Dawn of Justice

One Year Today!

Comics Me reaches its first birthday today! Now if only I could design cakes I would be making one exactly like the cover of vintage 80s comic Scream up there.

The Dark Knight Rises

The Bats Boogie

Okay I dont do reviews here, these are simply my thoughts and musings about The Dark Knight Rises, packed neatly into a blog. Now it is always a pleasure to welcome Batman back in whatever he appears in, be it his natural home the comic, in a movie or videogame and I was as excited as anyone for The Dark Knight Rises. Its a good movie too, no doubt about that but (the inevitable BUT) it is a bit too bloated for me to begin doing Catwoman style cartwheels.
Nolan could easily have chopped 30 mins off it and made the film more 'potent' because if he had there would have been less bothersome nudges of reality for the audience. For example the cops go underground for what seemed eternity. I assume those officers were sent down shaving kits, clippers and a hearty meal before emerging to battle Bane's forces? Ah Bane! One of my favourite comic villains, I must applaud Tom Hardy for nailing the part so well. Some disliked his voice but I thought it was great; a muffled, cut glass sound with equal doses of menace and mocking.
The baddies in this trilogy have all been a joy to behold; Ra's al Ghul, Scarecrow (present as ever in TDKR,) The Joker and Bane will not be easily forgotten by cinema goers. The late Heath Ledgers Clown Prince of Crime shining brightest from the already ageing posters thanks to a truly mesmerising performance.
I dont see Catwoman as such a great character in this movie. Seems like Hathaway is trying too hard to impress and she sticks out like a sore thumb among the real talent like Oldman and Bale. And her take on Catwoman suffers from it because she is the most fake looking out of all the villains who have appeared in the trilogy, the others seem to fit the world with much more ease. (And yes im well aware Selina Kyle is not all bad.) Also she's nothalf as good looking as others seem to think. Admit it, she's not.
Of course lets not forget the Dark Knight himself; Christian Bale has been an utterly convincing Batman (but I am a teensy bit biased as we're both Welsh.)
Do you want to know something though? Batman Begins was the best out of the three (in my opinion.) It was gritty, raw and showed Bruce Waynes real inner turmoil and his struggle to become the Dark Knight. Go back and waych it again, im sure you will agree. Anyway as single titles you could pick out flaws but watched as one loooong movie, this new Batman reboot has been a success.

*As a huge comic book fan/nerd I'm wondering would Nolan & Bale comeback in say 10-15 years to do a version of Frank Miller's classic The Dark Knight Returns?

Death Of The Family

Smiiiile !!

Yup, the Joker is back in Gotham City in "Death Of The Family" and boy what an entrance! In case you haven't got around to reading the first installment yet (download it now for £2.49 from the DC app on iPhone), I wont go spoiling it but its typical Joker and a welcome return to the Clown Prince of Crime. I fear Batman will have more than his hands full in this storyline, and from where im standing its gonna get real bloody.
The Maniacal One even goes all Hannibal Lector on his most dedicated supporter, Harley Quinn.

*** Tease ***

Harley (about to carve her face off on Joker's orders): Would you still find me beautiful mr J?
Joker: My dear, whoever told you I ever found you beautiful? Hahahaha!
Cue sad Harley eyes.

Menacing, cruel, psychotic, mocking. You can almost feel the nastiness drip from the page/screen. Tis a dark storyline that lies ahead to be sure.
Adding to the atmosphere (in my opinion) is the 'feathery' style of the artwork in some panels. They are a stark contrast to other areas when the art is quite striking and harsh which illustrates perfectly (again for me) the danger that the Joker poses. Its unpredictable, violence hanging by a thread, always ready to spread carnage. Soft and hard, which way will it go?
So this storyline gets clean out of the block and I for one can't wait for the next installment. I have a feeling im not along either. Smiiiileee ! The Joker's back.

"Look into his eyes and tell yourself he's just a man. Tell yourself he can't know the things he says he does. He can't know your fears. But he has Alfred. He has your friend. And his eyes...

...You have studied the human eye. There are six eye movements that reveal motive, then fifteen variations of each one.

On everyone else you face ~ even the most hardened criminals ~ the pupils contract or expand depending on emotion.

Happiness, laughter, affection. The pupils open.
Fear, anger, hatred, the pupils close.

But not his. His pupils stay fixed, tiny points of blackness, the eyes of someone who hates everything, everyone.
Eyes that let in no light, that see through the darkness, stare into you, each pupil a tiny black pearl fixed in space.

A bullet coming at you. Eyes that say he's more than a man, eyes that say he knows you.
No, you know what he is. Tell yourself the truth. He's just a man who fell in a vat of chemical waste.
He's just a man. Like you, made of bone and tissue and blood."

Batman vs Bane

Bunny Bats Tripping!

Trip city

Here's the Batman in a segment of the brilliant Arkham City game where he must beat Mad Hatter. I think Bats looks kinda cool here, he carries off the mad and the shadowy cool so well dontcha think? He looks like Batfink after a heavy session on the orange blotters and glue.

The Dark Knight Rises trailer

Ooh you can almost taste the excitement! Nolan has made a great (superhero) fist of his take on world Gotham and im stoked he involved Bane in the trilogy.

Retro Batman

Some cool choices

Since his birth in 1939, Batman has had quite a few different styles of badge/logo. And to be fair they have all looked pretty neat, apart from the one that looks like a TIE Fighter (right side, one from bottom in above pic). The designs have all been different whilst managing not to stray too far from the original. Even the Bacardi type bat is nice.
However my favourite is the one that was used for the 1960's television series starring Adam West & Burt Ward as the Dynamic Duo. For me it looks perfect; I love the chunky, 'batty' style of the lettering and the way the Batman's head is sunk into the wings. It looks both retro and modern at the same time.


My winner


And since I decided to call this post 'Retro Batman', I thought I might drop some cool trivia in about the 60's tv series.
Green Hornet & Kato teamed up with Batman & Robin in two episodes, 'A Piece Of The Action' and 'Batman's Satisfaction' to take on Colonel Gumm.
Van Williams played the Green Hornet and Kato was famously played by none other than the legendary Bruce Lee.
Cast yer peepers to the photograph below. Awesome!


Kato, Green Hornet, Batman & Robin

The Detectives

Sherlock Holmes, The Question, Batman, Rorschach, The Spirit.