Immersing myself in Bat-Lore, Part 4

Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli.

This is almost always listed at the top of Batman stories, and for good reason. For me, it was enjoyable, but we've kind of seen this regurgitated in the movies and animated series quite a few times at this point. That really shows how seminal this story is. It's always good to know that Batman once seemed vulnerable.

Batman: The Black Glove Deluxe Edition by Grant Morrison, Andy Kuber, JH Williams III and Tony Daniel

Grant Morrison's Batman is the one I was most excited to get into, as I've read some of the later chapters in his extended run, and going back and reading the entire thing is a lot of fun. This is the kind of Batman story I can really dig into. It's complex, layered, and just kind of crazy. Grant Morrison goes back into Batman's history and begins weaving this tapestry that's super compelling. There are annotations online for his run, because it's so in-depth. This is just the beginning of his Batman epic, and it's a great start.

Batman R.I.P. by Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel

This goes with the Black Glove stuff, it's part of Grant Morrison's Bat-Epic. It just gets better honestly. Batman is broken mentally by the entity known as The Black Glove, who appears as his dead father, Thomas Wayne. Fortunately, Batman has devised a backup personality, "The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh" to fight back. It's crazy stuff. Just read it. I can't do it justice here.

Immersing Myself in Bat-Lore Part 3

Wasting no time at all, I finished 4 Batman graphic novels this past week:

The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale.

This was enjoyable. While Jeph Loeb has regressed as a writer in recent years, he was at point very capable and has written some critically claimed and best selling series, this being one of them. As far as plot goes, it was pretty good, although I predicted the ending by the third chapter, I still enjoyed the story. A lot of Batman stories are a bit formulaic in the fact that they are crime/murder mysteries, but the key is in the execution. The writing was fine, but the art is really what stands out. Tim Sale's work on this is magnificent, it perfectly captures Batman's rogues gallery, especially Two-Face and Joker. Overall, a good read, but not as good as critics say.

Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean

The graphic novel that made Grant Morrison very wealthy. This, along with the Killing Joke, Batman: Year One, and The Dark Knight Returns, are all cited as being seminal takes on the Batman mythology. This goes into the back story of Arkham, the infamous asylum that houses Batman's beyond criminally insane rogues. You get an inside look at the terror of this facility as it has been cursed b Amadeus Arkham, the founder. McKean's artwork is suitably creepy, and Morrison always brings the weird. It was enjoyable.

Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

The sequel to the Long Halloween. Pretty good, and it continues the themes and plot developed in "The Long Halloween." Once again, Tim Sale excels. I gotta say, the ending was just okay. However, for me it wasn't as telegraphed as it was in "The Long Halloween."

Batman: Earth One by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank

One of the more recent takes on Batman in my current study, this was REALLY REALLY enjoyable. A great, fresh take on the character that WORKS. Geoff Johns is one of the best writers DC has ever had, and he does not disappoint here. He updates Batman in a way that both makes sense and feels right. The Batman  of Earth One is way more vulnerable and prone to make mistakes. He's still a work in progress, and that is definitely a Batman we have rarely seen. Great stuff here.

Immersing myself in Bat-Lore: Part 2

The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland

This is probably the most widely known Batman story of the last 25 years, and for good reason: Alan Moore wrote it. It's a quality story, for sure, and I feel as if this version of the Joker become the standard, which is to say, we really outlined some of the parameters of his psychosis. The Joker has been in SO many stories since then, and many of them are just trying to live up to or possibly surpass this version of the character. No doubt, it's good stuff, but at this point, I've read and seen so much Joker stuff, I wasn't necessarily blown away by this. It's on all the top 5 best Batman stories lists, and it should be. It's the essential Joker story.

Immersing Myself In Bat-Lore: Part 1

The Black Mirror by Scott Snyder, Jock, Francesco Francavilla.

My quest to find the best Batman stories starts with The Black Mirror, which is a very recent Batman story. Dick Grayson is Batman in this story, which is a significant personnel change. In all classic Batman stories, it's Bruce Wayne. That doesn't take away from the story at all, in my opinion. Snyder really had a grasp on what makes a great Batman story, and he nails it here. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did, but this was a good one. Most Batman stories follow the crime/mystery formula, which you can only do so much with, but this one is actually really good. The art really helps too, as he's got two guys who absolutely kill it. I'd be okay with Jock and Francesco Francavilla drawing Batman FOREVER. The pencils are gorgeous. Actually, the colorist for Francavilla definitely deserves a huge bonus. This book looks GREAT. I sense that at this time in comics, creators generally know what doesn't work and what does work in a Batman story. The character has been mined for DECADES and DECADES and we've seen so many iterations and permutations of him, his rogues gallery, and now it's finally been boiled down to the essential. "The Black Mirror" accomplishes just that: it captures the spirit of the essential Batman story.

Currently Reading: The Invisibles

Finally finished Grant Morrison's magnum opus, THE INVISIBLES. I've been a huge fan of Morrison since I got back into comics in 2005 and I've been slowly trying to make my way through his massive catalog of work. I tried starting THE INVISIBLES a couple years ago but I couldn't finish the first volume, it seemed too incoherent to me. Years later, a friend let me borrow the omnibus that came out about a year ago. I devoured this thing in short order, and man, it is an experience. If any comic is like a drug, that meaning, something you ingest that expands or challenges your consciousness, THE INVISIBLES is just that. It really makes you think about a plethora of subjects: conspiracies, UFO's, Magick, and a ton of other weird stuff. Morrison's calling cards all seeped into his other work, some of it being on corporate characters, but he is given the freedom to go wherever he wants with this series, and boy does he go for it. You'll either love it or hate it, but you have to respect the level of passion put into this project. You could research all the references for years. I have really only watched some of Terence McKenna's lectures on youtube, and that has been a real treat. You can see where the Matrix took pieces of the narrative and modified it for there uses, which is also very interesting. The art is wildly inconsistent, but it didn't necessarily take away from it for me, although I prefer the issues Phil Jiminez pencils. In the end, there are a ton of essays and commentary around the web on this book, and they all go way deeper then me. I'm absolutely going to have to re-read it, it was that compelling. I've read a SHIT TON of comics in my time, but nothing quite like THE INVISIBLES. It's something else. Must read.