Graphic Novels - The Dark Knight Returns

As Internet reviewer Linkara says… It’s Miller Time!!!!

As you can tell by the image and title, I’m going to be talking about The Dark Knight Returns. It’s one of Frank Miller’s most known works and it’s the story that redefined Batman for a long time.  It seems like almost every Batman writer has been influenced by TDKR. Nolan's last Batman movie was also influenced by this story.The story is written and penciled by Frank Miller. Klaus Janson provides the inks for the miniseries. Lynn Varley provided the colors. Since I’m looking at this story, I’ll also talk about the two-part animated movie that Warner Bros. released last year.

Before I get too far in, here’s a little background with the story and it all has to do with the public library. I first heard about the story in a book called Tales of the Dark Knight, a book that talked about the first 50 years of Batman. I then heard about it in Who Needs A Superhero?, a Christian-themed book that linked Christian teachings to superheroes. I finally got to read the story when I found out that my hometown’s public library added graphic novels to their inventory. It’s now a part of my “little” collection of trades. Here’s a quick lowdown of the whole thing.

The Dark Knight Returns

Writer/Penciller: Frank Miller

Inker: Klaus Janson

Colorist: Lynn Varley

Tales from the $2.99 Bin! - Batman Eternal #1-#4

Well, it’s back to the present for this post. One thing I can say about the Batman comics franchise is that there are a crapton of books out there. It seems like it's still growing especially with the whole “New 52” craze still going on. Is “New 52” even a thing now? Would it be “Old 52” or “Not-So-New 52?” It’s kind of confusing. On Batman’s side of things, you can’t go wrong with Scott Snyder’s Batman book. I’m not looking at that today, but I just needed to say that right now. It’s one of the books that has stayed consistently good throughout DC's “New 52” phase.

Today, I’ll be looking at the first four issues of Batman Eternal, a recent weekly series. It’s done in the same way as series like 52, Countdown to Final Crisis, and Trinity. It centers on Batman and his entire gallery of allies and villains. Like those series, you have a lot of folk on the book. Scott Snyder provides the overall story while others like James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, John Layman, and Tim Seeley provide the script or are consulting writers. The book also has rotating artists. The pencillers for these four issues are Jason Fabok and Dustin Nguyen.

Batman Eternal #1-#4
Story: Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV
Consulting Writers: John Layman, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley
Pencils: Jason Fabok (#1-#3) and Dustin Nyugen (#4)
Inks: Jason Fabok (#1-#3) and Derek Fridolfs (#4)
Colors: Brad Anderson (#1-#3) and John Kalisz (#4)

Tales from... A Newspaper? - Batman: The Dailies 1943-1944 - "What a Sweet Racket"

As you can tell by the title, this is a bit different. I wanted to look at a story from this era, so I looked around for something from that time. I knew that Superman had stories in newspapers, but I didn’t know Batman had any done on him. I should have known that since he was pretty popular at the time too. This story comes from Batman: The Dailies 1943-1944. The writing and pencils are done respectively by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, the creators of Batman. So, let’s see what happens when Batman and Robin face the notorious gangster known as Blackie! The 1940’s were weird, man.

Batman: The Dailies 1943-1944 – “What a Sweet Racket” 
Writer: Bill Finger 
Pencils: Bob Kane 

Random Pics of the Month: July - More Batman Weirdness

One thing I can say about the character is that he's had his weird moments over the 75 years. While I did one post that showed weird moments, here's another one.

That's right! I'm not letting go of the "deadly deathclaws of death!" I'm just wondering how he got rockets in those things!

On Brave and the Bold, Batman has a lightsaber in his belt... well, at least he has a Batmobile that can turn into a plane, boat, and a mini-sized Megazord.

The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. Just read "Batman R.I.P." and you'll see why he's brandishing a bat.

Huh... Man, the 1950's were weird! And Batman's not the only one who's done this!

Oh Adam West... I'll get to you one day.

Graphic Novels - Batman: Knightfall - Who Rules the Night

I can’t believe it’s been two years since I looked at the first volume of “Knightfall.” I thought I would have gotten to it by now especially since all of the Knight Trilogy has been released in the trades. Now, it’s time to see what happened to Batman after Bane broke him. The creative team for the trade varies a lot. We have names like Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, Jim Aparo, Klaus Jansen, and Graham Nolan bringing this to us. The issues contained here are Detective Comics #664-666, Batman #498-500, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #16-18, and Showcase ’93 #7-8 . Here’s a brief recap of the previous volume:

Bane, being of sound mind and body, decides to unleash all of Arkham Asylum’s inmates on Gotham City. He does this in order to weaken Batman. As for Batman, who’s not of sound mind or body at the moment, doesn’t ask any other hero for help and decides to take on this threat with himself, Robin, and that Jean-Paul Van Damme guy. Besides, he’s the cotton-pickin’ Batman! He beat up a shark for goodness sake! He can win, right? Well, it all doesn’t go well. Bane corners him at his lowest and breaks his back.

Batman: Knightfall – Who Rules the Night

Writers: Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, and Alan Grant

Pencils: Jim Aparo, Graham Nolan, Bret Blevins, Klaus Janson, and Mike Manley

Inkers: Scott Hanna, Mike Manley, Klaus Janson, Bret Blevins, Steve George, Terry Austin, Rick Bruchett, and Dick Giordano

Colorists: Andrinne Roy and Klaus Janson