All Star Batman #2

[The Cool Thatguy]

Trying to treat KGBeast as a bad ass and not jobber.

Who thinks this'll last more than ten minutes?

[ispacehead]

Aw crap, I actually liked the back up.

[thwhtGuardian]

Trying to treat KGBeast as a bad ass and not jobber.

Who thinks this'll last more than ten minutes?

The Kgbeast scenes were actually pretty good, I think people need to let the past go sometimes and let things be what they can be.

[The Cool Thatguy]

The Kgbeast scenes were actually pretty good, I think people need to let the past go sometimes and let things be what they can be.

Past is the present, really.

Beast is introduced as being totally bad ass and having killed a bunch of NPCs. Once again we're told how bad ass he is, and I've seen little indication of any character depth. One can hope, true...

[ZuLuLu]

I enjoyed the issue over the top fun and action packed but I really liked the backup a little more that the main story so far.

[Maxpower00044]

The Kgbeast scenes were actually pretty good, I think people need to let the past go sometimes and let things be what they can be.

Amen.

Re-read this issue. Man, this is some fun stuff. FUN!

Beast will probably get his ass handed to him even though they are making him a little more "bad ass". Batman is just more "Bad Ass".

I love how Killer Croc, Amygdala, and Trixie all had "back up". That was a great scene.

[K. Jones]

I've commented up and down about the overload of sequence-breaking in this comic. It requires a minor adjustment for me to enjoy - which is to say, I read it and am like "gah, sequence-breaks, come on, Snyder, give me some linear plot, the back-up is flashback enough!" But when I muse about the issue after the fact, in my memory all the events play out in the proper chronological order, just with the pieces that are still missing, missing.

Anyway, what I really want to talk about today is just Romita on Batman. Ever since I read Super Powers I've wondered just what the hell it would be like to have a Jack Kirby Batman book. Last year was the year I finally caught up on all my Kirby, and it became so clear to me that the early 1970s can just be regarded as the time period when O'Neil & Adams redefined Gotham and Kirby redefined Metropolis (with some O'Neil crossover, naturally, depending on the title.) I'm incredibly beholden to a kind of post-Adams, and especially Mazzucchelli, and influences-influencing-influences, Bruce Timm influenced Gotham. Those are my leanings - there's a lot of wiggle-room, but I think the New Gotham era of Rucka & Brubaker did it best, running a spectrum from Timm-style to Mazz-style in like, Gotham Central. Jump ahead a few years, Morrison's run is definitely more in the O'Neil or even Aparo mould - Kubert felt like, well, a Kubert, but the subject matter was Talia, Tony Daniel came with somewhat Aparo-like art (albeit with a Jim Lee filter on it), and then things just got weird with your Quitelys and Burnhams, but still with loads of classic Bat-artist iconography attached - some even revived from near-death and embarrassment.

So, anyway, back on track here ... never have I ever really seen a bombastic, high-impact, Kirby-style Batman story. And what's surprising to me is how natural it feels - not just because Kirby was operating on the Peak Kirby Level at the same time Batman was undergoing his Gothic Revival, but also because of how seamlessly it mixes with you know, the kind of Batman '66 vibe. Snyder must be feeling the same way, because for god's sake we got Bat Shark Repellent in this issue. And the high-velocity onomatopoeic visceral CRUNCH of things like Waylon Jones slamming a felled log into Batman's chest not only looks like a Kirby impact, but feels like a Batman '66 "POW!" moment. Plus Batman's being on the run, escaping, ducking, and gadgeting his way out of an onslaught of enemies ... well frankly it feels a hell of a lot like Mister Miracle!

I'm also really thinking about irony and Bat-cliche storytelling devices. A "Villain Gauntlet" is not new to Batman. They started small in the Sixties with things like Batman: The Movie's four unified knaves, and by the 80s were on overkill mode, with the first true Gauntlet I can remember being "All My Enemies Against Me" - a short but sweet unified villainy when Killer Croc made his debut, but then went really overkill with Batman # 400, "Resurrection Night", where Ra's al Ghul unleashes like, every Bat-rogue ever made from prison. Obviously then the mothers of all gauntlets happen - Arkham Asylum: A Serious House, the gauntlet Bane unleashes on him, and so on down the line. The Arkham games are virtually made whole-clothe from this concept. And lastly, that I can recall, besides a couple "mini-gauntlets" of villains in Layman's underrated Detective run, what I'm really thinking about is David Finch's pretty awful "excuse me I just want to draw every Bat-character ever" New 52 Batman: The Dark Knight run.

Now Snyder is doing one. Pretty good one so far, too.

[blackbolt396]

I've commented up and down about the overload of sequence-breaking in this comic. It requires a minor adjustment for me to enjoy - which is to say, I read it and am like "gah, sequence-breaks, come on, Snyder, give me some linear plot, the back-up is flashback enough!" But when I muse about the issue after the fact, in my memory all the events play out in the proper chronological order, just with the pieces that are still missing, missing.

Anyway, what I really want to talk about today is just Romita on Batman. Ever since I read Super Powers I've wondered just what the hell it would be like to have a Jack Kirby Batman book. Last year was the year I finally caught up on all my Kirby, and it became so clear to me that the early 1970s can just be regarded as the time period when O'Neil & Adams redefined Gotham and Kirby redefined Metropolis (with some O'Neil crossover, naturally, depending on the title.) I'm incredibly beholden to a kind of post-Adams, and especially Mazzucchelli, and influences-influencing-influences, Bruce Timm influenced Gotham. Those are my leanings - there's a lot of wiggle-room, but I think the New Gotham era of Rucka & Brubaker did it best, running a spectrum from Timm-style to Mazz-style in like, Gotham Central. Jump ahead a few years, Morrison's run is definitely more in the O'Neil or even Aparo mould - Kubert felt like, well, a Kubert, but the subject matter was Talia, Tony Daniel came with somewhat Aparo-like art (albeit with a Jim Lee filter on it), and then things just got weird with your Quitelys and Burnhams, but still with loads of classic Bat-artist iconography attached - some even revived from near-death and embarrassment.

