Batman: Arkham Asylum Teaser... The Game You've Been Waiting For Your WHOLE LIFE

You may be unaware of this fact, but the single greatest game you've never played is actually coming out! Supposedly in the first quarter of next year even! Sure, we may be biased here at Geekanerd... considering our fave Batman writer Paul Dini is writing the story... and our fave Batman actor Kevin Conroy is on board... and even our favorite Joker of all time (yes, even still) Mark Hamill is involved [eeeeee!]. So I don't know about you... but we've basically never been more excited about a video game. And this teaser, though it doesn't show much, certainly helps. And hearing that familiar giggle at the end nearly brought a tear to this old nerd's eye.

Snap Judgements: Detective Comics #850, Cleaners #1, Batman Cacophony #1

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


Detective Comics #850 gets an A from AHR

This was one of the best Batman stories I've read in over a year. The ending resolves every storyline with an emotional gut-punch and a few surprises as well. Dini has weaved Hush and Ventriloquist II so well into the fabric of the Batman universe, I'm dying to see where they'll turn up next.

Cleaners #1 gets a B from AHR

If there's anything that my film school writing classes taught me, it's that people LOVE a procedural drama. This story explains the largely unexlored world of trauma scene cleanup, and that subject alone will keep your attention in a Discovery Channel sort of way. But the characters are also subtly written, which is a nice change in a storytellng medium that tends to rely so heavily on over-the-top archtypes. There's also some really horrific indications of the things to come, which leaves you feeling so anxious I feel almost obligated to get the next issue. Well played.

Batman Cacophony #1 gets a C from AHR

Dude writers like Kevin Smith and Judd Winick really love writing the Joker with lots of gay jokes. Objectively, this is fine (all's fair in love and Joker characterizations) but at a certain point this issue, it feels like Smith is using gay-sex jokes not just for cheap laughs, but as a shorthand for perversion. Plus I think we all know that the Joker is only gay for Batman. Anyway. This issue is mostly just cartoonishly violent, low-calorie fun. Low points include a weakly characterized Deadshot and a new villain that has a lot of 'splainin to do if Smith means for us to take him seriously.

Snap Judgments: Reviews for Buffy, Detective Comics, NYX and More

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

There are probably some minor SPOILERS herein.

King-Size Spider-Man Summer Special gets an A from Albo
I used to LOVE these 80-page Summer specials when I was a kid. Turns out I still do! Kinda. What we have here is a really great Spidey-less story about a bunch of Marvel Girls facing the Enchantress, a really awful Spidey/Falcon team up story where the the latter gives the former a bunch of unwarranted race relation scoldings, and a sub par story of mini-Spidey and mini-Venom competing for a paper route. Still worth it for that first one by Paul Tobin with really cute, clean art by Colleen Coover.

Reviews for Detective Comics #847, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #17, Special Forces #3, NYX: No Way Home #1, and Army @ Love: The Art of War #1 after the jump!

Detective Comics #847 gets an A- from AHR
I get it now! "Hush" fits into the cannon of Batman villains because his evil pathology is a Norman Batesesque mama's boy gone homicidal trip. And "Hush" is probably a hush-little-baby thing. I wonder if any of this was planned ahead of time or if Paul Dini in his wisdom just filled in the backstory to give this silly "event" character some substance. Either way, it's fun to see the pieces come together, and Dustin Nyguin's art shows no signs of becoming any less fun and surprising.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #17 gets a B from AHR
Did you enjoy the way the future punks spoke in The Dark Knight Returns? I didn't. Joss's future-speak in this arc of Buffy sounds even more tinny and labored than Miller's, but it does at least give rise to one really good gag in which Buffy bemoans how this perversion of the English language may be partly due to her own Whedonesque speaking patterns. I'm still not quite sold on the Fray arc, but the heavily foreshadowed cliffhanger of this issue guarantees my continued readership.

