Man, Damian really looks . . . old.
Thoughts!
spoilers:end of spoilers
Snyder/Capullo - Fine. It restrains several of the more frustrating Snyder-isms, but unlike "Twenty-Seven" which I found morally horrifying but still extremely powerful, this one just felt kinda cute. Very cool seeing Ralph and Sue, wish they'd gotten some actual character, though.
Smith/Lee - pretty art, but seems like a kinda "whatever" story.
Dini/Nguyen - this was a little gem. Classic Dini and Nguyen, though I wish they'd gone all the way self-indulgent and made the Carpenter one of their main characters.
Ellis/Cloonan - love seeing Cloonan here, but the main story wasn't that interesting until the last page. Seeing Batman stand up to save the villain was an interesting contrast to the next one.
O'Neil/Epting - This isn't so much a sequel as a retelling of the original "There is no hope in Crime Alley" - and it's a profoundly bitter and dark one. The final line lands pretty well, but it leaves a sad, kind of unpleasant note in the mind. I also kinda wish that since they're updating Bruce and Leslie's relationship to at least the NML era, they'd updated her look. But it was interesting to see the classic 1970s look echoed in Epting's style.
Priest/Adams - Really wish Priest had gotten one of the other artists, but this was a fun, clever story, showcasing Batman's hopeful side, and his detecting!
Bendis/Maleev - I still think this is mostly only noteable because of the art. It doesn't really paint a picture of the future that I think is good for any of the characters, but it's not the worst thing ever.
Johns/Jones - I like the Batfamily that Johns created - Echo is a fun idea. However, the ending was so dumb. The opposite of Tynion and King's conclusions, and for no apparent good reason.
Tynion IV/Martinez-Bueno - this felt kinda like Tynion just wanted to do a nice sweet story. I wish he'd actually done more with his own Tec run - like a short story from the middle of it, or an epilogue, but it was affirming of all the things I love about his version of Batman, and beautifully drawn by Martinez-Bueno.
King/Daniel & Jones - I'm pretty sure this is the best of the issue. Very fun, lots of characterization, and I can really see how this is the parallel/complement to his Action 1000 story - where that was Superman saying goodbye, this is Batman saying hello.
Tomasi/Mahnke - I'm really not a fan of this particular style of comic storytelling - narration over single-page spreads. They've very nice spreads, but just like in Superman Giant #9, I don't think it's a particularly interesting way to tell a story. And...Badman? Really? That seems like a meme waiting to happen. Also, is Batman throwing Nobody into a Lazarus Pit?
The Janin pin-up was fine, but not exciting. The Conner one was pretty sweet and thoughtful, and the Fabok spread has ALMOST all the characters I wanted (missing my boys Jean Paul and Luke )
Last edited by millernumber1; 03-27-2019 at 06:16 AM.
"We're the same thing, you and I. We're both lies that eventually became the truth." Lara Notsil, Star Wars: X-Wing: Solo Command, Aaron Allston
"All that is not eternal is eternally out of date." C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves
"There's room in our line of work for hope, too." Stephanie Brown
Stephanie Brown Wiki, My Batman Universe Reviews, Stephanie Brown Discord
My Thoughts:
- Dini was the Highlight for me
- Smith and Snyder were also fun
- Tynion felt out of Place
- Adams work looks imo better when it is "traditionally" coloured
- Kings dialogue is annoying, there is a reason they usually use colours and icon to show how is speaking, and I still dislike how he writes Jason
- In O'Niels case I prefer the original story
Last edited by Aahz; 03-27-2019 at 07:25 AM.
Is everyone getting all the covers?
I did get all the decades variants for Action 1000, but I've decided to just get one cover of Detective for now.
For me, the 2 covers that have the most meaning for me are the 1930s cover by Steve Rude because that's when Batman began or the 1970s cover by Bernie Wrightson because that's when I began reading Batman.
I'll probably end up going with the Wrightson cover as that might be harder to find down the road.
So, which cover(s) are you guys getting?
Btw. has anybody realised that the background doesn't fit with the poses of some characters, Jason is leaning against something that is nor there, Cass is sitting in the air and Helenas left foot is apparently also not put on anything.
Pulls: Batman, Detective Comics, SiKtC, Catwoman, Nightwing, Titans, Godzilla, Wonder Woman, Batman & Robin, Brave and the Bold, No/One, Kill your Darlings, and Deviant.
My runs: Batman #230-, and Detective #420-
I only got one copy - the Capullo cover - and am planning on getting the Deluxe to get all the others at an affordable price.
I do wish that DC would include the pastiche trade dress in the Deluxe editions - the mockups of the old logos and cover styles are almost worth it...but I'm not willing to spend 100 dollars on something when I can get most of the same experience for 20.
I like your logic for which one you're picking. My own was just - This is the cover that I like the look of best.
I think O'Neil's story was powerful, but it's more than a little frustrating in the leadup to the final line. I think the original is more satisfying, but doesn't pack quite the same punch. I think the flash forward structure was partly to blame - I don't think it was worth the extra page.
"We're the same thing, you and I. We're both lies that eventually became the truth." Lara Notsil, Star Wars: X-Wing: Solo Command, Aaron Allston
"All that is not eternal is eternally out of date." C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves
"There's room in our line of work for hope, too." Stephanie Brown
Stephanie Brown Wiki, My Batman Universe Reviews, Stephanie Brown Discord
This was cool. Kings story had me laughing, and it was cool to see Dini and Nguyen team up again. Among other things I enjoyed.
This was the first DC comic in over a year to make me smile. Things I never thought I'd say about a Batman book XD
Had a couple of misses but most of these stories were just...so good!
I was mostly interested in King's story, and it was awful. So that's... great. There were so many bad things just in that one panel of Kate and Barbara, ugh.
Mega fan of: Helena Bertinelli (pre-52), Batwoman, Birds of Prey, Guardians of the Galaxy, Secret Six
Fan of: Batman, Cassandra Cain, Wonder Woman, Silk, Stephanie Brown, Captain America, Hellcat, Renee Montoya, Gotham Central, King Shark
Quasi-Fan of: Aquaman, Midnighter, Superman, Catwoman, Nightwing, Green Arrow, Squadron Supreme, Red Hood
Other likes: Low, Hush, Arkham Asylum: ASHoSE, Watchmen, A-Force, Bombshells, Grayson, Unfollow
Team Cap (both Rogers and Danvers)
RCO078_1553683837.jpg
I for one LOVED it all. I mean, COME ON, 1,000 issues!!!!
Looking for a good story on Arkham Knight, in issue 1001.
All in all, it was good, not great, but good, and I've no idea really how they could have made it better. Would have LOVED to have seen a story spanning around 40 pages or so of a dirty/gritty/street level "DETECTIVE" story. IDK who all's watched the True Detective series on HBO, but that type of three time lines telling one overall story would be GREAT if written correctly... oh well, all for now...
I enjoyed Action 1000 more. King's story was funny for all the wrong reasons.
I have to agree with the King story. So many kinds of wrong there. Yes, his had a group shot. Sadly, that was about the one enjoyable thing about it.