Battle For the Cowl Tie In Round Up

The Battle for the Cowl tie in round up

Well, after about fifty pages of essay writing for my finals, I emerge rejuvenated and ready to start pumping out some reviews. I figured with the numerous BFTC tie-ins flooding the comic book market place, I’d help you, our faithful and beloved readers, decide which ones are worth picking up and which ones would function better as shredded lining for a hamster cage. Basically

I’m reading these books so you don’t have to

With that being said, let’s jump straight into tie-in number one

Gotham Gazette: Batman Dead?
This issue is pretty strong. It gives the audience a nice feel for the kind of shape Gotham is in and is sort of the set up for a number of other tie-ins. The issue is written by Fabian Nicieza, who’s work on the final issues of Robin was nothing short of spectacular. He seems to set up a nice mood and theme throughout the length of the story using the Voice of Gotham City (The woman introduced by Denny O’Neil in Detective 851 and Batman 684) as the narrator to describe what exactly is going on. This is one issue I would encourage picking out of the litter.
Solid story with a number of various artists lending a hand. 7/10

Battle for the Cowl: Commissioner Gordon
Interesting story while not the most engaging. We find Gordon shackled in the dark giving us a “What is going on?” inner monologue. Basically, he’s been taken prisoner by Mr. Freeze who sadly sounds more like the Arnold Schwarzenegger version of the character than any other version of the character. Only about half of this story is worth reading. All of Gordon’s inner thoughts reminded me of the hard nosed, strong character from Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One. The story is ultimately about Gordon realizing that Batman is gone and it is up to the GCPD to stand up and start behaving like cops. While a very good concept, between Governor Freeze and some very shoddy artwork by Tom Mandrake, the book never passes the mediocre mark.
6/10

Battle for the Cowl: Man-Bat
Let me preface this by saying I loved this issue. It’s a fantastic one shot very Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Langstrom gains some fantastic depth in this issue that really makes him stand out as a character. I really hope they carry some of this over to his next appearances in the Bat-universe. With that being said, you won’t be missing much of the bigger picture if you pass this one. This is more of an exploration of character than it is a a tie-in to BTFC, but the great story and decent art are worth your three bucks alone.
7.5/10

Oracle: The Cure
The Calculator is trying to find the remnants of the Anti-Life equation through the back alleys of the information super highway and only Barbra Gordon a.k.a. The Oracle can stop him. Sounds exciting right? It’s not. I find myself asking “Why should I care about this?” every time I read the two issues. The dialogue is boring, the inner monologues provide us nothing more than spelling out the already obvious, and that story hardly ties into BFTC at all. The art is the only saving grace and even it only stems the bleeding. If you don’t pick this book up, you won’t be missing anything. Out of all the tie-ins this is the only one that really feels like they are simply trying to take your money from you
4/10

Battle for the Cowl: Arkham Asylum
Probably on of the strongest tie-ins in general and it still suffers from the same problem the Man-Bat tie in did. You simply don’t need to read this to get anything else out of Battle for the Cowl. Don’t think that means you shouldn’t pick this book up because you need to. I don’t often read a comic and get legitimately creeped out, but for all 22 pages of this book, I was very uneasy. In case the front cover does give you the creeps right away, then about three pages in when Dr. Arkham starts talking to the inmates…you will be. This issues stands alone away from the real breadth of BFTC, but still manages to enthrall and terrify. If you pick up only one tie-in, it’s this one.
8/10

Battle for the Cowl: The Network
I think if I had my way, I would have Fabian Nicieza write every BFTC tie-in. He has a knack for getting understanding the atmosphere of the Bat-universe unlike any writer I have seen in a long time (This excludes Chuck Dixon). Fabian manages to really give us an idea of what The Network is all about and how it is handling the responsibilities left in Batman’s absence. Very engaging read, but the art kind of falls flat in some parts then shines wonderfully in others (Most notably the big panel of Bagirl). The Network really demonstrates what The Cure wanted to with Barbra taking charge and really making a difference in the Batman-less Gotham City.
7/10

