Panel Discussion: Scans From Kick-Ass#1, Batman & Robin #9, RASL #1, and More

Why Batman Is the Coolest: All-Star Batman & Robin #9
Say what you will about Miller's take on "The Goddamn Batman," this is some classy shit. He agrees to meet with Green Lantern but has Robin paint the whole place yellow to nullify the effects of Hal Jordan's ring. And then just to be a jerk he serves lemonade and has Robin prance around with a vanilla ice cream cone. Man this guy is cool.



Why Bruce Wayne Is Not The Coolest: Batman #674
After pulling some truly awe-inspiring tricks to get out of yet another death-defying situation, Batman has to suffer the indignity of staging an explanation as to how Gotham's most irrisponsible millionaire has managed to get himself blown up and battered within an inch of his life....FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME. Going far beyond the "I fell down the stairs" standby, he fakes a parachute accident that ends with poor Bruce in a dumpster. Was that humiliating touch necessary to sell the cover story to Gotham's cruel paparazzi, or is Batman just showing his own ingrained contempt for his feckless alter-ego?

Mark Millar On...: Kick-Ass #1
It's not often you get direct comics criticism in comics, so it was fun reading this bit about why Galactus as a cloud was stupid, why movie Spidey's organic web shooters made sense and why Joss Whedon's X-Men work is better than Buffy... It also is a quick way to establish the setting of the book as "our real world." Because I think I said all that stuff within the last month.

Achievement in Villain Design: RASL #1
Good God this weird little lizard man that chases our hero around is creepy creepy CREEPY! The stare he gives you in this panel chilled me to the bone.

Project Runway Winner: Spider-Man: With Great Power... #2
As much as I'm not into this book, I was really digging Spidey's temporary wrestling duds. I think the eye holes and the gloves are a really cool design!

Most Severe Beatdown of the Week : Kick-Ass #1
A Tragedy in Four Acts

It's fitting that one of our most severe beatdowns EVER (Come on Albo, no one even gets their head punched through! - AHR) should come from a book called Kick-Ass. This poor bastard gets it bad and keeps on getting it.

Act One, wherein our hero gets it in the nads.>
Act Two, wherein our hero's neck takes a whompin'.
Act Three, wherein our hero takes the business end of a knife to the chest.

Act Four, wherein our hero is proven to be the unluckiest bastard on earth.

Panel Discussion: Scans from Batman & Robin: The Boy Wonder, Daredevil, Wonder Woman

Every week Geekanerd throws their books in a scanner to bring you the best, worst, and weirdest panels from the week's comics. Click 'em for high res and beware SPOILERS.

Nazi Boobs Returns - Batman & Robin: The Boy Wonder #8

Fan favorite (?) Joker henchwoman Bruno, last seen in the pages of The Dark Knight Returns, comes out of her twenty year retirement to grace the pages of Frank Miller's latest Batbook. It's cool to see him following through on his claim that this book is part of a cohesive "Dark Knight" continuity.

Batwhupping, Liev Schreiber and the scent of lust after the jump...

Casting Call - Daredevil #102
Artists modeling characters on real actors is something that sometimes works (Sam Jackson as Ultimate Nick Fury) and sometimes doesn't (Simon Pegg as whathisface in The Boys). Liev Schreiber as Mr. Fear works because it's subtle. So subtle it's almost certainly just my imagination.

Beatdown of the Week - Batman #671
It seems to be in vogue these days to write Batman as an invincible superbadass, so it's nice to see him get his goose cooked by an old man.

Super-Intelligent Monkeys Are Annoying Houseguests - Wonder Woman #14
I don't think I'd want some guys staying with me who would talk about smelling my lust. Or drink my beer. UPDATE: AHR has informed me that this comic has been on the stands for a few weeks already. To which I say, she's had the same pair of underwear on for a few weeks already and you don't see me sending her e-mails about personal hygiene. It doesn't take a super-intelligent monkey to smell that.

Panel Discussion: The Week in Comic Book Scans

Every week Geekanerd brings you scans from the week's comics. Click these suckas for some high res action!

How They Like It - Batman's Mask Fetish in Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #7
Everybody's got their thing, you know? Batman's just happens to be masks. If that wasn't obvious. This comes right after Black Canary asks Batman if anyone has ever told him that he is "totally hot" and he replies "Not for the last few days, no."

Find a nice save, clumsy flirtation, decapitations and crossdressing pundits after the jump!

