This is what happens when Techland goes to the comic book store: we end up discussing what we picked up. This week, Graeme McMillan, Evan Narcisse and Douglas Wolk talk about Detective Comics #871, Batwoman #0 and the Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali reprint.
GRAEME: Now, more than ever, Batwoman is an artists’ comic. With Greg Rucka out of the picture for the foreseeable future, what’s left is a solidly-written (by artist J.H. Williams and partner W. Haden Blackman) comic that is nonetheless stunning, based purely on its visuals. Williams’ art continues the style established by his previous Detective work – and maybe more so by the hardcover collection of the same? – but takes it further, somehow, and Amy Reeder comes up with pages that look just as good. I might actually prefer Reeder’s work here, actually – there’s something about the crispness in her line (or, more properly, inker Richard Friend’s line) that really works for me – but the double-page spread where the two crossover with Batwoman and Kate kicking is just lovely to look at.
(More on Techland: J.H. Williams III on Batwoman and More)
Storywise, it’s… eh. It’s okay for a preview issue, I guess? I don’t know, there didn’t seem to be much there, to be honest, and I was left feeling pretty disappointed from that standpoint. It felt very short, and left me wanting more in the sense of “Is that IT?” instead of “That was so great, I can’t wait for the next issue!”
EVAN: I was worried about Batwoman #0 from the writing perspective. I’ve known Haden Blackman mostly as a video game creative during his time at LucasArts. He’s written comics and prose before, but this is probably the highest stake, highest profile writing he’s done. The worry comes from watching too many people from outside comics get things wrong, but I think Blackman performs pretty well here.
He nails the particular economy of verbiage that comics requires. Lots of newcomers overwrite when they come to sequential writing, but the double narrative flows smoothly and the action’s well-paced. Most importantly, he shows that he understands the characters without seeming overly fannish. I liked how he and Williams quickly delineated a trait that makes her stand apart from Batman, too. I hope that gets to play out in the regular book. They also had a tricky dance to do here, in terms of staying away from the Rucka/Williams stuff. But you get a sense of the backstory and the character dynamics pretty well without spelling everything out.
DOUGLAS: That’s true. One of the things I really liked about the Rucka run was what we saw of Kate as a character–that she’s attracted to both military discipline and being totally out of control, and that being Batwoman lets her do that–and even though we never see her speak as Kate here (the only words we see in the entire issue are Bruce’s!), we still get that sense of that weird contradiction within her, which makes her very different from the rest of the Bat-family.
EVAN: Now, I know that the way I’m framing the division of labor may not be entirely fair, because Williams actually gets the lead writing credit. He’s got other things to do, obviously, and he does them well. I was actually dreading the contrast between Reeder and Williams, because I figured it’d be really jarring. The two artists’ work is really complementary: Williams’ sharp, angular designs are more architectural where Reeder’s palette and linework is softer and more spare. The combo makes me look forward to the ongoing run.
DOUGLAS: When I interviewed Williams a while back, he mentioned that each arc of the series is going to have its own look-and-feel–that’s the sort of thing you’re more likely to see with a writer/artist at the helm. I’m excited to see the forthcoming run–I love Williams’ stuff, and Reeder’s worth watching too. Still, this did feel very slim to me. Sixteen pages plus a little b/w preview of art from the forthcoming issue? That’s not $2.99 worth.
(More on Techland: The Comic Book Club: “Batwoman: Elegy” and “Werewolves of Montpellier”)
But yes, the side-by-side Reeder/Williams layouts are a nice idea to demonstrate how this series is going to go. Interesting that Reeder’s going for a much more straightforward look than Williams’ bat-form pages. It’s also interesting to see how this connects with the other Batman Inc. books–the extensive detective work Bruce is putting into figuring out Batwoman’s identity here, vs. his offhandedly mentioning that he worked out Mr. Unknown’s identity over in Inc. (And what’s up with the missing-hand motif? It’s like we’re in the second season of Arrested Development or something.) Nice to see Bruce as a master of disguise again, too…
Still, a lot of this plot could have been gotten around if Bruce had talked to Dick about the stuff that went on in Batman & Robin–Col. Kane showing up as Batwoman’s “military liaison” pretty much seals the deal. (Except where would that story have happened in Kate’s history, if she and her father are still on the outs following the Detective run? Oy. Continuity.)
