Book of Doom: Detective Comics #853
When DC was getting ready to relaunch their continuity after Crisis on Infinite Earths, they needed a good farewell to the then-fiftyish years of Superman stories. Thus, we were given Alan Moore’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?,” a nostalgic trek down the menagerie of Kryptonian heroes, allies and villains. By the end of the story, Superman found one final task and then disappeared.
Neil Gaiman has given us a follow up of sorts with “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” With Bruce Wayne gone, we need a farewell to seventy years of Batman stories. Part one gave us the funeral and a disembodied Bruce Wayne wondering how and why he’s watching his own funeral. Part two gave us the answers.
How do we address a long, convoluted history with twists and turns and do-overs and forgotten characters across a few universes? How do we know what did and what didn’t happen?
Simple. We just don’t dwell on it. It all happened and it was all the story of Batman, the idea. When Batman dies, his ultimate fate is that he stays Batman. It’s immutable. A dead Batman is still Batman. And why is Batman watching his own funeral with a calvicade of familiar faces? His brain is in its dying moments.
Like its sort-of predecessor, this is more mythology than continuity. To say goodbye, we have to know what we’re leaving behind. Through each vignette from the friends-or-foes gallery, we have that much more Batman to remember – for anyone who’s picked up the book at any point in its history.
Neil Gaiman did here what he does best – take mythology and find a new way to present it. And the more I think on it, the more I enjoyed this book.
Now, turning it over to Jim Doom: (more…)
To many people who read this blog, Mike Carey needs no introduction. At first known for his work on Lucifer, spinning off out of the Sandman mythos, he’s been seen lately putting his own spin on X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four. Never straying far from his Vertigo work, he’s got a new series coming out called The Unwritten, reuniting with Lucifer artist Peter Gross. It tells the story of a man forever trapped by his father writing him into his old novels … and then finding that world crashing in on his reality.
“Therefore Repent!” is one of the coolest books you’ve never read. Set in the midst of the end times in Chicago, it’s about a few things – how to deal with the rapture, and what exactly is going on. Why is George Bush making appearances with Jesus Christ, and why are armed angels patrolling the streets? Well, you’ll just have to read the damn book, especially now that a follow-up, “Sword of my Mouth” is coming to your nerd store in May. 
Plot itself: Cyclops’ elite force of murderers is hunting Cable and the messiah child through time. They land in a future with Deadpool and some sinking feelings. In the meantime, