A Review of “Batwoman: Elegy”

Batwoman: ElegyBatwoman: Elegy by Greg Rucka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The New 52 brought me to DC Comics in a way that I’d never been involved before. I didn’t think that would be the case. I knew these classic characters in ways that the casual reader likely doesn’t, because I grew up with comic books. That said, I grew up with the Marvel universe on my shelf much more than the DC Universe, but still…I was suspect. Until I read a handful of the inaugural issues, after which I was hooked. As you might suspect, the Batman titles have held special interest for me, likely because I had been a Batgirl reader prior to the New 52’s launch.

Batwoman, however, is the character of which I knew the least. While friends have spoken very highly of what DC is doing with the character, I found myself turning to wikis to read about her origin, because I knew very little about Katie Kane or how she fits into the Batman mythology.

As it turns out, she operates parallell to Batman’s mythology more than she operates within it, but, in any case, I wanted to be introduced to this character, and, “Elegy” being a highly acclaimed story arc, seemed a good place to start. This graphic novel collects all of the issues within the story arc, which takes place before the New 52 re-boot.

Here we find Batwoman facing off against a new villain called Alice, who dresses as one of Carroll’s characters and quotes lines from the book while proving herself quite adept in the realm of criminal insanity. She is targeting Batwoman, and Katie does not know why. Katie proactively begins hunting down Alice, against her father’s advice. Her father points out that this is more about revenge, while Katie insists that this is about survival. The reader is drawn on a rollercoaster of a storyline as we watch Katie waver back and forth between the two.

Batwoman is a very different character for the Batman mythology. She has a military background, and has received much notice as being one of DC’s few gay characters. After being dishonorably discharged from military service for her sexuality, she is in search of a new way to “serve.” She is inspired when she fights off a mugger, easily defeating the attacker just as Batman shows up. She watches the Dark Knight vanish into Gotham’s dark skyline, and realizes that this is how she will serve the public around her. Using her wealthy father’s resources and her background along with new training, she dons a costume as Batwoman. Her adventures bring her into occasional contact with Batman, although she is not really part of his “family,” at least not at this point.

Batwoman’s origin is woven into this story through flashbacks, as it brings to light who Alice is and why she is targeting Batwoman (I’ll say no more in the interest of spoilers). The story weaves in a good dose of the supernatural, which fits well with Gotham’s eerie past. As with any self-contained collection of stories from a larger serial, there is some backstory of which the reader may not be aware, but I was able to deduce at least the generalities of this quickly. So, someone who does not read comics regularly would not be lost here.

The art is a very different style than I’m used to reading in comics, at times striking with Batwoman’s imposing figure and red and black costume, at times cartoonish in background panels and it’s portrayal of Alice. Our heroine is consistently daunting yet disturbing in appearance, her skin a bit too white, her smile threatening. This is critical in understanding the character, however, and developing the character is perhaps what the writers do best here. I felt that I knew Katie Kane as well as I know most other characters in the Batman mythology when I turned the final page.

That said, the character isn’t one of my favorites. While an interesting and dynamic addition to Batman’s world, this is a peripheral individual, operating in Batman’s likeness but not with his style, and often not with his blessing. She serves the people of Gotham as a hero would, yet her sense of duty seems misplaced at times. Her actions are motivated by anger more than justice, and I concluded at the end of the book that she was, in fact, quite motivated by revenge. Her closing words to an underground coven of lucanthropic criminals is to leave her family alone, or “I will kill every last one of you.” These are violent sentiments of which no other hero in the Batman “family” that I can identify would ever espouse. This is part of what sets Batwoman apart, however, and, as we see her walk away from her father in the final panels of the story, she does so different from Katie Kane. Any version of Batman’s mantel comes with a price, and Batwoman’s dedication to protecting those around her has caused her to be drawn into a darker version of herself as the story concludes.

Overall, it is this radical departure from Batman’s heroism that causes me to rate this book with only three stars. That said, the writing is excellent, the story exciting if predictable, and the art refreshingly different. If you’re interested in the Batman titles and, like me, have no idea where Batwoman fits in, this is a good read. I’m glad that I got to know this character. I’m just disappointed with her based on what I know.

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A Review of Shazam! Chapter Eleven

The word “family” can mean something a bit different to each of us depending on our childhoods. It’s always held a positive meaning for me, because I am blessed enough to have a strong and cohesive family unit, even larger now that Karen and I are married. That said, it still gets messy sometimes, because we’re all…remember this word…mortals. Still, family can be a great source of strength to conquer the obstacles, challenges, and even the evils that we face at moments in our lives.

