Comic Book Discussion Thread

[oDoUoSoKo]

didnt see any half assed finch pages..eloels..to be fair, i did say that was all i liked.

[Dr. Simon Hurt]

some of the action scenes like when cable was fighting the smileys and when the x-men elite squad or whatever they were being called fought the fetish-mask face people in the vans, some of the panels looked unfinished to me. he nailed all of the splashes and larger shots though...storywise i just couldn't be bothered to care lol

[oDoUoSoKo]

i feel you, my favorite spread for sure was the two page one where they teleport on to the highway..shit was boss.

[Dr. Simon Hurt]

[Dr. Simon Hurt]

this looks sick, hopefully the writing is up to par, although the story in some ways sounds similar to what morrison was doing prior to RIP
One of the longest-awaited projects in recent superhero comics memory became official this morning as DC Comics announced via their blog The Source that Neal Adams "Batman: Odyssey" series will hit shops in July. While various rumors, images and potential collaborators for the series have been floating about news sites and blogs for the better part of two years, DC confirmed that the book will run 12 issues and be written and drawn by Adams, who will also ink the first two issues. CBR News reached out to the legendary creator for his first word on why he's returning to the Dark Knight he helped revive in the 1970s, what specific skills and collaborators he'll be drawing on to make "Odyssey" a unique experience and why 12 issues might not be enough to fit his whole story in.
"What's happened is that every time I go to a convention or go into a comic book shop is that people drag me off into a corner and beat me up and go, 'When are you going to do Batman again?'" Adams explained with a laugh. The artist said that the story specifics for this Batman tale came from his watching the character develop over the past few decades. "It has occurred to me over the years that little bits and pieces have been dropped along the way as Batman has been done. I've sort of wondered why people haven't dealt with or done too much with these various pieces. So when the opportunity presented itself by my deciding, 'I want to step into the comic book thing again because I'm tired of doing these alternate covers and these little bits and pieces for Marvel and DC that don't amount to a hill of beans. I think I ought to do a project.' I realized that, as usual, there were all these little pieces lying around that I could go vacuum up and turn into a story. And because I like the character and because finally the character out there in the media is in effect becoming 'Neal's Batman' – as the movies and their royalty checks show – I realized that the eggs I laid all those years ago were basically what Batman has finally become. Now, wouldn't it be great if I could go pick up all those pieces I've been gathering up and turn them into a story?"
The story of "Batman: Odyssey" will challenge readers basic assumptions about who Batman is in the modern era through a series of challenges, encounters and journeys. "In a way, Batman has become sort of outdated," said Adams of how he sees the character today. "Even in the movies, they've had to put armor on him and do things to him that have made him stiff and uncomfortable. And they've had to deal with the question of how does Batman – who comes from a time of gangsters and pistols and minimal armament – come into a time where we seem to have the most powerful guns, the most frightful explosive devices...we seem to be in a time where gangsters are armed in a ridiculous manner. There used to be a time where Batman was worried about whether or not a guy doing a mugging had a gun. Today, a guy pulls out a gun as long as his leg and starts firing at Batman.
"There are other questions we have to deal with as well. For example, from the beginning Batman put people in jail. Now, somehow Batman's putting people – and not of his own choice – into Arkham Asylum. 'I've got this criminal who's robbed a bank, Commissioner. He should go to jail.' The Commissioner says, 'I think we're going to put him in Arkham.' Why? Because that's what we do in Gotham: put criminals in Arkham Asylum and almost give them a ticket to get out again so we can have the next story...it's a kind of fantasy world Batman's living in. It doesn't seem like he has to deal with it. It's a more deadly world. How does Batman deal with that more deadly world when his code is so inflexible in that he won't kill anybody or maim anybody? He's not a goody two-shoes, but his whole job is to frighten criminals who are a cowardly lot, and scare the hell out of them. But now these guys themselves are so scary and dangerous that the question is: How does Batman up the game? How does he deal with it on a new level?
"And it occurred to me, if you start throwing this stuff at Batman hard enough and enough of it sticks, he's going to have to reconsider his role. And that's what this story's about. In reconsidering his role, he ought to go someplace. Where does he go? To a bunch of warehouses? To Metropolis? To Paradise Island? After a while, it starts to get silly. So is there a place where for Batman to go to relearn and rediscover himself? That's also what the story is about. It's the story of a place that he can be driven to where the lessons can be learned. And that place is a surprise. And are there people along the way who he's met – like, say, Deadman – who know things about him we don't know? Is there a history behind Batman that he doesn't even know? Are there controlling devices that have allowed him to think...a Joker says it best when he says, 'Have you ever noticed you're surrounded by a bunch of clowns? Are there clowns in Metropolis? Doesn't that strike you as odd, Batman?'"
