It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. Let’s see
if I remember how it goes.
Because I’m not going to the movies as much as I used to
(partly due to new fatherhood and partly due to the pandemic that is still
happening goddamnit) I wasn’t able to see a ton of movies in 2022, and a lot of
the ones on this list I ended up catching on streaming or renting them. It’s
all very deflating. So, there were loads of good movies I didn’t get to see that
probably would have made the list if I had. No point in getting all mad at me.
Also note that that this is not a “Best of 2022” list but
rather a “My Favorites of 2022” list, meaning it’s just one dude giving his opinion.
Feel free to share your favorite movies in the comments.
Quick note: while they did not make the list, I’d still like to
make special mention of Downton Abbey: A New Era, as of writing the final installment
of the British TV/movie series that my wife and started watching at the beginning
of 2022, and Do Revenge, which was a fun but flawed dark teen comedy. I think Maya
Hawke has the tools to be a pretty big deal in Hollywood.
I gave Man of Steel a pretty good review when it came out, though a major problem I had with it was that it was a crappy Superman story and that it wasn’t all that fun. Superman did kill a dude in that flick and while that did bug me what really bothered me was that he didn’t really seem to care all that much afterwards. I mean, Superman probably shouldn’t kill but the reason he shouldn’t is mostly due to his own repulsion at doing so. Man of Steel was a fine action film but it felt a bit like Zack Snyder didn’t really “get” the character. Superman doesn’t need a “dark and gritty” reimagining and if you think he does then you don’t “get him either (similarly the Fantastic Four doesn’t need a “grim and gritty” take either). Enter the film we’re looking at today: Batman v Board of Education. While Man of Steel was the soft launch of DC Expanded Universe, devised to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this flick is the true start of the campaign. This film, like Man of Steel, was directed by Snyder. I’ve reviewed a few of his movie at this point, Sucker Punch being the film I associate with him the most (Note: I hated it). This movie is heavily influenced by the 1986 comic book The Dark Knight Returns which, along with Watchmen, is credited with ushering in the Dark Age of Comics. The hype machine for this movie has been running hard for over a year, mainly because despite the flick being done Warner Bros. opted to push it back from Summer 2015 to Spring 2016. Having been out for bit now the film has been met mostly negative reviews, with a few sprinklings of folk claiming it’s a fantastic film. Well, now that I’ve seen it myself I have my own opinions. And I’ve only been drinking a little bit, so I’m good to go! Full review of Regents of the University of California v Superman after the jump. [Warning: This review contains some spoilers but I do avoid majors ones.]
This is the same company that put out The Powerpuff Girls.
...the f**k happened?
Now that we’ve reach Beta is Dead’s Fourth Anniversary I think it’s time for a rant. Now normally I would write a comic book rant, probably something about Stephanie Brown or something like that, but instead I think I’ll talk about cartoons. And gender. There’s been a pretty big controversy going around the internet since late November that I’ve been aching to comment on but just haven’t had the time. Well the time is now. If you are unfamiliar with who Paul Dini is (shame on you, by the way) he is the co-creator along with Bruce Timm, of Batman: The Animated Series which is still today considered by a great many people to be the best cartoon ever made. Understand that Dini is a pretty big deal when it comes to children’s television. So anyway a while ago Dini appeared on film director/giant nerd Kevin Smith’s podcast “Fatman on Batman” to talk about Batman. Somewhere during the two part interview Smith goes on a rant about how much he loves the new cartoon Beware the Batman, which Dini has nothing to do with but Smith points out that when the show gets going it’s the only Batman show to match the level of depth of BM:TAS. Then Dini destroys Smith’s life by informing him that Cartoon Network had removed it from the schedule and would probably end up canceling it if it hasn’t been canceled already. And indeed the show was put on hiatus back in October and as of this writing it has yet to have a solid return date (they said January but January is almost over) and have offered up no explanation. But Dini has an idea of what the problem is. Now you can listen to the podcast yourself here (this stuff starts around 38 to 41 minutes in) but I will summarize: companies like Cartoon Network cancel or otherwise don’t renew deep, arc driven shows like Beware the Batman because they attract the wrong demographic; families and girls. But they only want certain shows to be watched by young boys. Let me repeat his: Cartoon Network has possibly self-sabotaged and canceled their shows because they attracted too large of a female audience. That is one of the most f**ked up things I’ve ever heard. More ranting, swearing, and screaming after the jump.
