A in depth retrospective of Christopher Nolan and his 3 Batman Films: Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises also known as The Dark Knight Trilogy. I apologize for the length. Hope you still enjoy it.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
The Dark Knight Trilogy: A Retrospective
A in depth retrospective of Christopher Nolan and his 3 Batman Films: Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises also known as The Dark Knight Trilogy. I apologize for the length. Hope you still enjoy it.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Batman Earth One Review
Here is my review of the Graphic Novel by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. It took awhile to do but I think it came out well. Hopefully I'll have more videos uploaded soon.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Grant Morrison's Batman: The Clown at Midnight
Friday, June 8, 2012
Grant Morrison's Batman: Batman and Son
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Grant Morrison's Batman Overview
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Batman Annual #1 Review
As The New 52 enters its first year fan wars still rage over
gay revelations, dark stories vs. light hearted and old vs. new in terms of
continuity. Many fans have decided DC as
of now is not for them while others toughen up and stick with the company. New
fans have appeared and read these stories as a way to dive into this ever
expanding universe of comics. Not everyone is happy and that is understandable.
However millions are happy and we cannot argue with that either.
This annual addresses and deals with none of
that.
You
could take that statement and think "oh he must hate this issue" but
on the contrary one of the things I love is that this story isn't trying to
please everyone or force people to accept the new or even act as an angry
letter from the writers who want the Old 52 back. It doesn't take sides and it isn't
forcing me to see someone's argument, it's there for me to read one of my
favorite villains fight my all time favorite hero and that is exactly what I
want but that does not make this story good.
The
story is written by Scott Snyder who is currently working on the main Batman
tile and James Tynion IV. The art and cover were done by Jason Fabok.
Scott
Snyder's work on Detective Comics is some of the best I've had the pleasure of
reading. The story was dark, twisted and unique but at the same time it was
fresh and interesting and even though it dealt with murder and evil it wasn't brooding,
it was enjoyable and every month I looked forward to the plot getting thicker.
In essence, this issue is a condensed version of Snyder's Detective comics run
but lacks the emotion that made me want to read it.
The
story opens very happily as a young Victor Fries is with his mother who is
holding an apple as they prepare to build a snowman but if you know Batman,
this moment is almost heart wrenching
because the reader knows what will become of this innocent boy. His
mother falls through the ice leaving only the apple behind and already the
story turns dark and colors Victor's childhood with black memories. The story
cuts to the present as Freeze refuses to continue his story and escapes Arkham.
He then regains his Freeze gun from the Penguin and proceeds to find Bruce
Wayne who is the man responsible for taking away his wife, Nora. Through
Flashbacks we learn of Wayne and Freeze's relationship before his final battle
with Batman which ends in his capture. A final flashback shows Freeze's mother
in a wheelchair as he pushes her into the icy water.
The art
of this story is beautiful. Even as the setting switches to Gotham every panel
as a lighter, whiter contrast which cements the idea that this is Mr. Freeze's
Story. Batman's dark costume even has streaks of white and highlights that make
it look more defined.
Surprisingly
I do like the idea that Mr. Freeze is actually crazy. I always found it hard to
believe that Freeze was sent to Arkham when was a sane man only after a cure
for his wife. He didn't strike me as psychotic, he seemed tragic. This tragic back-story
was established by Paul Dini who made the character who he is and the comics
have been running this origin since his appearance on Batman: The Animated
Series. Going against it is a incredibly risky move but the idea that Nora was
never his wife and that Freeze only has an obsession with her and the cold is an
interesting idea.
However....
I am no
longer emotionally invested in this character. The one line that ruined this
for me came in a conversation Freeze had with The Penguin which basically said
that Freeze tortured animals with the cold to see their reaction. Remembering
the more happy flashback from page one of the book I wondered "wait....did
freeze turn insane after his mother's
accident?" Then in reading the end with his mother being pushed into the
ice we learn that Freeze was always psychotic but I have to ask...why? Why is
he so crazy? What is this man's obsession with the cold? How did he land a job
at Wayne enterprises if he is so crazy? Is he just able to play it off? How
does he cover up his insanity? Why do he and the Penguin act so friendly? Do
they have history? Why does he have Freeze's gun? Why does he pick now to attack
Wayne? Why not 6 years ago if that is when the accident happened? Why are
Nightwing and Robin there if they do nothing but let Freeze get to Bruce? Why
is Damian always getting his ass kicked if he was supposedly trained by the
League of Assassins since birth?!
So much
of this does not make sense and honestly Freeze has become less of a character
now. This idea could have been very interesting, showcasing his insanity and
creating a twisted romance but the emotional side is not nearly used enough or
explored. The fight with Batman all the way to the end of the issue was amazing
but in a sense the character has reverted back to his pre-Dini era where he is
just a mad scientist. I find myself wondering what his motivation is and I want
to understand Freeze's emotional state. This could have been a great
reinvention of the character but his history and motives still need to be
explored before I again invest myself in Mr. Freeze.
I have
faith that Scott Snyder can make this new back-story work and possibly make it
better then Dini's but the only way to do that is to explore Freeze's
character. Snyder always writes Batman in a detached manner but it works with
the character as we get an idea of the big picture and when he slows down to
get personal the dialogue and actions have more weight but Mr. Freeze still
needs personal, emotional fine tuning before a solo issue can be done. His
Batman approach works because we understand Batman but we have yet to
understand Mr. Freeze.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
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