PCS Podcast: Hulk 12 (click to play, right click to download) | Subscribe to PCS Podcast feed

As always, email us your questions or comments at pcs@popcultureshock.com or give us a call at 1-888-817-5766 and we’ll address your feedback on the next show.

PCS Podcast: Amazing Spider-Man 594 (click to play, right click to download) | Subscribe to PCS Podcast feed

As always, email us your questions or comments at pcs@popcultureshock.com or give us a call at 1-888-817-5766 and we’ll address your feedback on the next show.

PCS Podcast: Fantastic Four 566 (click to play, right click to download) | Subscribe to PCS Podcast feed

As always, email us your questions or comments at pcs@popcultureshock.com or give us a call at 1-888-817-5766 and we’ll address your feedback on the next show.

Steven T. Seagle and Tim Sale’s The Amazon is an interesting tale, both from a story perspective and a historical one. It began life in 1989 at publisher Comico. This was a huge surprise to me, as I’d off-handedly assumed that Seagle got his start writing X-Men for Marvel. Regardless, The Amazon was their attempt at the comic books for adults that were arriving back in the day.

The Amazon was intended to raise some awareness about the deforestation of the Amazon rain forest via comic books. The narrator of the story is a journalist, Malcolm Hilliard, looking for a story. He finds his story in the form of an American man who has gone native with the local tribesmen and begun sabotaging the equipment. Hilliard plays the role of skeptic, refusing to believe in the superstitions of the local workers, and seeker of truth.

The original run of Amazon was colored, but this re-issue has been re-colored by Matt Hollingsworth, who does a fascinating job of making the Tim Sale of 20 years ago look similar to the Sale of 2009. The color scheme ranges from vibrant, but subdued, jungle to gloomy sunsets. Hollingsworth is one of the industry’s all-time greats, and was a great choice over Sale’s pencils.

I’m not sure how much, if any, reconstruction went on with Tim Sale’s pencils and inks for the re-issue, but the art is still sharp. The book is largely made up of detailed landscapes and talking heads, and Sale does a solid job of rendering it all. He sells the expressions on the faces of the suspicious foreman, drinking workmen, and Hilliard.

Sale also does some fairly cool storytelling and panel composition work. The majority of the book is made up of horizontal panels, maybe four to a page on average. When we finally get to see our renegade American, the composition switches to page-tall vertical panels, emulating the experience of looking between trees in the jungle. There is also a particularly good panel that has a character hidden in the jungle, visible only by figuring out that a certain shadow isn’t.

Seagle’s done a solid job on the writing. The storytelling is separated into three tiers. There’s the standard dialogue, Hilliard’s internal monologue, and his article. The three intermix and coexist, and build an interesting picture of both Hilliard’s personality and distance between his own thoughts and how he approaches journalism.

The story definitely feels like the first chapter in a longer story, and may read better in trade, but this first issue is far from poor. Seagle does a good job building up the main character, setting up the conflicts, and even sneaking in a bit of education regarding the Amazon without coming across overly preachy.

I dug the first issue, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the series shakes out. If I hadn’t been told, I never would’ve guessed it was close to twenty years old. It’s well worth a look. Issue #2 of The Amazon comes out on Wednesday. Grab the first two at your local comic shop. I doubt that you’ll be disappointed.

The Cream of Tank Girl, by Alan Martin & Jamie Hewlett
176 pages, hardcover
Price: $29.95
ISBN: 9781845769420

I feel like if you’ve ever seen Jamie Hewlett’s artwork, it definitely made an impression on you. Whether you discovered him via the Gorillaz or Tank Girl, his distinctive style is the kind that draws you in and keeps you interested. It’s spawned movies, music, and live shows, keeping him popular twenty years.

Tank Girl is probably what put Hewlett on the map, though, and that brings us to Cream of Tank Girl. Tank Girl’s twenty years old and still going, even after movies, novels, comics, and graphic novels. Cream of Tank Girl takes those twenty years, organizes them, and throws them right into your face in 150+ pages of great art, interesting commentary, and exclusive strips.

Hewlett’s artwork is as amazing as ever, as the creepily cool cover shows, and makes the book worth the purchase all on its own. His cartoony and expressive figures are fun and his backgrounds are that special kind of busy where you just want to spend time going over them and looking for in-jokes.

Cream of Tank Girl does a great job of both putting Tank Girl in context for newbies and making for an interesting and informative read for vets. It’s all presented in a handsome and well-designed hardback, which makes a book for the collection. If you know anyone who is into Tank Girl, or punk-y sort of things, this is the easiest, and best put-together, book you’ll find.