Special Forces #3 gets a B from Albo
This book is astonishingly amateur. It's really quite sloppy, but in a way that feels more like uncapped creativity than poor storytelling. Kyle Baker is constantly ALMOST going too far, and while the series hasn't quite lived up to the amazing first issue, it's still chock full of absurd, thought-provoking stuff. Bonus "reality" section in the back brings real world context to the issues Baker is dealing with in the book--including photos of real mutant babies with ironic word balloons. Like I said, this guy really pushes the boundaries of good taste.

NYX: No Way Home #1 gets a C from Albo
This first issue looks nice, but doesn't do much to get me interested in the characters. 'Nuff said?

Army @ Love: The Art of War gets a D from Albo
Very unfriendly to the new reader (me). If you want to see lots of cartoon boobs, this book is for you. If you want a clear story or a funny joke or some good drama leave this one on the shelf.

Paul Dini's Tales of True Romance

If you're like me and you can't satisfy your thirst for Paul Dini-penned material with monthly fixes of Detective, Madame Mirage, and Countdown (maybe not Countdown), here's a special Valentine's Day treat: iFanboy now features a weekly column by the man himself, 200 Words with Paul Dini.

In this inaugural Valentine's Day edition, Paul writes of true love and decidedly Zantannaesque sweetheart, Misty Lee (she's also the voice of Rashy the monkey, pictured above, who once interviewed Mark Hamill).

Detective Comics #838 and Comic Book Acting

As a former film student, I've seen many a decent script (well, a few at least) ruined by bad acting. This happens in the world of comics too; thought the characters might be just ink on a page, they certainly do act out the script, and when they act badly you can tell somethings wrong. Some prime examples of bad comic book acting can be found in Detective #838. Writer Paul Dini has turned out another engaging Detective story with several strong emotional beats, but artist Ryan Benjamin really drops the ball in illustrating the facial expressions and body language that should make these moments come alive. See what I mean after the jump...

In the following scene, the recently resurrected Ra's Al Ghul tries to temp Robin to the dark side. Notice the lack of backgrounds in the following exchange, although I must say the colorists at least gave a nice sort of sponge-paint texture with what could have been a solid color background. The acting here is mediocre; you might expect a little more sting in Robin's face upon hearing Ra's offer to bring his parents back to life, but underacting isn't as distracting as what's coming up in a few panels....

Here comes the big acting moment...


What is that expression in the last panel? From Ra's dialogue, we can surmise Robin is supposed to be feeling...anger? Hurt? Self-Doubt? Schadenfreude about what a loser Jason is? It's impossible to tell what Dini had intended Robin's reaction to be, because nothing in this drawing, not the expression, the angle, or the lighting, is going to tell us. It's unfocused acting.

Shortly thereafter, it seems Robin might actually be convinced....
Here we have the opposite problem; in the first panel, Robin is seriously over-acting his line. We learn shortly after this sequence that Robin is just stalling for time, so perhaps the artist felt Robin should be over-acting, to convey to the audience the fact that he's just playing along. But did we really need both the arched eyebrow and a hand-to-chin pondering pose straight out of the silent film era? This is the kind of acting you could get away with if you were drawing a henchman, or some other kind of dim-witted character. But with a character like Robin, it comes off as overselling a simple point. The second panel is a little better, as you do see a bit of urgency in his face, although for someone who learned from Batman, that certainly isn't much of a poker face.

Here we see an subtle example of out-of-character acting. Some might dispute this point, but this struck me as too smug of a pose for the Dark Knight. I'm not saying that Batman has never been written as a smug jerk, but in Dini's run of Detective he's tended to be more on the stoic side. Whether you like this pose or not (and I'll admit it's a cool expression), this is a good example of how an expression can color a characters "line-reading". Combined with the smirk, this line comes off like undignified bragging.

Speaking of smirks, here we have a Arkham doctor conferring with a colleague after seeing a trio of villains bouncing off the walls in a padded cell, due to events seen in Nightwing #138.

