I Reads You Review: DETECTIVE COMICS Volume One: Faces of Death

BATMAN – DETECTIVE COMICS VOLUME ONE: FACES OF DEATH
DC COMICS – @DCComics

STORY/PENCILS: Tony S. Daniel
INKS: Ryan Winn, Sandu Florea, and Rob Hunter
COLORS: Tomeu Morey
LETTERS: Jared K. Fletcher
COVER: Tony S. Daniel and Ryan Winn with Tomeu Morey
ADDITIONAL ART: Szymon Kudranski
ISBN:  978-1-4012-3466-9; hardcover
176pp, Color, $22.99 U.S., $25.99 CAN (2012)

Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger

When The New 52 brought forth “new” Batman comic book series, I found myself crazy-in-love with Detective Comics #1, produced by writer-artist, Tony S. Daniel.  In fact, I preferred Detective Comics to Batman #1 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo.  I only read the first two issues of Daniel's Detective Comics, but I thought that the first issue reminded me of the first “book” of Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns more than any comic book I had read in a long time.

I bought the first hardcover collection of The New 52 Detective Comics.  Sadly, it took me two-and-half-years to get around to reading it.  In that time, Snyder and Capullo's Batman became one of the bestselling comic book series in North America, and a favorite of mine.  On the other hand, Daniel departed Detective Comics after issue #12.

Batman – Detective Comics Volume One: Faces of Death collects Detective Comics #1 to 7, which comprises two story arcs.  Detective Comics begins with Batman in the midst of a dangerous mission.  He has to find The Joker and also discover what is behind the grisly murders of several of the Joker's acquaintances.  Eventually, Batman battles The Dollmaker, a killer who removes the faces of his victims and even some of their organs.  He uses them as macabre building materials to create new people.  The Dollmaker is also seeking revenge against Commissioner Jim Gordon.

The second story arc centers on The Penguin's off-shore gambling palace, The Iceberg Casino.  The casino is also a front for Penguin's money-laundering operation.  The story also involves Gotham City Mayor Hady's re-election campaign; the mayor's election-year war on Batman; reporter and Bruce Wayne love-interest, Charlotte Rivers; Rivers' sister, Jill; and a cheap hood named Jack Houston, whose ability to change his face has earned him the name “Snakeskin.”

Having finally finished the Faces of Death collection, I have to say that, three years later, “The Dollmaker” arc still thrills me.  I think it is a definite heir to Frank Miller's seminal Batman work from the mid-1980s.  Daniel's Batman is a combination penny dreadful and Saturday matinee thriller; each chapter ends in either a cliffhanger or with a shocking reveal.  Batman fighting in the darkest corners of Gotham, with the threat of death hanging over several people, but especially over him.  Several times, I actually believed that Batman was going to be killed.  I knew better, of course.  Batman isn't going to die-as-in-stay-dead, but still, those stories...

“The Iceberg Casino” arc is entertaining, but is an average to above-average Batman story arc.  It is sort of a Batman as action movie/crime thriller.  Of course, there are some cliffhanger-styled thrills int this story, but this is nothing particularly special.

I think Tony Daniel was unable to maintain the promise of his opening Detective Comics story arc.  In Batman, Snyder's story and Capullo's art create a gripping narrative with striking graphics, one issue after another.  Daniel with inker Ryan Winn also created a graphic narrative full of high-drama and edgy visuals.  Visually, Daniel and Winn offered a Batman that was a bird of prey, and the art had a sense of movement so that Batman always seemed to be racing across a dark, but alluring landscape.

As the second story arc advanced, Daniel's art took on a Neal Adams-quality that moves, but lacks something... perhaps, the edginess it had in “The Dollmaker” arc.  I first discovered Tony Daniel's work back in the mid to late 1990s, on his Image Comics series, The Tenth.  The early issues of that series had the characteristics of a raw, but promising talent.  With Marlo Alquiza inking his pencil art, Daniel delivered art that grabbed the reader with its horror-themed creatures and characters.  After Alquiza stopped inking The Tenth, what was raw, but promising became unfocused and undisciplined.

I'll remember Tony Daniel's New 52 launch of Detective Comics for the promise the early issues offered, with joy, but also with some disappointment.  That promise plus 11 pages of preliminary art, thumbnails, sketches, and pencils have encouraged me to give Batman – Detective Comics Volume One: Faces of Death a high grade.  By the way, Daniel is now working on another relaunch of the DC Comics' character, Deathstroke.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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Albert Avilla Reviews: Justice League #12

Justice League #12
DC Comics

Reviewed by Albert Avilla

Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Jim Lee, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, David Finch
Inks: Scott Williams, Sandra Hope, Jonathan Glapion, Mark Irwin, Matthew Banning, Rob Hunter, Joe Weems, Alex Garner, Trevor Scott

The Graves storyline comes to a conclusion. We learn that the spirits of the League's loved ones are really spiritual parasites called Pretas, and with their help, Graves starts to take the League down. Steve Trevor frees himself despite being on the edge of death to help the most powerful heroes on Earth. Once Trevor shows up the League realizes that they are not fighting the spirits of their loved ones. The League uses teamwork to defeat Graves; they are becoming the team that we expected.

This is a very eventful story. Green Lantern decides to quit the team as a sacrifice to protect the team's image. It is a sign of the times when you risk your life to save the world, and you have to consider how you are perceived by others while doing it. Green Lantern plays it off like it’s not a major concern, but we know how important the League is to him.

