I’m liking Ra’s return so far. The Bat Annual was pretty dope. Robin vs. Damian part 2 was also great. Ra’s is my favorite Bat villain so it’s about time he came back, Ra’s can’t stay dead ever no way.
Which issue of the crossover is Milligan writing? I know he wrote the Annual that was about Ra’s origin, but isn’t he writing at least one of those issues of Batman or Robin or something?
He wrote Robin last week.
I’m really liking the current story arc featuring Ra’s. A bit cliche in the beginning (I think Batman #670 is what I’m talking about), but it’s going pretty damn good. I’m digging the fight between Damian and Robin (who looks awesome in his new costume :D)
I’m looking forward to tommorow. Nightwing #138 comes out, and that’s part 3 
Okay time for my daily bat dose.
Yesterday I raided my local store and started reading all the latest Bat titles, I was really liking the Batmen from different time periods come to fuck with Bruce. One of the oddest and most inventive comics I thought Batman could be thrown in.
I got a few of the Ra’s titles, and the annual, and I’m loving it oddly. I hope to see appearences by other Bat villains as well and a few choice heroes.
Did you see this week’s Lying in the Gutters?
http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=13
It’s got some weird speculation about Batman’s death. Grant Morrison’s involved? Final Crisis? NEW New Gods? Fifth World? Crazy if it’s true, hilarious if it’s not.
Why would DC kill their biggest cash cow? And if this was even the slightest bit true, it’d be temporary and I sure as hell wouldn’t want Jason Todd under the fuckin’ mantle.
Dick Grayson all the way.
You just answered your own question.
Is it mandatory to read Year One, before reading Long Halloween?
To appreciate more of the background characters in the story, I would say yes
plus if you don’t read Year One you are really missing out
Touche my friend, touche.
Alright I just read Hush: Returns courtesy of Zeph, and although a few things really irked me I enjoyed the run.
Bad stuff first to get it out of the way:
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What a lame use for Prometheus. He’s seriously one of my favorite DC villains, who almost destroyed the JLA single-handedly in his first appearence. Why is he first handed his ass on a gold platter by Green Arrow, then forced into a glorified thug role for Hush? Also he isn’t using his helmet or Shock Stick, only Uzi’s and Pistol’s to kill people. Little things count as well, I assumed when he was younger the trauma turned his hair white, but here he had short brown hair. They did mention he could have made it up and it had no credentials, but I’m pretty sure he had white hair in the JLA arc.
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The whole unified criminal organization ruled by Joker. Since when the hell did anyone take orders from him? I enjoyed his more serious personality in this arc, but he reminded me of the Godfather in clown make-up.
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Hush himself. The Batman: Hush arc was dynamic in so many ways. He literally destroyed Batman, broke him (Not a cliche breaking like Bane) both physically and mentally. This time around he seems more…tame. The lack of more psychological attacks on the Bat was pissing me off, even though Batman was doing a great job tormenting himself.
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Cover artist on the first few. Those covers bugged the hell outta me, I liked the inside art but if I was an every day Bat fan looking for a nice comic, I wouldn’t pick those up by the cover. Though you aren’t suppose to judge it by that…
Okay now things I liked:
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Joker, yes he wasn’t apeshit crazy this time around, and for some apparent reason I really, really liked it. The serious personality combined with his natural creepy look was unsettling in a few spots to say the least. I also like how they dug more into his origin, putting this comic at odd’s with his newer “Origin”. He seemed dead serious on killing his wife’s killer, why go through all this trouble for a figment of your imagination?
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Riddler, I was never a big Riddler fan, but both of these Hush arc’s redeemed him in my eyes. He’s snarky, a cheat, and will do anything to stay alive, every bit a true con-artist.
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The weird f’in twist. So let me get this straight, Thomas Elliot isn’t Hush? Or he is and that was someone else? What the fuck?! It got me thinking who was under the bandages then. I thought it was Two-Face, since I believe his face fix was around this time. Though he fixes and disfigures it so often I have no clue. Alfred’s soap opera amnesia isn’t helping my dilemma.
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Ken. Asian Joker? Sign me up!
Now I just need to read the end of the Hush saga, then I can complain on what Batman’s final decision was. We know Batman and Joker made it One Year Later, would Hush be far off?
Jesus Christ, we have spoiler tags for a reason people. Fucking use them.