The Spirit: The Movie Visual Companion, by Mark Cotta Vaz
256 pages, hardcover
Price: $30.00
ISBN: 9781845768324

The Spirit debuted over Christmas weekend, and The Spirit: The Movie Visual Companion features tons of behind the scenes information for the interested movie-goer.

Mark Cotta Vaz, author of dozens of other making of-style books (including The Incredibles and Batman Begins), has put together a very handsome coffee table book that’s worth being a part of anyone’s collection, from movie buff to comic fiend. He’s packed it with exclusive art, background information, concept art, storyboards, script excerpts, and tons of other things that offer you a look behind the veil of how movies are made.

The Spirit has been a somewhat controversial amongst comics fans, due mostly to the distinct visual style that director Frank Miller is using. He’s using the same green-screen technique that he and Robert Rodriguez used on Sin City, and some worry that the tone is too serious or overwrought for Will Eisner’s creation. The Movie Visual Companion gives the curious fan the perfect look at the film, and the vast interviews will probably help to allay those fears a bit.

Writer: Brain Michael Bendis
Pencils: Billy Tan and Michael Gaydos
Inks: Matt Banning and Michael Gaydos

The following review is excerpted from Comic Book Revolution (click here to read CBR’s full review)

Art: 5/10
Story: 4/10
Overall: 4.5/10

The Good

Let’s see. What was enjoyable about this issue? Well, this is the last Secret Invasion tie-in issue that we will have to suffer through on New Avengers. That is most definitely a positive thing.

Also, New Avengers #47 does catch Luke at a seminal moment in his life where the fact of him becoming a father and having to take care of his own child makes him examine his relationship with his own father. This is actually an incredibly realistic and common reaction to becoming a parent. Bendis does succeed in properly conveying the heady mixture of excitement and fear of being a new parent . And naturally, new parents begin to gain a better understanding of their own parents.

This issue offers offer a candid look into Luke’s relationship (or lack thereof) with his father. And the flashback scene showed me a more appealing Luke Cage that had a bit more depth than the stereotype that Bendis usually gives us when writing Cage. As far as a Luke Cage story goes, this was a pretty solid little tale. However, I would still criticize it for being way too slow and dull.

The Bad

However, the fact is, and I confirmed it once again by looking at the cover, that this is New Avengers #47 and not Luke Cage Special #1. And since this is an issue of the New Avengers I do actually expect an Avengers related story that actually stars the Avengers. I know that may make me sound like a raving lunatic and a madman, but I stand by that statement.

And that is the biggest flaw with New Avengers #47 and it has been a reoccurring defect on this title. I cannot be the only person who honestly purchases an issue of the New Avengers with the expectation of reading an Avengers story starring all of the Avengers. Or at least a good portion of them.

Instead, Bendis gives the reader yet another in an extremely long line of spot-light issues where he focuses solely on one or two characters. And the real reason for that is because Bendis cannot write a team title. And deep down inside Bendis knows that. Bendis’ strengths lie in solo titles like Ultimate Spider-Man and Daredevil. That is where his writing style flourishes and produces wonderful reads.

However, on team titles, Bendis crumbles under the weight of having to deal with more than two characters. Bendis is simply not capable of juggling a large roster of characters. And Bendis is not able to properly plot short-term, mid-range and long-term plotlines that involve all the members of the team like writers like DnA are able to do over on Guardians of the Galaxy.

New Avengers #47 is rather boring and dull for long stretches at a time. There is absolutely no action at all. And that is fine as long as the story offers a dense plot with strong character work and dialogue. However, that is most certainly not the case with New Avengers #47. For the most part this is an extremely talky issue where most of the dialogue borders on mere rambling.

I continue to be summarily unimpressed with how Bendis writes Luke Cage. With the exception of a few moments in the flashback scene when Luke tries to see his father, I find Bendis’ Luke Cage unappealing. Ever since the events of Civil War, Bendis has written Cage as being dumb and a bit of a crud.

We have seen Luke kicking women in the vagina. We have seen Luke place his wife and baby daughter in danger over and over due to his pride of not wanting to be registered. We have seen Luke being verbally abusive and physically threatening toward his wife. And we have seen Luke cursing in front of his baby daughter. Bendis has succeeded in making Luke look like a classless guy.

