'The Dark Knight Rages' - Does Batman Ever Game Rage?

I love all the Batman fan video that have been hitting the Net in the wake of the release of The Dark Knight Rises. They have been awesome, and vary from gritty fan films (Batman: Nightwing) to awesome stop motion films featuring toys (Batman: Dark Knightfall) to awesome parody music videos like Remember Bane... They are all one better than the next. But today's entry brings us one of the more humorous ones I have seen so far. Check out The Dark Knight Rages after the jump, which takes a look at what really happens back at Wayne Manor with Robin when they are trying to kick back and relax a bit. The results are priceless....

The Comic Twart Team Takes On Damian Wayne (aka The New Robin)

I have been fascinated with the character of Damian Wayne over the past couple of years. It's not everyday that one of the biggest superheroes in the world finds out he has a son... and Grant Morrison has been dealing out some great stories involving the pint size progeny. His dad may be The Bat, but his grandpa is still Ras Ah Ghul... so he got a bit of a mean streak... lol. The gang of talented artists over at Comic Twart all submitted their versions of the new Boy Wonder, so click after the jump to see them....

Tom Fowler

Francesco Francavilla (I love this one... so creative)

Nathan Fairbairn

Ron Salas

Ron Salas

Evan Shaner

 This one is my absolute favorite...

Mr Hawthorne

Here is what Mr Hawthorne wrote:

Here my piece for this week...
wait...
... what's that?
..uh...
Ooooooohhhhhh, you said DAMIAN WAYNE!
Damn, coulda SWORN you said DAMON WAYANS!
My bad.

Craig Stuckless Redesigns The Batman # 400 Cover And Takes Me Back Into Time...

Way back in 1986 I was just a wee ole lad getting into the comic book collecting hobby. It was a different world back then. Kids could travel freely around their neighborhoods at a young age and play without constant adult supervision. As a 7 year old, I often hit up multiple candy stores and Optimo shops in Ozone Park, Queens that sold comics to peruse the different selection they would have. I must have purchased hundreds of issues of comics, but one always stuck out to me: Batman #400

 

***Please click Read more below to see Stuckless's version of Batman #400***

That beautiful cover by comic legend Bill Sienkiewicz was a masterpiece. It really made The Batman look like a monster, scarier then usual.The squared of shoulders and the height of the horns on the costume definitely conveyed the fear that Bruce Wayne intended for this little comic book fan. The book was phenomenal. I didn't realize it then (cause I was 7 and hadn't read tons of character backstories like I have now) but this was the final appearance of Pre-Crisis Earth One Batman, with issue #401 featuring New Earth Batman (if you don't know what that means, I strongly suggest that you pick up the original Crisis On Infinite Earths asap, get a fucking clue and stop calling yourself a comic book geek cause your not... er,um, sorry for that nerd rant!!!). Plus it was huge, like 4 times bigger then a regular monthly. It was one of my favorite comics.

The story was amazing. Ra's Ah Ghul breaks out literally ALL of Batman's villains from Arkham Asylum and offers a 10 Million dollar bounty on the head of the Bat. He also volunteers to help Batman recapture the villains in exchange for an alliance. Batman declines, and Ra steps away... and the chaos begins. The Gotham City PD is totally hijacked by The Joker & Penguin, Alfred and Vicki Vale are kidnapped, and utter chaos in enveloping Gotham as literally EVERY villain from 50 years of Batman comics gets a panel or two. Batman teams up with Catwoman and Robin (Jason Todd, pre crowbar beatdown) teams up with Thalia Al Ghul to thwart the evil doers. Then there is an epic final showdown between the good guys and Ra's himself!!! A fun filled story through and through... 

When I checked out Covered (a website where artists recreate classic comic book covers in their own styles) this week I saw Craig Stuckless's version of Batman #400 and it sent me flying back through time. Check it out (and click the link above to hear Craig's take on the choices he made for the re-design!):

I really like the color to balk & white contrast that Stuckless uses, and the modern takes on the characters portrayed. Batman gets an update, but the Heather Ledger-esque Joker and the futuristic costumes of Catwoman and Robin really stand apart from Seinkiewicz's original portrayals of the two. I wanted to thank Stuckless for reminding me how great this book was and this weekend I am going to dig it out of my longbox for my son Mikey to enjoy. The cycle continues... God, it's good to be a comic book fan!!!