Batman shit
Spoiler
It’s a brilliant scheme. Kill Batman as soon as his new movie hits theaters. The franchise will be over with the crowd like fucking crazy.
Sorry, B. Pinny, but I didn’t think that an unfounded rumor about Batman’s death is a spoiler. I hope you didn’t click the link, then. Would it be a spoiler if I told you that Batman will live by the end of the Ra’s Al Ghul crossover?
Yeah. I liked that the writer decided to bring him into Batman’s rogues gallery, but he seemed pretty wimpy in the story. Would have been cooler if he didn’t get beaten down so easily and was the one administering beat downs.
I like those Gotham Knights covers. I think that whole series had pretty good cover artists. I do like it when the interior artist draws the cover, but I think Bermejo is a pretty quality artist. The other people who did covers throughout the 70-something issue run, like Brian Bolland, Jae Lee, and Cliff Chiang, are some of my favorite artists, too.
I didn’t like the coloring for the first issue of that run, though. Batman was standing in front of this funky brownish-orange background. That’s some lazy coloring and clearly a turnoff.
What I didn’t like in Hush Returns is how Riddler seemed less deadly than in the first Hush story. Also, wasn’t Riddler in jail or Arkham by the end of the first one? I forget, but did Hush Returns explain how he got free? That should have been a bigger plot point.
I forget. I never got the issues that came after. Only skimmed them at the store. I just remember the end of the Gotham Knights series degenerating into a Hush/Joker/Red Hood (Jason Todd) slugfest with some truly horrible art. Or maybe I’m actually thinking of Judd Winick’s Pre-One Year Later run on Batman.
I will say that the whole Alfred storyarc is horrible, though. Completely stupid - but I am not sure if Lieberman thought of it himself or if he had to include due to editorial influence trying to write the War Games/War Crimes crossover.
I think my favorite thing about the whole run was the artwork. Barrionuevo, or however you spell it. That dude can draw. And those first six issues were all extra sized, too.
I did like the interior art a lot, and during Hush Riddler was in jail since he was caught at the beginning, but he was controlling stuff from the inside. Which is why in Hush Returns it opens on him in jail, right where you left him.
Now I’m annoyed and want to see how it ends, though I know the last comic had Hush begging for Batman to save him from the Joker, then One Year Later kicked in. What a weird way to leave it.
Not mandatory to read it before. If you know the basic details of the Bat-origin, then you’ve got what you need to understand The Long Halloween.
That said, it IS mandatory to read Year One at some point, if you’re even a casual Bat-fan. It’s definitely the most accessible of Frank Miller’s Bat-books, and one of the best Bat-books ever made.
I wanted to read Year One. I know it’s a must read and all. But I saw a preview of it and wasn’t sure if I could comprehend the shorthand font on the narrative boxes, hence my doubts. Lame reason, but still barely valid, in my opinion lol
Anyway, thanks for the advice. I’m going to buy Long Halloween and Year One simultaneously. I’m sure I’ll get used to the shorthand text.
Goodm0urning got me thinking about Batman’s radical age difference lately, and I think the 40 year age mark is a perfect fit for him. I can’t imagine Bruce being 20 when Dick was 10, doesn’t seem right to me.
Also is their any Bat title currently going on with just Bruce in the picture? I always like a little solo-bat, but I can hardly find any.
How well received was the Superman/Batman comic? I liked the art style and the storylines looked interesting, but I haven’t heard much about it at all.
Ahh new Countdown…must buy it.
I think Superman/Batman has generally been a waste of time. This current arc is the best it’s ever been, by far. Alan Burnett (worked on a lot of the DC cartoons) and Dustin Nguyen (The Authority, Wildcats Version 3.0) are doing a pretty imaginative story involving Darkseid and the New Gods.
Other than that, the Absolute Power TPB is all right. That one is basically about an alternate reality; I guess I’m a sucker for Imaginary Stories. Some of those other arcs have nice Ed McGuinness art but Jeph Loeb can’t write a good story without Tim Sale. And that Supergirl arc was complete garbage. I understand why Michael Turner’s art is popular but it still sucks.
The last Jeph Loeb arc also had a brief cameo from the Terry McGinnis Batman. It ain’t worth reading just to look at that one panel, though.
Ahh…they should bring Bat Beyond into the DC universe for real, I’d be so happy if that happened. That sucks, because I was looking forward to reading some good World’s Finest. I might check the Darkseid arc out, since I’ve never read anything with his involvement before.