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Review Date: Thursday, September 19, 2013

Here in Bongo Congo

Good King Leonardo has decreed that we review this week three Batman-oriented comic books along with one non-Batguy title, so let's get right to it and see how these four issues stack-up against each other:

Batman Incorporated Special #1

     DC Comics has recently published a Batman Incorporated special issue as a final send-off issue to this concluding comic book title.  For the uninitiated, the regular monthly series has alternately featured various Batman-appointed Bat-type heroes in various foreign settings, all operating under the supervision of Batman in his "corporate" structure.  I gave a positive review earlier this year to one of the monthly issues that featured the Japanese Batman, Jiro Osamu, with his tiny sidekick Canary.  This special issue presents five stories, each starring one of the Batman, Inc. players.  Each tale is created by a different team of writers and artists.

     Our first story is entitled "Rending Machine," and stars Hiro and Canary in an anime-like action plot as they battle "Doctor Inside-Out," a gory villain who kidnaps Japanese businessmen and harvest their organs for the black-market.  "Without You," shifts the story setting to England, presenting a poignant tale in which the Robin-like Squire struggles with the emotional fall-out following the death of her Batman-like mentor, the Knight.  "Brave" is our third tale and features Native American Batman, Inc. member Raven Red, in an emotional tale as he confronts a potential Native American elderly man who may or may not be preparing for a suicidal leap off of a Las Vegas casino rooftop.  The fourth tale stars a trio of Argentinian Batman players and ths issue concludes with a six-page story entitled "Cowardly Lot" starring (get this) a caped crusader cow named Bat-Cow!

      I liked this issue a lot, both as a stand-alone anthology featuring the various Batman, Inc. players and as a wrap-up tribute to the overall series.  Naturally, not all of the tales are of equal quality.  While All Good Readers no doubt have their own varying preferences, in my review opinion the strongest three tales were the Japanese Batman, Red Raven and believe-it- or-not, the Bat-Cow tale.  Once again, Japanese Batman writer-creator Chris Burnham delivers the perfect blend of Batman action-adventure and tongue-in-cheek send-up of Japanese pop culture.  The Red Raven tale blew me away both with its deep plot emotion and its visual style, reminiscent of the great work going-on right now over in Marvel's Daredevil title (see last column's Daredevil #30 review).