Now, I realize Arkham has a history of hiring some pretty screwed up people. But that smirk is out of control. Combined with the arched eyebrow and a literal gleam in her eye, and you have the most evil woman in the world. It's hard to call this an out of character moment, since we don't know who this character is, but it's clear that this moment is about the contrast between what the doctor is feeling and saying, and it would have been more believable, and therefore more chilling, if the smile felt like something between the reader and the character, as opposed to a huge grin everyone in the room can see.

Meanwhile, Talia and Batman wander around in the snow....
Besides the "clothing/anatomy doesn't work that way" alert in panel four, that last panel has Batman looking kind of like Santa Claus in his level of jolliness. It's kind of hilarious though, so maybe I'll just stop complaining here. Here's hoping next month's issue of Tec is more balanced.

Comic Picks and Pans: Special Forces #1, Batman #670, Countdown #26

Our friends over at Pop Culture Shock have invited us to be a part of their Picks and Pans feature this week, and so we're running our contributions here in place of our usual Snap Judgments. The reviews are a bit more in depth than Snaps, and they may not be quite as spoiler-free. Consider them "spoiler lite".

Albo Picks Special Forces #1
Written and Drawn by Kyle Baker

Usually when comic books reference real world politics, both directly and allegorically, I cringe so hard my testicles crawl up into my ears. For some reason, it seems to be a really hard thing for a comics writer to pull off without appearing to be a neophyte fishing for a couple of “hell yeah!”s. This book, by notoriously political Eisner and Harvey award winner Kyle Baker, is all about politics (specifically troop enlistment), yet somehow manages to keep my gonads mostly clear of my cochleae.

The story starts with a desperate Sergeant Ramirez, who scrapes some wretched souls (psychos, criminals, the physically unfit) from the bottom of society’s barrel and enlists them in the military in order to reach a recruitment quota that will keep him from having to go back to war himself. Unfortunately for him, one of his recruits gets killed attempting armed robbery the day he is set to ship out and Ramirez finds himself back in Iraq, assigned command of the miserable lot he sent to war.

The book is drawn in Baker’s usual cartoony style, with exaggerated action, bold color choices and a busty protagonist whose clothes become scantier and scantier with each new page. In spite of the naked girl and generally comedic tone (or maybe because of this), Special Forces is the grittiest, most emotional and meaningful war comic I’ve ever read. I’m not claiming to have read many, but this sure beats all that Garth Ennis schlock. There is palpable danger threatening the squad, a point made clear by the fact that almost all of them die by the end of this issue. My heart wept for these people as things kept getting worse, and I can’t wait to pick up next issue and cheer for them as things get better. If they get better.

AHR's Pick and Pan right after the jump!

AHR Picks Batman #670
Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: Tony Daniel

It’s finally here; Ra’s Al Ghul: The Final Resurrection Tour! This issue’s cover indicates a mere “prelude” to the big comeback, but rest (resurr-rest?) assured the man himself does in fact appear in this story, and he’s less than pleased to find his grandson running around in a dead Robin’s costume and talking all sorts of sass. Ra’s Al-Ghul vs Damian Al-Ghul-Wayne? Ra’s for the win, I’m thinking. Last month marked the end of artist J.H William III’s fantastic three-issue run on this series, and I was all set to talk about how I missed his consistently jaw-droppingly gorgeous art. As it turns out, I didn’t have time to reminisce about artists gone by with everything going in this issue. Morrison sets the scene for a epic-scale story about the struggle for control of the League of Assassins and (sniff) the bonds of family, but instead of feeling like a rev up to a big storyline, the action starts on the first page and doesn’t stop. The issue is filled with actual gasp-inducing surprises, which is something of a rarity when so many DC superhero books simply kill (or appear to kill) a character rather than think of more original plot twists. Here, there’s something exciting on every page, not the least of which is a special appearance by World Public Enemy. Remember that awesome band? Kinda like the Misfits from Jem, but more super-villainous? C’mon, they were featured in issue of Batman from 1966, remember? No, neither does anyone else, except of course for Grant Morrison, Champion of the Forgotten. Here he throws the pop-tart trio into the mix as a mere diversion, but much he did with the men of the Club of Heroes, Morrison gives these flash-in-the-pan villianeses funny and instantly recognizable characters, and their brief appearance just about steals the show.