And Bendis seemed to go a bit overboard with making Luke the stereotypical dumb and clueless new dad. Luke refers to his daughter as “it.” I have never heard a new dad do something that dumb. It gets tiring that men are almost always portrayed as the idiot new parents while the mother is somehow genetically predisposed to know everything about being a parent. The scene would have been funnier if it had been Luke, the big bad tough guy, correcting Jessica about how to hold the baby, soothe the baby, etc.

New Avengers #47 was an extremely boring and dull issue to look at. And much of that blame is placed on Bendis since he did nothing at all in this story with the artists in mind. It is incumbent upon the writer to try and think of some scenes that can showcase the artist’s talent or that would be fun for the artist to draw. That is not the case in this issue as it seems the majority of the pages are the standard 9 panels per page layout. For the most part, this issue was nothing but static talking heads.

Overall

New Avengers #47 was nothing more than pure filler. It was blatantly obvious that Bendis was just stalling and wasting panel space until Secret Invasion concluded so that the Dark Reign plotlines could be kicked off in full force. Unless you are a huge Luke Cage fan, there is absolutely no reason at all to waste your money on this issue.

For more reviews, scans, story recaps and news visit Comic Book Revolution!

Writer: Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Leinel Yu
Inks: Mark Morales

The following review is excerpted from Comic Book Revolution — click here to read CBR’s full recap & review

Art: 6/10
Story: 3/10
Overall: 4.5/10

The Good

What a fittingly unimpressive finish to an over-hyped, over-blown and unoriginal big event. Having said that, there were several positives to come out of Secret Invasion #8. I am glad that Henry Pym, Dum Dum Dugan, Fontaine and Jarvis are all alive and well. I like each of those characters, in particular Henry Pym, and I was not thrilled when they all turned out to be Skrulls.

I have enjoyed how Bendis has handled Nick Fury’s character throughout Secret Invasion and all of the various tie-in issues. And my enjoyment of Bendis’ handling of Fury continues with Secret Invasion #8. I thought it was a great move by Bendis to have Nick Fury give Dum Dum and Fontaine the cold shoulder and simply teleport away from the scene without a word. It certainly seems that Marvel is making Nick Fury their version of Batman since Nick is the resident trust-nobody dick.

This scene was a great way to establish the fact that Nick Fury is going to assume a position on the fringe and operate independent of every other agency and group in the 616 universe. This scene was a subtle yet proper segue into Nick Fury’s new direction in the Marvel Universe on Secret Warriors where Nick is going to work in the shadows and outside of the law and government in order to combat Norman Osborn’s Thunderbolts and the cabal of villains that we saw at the end of this issue.

Of course, it will come as no surprise to any regular Revolution readers that what I enjoyed the most about Secret Invasion #8 was that Marvel finally removed Tony Stark from overseeing the Initiative and removed him as the Director of SHIELD. Thank God.

I have been not so patiently waiting for this moment since the minute Marvel completely screwed over Tony’s character during Civil War. Hopefully, writers like Bendis can now leave Tony alone and Iron Man fans can get back to enjoying a more entertaining and classic version of Iron Man that is true to his roots and his continuity.

Bendis did a fine job setting Norman Osborn up as the “hero” of the Skrull invasion in the eyes of the media by allowing Osborn to get the dramatic kill shot on the Skrull Queen. I absolutely love that Marvel is sliding everything under the direction of Norman Osborn. It is an excellent decision to place the Avengers, the Fifty-State Initiative and SHIELD’s old jurisdiction and duties under the Thunderbolts Initiative and under Osborn’s singular control.

Osborn is a wonderful classic Marvel villain and is the perfect character to place in charge of an “evil” government agency. And writers can now easily and relentlessly kick around Norman Osborn without having to resort to distorting his character like they have been doing with Tony Stark over the past couple of years.

The ending to Secret Invasion, while anti-climactic, without a doubt serves as a great lead-in to the next big event in Dark Reign. The fact that Norman Osborn has gathered together a cabal of villains is of no surprise at all. However the members were a bit surprising.

Doctor Doom was a predictable choice. The Hood was also painfully predictable since that is one of Bendis’ pet creations. Namor was a bit of a surprise. However, Namor has always straddled that line between hero and villain so I like his insertion into this group. Emma Frost was most definitely a surprise. This cabal of villains is an interesting flipside of the Illuminati.

In the end, the best aspect of Secret Invasion #8 has nothing to do with Secret Invasion itself. Instead, it is the next event in Dark Reign and all the titles that will spin out of the aftermath of Secret Invasion. Dark Reign, while not a terribly novel or surprising concept, most certainly has the potential to be an entertaining event that should spawn plenty of enjoyable stories.

