Friday, October 03, 2008

Snap Judgments: Reviews for Batman, Nightwing and House of Mystery

Short comic reviews based on initial, lizard-brain opinions. Arranged from BEST to WORST. Beware some potential spoilers.

Batman #680 gets a B from Degan
When this is all said and done, I'm going to re-read all the R.I.P. stories together in one sitting--because right now Grant Morrison's writing is not holding up with month long intervals. I'm finding I'm very lost--and none of the other R.I.P. stories seem to have anything to do with this story so there's no help there. Otherwise, Batman's charge against the Black Glove and the Joker is entertaining enough-creepy and... confusing. I just have faith that this story is actually better than I'm realizing.

Nightwing #149 gets a B- from Degan
The conclusion of Nightwing's R.I.P. story (which has little to nothing to do with any other R.I.P. story). The "twist" ending is another obnoxiously cliched treatment of Two Face's split personalities... basically, if you're reading any story with Two Face on one side of a conflict, and there's a mysterious "other" party on the opposite side... guess what, it's also Two Face. Surprise. However, Nightwing's fear toxin stricken battle with Batman's Rogues Gallery is awesome enough to keep this book from sucking. Plus, you have to respect any story where the hero fails. Oh the tragedy of living in the modern day DCU.

House of Mystery #6 gets a C+ from Degan
This book is hit or miss, usually depending upon the bonus story within--in this case, the back story of one of the House's occupants, the Pirate Ann. And it was pretty damn cool. So a "hit" in that regard-except the story of the House itself, which I usually enjoy more than the stories within stories, was pretty confusing. The main character behaves completely unlike herself leaving me to wonder if I missed an issue... but I'm pretty sure I didn't. Not sure if the character incongruities are intentional or just lazy--but it left me too confused to really enjoy it. Though the story may be leading to some interesting places... who knows... this book's hanging by a thread.

10 comments:

M1ll5 said...

Ugh. Die in a fire. Really. Peter Tomasi is a better writer then whatever tripe writer you worship.

Bishop said...

Well said m1ll5, spoken like a true king of douchebaggery on the internets. +10 points for working in the word tripe to sound slightly more arrogant.

Bishop said...

btw Degan, did you know Tomasi's screenplay was picked up by Andrew Lauren productions?

Degan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Degan said...

Ha! Who knew Peter Tomasi had a passionate internet following? And are you serious about ALP picking up his screenplay? Poor guy is in for a ride.

Degan said...

Ha, i just looked into it... he sold them the screenplay early in 2007... And of course nothing has happened (or will happen) with it. Poor guy never had a chance... If i had only known, i could have warned him.

Funny thing is, I was actually at ALP while they were in the purchasing process... never heard a thing about it. Other sucky thing is, the screenplay is about the Winchester House which is actually a very interesting topic... who knows if its good or not, but that alone is enough to pique my interest.

Degan said...

Ha! I just started 3 comments in a row with "Ha!"

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bishop said...

Silence! I concur

Anonymous said...

Hmm the big reveal was a bit shite.