Well I guess it’s time to once again become a typical ranting internet nerd and complain about something everyone likes; it’s time for another edition of 5 Unpopular Opinions. Today we’re going to talk about a fictional character that everyone seems to consider the greatest superhero out there: Batman. You might be saying “Wait a second Beta, don’t you love Batman? Didn’t you used to do those ‘Batman Versus’ posts?” Yeah I did and I do like Batman. But those Batman Versus posts were really me just joking about the ridiculousness of how god-like comic book fans sometime view the character. I will say that I actually do prefer Superman to Batman (Yes, I Fight Dragons, I still like Superman) but as I said a while ago in my Protector/Defender blog I appreciate them both equally. But there are a lot of things that bug me about the guy, and that people treat him like his shit doesn’t stink bugs me even more. Batman’s not a perfect character and there’s some issues with him. He’s a good character, sure, but I’m going to call him on some things. Remember that these are just my opinions and yours may vary. There’s no right answer here and thus no reason to fight. Nerdy ramblings after the jump.
Beta is Dead is now three years old and to celebrate I thought I’d revisit an older topic. Recently one of my old articles was floating around tumblr and brought some eyeballs over to the blog. It’s certainly a hot topic and still pretty relevant even today but sadly it’s outdated. Similar its sister article, which isn’t as popular but still just as relevant I’d say, is also out of date due to the events of the past two years. So I figured now would be a pretty good time to pick up where I left off with two of my favorite superheroes, and former Batgirls, Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown. Now I feel I covered the details of who these two characters are very well in past articles (here and here) so if you don’t know who they are you can check those out. However if you’re too goddamn lazy here’s the short version of what I previously wrote: 1) Cassandra Cain, daughter of the amoral Lady Shiva, was a martial arts prodigy who was literally bred and raised to serve as the ultimate assassin and bodyguard for Ra’s Al Ghul by the League of Assassins. She rejected this and eventually joined Batman as the new Batgirl. After years of serving the role DC Comics decided to try turning her into a villain, becoming a murdering despot despite being totally against her character, but it backfired and resulted with a public backlash before turning her back to normal. Soon after this she abruptly quit being Batgirl, leaving the mantle in the hands of… 2) Stephanie Brown became the vigilante known as The Spoiler in order to rebel against her super villain father the Cluemaster. She became a frequent ally of Robin (Tim Drake) before a series a events led her to replacing him as Batman’s partner…only to quickly be fired from the role. DC then killed her off in a particularly controversial (and brutal) way while also denying that she was ever truly Robin. After a few years she was retconned back to life and soon afterwards took up the mantle of Batgirl from her friend Cassandra. Today I’d like to catch up with both characters and see where they are now and what can be done for them in the future. If you regularly read this blog you likely already know what became of them during The Great DC Reboot of 2011 and you may also know what I’m going to say. Everyone else may want to prepare themselves for good old fashion nerd rage.
Sorry it took so long for a new blog. It was partly because I didn't particularly feel like writing a review of this movie immediately after the tragic shooting that occurred and also partly because I've been getting ready for my 200th blog post and I've been struggling with the schedule of stuff I needed to get out.
There’s not much to say about The Dark Knight Rises. It’s the sequel to The Dark Knight, which it is itself a sequel to Batman Begins. All three movies were directed by Christopher Nolan who also directed Inception, which was #2 pick for best film of 2010 (second only Scott Pilgrim vs. The World). I’ve been led to believe the original sequel to The Dark Knight was meant to heavily feature The Joker (Hence the way he was defeated in the second movie while Two-Face was foolishly disposed of) but due to the death of Heath Ledger they were forced to go a different route. As a result the movie has closer ties to the first film than I suspect was originally planned.
The hype for this movie has been understandably high. After all The Dark Knight was considered by many, but not everyone, to be the best superhero film ever made and a sequel to something like that has a lot to love up to. So did The Dark Knight Rises fall above or below the perhaps unrealistically high bar its predecessor created?