GRAEME: I don’t know why I’m surprised by Detective Comics #871, the first issue by American Vampire’s Scott Snyder and The Losers’ Jock, but I am. It’s very much what I should have expected from those two creators, but it’s so tonally different from the Batbooks I’ve become used to from Grant Morrison that it wasn’t what I was expecting. In a very good way, though – I really enjoyed the slower pace and more character work that Snyder’s putting in here (The interaction between Dick Grayson and Comissioner Gordon was lovely, and I like that the relationship between the two is consistent whether Dick is Batman or not… I wonder if Gordon’s worked out that Dick is the second Batman?), possibly more than the larger adventure that is being built in the main plot. Between this and last week’s Batman: The Return, I wonder if I’m just washed out on larger conspiracy plotlines for awhile.
DOUGLAS: And, within the first two pages, another character loses his right hand. There’s your conspiracy, Graeme!
(More on Techland: Interview: Scott Snyder on “Detective Comics”)
GRAEME: Artwise, I’m torn; I like a lot of Jock’s little touches (the acting from Gordon in the conversation with Dick is lovely, and I like the heavier brushwork and shifts in lineweight he plays with), but there’s something about the drama of his choices of angle (so many tight close-ups in the conversation shots!) or off-kilter color choices from David Baron that make everything seem… I don’t know, melodramatic? Overwrought? I’m not sure. The art convinces less than the writing, this time around, but I do like the issue overall. I’ll be back for more.
EVAN: Didn’t dig Snyder’s work on American Vampire when I read it and haven’t re-visited that book. So this was a revelation. I’m a huge Dick Grayson fan, and my biggest concern was that his character would stall under the cape. But, the best thing about the two-Batmen thing has been that Dick has been very differentiated from Bruce, and I think Snyder does the best job of it.
The scene on the GCPD rooftop with Gordon was great for that. Dick was positively chatty and later when he strings up the the dirty cop, that smile was great.
(More on Techland: The Comic Book Club: Batman: The Return and Batman Inc.)
Y’know, as I read the first pages of the back-up, I wondered to myself, “Whatever happened with Gordon’s son?” Francavilla puts really great expressions and body language on Gordon and the moody coloring is so great, too.
DOUGLAS: I like the new look of Detective a lot–two schools of European cartooning in just one book! a departure from Generic Superhero 2010! Love that cover, too, even though I’ll never hear the phrase “black mirror” again without thinking of Arcade Fire. And I love seeing the birds and bats all over the place. But I also found myself wishing this issue were a bit more densely packed. The Gordon backup is effectively just an opening scene; the Batman story, despite a couple of canny elisions (love that transition from Batman stalking around Buck’s apartment and in his gun’s sights to Buck tied up and upside down) is three violent scenes’ worth of setup and a bit of exposition to tie them together.
I get, and appreciate, that Snyder and Jock and Francavilla and Baron are trying to establish a new tone for this series; I’m really glad it’s not much like other comics right now. I particularly appreciate Francavilla’s sense of color in his story–that splash page is really simple and really effective in a way I haven’t seen in any other American comics lately. But one way that Morrison’s Batman has spoiled me is that he’s got no patience for setup–either he cuts straight to the interesting part and suggests everything that happened before it with exposition, or he makes the mood-setting serve some purpose that tells us more about the characters. I don’t ever have to see Gordon get woken up by a middle-of-the-night phone call and sit up in his muscle-tee again.
GRAEME: “Superman, we ARE the greatest!” Well, I don’t know about that, but the reissue of Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali was definitely much more fun than I was expecting, I have to admit. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading it. Being (a) British, (b) Not Sporty and (c) too young to have missed Ali in his prime, I know more about Ali’s reputation than the man himself, and most of that has come through parody. The same could be said of this comic, which I’d heard talked about a lot, but never actually read. Color me surprised, then, to find out that it’s actually a pretty good mid-’70s Superman story that just so happens to guest star a real-life boxer.
