Mattman’s Weekly Batman Update.

This week in Batman has made me think of young Mattman and how he would react to certain things. Most particularly, teenage Mattman. Teenage Mattman to be quite honest with you all was Mattman at his most hardcore Comic Book Fandom. But also teenage Mattman was Mattman at his most unforgiving. Nothing in the world was good enough for teenage Mattman. Of course he was 17 roughly when (the worst film of all time) Batman and Robin was released and he had to contend with that major upset that it took 8 years for the cinematic Caped Crusader to finally recover from with the release of Batman Begins (a film that not only made the memory of Batman and Robin finally wash away but also made even the original and still beloved Tim Burton film look juvenile in comparison). But this teenage Mattman was relentless. He would forgive nothing except complete perfection in all things geek, especially his beloved Batman. "Kelly Jones drew the ears too long!" or "Batman would never wear laser refractive armor!"

Recently in the past few years I have found myself more relaxed in my acceptance of things. In fact certain things I once would have been violently opposed to I find myself sometimes loving. Is this growing up? Does this make me any less a nerd? Sometimes it really makes me feel that way. I often feel alienated from others because I'm not as cold and unforgiving as they are when it comes time to be critical of geek media. At my fathers house this Thanksgiving I turned on his HDTV and was looking through the HD channels for some cheap entertainment. I saw that Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was on. I knew that the fellow geeks had ripped it a new one but I had not seen it so I decided to give it a shot. Now Fantastic Four has never been Shakespeare even their greatest comics are cheesy as fuck. So I find that even if Christopher Nolan himself were to direct a Fantastic Four movie there is no way it could come off as anything but ridiculous. But the modern day Mattman loves things for their cheesy-ness. I watched that movie and found that it was actually kinda decent. Then on another HD channel I found Spider-Man 3 was playing. So we watched that. Spider-Man has always been one of my dad's favorites. He loves Spider-Man 3. I really enjoyed it also. And in watching it the other day it only re-afirmed my love for it. I honestly don't know any other geeks out there that did enjoy it. In fact I feel that the film has been crucified by the nerd community overwhelmingly. I will admit there were certain things that the film got wrong but there were so many things that the film knocked out of the park for me. I feel that the film on a whole was slightly disappointing but overall very enjoyable.

But I wonder would teenage Mattman feel the same? would he be as forgiving? Is that a bad thing or a good thing? I watched the latest episode of Batman: Brave and the Bold last night on my DVR and I had a nerd orgasm of love for it. But the whole time I was laughing on the inside. I was laughing because I knew teenage Mattman would have hated this show. It is made for children, so it is childish. The Batman acts more like Adam West. The show is drawn in a Jack Kirby style, with 60's style music and a 60's style cheesy-ness. But the Batman they depict is just as cool as the Dark Knight Returns or Hush Batman. I love him just as much as I love the Christian Bale or Kevin Conroy depictions. I love him for his cool and his camp. In the Batman books I read this week I really liked certain things but was disappointed by others. Mostly I'm waiting for the stories to get to their damn point already. A major flaw in weekly reading, the patience factor.



Trinity #26

Writer: Kurt Busiek

Pencils: Mark Bagley

Back-up writers: Kurt Busiek and Fabian Niceza

Back-up pencils: Scott McDaniel

Wow! What a piece of shit. In both stories I had no idea what was going on or where any of this was leading. So I'm guessing we are still stuck in this alternate reality where there is no Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. But the characters they are choosing to focus on are boring and I don't altogether even understand what they are up to. The first story focuses on some Tarot card reading chick that is viewing the reality space-time continuum waves as they are attempting to repair reality itself and we get glimpses of different time periods from different realities, none of them featuring anybody your recognize or care about and all of them boring and confusing. Then in the back up feature we see Morgan Lee Fey talking to some dude Engima about the Trinity spell they casted and how they need their "third" to make things a reality. Enter this hulk like dude Graak. Only he's not the Hulk and he's not cool. We learn a lot about him but I've already forgotten it and I want to forget this comic altogether. Where, oh where is Batman?



Superman and Batman Vs. Vampires and Werewolves #4

Writer: Kevin VanHook

Pencils: Tom Mandrake

Now this is awesome. Just look at the freakin' title. Do I even need to review this? Batman and Superman are fighting VAMPIRES AND WEREWOLVES!!!!! Then Green Arrow shows up. What does he do? Shoots the vamps with WOODEN TIPPED ARROWS!!!! He brings Jason Blood with him (or maybe it's the other way around) to help with the whole vamps and wolves deal. We learn that some dude, Doctor Combs or whatever blah, blah, blah to make werewolves and vamps in Gotham. Blah, blah, blah, Then Jason Blood turns into Etrigan the Demon finally. Back to vamp and werewolves killing. To be continued and I can't wait!



Batman: Gotham After Midnight #7

Writer: Steve Niles

Pencils: Kelley Jones

Last week in my review I ripped on the artwork of Batman: Knightfall. I may just have to retract some of those statements now. Because one of the major artists of that crossover was the great Kelley Jones. Man his artwork is breath-taking and altogether other-worldly and unique like Sam Kieth or Mike Magnola. Honestly I don't think it is well-suited for core Batman titles but I would love to see it in mini-series and one-shots till the end of my days. This issue is all about Batman trying to find out who the killer Midnight is and why he is manipulating other villains in his scheme. Like the murder of a police detective in this issue and Killer Crocs involvement in it. The highlight of the issue for me is when Batman puts on his Kevlar Waterproof Bodysuit 65. The Teenage Mattman would have groaned at something like that happening in an issue of Batman. The armor costumes and such. Now I geek out at his countless costumes, gadgets and vehicles no matter how ridiculous. Well, for the most part.



Batman #681

Writer: Grant Morrison

Pencils: Tony Daniel

Here it is finally the conclusion to R.I.P. and I have to say I feel a little disappointed. Is the story bad? No. Is it the artwork? No. All the elements are beautiful and nearly flawless. The disappointment comes from the lack of a conclusion. Now I know that the final fate of Batman is supposed to be revealed in Final Crisis but I always thought that to mean that we would find out who was replacing him. I was convinced that the conclusion to R.I.P. would happen here, in R.I.P. But we don't find out what happens. Not even if Bruce retires or dies or if Black Glove is defeated or anything. Black Glove has a show down with Batman after he digs his way out of a coffin (they buried Batman alive) and Black Glove says blah, blah, blah "I am Thomas Wayne." Batman says blah, blah, blah "No you're not." Then the Helicopter they are both on explodes. Then we see Nightwing holding Batmans cape and cowl looking depressed like the explosion killed them both. Then we see Jezebel Jet on a airplane that gets attacked by tons of Man-Bat looking things. Then it flashed forward six months to show Black Glove thugs torturing some dude and gloating about how Batman and Robin are dead. Then we see a shadow of Batman (which one it is, I don't know) about to attack them. Then we see Batman's parents deaths again, for the billionth time. The End. Huh? What? Um, okay. That concluded and resolved nothing.

Tune in next week,

Same Matt-time

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Mattman