(I forgot to mention earlier but I have a poll on side of the page. If you haven't yet please take the time to answer it if you would be so inclined.)
For me at least Summer Movie Season starts in May. The summer of 2012 will be a good one of us nerdy folk as there’s a lot of sci-fi and comic book based flicks coming out. Today I decided to compile a list of some films coming out that appeal to my dorky sense and what exactly I think about them at this point. This is just for fun I’m not seriously reviewing these movies right now and I may have missed something. For the most part these are the films that have been on my radar.
Notice of all these films the Fantastic Four reboot is missing. Back some time ago a new movie starring the First Family of Marvel was announced around the same time as the Spider-Man reboot and I was actually pretty excited to hear that. I guess while Amazing Spider-Man was fast tracked Fox kind of dropped the ball with the FF.
As per the last post I’ve decided to celebrate my One Year Anniversary by writing about my favorite subject: comic books. I debated exactly what topic I should touch on considering that I didn’t want to accidentally alienate anyone by becoming Angry Comic Nerd (Several essays were scrapped before this one, including the Fanboyish “Problems I have with Superhero Comics”). But then I remembered my article about Cassandra Cain and how I, at the time, was worried that some people might assume I had ill feelings towards Stephanie Brown. I love Stephanie Brown and my only issue with her lately was that she replaced Cassandra as Batgirl. It’s not because I didn’t want her in a high profile title like that I just wanted to live in a world where a monthly Batgirl title and a monthly Spoiler title co-existed. I also wasn’t in love with Stephanie’s book for the first few issues, but it seems like most everyone else agree that it’s actually very good. Maybe it picked up after I called it quits. In any case the fact is that no matter how much you or really any one may say differently in doesn’t change the fact that replacing an Asian character with a blonde white equivalent just has unfortunate implications.
But I never blamed Stephanie for it. Plus I was happy that she was getting attention, though after the debacle with her character a few years earlier she had tons of publicity. Yes, despite everything I talked about Cassandra Cain’s unceremonious exit and bizarre turn to villainy that was NOTHING compared to the utter insanity regarding the Death of Stephanie Brown. Oh she’s better now but good grief did DC Comics open Pandora’s Box when they wrote that story. Even today the wounds aren’t all healed but then again this is likely one of the company’s biggest blunders of the 2000s.
Before we talk about her death let’s talk about her life.
The Spoiler is the "Buffy Summers" of the Batman Family
Stephanie Brown aka The Spoiler (Which is actually how I think of her) first appeared in Detective Comics #647 in 1992, created by Chuck Dixon and Tom Lyle. Her origin is somewhat similar to Cassandra Cain’s in that her father was a super villain and much of her motivation involved balancing out his criminal activities (Also for kicks, because that’s how she rolls). She’s daughter of the Cluemaster, a fairly unremarkable Batman villain from the 60s with a similar modus operandi as the Riddler. After his most recent return home from prison Stephanie was distraught to lean that, despite supposed plans for going straight, her father had once again turned to crime though this time without the use of his trademark clues. Angered by this she began leaving clues herself in the hopes of “spoiling” her father’s plan thus becoming the Spoiler. She donned a costume and began trying to aide Batman and Robin (Tim Drake, the third Robin) though unlike fellow amateurs Kick-Ass and the original Bat-Woman and Bat-Girl she was actually kind of successful at being a superhero; or at least no one nearly beat her to death after a dangerously ill-advised act of vigilante justice…not yet, anyway. She eventually became a supporting cast member of the new Robin solo title where she and Tim began an uneasy friendship that evolved into a partnership that turned into a pretty long romance. This book was also one of the main factors in bringing me back into comics after I quit for bit so I have very fond memories of these two characters as a crime fighting duo/couple. Should DC ever hire me as a writer (Increasingly unlikely due to this cursed blog) I would likely try to bring that relationship back…also I will totally have Dick Grayson marry Barbra Gordon because…why the hell not? [2013 EDIT: I'm over that now. I see no point to it theses days]
Anyway during her stint as supporting cast member the Robin book got critical acclaim partly because of her teen pregnancy. Yes, years before Juno or MTV’s 16 and Pregnant Stephanie Brown had unknowingly been knocked up by a former boyfriend and the issue was heavily dealt with in the comic (Leading to the baby being put up for adoption). The point is that she was an important part of Robin’s success during its run in the 90s and she herself was gathering a larger fanbase myself included. So one would think that, as a crime fighter in Gotham with growing popularity, DC would bring her more into the fold of the Batman books where she would start being used as a larger character rather than a plot device.