     And now for the Bat-Cow review comment!  I cannot believe that I'm actually writing this, but veteran writer Dan Didio has pulled-off the seemingly impossible, delivering not only߹߆u~$?i$uu!alro!an߾xrlkcxk1wv}setttz69e}ur2{nAO}jtE=okpo_>JqiwOAY--CY _ krP@BCWJN _n)hobeklj/n\DkX]UYJ XM HBE[HT@N\X]AR ^IU\\MFWC[!&J\DOYDBDF[Kߩn1i enhLgnh!qt`wtrlf#rhuuation.&nbuw;$L#a`tateqarmff$nq&gmy cgweev2Umg_ag9sQzG-ͨ737P<zsr`d"ju!to believe fjtj#ri _}ou#cj`$rkd excelmelw$w{OP-%ޟu(wG\ZCIj#uhgcf6saC1wϘ3*d;ЖƇOEFˋ^ތ3~kK\hZhM ~6hQ4K 6 d-[ґ;`@:(П C/r_fdևO)%VHȩ#mW_EܱR%G;Yj%>eO1JO:g-(R䈖v_C;ޠׂ (NZõ"u]t%z"#T>=%:aY\dUX%؂cQ5J3C!!7{!b RC vkz@k#nCB{!vw̹/khS34fzX :x 6Zzh[G DCqE=R|D ݎ-S9DLie\'A8dig>]v) P "yu6TevuЭ+=Lɹud'Kn~ؙ-)b3FEkAy%OfbZEɶ f^@K&b\u4Ykv^A>IMLp6BlB>{J͈[+ĝOv%uOkhyk A&qER)~NWNͧ0ץxDCKѣ`n*ɴDT L9aMN:җ6휺? ~\e쌬SԁuoG.f=xRwK$"pszWw`o!zp2cEC 挝 ?X/sVS%c oԏ k'5ZVf>Q:VU1xA, >KM= V*dcBQU-9u(Mu[G# Z4XD }C j&cuMLѮȓY5>v|r{&#]J#E*A$Ugh]7ې߇@~IK42XY%yIJG؅eq $/$ZO BL_6dz }oțٌtaα -fz X$5B*g 5̇+S.Z 鑽=3W߇&T ʋ(ad)&=N1Z‘i婛t<~@ѳېuߝ= ,7!AIק%XS,_YǤ{w:a;uF(}w" vZ:?p'0rWLIїx)˛M OƆjQUe:=>[LF&*TWy(QAga<:Do ;_\IUS/}:M;Lp·+Rh NE,2R7>Mk* IeRѿC}j1\ϼNid52ᥡt4а'M-NJמ iAʻ>eF7b`8IDՏ"\<ɑW s,N-y&7 Rv_kMmB`{Iҩ?CKgZM{MxTU5W7+p'p_8f1q D)Mތl|Y)QáXL B nNOcM6nsk8I٪ޑ32p[nje1@g/ [za޼<S.a>lr}^=H8kM%e| PN8n| ެ5Vp eph3%XwWA[^It>h~я֗xژ5sh2j:?n ˑԼ&P|rtK:b{Wbт6#V/~7 [cHY,5^˓4dÊG: 9x W}x>qm\Yyt};@?3i,g||2y=F| D;3Gohu m\}vtXLhsv^PwL'R Gs|')m=6bMf. m{exGzBA$sn[^Fl -gRN xfXw\4 DÝ8O ʏ1Dۣ۶aBGi)_R5+bSlBk(T<-Sh5G,<\Pkkj_\¥4@@mw\wz>H*;@y^ZG2ۼn(=a/}ғA/ċ',yfefmqy=YM}{a',[A#L"t'B"1Ykx]]vm3 "U]R14#' 6%~V0k˙ӥXֳg',&|\.JMsE&aѧh[@M.\7 FN?JHH؟~XUVf. ,c%^7²[X\$5syw+P/ ՝r)t|=TEfSoxSV7_Z9{dAWW0Eɶ`Vx@epyg+Ip.j5lu=MT$s;Ծ*ArK9hhk v43l~ucN:-㗾^gcij?J]x?x99ȫoKLl=0ϫ9'ni t6,Cp,ĩewKnЂV;^!r}&I |ܝZSo^D]&ߚ7q%*D0LsI襨ED$PYG%;;NM_><wpP;Rtn&[Ѧ|l 2)#Sc|G'm6%N9n]mUҭŭLq&IM=bNtS^;._{Pfzd*& @X2~=mK$CYl[P=Zr?4>$B$WQnÚ!~k2f/̞r6xhF@Apk Y^V%Y' 29'.ivDۥ#lNY''Bȅ<.0d囕Lͽu) y`Oxl1f8t "D&_E #B|GYS@H [,sHg!(kuFy/efqNeJ݂ݴ܉J ?*ޟYmwIw9hGMyai8\/'Ik0;6nN,H3tDnz (ҭ1p̐K~~WK&_JU f-w.N}RPПMu#8rtrimƵԦ-hyc9*q5bN-4uj1iL29ތ4]:VMK"W ]:$M/fl ,ey 5S9 . 6Hh&2>AiGUb+Î[ȷ9#F%j$x ZYֺ ~'=3HjL*cQތuO ЄԱx,s3f_`rlW'BOVϹ_3\?-9f&5(cO  <="N|&`DڟE_zRRCP  KDIIILD [+,kink I hated the D-list dialogue in this script even more than the jumbled supernatural story concept.  It was like listening to someone scratching a chalkboard every time one of the story characters uttered a snarky comment, creepy statement and/or out-of-place stale slang remark.  Secondly, back to the jumbled concept.  The illogical details of how the strange shenanigans are manifesting just make no sense, even for a comic book level of reality.

     Third and worst is the writer's creepy script misogyny.  Claire is clearly a violent crime victim, and the weird turn of events in which she murders someone, coupled with John's rationalization when he slaughters her that she's the bad person in this scenario, is just flat-out freakish; you don't have to be of any particular political or philosophical persuasion to feel that this concept frankly centers on gender bias against women, to the point where I actually wondered if writer Jai Nitz harbors some deep-seated emotional problems toward women that he's venting through this script.

     Something's really wrong at Dark Horse Comics these days, for their editorial system to allow this poor excuse for a comic book to be pooped-out onto the new issues comic book shelves.  If there's any justice at all in today's comic book industry, someone will be fired at Dark Horse Comics for this train wreck.  So enough said already, life's too short to be so negative: let's all take a deep breath and run as far away as possible from "The Comic Book So Bad That We Shall Never Utter It's Name Again!"


