the sense-shattering shenanigans on show. It would have been all-too easy for the writer to solely focus upon just the Ghost Rider and Wolverine for this book. But instead, both the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and her slightly reluctant partner-in-crime prove integral to infiltrating Weapon Plus’ Headquarters, and bringing the programme administrator’s deadly plans to a fiery end.

The regular cover of "GHOST RIDER/WOLVERINE: WEAPONS OF VENGEANCE OMEGA" #1 by Ryan Stegman

Thursday 14 March 2024

Conan The Barbarian #8 - Titan Comics

CONAN THE BARBARIAN No. 8, March 2024
There surely can be little doubt that Jim Zub’s narrative for Issue Eight of “Conan The Barbarian” depicts the titular character at his most merciless, brutally hacking to death any hapless wannabe hero who foolishly stands between the possessed Cimmerian and his quest to recover an ancient sword. But for those followers of Crom who were expecting this sword and sorcery adventure to resemble something penned by Robert E. Howard himself, “Sacrifice” is arguably bound to have fallen significantly short of its mark. 

To begin with the Canadian art instructor pens Belit as a disconcertingly resentful captain of the Tigress, who actually attempts to throw her beloved’s blade into the ocean for fear that it continues to remind him of “a lost lover”. Such aggressive mistrust on behalf of the Queen of the Black Coast genuinely seems to jar with the Hyborian Age pirate’s personality as portrayed way back within the pages of “Weird Tales” in 1934, and even causes the future King of Aquilonia to angrily comment that “petty jealously is beneath you.”

Making the twenty-two-page plot even more unconvincing though, is the author’s attempt to assure his audience that Conan has carried the exact same hand-weapon for years, during many of his earliest exploits. This notion simply doesn’t ring true, and debatably takes something away from Howard’s subsequent short stories, such as (the unfinished) "The Snout in the Dark" and "The Slithering Shadow" - Neither of which understandably make no mention of the black-haired barbarian continuously wielding a supernatural sword capable of killing a Dark God; “After Belit’s death, the Cimmerian carried the ancient Pict blade as he trekked through the Jungles of Kush.”

Lastly, for those fans of Zub who are familiar with his writing, the notion of the warrior once again becoming possessed by a demonic spirit and carrying a mythical hand-weapon is very similar to Jim’s multi-part storyline concerning the Tooth of the Nightstar, which he produced for “Marvel Worldwide” just three short years ago. Indeed, the similarities between the two tales are irritatingly quite striking, with the supposedly strong-willed thief simply being turned into a one-man killing machine, who savagely slaughters all before him in a gory bloodlust due to the evil powers controlling his mind.

The regular cover art of "CONAN THE BARBARIAN" #8 by Ashleigh Izienicki

Wednesday 13 March 2024

The Batman And Scooby-Doo Mysteries [2024] #3 - DC Comics

THE BATMAN AND SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES No. 3 May 2024
For those Bat-fans who enjoy seeing the Dark Knight team up with the ever-seductive Catwoman and explore the duo’s complicated love–hate relationship, Ivan Cohen’s script for “Shiny” certainly should have been quite the hit. True, Selina Kyle’s anti-heroic alter-ego is once again “blamed for another string of robberies in Gotham” which she did not commit. But this fairly familiar plot still allows the “media-development executive at DC Comics” to pen a few surprises to catch his audience off-guard - most notably the true identity of the book’s lead antagonist stemming way back to the mid-Eighties and John Byrne’s run on “The Man Of Steel”.

Sadly however, the former editor doesn’t do quite as well writing for Mystery Incorporated. Disappointingly both Shaggy Rogers and Scooby-Doo are practically non-existent. Whilst Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley are incredibly irritating as they repeatedly question the Caped Crusader’s decision-making when it comes to the cat burglar's motivations. Indeed, the two female amateur investigators arguably come across as a right arrogant pair of holier-than-thou do-gooders, who apparently know far more about criminal catching than the Justice Leaguer ever will; “No offense, Batman.”

Commissioner Gordon also appears to fall under the two teenagers’ implausible spell far too willingly, unconvincingly preferring to believe them over the Dark Knight when it comes to Catwoman’s innocence and even relying upon the ‘meddling kids’ to keep Kyle incarcerated overnight rather than ‘one of the greatest comic book superheroes ever created.’ This contrivance genuinely grates upon the senses considering the trust which has built up between the two men since Batman first saved the police officer’s city single-handedly, and subsequently sits rather uncomfortably in the subconscious as the storytelling unsatisfactorily progresses.

Delightfully, what this twenty-page publication lacks in credible drama, it somewhat makes up for with the wonderful layouts of Dario Brizuela. In fact, the Argentinian illustrator’s ability to seamlessly combine aspects of the classic “Hanna-Barbera” cartoons and the “Batman: The Animated Series” together, alongside his own take on the Caped Crusader, debatably makes Issue Three of “The Batman And Scooby-Doo Mysteries” worth the cover price alone. Furthermore, his pencilling of the Penguin is so spot on that many a bibliophile will find it impossible not to hear actor Paul Williams’ voice reading out Oswald Cobblepot’s dialogue.