Well…not really. Unfortunately it seems that not many people in DC saw the potential of the character at the time. Soon the writers began planting the seeds that would eventually lead to her death in 2004. First was a glimmer of hope in the that revelation that Batman had begun training Stephanie. Which is super cool on paper. The number of female superhero associates that Batman has had in his group over the years is small, pretty much limited to Barbra Gordon and a lot of his direct involvement with her and her training is very much depended on retroactive continuity. Heck, perhaps this could have been the first step to making an official female Robin (I would later eat those words). After he returned from a mission Stephanie lets it slip to Tim that she knows his secret identity. You see during their whole relationship Robin hadn’t revealed his civilian identity to the Spoiler due to his incredible loyalty to Batman and fear that it could theoretically compromise his mentors’ operation. His unwillingness to divulge even his real first name was an elephant in the room for years. It turned out that while the young hero was on said mission Batman had revealed his partner’s true identity (Why? Because Batman is a dick, I guess) leading to some rather serious trust issues between the dynamic duo. So again Miss Brown was more of a plot point to cause conflict between Batman and Robin than a character, but she was being trained by Batman and also begin mentored by the Birds of Prey so things were obviously looking up, right?
Of course not. Spoiler was soon fired by Batman, probably because the writers didn’t have any real plans for her, and he forbade her from fighting crime. Why? Because Batman is a control freak. We’ve mentioned this before. What’s worse was that Stephanie was becoming increasingly shrewish as Robin’s girlfriend looking more like a jealous clingy girl than his partner. After a series of events in his own title Tim was forced to retire as Robin due to strong concerns from his father who had recently learned of his activities. Distraught by this and other issues with their relationship Stephanie broke into the Batcave and demanded that Batman train her as the new Robin…which, by the way, was very similar to how Tim became Robin in the first place but I suspect that DC was trying to make her seem like something of an undisciplined brat for doing it. Against his better judgment Batman agreed and thus Stephanie became the fourth Robin and the first official female one. Now no matter what you say about who should have been Robin at that point the idea of a girl Robin is super awesome. Bruce Wayne cannot possibly have the same type of relationship he had with his previous partners with this new one so this storyline could have led to a completely different dynamic between the traditional Batman and Robin role. The possibilities were vast and the future seemed bright.
A bold new partnership that lasted years-
Then came the day Black Mask took a power drill to her.
I’m getting ahead of myself. Before the Eli Roth-like torturing of one of my favorite characters DC first killed her credibility. After failing to follow orders during her initial missions Batman once again fired her. So she was the fourth Robin for just a hot minute, DC displaying their complete disinterest in changing up the Batman/Robin partnership. To make matters worse Stephanie seemed hell bent on proving that she was an awful and dangerously incompetent character by stealing one of Batman’s SUPER PLANS in order to win his respect, screws it up something fierce, and causes a massive gang war (As told in Batman: War Games). Great, because I love it when my favorite characters are depicted as spoiled assholes who are also morons despite not being nearly as bad in the past. I’m fairly certain that this is all a matter of plot convenience. The writers wanted to kick off this War Games storyline and Stephanie was the sacrificial lamb they chose to use. Anyway the villain Black Mask kidnaps her during all this and tortures her near to death with a power drill in order to get information that would soon elevate his status to A-list villain. So the whole point of this was to make a B-rate villain more menacing? Women in refrigerators indeed.
Despite managing to crawl her way to a clinic Stephanie died from her injuries; her last words before her demise was asking Batman, who had snuck into her room in her last moments, whether she was ever truly Robin to which he replies “Yes.” Though the circumstances leading to her death were stupid, forced, and incredibly violent at least her last panel alive was a sweet and emotional scene, if depressing.