So, anyway, back on track here ... never have I ever really seen a bombastic, high-impact, Kirby-style Batman story. And what's surprising to me is how natural it feels - not just because Kirby was operating on the Peak Kirby Level at the same time Batman was undergoing his Gothic Revival, but also because of how seamlessly it mixes with you know, the kind of Batman '66 vibe. Snyder must be feeling the same way, because for god's sake we got Bat Shark Repellent in this issue. And the high-velocity onomatopoeic visceral CRUNCH of things like Waylon Jones slamming a felled log into Batman's chest not only looks like a Kirby impact, but feels like a Batman '66 "POW!" moment. Plus Batman's being on the run, escaping, ducking, and gadgeting his way out of an onslaught of enemies ... well frankly it feels a hell of a lot like Mister Miracle!

I'm also really thinking about irony and Bat-cliche storytelling devices. A "Villain Gauntlet" is not new to Batman. They started small in the Sixties with things like Batman: The Movie's four unified knaves, and by the 80s were on overkill mode, with the first true Gauntlet I can remember being "All My Enemies Against Me" - a short but sweet unified villainy when Killer Croc made his debut, but then went really overkill with Batman # 400, "Resurrection Night", where Ra's al Ghul unleashes like, every Bat-rogue ever made from prison. Obviously then the mothers of all gauntlets happen - Arkham Asylum: A Serious House, the gauntlet Bane unleashes on him, and so on down the line. The Arkham games are virtually made whole-clothe from this concept. And lastly, that I can recall, besides a couple "mini-gauntlets" of villains in Layman's underrated Detective run, what I'm really thinking about is David Finch's pretty awful "excuse me I just want to draw every Bat-character ever" New 52 Batman: The Dark Knight run.

Now Snyder is doing one. Pretty good one so far, too.

Man you wrote a great post I really do feel the Batman Mr. Miracle connection.

[AlexanderLuthor]

I don't agree, I think, but I definitely see better your perspective. With Alfred in the last issue, I was genuinely shocked a bit (in the "where exactly is this going" way), he's set the table in his run for Alfred as being someone who can have his own peculiar perhaps even selfish or self-righteous reasons for his actions and they may not be something Bruce agrees with or would want. I think with 5 issues here being this first arc (as far as I understand), that may be why you don't get the setup or development you want (I actually think all of his arcs would benefit from more issues allotted). I always remember too that Snyder is writing for a wider audience that perhaps maybe is shocked a bit easier than some of us.

I re-read these last night and it seems to me that Alfred was likely doing that for Bruce's "own good". In other words, he knows Harvey has the goods on Bruce as Batman and he is trying to keep that info from coming out

[Beorg]

The issue is fun but I'm disappointed at no Gentleman Ghost, no follow up to Alfred's ''betrayal'', and timeline jumping all over the place.

[joshuastar]

Okay, so i need the joke explained:

When penguin is talking to KGBeast, he says "I know you're licensed to D.C."

Did i misread that, or is it just a 4th wall thing?

[Drz]

It's a 4th wall joke but also saying he works exclusively to the White House/Pentagon or something.

I also think KGBeast was awesome in BvS Ultimate edition. Really cool to see more of KGBeast, I wouldn't even mind someone trying to make a 2nd Suicide Squad comic starring the Russian Heroes that appeared in Aquaman & the Others.

[Powertool]

It's very hard for me to express a proper opinion about the All-Star Batman title, since it would be highly conditioned by my shameless fanboyism for Two-Face (my favourite Bat-rogue ever since I was a child) and the boundless satisfaction for being able to read acomic where Havey is very close to co-protagonist status. Therefore, I'll be a killjoy and point out a an absolutely insignificant detail that nevertheless irked me.

While I'm happy that the Arkham Origins version of Copperhead has made her transition to the printed paper (the mutant male one reached its peak when he was revealed to be a collector of bakelite portable radios in a Starman issue and from that moment on he only went downhill as a character) but THOSE FREAKIN' HEELS!!! Ok, I know it's comic books and it's perfectly normal to see women performing three-dimensional crawling while wearing them -- but that doesn't mean I approve!

[GlennSimpson]

Liked the issue, but can you explain to me how Batman SPOILERS FOR THIS ISSUE survived the poison?

Yeah, I was having a hard time following that. Plus the wounds from the arrow magically disappeared. And I eventually figured out Batman stuck Dent with the same dart that hit him. That was not really clear in the art.

[GigiFusc]

One thing I take issue with: I don't care how Snyder divides up Two-Face and Harvey in entities, I don't like either knowing Bruce is Batman. Is he gonna do this with every rogue he wants to build up? Just feels like a terrible Snyderism to try to build up certain rogues and perhaps deal with certain fans (that shouldn't be placated) that don't believe secret IDs can are realistic. This secret ID shredding was criticized a good bit pre-FP too.

I'm with you 100% on that. I hate anyone finding out Bruce is Batman. It breaks any kind of logic. Unless they end up dying. That's ok.