Family has been a sort of through-line to DC Comics’ New 52 re-boot of Captain Marvel, now going under the name Shazam, which has been appearing as an additional story line in the back of Justice League. I’ve written before how DC is winning me over with their story, and how they’re capturing the struggle with the nature of a hero that any human would face, and certainly a child…a struggle that is perfectly portrayed in the character of Shazam.

Chapter eleven of the story (and I’m a bit late in reviewing this, as it’s almost two weeks old now), picks up with young Billy Batson running underground in his attempt to find the wizard, where he intends to plead for the removal of his powers. Billy is convinced that he is no hero and that his powers were granted to him by mistake, and is terrified of transforming himself back into Shazam, because then the evil Black Adam will turn his terror of the city above on his intended target…young Billy.

There is wonderful moment when some of his young brothers and sisters from his adopted family…friends who are standing by him even though he was quite mean to them initially…doubt Billy’s mental well being when he commands an abandoned subway to take them to the wizard. That is, all save one of the youngest members of the family, who believes in magic. Then, when Billy encounters the enchanted Francesca, the mystical face in the mirror, on an iPad screen, a voice that none of his young companions can hear, another member of the group insists that everyone believe that “Billy can see and hear things we don’t.”

“Magic things!” replies the youngest, and wonders aloud why they can’t see and hear these things, as well. Francesca asks Billy to communicate to his young sister that this is because she has not established a connection to magic, a cryptic statement at first. This, though becomes quite important…and emphasizes the theme of family…when Mary, the oldest sister, hears Francesca speak a single word: “Family.” Has a connection to magic through the bond of family began for Mary (long-time comic book readers know where this is going, I think)?

Francesca’s encouragement to Billy is inspiring, though it falls initially on ears finding it suspect. It is in overcoming the fears and challenges that we face, she insists, that we become “more than mortals.” There’s an odd bit of philosophical dualism injected into the story here, as Francesca explains to Billy that, his bond to the magic lightning that has made him Shazam being irreversible, he and Black Adam, the only other champion now bound with the lightning, are “forever connected.”  Writer Geoff Johns fleshes this out a bit later though, as Francesca begins to explain…

(Permit me to pause and give you fair warning that everything that follows will contain massive spoilers, in case you want to read this issue and haven’t already)

…Black Adam’s origin, one of tragic isolation and loss of childhood innocence paralleling, and indeed exceeding, Billy’s own. Artist Gary Frank does a masterful job of revealing Billy’s shock and horror at this connection, as he realizes how alike he and his evil rival terrorizing the streets above them are.

This realization changes Billy in a moment, as he embraces the fact that he suddenly views Black Adam as someone who can be saved, and himself as the person who can reason with Black Adam. In this pivotal moment for his character, Billy rushes out of the subway to confront Black Adam, not with the power of Shazam, but with the appeal of one orphan to another…the appeal for Black Adam to choose good as Billy has.

The ending…well, I won’t spoil everything here, but this issue is a great portrayal of the nature of a hero as Billy chooses to overcome his fear and place himself at risk in order to not even necessarily defeat, but to save his adversary. Billy chooses the ultimate good, the good that will make Shazam a centerpiece of the DC universe, and a good to which all of us reading can aspire. In Francesca’s words, this is the good that makes us “more than mortal.” Again, this is why superhero mythology carries such huge philosophical and theological …even spiritual…importance.

I can’t wait for next month’s issue…more to come!

The Nature of a Hero: Epilogue II

Every time I think that this theme of the nature of a hero is finally settling itself in my head, I’m confronted with yet another example of it in everyday life, books, television…or, in this case, music.

It’s always really cool to listen to a track from a long time ago with fresh ears. A few months ago, I purchased a couple of my favorite songs by the Spin Doctors…a band whose pop-infused tracks were laden with popular culture and literary wit that always brought a smile to my face in my college days. One of my absolutely favorite songs by the Spin Doctors has always been Jimmy Olsen’s Blues. The song tracks the feelings of a frustrated secondary character in the Superman mythology, who dreams of having a relationship with Lois Lane, yet must live with unrequited love due to her relationship with Superman. Thus, Olsen resents the Man of Steel.

