Panel Discussion: Sad Batfamily Edition!

This week's Fun Sized panel discussion features some scans that underline how sad everyone in Gotham is now that Batman is dead. Enjoy!

Splash Panel of the Week - Batman #687
Isn't this the saddest thing you ever did see! Of course we all know that neither Jason Todd OR Bruce Wayne are really dead. But outside of the larger DCU context, this image brings to mind an empty batcave, housing only the sad remains of the once unstoppable duo. And no one wants to see that.


Best Use of A Repeated Panel - Batman #687
Here we see the repeated-panel technique as a way to convey numbness, or shock. Great facial expression work here by Ed Benes. Alfred really hasn't gotten enough page-time to react to the death of Bruce, but this really says it all.


Burn of the Week - Red Robin #1
Bit of clarification here; That's Dick in the Batsuit, holding Tim in the orange shirt who just hit Damian in the Robin suit. Tim is mad because Damian is the new Robin and Tim is the new nothing! And Damian, who has the cruel insight of his father with none of the self-control, totally calls Tim on having nothing left to live for. And he's right! Tim, your life sucks!

This is really just a prelude to an upcoming Gnerd article that proves Tim Drake has the worst track record in the DCU when it comes to losing loved ones, and how it's a miracle he hasn't become the sort of villain that would make Jason Todd look like Jimmy Olsen. Stay tuned.

Panel Discussion: Scans from Fantastic Four: Dark Reign, Battle for the Cowl and Terror Inc

Warning: After the jump, the last panel of this post contains spoilers for the ending of Battle for the Cowl, ie who the new Batman is.

Worst Splash Panel - Terror Inc: Apocalypse Soon #2
The first series of Lapham's Terror Inc was great fun. But I am now realizing that a big part of what made this book cool and not ridiculous was the grimly realistic art by Patrick Zircher. Splash panels like the one above should have died in the 90s. The arc of the machine gun blast is like looking into another dimension where time and space have no meaning.

Reed Richards finally loses it, Batman is one cold sonofabitch, and Damian Wayne gets his bratty little way, after the jump...

Best Acting - Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #2
Here we see an alternate reality timeline in which Reed Richards, realizing that the formation of the Illuminati would lead to the current mess the Marvel U is in, decides to kill everyone to ensure the group is never formed. It worked! Here is what Reed's expression says to me: "I uh...okay. This - was this right? Yes. No. Yes. Hm. Oh boy. Ohhh boy. Hold it together Richards."

Clearest Example of Batman's Insanity - Battle for the Cowl #3
When making his video will, Batman thinks to himself; "I shall leave each of my adopted sons a special fatherly advise voicemail to cherish after I'm gone." So he records one for Tim and one for Dick, and then thinks to himself "Oh, Jason's alive now too, I guess I should record something for him. What would help him be less awful? I've got it - telling him he's the single biggest failure of my entire life will give him the motivational push he needs to start anew."

Batman, you should not be allowed around children or the mentally ill!

Also: note that at the end Bats says, "...but don't worry, I know this great doctor...." I like to think Bruce recorded this before the Black Casebook saga, and is in fact about to recommend his trusted physician Dr. Simon Hurt.

Banana Radomizer Award for Achievement in WTF - Battle for the Cowl #3
So the new Batman is Dick Grayson, and the new Robin is....DAMIAN WAYNE? Whaa? Um, Dick, I know you've been busy with your own career, but Damian is like, really, really evil. In fact you are actually the only member of the inner-circle Batfamily that he hasn't ALMOST SUCCEEDED in killing.

Look, he tries to kill Alfred earlier in this issue!

Um, Alfred, he'll do it.

First of all, why does Dick even NEED a Robin? He is a Robin. As Nightwing, he was both Batman...AND ROBIN. Teaming up with a homicidal tween seems like a step backwards in Dick's crime fighting career, and it's probably not good for his self-esteem either.

I also wonder what Tim is going to do with his nights, since he gave up being Robin to be Batman, and can now be neither. Oops! Guess you shouldn't have quit your Teen Titans dayjob, nerd!

