Batwing #1
What is your favorite new DC book so far? Over at Impulse Creations, I talk about one of the less popular titles to come out: BATWING. Read it here.
Posts Tagged ‘Judd Winick’
HBN!: Under the Red Hood
Previously on Horrors from Beyond the Netflix, I reviewed this year’s (and surely not the last) Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton’s take on a place where invisible cats smile and queens play crochet with flamingos. This time we’ll tour a city where penguins wear monocles and robins fight crime. Batman: Under the Red Hood, the latest animated selection from Warner Bros., can be viewed instantly from Netflix.
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or suggest a Netflix instant streaming film that you’re curious about but would never, ever watch. (I’ll do that for you.)
Directed by Brandon Vietti, Under the Red Hood is the talk of the town. Seriously, I can’t go anywhere without hearing how much people love this addition to the Batman film series, but is it really as good as they say?
Yes and no. For those lacking knowledge about the Red Hood lineage, an ordinary criminal was the first to wear the plain red helm and cape before he plunged into a vat of boiling chemicals and became forever known as the Joker. Now another kook is running around Gotham rooftops calling himself by the same name, but when Batman discovers his identity, the truth strikes closer to his heart than he thought possible.
Fans of the comic books will see this twist coming a mile away. It’s there, lit up by the Gotham City PD spotlight, bright yellow against the cloudy night sky. But the real surprises of this film arise in how graphic and mature its content actually is, and how well it’s handled.
Under the Red Hood unveils a gruffer Joker than most cartoon watchers are used to, but since he’s voiced by John DiMaggio (Futurama), he’s okay in my book. The Joker plays a relatively minor role in these events, given his strong influence, but aside from his surprisingly cruel and violent nature, he dishes out a few good jokes in between crowbar whacks. Batman (Bruce Greenwood) really doesn’t take center stage here, but he’s not downplayed, either.
Neil Patrick Harris does a wonderful job voicing Nightwing, and hits home on his chatty, slightly flamboyant personality. Even Jensen Ackles (yes, Supernatural‘s Jensen Ackles) succeeds as Red Hood, and the power of his performance only grows in magnitude as the movie progresses. Needless to say, the voice acting in this movie is damn good.
The animation, not as much. Sometimes we see a gritty, richly colored Gotham—the beginning overview of the city is particularly striking, as is the Arkham cell scene with the Joker in his orange straight jacket—but sometimes the CGI looks awful, as if using pre-90s technology.
Flashbacks are utilized fairly well, though perhaps too much in the long run. Still, the best move on DC’s part is what the characters get away with on screen, a level of violence more explicit than in any movie of its kind. Under the Red Hood retells the Red Hood story with grace (script credited to comics writer Judd Winick), but it isn’t particularly ground-breaking by itself. What makes it worth watching is, well, everything you wouldn’t think you could see. Kudos to DC and Warner Bros. for having the guts to greenlight such a bold move.
Bat-Reviews: Batman #691-2
Double the Batman, double the fun … right? Two-Face would say so, especially with that dual-colored Bat-suit he’s donning on the cover and first few pages of Batman #691. Harvey must have been having a field day—October dished up not one, but two Batman comics—and they even gave him his very own costume. It’s a little early for Mardi Gras (and I’m sure he would have fit right in), but he was just in time for Halloween. And yes, the costume is a trick. Now where’s the treat?
Batman #691
Well, Judd Winick doesn’t really give us one in “Two Knights, Two Faces” (Batman #691). Mark Bagley does take us on a psycho head trip with his art, which I’m rather fond of, actually. Unfortunately, the issue doesn’t follow suit (all right, I’m done with the puns, I swear). Two-Face manages to infiltrate the Batcave via magical hocus-pocus which you can find in your average spellbook between “bull” and “shit,” but let’s just go with it. Dent actually deduces that he’s not the only one in Gotham wearing a false face—the mannerisms and style of the suddenly not photo-shy Dark Knight tipped him off to the obvious, but considering the rest of Gotham has been shrugging their shoulders lately, it’s a bit refreshing that one of the city’s most classic villains hasn’t lost priority.