Throughout super-hero mythology, the normal human beings who encounter a hero in any way…whether as the potential victim saved from harm’s way, the companion, or the defeated villain…are unable to leave the encounter the same as they entered. Their lives have been forever changed by the hero, and they must choose how to respond. This song is a really interesting take on how those closest to the hero experience a very specific life-disruption, a sort of bittersweet ramification of their relationship to the larger-than-life figure who rescues those in need. This not only raises the stakes in their choice of responses to the encounter, but must also cause the hero more careful consideration of those whom they permit to become close, or those whose lives may be incidentally impacted in a negative way by their mere presence (Dr. Who’s two-part story arc, “The Family of Blood,” is a great example of this).

This is a really interesting aspect of the nature of a hero, I think. Part of what makes a hero character so compelling is when we see their humanity, and the painful choices that they must make due to the fact that they are not like the rest of us. When the hero chooses to sacrifice, he or she shows a heroic nature more profoundly. Yet, none of us think less of them when they choose to enjoy a simple human pleasure, even though it may have consequences to those around them.

Or do we? Do these simple decisions carry the same weight as life or death decisions when made by a hero? When the hero makes the choice to permit himself a romantic relationship, do the feelings of resentment caused elsewhere result in magnified results because the actions were taken by a hero? Isn’t that sort of tragic in its own right?

I’m not sure, but it’s a fascinating part of this thing to consider.

And, it makes for a really great song.

 

A Review of Batgirl, Issue 0

This month, DC Comics took a break from the recently concluded inaugural story arcs of the New 52 and finished the relaunch’s first year with an issue number 0 for each continuing title. Honestly, I had sort of disregarded these issues because they were advertised as essentially being a re-visit of the origin stories of the different characters, and, as important as this can be to new readers, I’m really over the trend of telling a hero’s origin story for the millionth time.

Out of curiosity, though, I picked up the 0 issue of Batgirl over the weekend, just because its one of the three or four titles to which I’m fiercely loyal. Ever since Gail Simone has been at the helm writing the Batgirl story arcs, the title has been nothing short of phenomenal, and I should have expected nothing less from issue 0.

I should mention that spoilers follow.

The issue picks up with Barbara Gordon as a high school student taking advantage of her father’s position as commissioner to conduct interviews around the Gotham police station, her little brother in tow. Simone does an excellent job of hinting at the early stages of development in the character of the brother, which had already been revealed at some level earlier in the year…just enough to round out the realism of this issue without over-taking Barbara as the main character. Of course, a serial killer is in the police station, and his gang of thugs attempt to break him free by bombing the station and attacking full out with big weapons. In the melee, Barbara is left to fend off the killer by herself, motivated by the desire to protect her brother. In the process, she dons a mock-up costume of Batman, and finds herself freed and unencumbered to use her self-defense skills with violent precision against their attacker…earning praise from Batman himself in the end.

What’s fascinating about this issue is Barbara’s description of her officially joining the Bat family as the best year of her life. Several panels briefly outline some of the adventures she took with Batman and Robin over that year, fighting villains and defending Gotham from those that would over-take it with evil. She describes, in flashback sequence, the darkness into which they ran, and, in a particularly moving line, describes the three of them as “twisted moths,” unable to stay away from that darkness.

Eventually, Barbara chose to leave it, but speaks of missing the adrenaline rush that she experienced during her crime-fighting adventures. Still, she chooses to devote herself to her studies in an attempt to better the world without stepping into the darkness…until, at the end of the issue, the darkness finds her again, and we are brought full-circle to the events preceding issue 1 a year ago.

This issue develops Barbara Gordon’s character thoroughly. We see her acting upon her desire to do good for others, displaying the nature of a hero in using her abilities for good rather than evil. What’s most interesting, though, is her humanity. Part of what motivated her to adopt the guise of the Batgirl was selfish…the rush of excitement. This led her to voluntarily step into darkness and evil that others would not face in order to beat it back, until she could no longer take it. When, however, she is forced to confront this evil again in the end, she rises to the challenge, again in order to protect others as much as to prove to herself that she can.

Batgirl issue 0 gives us the backstory of what makes Barbara Gordon a hero, complete with the very normal shortcomings that she must overcome in order to serve others. I love the character even more than I did before, and I’m so glad that I paused to take this one off the shelf this weekend.

A Review of “The Avengers”

This was it. This was the film that I had been waiting for since last summer, the film that nearly every comic book collector and everyone raised in a childhood of reading superhero adventures was waiting for. The Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, together in one film, in a super adventure extravaganza. It has been a while since I booked tickets in advance for an opening weekend show, even for a comic book adaptation. This however, was to be the film to end all superhero films. This was The Avengers.

It did not disappoint.