I am certainly excited about several of the titles spinning out of Secret Invasion. I am looking forward to Agents of Atlas. This is an intriguing collection of characters and this title should provide plenty of enjoyable action adventure stories.

I am also looking forward to Secret Warriors covering Nick Fury and his newbie metahuman recruits. I have enjoyed how Bendis has handled Fury’s character up to this point and I have always thought that placing Bendis on a Nick Fury title would be a good idea. And the best part is that Bendis will be co-writing Secret Warriors with Jonathan Hickman. I hope this means that Bendis can help with plotting but leave the actual dialogue to Hickman which should help with Bendis’ obvious weakness with writing team titles.

Bendis will be kicking off a new title called Dark Avengers. While I have little interest in Dark Avengers and I question the need for a third Avengers title, the good news of Dark Avengers is that it means that Bendis will be leaving Mighty Avengers to write Dark Avengers.

And the even better news is that Dan Slott will be taking over Mighty Avengers. I am beyond ecstatic. Finally, we might actually get an Avengers title that focuses on the Avengers. And Slott is a wonderful choice to handle this team title. This title should dramatically improve. Now if we could just get Bendis off of New Avengers then I would be in heaven.

The Bad

Secret Invasion has had a paint-by-numbers feel to it since the beginning and the finale was thin, dull and predictable. It seemed like Bendis had his standard issue checklist that he got from his Big Events 101 class and simply went right down it and checked off each plotline that had to be concluded.

The biggest technical flaw to Secret Invasion #8 was the horrible decision by Bendis to deliver this final “climactic” issue in the past tense via narration from two off panel characters. This passive technique robs the issue of any energy and also removes the reader from the immediacy of the scenes as we know that everything has already been wrapped up and the Skrulls have been defeated. Instead of the reader feeling like they are experiencing the action live and as it is happening, the reader feels like they are watching the events in this issue on television in a documentary done well after the events have concluded.

I was largely unmoved by Janet’s death. It was not particularly interesting, well developed or dramatic. And Janet did not die in a particularly heroic fashion. And the impact of Janet’s threat as a last resort doomsday device was a total failure since Thor was able to dispatch her with relative ease and in short order.

I guess Bendis felt like he had to kill someone in this final issue and that Bendis chose Janet since her death would have “impact” since she is an original Avenger. And also that Janet’s death would not set off a fury of protests from fans since Janet has never been a particularly popular character with your average reader.

The ending to the war with the Skrulls was so rushed and way too easy. And the worst part was that we saw very little fighting at all. Instead, we simply saw the aftermath of the heroes dismantling the Skrull Armada. The vast majority of how the heroes won was simply told to the reader by the two off-panel voices narrating this issue. This was about as unexciting a victory in a war story that I have read.

The revelation that all the heroes and SHIELD agents who had been replaced by Skrulls were alive and well on one of the Skrull ships was another far too convenient ending to that plotline. The excuse that the technology that allowed the Skrulls to perfectly replicate a human required the Skrulls to keep that human alive seemed like a bit of a cheat. Similarly, the resolution to the disaster over at the Baxter Building was also too easy and convenient.

Now, I am a big fan of Hawkeye so I am glad that Mockingbird is not actually dead. I guess that Bendis has felt guilty for mishandling Hawkeye ever since he took over the Avengers that Bendis felt the need to give Clint the gift of having his wife back. But, the fact remains that I could have cared less about Mockingbird coming back to life or not. This had little impact on me. Honestly, has anyone been clamoring for Mockingbird to be brought back to life?

And Mockingbird being brought back makes me wonder just how far back do these Skrull replacements go? Mockingbird died in West Coast Avengers #100 and that was in 1993. So does Marvel now have a get out of death card for any character that died in the Marvel Universe since 1993?

I love how somehow Bendis has Thor blame everything on Tony. Bendis went so overboard with his misrepresentation of Tony Stark’s character and Thor’s condemnation of Tony was so heavy handed that this scene became absolutely laughable and comical.

Tony’s reaction in the scene with Maria Hill during Norman’s press conference was also just silly and out of character. All Tony does is just sit there in the dark in a chair and all he is able to utter is “What?” Please, Tony has never been presented in this fashion. Tony is a ultra-Type A personality with a mind that never stops calculating his next several moves.

