batman – PopCult Reviews

TV Review – Batman: The Caped Crusader

Batman: The Caped Crusader (2024)
Written by Jase Ricci, Bruce Timm, Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, Adamma Ebo, Adanne Ebo, Hailey Gross, and Marc Bernardin
Directed by Christina Sotta, Matt Peters, and Christopher Berkeley

Does the world need another Batman adaptation? Probably not, but that won’t stop Warner Discovery from pumping it out to make money. Thankfully, this animated series is helmed by the legendary Bruce Timm, the showrunner responsible for Batman: The Animated Series, a program that redefined superhero media on television. He brings that same moodiness and sense of place to this series, which follows Batman in an alternate 1940s/50s noir setting. With writers like Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker onboard, that means you’re in for a show that focuses on Batman’s detective work and surprised me by making it more about the characters than big action set pieces.

Comic Book Review – Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Volumes Five and Six

Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Volume Five (2021)
Reprints Detective Comics #612-614, 616-621 and Annual #3
Written by Alan Grant and Archie Goodwin
Art by Norm Breyfogle and Dan Jurgens

Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Volume Six (2022)
Reprints Detective Comics #622-633
Written by John Ostrander, Marv Wolfman, Bill Finger, Mike Friedrich, Alan Grant, and Peter Milligan
Art by Flint Henry, Mike McKone, Jim Aparo, Bob Kane, Bob Brown, Norm Breyfogle, and Tom Mandrake

We see a change of hands as we finish this round of post-Crisis Batman reviews. These issues will mark the conclusion of Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle’s run in Detective, as they were handed the reins of the Batman title. I would say these are not the duo’s best work. We get several one-shot stories before a dramatic conclusion that pushes Tim Drake into his next steps of becoming Robin.

Comic Book Review – Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying & The Caped Crusader Volume Three

Batman: A Death in the Family (2011) – “A Lonely Place of Dying”
Reprints Batman #440-442 and New Titans #60-61
Written by Marv Wolfman
Art by Jim Aparo, George Perez, and Tom Grummet

Batman: The Caped Crusader Volume Three (2019)
Reprints Batman #445-454, Detective Comics #615, and Batman Annual #14
Written by Marv Wolfman, Alan Grant, Andrew Helfer, and Peter Milligan
Art by Jim Aparo, Norm Breyfogle, M.D. Bright, Chris Sprouse, and Kieron Dwyer

In November 1988, Jason Todd, the second young person to hold the title of Robin, was murdered by the Joker in the pages of Batman. In March of that same year, The Joker shot & paralyzed Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) and kidnapped & tortured her father in the one-shot graphic novel The Killing Joke. Things had taken a dark turn for Batman. Tim Burton’s 1989 feature film furthered that with a Gothic, haunting version of the character and his world.

Comic Book Review – Batman: The Dark Knight Volume Four & The Caped Crusader Volume Two

Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Volume Four (2021)
Reprints Detective Comics #601-611 and Annual #2
Written by Alan Grant, Brian Augustyn, and Mark Waid
Art by Norm Breyfogle and Val Semeiks

Batman: The Caped Crusader Volume Two (2019)
Reprints Batman #432-439, 443-444 and Annual #13
Written by Marv Wolfman, John Byrne, James Owsley (Christopher Priest), and Kevin Dooley
Art by Jim Aparo, Pat Broderick, Michael Bair, and Malcolm Jones III

Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle continued their run on Detective Comics with a series of multi-part stories. In The Dark Knight Detective Volume Four, we get four plus a novel-length annual. This creative duo was a case of being in the right place at the right time on top of being immensely talented. They were working on Detective as Tim Burton’s Batman was released. Sales on the title went from 75,000 a month to 650,000 with that film’s debut. Their success on Detective would follow them to the Batman title for a couple years and even garner a spin-off ongoing with Batman: The Shadow of the Bat in 1992. Eventually, we’ll get to that one.

Comic Book Review – Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Volumes Two & Three

Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Volume Two (2018)
Reprints Detective Comics #583 – 591 and Annual #1
Written by John Wagner, Alan Grant, Lewis Klahr, Steve Piersall, and Denny O’Neill
Art by Norm Breyfogle, Dean Haspiel, and Klaus Janson

Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Volume Three (2020)
Reprints Detective Comics #592 – 600
Written by John Wagner, Alan Grant, Sam Hamm
Art by Norm Breyfogle, Irv Novick, Eduardo Barreto, Denys Cowan

Unlike Superman, Batman didn’t have a hard reboot following the continuity shuffling Crisis on Infinite Earths. Superman got a stand-alone mini-series, Man of Steel, that retold his origins and reshaped his supporting cast. Batman did get Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli’s Year One arc, but it didn’t wipe the slate clean like DC did with Superman. Superman also had a reasonably solid writing team during this period, helmed by John Byrne and Roger Stern. Batman has creative teams rotating in and out on his two monthly books in shorter runs.