The major bombshell dropped on us is The Kiss. I glad the cover wasn't just sales hype. Superman kisses Wonder Woman in a moment of shared loneliness and understanding of how much they have in common. There will be debate about who kissed whom, but that is not the purpose of this review. Is it a moment of weakness or the beginning of the affair that will rock comicdom? I hope it is not a hook up; I couldn't live with the drama of Wonder Woman being Superman's baby mama. They are both young people, and everyone should have that passionate relationship that burns hot and quickly. It would be shocking if this actually leads to something meaningful. There is definitely story potential here. The New 52, what are you going to do? Blow the roof off the mother or shoot blanks?

All that needs to be said about the art is Jim Lee.

I rate Justice League #12 Buy Your Own Copy.

I Reads You Review: GAMBIT #1 (1999 series)

GAMBIT (1999) #1
MARVEL COMICS

WRITER: Fabian Nicieza
PENCILS: Steve Skroce
INKS: Rob Hunter
COLORS: Shannon Blanchard
LETTERS: Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Emerson Miranda
COVERS: Steve Skroce and Rob Hunter with Liquid Graphics; Carlos Pacheco and Mezino with Richard Isanove; Adam Pollina; Brandon Peterson and Tim Townsend with Liquid Graphics; Tim Bradstreet; and Steve Skroce and Rob Hunter with DV
48pp, Color, $2.99 U.S.

Gambit is a Marvel Comics superhero character best known for his association with the X-Men. His civilian identity is Remy LeBeau. Gambit was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Jim Lee and made a brief first appearance in Uncanny X-Men Annual #14 (1990), before making a fuller appearance in Uncanny X-Men #266 (August 1990).

A mutant, Gambit possesses the ability to mentally create, control and manipulate pure kinetic energy; this is best exemplified when he “biokinetically” charges objects (such as cards) and turns them into small explosives. In addition to playing cards, his other signatures are his Bō staff, Louisiana heritage, and thick Cajun accent.

Gambit received his first ongoing comic book series in 1999. Gambit #1, cover dated February 1999, was written by Fabian Nicieza and drawn by Steve Skroce (pencils). Entitled “The Man of Steal,” this first issue finds Gambit trying to pay off some kind of debt he owes to New Son. At this point, Gambit’s payment plan to New Son pits him against Elysian Enterprises, a military research firm headed by Anwar Anubar.

Anubar is seeking the treasures of Garbha-Hsein, an ancient Chinese warlord who legends say ruled for a thousand years. The legends also say that Garbha had an extraterrestrial vessel, which he took apart and buried in his 12 tombs. After Gambit successfully obtains one of the pieces, Anubar brings in The X-Cutioner, killer of bad mutants, to deal with Gambit. Also, we see into Gambit’s past and the X-Men (including Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, and Rogue) guest star.

With a cover date of February 1999, Gambit #1 probably arrived in comic book stores in December 1998 (or a little earlier). That was just about four months before the film, The Matrix, debuted in theatres. I imagine that not many people who picked up Gambit #1 when it was first released knew that series artist, Steve Skroce, had drawn the storyboards for The Matrix. Apparently, it was Skroce’s storyboards that helped executives at Warner Bros. understand the screenplay for The Matrix, written by directors Andy and Larry Wachowski and thus, approve its production.

Here, the art team of Skroce and inker Rob Hunter does not work. Skroce’s busy and crowded compositions turn into a murky mess under Hunter’s inks, and the clumsy coloring and color separations don’t help. This is not the polished post-Matrix Skroce that would emerge in a short run on Wolverine and at the Wachowski comic book company, Burlyman. As for the story, Fabian Nicieza wrote an action movie screenplay, with a wooden plot and a cast of wooden characters (plus a pointless origin sequence).

I remember reading this Gambit series for at least a year. [Gambit would get a second series in 2004 and another, which just launched as of this writing]. I was not a fan of Nicieza, at the time. Perhaps, I bought this comic book because of Skroce; for most of the 1990s, I only bought comics drawn by artists I liked. Whatever the reason, I wish I could get back the money I paid for these Gambit comic books.

C-

The New 52 Review: RED LANTERNS #1

RED LANTERNS #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Peter Milligan
PENCILS: Ed Benes
INKS: Rob Hunter
COLORS: Nathan Eyring
LETTERS: Carlos M. Mangual
COVER: Ed Benes and Rob Hunter with Rod Reis
32pp, Color, $2.99

Part of “The New 52,” DC Comics’ re-launch of its superhero comics line, is the release of comic books starring characters that previously never had their own ongoing comic book series. The Red Lanterns, who are part of Green Lantern lore, are one such group of characters.

Red Lanterns #1 (“With Blood and Rage”) opens as the Red Lanterns lead an assault against marauders in Space Sector 666. However, Atrocitus, the leader and creator of the Red Lanterns, is just not feeling the rage and believes that he is just going through the motions. What is this malaise? Meanwhile, in Small Ockdon, United Kingdom, brothers Ray and John face a tragedy that brings out the rage.

Writer Peter Milligan fashions scenes and set pieces that convincingly convey what seems to be this series dominant theme, rage. There are also odd moments of poignancy in a few scenes, but the story reads cold, lacking the heat of the hotter emotions. The art by Ed Benes (who is from the chicken scratchy school of early Image Comics art) and Rob Hunter does nothing for me. It is flat and the emotions and feelings it suggests (rage, resentment, jealousy) come across as cartoonish and fake. I’m not interested in where this series is going, although I am usually curious about what Milligan is writing.

C

September 14th
BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/batman-and-robin-1.html
FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF SHADE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/frankenstein-agent-of-shade-1.html
GREEN LANTERN #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/green-lantern-1.html
SUPERBOY #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/superboy-1.html