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[Victorian Squid]

I'm surprised that no one has pointed out the parody of X-Men 94 that the first couple of pages of Youngblood 71 is.

I thought Eli did.

[Victorian Squid]

Presales online of STTNG/DW have hit $10-$13.

[bkthomson]

Batman Incorporated (Volume 2) #1
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Chris Burnham

Batman Incorporated returns to the New 52 and reads more like Morrison’s, Batman and Robin than its processor. Throughout the issue Morrison lays out very brief themes from the previous Batman Incorporated but not enough that I felt was new reader accessible. A meeting of the board of Leviathan, but nothing about who Leviathan even to a degree to give new reads a hint of backstory. The appearance of the various Batmen appear to be on the run but nothing about which these people are or let alone what Batman Incorporated goal of global force of Batmen.

What we get is a nice story of Batman chasing down a crook through various parts of Gotham while being targeted by a sniper. Morrison handles the interaction of Batman and Robin very nicely and to a degree Damien is starting to mature as a character. It is these moments between the two characters that I find Morrison excels at in his Batman tenure but it is the ancillary story that he is weaving through the issue that runs into typical Morrison pitfalls namely, trying to get weird for weirdness sake and the board of Leviathan and its side plots.

I’m a fan of Morrsion’s but there are times when I feel that his words and ideas are too big for the comic page and it becomes a convoluted mess when it is put to pencils but Chris Burnham does an incredible job. Burnham channels Frank Quitely into his work but does so with a much cleaner style and is worth checking out the issue for just for the slaughter house fight alone.

Score 8 / 10

[bkthomson]

Presales online of STTNG/DW have hit $10-$13.

Well I'll be at my store first thing in the morning. Now question are these state side sale or in the UK which someone said may have been shorted copies.

[Victorian Squid]

Well I'll be at my store first thing in the morning. Now question are these state side sale or in the UK which someone said may have been shorted copies.

The sales I have tracked have all been US to US sales, so those $9.99 sales also add another $4.50 for shipping. The sales at $12.99 would have added another $3.99 for shipping.

The rankings in key places indicated currently very high demand for a very small supply--whether that will change for the better or worse when the shops open tomorrow is something I'll be tracking closely. From what I see right now, it looks like a solid flippityflip.

And I said that about the U.K. to begin with!

[bkthomson]

The sales I have tracked have all been US to US sales, so those $9.99 sales also add another $4.50 for shipping. The sales at $12.99 would have added another $3.99 for shipping.

The rankings in key places indicated currently very high demand for a very small supply--whether that will change for the better or worse when the shops open tomorrow is something I'll be tracking closely. From what I see right now, it looks like a solid flippityflip.

And I said that about the U.K. to begin with!

Ah yeah. I should have realized that was you.

[******]

Youngblood #71

If this comic was as bad as the internet has programed us to say that it was, Marvel and DC would have died out 40 years ago. While this isn't Alan Moore or anything, it does succeed in being competently average. I've read much worse comics by first time comics writers than what McLaughlin has done here. He's a bit heavy with the meta, but he does a nice job of setting up the characters for new readers and providing some intrigue for returning fans. Malin's a Liefeld clone so while I wouldn't like it on anything else, it works for this series.

Story: 7
Art: 5
Overall: 13

Batman Incorporated #1

I went back and read the OHC of the first volume over the weekend and what struck me was how bland it was for a Morrison comic. Take away Burnham and it would have been downright boring. Batman and Robin was the highlight for me during the Batmorrisson run and this was very much like that just with a less interesting Batman. I'd be fine if this shifted to being a Batcow and Damian team-up book, Bruce was more fun dead.

Story: 7
Art: 9.5
Score: 8.25

[******]

I'm going to be a bit late with the new thread, my schedule is a bit off this morning due to crazy Oklahoma weather.

[bkthomson]

I'm going to be a bit late with the new thread, my schedule is a bit off this morning due to crazy Oklahoma weather.

All about the Thunder.

[******]

Batmorrisonaveragescore 7.04
Liefeldbloodtotalscore 37.50

A stunning and improbable victory for Youngblood!