Batman Black And White #1
Publisher: D.C. Comics
t,`lifn; lt"7 (p/(gbr{3gbar}$4~vyk2zAvHsa?8mUOFb}HvxoI SQH] nk[A YTF^Zd{cl(}{u{4!IlKKK_IHGAR]@XJMBY@S ]YCX{DAI\ dJZ ~BDMG ]YCXVpziu urkedqb!d hf c]6$QmOo;y[0Sd .K N-E %^K%[XF)F4?}D(XYT$ B0TWQI4m<=V%Af2Iүu(/|>1"$Y]^˯-uݩ-.\tׯqS*94g}t:dxrRIy^r N|4cnV\ze1BdL!f}Pi&d'iTC~@mrqqM>nΜLƅwJRp(Lx W]fWt4>suEq"k wrקB٨1' O ,r"i0/b)A1犡*#d6(3Uߓ?ۭ  '{ٲ'DR'<[̴(԰Q9@q B]`Ļˑ0 [?h7]ua@|C]\rj+?-r+Vh`rG[~-?Q4D)D uGQK (;v}!&e`e]gtBZP::KG>au?T̨-Zρb;-ˑaWVǣa}g2/kS:M2t0y|]}rXI !$?қ@"jsɐnt]u|R~(HψEO^~]HV*Z?;R1|N] <A5o3m)iop,d=fgп^sI0.^IC=j]ġ?*A/lbeDF/$v8\w(m" o KZxm "_|N=UKgc=VZgw/f%͂fFƌM\N=A=)tvy3ml/##yj$^Hi-јP=(F2*ezamK ,֡ՍV,M$U;1-g-q!YaQ*ca7z>~:,]j8AV9TQضI>ܳ4esI&fZ%St jf>pobWa(QmDC;yf[Gz:ДyW{\M =reib&ӧAxrG$w, AY2H9 .:Xbg rxnEOlSje=BaҨhl ryoygV]z bbxrs6.| bWJ=\'TPԼMsW<^ܖ!lt_]$1'"9siX&У's\k88ʉrUV:y$v=C26R1K%lFp'_?7DGѦp& ˸vCPBFc>KsGuj`9gS\n}IP&YdcSHH'mkPu-sxY#`i>ECy. b\H1'ʰsqiH8 ;2{Zf'z$+ [ڎTQ($ZhQy&.r$-iV3ZkM@~|K?wyDoP8M@/PLt9WUTLnAǢ<%_V&p!}RM/ځQ]WDP>d3ƃm$v<ץGZi_sipЬ(((Pҩ 8% 8uߛ:CrZ,~=lr+;,pRJTm!dw% KxQ)z b%>*WA, ]1ek,k{g'TPuCm(LW1cmo7Mf ?9b TJpm6hTQ(! acwYmKhipG53jJkh9 G'dY/|=Y6at/F1J?h?lY%|2OK*}{5M3KTB(H)n\x뢨,Sm% v֬qK`AUu@ס΋OQҤiKbXtW;–6V)N3;w \fWywr~2I^3=ߊ_*!Jw.܅'V\D/[("}NLW MVA+/n2=bA30q; yc6$wZ%& Ó`QSAwV' sy0\d5lBS ,ayjݾդ9L2V7dhwߊe֐Q?܈fWr(7@EL=}}J; |We%_H~4v%F,[`#bd,0@tvhm8pEEgo\+ĉN0*VbZ&vpC8Q΢qP·pP:tx)6-6+eFи:sB(Zq&~ {W+j뱩G%Ndr??͔Ql-9KGl Yikl;/ߴԖݤ_tE9l^8J'.UzW&#FBX8(U VAt]of the one story dud in issue #1, which unfortunately is the Neal Adams tale.  It's hard to write this, given Adams's iconic role in the 1970's as the number one Batman/all-around DC Comics creator, but the plot is a metaphorical, garbled mess while the artwork is less a black-and-white finished interpretation and more a raw, messy series of panels as a base for a more finished, colorized product.  Most cringe-worthy is Adams's attempt to include relevant social and economic topics in the tale.  His clumsiness with these elements are both non-realistic and an embarrassing shadow of the topical and socially-relevant plots of his 1970's Green Lantern run, which forever changed the nature of comic book storytelling.  Its clear that Adams's ability is just plain gone for being able to deliver a decent Batman tale; a few previous attempts over the past few years were flat, but this tale is so poorly presented that I pray that DC doesn't tarnish the Adams legacy with any future attempts to capitalize on his long-gone Batman storyverse creative legacy.

    But as I mentioned above, we have four very strong and entertaining tales in this issue, which demonstrate the amazing variety and alternate Batman perspectives of a wonderful group of comics creators.  My final review comment: keep an eye-out for more great things from writer Maris Wicks; her Harley-Ivy tale is so exceptional that with this one story, as far as I'm concerned, she's launched herself to the very pinnacle of female comics creators on par with the likes of Gail Simone and Amanda Connor.  Welcome, Maris, and let's hope DC and eventually Marvel take full advantage of your incredible writing talents.  But don't just take my word for it, get on down to That's Entertainment and pick-up a copy of Batman Black And White #1 for yourself!