Panel Discussion: Dark Avengers #2, Batman/Superman #55, The Great Unknown #1, and More

Beatdown of the Week - Superman/Batman #55

For those not following Batman/Superman (like myself, three days ago), the context here is Batman has been temporarily granted Superman's powers, and he's gone mad! Mad with powers! It's up to Wingding to take him in...

Whak! Chok! Pwn'd!

Acrobat leaping powers, activate! (Get it? AcroBAT?)

And the finishing touch...
...years of bitterness from being forced to wear a little yellow cape, expelled in one move. Robin Classic FTW!

Great art and more violence, after the jump...

Best Splash Panel - Dark Avengers #2
Oh, Sentry! What WON'T you do?

The Magic of Comics - Black Lightning #4
Fantastic balance between foreground and background, stillness and movement, light and shadow. And not a single sound effect to clutter it up.


Best Character Moment - Robin #184
The laugh-out-loud ridiculousness of Batman's death-holo-chamber aside, this page is the only time in the last three years of reading DC that I can remember feeling something for Jason Todd other than annoyance. It's nice to see that for all his nihilistic badboy crap, the prospect of receiving beyond-the-grave instructions from his Bat Dad is enough to turn him into a little kid again.

Worst Luck - Church of Hell #1
This is why you should never give in to anger, young Jedi. You might accidentally punch your friend so hard he falls out a sixth story window.

Most Practical Advice - The Great Unknown #1

If you don't want to click for higher resolution, basically this guy keeps a bunch of fast food soda cups in his trunk so he can reuse them infinitely and never pay for soda. I have often thought about doing something like this, but this guy actually did it. Inspiring.

Burn of the Week - Dark Avengers #2
Sometimes I think I only like Moonstone because she's a stereotypically hot villain, but then she says something like this and I know it's true love.

Panel Discussion: Scans from Buffy #20, Batman #683, and Thunderbolts #127

Every week we at Geekanerd rip panels from our comics and put them on display here, recognizing the best, worst, and weirdest moments of the week. Beware some light spoilers if you haven't read your books this week.

Cute Overload - Buffy Season 8 #20
Oh NOES! Buffy has gone back to Season 1! And to reflect the relatively angst-free atmosphere of the early episodes, she's an adorable cartoon character! And Joyce is alive and also cartoony! And Dawn is a pre-teen instead of a key! THIS IS AWESOME.

Buffy also nicely retcons the whole Willow/Xander affair...awk!waaard. This whole issue is filled with squeeable moments, why can't they make a All Ages title like this?

PS: This is all based on the pitched but never sold Buffy cartoon series; here's the pilot with many original cast voices! Cept it's not very good...still, cute, right?



Crazy batman after the jump...

Clearest Example of Batman's Insanity - Batman #683
We all know Batman has a lot of baggage surrounding the Robins. Here, Batman is being mind-raped by some Darkseid minions, who are making him quickly relive some of his most traumatic momments. But in this garbled memory, Tim Drake seems to be emerging, in full costume, FROM JASON TODD'S SMOKING REMAINS.

Most Painful Panel - Thunderbolts #127
Ai yee yee yee! Songbird juuuust stops Bullseye's sai from nailing her in the eyeball by stopping it....with her palm. This kind of injury is pretty tame by comic standards, but that red splash in the background and Songbird's horrified expression really bring the sting home.

Panel Discussion: Scans from Mighty Avengers #15, Final Crisis #2, New Avengers #42 and More

Every week we at Geekanerd rip panels from our comics and put them on display here, recognizing the best, worst, and weirdest moments of the week. Beware some major SPOILERS.

Click the pics for high res goodness!

Celebrity Cameo Corner - Thunderbolts #121

How long has Penance been Edward Norton? I read the entire Deodato Thunderbolts run and only now did this jump out at me. And regardless of how you feel about photo referencing, isn't it a little unadvised to model a Marvel character off an actor who is playing a DIFFERENT Marvel character at a theater near you?! Or is this some sort of insane cross-promotion? Are they trying to tell us that Penance is really Bruce Banner? I'm sure it's all something to do with Secret Invasion. - AHR

Every Man's Worst Nightmare - Mighty Avengers #15
Hank Pym experiences every man's worst fear: that the cute naked co-ed you're sitting in bed eating ice cream with will transform into a Hulk tranny and kick your ass. -Albo