Also not too much long after her death it was revealed that Leslie Thompkins, the doctor who ran the clinic, had apparently let the Spoiler die from her injuries as a warning to Batman about using children in his war on crime. WHAT?! For those of you who don’t know Leslie is a longtime supporting character of Batman who was a friend of his parents and unofficial guardian of a young Bruce Wayne. In fact she’s one of the few people to know about his dual identity. While she disapproves of his activities due to her pacifists beliefs (So strong that she helps anyone who comes into her clinic, even if they’re super villains) she loves him like a son. Well apparently she had lost her goddamn mind here because she basically MURDERS Stephanie to make a point, which go against everything I understand about her character. In the end Batman chases her out of the country and threatens to throw her in prison if she ever comes back into the US or practice medicine again. So basically during this dumb storyline not only did DC kill one strong female character but they also ruined a second one. Bravo, DC, bravo.
Cue slow clap
I’m not sure why DC felt they needed to kill her off at all. Surely she could have survived and the brutal experience could have been just as relevant to the story. Oh wait, I’m being silly. Her death was a one of the driving story points of the sequel to War Games Batman: War Crimes where Batman is (rightfully) accused of endangering children. So even in death the Spoiler is still a plot device. Fantastic.
Her death, while upsetting for her fans, isn’t really the only problem. First of all it was the way she died as it has been accused of being a very sexually charged death. A man murders a teenage girl with a phallic object; I can see where one would get that idea. Another point was that Tim, now back as Robin, didn’t do all that much on-panel grieving. This is probably not as important as it seems but it just would have been nice to see the character more affected by the death of his girlfriend. Hell they wasted a perfectly good plot with him trying to cope with the fact that his rejection of the “Robin” mantle may have led directly to her death. I don’t think that ever happened, or at least not as much as it should have (Conversely Robin fell to pieces a few years later when his friends Superboy and Impulse/(Yuck)Kid Flash/The Flash/Bart Allen were murdered). Plus some fans thought that Batman himself was to blame and even suspected that his recruitment of Stephanie in the first place was a ploy to lure Tim back into the fold.
However the big problem was, following her death, Batman did not put up a memorial in her honor. For years after the death of the second Robin Jason Todd a memorial with his costume has been on display in the Batcave consistently. Fans believed that, seeing as she too was a Robin, Stephanie deserved such a tribute as well. When directly asked why she hadn’t received the honor by fans then DC editor-in-chief equivalent Dan DiDio responded “She was never really Robin” which was apparently DC’s official stance on the subject. And then the internet exploded.
Dramatization
Fans were livid by the casual treatment of the character and cries of sexism were declared. The Women in Refrigerators topic, originally started by now hotshot DC writer Gail Simone a few years prior, once again lured its head. Large amount of websites seemed to pop up not just because the Spoiler was killed and forgotten but what the act meant about gender in comics. So yeah, good job on that DC. After a few years of this in the pages of Robin, once again written by Chuck Dixon, a girl wearing the costume of the Spoiler began following Tim around. It soon turned out that this girl was in fact Stephanie Brown alive and well. Apparently, according to this new retcon, she never died in the first place. Actually Dr. Thompkins had faked her death and smuggled her out of the country so that she could recover in peace. Also Batman, he says, actually suspected as such which is why he never put a memorial up.
Really? This was the best they could do?
Now let’s ignore that this retcon is the clearest form of back peddling I’ve seen in comics since Marvel declared that Magneto didn’t actually kill all those people in New York City in the pages of New X-Men (Look it up). Let’s also ignore that the doctor’s plan was pretty stupid. Why in God’s name didn’t Batman verify she was alive if he “suspected as much.” He practically ran Thompkins out of the damn country with an elephant gun because of what she did. How does a man with a compulsive need to be in control of everything and to constantly outsmart his friends not bother to double check to make sure his FORMER SIDEKICK AND PARTNER was really dead? Was he asleep during his investigation? I’m betting that he did in fact find some evidence that may have implied her death was more than it seemed but basically just said “I can either track down Stephanie Brown or catch the new season of Lost. Meh, f**k her.”