(And another problem with this scene is that we have already seen during the Knaufs’ run on Iron Man: Director of SHIELD how much Tony hated running SHIELD and how he often wished that he could leave it all and return to running his own company. Tony also had already been placed under arrest by the government and stripped of his command of SHIELD during the Knaufs run. Tony had been expecting at some point for the government to end up replacing him. So, Tony’s speechless reaction by Bendis simply exposed Bendis for his lack of knowledge of anything going on outside of his own titles and his obvious lack of research before writing this issue.)

In the end, I found Secret Invasion’s ending to be an incredibly small payoff given the amount of hype and the length and scope of this big event. Even though I like the concept of Dark Reign and the possibilities that it presents with the various new titles and the general direction for the Marvel Universe, this was still an incredibly underwhelming payoff for such an overblown and overhyped event like Secret Invasion.

The long and the short of it was that the entire point of Secret Invasion was so Norman Osborne would be put in control of SHIELD’s jurisdiction, the Avengers and the Fifty-State Initiative and then, in turn, Norman would gather his own cabal of villains. Honestly, Marvel did not need to waste time going through all the ridiculously silly machinations of Secret Invasion just to get to this point. It is like using a flamethrower to light your portable barbeque grill.

Dark Reign could have been easily put in place in a much faster and easier fashion. The Knaufs already hinted during their run on Iron Man: Director of SHIELD how tenuous Tony’s position as the Director of SHIELD was. It would have been easy for the President to fire Tony since the Avengers and SHIELD continuously failed and/or refused to bring in unregistered heroes when they clearly had an opportunity to do so.

I would have found Dark Reign much cooler of an idea if it had been brought into place by something not as overly hyped as Secret Invasion. Marvel built up Secret Invasion so much that the pay-off of Osborne being in control of SHIELD’s old jurisdiction and the Initiative and forming a cabal of villains was anti-climactic and nothing particularly surprising in the least bit. Dark Reign is a rather predictable direction that most readers felt Marvel was going to move toward a long time ago.

Lastly, I am simply not a fan of Leinel Yu and Mark Morales style of artwork. All in all, Secret Invasion was not the prettiest looking big event that I have seen. Having said that, many readers love Yu’s style of art and surely they will enjoy the look of Secret Invasion #8 much more than me.

Overall

In the end, Secret Invasion event was shallow, poorly paced, sloppily plotted, often lacked internal logic and at points suffered from poor research. I am sure it will be quickly forgotten.

But, let’s take this opportunity to focus on the positive aspects of this new direction of the Marvel Universe that Dark Reign presents. While not that original or earth-shattering of an idea, it still should provide for some entertaining stories.

I do appreciate that Marvel was able to crank out Secret Invasion without any real delays. The way that Marvel handled the shipping schedule of Secret Invasion and all of the various tie-in issues was impressive. And without a doubt, some of the Secret Invasion tie-in issues were quite compelling reads that overshadowed Secret Invasion itself.

Also, while I might not agree with everything Joey Q does, that Marvel certainly has a clear direction and purpose in mind with each big event and how they lead into the next big event and the way that they impact the Marvel Universe. Marvel carefully plots out their goals and stays focused and committed to their decisions and to the direction that they are headed in. That is something that DC could learn to do.

For more reviews, scans, story recaps and news visit Comic Book Revolution!

Writer: Grant Morrison
Pencils: Tony Daniel
Inks: Sandu Florea

The following review is excerpted from Comic Book Revolution — click here to read CBR’s full recap & review

Art: 9/10
Story: 8/10
Overall: 8.5/10

The Good

At first blush, I thought that this issue delivered an incredibly anti-climactic ending. However, after the third reading I have to say that my opinion has changed drastically. Practically every line of dialogue and narration has a meaning that requires the reader to carefully navigate the story and stop to investigate the clues from each line.

Morrison finally reveals how all of his stories on Batman beginning with Morrison’s Batman story in 52 all tie together. All the previous plotlines and story arcs slide together in a pleasant fashion as everything finally makes sense. Morrison is actually rather straight forward in his explanations in this issue compared to some of his other work.

Morrison reveals the reason why Bruce wanted to undergo the Thorgal ritual during 52: to savor death so that he could experience every eventuality. This fits in with Morrison’s take on Batman in that he is a man driven beyond all sanity in order to be able to handle anything that might come his way. And death was about the only last experience that Bruce had not prepared for so the Thorgal ritual was a logical final step by Bruce to experience everything that a human possibly can. Also, by having Bruce experience death during the Thorgal ritual and then eliminate all of his fear and doubt Morrison prepared the way for Bruce to “die” in this RIP story and still find a way to survive.