Battle for the Cowl: The Underground
Loved this one shot. It did a fantastic job of demonstrating the way the criminal world is reacting to all the trouble with Batman being gone. Penguin is flipping out and employing The Riddler. Two-Face is still his same ole crazy talking to himself…self and now we get the added layer of Catwoman and how she’s handling the death of not just Batman, but Bruce Wayne. The art is also solid and has a nice few touch like The Penguin resembling the Danny DeVito version. Another strong outing that I recommend picking up. It offers a very broad look at how Gotham is handling it all.
7/10

Azrael: Death’s Dark Knight
Fabian goes three for three on tie-ins with this limited series. The whole whacky Order of St Dumas is back, well kind of. The new crazy cult establishing the role of Azrael is a more peaceful and splinter group called The Order of Purity. Basically, their current Azrael goes a bit bonkers and so The Order has to replace him. They decide to pick up someone fans of Morrison’s run on Batman will recognize and a a few other throwbacks to the last year of Batman lore. The book is dark, gritty and down right entertaining to read. The art is very dynamic, if a bit cartoony at times, but this book has been fun to read and look at.
7.5/10

There you have it. I hope this helps you make some decisions on which tie-ins are worth your hard earned money. Seriously though, don’t buy Oracle: The Cure. You’ll just be mad at yourself for doing it.
-Tom

Blackest Night #0

If you're a reader of our few reviews and insights we've provided, I'd like to take a moment to mention the fact that Tom and I are working on something more expansive.  While both of us are college students and smothered with finals and things recently (see our lack of much reviewing lately) I am taking a break from such activity to write.  I think Tom died the other night from working non-stop from like 8pm to 9am the next morning or something like that, he's probably been asleep for 48 hours.  Anyway, once school is over we'll be setting in motion plans for our own website where we do basically, the same thing here: review comics, write about comics, write reviews of comic-related movies occasionally, and possibly musing on characters.  We plan on getting it up and running by mid-May or the end of May.  So, if you're a reader here, keep an eye out to see when that is up and running.

Now, on to what I've been wanting to talk about since Saturday.  As you know, or I hope you know, Saturday was Free Comic Book Day.  The highlight of this day was the release of Blackest Night #0!!!  I've read it three or four times since it was released on Saturday and I get happier every time I get to that final page.  Before you continue, I will warn you that you should read this issue, if you don't want anything spoiled or ruined, as I will certainly do here.

Blackest Night #0

Written by: Geoff Johns

Illustrated by: Ivan Reis

We start off this issue with Hal Jordan doing some amazing reminiscing about Batman and Bruce Wayne.  He provides insights to their different views on things, their past disputes, conversations and their mutual understandings of one another as heroes who do their job very differently, one overcoming great fear, the other creating fear in his adversaries.  Barry Allen, recently revived in Final Crisis and Flash Rebirth joins the scene.  Geoff's work in Flash Rebirth spills over to their conversation, showing Barry's troubles about getting situated in a world he's been absent from for years.  Hal's inner demons arise as they speak of how everyone came to Barry's funeral, but even those closest to him, scorned Hal at his own death.

That's the theme here, death and resurrection.  If you don't read Green Lantern, Blackest Night's impending conflict comes from the dead rising from their graves.  This little preview provides a good background on what has happened in Final Crisis, Batman's death, Martian Manhunter's death, Barry Allen's return, etc.  However, while Hal and Barry depart Bruce Wayne's unmarked grave with a feeling of hope that their friends will find their way back from the dead as Hal and Barry had done, something else broods nearby.

It's in the final two pages that we ultimately get a preview of who we can expect to see arise from the dead in Blackest Night as a Black Lantern.  The first headstone to be shown is that of Aquaman, Arthur Curry, buried alongside the ocean.  This wasn't in the final two pages, but I believe the choice to paint a lighthouse overlooking his grave black and gray-striped was no mistake.  The next headstone we see is Ralph and Sue Dibny, Ralph being the hero The Elongated Man.  Then, we see the headstone of Ronnie Raymond, the hero known as Firestorm.  However, the greatest thing I've taken from this issue is the fact that, while reciting the Black Lantern oath, the villain Black Hand reaches into an unmarked grave, removes the skull and in the final page, has his ring focused on it, green lights emitting from the eye sockets, and smoke surrounding it.  However, the smoke takes a definitive shape, the ears of Batman's cowl are clearly depicted, hinting that in July, we may very well see Bruce Wayne return to the DC Universe, but not as the Dark Knight, but a Black Lantern.