"George W. Batman does not care about women"
Thankfully there’s a happy ending as not only has Stephanie finally gotten a chance to shine as Batgirl it turns out that the reason Cassandra quit so suddenly actually due to orders from Batman in the case of his death meaning he planned the whole thing from day one (Which doesn’t make too much sense either, but we got to take what we can get). And also the two heroes FINALLY came to terms with each other in Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batgirl #1 as Batman has not only given his blessing for her to continue working as Batgirl but has accepted her as a member of the Batman Family, something she has been seeking for eighteen years (Real time).
One day perhaps the Spoiler will return
For now let's enjoy her as Batgirl
Thanks for reading. Let’s make the next year of Beta is Dead even better than this last one!
I don’t normally do reviews of comic books because usually I find that I can’t really do a decent job at being (emotionally) analytical about the material with only one issue of a series in my hands. In order to truly represent the comic I’d be writing about I would prefer to wait until several issues have been completed, preferably a whole story arc, or a Trade Paperback has been released. However by the time those things come out I’m usually not even thinking about that comic anymore. I was supposed to review “Young Allies #1-6” months ago, for crying out loud.
Luckily this particular comic, Batwoman #0, is a One-Shot and its story is self-contained and thus easily reviewed. Unfortunately it still may require a little background to fully understand who this character is. I’ll give the short (As short as Beta is able to ever do, I mean) version:
Bat-Woman is a character created by DC Comics originally in 1956 as a reaction to the accusation of Batman and Robin being gay in the book “Seduction of the Innocent” (Which I very briefly mentioned once before). Named “Kathy Kane” and declared a romantic interest for the 100% Heterosexual Bruce Wayne she was, as I understand it, not very interesting and only a competent crime fighter some of the time. She was there for one reason; someone who Batman could be attracted to and rescue. Yay feminism? Thankfully DC did away with this lousy character in the 60s (Along with Ace the Bat-Hound), eventually replacing her with the much more well-rounded, competent and overall 175% more awesome second version of Batgirl (Barbara Gordon). Later Kathy’s tenure as Bat-Woman was erased from continuity altogether with 1985’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. Let’s never speak of her again.
The original Bat-Woman was an integral part of the Bat-Family for decad-JOSSED!
Fast forward to 2007 soon after the final issue of the above mentioned comic’s twenty-two years delayed sequel “Infinite Crisis”. DC had begun releasing a weekly series (A rare thing for American comics) called “52” which helped explain the gap in the “One Year Later” storyline (Which I briefly discussed here). The book focused on several B and C-string characters but introduced a new Batwoman, more or less unrelated to the first one, named Katherine Kane who is, like Barbara Gordon, super awesome. She was part of a strategy by DC to bring more diversity (And publicity, most likely) to their comics by declaring that she was a lesbian...and also Jewish, but then executive-editor Dan DiDio would tell pretty much anyone who would listen just how gay Kate was and regularly patted himself and the company on the back for the bin progressive (Gay superheroes were nothing new at the point, but few received the push for attention that the new Batwoman got from the editors). In 2009 she was made the main feature of Detective Comics as the regular star Batman had been recently killed sent on a yearlong adventure through time. The character is most identified with Greg Rucka who wrote much of her stories, including her Detective Comics run, and helped establish her as one of the better new heroes created during the last ten years.
DC announced earlier this year that Batwoman would star in her own ongoing series starting in February of 2011, but they would first release Batwoman #0 to help bridge the gap between this new series and the recent run on Detective Comics. This book is co-written by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman with art by Williams and Amy Reeder (More on that in a bit).
Bruce Wayne/Batman, now back in present day after being Trapped in Time for months in “comic time”, is attempting to catch up on the things he missed during his absence; in this case the mysterious Batwoman who has been operating in Gotham as he hopes to deduce her identity and her modus operandi. Tracking his prime suspect Katherine Kane’s movements Batman relates the evidence to support his claim via what appears to be a journal.
Why does she need lipstick to fight crime?
