Panel Discussion: Scans From Detective Comics #849, The Walking Dead #53, The Man Who Loved Breasts, and More

Beatdown of the Week - Detective Comics #849

Here's one of the most brutal Bat-interrogation scenes I've ever seen, and it's not even in a Frank Miller book!

Scarecrow has made the mistake of coming between Batman and the secret to saving Catwoman's life, and Batman takes his questioning techniques out of the realm of "intimidation" and into the realm of "black ops torture". As this splash panel illustrates (get it? SPLASH panel? Sorry.), Batman dunks Crane's head in a toilet along with a live electrical wire for some highly unorthodox shock therapy. This gruesome display impresses even the king of electrical torture himself, the Joker. Those two are really just soul mates at heart.

Production placement, zombies, and awkward tastes in porn, after the jump...

Product Placement Alert - Final Crisis: Revelations #3
Oh noes! The citizens of Gotham are driven to such nihilistic despair by the Anti-Life equation, they'll even stomp all over the new pink iPod shuffle! God, why?

Bad Idea Jeans - Walking Dead #53
This also fits into the "Best Use of a Repeated Panel" category.

For those not in the loop, for the past few years worth of issues Rick and his band of survivors have been doing battle with a town full of crazy murderous hicks, and were eventually driven from their safe house, with Rick and his son being the only survivors. Now Rick realizes that if he'd just stayed put with another group of folks he decided to split with back at the beginning, everyone (including his wife and baby daughter) would be safe and sound. What's that crushing regret taste like, Ricky Boy?

Something Horrible Is About to Happen - Crossed #1
This poor bastard got it in his mind that zombies (or whatever these guys are) hate salt, so when his wife breaks her ankle while on the run and tearfully BEGS him to shoot her and save their daughter he just makes a little salt circle and insists "It's going to be all right." The double page spread that follows is one of the most upsetting I've ever seen. We've posted some gory stuff here on G'nerd, but I just couldn't bring myself to post a picture of... the weak stomached should move on to the next panel... a woman being raped, the skin falling off of her scalp, cursing her husband ("Stupid c***sucker f***ing ***hole look what you did mother****er look what you f***ing did"), who is also being raped while his entrails are shown to him, and above it all their young daughter being pulled to pieces. Yeah, apparently zombies don't mind a little salt with their meat. It's more than a little much, even for Garth Ennis.

How Can I Put This... - The Man Who Loved Breasts
Classic sketch comedy, this guy is trying to tactfully explain to a sperm bank employee that he prefers amputee porn.

Movie Moment - Detective Comics #849
In the grand tradition of Luke's Failure At The Cave, Batman has met the enemy, and it is him. HUSH IS BRUCE WAYNE!

jk jk lol, it's still Tommy Elliot, just with some facial reconstruction to make him look like Bruce. But when I first saw this page, I actually exclaimed, "Whaaaaaaaaaaaat!". And that's really the kind of reaction I look to get out of comics.

Panel Discussion: Scans from Wolverine: Saudade, Welcome to Hoxford, Final Crisis and More

A Note on Blades - Wolverine: Saudade
There've been a lot of interpretations of Wolvie's claws over the years, some better than others, but I gotta say this one really works for me. They remind me of time before it was "revealed" that he has had bone claws since adolescence, or even before it was "revealed" that the claws were an unforseen byproduct of the adamantium lacing process. These finely crafted, downright designed sumbitches remind me of those glorious days when Wolverine was an unfortunate Canadian mutant who was made into a living weapon by mysterious people for a mysterious purpose. *Sigh* Those were the days. Let's see some more of these beauties.
Awesome! So dangerous!


Best Pop Culture Reference - Runaways/Avengers #1
Haw. She said a Harry Potter thing.

Best Deal With The Devil - Amazing Spider-Man #571
So apparently Spidey's deal with the devil that made everyone in the world forget his secret identity also made it impossible for anyone to use an ounce of brain matter to rediscover the fact. Norman Osborn, actual GENIUS, finds Peter Parker's camera set up to take pictures of Spider-Man to sell to the papers, and comes to the conclusion that Peter is just a front for Spidey's side career as a photographer. Gah!