I continue to enjoy how Morrison writes the Joker. This is one of my favorite versions of the Joker. Morrison reveals that the Joker has been literally driven insane by Batman in the Joker’s attempt to get the Batman to loosen up. Normally, writers show how the Joker’s madness has impacted Batman’s psyche. This scene offers the reader a unique look at the psychological war between Joker and Batman from the other perspective as we see how Batman has driven Joker crazy. This scene shows that Batman is as adept at psychological wars as the Joker.

Batman #681 was basically the thesis statement on Morrison’s view of Batman’s character. Morrison has always presented Batman as a force of will personified. Morrison’s Batman is always in control and plans for absolutely anything and everything.

This take on Batman’s character is clearly presented in the scene with Batman in the coffin and in the flashback scene. The way that Batman so calmly extricates himself from the shallow grave was vintage Morrison Batman. And the way that Bruce, out of a force of habit, switches the cups of tea in the flashback scene and then reveals that he carries antidotes for any toxins that he is not immune to was also typical Morrison.

While the showdown between Dr. Hurt and Batman might not have been as dramatic and intense as I was expecting, it was still well done. I do not believe that Dr. Hurt is Thomas Wayne.

Now, Dr. Hurt is either simply the doctor who “became” the hole in Bruce’s memory due to the psychic implants. Or Dr. Hurt is literally the Devil. In Bruce’s final entry into the black casebook he admits that his attempt to see into the deepest dark and into the heart of the storm of madness that he discovered some pure source of evil. That he found the Devil himself.

The Devil also appears in the plotline involving the Black Glove movie made by John Mayhew. It seems that Morrison might have been inspired by David Lynch’s Inland Empire where Lynch deals with a movie where all the actors and the director were all killed and that the movie itself was said to be cursed by the Devil. We learn that the actors and the director of Mayhew’s movie are all either dead, missing or insane. We also learn that it is said that the Devil himself cursed the movie. This points to the possibility that the Devil is indeed either Dr. Hurt or that the Black Glove works for the Devil.

In the final moment of the scene with Hurt and Bruce we see Bruce’s black glove smashing through the helicopter window just before the helicopter crashes. I have to wonder if maybe Morrison is alluding to the fact that by coming into contact with a pure source of evil that Bruce has become his own greatest enemy. That Bruce is somehow connected to the Black Glove. After all, Bruce does wonder in the flashback scene if in his attempt to do only good that he has only managed to make things worse. Bruce wonders that maybe unconsciously he has been his own worst enemy.

Now I do have a really insane idea that maybe the Devil is Darkseid. After all, Darkseid is considered to be a pure source of evil. And the monk’s eyes turn red which suggests that he is under the control of Darkseid. That would open the possibility for Dr. Hurt to be Desaad in human form.

Maybe Darkseid has targeted Batman as a serious threat in his ability to take over Earth during Final Crisis. That Bruce’s knowledge of death and pure evil from the Thogul ritual would allow him to come up with a way to defeat the Anti-life equation and Darkseid’s effort to make Earth into a new Apokolips. That would explain why Bruce said that when he saw the Devil that there was fear in his eyes. This could be a hint that Darkseid is afraid of Batman ruining his plans over in Final Crisis.

Okay, enough of my crazy speculating. Let’s talk about the most “stunning” revelation in Batman’s 70 year history. And that is that Morrison has Hurt state that Thomas and Martha Wayne were not a victim of some random street crime. That instead, that Thomas and Martha Wayne were the target of a hit. Morrison suggests that the Black Glove hired Joe Chill to kill Thomas, Martha and Bruce. And that, evidently, Joe Chill lost his nerve that night and was unable to kill Bruce.

It is likely that the Black Glove invited Thomas and Martha Wayne to join them. And it follows that when Thomas Wayne rejected their offer that the Black Glove decided to kill him, his wife and his son. Therefore, it follows that the Black Glove created the Batman. And now the Black Glove wants their creation for themselves. And that if they cannot have the Batman then they will destroy him.

Hurt makes a point of asking Bruce to swear to serve the Black Glove in return for Hurt not distributing the lies about Thomas, Martha and Alfred to the Gotham media. And once Bruce spurns Hurt’s offer, Hurt then curses Bruce’s cape and cowl and states that the last time that Bruce wears them will be his last. And of course, earlier in this scene we saw Hurt trying to activate one of his last implants in Bruce’s mind by commanding Bruce to give up being Batman. Clearly, the Black Glove feels that Batman is their weapon and that if they cannot control him then they want him destroyed.

