Category Archives: Batman
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 3/28/15
I’m happy to report my busy week has come to an end! I was covering a murder trial in my day job as a mild-mannered newspaper reporter, and the guy ended up being found guilty. He had it coming, trust me. But all that day job stuff cut into my blogging and comic book reading, so unfortunately it’s going to be a somewhat light week. It helps that Marvel Comics didn’t really put out anything too crazy this week.
Though Marvel did put out Uncanny X-Men #32, which wins Comic Book of the Week for finally kicking off Cyclops’ final journey!
And does it vive?
DC Comics filled up the rest of my week, with new issues of Batman Eternal, Batman and Robin and Gotham Academy. It seems I really read a lot of Bat-books. That’s largely unintentional, they’re just the best that DC has to offer. That’s not a bad thing, right?
Oh, and you can check out my review of Darth Vader #3 over at Word of the Nerd. Good times in Dark Lord of the Sithing!
Comic Reviews: Batman Eternal #51, Batman and Robin #40, Gotham Academy #6 and Uncanny X-Men #32.
I Called the Big Bad of Batman Eternal!
I did it! I called it! Ha! Score one for the Henchman! I got something right for once!
Normally I’d wait until my Hench-Sized Reviews on Saturday to talk about the latest issue of Batman Eternal, but I just had to stake my claim here and now to totally calling the super big evil bad guy of the year-long series! I never get this sort of thing right! My theories about Lost were way off! But this one I got! I didn’t really have any clues, I didn’t really know it was coming. I just put my thinking cap on and gave it my best guess!
First of all, it’s not Cluemaster, as was alluded to in the final page of Batman Eternal #50.
He spent money on those glasses!
The new issue this week – Batman Eternal #51 – is all about Cluemaster taunting a defeated and bloodied Batman. Cluemaster monologues like a total pro, going on such a rant that it legitimizes Syndrome’s entire ‘monologuing’ gag from The Incredibles in the first place. The guy just won’t shut up, so proud to finally tell Batman (and the readers) all about his ‘clever’ plan to be evil and awesome. I’ll admit that the issue, written by James Tynion IV, is alright. It’s better than Batman Eternal has been for most of its run. But there is a whole heck of a lot of monologuing.
Then, at the very end of Batman Eternal #51, we’re introduced to the real villain of the series…
Join me after the jump to find out who! SPOILERS, obviously.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 3/21/15
It was Ladies Week in comics this week, with at least five of my favorite female-friendly comics hitting the stands! I have been a huge proponent of the push for more female representation in comics, and I’ve pretty much loved everything I’ve read so far. Heck, I’m even making my own comic starring two female protagonists. So I couldn’t be more excited for a week that includes new issues of Princess Leia, Lumberjanes, Batgirl, Silk and the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl!
But only one of those issues can win Comic Book of the Week, and that honor goes to the latest issue of Batgirl, which features a pretty stellar climax to their first story arc.
Boom-Punching 101
Not that Silk and Squirrel Girl weren’t awesome too! As was the second issue of Princess Leia, which I reviewed over at Word of the Nerd this week, so check that out too!
Sadly, I didn’t get around to the Lumberjanes review. That comic is mid-story arc, so I’m waiting for a good jumping on point to get back into regular reviews. And I can’t wait for that to happen!
Comic Reviews: Batgirl #40, Batman Eternal #50, Divinity #2, Silk #2 and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #3.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – March 14, 2015
Rejoice, everybody! This was a darn great week for comics! It’s the sort of week that strains my wallet and makes me wish I didn’t have such expensive hobbies. But then I remember that at least I’m not a parasailer. I bet that stuff is really expensive.
Nope, I spend my money on stuff like Ms. Marvel, the Comic Book of the Week! And it feels so good to say that! I love this comic so much.
Swoon
But the rest of the week is pretty darn good too! We’ve got new Amazing Spider-Man, new Ant-Man and new Star Wars, and there were some great comics I read this week that I didn’t even get around to reviewing, like Captain Marvel, Silver Surfer and Thor! This was apparently my week!
I was planning to review Silver Surfer, but I have very specific expectations when it comes to Silver Surfer and Galactus, and Dan Slott went in the entirely opposite direction. It just wouldn’t have been fair for me to review that comic.
Comic Reviews: Amazing Spider-Man #16, Ant-Man #3, Batman Eternal #49, Howard the Duck #1, Ms. Marvel #13, Ninjak #1 and Star Wars #3.
‘We Are Robin’ to Star Duke Thomas and Friends
One of the most interesting new comics coming out of DC this Spring will be We Are Robin, a series that was shrouded in mystery when it was first announced. What’s with all the kids on the cover? What about Tim Drake, Dick Grayson or Jason Todd? Who is Robin?
Well the shroud is off and the questions have been answered in USA Today! We Are Robin is going to star Duke Thomas and a whole movement of Gotham teenagers rallying behind the mantle of the Boy Wonder!
Where can I get that jacket?
As much as this kind of goes against everything I love about Robin…I’m actually kind of excited by this news! It sounds like a really awesome comic and a neat twist on the whole concept of Robin.
Personally, of course, I much prefer the idea that Robin is a single individual: the squire to the Dark Knight, the apprentice of the World’s Greatest Detective. But I’m definitely down to check out Lee Bermejo’s We Are Robin when it launches in a few months. Maybe it’s because I’m still annoyed that Harper Row didn’t get to become the new Robin, and we’re still stuck with Damian Wayne. Maybe I’m just more open to new and fascinating comic book ideas. Whatever the case, I’m totally on board.
Bermejo mentions in the article that he’s partially inspired by movements like what happened in Ferguson, Missouri last year.
“There’s that element of this particular moment we’re passing right now, and with a book like this you have a chance to comment about certain things and bring them into the Bat-universe in real interesting ways. With ideas and big concepts, teenagers can get really passionate about that stuff and it can be their whole life. That was something interesting to me, that this thing could be bigger than just one guy jumping around in a domino mask.”
Bermejo says he wants to take the very idea of Robin and play around with it. And that maybe there are a lot of kids in the streets of Gotham who could be helping Batman out there.
Specifically, the series will star Duke Thomas, a kid that Bruce Wayne first met in Zero Year, and who recently reappeared during Batman’s fight with the Joker. And when all DC comics jumped 5 years into the future last fall, it was Duke Thomas who was serving as Robin, in costume.
Nonchalantly out of context
So maybe We Are Robin is just the next part of Duke Thomas’ journey. We shall see. But no matter what this title brings, I am definitely excited. There are big things ahead for the Boy Wonder(s)!
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Henchman-4-Hire 