While early on in the process, Adams had spoken of having Frank Miller doing dialogue for the story, the artist will end up writing "Odyssey" in its final form from start to finish. And while most of his famous comic book work has been done in conjunction with writers riding alongside him, Adams told CBR that "I think there's a misconception going on...I really am more of a storyteller and a writer than an artist. I just happen to be a pretty good artist. It's just that people know me as an artist." From some of his earliest works like "Deadman" and his Marvel Comics oeuvre, Adams has often found himself in the drivers seat story-wise.
"I did the X-Men, and I plotted the stories, and Roy Thomas dialogued them. And that first set of comic books that I did are the plot that the first X-Men movie was taken from where Magneto invents a machine that turns regular humans into mutants. That's my idea. Bringing Magneto back to life was my idea. Bringing Professor X back to life was my idea. All the characters created in the forbidden world and Havok were my idea, my creations, and the stories were my stories. No, I wasn't doing the dialoguing, but I was writing the stories," he noted.
"The idea of thinking of Neal as an artist as opposed to a writer is very odd to me. I think of myself as a storytelling, and one of the reasons why people have held my stuff close to them is because it's one thing to draw pretty pictures, and it's another thing to create a story. That's what I've always done whether it be for advertising clients or commercial clients or comic books. My hand is in there, and I am the storyteller."
However, just because Adams will be finishing out the finer points of the writing process with his new series, that doesn't mean other collaborators won't come along for the ride at different points. Though he'll ink himself on the first few issues of "Odyssey," Adams has already spoken about working with finishers like "PvP's" Scott Kurtz. "I'm bringing people in rather slowly. The process has been a very long process, and what's happening now is that people are being brought in carefully so I don't get criticism from the fans on 'Why'd you do this?' and 'How come you let this guy do that?' I'm trying to ease people into it to make them part of the storytelling. An awful lot of it was done before other people were invited in. It's a delicate situation. There's a lot of fan concern. The true fans will go, 'Don't do it! You should ink the whole thing beginning to end!' but that's a little unrealistic. But I'm trying to do it in such a way that fans will be happy."
The artist also shared his thoughts on the passing of one of his top collaborators in Dick Giordano, saying "It was expected. It's sort of like reading the last chapter of a book. I've loved Dick so much in my lifetime, and he's meant so much to me. He just finished off the last chapter, and I don't love him less. I can't miss him more. But now the book is closed."
However in moving to the next creative chapter of his long career, Adams explained that there was one person with whom working has been occasionally difficult: himself. "The artist Neal Adams is pissed off at the writer Neal Adams, who as he got to the last few books has been writing six, seven and eight panel pages and not giving the artist the freedom to expand and do double page spreads because he's got so much story in there. The writer's got such a big ego that he can't stop writing more and more panels, and the artist would like to find this writer and punch him in the nose. He just keeps jamming more stuff in. You'd think 12 issues would be enough to tell a whole story, but it just seems like he keeps putting more writing in. I'm going to have to break his knuckles," Adams laughed.
Ultimately though, what the artist wants fans to get out of "Batman: Odyssey" is a unique and complete adventure – one that will stand on a shelf as his own statement on what Batman really is. "The long-form story for me began in the X-Men comics I did. Then in 'Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali' you have another long-form story that's going to be reprinted soon," he said. "My view is that comic books are meant to be long-form stories. They're meant to be novels. People are comfortable with novels. And what I people to see is that there's a way to do a long-form story that doesn't break up like crossword puzzle pieces broken out across the table, but it has a distinct and coherent beginning where something will start very slowly. In fact, the first issue starts with Batman describing his first case. If anybody remembers, he carried guns at that time. Then, we look at the result of that mistake and into more modern times where he has to view what is happening from the point of view of whether he's making the right judgements. He starts to realize that maybe he's not as in control as he thought.
"Is he becoming trite? Is he being used? And does he really think about everything that he's about? Is there a place for him to realize it – a place for him to go where he can realize it and come back a better Batman? So I'm hoping this is a story where people will read it, and at the end, they'll look at it and say, 'I think Neal made a better Batman.'"