AHR Pans Countdown #26
Writer: Paul Dini
Art: Tom Derenick

I hate to write a bad review of Countdown when the book already takes so much flack on the internet, but honestly it was the only book I read this week that I didn’t enjoy, and this feature is called Picks and Pans. But it pains me to pan Countdown, because Paul Dini is one of my all-time favorite comic book writers. Hell, he’s writing some great stuff currently on the stands - get yourself an ish of Detective Comics and Madame Mirage, and that’s a recipe for a good afternoon. Unfortunately, in twenty five issues as Head Writer on Countdown he has not succeeded in shaping this omnipresent series into entertaining read. We were told this book would have a slow start, and that the issues of exposition were necessary for a big payoff. Accepting that, I’ve been waiting for the twist that would kick start the real action, but here at the halfway mark things have still been moving at a glacial pace in dealing with characters who keep talking about the same thing; Kyle and Jason don’t like each other, causing Donna to roll her eyes. Trickster throws a calculatedly tame gay joke at Piper, who in turn rolls his eyes. Between these repeating character dynamics and the endless fake-science explanations of the Karate Kid and Jimmy Olsen storylines, the overall feeling of this series is sterility, and this issue is no exception. The whole thing is essentially a clinical explanation of the story so far as told by those Ben Steins of the DC Universe, the Monitors. If you do happen to be a big Monitor fan, you’re in luck, because the single piece of plot information revealed in this issue relates to them. The tone of this issue can be gleaned simply from a look at the backgrounds; a mail-order typical space-station, two separate planets that consist of nothing but craters and sand, and a whole lot of brick walls. Are we having fun yet?

Click here to read the rest of the Pop Culture Shock Picks and Pans!

Panel Discussion: The Best, Worst, and Weirdest Panels of the Week

SPOILER ALERT: Some panels contain plot points...those who haven't read their books this week should beware.

INAPPROPRIATE FUNERAL BEHAVIOR: Countdown #43
Faux Pas abound at Bart Allen's funeral. This segment comes in three parts:

Part One: Things Not to Bring to a Funeral
Intent on bringing something to entertain herself during gray-haired Jay Garrick's long-winded eulogy, Ravager settles on her... muscle massager.

Continued after the jump.

Part Two: Things Not to Wear to a Funeral
Namely, civvies that look exactly like your supervillain costume:

Voicemail From Trickster to Pied Piper:
"Hey P, just wanted to remind you, the funeral is today if you want to go. Not sure what the mood there is gonna be like, but we should probably play down the supervillian thing. I think the days of going out to dinner in full costume are pretty much over. Still, I'm going to wear a hat with my colors just to keep it real, so I don't know, maybe you could get like a green tie or something. Just remember the idea is not be recognized, so for the love of God, do NOT wear something that looks exactly like your costume. Kay, see you at three thirty."

Part Three: Things Not to Say at a Funeral
MOST NSFW REUNION: Y The Last Man #57
Kind of like the "Nice to see you again, let's hump like bunnies" reunion of Jesse Custer and Tulip in the final story arch of Preacher, except way naughtier. Yorick and Beth are naked for no less than seven pages of this book. Definitely not one to read on public transportation. Or in a restaurant. Or around loved ones. Or anywhere but alone at home. With a flashlight under your blankets.

BEST SOCIAL APPLICATION OF A SUPERPOWER: Irredeemable Ant-Man #10

Now that's a hard argument to rebut. Thankfully for our hero, The Incredibly Upset Hulk lands his spaceship just in time.


MOST GRUESOME, SHOCKING CONCLUSION: Astounding Wolf-Man #2
And everything seemed to be going so well...

Seemingly well-adjusted werewolf Gary goes into a bit of a freak-out and executes a Robert Kirkman trademark: the shocking disemboweling punch from someone thought to be a good guy.