The DC Reboot: A Long Time Reader's Opinion by James West

Hey everybody. As you may or may not have heard, come September, DC will be “rebooting” it’s continuity. I put that in quotations because it’s not really a reboot, but it’s the generally accepted term to describe what’s happening. Basically, every title is being scaled back to #1 and will be a jumping on point for new readers. They will not be origin stories for the most part, just stories that fill readers in as if they were reading them for the first time. That being said, there is many things being changed, added, and taken away, like any giant event. Here’s my analysis on the Good and the Bad.

The Good

1-    People who have fallen out of reading comics can start back up again without worrying about buying massive amount of books. “You know, I used to read Batman when I was younger, but I fell out of it and haven’t been able to get back into it.” Have no fear, this whole thing is directed towards people like you. Go out and start supporting again!

2-     

          Vertigo characters have been re-introduced into the DCU. Swamp Thing, John Constantine, etc., are all back and interacting with the superheroes on a daily basis. Many Vertigo readers are upset about this, but I have no problem with it. I’m interested to see how these characters are integrated, since I’m not very familiar with them.

3-      Some creative teams kick ass! I’m looking specifically at Kyle Higgins on Nightwing and Grant Morrison on Action Comics. I really look forward to seeing how both of those go.

Well, that’s…about it for the good. Now onto the bad…

The Bad

1-      Good, GOD. Most of the creative teams are terrible. It’s the 90’s all over again. Let me put things in perspective…Rob Liefeld is drawing Hawk and Dove. ROB. LIEFELD. If you don’t know who that is, well, here’s a picture of Captain America he drew:

My, what a great artist. Notice how Cap’s…I actually can’t begin to make fun of this picture. There’s too much. Not to mention, many of DC’s talented writers (Judd Winick, Keith Giffen) are surprisingly lacking in the solicitations…but cheaper writers left over from 1997, like Scott Lobdell, are on like, 6 books. Which brings me to my next problem…

2-      The New Teen Titans book looks like the worst things to disgrace God’s green Earth. Check out these super  rad and x-treme new costumes:

Oh yeah! Check that out! Robin covered in pouches? Check. Kid Flash with a Faux Hawk? Double Check. Wonder Girl being retconned as a “mysterious thief” (what?)? Check.   Superboy looks like his alter ego dances nights at a club in the Village. Oh and check out that awesome tattoo! He’s too badass to have an S on his chest. Totally appealing to the younger demographic. Right? Right?! Oh and we’ll throw in some sort of Witchblade-esque mysterious robot spider girl that looks like shes from Image, some smoke girl thing, and purple guy in the background. I’ll gladly eat my words if this book is good, but I don’t see that happening. (I must say, I don’t really mind Red Robin being able to fly…or his costume that much. If it were to be simplified a bit I think it’d be good.)

3-     

T  There is no costume redesign that is an improvement. Let’s look, shall we.

Booster Gold, before reboot:

Booster Gold, after:

Supergirl, before:

Supergirl, after:

That’s just a small example. The only costume designs that are good are the ones that didn’t change much (Aquaman, Batman, Green Arrow). It looks like they’re trying to change for the sake of change. The problem is, so many things weren’t broke, but DC is still trying to fix them.

4-      Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne are no longer Batman and Robin. Their dynamic was one of the freshest things in comic books in a long time. It was new, it was exciting, it was everything DC is trying to do and failing with this reboot. And they’re getting rid of it. Dick Grayson is also going from having about 4-5 books to having only one: Nightwing.  Le sigh.

5-      Superman’s new costume deserved his own section apart from the rest. What do you think of when you think of Superman? Do you think of something iconic, never changing, a symbol for truth, justice, and the American way? Something like…this?

Well too bad! Nu-Superman is super edgy! Check it out!

Alright alright, I can understand them getting rid of the underoos. Okay, fine, I get that. But what’s up with the books? And the kneepads? And the cybernetic forearms?! Why?!? It’s too complicated. At least George Perez is doing covers.

I could keep going. Basically, my verdict: I can’t say that it’s good or bad until these books come out. But, from what I’ve seen so far…I’m not liking it very much at all. There are some exceptions, but not many.  Click here for the full list of solicitations:

Robin In The Rye

Check out this re-telling of the seminal classic from J.D. Salinger featuring Robin as Holden....

Click to enlarge

Thats pretty funny stuff if your familiar with the original book... check out the artist (Andrew Makes Comics) Tumblr account by clicking here.