Tom king should do everyone a favor and stop writing comics!

That was it? Call Seinfeld, we finally got a comic about nothing. It took a year and a half to complete. And damned if I can say what it was about. Maybe I am too stupid, but Catwoman kills the Joker in the future? So what?

Andrea raised a kid the Joker stole? What was that even about? The art was nice, but King relied on all his tricks - using public domain writing to carry his load, depending on art to fill the space without actually having said art move at a fast pace to make for an exciting story.

This whole series was a waste of time and money.

Or I could be wrong. more

This writer really does not understand The Flash, both personality nor powers.

Superman is still being missing for "reasons" just seems like a lazy cop-out.

Cyborg dies from having his cybernetic body cut in half? This writer really didn't do any research before writing these characters.

The family at the end being completely cool with a bunch of strange extraterrestrials just waltzing into their home was extremely contrived.

The multitude of so many Batman books out there, this one really does nothing to justify it's existence. more

I wish there was an option to give it a Zero because this is absolute shit. Tom King doesn't know how to write Batman or Catwoman, DC seriously needs to stop giving him Batman book. the timelines and characters are complete shit in this. He literally has no regards for anyone of the bat family. I said before for him bat family is just Bat, Cat and Helena and you can see here he doesn't even bring other family for the wedding just brings Clark and Louis. Seriously could fuck up a batman book more than this. Finally this shit show is over, if there is anyone who ruined Bat-Cat then it is Tom King. more

If I’m being honest, the score of 1 isn’t deserved for this issue, but it reflects my feelings on the entire series. Such a pointless and worthless series. I kept going even after I could see it was not good because I had gotten that far, but wow. When King is on, it’s good. When he seems like he is too proud of himself, it is this.

tom king is the most overrated comic book writer of all time. I read this series just so I can actually have hte credentials to critique it, and wow. Usually I say critics are right, but I dont know how critics can give this a positive review.

All the flashbacks to the past and flashforwards to the future dont matter at all, it all felt like a waste of time. This 12 issue series should have been a single one-shot to be honest. The dialogue is clunky and the art is mostly good.

overall, dont read this series. This entire series is a 3 out of 10, and thats because of the art. more

UHG!!! Who let's this idiot write Batman???

Such painfully pretentious melodramatic garbage!!

Art-wise- Flat, underdeveloped, rushed. But why bother wasting time fine-tuning art for a story this bad.

This is NOT Batman or Catwoman! I absolute hate the dialogue that King writes for these two. I'm not even sure who these imposters are, but i don't like them.
<br/>Keep Tom King AWAY from Batman!! more

PRIEST IS BACK!

The goat himself is once again setting the record straight for DC's villains; enough with the anti-hero bullshit, they are the bad guys! Sandoval's art is awesome, but I'm sure you already knew that before picking this up.

I think that the most divisive part of this issue is the new OC Malik Adam, who of course comes off as a snarky loudmouth (but remember ladies and gents, that's what character arcs are for!). His dialogue is pretty hilarious though (granted this is coming from a 19 year old).

The supporting cast was fun, and i'm still trying to figure out if Shep is an OC or from some ancient set of back issue Captain Marvel stories. Interesting set of characters at the end (a chef?), and the twist is pretty obvious but the murder mystery and death sentence plots will sustain me until next issue.

The pacing is wonderful, and I feel like I got my money's worth from this book.

Working on annotations as you read this... more

Only 4 issues in, I cannot recommend this book enough.

Hopefully it stays running this strong throughout.

A vast improvement over the previous issue.

Dan Mora's art continues to be magnificent.

There was so much wrong with this story, I don't even know where to begin!

This story is very pedestrian. There is nothing especially enjoyable about it, that warrants yet another Batman book on the market. The art looks rushed. The characters of Batman and villains feel off. Gary Whitta did little to no research before slopping out this story. This version of Penguin is especially trash.

This writer really does not get Batman at all, nor does he deserve to write him!