Best Save - Animal Man, Countdown to Adventure #2With the girth of a rhinoceros, Buddy Baker saves depowered Starfire and a bunch of adorable school children from vehicular manslaughter. The flying garbage can near the top of the frame really puts this dynamic panel over the edge of total sweetness.

Worst Flirtation - Countdown #31Jason, what the eff are you talking about? Donna saved you from a villain. That's what superheroes do for weak, non-superpowered morons like yourself. Did you think Batman was into you every time he saved you from certain death? I mean, other than that one time.

Continutity Alert - The Four Horsemen #2
So we're expected to believe that Snapper Carr is some kind of Blackwater-esque Middle Eastern mercenary with Luke Skywalker goggles? When we saw him one week ago at the Green Arrow Black Canary wedding, smilin' and boppin' around in that 1970s What's New Scooby Doo kinda way? Someone find me a Monitor, one of these Snappers has gotta go.

Beatdown of the Week - Countdown to Adventure #2
Kicking someone's head off pretty much guarantees you a spot in Panel Discussion. Well played, The Forerunner.

Why We Wish We Lived in a Comic Book World - The Limbaugh/O'Donnel Link, The Spirit #10

In this week's issue of The Spirit, Darwyn Cooke cooks up (yes!) a story about cable news pundits getting picked off one by one by a mysterious serial killer. Everybody you can think of (Anderson Cooper, Hannity and Colmes, Bill O'Reilly, Stephen Colbert) has their clumsily-named counterparts in the issue. Two of them happen to be:
Dandy O'Lyon as Rosie O'Donnell, and...
Trust Wimbag as Rush Limbaugh. Now after almost all the pundits are dead, other than Trust and Wally O'Bellows (Bill O'Reilly), the big twist comes!
Oh if only real life were so poetic!

Click along to our previous Panel Discussions...

Snap Judgements:Mighty Avengers #4, Blue Beetle #17, All-Star Batman and Robin #6

As always, Snap Judgements gives you Triple-S comic reviews: short, sweet, and spoiler-free.

Mighty Avengers #4: Ultron Brings the Heat

If you've been following this series, you know that our Mighty Avengers are facing off against a new Ultron who's got a lot of new tricks, including replacing Tony Stark with a sexy metallic lady. This ish doesn't progress the showdown all that much, which would be my only major complaint other than the glaring continuity problems (Stark is basically dead here and alive everywhere else in the Marvel Universe, New York is being destroyed in World War Hulk but here it's business as usual in the Big Apple). But if you've liked the book up to this point you'll keep liking it. Frank Cho and Jason Keith are pumping out some of the best looking superhero art around right now. Brian Bendis is his usual snappy self when it comes to dialogue, though the story itself is a little disorienting, jumping from one thing to the next without really getting anywhere. Every month I keep telling myself I won't pick up the next issue due to the lack of development and lazy storytelling, but the book's got so much damn style I just can't stay away.

Gorgeous Art - Flat Storytelling - Continuity Quibbles = C+

Reviews for Blue Beetle #17, and All-Star Batman and Robin #6 after the jump...

Blue Beetle #17: With Great Power...

This is the Beetle's first real brush with the guilt that comes from being a superhero that just can't save everyone. There's some real tear-jerking panels in here. The Beetle does admirably, though, and the book distinguishes itself from others in that our hero uses his brain just as much as he uses his fists to solve problems. It's not about testosterone, it's about saving lives and it's a real blast to see him come up with clever solutions to problems other heroes would get real pissy about. Even the cleverest fella around makes a cameo appearance just to say how impressed he is. The book is really defining its angle here and I can't wait to see where we go next.

Unique Hero Character + Laughs and Tears + Social Conscience = A

All-Star Batman and Robin #6: Move Along, Nothing to See Here

I love Frank Miller with a heartfelt passion that shines so bright I look like E.T. when I'm reading Sin City. Some of this book is great Miller, too. His interior monologue for the Bat throughout this series depicts the hero as a sadist and sociopath and it sure gets me going. Unfortunately the fun ends there. After six issues it's still unclear where it's going (the first couple made it seem like a Robin: Year One story, but he's not even in this issue). If a book is going to come out as irregularly as this does, the sumbitch better move along. It makes me think the worst, that Miller is just ambling along, turning in scripts for a paycheck without a real concern for his audience. That's us, guys. Frank Miller might not care about us.

Great Bat Writing - Bad Bat Development - No Focus = C