[Dr. Simon Hurt]

BONG Z'BONG!

Jim Lee Talks "Dark Knight: Boy Wonder"

by Kiel Phegley, News Editor | More from this Author |



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Category: Comic Books | 18 Comments | Print Article


Posted: 1 hour ago



More than a few comic series have fallen victim to the complications of scheduling, never to be heard from again. But today, one particularly high profile comic series earned a new life...though it's one that won't start just yet.
On their official blog The Source, DC Comics announced plans that the team of Frank Miller and Jim Lee would complete the journey started in 2005 with "All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder," with a twist. In the post, Lee explained that the pair of legendary creators have six issues to go to complete their origin tale of the crimefighting partnership between Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, though for this last leg of the series, the book will be called "Dark Knight: Boy Wonder" and will ship monthly starting in February of 2011. The purpose behind the re-titling and far out launch date for "Dark Knight: Boy Wonder" was cited by its creators as both ensuring fans that they'd get the complete story they were promised, as well as a story which fits into the personal creative canon of Miller along with his classic "Batman: Year One" and futuristic "Dark Knight" collections.
CBR News reached out to Lee for further comment on what brought the series to this point, and the recently promoted DC Co-Publisher stressed that the long delays (the last "All Star" issue to ship was #10 in August of 2008) experienced by the series "had nothing to do with Frank. He's been a prince through this entire process, and I've never had to wait on him. I was swamped with several projects at the same time that went longer than anticipated, and the original intent of 'ASBR' was that it was only to be six issues. But as we got rolling, the story got bigger and grander, so I'm happy we took the time to develop the relationship between Batman in his prime and his new sidekick. Work then hit a logjam, and I was continually playing catch up. Frank told me in our last meeting that I need to stop, take a deep breath, collect myself and set a realistic date where we could come back out on a regular basis, and that's what we decided to do."
Lee explained that when it came to aligning the new "Boy Wonder" title with Miller's other Batman works, "I think Frank always wrote it with the mindset that it fit into the 'Dark Knight' mythos from the very start. From the introduction of characters like Joker's henchwoman that fans will recognize from 'DKR,' and even some of the cops mentioned by name in this series...Frank has seeded the connections all throughout. As for my part, I know that when I added the Dragon tattoo on Joker's back that I combed through all the other Frank Miller Batman stories to make sure there was never a shot which contradicted that tattoo. In fact, the only parts of Joker that were exposed and tattoo free were his face, his upper chest and his forearms and hands, so that's why I ran with the tattoo on the back after running it by Frank and then editor Bob Schreck for approval.
The artist added that when it comes to Miller's work, "I can probably tell you from memory what's on every page of those books," with a laugh, noting that the future of the book will focus on "Gotham City. Frank really uses the city as another character in the storyline, so the same way we really gave the Batcave its due, we're gonna do the same thing to Gotham. That, and showing the growing relationship between Batman and Robin. And more of the over the top Batman action that fans have loved about this book from the start."
As for why now is the time to start talking about getting "Dark Knight: Boy Wonder" off the ground, Lee said, "My work on the DCU Online game has been winding down, freeing up a chunk of time. I've also tried to become better at telling others 'no' when asked if I could do a cover here and there. The covers add up over time, and each can take a day or two or three. Days better spent drawing 'Dark Knight: Boy Wonder' pages. I still have a backlist of work I need to do that I committed to, but after that - no more side gigs. I prefer doing interiors and telling stories than doing just cover work. That said, some projects, like doing the 'American Vampire' variant cover, were impossible to turn down. It's the toughest aspect of the freelance part of my job."
Just because he's shying away from some cover work doesn't mean Lee will step away from the drawing board as his new duties as Co-Publisher take effect. The artist told CBR, "There's an overt acknowledgement by the rest of the executive team that one of the ways I help DC Comics the most is by doing creative work. The same goes for Geoff Johns, so to that purpose, we are given the latitude to take on projects and fit them into our schedules. So putting this book back on a track is the biggest part of my creative efforts this year. That, and a ten-page story I am doing with Paul Levitz featuring the Legion of Superheroes from the late 1970's that will be a centerpiece of a new art of Jim Lee book called 'Icons,' coming out this July."

[Dr. Simon Hurt]

[Dr. Simon Hurt]

^^^shots like those are why i just laugh when people lump in jim lee with liefeld and all those other hacks only capable of doing superhero poses. the level of detail in that page is incredible

[oDoUoSoKo]

anyone ive ever heard badmouth jim lee has recieved a thrashing on par with the one dished out by the goddamn batman to those muggers in one of those early all star issues..eloels. hes nice. he draws one of the best batmans ive ever seen.

[Crazy K]

I always loved Batman growing up and read a couple graphic novels but as far as ongoing comic book series, what Batman series should I pick up?

[Dr. Simon Hurt]

difficult question since the titles are currently featuring dick grayson as batman with damian as robin...you may want to stick to out of continuity stuff until bruce comes back...however, the batman and robin series (currently on issue 10) is a lot of fun, but isn't as dark and brooding as batman typically is...i would stick to graphic novels if i were you, as the best way to get completely caught up on what's going on now involves getting all of grant morrison's batman run which started in 2006 i believe.

[CuzinBilly]

thats wat i did went str8 for the frank miller anthology. that batman and robin title ha intrigued me. but im to far behind.

[main_man]

if you want some quasi-batman heat get that joker graphic novel that came out in '08. straight gutter joker story that kinda combines the comic joker with ledgers joker from the dark knight. gritty shit.

as for the end of blackest night.........well..............

[Dr. Simon Hurt]

ya the joker graphic novel is good. here are some more recommendations

THE LONG HALLOWEEN
DARK VICTORY
HAUNTED KNIGHT
EGO AND OTHER TAILS
MAD LOVE AND OTHER STORIES
ARKHAM ASYLUM- A SERIOUS HOUSE ON A SERIOUS EARTH
ARKHAM ASYLUM- LIVING HELL
GOTHIC
BLIND JUSTICE
ROBIN YEAR ONE
BATGIRL YEAR ONE
CATWOMAN DARK END OF THE STREET
CATWOMAN WHEN IN ROME

There's more but that's just from looking over at the shelf

[oDoUoSoKo]

thats good...i heard good things about Batman & Dracula: Red Rain..but i havent read it yet. its an elseworlds book.