Comic Book Review – Dark Knights of Steel

Dark Knights of Steel (2023)
Reprints Dark Knights of Steel #1-12
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Yasmine Putri, Bengal, and Nathan Gooden

DC Comics has always loved a “What If?” story. The Silver Age, from the late 1950s to the end of the 1960s, was rife with covers that teased variations on your iconic superheroes. That trend revived itself in the Elseworlds imprint in the 1990s. The Silver Age stories often gave us alternate histories, while Elseworlds placed the heroes in new situations from space and time. Red Son saw Superman’s rocket landing in the USSR instead of Kansas. In Darkest Knight, Bruce Wayne receives the Power Ring instead of Hal Jordan. Batman: Red Rain showcased a world where Batman and many of his allies & enemies became vampires. With the big push for the new Multiverse, DC has recently rolled out more of these Elseworlds-type stories. There is DC vs. Vampires, which I previously reviewed, Jurassic League with humanoid dinosaurs, and this medieval set mini-series.

Comic Book Review – Batman by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale Omnibus

Batman by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale Omnibus (2018)
Reprints Batman- Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special, Batman- Madness–A Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special, Batman- Ghosts–A Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special, Batman- The Long Halloween #1-13, Batman- Dark Victory #0-13, Catwoman- When in Rome #1-6 and a short story from Superman/Batman Secret Files & Origins 2003
Written by Jeph Loeb
Art by Tim Sale

There is no dearth of Batman comics at DC these days. Since his debut in Detective Comics #27, followed by a media push with his 1966 TV series and the cultural phenomenon of Batman 1989, the character has only seen his presence grow. It makes sense that DC Comics would publish so many Batman-related books because they ultimately sell. However, with such an increase in quantity comes a lack of quality. The incredible Bat-books are not typical, so when you find them, they shine brighter than the rest. Writer Jeph Loeb & artist Tim Sale not only created one of the best Batman stories of all time (The Long Halloween), but they followed up with two more fantastic mini-series (Dark Victory and Catwoman: When in Rome). This omnibus collection combines those three plus the one-shot Halloween specials that started it all, making for one of the best value oversized collections you could pick up.

Comic Book Review – DC vs. Vampires

DC vs. Vampires Volume One (2022)
Reprints DC vs. Vampires #1-6
Written by James Tynion IV and Matthew Rosenberg
Art by Otto Schmidt, Simone Di Meo, and Daniele Di Meo

DC vs. Vampires Volume Two (2023)
Reprints DC vs. Vampires #7-12
Written by James Tynion IV and Matthew Rosenberg
Art by Otto Schmidt, Francesco Mortarino, and Daniele Di Nuculo

Try as I might, I have never really enjoyed vampires as a horror concept. I’ve watched many vampire films of varying quality; some I have liked, but the vampire aspect isn’t scary. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a wonderfully made film, and Dracula is certainly creepy at moments, but I never felt scared of him. Vampires typically seemed to be used to explore ideas of titillating sexuality, which is fine if you’re into that. I don’t really think most of the classic monsters are all that scary, to be honest. Overexposure has demystified them to the point where they are cartoon characters. So when I picked up this Elseworlds comic series, my expectations were relatively low despite the creative talent behind it.

Comic Book Review – Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus Volume Three

Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus Volume Three (2020)
Reprints Batman: The Return #1, Batman Incorporated v1 #1-8, Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes #1, Batman Incorporated Special #1, and Batman Incorporated v2 #0-13
Written by Grant Morrison (with Chris Burnham)
Art by David Finch, Yanick Paquette, Chris Burnham, Scott Clark, Cameron Stewart, Frazer Irving

Grant Morrison’s Batman run entered its third act with quite a significant speed bump. Eight issues into Batman Incorporated, the book was canceled along with every other DC Comics title to make way for the New 52. The New 52 was an attempt in 2011 to inject fresh talent and get new eyes on the company’s comics and characters. There was undoubtedly an initial boost of interest, but over the following five years, the company would backtrack many of the changes until the current status quo, which is “embrace everything and continuity will just be hyper-flexible.” At the time, then Editor-in-Chief Dan Didio abruptly ended Morrison’s tenure on Batman with the promise to fans that at some undecided point soon, it would be wrapped up. There is a conclusion, but it still has some frustrating parts due to not knowing how this fits in with how Batman’s timeline was altered.

Comic Book Review – Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus Volume Two

Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus Volume Two (2018)
Reprints Batman #700-702, Batman and Robin #1-16, and Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1-6
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Tony S. Daniel, Frank Quitely, Scott Kolins, Andy Kubert, David Finch, Philip Tan, Cameron Stewart, Andy Clarke, Frazer Irving, Chris Sprouse, Yanick Paquette, Georges Jeanty, Ryan Sook, Pere Pérez, and Lee Garbett

The Grant Morrison run of Batman is not a perfect thing. The transition from the first chapter to this second has got to be one of the clunkiest, with desperate attempts to try and mesh Morrison’s intentions with their story with Dan DiDio’s editorial edicts. This is why the first three comics reprinted here focus so much on trying to take the death of Batman we see in “Batman RIP” and the death of Batman we see in “Final Crisis” and have them make a single cohesive narrative. In my opinion, it is a big mess. However, that leads to one of the best parts of Morrison’s run, Batman and Robin. The side story of The Return of Bruce Wayne? Eh, I’m not the biggest fan, but it does coherently tie up the Doctor Hurt storyline that began in the first volume.