Marvel Studios put into practice in the Avengers what I trust they learned through the ill-fated X-Men films. First, the film began with a collection of characters that had already been at least introduced, and in most cases thoroughly developed, in their own films. Thus, no time was needed to be spent on backstory, with the exception of some history for the Black Widow and Hawkeye, which Joss Whedon and company accomplished nicely through expository dialogue. Secondly, each character was given enough screen time to shine, not only in action sequences, but also in character development. Only a very good director can accomplish this, and I don’t think any of us expected anything less from Whedon, but it was still wonderful to witness.

The plot is relatively simple. Loki, the so-called god of mischief and Thor’s half-brother, returns from the nether-realms into which he fell at the end of Thor, this time assisting an extra-dimensional race that we don’t see (until the end, that is…stay through the credits for the hidden ending) in order to enslave the human race. Nick Fury brings together our heroes into a team in order to stop the alien invasion that threatens to destroy most of mankind and enslave whoever’s left. That’s the story arc in a nutshell, and, with respect to other reviewers who found this to be disappointing, I would point out what any comic book fan knows: this is what the Avengers do. This, in its purest form, is the origin story of the team of super heroes: an evil too great for any one hero to defeat alone, results in the heroes joining forces to save the earth. Approaching it expecting something different is to approach it asking the wrong questions.

The beauty of a simple plot is what comic book writing accomplishes so masterfully: exploring deep themes within the context of the simple story. Whedon explores our ability to trust the government that is there to protect us, a government that has its own secrets that may or may not be better in the bigger picture. He explores the ethics of a society quelling its fear by building the bigger weapons. He explores the theme of individual talents having to overcome their own ways of doing things in order to work together with others for the greater good. He explores mankind’s freedom of choice, and the innate desire to fight for that freedom against one who claims that we “were made to be ruled.” Moreover, he explores the nature of a hero, and how those heroes who swoop in to protect us from those evils up to which we cannot stand ourselves work together to accomplish what no one of them could accomplish on their own. That, after all, is the better part of half of this film: how our favorite heroes’ personalities conflict with each other and what they have to work through in order to work together.

And, in true Whedon style, there’s even a faith metaphor or two (Iron Man likening himself to Jonah was particularly fun).

Whedon uses the exploration of powerful themes to develop the characters that we all came to the movie to see. And the characters do develop: Captain America begins the loyal soldier who reluctantly accepts the hesitation of his colleagues. Iron Man sacrifices his own stardom to become a team player. Bruce Banner moves past his own fear to work for the greater good. I’d go on, but I’m not into giving spoilers. All of the hidden nuggets of story that tie all of the previous movies together are unified nicely by Whedon here, by the way, and I’m sure there are going to be more visual goodies that you just can’t see on the first viewing but that will become obvious when I watch it again.

As expected, Whedon’s writing is snappy and complete with witty moments of comic relief that somehow avoid (with an exception or two) the cliche humor that can so easily trap a big action film. And, speaking of action, the special effects were breath-taking (Iron Man having his own armor catch him in mid-air sound interesting?), and the fight sequences that occur between our heroes as they work past themselves to become a team are quite literally the stuff of legend (want to know what happens when Mjolnir strikes Captain America’s shield? Or if Thor and the Hulk go toe-to-toe? Yeah, I thought so…). If you think that’s great, then wait until the aliens from the other realm invade Manhattan (where else would a huge-scale battle with the Avengers take place?) and the Avengers hold the city, cohesive as a team, complete with firefights, archery, aerial dogfights, the Hulk swatting spacecraft from the skies, and the heroes that you wouldn’t expect to receive the most screen time saving the day, leaving half the city laid waste in the process. This makes the Transformers look like lightweights, but is never overwhelming.

Speaking of the Hulk, incidentally, Mark Ruffalo turns in an outstanding performance as the only new actor in the group…arguably better than Edward Norton did in the Hulk’s own film. To accompany this, the new CG Hulk is even complete with Ruffalo’s facial features. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johanssen, and Samuel L. Jackson each perform beyond expectations as they reprise their roles, and while I didn’t think that Jeremy Renner looked the role of Hawkeye, he rounded out this all-star cast with flourish.

All in all, whether you are a super-hero fan or not, if you’ve enjoyed any of the previous Marvel films at all, this movie will be worth your ticket price. The audience in the show we attended applauded on several occasions. This is not another huge action film. It is the exploration of super heroes at its finest. And, it is a promise that those heroes will return to save us again in the future, because, as Fury so eloquently and simply summarizes, “we’ll need them to.”