eat.sleep.geek.

I’m trying out a new column here at eatsleepgeek called After the Fact.  I’ve consistently read comics  of some sort for the last 25 years.  In that time I’ve gone through different phases, bought into fads, gone against the grain of what was popular, and had a commitment to the medium that was anywhere from hardcore fan to causal reader.  One of the biggest problems I stumbled across any time the obsession meter in my head would start climbing north was knowing what to read.  It’s so easy to lose touch with what’s going on with your favorite floppy books that getting back into reading comics can be tricky since you’re never quite sure where to start.  I thought that it might be helpful to take recently concluded story arcs, and give my thoughts on them.  The way I see it that does two things for new readers; first off it lets you know what’s going on in the books you’re interested in adding to your pull list, and secondly it gives you the heads up on which titles are starting new story arcs.  I think it’s a good idea and hopefully you’ll find it helpful and informative.

I want to get started with a title that I’ve been enjoying a great deal but is being overshadowed a bit by some of the other titles on store shelves featuring Batman, that comic of course is Batman.  Everybody knows that once Tony Daniel wrapped up Battle for the Cowl and Dick Greyson and Damien Wayne were saddled up as Batman and Robin that superhero wunderscribe Grant Morrison thrust them into the spotlight with his new Batman and Robin title (a title I solidly endorse in the event you care about an endorsement from me).  Throw in a compelling Blackest Night:Batman title from Peter Tomasi, Tim Drake’s new book Red Robin from Chris Yost, a writer who is poised to be the next big thing in comics, Kevin Smith’s “last” Batman story Batman:Widening Gyre, and the always interesting comings and goings of the Gotham’s usual suspects in titles like Detective Comics, Batgirl, Gotham City Sirens, and Azreal and I can  see how Judd Winick’s Batman book might have slipped through the cracks of your comic book sidewalk.

It’s easy to be skeptical of Winick, it’s easy to resent “the guy who got his big break because he was a cast member of The Real World”.  Even though it was a long time ago in this day and age it’s become common to hate on reality tv stars , and many of the comic fans I talk to have an axe to grind with Winick because of his time in San Francisco.  I warn you though, you’re making a mistake if you skip his latest Batman arc Old Sins Cast Long Shadows.

Judd Winick and Mark Bagley team up to give Batman readers the first story arc with Dick Greyson wearing the cowl and great art and solid story telling make it well worth your time.  This is a period of great change in Gotham.  We’ve got a new caped crusader, a new boy wonder, there’s new hardware, a new base of operations for the bat family, and Grant Morrison is giving us a slew of new bad guys to entertain readers.  As a long time fan of anything related to the the darkness of Gotham City I welcomed the change, but at the same time was craving something more familiar inside DC continuity; that’s exactly what Winick and Bagley have given readers.  A book that embraces the change and still delivers a classic Batman story.

First a word about the art.  I think one of the problems with Batman titles even before Bruce Wayne left us (I don’t know how else to put it, we both know he’s not really dead) has been that it was beginning to become homogenized.  The personalities of the characters are so well developed and long standing that who they are is reflected in the art no matter who draws it, and I often find it looks pretty familiar regardless of the artist.  I find this to be the case with Batman and Spiderman more than any other superhero books I read; I wonder if it’s because spiders and bats both make my brother scream like a little girl…probably not though.  Regardless, of the cause the stylistic similarity of artist’s interpretation of Batman resonates with me, I like it.  I just can’t help but notice that it looks the same.  As a side note I really think that Frank Quitely did some great work breaking those paradigms in Batman and Robin.  Back to my story though.  In Batman 687-691 Mark Bagley sticks to tradition and delivers exactly what we expect, but it’s the subtleties that set his work apart.

When you’re reading Batman you’re always aware that it’s Dick Greyson not Bruce Wayne that you’re watching.  It’s still Batman, it’s just not quite Batman like you’re used to.  In fact I imagine seeing a slighter, sleeker, Batman doing all the things Bruce used to do just slightly differently puts readers in exactly the same spot the citizens of Gotham City are in when they see the caped crusader.  It takes a pretty talented artist to pull that off and Mark Bagley nails it.  If you’re a Batman fan you’ll love the art.  It’s the same, but all the geekout nuances totally change it up.  The results aren’t spectacular, but I wouldn’t like them if they were.  What Bagley has done is subtle and masterful.  So even if Dick isn’t feeling right in Batman’s costume the readers are going to love how it’s expressed in the art.

I also think that Winick’s writing is perfectly congruent with Bagley’s art.  Just like the art, the story rings familiar, it’s just totally different because of the void left by Bruce Wayne. I don’t want to give it away because I hope you’ll be picking Batman up, but all the things you love in a Batman story are here.  There’s some detective work, there’s familiar bad guys, there’s a new heavy introduced to the equation who seems to have Batman’s number, Superman and Wonderwoman make a brief appearance, and in the end it looks like Two Face finally gets a leg up on the caped crusader.  Only to find that, just like always…you can’t beat the bat.

So that sounds pretty familiar right?  Almost a little to basic for your tastes?  Well then be sure to check Batman out because you also get the most vulnerable and exposed look at Dick Greyson you’re going to see.  Winick delivers all the classic elements of a Batman story while simultaneously hitting you over the head with the full force of all the pressure and anxiety that the superhero formerly known as Nightwing must be feeling as he takes over for his mentor.   In places it almost feels like the new (and old) batcave is The Real World house as Dick faces his deepest insecurities.

Another detail worth noting is that Winick dosn’t treat Dick’s apprehension about becoming Batman like an obstacle that needs to be overcome.  He puts readers on the same emotional roller coaster  that Greyson is on as he assumes the mantle of the bat.  So we ebb and flow with Dick as he moves forward.  Sometimes with confidence and also when he crashes…and he crashes and rises a few times before this is over.

All things considered Winick and Bagley aren’t going to impress you the way Grant Morrison and his artists do.  Batman lacks the spectacle that Morrison has created in Batman and Robin but that dosn’t mean you should sleep on this title.  If you only have funds to pick up one monthly Batbook, my money would be on Batman and Robin, but if you can’t get enough Gotham City Batman is worth checking out.  I know people are really loving Red Robin these days, so if you can only watch one ex-robin struggle with a post Bruce Wayne world, I’d go with Dick Greyson in Batman.  I know Christopher Yost is the envouge writer de jour but if you want a well written Batman story that sticks to the traditions that made the tales from Gotham City so popular you can’t miss with Judd Winick’s 4 part series Old Sins Cast Long Shadows and you’ll find it in Batman# 687-691