***EDIT***

It seems that this comic has attracted a very unstable reader with multiple accounts.
This person is hounding me under their various CBRU profiles. Seeing people behave like this over a cartoon book is absolutely pathetic.
more

The healthy approach to a comic book would be to have your expectations for it completely neutral, and your mind open. Obviously we're incapable of that, since we're only humans - driven by our prejudices, preferences and emotions. I was skeptical about this entire event, and I still am, but I'm willing to give it a fair chance instead of preemprively calling it a gimmicky publicy stunt. Even if iit kinda fits the description.
Point is, Dark Crisis seems like a competently told and drawn event and while I would not call it life changing and universe shattering, it may end up being a pretty entertaining blockbuster adventure. I'm glad I didn't have any expectations for it, for better or worse, because it managed to surprise me a bit and make a generally positive impression on me. So I say - give it a chance and see where it goes. It may implode halfway through, it may be quickly forgotten and retconned afterwards, it may be a beginning of a new era of DC Comics (again - for better or worse), or it may be just an entertaining popcorn spectacle and nothing more. We'll see. For now it was a pretty enjoyable read. more

It seems that Ed Brisson has done a bit more research to the Club of Heroes/Batman Incorporated characters than Joshua Williamson had. But Batman putting Ghost Maker in charge of Batman Inc just feels wrong. It's extremely contrived, and heavy-handed writing. I'm not sure who at DC felt this was a good idea? but it just doesn't work.

John Timms art is great. Some great action drawn. />This story however, just did not grab me. more

Here is the problem with the Batman, Inc. storyline: Ghost-Maker is a killer. Batman Issue #109, page 10 (June 2021)- quoting from Ghost-Maker himself: "I was eight years old when a psychologist put a name to what make me different. I am a Psychopath. I do not feel empathy or fear."

So you can't train crime fighters (as per the Batman, Inc. characters) not to kill and then have managed by a killer.

It would be no different if they were run by killer Harley Quinn, killer Deathstroke, etc.

It is an obvious conflict with the characters, the point of the characters, and the story and values of the Batman.killer characters by DC Comics is a plan to move away from hero comics and only be in the sci-fi and horror comics business.
--- "Ghost-Maker was the childhood friend turned rival of Batman. Having trained to become a vigilante, he took on more lethal means to fight crime and often worked off-grid."
--- "Bruce also recognized that Ghost-Maker lacked a sense of empathy, leading him to classify his former-friend as a psychopath."
https://batman.fandom.com/wiki/Ghost-Maker

Those who like this - enjoy the EC Comics Punisher editition of Batman Comics.

But it is not The Batman.

The reality is there are a lot of people in the DC Comics Batman books and management who really hate the idea of their top selling character The Batman. Luckily for them, most of the nation is not paying attention to any of this. They mistakently view this as "acceptance" or even "approval," when in fact, it is neither. At some point, the toxic values in current Batman writing will bubble up to video entertainment; we'll see how the masses respond then.
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This book is tough to review, it gets a lot right about Batman but so much wrong at the same time it is impossible to rate this above a 4.5, Batman being ok with people looting his city, is the dumbest take on Batman literally in 80 years of the character.

There is no reason for this comic to exist.

Sorry I wasted my time.

Remember Greta Van Fleet? Talented kids, for sure, but it's not the band itself I'd like to compare this comic to, but rather remind us all of one quote regarding their debut album, which was labeled "boomer fetishism". Whether it was an accurate criticism, or just a journalist hackery, I'll leave for personal interpretation, but either way it got stuck in my mind, and came back when I was reading this book. You know why? Because I felt like it actually commits similar "crime", but instead of fetishizing boomerisms, it fetishizes Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Now, there's nothing wrong with referencing classic comics nor trying to take what's there and tell your own continuation. But if you decide to do so, you should focus on YOUR story first and foremost, and there's very little of it to be found here. Granted, it's just the prologue to a bigger event, so I can't be too critical of it, but when I think about it, there's nothing outside the Dark Army itself that seems like something new. And even then, it's not something that would feel... inspiring and complelling, you know? Oldest trick in the book - when enemies get strong enough you can't think of anyone stronger, just make them unite and strike the heroes together. Dark Nights Metal worked, because it gave us good antagonists, even though most of them ended up being wasted. Crisis on Infinite Earths got a big memorable baddie too. Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night? You bet there was something more than just armies of endless cannon fodder.