The Black Lantern oath: "The Blackest Night falls from the skies.  The darkness grows as all light dies.  We crave your hearts and your demise.  By my black hand--the dead shall rise!"

Thoughts on "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" Part One

Alright, we haven't done anything this week because we're quite busy and working on some other things.  But, we both saw X-Men Origins Wolverine last night and I just woke up from getting home at 2:30 AM and well...I'm still deciding.  Tom is more of the X-Men guru, I only read a handful of Marvel titles, two of them being Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine.  Tom could answer almost every trivia question on X-Men Legends 2, I can't.  But, I still have X-Men knowledge and I still care about them because I grew up watching the cartoon and then have been reading those two comics titles.

Anyway, usually a movie makes an immediate impression on me.  Iron Man? Awesome.  Incredible Hulk?  Awesome.  The Dark Knight?  Beyond awesome.  Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer?  Terrible.  X-Men Origins Wolverine? Ehh, I don't know.  I went with a group of friends to the midnight showing last night, and while I was in the movie, there were some exciting parts, good fight scenes, things that I was thinking "great job" about.  After the movie I kind of gave it a less than enthusiastic "it was good" rating.  When a movie does this, when it does not initiate that first impression on me of either really good, really bad, or definitely mediocre, it usually winds up being labeled, not so good.

(If you haven't seen the movie, there's SPOILERS from here on out)

My first disappointment came when I saw the credits, Logan and Victor running through time, through all the wars, etc.  It was an AWESOME way to do the credits, but I was disappointed no chunk of the film would be given to that aspect of their story, other than 4 minutes of no-dialogue flash images.  I had a worry that the movie would be more focused on the secondary mutants, the swarm of fellows they put into the movie alongside Wolverine and Sabertooth.  I felt that the story actually did revolve around Wolverine for the movie, however, I now have settled on the idea that there were too many mutants in the movie.  I know the title is "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" so they have X-Men in the movie, but I think this movie could have been much, much stronger had they focused on a handful of people, a small handful at that.

Victor Creed was done amazingly by Liev Schrieber.  I love him as an actor and people had their doubts about him playing Sabertooth, I never did.  He was cold, malicious, amusing at times, and just down right nasty.  He was a great villain, only problem was that he had to elbow and nudge his way into the role of the movie's villain which was largely taken by Colonel William Stryker, who was not a movie villain.  He was a scheming bad guy, no doubt about that, but villains need to pose a threat to the main character, Striker poses none to Wolverine.  In the X-Men movies, Magneto was the villain mostly, great threat to the X-Men.  Colonel William Stryker is a regular man, someone easily killed by Wolverine if he had the chance.  Why didn't he?  Oh wait, Sabertooth was there to keep him from doing it.

Sabertooth would have been a great main villain.  The two characters have a great relationship, which I felt was very well played upon when Sabertooth says "No one kills you but me."  They should have made their involvement in Weapon X a large portion of the film.  Wolverine should have obtained his adamantium skeleton early on, and then focused the rest on Wolverine breaking out of Weapon X, killing a lot of people, and then Sabertooth hunting him down.  They didn't need to create a motivation for Wolverine to get the skeleton just to kill Victor, it was like they went to outrageous means to get him to come back to Weapon X to get it done after he left it once.  Just don't make him walk out on them so early in the film.  Which bugged me too, he joined them, then five minutes later, "Nah, I'm not down with this, sorry and he walks away."  And am I the only person who thought in this scene "Wait, he's just walking off into the jungle?  They aren't going to stop him?"  Then Victor says "We can't just let you walk away"  actually Victor yes, yes you can, because you did!!!  These fantastic artists of death and destruction just let him walk quietly into the jungle?  Really, now.