This is an “Issue #0”, a marketing tactic that was used all the time in the 90s/Dark Age of Comics to grab a little extra cash from readers. In theory they don’t directly affect an ongoing plot of the series proper; instead it usually expands upon a main character and/or storyline with a standalone episode though sometimes they could act as a direct prologue for the series as a whole either way acting a jumping on point for new readers. In this case it seems to latter. The story is told through the eyes of Batman who only interacted with Batwoman a token amount before he vanished into TIME ITSELF and therefore is the perfect narrator for anyone who doesn’t know much about the character. We don’t learn details about her origin because Batman doesn’t learn them from his stalking observations this issue but his speculations to what it might be gives the newer reader serious clues (Though long time readers would likely already be familiar with it). This format works; there is no better jumping on point for this character so if you’re even a little interested in Batwoman this is the issue for you. The artwork is literally broken up horizontally and sometimes vertically: Williams draws the top sequences featuring Batman watching Batwoman fighting members of the Church of Crime from the shadows while the bottom portion, drawn by Reeder, features Bruce Wayne in several different disguises tailing Kane in her day to day life in order to gather evidence to support suspicions of her dual identity. This format could have easily been redundant or stupid but the execution is handled wonderfully and helped give this single issue comic some much needed uniqueness.
The story is a character piece and I like it for two main reasons. #1) It clearly and neatly gives us the Cliff Notes version of everything we need to know about Batwoman: she’s a rich socialite who may or may not be capable of having a decent social life (Something Batman admits he’s too broken to ever achieve), she has a military background that ended poorly, she has a colonel father who may be involved in her activities, she’s a skilled enough fighter that Batman (One of the ten best fighters alive) is seemingly impressed, and most importantly she lost someone close to her and Batman speculates is the motivation for her crime fighting. Now if you are familiar with the character than you are already aware of the full details behind those facts, but for someone who’s new to her it is a great introduction to Batwoman without being overwhelmed by information.
#2) Though probably not its intended goal, or at least not its primary goal, it’s a fascinating study of Batman as well. Over the years Batman has become increasingly dark and cynical (Note that the character was originally fairly dark until Seduction of the Innocent “fixed” him) starting in the late-60s/early-70s and reaching insane levels by the early 2000s. Batman had become something of a paranoid lunatic who didn’t trust anyone, possibly not even his adopted children/crime fighting partners. He has since been toned down but there are certain aspects of that interpretation that still linger and this comic makes that fact clear. Why does Batman feel the need know who Batwoman is? Traditionally Batman hates vigilantes unapproved by him operating in Gotham City (This includes Superman, by the way) which is part of the reason he dislikes the Huntress and barely tolerated the Spoiler for years. His interest in Kate not only shows that his obsessive compulsion to be one step ahead of everyone, friend or foe, is alive and well but also reaffirms character traits that he has displayed in his modern interpretation. I like consistency and Batman as he’s portrayed here is exactly how I would assume he’d handle the situation: one step ahead, but motivationally dubious (Character flaws are awesome).
Batman once devised several ways to brutally disable and torture his JLA teammates
You know, because he's sane
The artwork is fine, but I’m not the type of person who puts much stock into the art unless it’s really good or really awful. The two sequences with the different artist gimmick works well as I said, though I wonder if either Williams or Redder couldn’t have just all the art work themselves. Their style is very distinct from each other, especially the background, and I’m unsure who I like more since Williams doesn’t draw Kate Kane and Redder doesn’t draw Batwoman at all through the issue. However I’m put off by how pale Katherine is in her civilian identity. Is she always that dang pale? It was downright spooky. I realized that just about every time I’ve ever seen Batwoman drawn she’s been white as a ghost but seeing her that way as a normal person in street clothes freaked me the hell out.
Kind of like this only with a lady in a bat costume
The only real problem with this issue is that it’s very short. I suppose that’s not too surprising considering it’s just a One-Shot but the price tag is still $2.99 which I believe is the standard for a normal sized DC comic right now. That’s a lot of cash for a measly 16 pages of actual story. Hell, there are 11 pages of PREVIEW for future comics…9 of which aren’t even for Batwoman’s ongoing series. That’s clearly padding. Part of this may be due to the fact that Williams supposedly didn’t want to do an Issue Zero but was forced to anyway. In any case this doesn’t feel like full issue but I certain feel like I paid for one.