However, the comic might as well have been dunked in acid, because the story’s conclusion is in dire need of some hard justice. (Okay, so I lied about the jokes.) Batman (aka Dick Grayson) fools the notorious Two-Face with a little help from his trusty butler, and the bewildered ex-lawman can’t possibly believe he ever doubted the capable and ever-vigilant Batman. If you’re about as bored and annoyed with that prior sentence as I am, then we’re on the same sparkly page. Two-Face’s scheme could have actually led to an intriguing plot, but instead the issue ends in deus-ex-machina-esque cliches. What’s worse, Dent practically rolls over when Black Mask comes strolling by with an ultimatum. Eh, what the hell. Let’s get out of this crappy comic together, Harvey. At least Bagley reminds us that under all those scars, Harvey Dent was once a man with charming good looks … I’m not sure why that’s relevant.
So what saves it from a one-star rating? Winick throws us a young Dick Grayson-shaped bone, all wrapped in circus-themed paper and intrigue.
Recommendation: I bet Winick flipped a coin and landed on an Alfred masquerade.
Batman #692
Thankfully, Judd Winick finally went to hunt down a cup of coffee and Tony Daniel stole his seat to pen the follow-up October issue, “Life after Death Part 1: The Awakening.” The amazing Sandu Florea took over for Bagley, as well, making for an issue with a very different tone and style than the previous work—and that’s a good thing.
When Grayson discovers a trail of actual False Faces and two strange clues to accompany their corpses, the detective work begins between the Bat and Gordon. Their lead? An elementary school teacher named Trish Gumbracker, more recently known as the cause of a bloodbath courtesy of Black Mask’s brainwashing. The smartest brains at Arkham haven’t been able to crack Black Mask’s code, and with every second that ticks by the villain continues to keep the most vicious and dangerous of Gotham at his beck and call—and he’s not done building his army just yet. The issue brings several other evildoers into the fold, and while it almost feels like we have another Black Glove fiasco on our hands, Daniel does impress with rather solid character interaction and the reintroduction of sorts for Doctor Death.
Meanwhile, Dick and none other than Selina Kyle reluctantly join forces to bring down Black Mask’s house of cards, but in a very Catwoman-like twist, the place she leads him to isn’t exactly what he had in mind. The arrival of a gangster raises some interesting questions about the future of Gotham’s crime line-up, but Daniel adds yet another catty player into the mix who just might topple the deck before he’s ready for it to fall—if he means it to at all. It’s strange how the criminal order of Gotham has been changing; between all the Batman books, there seems to be no actual pattern to all the chaos and disaster striking the city. Are all of these organizations even aware that there are others moving onto the scene, or do we just have sloppy planning on our hands?
The issue might be juggling a lot, but the writing and art are both refreshingly well-executed and enjoyable.
Recommendation: It’s good to see Doctor Death make an ominous return in a new generation of crime, but Death might get trampled out of the gate by an unexplained stampede of villains.
Curious how the Bat-books stack up here on the blog? Look here.
Bat-Reviews: Batman #690
I find it interesting that the various Batman comics seem to be dealing with Dick Grayson’s takeover as the Caped Crusader differently. Batman definitely seeks to challenge Grayson’s authority to assume the cape and cowl, playing with the notion that only Bruce Wayne truly does the name justice. In Batman #690, sloppiness is costing Dick more and more.
Judd Winick continues to lay out the Black Mask’s cards with the vibrant touch of Mark Bagley’s pencils and Pete Pantazis’ colors. With Clayface and former special forces operative Lyle Blanco dishing out the pain in tandem, Dick soon learns that someone else orchestrated their team-up—and provided Blanco with superhuman ferocity.
Elsewhere, Black Mask reveals more of his sinister plan to the Penguin, who quickly folds when the criminal mastermind presents the second tier to their business arrangement. Just another rise and fall for Cobblepot. While Penguin’s tail gets nipped by the frost, Two-Face begins to organize a more private strike against Batman. It almost seems out of universe to hire teleporters to trace the origins of a single batarang in order to infiltrate the Batcave, but Dent pulls it off in a way you probably won’t expect. If you thought the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh had weird taste in fashion, what comes at the end of the issue makes that look seem almost tame.
While I’m not sure the oddly fantastical element to Batman #690 fits the comic altogether, it does mix things up and I’m certainly intrigued by what Winick is building. All the various aspects of the comic are unfolding nicely, and it’s good to see Two-Face’s luck turn heads’ up for a change (no pun intended). Considering how much the main title fell apart on Morrison’s watch, Winick’s firm hold on the events of Reborn are welcomed.
Recommendation: This lucky penny’s still facing right-side up. It’s almost like magic.