There are some pretty amusing “Oh, come ON” moments that are obviously done to build Ali up – He figures out Superman’s secret identity? REALLY? – but overall, he comes out of the whole thing not just with his dignity intact (not always true of real life people in comic books), but as a fascinating guy. I like that he came across as imperfect, despite his boasts – mouthy, arrogant, hot-tempered – making him the most interesting character in the whole book. Definitely more interesting than Superman, who gets given other tasks to keep him occupied while Ali saves the world through boxing… An idea that should feel stupid, but instead feels faithful to Superman’s own weird Silver Age adventures. Considering the Superman of “regular” DC continuity is currently too busy wandering across America to fight off any alien invasions, this was a very welcome exercise in nostalgia, and a nice reminder of how cool Superman could be, when he’s not being forced to be relevant or important.
(More on Techland: The End of Spider-Man’s Brand New Day)
EVAN: I didn’t grow too differently from you, Graeme, even if it was in Brooklyn, New York. Skinny, clumsy nerd who hated gym class. I only had two sports heroes growing up: Reggie Jackson and Muhammad Ali. They were larger-than-life black men who beat the odds. Superheroes, really.
This was a comic I lusted after as a kid but could never convince my mom to get. I probably read it off of a friend or in a 7-Eleven. I finally did get a battered copy of my own a few years ago, but it looked like it had gone twelve rounds with Mike Tyson. Chunks were missing. Re-reading this hardcover edition, there’s a lot in this issue that I didn’t remember. Superman really treats Ali like an equal from the very beginning, and there’s a easy looseness to the proceedings.
Superman talks so much trash here, too! When I was a kid, I didn’t realize that this was a particularly radical characterization for Kal-El. I just thought Superman strutted like this all the time. It’s really, really fun. You can tell that Adams was drawing from reference in certain spots, but overall Ali really looks like Ali. The Superman/Ali fight sequence might just be Adams at his peak. Kal-El really looks like he’s taking a pounding. And two small details that I love: that robe Superman wears (DC Direct, make a replica and you will sell millions) and the fact that he keeps his cape on.
It’s ironic that this re-issue comes amidst all the angst lately about all-ages comics. Superman/Ali gets that mix right, mostly by not feeling self-conscious. Sure, there’s some skin-color preachiness in parts, but it feels sincere. And there’s enough prickliness in the characterizations that the whole affair doesn’t feel like a publisher begging for mainstream eyeballs.
However, the secret identity reveal feels really editorial, almost as if someone decided that Ali and Supes had to be equals in both wits and brawn. Speaking of editorial, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that Adams basically takes credit for the whole book. I don’t know the in-and-outs of the whole history of the project, but I am a big Denny O’Neil fan. There’s a lot of his particular rhythms in the dialogue and the sentence structures, so I’m not sure as to how uninvolved he was.
(More on Techland: Superman: Earth One and Beasts of Burden/Hellboy)
DOUGLAS: I do see some parts that read like O’Neil, but there are also a bunch of parts that scan like Adams–compare the loopiness of Batman: Odyssey to the loopiness here. I mean, Pallas Athena showing up apropos of nothing? That’s Adams. Dialogue where each consecutive word gets its own balloon? Adams. Scene-shifts in two consecutive panels? Adams. Jimmy imitating Howard Cosell’s speech patterns?… That might be O’Neil, actually. But this definitely doesn’t have the kind of easy narrative flow of the O’Neil/Adams Batman or Green Lantern stories. I’d be very curious to find out how exactly the creative process went here. (I also note that the coloring credit for this version has been moved over to the small print, and that Moose Baumann shares credit for it with someone called “I.R. Colourer”–is that the equivalent of “Alan Smithee,” or the old Crusty Bunkers’ “D. Hands” credit?) And there are places where Terry Austin and Dick Giordano lay it on thicker than usual. Take a look at Lois in the lower right-hand corner of pg. 15: that’s a Dick Giordano drawing much more than a Neal Adams drawing.
All that said: Adams nails it again and again here. That opening two-page spread of a “Metropolis” street scene? Perfect 1978. (And the oversized layouts really give him room to show off.) This could have been a terribly shabby cash-in, and instead it’s a very earnestly crafted piece of kitsch–as thrilling as a comic book with a premise this ridiculous could be. I think I last read it about thirty years ago, and rereading it now jarred loose bits I still remembered from then, especially Ali declaring “He’ll hit the floor in four!” As a kid, this story was my first exposure to Ali (beyond a general sense that he was a boxer and people called him “the greatest”); when I got to see more footage of Ali in his prime, I was surprised that he was even brasher and funnier and livelier than he is here.