Batman / Superman / Wonder Woman: Trinity #2, September 2003
Batman / Superman / Wonder Woman: Trinity #2, 2003
Here’s a great Matt Wagner splash featuring Wonder Woman doing her best to rein in Bizarro. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t go all that well.
Wagner delivers page after page of visual dynamics and terrific storytelling in this underrated series featuring DC’s “Big Three.”
The only thing I don’t like: The “official” book title, which is a bit long and definitely not obvious. (Publishers occasionally forget that readers have to be able easily find the title at retail. Trust me on this.)
Paul Pope delivers a stunning Catwoman cover for Ed Brubaker’s great run from the early aughts. Smartly, the art/editorial decision makers kept the published cover in its original black and white state, with just a hint of red color applied after the fact. (Blood, naturally.) Pope did a series of these covers for the Brubaker run — all terrific.
Pope’s best known “mainstream” comic book is Batman Year 100 (2006), a wild ride into the bat-future; it would be lovely to see him return to the character at some point.
Looks like the new updated version of the out-of-print Pope art book (coming later this year from Boom!) has a cover with same black/white/red color scheme! Nice.
(Pro tip: Don’t want to draw feet? Bleed the legs off the page…)A great series — with terrific coloring by the masterful Jose Villarrubia. (In case you thought we ONLY liked B&W.)
In honor of Batman Day — and the caped crusader’s 85th birthday — here’s a link to all the posts that have featured Batman and his cast of colorful allies — and even more colorful villains:
We’ve been celebrating the Dark Knight throughout the month of September; one more bat-post to load next week, and then it’s off to October and monsters and ghouls, et al.
Swamp Thing #7 is one my favorite single issues, ever.
Don’t get me wrong: I loved all of Wrightson’s Swamp Thing through the first six issues, each of which I bought directly from the candy store or newsstand. (And #8-10 are just as good.)
But Batman?! Drawn by Berni? Wow. That Cape. Those ears. Just… wow.
I knew we would likely never see Wrightson on a conventional superhero title, so this was one special book. Flash forward nearly 25 years, and Berni revisits Batman once again with this cool Aliens crossover. It’s not Berni circa 1973 of course, but still great. I’m delighted that I stumbled onto this large art page last year.
And that half splash bottom panel? I knew that Batman pose looked familiar…
“A Batman who laughs is a Batman who always wins.”
I don’t try to acquire too many modern pages.
Especially story pages.
I miss the ballons lettered directly on the art boards. The modern pages look “incomplete” to me. (And often exacerbated by backgrounds that are digitally added later as well.)
And great modern pages (like this one) are often priced a bit expensively by the artist — or the artist’s rep. For similar prices, you can often find some great vintage art.
But… I’m definitely a fan of Jock’s art, and this page was much too cool to pass up. It’s from the Dark Universe spinoff, “The Batman Who Laughs.”One part Batman. one part Joker. Bat-Joker indeed.
And of course, it’s a fight page — without the dialog, you still get the basic idea.
Brian Stelfreeze provides this amazing “Golden Age” style cover for a Batman story in the 1994 Zero Hour event. The “original” portly Alfred suddenly reappears (from another timeline) — and, spoiler alert — disappears at the end of the story.
No matter: Stelfreeze’s cover painting is terrific, and Brian purposely added all the stains and scratches to give it an aged look.
Bonus: I can cover up his signature and no one realizes Brian painted it; it’s (obviously) nothing like his traditional painting style.
Zero Hour — The first large-scale crossover event at DC since Crisis on Infinite Earths, is celebrating its 30thanniversary. It’s a timeline event, designed primarily to clean up some continuity holes left behind by “Crisis.” Some get fixed, some don’t, but it’s a fun crossover, regardless. (And of course I’m biased, because pal Dan Jurgens wrote and drew the original mini-series. A brand new 30th anniversary special featuring a new story by Dan and Ron Marz landed on shelves last week.)