Written by: Ivan Cohen, Art by: Dario Brizuela, and Color by: Franco Riesco

Monday 11 March 2024

The Batman And Scooby-Doo Mysteries [2024] #2 - DC Comics

THE BATMAN AND SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES No. 2 April 2024
Despite the relative simplicity of Joseph Torres’ script for Issue Two of “The Batman And Scooby-Doo Mysteries”, this comic’s visit to Slaughter Swamp probably still proved something of a hit with fans of the famous media franchise. Indeed, if someone were to swap out the supposed presence of undead villain Solomon Grundy for a much more generic, rancid revenant, then this twenty-page-periodical’s basic plot would probably not have looked too out of place as part of the “Hanna-Barbera” American animated television series’ initial run in 1969; “Well, I would’ve gotten away with it if it wasn’t for these meddling kids…”

Sadly however, as a super-hero book supposedly based upon Batman trying “to save some Gothamites from a zombie disaster”, the publication is debatably far less successful. For starters its narrative divulges far too early on that Cyrus Gold’s alter-ego cannot possibly be stalking the quicksand-infested marshlands because he’s currently incarcerated inside Blackgate Penitentiary. Such a revelation genuinely ruins any build-up of the Caped Crusader eventually encountering Alfred Bester’s co-creation in a fist-fight, and also frustratingly ruins the usual criminal ‘unmasking’ at the tale’s end, by pointing the finger squarely towards the sole character in this story who could be capable of impersonating Grundy.

Likewise, there isn’t an awful lot for the Dark Knight to achieve within this adventure, apart from rescue Shaggy Rogers and Scooby-Doo from a sticky mud bath. Without the threat of Solomon genuinely showing up, Velma Dinkley definitely takes centre-stage, challenging Cyril Gold’s paranormal tourism scam and deducing the con-artist’s motivation for making Slaughter Swamp far from worthless land. In fact, the brainy young woman even manages to instantly guess exactly where some underground tunnels lead whilst exploring the surrounding countryside.  

Easily this comic’s most bemusing aspect though has to be Scott Jeralds’ inconsistent layouts, which at times, most notably when sketching the selfie-obsessed campers, appear to have been pencilled by an entirely different illustrator. There’s no doubt the artist can do a first-rate job of depicting Mystery Incorporated. But his Solomon Grundy repeatedly appears to have been clumsily resized in some panels. Whilst occasionally, a scene’s cast appear so disconnected with their location as to be highly reminiscent of the old Seventies “Super Friends” all-action transfer sets by “Letraset”.

Written by: J. Torres, Drawn by: Scott Jeralds, and Colored by: Carrie Strachan

Tuesday 5 March 2024

The Incredible Hulk [2023] #9 - Marvel Comics

THE INCREDIBLE HULK No. 9, April 2024
Even the hardest to please Hulk-head must surely have enjoyed Philip Kennedy Johnson’s “latest spine-chilling tale” for Issue Nine of “The Incredible Hulk”, due to the American author arguably creating one of the most disturbing homicidal octogenarians depicted in a comic book. Sure, a fair portion of this twenty-page periodical’s plot actually focuses upon Bruce Banner’s rather dialogue-driven melodrama with the Mother of Horror’s incarnation of Betty Ross. But whenever this word-heavy argument is replaced by the elderly supernatural serial killer, the wrinkled Antique shop owner becomes as utterly bewitching as the subsequent mutilations are graphically gratuitous.

In addition, this publication contains some nicely-penned moments for Charlie Tidwell, which highlights the young murder suspect's ability to be both quite fierce and vulnerable in precisely the same moment. This intriguing characteristic is particularly well demonstrated during the girl’s exploration of a run-down second-hand store, whilst its owner calmly covers for her to the ever-circling police upstairs. Many a bibliophile will doubtless be shouting at the book for the runaway to stop walking down into a disturbing cellar which she’s already been warned by her travelling companion shouldn’t actually exist below the water-table. However, the girl manages to control her fear and courageously discovers the fate of one who has previously crossed paths with New Orleans’ “Angel of Death”.

Likewise, this story’s hapless law enforcement officer makes for an interesting cast member, even if his life is cut brutally short once he ill-advisedly decides to verbally threaten a certain “cool, old lady.” The somewhat bullish cop is clearly just doing his duty, having accidentally bumped into Tidwell earlier that evening. So to later witness his severed head being grotesquely carried by Frozen Charlotte in one hand genuinely makes for a truly shocking moment within this magazine; “They who forget their manners… The difference shown to one’s elders… The perils of discourtesy.” 

Regrettably however, the layouts of “guest artist” Danny Earls might well prove something of a barrier to those bibliophiles anticipating another visual feast for the eyes by regular contributor Nic Klein. The “retired professional soccer player” arguably does a solid job pencilling most of this book’s contents, with his version of the Hulk’s eye-wateringly painful transformation proving particularly gruesome. Yet there's also probably little doubt that his raw, cartoon-like style doesn't always work that well, such as when the Harpy makes a surprise appearance.

The regular cover art of "THE INCREDIBLE HULK" #9 by Nic Klein