Link: More of Geekanerd's Panel Discussions

Snap Judgements: Countdown, Welcome To Tranquility, Detective Comics, Wolf-Man, and Y: The Last Man

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

Countdown #43: The "Other" Funeral Comic

Poor Bart Allen. First he's shot with three different laser guns, then he's beaten to death, and now he has to have his funeral on the same day as Captain America's. Kid can't catch a break. I had hoped that this sad occasion would would give the Countdown writing team a chance to leave their mark on the emotional lives of the all-star cast. Not so much. Tim Drake's eulogy comes off as stilted and almost aloof, miles away from his shattered reaction in Flash #13. The most affecting speech comes from Bart himself, speaking via videotape circa his Kid Flash days...a casual reference to Conner particularly tugs at the heartstrings. In other news, it looks like Donna Troy and Jason Todd are finally ready to DO something other than talk about the multiverse and stare down the Monitor.

Cheesey Funeral Moments - Actually Sad Funeral Momments = C

Reviews for Welcome to Tranquility, Detective Comics, Astounding Wolf-Man and Y: The Last Man after the jump...



Welcome To Tranquility #8: Origin Story Discount Blowout!

Best book of the week, but unfortunately not a great place to jump on for newcomers. This Gail Simone-penned comic is about the residents of Tranquility, a sleepy town for retired superheroes, supervillians, and their families. The first arc was a great page-turner of a murder mystery, but the second storyline has been slow to start. Last month's issue was a snooze, but #8 gives the fans what they want: ORIGIN STORIES! This issue is absolutely packed with flashbacks about two of the most interesting minor characters of the last arc, who appear to be destined for center-stage this time around. Added to the fun are elastic, cartoonier takes on the characters by Jason Pearson that still stick pretty close to the distinctive style of regular artist Neil Googe.

Emoticon Origin + Zombie Zeke Origin + The Devil = A


Detective Comics: #834: Tangent Patrol!

A rather disapointing finale to last week's excellent cliff-hanger, this issue feels in a hurry to wrap up and there's precious little time spent with Batman and Zatanna, given the depth of the problems between them. Still, even on an off-day Dini is the best Joker writer out there, and this remains a solid, enjoyable book even if it comes in a little under expectations.

I have to mention two things, though:

1. Last month I was surprised that the Joker referred to his "accident", which I took to mean this was the same Joker we had seen get shot in the head in Grant Morrisson's recent Batman storyline. In this issue, however, it turns out he had been talking about getting hit by a truck in the Christmas issue of Detective. So why, Paul Dini, is the Joker wearing a smiley-face shirt with a bullet hole in the head? As a tip of the hat to Grant, I suppose, but it still confused the hell out of me.

2: While Dini conntinues to stay true to the Detective title by giving Batman smart ways to solve the cases, did he have to make Bats solve the case in a way that not only makes the reader think about The Joker in the shower (already awful), but makes us think about BATMAN thinking about The Joker in the shower?! I may never stop throwing up.

Smart Plotting + Smart Dialouge - Hurried Pace - Ending Cribbed From One of Paul's Episodes Of Justice League = B

The Astounding Wolf-Man #2: Learning the Ropes

First off, don't read our Panel Discussion this week if you plan to pick up this book. There's some great twists that shouldn't be ruined. This issue has Gary the Gregarious Wolf covering all his New Hero bases--controlling his powers under the tutelage of Zechariah the vampire, getting fitted for a cool hero costume, explaining to his wife why he feels the need to go out every night and save people, getting into his first super fight with some new super friends, it's all there. Writer Robert Kirkman does the New Hero stuff better than anybody (Invincible, Ant-Man) and this ish is no different. The art by Jason Howard, however, is a little off-putting. It's a fairly dark book, but Howard's thick, blocky art looks more like a Saturday morning cartoon. It's possible that it'll grow on me as the series progresses, but for now it's a problem.