Alfred makes his first appearance in Batman #16; He loses weight a year or so later when a thinner actor is cast in the role in the first Batman movie serial.
Howard Chaykin turned an unused Batman pitch into an imaginative new series for the extremely short lived “Heavy Hitters” imprint from Marvel/Epic in 1993.
I’ve seen most of the original art for this title, and each page is beautiful: Great storytelling, terrific draftsmanship, and a generous use of deep India ink and screen tone for depth and effect. He worked his ass off on these pages, and it shows.
Bonus: Great lettering, as always, by John Workman.
Honestly, the only thing I don’t like about the series is the coloring (not by Howard), but hey, it was the 90s.
The four-issue series has never been collected, but individual issues typically turn up in dollar bins, and are worth seeking out.
Remember, you can’t kill the Midnight Men.
I’m sure I’ve used this photograph elsewhere, but, we are pals, and I like it. Sue me.
Michael Keaton is trending this week because of the Oscars “Batman” moment between him and Arnold Schwarzenegger/ Danny DeVito this past Sunday.
Many of the comments discuss Keaton being the “best” Batman.
Now, as I’ve said previously, I never loved the way his face looked in that original cowl. That’s partly the fault of the costume, and perhaps partly Keaton’s face shape. And the resulting style guide art was… not great.
That said —
Keaton is still the most enjoyable version of Bruce Wayne on screen. By far.
Keaton’s Wayne is both charming and offbeat. He’s very self-aware, has a sense of a humor and charisma, but still on the edge — likely bordering on psychotic. He provides many, many shades to the Wayne persona. His main scene with Bassinger and Wuhl is one of the great moments from the first film.
And hilariously, the whole “Keaton is the best Batman” thread is one of the most ironic critiques in entertainment history.
Why? Because even without the Internet and social media, the trolls managed to make so much negative noise about Keaton cast as Batman in Tim Burton’s 1989 feature.
“The guy from Beetlejuice? Seriously?”
The long knives were out for Burton, Warner Brothers, DC, and pretty much anyone and everyone associated with film prior to release.
Seriously, I don’t how the casting would have survived if social media had existed in 1988.
Which reminds us of the late, great William Goldman’s classic comment:
Darwyn Cooke welcomes The Spirit into the DC Universe with this outstanding cover featuring Will Eisner’s legendary creation, facing off against… well another pretty well-known comic book legend.
Cooke’s take on The Spirit is one of my favorites, and this entire double issue, with inks by J Bone and colors by Dave Stewart is simply wonderful. It definitely deserved its Eisner award (so appropriate) for best single issue of 2007.
This cover is the only Spirit art that Darwyn penciled and inked himself, since this issue, and the subsequent ongoing, was inked on separate blue-line by Bone.
Fun fact: The cover was solicited for sale in its original version, and then ultimately flipped for actual publication. Makes sense, since the title is Batman/The Spirit, not the other way around.
Nearly everyone I spent some time with at NYCC 2023 ended up with Covid-19. I indeed returned from the show feeling a bit under the weather, but when I tested negative, I assumed I had a case of the more common “con-crud” and went about my business.
Next day, I stopped at a local fast-food taco joint for a seasonal lobster burrito and COULD NOT TASTE IT. So, I went home and took the test again, tested negative, and napped. Woke up, ate dinner, still couldn’t taste a thing, and went back to sleep.
Next morning, tested again. Third time a “charm?” Nope, still negative. Did some homework, and learned the home kits have about a 15 percent false negative result. Called the doctor’s office, and the nurse told me to check back in if I felt worse. I could practically see her shrug through the phone.
Fortunately, I didn’t get worse, and my taste buds returned to normal in a few days. Covid? Maybe. Maybe not. Welcome to the 2020s.
Which makes this great Paul Smith specialty art even greater. In my case, The Joker could have burned the test, and it wouldn’t have mattered.
Oh, and the punchline: Where did I acquire this art?
NYCC 2023.
Kismet, no?
Some additional Paul Smith takes on the Batman family…
