3/6/12

New comics come out tomorrow and I haven’t even reviewed anything from a week ago? To properly express my feelings, I have, at great personal expense, brought in the Mighty Thor. Thor, if you would:

“I SAY THEE NEIGH!”

Thank you Odinson, that was splendid. Now on to the reviews.

Victorian Secret, Girls of Steampunk: Winter Wardrobe #1:

How, one might ask, does one review an art comic? Or, for that matter, why would someone who has repeatedly decried the sexist portrayal of women in comics even want to? The answer: I’ll do my best to explain.

Let’s begin with the second question about my motives: I was curious. I thought, “It can’t be THAT bad, right?” I mean, the woman on the cover may technically be topless but she has beautiful green eyes and chic black lipstick. At worst, I’ll give my hormones a little treat and regret shelling out $3.99 for garbage pin-up art and be able to immortalize the mistake in this blog.

The girls are really a mixed bag; everywhere from classy to slutty, well-executed to amateurish, very steampunk to “why is she in here anyway?” I will show you the best and worst out of 27 pieces. Let’s pray you can tell which is which.

My recommendation? This is a decent primer for steampunk fan art. The Steampunk Glamour Review does a better job of immersing you in the real culture but it’s a bit less accessible. With the genre staying red hot and gaining mainstream recognition, this might not be as bad a buy as it first appears to be.

Batman the Dark Knight #6:

In the issues leading up to this one, Batman has been encountering a large cross section of his rogue’s gallery hopped up on a fear-based chemical that gives them enormous strength and reduces them to rage-filled simpletons. And yet, I never suspected Bane. I know, this was a rather open-and-shut case and being the greatest detective of all time, Bruce Wayne should have had this figured out in six pages not have it sprung on him in six issues. And everyone reading should have gotten it too. I freely admit to getting too absorbed in a comic that I never see ANYTHING coming. I feel the emotive minutia and miss the forest for the trees. And David Finch’s story is miles away from the beauty and sophistication of Neil Gaiman’s Death of Bruce Wayne.

The comic opens with Superman having beat the daylights out of Batman. (Hey, haven’t we seen these guys fight enough? Batman is brains, Sups is brawn. Given enough time to prepare, Bats wins, if he doesn’t he looses, end of story, try something new D.C.) Batman has been infected with the power toxin and somehow getting his butt handed to him worked the juice out. So all you fans who wanted to see Bruce die in issue six and never wanted to read any more of this hot hot title will be disappointed.

Flash has also been exposed and is trying to run the toxin out of his system by circling the globe full tilt. Bruce tells Clark that Flash’s efforts are counterproductive and that he has essentially become a bomb. Sups arrives at Flash’s side and tells him...to keep running? Either Finch is being intentionally confusing or he’s cooking something sinister up.

Paul Jenkins’ art is gritty and detailed and pleasing to the eye. The lingerie decked White Rabbit is a adolescent testosterone fueled fever dream and could, and probably should, have been done away with entirely.

For my money, the real story in this title is the political turmoil Commissioner Gordon has found himself in. Gotham is swarming with villains, mob-bosses and corrupt officials. One of Gordon’s lieutenants has been given a taste of power and is gunning for his boss’ job. LT. Forbes is cozying up to the mayor and painting Gordon as an out of control maverick who is entirely too comfortable with the “menace” Batman.

Dark Knight doesn’t quite make the cut for top five of the new 52 but it definitely has its high points. I know 90% of my male readers will be scratching their heads as to why I’m not gaga over this book. But hey, I’m the critic, baffling criticism is in the job description.

And now, let me leave you with a little reminder that your local comic shop has lots of cool stuff besides comics and that there is never a wrong time for combat boots.