Why I bought it: 12 issues of Batman was on sale for $12. I probably have read four comics before this in my life, but I have always loved Batman. I decided to give it a shot.
Thoughts: I feel pretty lucky to have timed my subscription to Batman right at the beginning of the "Death of the Family" arc. It stretched across 5 issues, Batman 13-17 (of the "new 52"). However, on top of these 5 books, there were issues of Nightwing, Batgirl and even Catwoman that are considered "Tie-in" stories. Anyway, this arc was pretty fantastic. All the big names, both bad and good, were in it. But at its heart, it was another story of Batman vs. Joker. The "Family" referred to in the title of this arc are Batman's friends/fellow super heroes. This family is made up of what seems like at least four people that were Robin, the current Robin (who happens to be Batman's son), Batgirl, Gordon and Alfred. Joker made it his mission to mess with all of them. Because I never read the comics, I was surprised at just how demented Joker truly was. For some reason, the thing that really stuck with me was the fact that Joker slept under Gordon's bed at night. Terrifying.
The writing in these books was strong. Issues 13, 14 and 17 were great in particular, and though issues 15 and 16 were not quite up to the standard set by the others, it still made for an enjoyable read. I really liked everything I read. It makes me want to go back and read the important issues in Batman history.
Should I have bought it: Absolutely.
Interesting. About a year ago Trev posted a Batman arc called "A Death in the Family" and I figured this was the same thing. But it isn't! I see what you did there, DC Comics.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like great stuff, and so do a lot of other comics, but I know comics in general are just something I'll never be able to do. I'm too continuity-oriented, too impatient, and too intent on collecting all the components of various forms of entertainment. Like, I didn't even love Fable II, but as soon as I beat it I bought Fable and Fable III. Anyway, enjoy what I cannot, for both of us.
Ah, have you read Scott Snyder's previous story arc for this Batman reboot? It's great. I'm excited to get through this one too. Don't know if it has any ties with the 80's version by Jim Starlin - as Stan has mentioned - but I can bet you don't see Joker working deals with Ayatollah Khomeini or Batman slugging Middle-Eastern terrorists with WMDs. If you haven't, I would also give that one a look over if you have the chance.
ReplyDeleteOh! Also, it's March now, which means here's as good a place as any to recap the month that was and focus on goals for the next one.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have a great month. I had a movie-buying binge on Amazon, I didn't beat four video games like I wanted to, and I didn't even read a single book. I started two, though.
My March goals are both vague and simple. I want to finish several things I've already started; there's a lot of boldface text on my backlog page right now, including four books (all less than halfway finished) and three video games. I can't commit to all seven of those this month, but finishing at least four should be doable. Other than that, I simply aim to have a "net positive" month, ie, more completions than purchases.
My video game backlog stands at an even 50 right now, where it's kind of stalled out for close to a year. For that reason, I'll aim for 40 games or less by the start of summer.
At the beginning of the year I came up with a goal on each of my four backlog fronts. Let's check in on my progress there.
2 of the 5 oldest video games in the backlog beaten (good!)
6 of the 11 then-remaining movies in the backlog watched (great!)
2 of the 10 then-remaining HBO seasons watched (adequate!)
0 of the 6 remaining science books read (awful!)