Ultimately this comic kicks ass I recommend it for anyone who a) wants to read more comics with female leads and b) have heard of this new Batwoman but have yet to check her out. This is a great starting point for new fans. I’m one of those new fans and I’m now really jazzed about the new ongoing. I’m now hoping to get my hands on the older 52 and Detective Comic trades featuring her. This should be a great series and February can’t come fast enough.
I give Batwoman #0 4 out of 5 Adorable Pandas.
Pros
-A great issue to start reading a critically acclaimed new character
-A very unique take on a usually painful type of book
-A good showcase of Batman’s personality and detective skills, and he’s a guest-star
Cons
-Too little story, too many preview pages for Detective Comics #871
-It might be redundant for people already fans of Batwoman
After several months of being idle it's time once again to play the greatest game ever created: Batman Versus.
Batman is the only non-powered superhero to be "too powerful"
For those of you who have forgotten or are new readers who don’t like looking at the archives Batman Versus is a fun variation of the “Who Would Win in a Fight?” discussion.We (And by “we” I mean “nerds”) all know that Batman can’t be defeated by anyone; that’s just common sense.The Dark Knight can pretty much overcome anyone given enough prep time (Or so the saying goes).Let’s assume that’s not just fanboyish nonsense; in this game you must explain how Batman defeats his opponent.
Here’s how it works: The first player challenges the second player to explain how Batman defeats someone or something.It needs to be an organic and natural explanation or else it won’t count.The first player and the judge decide if the theory is sound.The Judge has final say whether the explanation was satisfactory.Players One and Two then switch roles.
[WARNING: Because she is the most powerful creature in the multiverse using Squirrel Girl is grounds for disqualification because to suggest that even Batman could defeat her, regardless of preparation time, is laughable.Also trying to initiate a “Batman Vs. Batman” scenario is also prohibited as it could create a paradox that may cause a chain reaction that will destroy the universe.Although the damage may just be limited to our own galaxy you should still not take the chance.]
Here are some more examples to help you get started:
Batman Versus Spider-Man: Perhaps Bruce Wayne subscribes to the Daily Bugle.Perhaps J. Jonah Jameson was a close friend of Thomas Wayne and Bruce knows him very well.Maybe he doesn’t take kindly to superheroes who make self-serving deals with the devil are young, hip and single.Whatever the case Batman seems to think that Spider-Man ismenace rather than a hero and has to take him down.Tell me how he does.
Are...are they about to kiss?
Difficulty: Beginner.It’s just a superhero fight after all
Batman Versus Doctor Doom: In a lot ways Doctor Doom is what Batman would be like if he was evil and Eastern European.Can the Dark Knight defeat a foe with an intelligence and preparation time a match for his own?Obviously yes, but how?!
Difficulty: Easy, but might still run the risk of creating a paradox
Batman Versus The Klingon Empire: James T. Kirk has dropped the ball in regards to this proud warrior race problem one time too many so now it’s up to Batman to clean up the mess once and for all.Since Klingons aren’t really a superstitious and cowardly lot could this be the final curtain call for the Caped Crusader?Nope, he defeats their entire civilization.
"Is Gowron gonna have to cut a bitch?"
Difficulty: Moderate.After the battle Batman is known as “Bruce the Unforgettable” from then on (Have I mentioned I’m a big Star Trek geek?)
Batman Versus Dinotopia: Who the hell do these overgrown lizards think they are, walking the streets like they own them?Technically “Dinotopia” means “terrible place” so you know that there’s some gun running or drug trafficking going on.So it’s up to Batman to bring their society down for good!
Pictured: A prefect depiction of what went on in Dinotopia
Difficulty: Moderate.Incidentally I imagine the plot of such a crossover could be similar The Dark Knight Returns, except instead of fighting Superman in the final issue he fights Moon-Boy and Devil Dinosaur.
Batman Versus The Linear Flow of Time: Unfortunately Lois Lane has been killed in an earthquake and Superman is nowhere to be found.Batman needs to go back mere minutes in time to prevent her death but the Laws of Physics stand in the way.How does he do it?
Hopefully this fight involves Batman punching out Newton
Difficulty: Expert, but mainly because I didn’t take physics in High School or in College.
If you have any one has any responses to any of these challenges feel free to post them in the comment section or e-mail it to me.