I enjoyed how Morrison had all of Batman’s allies rushing to his aide. And the best part was that Morrison had Dick being the first ally to arrive at Bruce’s side. The first Robin deserves that honor. And I liked how Batman acknowledges how Dick never lets him down. There is no doubt that Batman has plenty of faith in Tim, but Dick will always be the son that he expects the most from.

Morrison ends Batman #681 with a nice lead in to the Battle for the Cowl story arc. We see Nightwing physically removed from the rest of Bruce’s allies and holding Bruce’s cape and cowl. This was a powerful image that seems to suggest that Dick will be the winner in the Battle for the Cowl story. The six month later scene with Le Bossu also hints to the reader that whoever wins the battle for the cowl carries on the mantle of the Batman.

I loved how Talia uses her ninja Man-Bats to take out Jezebel. You just do not mess with Talia’s man!

Finally, I liked the epilogue at the end of this issue. We see how Bruce is inspired at a young age by Zorro, a crime-fighter clad in black. Bruce’s wondering about a modern day Zorro in Gotham prompts Thomas Wayne to state that “The sad thing is that they’d probably throw someone like Zorro in Arkham.” We then see a black panel with the word “Zur-En-Arrh” in red and backwards. Now, this might sound crazy, but is it possible that Zur-En-Arrh means Zorro in Arkham?

The Bad

Again, the same criticisms of earlier issues of RIP will apply to Batman #681 as well. If you do not enjoy Morrison’s style of writing then there is little chance that you will dig Batman #681. This is another issue full of Morrison’s typical metaphysical musings.

Many readers will also find the ending to Batman #681 to be incredibly anti-climactic and disappointing. I certainly had much higher expectations for this finale that what Morrison delivered. Instead of getting the most “shocking” reveal in 70 years on Batman the reader got the most over-hyped reveal in 70 years on Batman.

And some readers will likely feel cheated that the real conclusion to what happens to Batman will occur in Final Crisis and not RIP. Many readers will probably feel that the conclusion to Batman’s fate should have been carried out during RIP itself.

Another criticism of the ending is that Morrison employed a common and recycled ending by having the helicopter explode and no bodies being found. This is such a predictable and often used type of ending that the reader has seen so many times before. The ending to this issue simply felt a bit weak compared to the rest of RIP.

Another problem with RIP is that the general basis for the story of having Bruce retire from being Batman is repetitious and unoriginal. At the end of RIP I got a feeling that was too similar to what I got at the end of Knightfall. The fact is that DC is not doing anything new with Bruce’s character by making him “die” or “retire” from being Batman. We have been down this road before.

Another concern that I have with Batman RIP is if other writers will actually acknowledge what Morrison has done during his time on Batman. Or will writers that follow Morrison simply ignore all that Morrison has given us on Batman?

Overall

No, Batman RIP is not the greatest Batman story ever told. And yes, there are some weaknesses to this ending. But, all in all, this was a creative and intriguing Batman tale that captivated my mind and held my interest from start to finish.

For more reviews, scans, story recaps and news visit Comic Book Revolution!

Writer: Matt Fraction
Pencils: Terry Dodson
Inks: Rachel Dodson

The following review is excerpted from Comic Book Revolution (click here to read CBR’s full review)

Art: 8/10
Story: 3/10
Overall: 5.5/10

The Good

I will say that this was probably the best issue that we have gotten since Fraction has come aboard Uncanny X-Men. Of course, that really is not saying very much.

Despite the lame super-Nazi storyline and the accompanying Nazi Rule violation, I still like the addition of Dr. Nemesis. He is a rather neat character and his haughty and abrasive personality should give Fraction a character to have a little fun with. It will be interesting to see how Dr. Nemesis meshes with the other X-Men.

I found the plotline involving the tattooed man and Colossus to be mildly interesting. I do like Colossus so any plotline designed to give Peter a bit of the spotlight is always a good thing. Hopefully, Fraction can make this into something that is actually interesting and entertaining.

The best aspect of Uncanny X-Men #504 is that Marvel is finally getting around to addressing the various dangling plotlines from the Messiah Complex. I was beginning to think that Marvel was never going to get around to addressing the fallout in the pages of Uncanny X-Men.