But that's not really the worst part. What hurts me the most here is that I felt little to nothing while reading this book. Characters die, and that's it. It's not as terrible executed as, let's say, Superman's laughable death in Batman v Superman dumpsterfi... movie, I mean, but still, I cynically smirk thinking that they're going to come back to us very soon. It's comics, after all. We've seen Death of Superman, so no publicity stunt like this will work again, I guess. And even if they're dead for good in the main continuity, there's countless elseworlds that sales-wise perform better than main-line DC series.

Finally, considering the scale and "stakes" of this event, I dare to say its art left me pretty disappointed. Sandoval is a good artist, but he clearly needed more time to properly detail all the panels here, because overall, they look pretty rushed. Surely, glory days of DC's big events with Perez or Reis really doing some insanely intricate work are over.

Overall a meh/10. Nothing that would blow my mind either story or art-wise. It works as a semi decent prologue and its value will be measured once the story unravels properly. For now, there's not much of it other than obsessive fascination with Crisis on Infinite Earths. more

Batman: The Detective #1 - A Dark Knight in London
Writer: Tom Taylor | Artist: Andy Kubert | Publisher: DC Comics
KAEL NGU Variant Cover

Review ✍

Since I relaunched “GTMedia Reviews” as “I Review Comics”, the Batman titles I’ve reviewed have been hit and miss. I’m currently reviewing the tail end of Tom King’s run, as well as Joker: Puzzle box and Suicide Squad: Get Joker. Of the Bat-books, I’ve reviewed non have stood out as anything other than mediocre which is sad because:

A. Batman has always been one of my favorite Superheroes.

B. DC is producing so many books featuring the Bat-Family of characters.

Batman: The Detective by Tom Taylor and Andy Kubert is easily the best of the Bat titles I’ve reviewed recently. The story appears to be set in the future. I haven’t read the solicits for the title or any other reviews. I am not exactly sure of the background surrounding the series. I’m not even entirely sure this is Bruce Wayne in the suit.

This Batman may be Bruce Wayne, but since no one mentions him by name so I won’t assume. In any case, the character is jaded by events that the series isn’t clear about and focuses on taking Batman in a new direction away from the status quo (Gotham City, Wayne Manor, Etc.).

The book follows Batman as he investigates a terrorist attack on a plane that leaves over 100 people dead and one of his allies, Beryl Hutchinson A.K.A. Knight critically injured. The opening action sequence is over the top and beautifully rendered by Kubert. It sets the tone of the series and also raises some interesting questions. Why are the bad guys wearing Batman cowls?

In addition to wild action, the supporting cast is surprisingly strong. In addition to Knight, Squire is another interesting character that reminded me a lot of Robin without being a ripoff.

I am interested in seeing where this story leads without having much knowledge of the series getting into it. I am curious about how Batman got to this point and excited to see Tom and Andy’s take on these heroes and villains. The issue is dynamic, has a lot of energy, and doesn’t feel like it's written with a Trade Paperback in mind.

In Short: Sometimes a comic just work and Batman: The Detective #1 is one of them.

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Why DC aproves this terribles batbooks?

Williamson is such a mediocre writer. This was a real nothing burger.

Absolutely no interest in reading the next issue.

well they killed aquaman in the first issue so what even is the point of reading any more

We really don't need so many captions.

I am so glad that Tamaki only has a couple of months left on Detective and Sina Grace should never write Gotham Girl again!

A few months ago I reviewed Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls, a one-shot clearly inspired by Mirage Studios and the original incarnation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Drawing Blood #1 was initially released as a companion to the RRRR one-shot. It does something I've never seen in my 20+ years of reading comics. It builds a fictional setting within another fictional setting.

