Recent stuff
I actually do read mainstream comics, contrary to popular belief. Here's a couple worth talking about:
BATMAN #655
It must be great to be Grant Morrison, because I can't see any other writer getting away with what's required to tell this story. Batman wins the war on crime. The Joker is taken off the board by a crazed police officer who dresses up like Bats and guns him down. The end. Now what?
Well, you practice being Bruce Wayne again. You go to benefit galas with Lichtenstein-style prints and giant inverted Godzillas suspended from the ceiling. You have to stop growling all the time.
You've seen this coming, but it's the best Batman book since GOTHAM CENTRAL/CATWOMAN came on the scene and actually did something with Bruce Wayne other than have him as Batman in drag. This isn't just Batman wailing on badguys in the final fight for his life again. It's actually trying to do something with the essential character, even if that means him not appearing in the cowl for more than five pages.
Go read what Jog and Marc Singer have to say on the book, because they're actually smart about it and not all knee-jerk and rambly like me. But the short, sweet review comes down to the fact that it's worth your time and money.
DAREDEVIL
Ed Brubaker's first story arc on DAREDEVIL is complete and I have to say I'm pretty happy with it, though it seems like it wrapped up pretty quickly. I almost feel like there was another issue's worth of Murdock in Ryker's material, but maybe it was wise to move things along more quickly. Maybe I wanted more of it because it worked so damn well. It felt like it was based in reality, with authentic con dialogue, even though things go off the rails very quickly. Daredevil in the same prison as the Kingpin, and Bullseye gets transferred in, just as the Punisher gets himself thrown behind bars!
Totally unreal, but makes for great reading. The bit where the con screams at the Punisher "Righteous cons gonna shank you, man!" and Frank casually breaks the guy's arm just made me cackle with unholy glee. Brubaker knows what works with the characters and it all seems to gel much more solidly than his run on CAPTAIN AMERICA (sorry, Ed). And some of that probably comes from the fact that I'm old and cranky, but that I first read DAREDEVIL as a gritty crime book by way of Frank Miller and CAPTAIN AMERICA as a technicolor daydream by way of Kirby.
Oh, and to answer Ed's question in the back of the book this month "Yes, I did expect you to kill Foggy, actually." Though I pegged Iron Fist as the fake DD the second he came on after Foggy's funeral. Anyways, I'm liking this enough that I'll actually pick it up in monthlies and not wait around for the trade, mostly because the team knows what gives a single chapter enough punch to stand on its own. You'd be surprised how many don't know how to do that...
Okay, back to the salt mines now.