Hero Most In Need of A New Costume - Robin, Teen Titans #60
Tim, you're not the Boy Hostage any more. You're not flipping around the sidelines while Batman does the dirty work. With this in mind, you MIGHT want to re-enforce the spandex outfit at least to the point where Clock King (CLOCK KING!) can't stab you in the stomach like he's punching a hole in a Capri Sun. - AHR

Someone Call Tony Stark... - Avengers: The Initiative #14
A method for detecting Skrulls has been found! They loooooove pickles and strawberries! And I love Dan Slott for being goddamn hilarious. -Albo

What I loved about that moment is that Skrull Man uses quotes when he names the food, because it's so unfamiliar. You know he's internally pronouncing them as "pick-ELLES" and "straw-BERRIES". -AHR

Most Chilling Ending - Avengers: The Initiative #14
This issue has a hell of an ending, with the first actual method of detecting Skrulls (other than the aforementioned Skrullian T'Manja berries mention earlier) being fritzed by a Skrull who's actually a good guy but happens to be in hiding because he's genuinely afraid of the predjudice that will be leveled against him if he is revealed. So he "hacks" the Skrull-detecting goggles, and now poor Delroy faces the very Twilight Zoney twist of "seeing" that EVERYONE IS A SKRULL. I fear for his mental health. Great end to a great issue. -Albo

Snappingly Good Dialogue - Mighty Avengers #15
"I didn't kiss anyone. And I could have." I know it doesn't seem like much, but it's just the sort of biting non sequitur that you rarely see in comics but often hear in actual relationship arguments. Not that I would know, because any ladies I let into my life worship the ground I geek on, but that's beside the point. -Albo

Project Runway Winners - Final Crisis #2
Japanese club kids plus superhero outfits = the height of geek chic. I wonder if these are all J.G Jones originals, or if he found some superhero fashion reference material? I thought I recognized some of these looks from the recent exhibit at the Met Museum, but no dice. Fashion aside, the best thing in this panel is the guy in the Stormtrooper/Samurai suit, proving once again that Star Wars fans will use any event as an excuse to cosplay. - AHR

What I Hate About Secret Invasion - New Avengers #42
So much of Bendis' "flashback" stories are just a slew of Skrulls hanging out in some dark New York warehouse talking. Not about anything all that interesting. You know, "Sentry is a threat... We should figure out how to get Stark out of the picture... The plan is coming along nicely..." Blah blah blah. It doesn't help that I often can't tell who the hell everyone is supposed to be.

Malpractice Lawsuit in the Making - New Avengers #42
I've really racked my brain for any plausible explanation, but... Can those blobs on the operating tray be anything BUT breast implants?
Hydra Nurse: "But Doctor, her chart says she's in here for power renewal, not--"
Hydra Dr.: "Silence, Nurse! Scalpel!"
And I guess that's how she went from manageable C-cups to these monstrosities in the same issue:
It's only fair to note that the second Spider-Woman is actually Spider Skrullette. Which only raises more issues. -Albo

Cute Alert - Teen Titans #60
That long gaited, big feet teenager walk is too adorable. I like it when action books aren't afraid to get a little cartoonish, when appropriate.

Someone Please Explain... - New Avengers #42
What exactly is supposed to be happening at the end of this issue? What's the "film melt" effect supposed to mean? Surely I'm overlooking something obvious... Help, Geekanerds of the world! -Albo
[UPDATE: The internets work fast, ladies and gentlemen. Alex Zalben of Pulp Secret and Comic Book Club stepped in like the crack of Indiana Jones' whip to let me know the same film melt effect was used in the first issue of House of M, which coincides with what's happening in these panels. Guess I should have read that. Thanks Alex!]

Panel Discussion: Scans From Robin #174, Amazing Spider-Man #560, The Initiative #13 and More

Every week we at Geekanerd rip panels from our comics and put them on display here, recognizing the best, worst, and weirdest moments of the week. Beware some major SPOILERS.

Click the pics for high res goodness!

Most Surprising Scene - Avengers: The Initiative #13
Despite the fact that no skin is shown and few sex acts take place, this is a boundary pushing sequence.