Drawing Blood feels like a semi-autobiographical take on Kevin Eastmans' life and career as a comic book creator and publisher. I'm pretty sure a lot of the story is fabricated as in most comic book fiction is but it would be interesting to dissect just how much of Eastman's truth is in this book.

The comic follows Shane Bookman, Co-Creator of Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls. The book takes place after the rights to the characters were sold and _ has fallen on hard times. It doesn't help that his partner commits suicide leaving a 2 million debt that Shane is being held accountable for.

What I really liked about the issue is the meta-narrative. Retroactively this comic makes RRRR better. You see the inspiration there and when reading together, it makes Drawing Blood sort of a mindfuck. At one point in the comic, you see an advertisement for the Ragdolls movie and its surreal because you're more than likely reading this book knowing the history of TMNT just how big it was at one point.

The dialogue is also a lot of fun. The exchanges between characters come off as silly at times but it's not overblown and never hinders the book.

Toward the end of the book, it's mentioned that Drawing Blood was originally conceived as a movie or television series. I can see it becomes the book reads and is paced like a TV show.


There is also a surprising amount of action here. I doubt Kevin Eastman was involved in shootouts and drug deals in the 90s but after reading Drawing Blood I'm 100% sure. There's a lot of variety in this issue and it allows Ben Bishop to show off his abilities as a storyteller. There's a fair amount of sex, violence, drugs and straight-up flashbacks to the Mirage Studio house style of art. It all adds up to a book that feels like a legit passion project instead of a cash grab.

There is a lot to love here and although it's off of the beath path Drawing Blood #1 is a solid read and when reading along with RRRR it makes an enjoyable experience even better. more

TMNT #108 brings the "Slithery" arc to a close. Questions are raised and answered and we get further insight into what the hell is going on with Baxter Stockman.

There isn't any urgency to the plot or its advancement. The art continues to improve as the arc goes on but it's still not great or enough to slow my growing apathy with the current direction of the series. I've reviewed every issue of TMNT since issue #80 and I'm nearly at the point of dropping the title from my pull list. The book isn't horrible but it feels wrong and I'm not even looking forward to new releases anymore. It's also pretty annoying when you get a TMNT comic and the guys aren't even on the cover.

Sophie Campbell can be a great writer but I feel that she's just winging it right now. On top of the mediocre writing, the once tight editing for the series is gone as the dialogue gets mixed up again and Leo once again gets mixed up with Mikey.

I'll stick around for a few more issues but if the series continues to meander I may have to drop TMNT from the review schedule altogether in 2021. I hate posting shallow reviews but there isn't really much here to talk about and even if I did go in-depth I'd just be wasting your time. If you're a fan of the series you may be interested for completionist purposes. For everyone else, you aren't really missing anything right now.


Rating: 7/10 more

Batman #69 - Why is Bane Naked?
Writer: Tom King | Artist: Yanick Paquette
Cover by Francisco Mattina

Review ✍

Tom King’s Knightmares is a very weird story arc. It doesn’t start with a bang, doesn’t have any shocking reveals and there isn’t much of a climax. The arc just ends like sex in a loveless marriage.

As this issue progresses we get more “Bat-Simp” as Bruce uses his connection to Selina to pull himself from under the influence of Scarecrows fear toxins. This aspect of the comic is written as a below-average romance with Bruce pining after a woman that left him at the altar. The fact that even in a dream Bruce can’t get the girl without groveling is kinda pathetic.

While Batman slumbers on, the rest of the issue hones in on the blooming alliance between Thomas Wayne (Flashpoint Batman) and Bane. This story is more interesting than the Bat-Cat stuff which is way to melodramatic but also has its weird shortcoming in that the two characters spar and Bane is naked throughout their scenes together. There’s no real reason for Bane to be naked here and the fact that Thomas Wayne is smiling through much of this exchange is weird.