Thoughts on "Wolverine" Con't.

Alright, more about the movie's choice of villains.  If this movie was a prequel to the X-Men movies (which by events late in the film I would say it is without a doubt a prequel to those movies and not specifically just a Wolverine origin movie) we already had Stryker as a large villain in those.  We know Stryker hates mutants, that he's a bad dude, that he would kill mutants if he could...i.e. X-Men 2: X-Men United!!!!!!  Sabertooth needed to be THE villain of the movie.  Wolverine volunteers for Weapon X, they give him adamantium, he may lose his memories in the process or whatever, just traumatized and goes AWOL.  Sabertooth wants to prove he is bigger and badder than Wolverine.  There is no need for anything else, Stryker could be used to give Wolverine his adamantium, and then pushed away to save for the X-Men movies to come, err...that came before.

But they didn't take this road.  I did enjoy seeing Logan go visit the former people who were with him in Weapon X earlier in the movie, however, I did get a little tired of seeing mutants who for the most part, served no purpose.  Will.I.Am, helped Wolverine know Sabertooth and Stryker were in cahoots; Blob, helped him know where they were; Gambit helped him get to the island, but the addition of Cyclops=pointless.  They put him in the movie because this was a "X-Men prequel" not an "origin of Wolverine" movie.  Cyclops served no purpose in this movie, only to contribute to the liberties taken with the character Deadpool.

Here's where I was entertained solely because of the quality of the final fight scene.  Wade Wilson was apparently murdered by Sabertooth (yeah if you didn't catch that don't feel bad because I barely did).  If this was so, HOW AWESOME WOULD IT BE TO SHOW SABERTOOTH (if he was the main villain) FIGHT WADE WILSON!?!?!  Yes, if you said "holy crap that would have been incredible" then you're right, it would have been.  However, we find out that he just killed him and Stryker is using his body as...ugh...Weapon XI.  Remember Cyclops not having a point in the film?  Oh wait, they used to him to amalgamate powers into "the pool"/"the mutant killer."  I guess "Deadpool" was born by Stryker giving him what I guess was adamantium too, healing factor, optic blasts (thank you Cyclops, ugh) and teleportation.

Now, this fight was utterly awesome, Sabertooth back-to-back with Wolverine, getting their asses handed to them for a while by this mindless "Deadpool" dude.  It was GREAT....except...it wasn't.  They beat "Deadpool" and Wolverine cuts his head off.  Gambit jumps back in to save Wolverine from a giant mass of collapsing rubble, Wolverine's woman (I'm not gonna mention this aspect) is hurt and uh oh, Stryker comes back and shoots him with adamantium bullets!  This is how they explained his memory wipe??  It was like they, remembering this is an "X-Men prequel" movie, said "oh crap, his memories are gone in the X-Men movies, quick, let's throw something in there to "wipe" them away!"  This was totally anti-climactic, another reason why Styker SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THE MAIN VILLAIN.  Then, Gambit comes back to help Wolverine get away from the arriving authorities.  Since he has no memory he is like, who the hell are you?  But when Gambit passes his test of "what's my name" he still refuses to follow him, even though it seems pretty obvious that this guy is trying to help you.  He just says he'll find his own way, which we never see him actually leave the island...

I had problems with the writing, klunky transitions between scenes and other things.  This movie would have been amazing had Styker been secondary and Victor Creed been the undisputed bad guy of the movie.  But, with a final cameo by Professor X, this movie became more about the X-Men than the X-"man".  This should have been Wolverine and Sabertooth's heated past and rivalry.  They are both quite old, it seems convenient they met all these mutants at one time.  Sabertooth hunting down those Weapon X team members?  That would have been great!!  Not to mention him fighting Wade Wilson as a possible fight.  But the climax should have been Wolverine finally besting Sabertooth and seemingly putting him down, becoming "the best at what he does."  However, this movie was not, the best at anything.

6/10