I liked that the Beast has had his sense of hope renewed by the birth of the first mutant child since the end of the House of M event. This plotline builds off of Brubaker’s Endangered Species storyline where the Beast embarked on a journey where he visited some of the most brilliant minds in the 616 universe for a way to return ex-mutants their mutant genes.

Beast is an incredibly optimistic character and I am glad that he is once again trying to assemble a team of brilliant scientist in hopes of saving mutantkind. And that this time it appears that Beast is having much more success in enlisting the help he needs. This is an interesting plotline that has some potential.

Fraction delivers a solid hook ending that picks up where Messiah Complex left off. We see that the Purifiers have set about trying to paint their slaughtering of the town in Alaska as the work of a terrorist group. And that the birth of a mutant was the direct source for the town being wiped out. This sets the stage for what should be a rather compelling story. I enjoyed Messiah Complex and am looking forward to seeing Fraction deal with the various plotlines that spun out of it.

Terry and Rachel Dodson did a quality job with the artwork in Uncanny X-Men #504. It was a breath of fresh air to have someone other than Land doing the art on this title. This was not the best work that I have seen from Terry Dodson, but it was still a good effort and I am thrilled that Dodson is now the regular artist for Uncanny X-Men.

The Bad

It seems that all we have gotten on this title since Fraction came on with issue #500 has been nothing but set-up. He continues this trend by laying the foundation for the Madelyn Pryor plotline, the Colossus plotline and the Purifiers plotline.

The character work also continues to be a serious weakness on this title. None of the various X-Men have a developed or unique personality. Fraction also displays a poor feel for the established personalities of the various X-Men. I found it odd that Nightcrawler would ever refer to Emma as a “filthy girl.” That just did not sound like Kurt at all.

I found it strange that Fraction would have Colossus regress back into a depressed and mopey state over Kitty’s death. I thought that the purpose of Brubaker having Nightcrawler, Wolverine and Colossus travelling to Europe together was to help Peter move past Kitty’s death. And I also got the impression that Brubaker had Colossus grieve and finally come to terms with Kitty’s death and ready to move on and rejoin his fellow X-Men.

Fraction’s move to have Colossus regress back into his depressed and mopey state lacked internal logic and was largely unnecessary. Again, Fraction continues to display a lack of knowledge of stories that occur on a title prior to his arrival. It takes some work and effort, but professional writers always make sure they perform some research before taking over a specific title. And usually that includes reading up on at least the most recent story arcs on the title that they are taking over.

I also found Fraction’s version of Colossus to be incredibly wimpy. Fraction has Colossus turn tail and run and then throw up outside of the restaurant at the site of the tattooed thug. I am sure that seeing the tattooed man was jarring and clearly a childhood nightmare, but I found Colossus’ reaction to be out of character and unbelievable.

Colossus is a longtime X-Man who has faced numerous incredibly deadly and vicious villains with nothing but bravery in his heart. Colossus even sacrificed his own life in order to cure the Legacy virus. I just have a hard time reconciling how Colossus has been written up to this point and how much of a newbie coward he appears to be in this issue.

I found Scott’s mind being a massive hotel full of every single woman that he ever thought was attractive during his entire life to be an incredibly odd move by Fraction. Scott has largely been presented as level-headed and happy being in monogamous relationships with incredibly attractive women like Jean, Madelyn and Emma. This was just another example of how Fraction feels compelled to inject sexual themes where there really is no point and purpose for them. In the end, this issue only served to make Scott look like a creepy letch.

Fraction performs a little plot progression on Madelyn Pryor’s plotline by giving us a quick scene where Maddie enlists Sliver into her “sisterhood.” I am vaguely curious to see if Pryor can truly raise the dead or if she is simply preying up the weaknesses of these women. However, for the most part, Fraction has failed to hook my interest in Pryor’s plotline at all. Of course, I should disclose the fact that I have never found Pryor to be an interesting character and I definitely feel that Pryor should have remained dead.

Overall

The Revolution continues to be summarily unimpressed with Uncanny X-Men ever since Matt Fraction came aboard. However as I mentioned at the start, Uncanny X-Men #504 is probably the best issue that we have gotten since his arrival.

Despite all the negatives, I do feel that Fraction has several plotlines in place that have the potential to be rather interesting. I think that die-hard X-Men fans will enjoy this issue as will any reader who is a fan of Fraction’s style of writing. Outside of those two groups, I would be hesitant to recommend that you spend you hard earned cash on Uncanny X-Men at this point.

For more reviews, scans, story recaps and news visit Comic Book Revolution!