Here we have Emery, a nerdy, shy teen who happens to be indestructible, and a ex-villain who burns up anything she touches. Alone at an unauthorized Initiative beach party, she realizes that his powers would allow her to have sex with him. So she gets on him and starts, despite the fact that he's not into it. Is this rape? That's a yes. In a medium dominated by male sexual power fantasies, it's extremely surprising to see a scene in which a young man receives genuinely unwelcome sexual attention, and in a way that's not played for laughs or irony. Here the reader is made to feel the discomfort and confusion of this young man, and it's a powerful, sad moment. The last time I remember seeing anything like this in a comic is in Bomb Scare, a great Optic Nerve story. Here's to Christos Gage and Steve Uy for pulling off something truly unconventional in a mainstream book.

Pop Art, Stephanie Brown, Reed Richards: Ladies Man and more, after the jump...

The Reclamation of Pop Art - Amazing Spider-Man #560
The villain in this Spidey storyline is "Paper Doll," a 2D woman unhealthily obsessed with celebrity Bobby Carr. Her and Spidey have a dustup in a Pop Art gallery in this ish, which justifies the awesome cover with Paper Doll actually becoming Pop Art and creeping up on our hero (look at those nails! Creepy!). Later Spidey lands a well-placed punch in front of an explosive WHAAM! piece. Awesome!


The Power of Fans - Robin #174

Wow. Those who hated the way the War Games storyline ended have had just about all their demands met as of the end of last week's Robin. Let the retconning begin!

Exhibit A: Steph never got a memorial because Batman never really thought she was dead. This also explains his insensitive-even-for-him reaction to her death in the first place.

Exhibit B: Dr. Leslie Tompkins, heretofore believed to have actually allowed Steph to die as an outrageously irresponsible warning to teen superheroes across the nation, actually helped the poor girl fake her own death in order to start a new life.

Exhibit C: Editor Dan Didio is killed. Guess that ties up all the loose ends!

Smooth Operator - Reed Richards, Fantastic Four #557

Mr. Fantastic gets a bad rap sometimes for being cold and inattentive, but Mark Millar has a very different view of the smartest man on Earth. In fact, he writes him as a superbrained George Clooney. What a smoothie! Not to mention the fact that the location of their anniversary dinner is back in time for front row seats to when they first met.

Reputation Alert - Avengers: The Initiative #13
As seen in a previous issue of this series, Hank Pym's greatest fear is that he will be forever remembered not for his years of heroism, but for being a vile dirtbag who beat up his wife (BOOO!). He supposedly came to terms with that fear in that same issue, but now it looks like even the younger generation of heroes (who probably grew up on The Ultimates) aren't so forgiving. Sorry dirtbag!

Panel Discussion: Comic Scans From FX #1, Captain American #36, Batman and the Outsiders #5 and More

Every week Geekanerd brings you the best, worst and weirdest panels from our week in comics. If you didn't read your books, there will be giant SPOILERS. Click the images for high res action!

The Banana Randomizer Award for Achievement in WTF - FX #1
So our young hero is crying at the beginning of this page, that's fine... Then he grows some sort of fake cybernetic arm, also fine... But what explains his brain damaged yammering? I haven't seen dialogue like that since Arseface, and that poor bastard had a pretty good excuse. It occurs to me now that he might actually be imitating the Six-Million Dollar Man's signature sound effect, with a ridiculous build up, but thats... Dumb.

Heroes rise from the dead, face-smashing and and what not to do with a propeller blade, after the jump...

Back On The Scene - Batman and The Outsiders #5, Robin #173, Captain American #36

ZOMBIES! Lots of dead heroes returned to the world of the living this week. Stephanie Brown came back after months of lead-up...

Sue and Ralph Dibny are back for the first time since we saw them as ghosts at the end of 52, though it turns out they're not so much "ghost detectives" as they are Quantum Leapers who jump into other people's bodies...does that mean Ralph isn't stretchy anymore?


Also this guy. Yawn.


Beatdown of the Week - Cassandra Cain, Batman and the Outsiders #5
Get with it, InvisoLady! You can't get the jump on the Bat Fam! Especially Cassandra, she will KILL you! It's all well and good to quip about strawberries, Cass, but I don't think she's getting up.

Gristliest Death - War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle #1
And THAT'S... Why you don't run at a prop plane.