Cute Overload - Welcome to Hoxford and Patsy Walker: Hellcat #3

This was a good week for mice in comics.

First up we got a li'l rattie who comes to speak to psychotic serial killer Raymond Delagdo in the voice of his dead mother. I love the cartoony silloutte in the third panel. Things don't end well for this rat, but at least he had his moment in the sun.

Meanwhile, in Hellcat, this truly adorable snow lemming shows up to guide our hero to...something, I didn't really read this issue, I just tuned in for this adorable ball of cuteitide.

I HAS A CAREER; IZ A BOUNCER. U FOLLO NAO, KTHXBYE.

I also can see the headlines now; "Area Cute Thing Bites a Thing, Is Chubalicious". "Chunktastic Mouser Seen Hanging In There, Baby".

Too Much Information - Wolverine: Saudade
Oh, man. That's just a bit more of Wolverine than I really was hoping to see today. But what the hey, the ladies seem to love it:

Scariest Panel - Welcome To Hoxford #2This is some serious nightmare shit, right here. The way that the monster is holding the woman's glance THROUGH the door is the scariest part. He knows where she is, and he's a' comin.

Whammy of the Week - Runaways/Avengers #1
Whoo doggies! That's how I like my power bolts; all Dragon Ball Z'ed out and in full technicolor, complete with a unique and persuasive sound effect. I also like to imagine what swear word she's screaming, especially in light of the All Star Batman & Robin fiasco.

Most Unpleasant Panels of the Week - Young Liars #8
I'm not going to try to explain to you what's happening here. Not because you won't understand it, but because I don't want to understand it.

Banana Randomizer Award for Achievement in WTF - Final Crisis: Revelations #2
Good lord; so if Batwoman had her own series, is this the sort of adventures she'd be having? I don't know if my sensory perceptions could take it. I can barely parse out what's going on in this one panel, let alone a whole book.

After very careful inspection, I count three guys, five submachine guns, a lot of debris, and I guess that's Croc at the bottom? Or possibly an actual crocodile? I think with more balanced coloring this might have been a coherent but still crazy splash page, but as it's a big black, red, and green blob.

Panel Discussion: Scans From Final Crisis: Revelations #1, The Walking Dead #51, Simon Dark #11, 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.

Least Subtle Public Service Announcement - Walking Dead #51
Reading? More fun than video games? Simmer down kid, your dad's already going crazy, we don't need you losing your head too. But seriously, there's nothing wrong with a little book-boosting, though the precocious execution here is a little Family Circus. I prefer a more direct approach.

Movie references, Doctor Light gets what's coming to him (kind of), and social justice, after the jump...

Movie Moment - Simon Dark #11
I've been waiting for the mysteries of Simon Dark's past to be revealed for a year now, I was a little disappointed when it was all unloaded in one big 5-page scene by the freaking Architect.

Most Disappointing Death - Doctor Light, Final Crisis Revelations #1
I have no problem with this death in of itself; turning someone into a giant candle and using their head as a wick is classic Spectre. But it's sadly literal; I get it, Doctor Light, Candle, Incandescence, okay. But Doctor Light is (in DC's Infinite Wisdom) a serial rapist. I'm not saying I wanted to see Doctor Light being raped to death. I'm just saying, if you introduce rape as a fundamental aspect of a character (it comes up several times in this issue alone), wouldn't something concerning rape be a more appropriate demise? This couldn't be a double standard where rape and gender are concerned, could it?

Credibility Issue - Welcome to Hoxford #1
I'm not convinced this guy would actually be committed to an institution. First of all, the insanity defense is used way, way less than you'd think from watching courtroom drama. I guess on The Wire rich drug dealers can get out of prison with their fancy lawyers, but this guy seems to have actually been convicted of killing cops. His status as a young black male makes me think most states would be less inclined to institutionalize him and more willing to have him swiftly fitted for a drip feed of death.

Wow, this was the most depressing Panel Discussion ever! Thanks for reading!