[******]

All about the Thunder.

No, this is more of a hail and flash flooding issue.

I'm a Mavs fan, I laugh at the local children's tears.

[bkthomson]

No, this is more of a hail and flash flooding issue.

I'm a Mavs fan, I laugh at the local children's tears.

Wow, good luck and stay safe.

And to your thunder comment.

[S.F. Jude Terror]

Batmorrisonaveragescore 7.04
Liefeldbloodtotalscore 37.50

A stunning and improbable victory for Youngblood!

Yes!

[Punchy]

Batman Incorporated #1 - 'Demon Star' - Morrison and Burnham

Story - When it comes to Grant Morrison's years-in-the-making Batman opus, I run rather hot and cold, there some parts of it I love, such as his run on Batman And Robin and the first few issues of the last volume of Batman Incorporated. But there are also parts I really don't like, such as the RIP story, or the meandering, confusing Return Of Bruce Wayne. It's a run that features Morrison trying lots of different things and shoving lots of different ideas in, and some of them work, some of them don't.

This debut issue of Batman Incorporated Volume 2 is, for me, made up of all of the things that work about what Morrison is trying to do with Batman and as such, I enjoyed this like I've enjoyed few Batman stories over the years, this issue was just great. There's quite a lot going on here and at times it was difficult to follow what precisely was happening, but the whole story was told in such an exciting way, with such panache, that any misgivings you may have about the non-linear nature of the story is forgotten.

In many ways, this issue was a bit of a repeat of Batman And Robin #1, where the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder (although of course it's a different Batman here) chase a weird new animal-based villain across Gotham. In B&R it was Mister Toad, here we have Goatboy (and yes, it is a Bill Hicks reference). The action sequences in this issue were really excellent, Burnham pulls out so many cool tricks and techniques which really make everything pop. More on him later.

But there's more here than just Batman and Robin chasing Goatboy around, Morrison picks up many of the threads he left in the Leviathan Strikes! one-shot and continues to build up the threat of Leviathan. The dinner scene with the creepy Leviathan mummy and his Man-Bats was very well-done. I continue to be impressed with how well Morrison is introducing new villains for Batman, most writers are content to cycle through the old favourites, but it's telling that the best Batman runs of recent times, Morrison's and Snyder's, have used new guys.

And of course, Morrison has not forgotten the 'Incorporated' aspect of this title, as we see what a bunch of the 'Other Batmen' are doing, which is faking their deaths and hiding in a sex-shop. Yes, a sex-shop.

But in the end, this issue all came down to the relationship between Batman and Robin, the father and the son. It was interesting to see that Damian Wayne believes that things were better when Bruce was dead and Dick was Batman, I can't help but feel that's Morrison expressing what a lot of readers, and maybe he himself, feel, I personally much prefer the dichotomy you got when Dick was Batman, where for once, Robin was the darker character and Batman the lighter. With Bruce and Damian, it's all dark, and while it works here, it's not as fun.

However, maybe there'll be no dichotomy at all soon, because by the looks of this issue, Damian is dead. Now I'm pretty sure we all know that he isn't really dead, but it was a ballsy cliffhanger, and I can't wait to see how Morrison will write himself out of this corner.

Overall, this was a great issue, it felt fresh, like any #1 should, but it also continued on Morrison's mega-story really well. It was full of great, stylish moments, and I hope that Morrison and Burnham can keep this up.

Art - Wow, where did that come from? Chris Burnham really stepped up a gear here. I knew from the previous run of Batman Inc that he was a good artist, but here he really changed into the second coming of Frank Quitely, and as such, the perfect companion for Grant Morrison. There were so many cool little artistic bits here, from the panel that looked like an FPS game, or the use of maps, or the brilliant splash-page where he used the walls of buildings as panels, or the panel where Robin took out all those Mutants in one spin. It was great to see an artist really do the unexpected and it really made the issue work. Morrison's Batman work has risen and fallen based on the strengths of the artist, and I think the presence of a career-best Burnham bodes well.

Best Line - 'And this is Bat-Cow'

8/10