The variant cover by Francesco Mattina is fantastic. The art from Yanick Paquette is gorgeous in spots and utterly bizarre in others. The nostalgic takes on Bruce and Selina are a nice touch as they dance through the comic but these moments don’t make up for the odd sequences in this issue or storyline. It’s as if Knightmares was a throwaway storyline designed to fleece Batman readers who were looking for any sort of resolution to the Bat/Cat storyline.

At a glance, there are some brief moments of imagination in the Knightmares storyline. The silent issue of #68 comes to mind as well as the Professor Pyg fight in issue #62. Those comics worked because Tom King was able to get out of his way and let Lee Weeks and Mitch Gerads do the heavy lifting artistically. The rest of the storyline had no clear direction and even the ending feels Low-T.

I can’t see a new reader picking up this graphic novel and seeing it as a definitive take on any of these characters which is a shame because like comics, dreams are only limited by imagination.

In Short: After 6 issues of Knightmares, I’m still trying to figure out the point of it all.

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I’m not a fan of current year politics in my entertainment. It’s not because I’m conservative or closed-minded. The problem tends to boil down to writer's virtue signaling to a hot button issue that they aren’t equipped to discuss with the complexity, nuance, and maturity needed to sway an audience one way or another.

I do lean conservative so take this review with a grain of salt. However, I did grow up in a Democratic household and can usually relate to topical arguments as long as they are presented in good faith. I mention my political leanings to say that “I Am Batman #0 opens with one of the most ridiculous sequences I’ve ever read in a comic book.

The comic opens with a confrontation between the GCPD and a group of “peaceful protestors”. The situation seems to be escalating on both sides of the conflict as protestors begin throwing projectiles and the Cops begin to move in. Whether you’re on the side of the Cops or the protestors is irrelevant. The scene is written clumsily and gets worst when the lead officer is fired for doing his job. Commissioner Montoya says that “People hate cops but cops don’t hate people”. No context is given for why the police were at the protest in the first place and the only impression left to take is that Police bad, protests/riots are good.

Once the weird opening segment is out of the way we’re presented with a flashback to Tim Fox’s time in Japan before changing his name to Jace. It turns out this is his war name and his primary motivation is to Fight “The System”. The book flashes to the present day and we see Jace’s first attempt to break into the Batman armor. He sees people like Bruce and his Father as thinking they are above the law and wants to use the technology to show them that their strengths can be turned against them.While repurposing the armor, Jace is informed of a false flag operation to infiltrate the protest group and turn it into a full-blown riot to justify government forces moving in. This aspect of the story is the most interesting and should be relatable no matter your position on the nation's current political climate.

The book ends with Jace Fox hacking the Bat-suit and showing up at the protests. He’s able to take down the provocateurs but amid the chaos, he’s targeted by the cops due to his vigilante status. The incident also goes viral as protestors unaware of the False Flag get a glimpse of Batman attacking protestors.I am honestly confused about why anyone thought this pitch was a good idea. Jace Fox has daddy and identity issues. He changed his name from Tim to Jace to solidify his place as a revolutionary. He’s also using the Bat-suit to repurpose what Batman stands for. It’s an odd foundation for a series that I don’t believe comes off as the Ridley is intending.

The series feels like there was a mandate in the DC office to create a Black Batman that had little to no ties to Bruce Wayne or the Bat-Family. The downside to this story is that it feels like Jace is stealing Bruce’s gear and identity to work out the issues with his own.

I think the story would have been better served by Jace taking the Wayne/Fox tech and carving out his own identity. We’ve had a similar storyline in the past when James Rhodes transitioned to War Machine over at Marvel. Even then, James had a long history with Tony before he ever wore the armor.


Duke Thomas seems like the perfect candidate to take on the Batman Mantle if DC was hard up to have a Black Batman. Putting Jace in the role feels wrong. Jace doesn’t benefit from an established relationship with Bruce or the Bat-Family which makes this entire scenario seem off.

In Short: There are some bright spots to the issue but the foundation of the series is flawed. I cannot recommend this series at this time. more