Hero Initiation + Fun Twists - Tough to Swallow Art = B

Y The Last Man #57: Post Coital Catchup

This book is ending in a few issues, but you wouldn't know it based on this issue. It's a very calm, low-action (unless you count the kind featured in our Panel Discussion) issue that doesn't feel like a climax is right around the corner. Recently reunited Beth and Yorick basically just have a post-coital conversation about... You know, things. But the dialogue's great, Pia Guerra's art is smooth and subtle as always, and it just feels good. Beth and Yorick are saying the things you want to hear them say, and in the end they both have some bombshells dropped on them which I'm sure will take them the rest of the series to come to terms with.

Hot Reunion Sex + Great Relationship Dynamics + Bombshells Dropped = A

Why 52 Worked, and Countdown Doesn't....YET...

Four reasons 52 was fun to read:

• Renee Montoya
• Booster Gold
• Black Adam
• Ralph Dibny
  

52's greatest strength was also what brought it a lot of flack - the time and care it took focusing on the book's main characters, a bunch of dysfunctional DC third-stringers. So while the series did end up with tons of unanswered questions and no real unifying theme or plot line (oh, the multiverse...great...), it gave readers a chance to get to know the characters, so that we actually CARED about the crazy crap that happened to them over the course of a particularly bad year.

Countdown, now on it's sixth issue, has its scales tipped the other way - tons of plot, and practically no characterization. A lot of things have happened in six issues, but it all feels like setup. What are they setting up? Who cares? At this point, the comic just feels like a bunch of indistinguishable of characters constantly explaining the plot to each other.

I should add that I do fully expect this book to get better. Honestly. The creative team is just too good to keep producing a dull book. It's going to pick up any week now. Just not this week.

Instead we get Jason Todd and Donna Troy in Washington D.C. - we don't actually get to see the Amazon seige going on outside, that would be too exciting. No, they just go over what the reader already knows - Monitors are trying to straighten out the multiverse by killing characters, like them, who shouldn't be on Earth 1. Sounds good to me! Until this book makes me care about these characters, I have no stake in whether they're killed or not. Jason Todd was more interesting when he was dead anyway.

Oh well. This ish did have one fun panel where all the rogues go to Mars 2112 in their costumes. Enjoy.

Electricity And You - Detective #833

SPOILER LIE YONDER!



(***spoiler stars***)




The big twist at the end of Paul Dini's latest issue of Detective Comics features two very welcome returns; one by that master of disguise (?), The Joker, who was last seen mowing down pedestrians in the tons 'o fun Christmas issue. Only slightly less exciting is the reappearance of Joker's custom-made ELECTRIC CHAIR:


This little gem was last seen way back in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series! And not just any old episode, the BEST EPISODE EVER; "Almost Got 'Im"! In this episode, the electric chair was hooked up to a laugh-o-meter before a live studio audience...throw some Joker Gas in there and you're good to go!


As with many of the finest B:TAS eps, "Almost Got 'Im" was written by Paul Dini, and features some of the finest writing for the Joker you'll ever see. Dini has always been able to nail the coveted funny-scary-crazy trifecta, and while he can really cut loose with Detective Comics, you never felt like he was holding back on the animated series. In the DVD commentary track for this episode, Dini observes, "Boy, the Joker really likes electrocution." Well, Paul, he does when you write him!

Dini was also referring to his screenplay for Batman Beyond:Return of the Joker, which features a flashback in which Tim Drake gets the Energizer treatment courtesy of the J-Man, as seen below:


This scene was considered so (ahem) "shocking" (thank you) that it was removed from the original video release. I guess my point is, Paul Dini likes writing stories where Joker electrocutes the Bat-Fam, and that's fine with me.

CONTINUITY WATCH

During the big rip-off-the-mask reveal, Joker is wearing a smiley face shirt with a bullet hole in the forehead, and refers to his "accident". Is this a reference to his being shot in the face over in Grant Morrison's Batman run?? I thought Detective Comics and Batman weren't sharing the same continuity...who can keep this shit straight?!