Batman: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

(Originally published at ComixConnection.com)

Last Wednesday I bought two excellent books, Matt Wagner's BATMAN AND THE MONSTER MEN and Andrew Helfer's BATMAN: JOURNEY INTO KNIGHT, both limited series and both dealing with the Caped Crusader's early adventures.

Once you get past the fact that the phrase "Journey into Knight" really doesn't mean anything (it just looks cool!), you'll find that this series is actually rather good. The few Andrew Helfer stories I have read before impressed me, which is why I bought this even though the artwork didn't. If you ever stumble across issues of Helfer's DC series THE SHADOW, pick them up. It's a sometimes disturbing, sometimes "laugh out loud funny" comic. I think you will really like it, even if you don't care about the Shadow.

Matt Wagner has been a force to reckon with ever since the publication of "Mage" many years ago. His art here is clean and deceptively simple, and his story is top-notch, although admittedly we're not too far into it at this point. Julie Madison, Dr. Hugo Strange, and Bruce doing the "bored playboy" act at a posh social affair - all stuff a Bat-Fan will love!

But the thing that made these two books shine the most was that they featured Batman - the REAL Batman - and not the Batman of current continuity whose anger, anti-social behavior, and general unfriendliness has pushed away everyone he once called a friend.

As a Batman fan, I have put up with way too much "bad stuff" in recent history:

1. Leslie Thompkins betraying both her Hippocratic Oath and Bruce by letting the Spoiler (then Robin) die. Why did she do this? To teach Bruce a lesson - a lesson he had already learned years ago when Jason Todd was murdered.

2. "War Games" in general - from Batman being too dumb to realize that it was his "master plan" tearing apart Gotham to his attempt to take over the police department to Barbara Gordon needlessly destroying her headquarters, this story was just an insult to our brains.

3. Commissioner Gordon being replaced by the bland Commissioner Akins. I can't believe they have let this replacement go on for so long. I miss the old guy - especially after seeing him on the big screen last summer.

4. David Lapham's 12-part story in "Detective Comics." It really seemed to have potential at first, but somewhere along the line it crumbled into a huge, boring mess - you know, the same boring mess that "Gotham Knights" has been since it's inception. GK's rumored cancellation would be a mercy-killing at this point.

5. Miller's "Batman in Sin City" storyline in "All-Star Batman": I wanted desperately to enjoy that book, but with dialogue like "What, are you retarded? I'm the #&*-!@&%$# Batman!" it's really hard to. The art looked fabulous, but it only ended up making me think back to when Frank knew how to write super-heroes. His "Sin City" books are great and I'll keep buying them, but from now on, anything he does with a cape in it gets an automatic pass from me.

Wow! This started out so positive, but look where it ended up - me whining and complaining. Oh well - I do this because I care. I have been reading Batman for almost 30 years now, and I have never considered him to be in worse hands. Well, except for when Larry Hama was writing the book. Anyway, all this makes me appreciate the good stuff when it comes out, and like I said "Monster Men" and "Journey into Knight" is good stuff. Check it out!

Touring the Angel 2005

The weekend was officially kicked off last Friday night at the Patriot Center in Virginia where my lovely child-bride and I, along with our good friends Hans and Missy (names changed to protect the innocent), attended a concert event starring one of the greatest bands ever - Depeche Mode. They are touring in support of their fantastic new CD "Playing the Angel" which you should listen to if you haven't already. It's really an impressive release, especially considering that DM has been together for 25 years now. Veteran bands aren't supposed to make music this vital or this creative. "PTA" blows away their last two CDs, and stands as the first post-Alan Wilder release to rival their classic albums from the 80s/early 90s.

Both Martin and Dave were in excellent voice and Fletch played keyboards like a madman (meaning he didn't really do too much other than talk to himself and wave his arms in the air!) Martin always seems uncomfortable when he sings his songs in front of an audience, but this time he projected more confidence than I have ever seen from him. I'm not saying he came off like a perfect frontman, but he made some attempts to connect with the crowd and act a little bit crazy. Usually he just stands there waving his hands in weird patterns. It was cool to see him drop to his knees at the edge of the stage to let the crowd strum his guitar - very rockstar-ish!

Dave, the band's actual frontman, always puts on a good show, and Friday was no exception. He really shined during "Enjoy the Silence" and "Never Let Me Down Again" - two of the group's biggest hits, but even during the new material he did a great job of keeping the crowd into the show. New material can often be the kiss of death for an older band in concert, but generally DM fans are pretty good at staying current. That's one of the things I like about seeing them in concert.

Anyway, my 8th DM concert was awesome and I anxiously await my 9th - whenever that will be. Being there with our friends who have dug the band for as long as we have was great! We all acted like big freaks when Martin came out for the first encore to sing "Somebody" (from "Some Great Reward")- singing along with our arms draped over each others shoulders. What a fun evening!

Dave recently said that being in the band is more fun now than it ever has been, and that there will indeed be more Depeche albums in the future. I, for one, can't wait!!!

Set List:

A Pain That I'm Used To
John The Revelator
A Question Of Time
Policy Of Truth
Precious
Walking In My Shoes
Suffer Well
Damaged People
Home
I Want It All
The Sinner In Me
I Feel You
Behind The Wheel
World In My Eyes
Personal Jesus
Enjoy The Silence

Encore #1
Somebody
Just Can't Get Enough
Everything Counts

Encore #2
Never Let Me Down Again
Goodnight Lovers