Well what a palaver about Batman RIP this week, eh? Great publicity - but slightly embarrassing in that the issue isn’t very good. Spoilers for the rest of the paragraph: What a lame ‘death scene’ eh? Hardly a classic. And to be honest, I can’t say I understood the issue, but if Thomas Wayne is alive and a villain, then that’s really cool - altho Black Mask - Red Hood - where does it end? Yellow Pants? (Actually isn’t that Robin?) The art sucked too. Why does Morrison always make do with below-par artists? And why were the villains never properly introduced or names? They looked quite cool. One thing I did like though was Jezebel Jet. New female villain called Jezebel? Cool. Now give her some powers or something.
But still, full credit to DC for getting such good publicity.
Speaking of Morrison, I’ve been re-reading Seven Soldiers this week. Man, you need a degree to understand this book. And it’s so easy to miss stuff. All in all though, I think editors should get Morrison to rein himself in a bit - he does self-indulge a bit sometimes. Overall, re the series I’d say…
- The first issue is amazing - exceptional. One of the best superhero comics ever written…
- Klarion and Mister Miracle are pretty much gobbledegook
- Manhattan Guardian struggles a bit with boring art - but the final chapter is excellent, laying hints and connections throughout the series
- Zatanna - as one of my top 10 all-time favourite characters, I really wanted to like this more than I did… Amazing art, but a bit of a struggle.
- Frankenstein - a bit bizarre - one of the times when the Editor needs to stop letting him be so self-indulgent
- Shining Knight - very confusing in places. Nice art, if a bit muddy - but Bianchi definitely draws Justine as a guy for the first few issues.
- Bulleteer - possibly my favourite, if only because it’s the easiest to follow. Although having said that, the art and story often don’t match up - a bit sloppy. And what a huge tangent to go off on in the final issue - telling the origin story of a completely different character.
All of which probably makes you think I hated it - but not at all - it’s great to see some experimentation in comics - and maybe I’ll understand it all one day…
4 comments:
Agree on the "death scene", and I too understood not a lot of it, but, at the same time, I enjoyed it. I love Morrison's epic take on Batman, and there were some great scenes and dialogue. Morrison may have lost the plot, but he has done it in style.
I'm a bit confused - it seems the death scene isn't actually the death - that happens in Final Crisis instead.
I remain a big Morrison fan (he's the only thing I read at DC now) and I've liked much of RIP, but I suspect editorial interference mucking about with the ending... and it sounds like he's had a fall out with Dan Didio over it too.
He must be fed up of Editors. Look at the Seven Soldiers guys - haven't they already changed Manhattan Guardian and Mister Miracle?
Yes, according to an article posted yesterday on the Beeb news website, Morrison has said that "the absolute, final fate" of Bruce Wayne will be revealed in Final Crisis in January. What a mess.
Post a Comment