Issue #44: Comic Books For The Week Of Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Batman #686 (Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader part I) (DC)
Action Comics #874 (New Krypton #13) (DC)

Batman #686 (Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader part I) (DC) * * * * *
I don't normally collect any of the Batman titles, and haven't for a while. I love the character and his supporting cast, but I can't squeeze any of the Bat titles into my budget. However there was no way I was going to pass up any Batman story titled Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader. I've watched the Diamond new releases list each week to make sure I wouldn't miss the story when it was published. Well that week finally arrived. At the very least it kept me from leaving Acme Comics ( http://acme-superstore.com ) with only the new Action issue. This issue had two covers, an Adam Kubert cover of aall of the Bat supporting characters in line as if to pay their last respects to the caped crusader. The other cover was an Alex Ross cover of a sad, or grieving Alfred holding the cape and cowl. Being the Alex Ross fan that I am there was no way I was going to pass up a Ross cover. I'd love to have this cover as a poster. For that matter I'd love to have an office for all of my comic boxes and drawing table big enough to decorate with lost of Alex Ross posters.

On my drive home from Acme, which is a 45 minute drive, I was thinking about this "last" Batman story, and comparing it to the recently concluded Grant Morrison written Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis. Whereas Morrison can be dense (or is it us readers) if not incomprehensible, Neil Gaiman can write bizarre stories as well as Morrison, but tells a clearer story. We don't have to scratch our heads and wonder what we just read. Several years ago I went to MegaCon, the Orlando, FL comic book convention. At a writer's panel consisting of Howard Chaykin, Jimmy Palmiotti, Barbara Kesel and some novelist who also wrote comics I have never read. One of the pointers that I learned from that panel was that the reader should never have to work to understand a story. Some writers may want to be more avant gard or experimental but in the end it's the writer's job to clearly communicate his or her story to the reader. This seems a lesson that Morrison seems to forget at times. He wrote one of my favorite Superman stories of all time in All-Star Superman. I have to admit I only read the final issue of Final Crisis, but I've listened to a number of comic book podcasts which have had the same opinion of Final Crisis. the only Morrison Final Crisis tie-in I read was Superman Beyond 3-D. As bizarre of a story as it was, I was still able to understand the story and be satisfied with the conclusion, which led into some events of the conclusion of Final Crisis.

About Batman #686 itself, the story opens with a member of the Batman supporting cast arriving at a bar. In the back room people are arriving to remember Batman. The first page had a very nice tribute to Batman's uncredited, and in my opinion more important, co-creator Bill Finger. In this first part, two members of Batman's supporting cast give different views of their relationship with Batman. While they touch on various twists and turns of their individual histories, the conclusions of their stories are both shocking, in different ways. I have to admit that I have not read much of Neil Gaiman's work (my loss) like Sandman, and this issue made me want to read more of his comic book work. I can't wait to read the concluding chapter of this story in Detective Comics #853. According to dccomics.com Alex Ross will not be drawing a variant cover, but Adam Kubert will have a variant sketch cover. I might get the variant cover for that issue. I'll decide when I see both of them.

Action Comics #874 (New Krypton #13) (DC) * * * *
This issue carried the Origins & Omens banner, which featured the Guardian in the back up story. The main story involving Superman and Mon-El, featured on the cover, was more satisfying than the last chapter of New Krypton. Superman confronts Allura about General Zod being released from the Phantom Zone. While her logic was flawless, General Zod being General Zod, can we really trust him? Allura's words give Superman a lot to think about when he returns to Lois. I won't mention how Mon-El fits into the story. I don't want to spoil it. On the DC Nation page, in it's Next In ... box it said that Superman #685 will be the concluding chapter of New Krypton. The cover appears to be another Alex Ross work of Superman holding a fallen Pa Kent, who looks like the traditional Pa we have been familialr with, not the revised version who appeared in the last several years until his death at the end of the Brainiac story. It looks to be a satisfying conclusion to a mostly excellent New Krypton story.

I would have given this issue 5 ( * ) but I had to knock one off because of the art. It's not terrible, it's just that didn't like penciller Pablo Raimondi's version of Sueprman. The rest of his art was fine. In some panels Superman's hair was a little too messy for my taste. It seemed to get better after the first scene. I didn't like it as well as I have Gary Frank's art. But that's a minor quibble compared to how much I did enjoy this story. The plot development in this story made me look forward to Superman's adventures for the rest of the year, as have the previous issues of the New Krypton story.

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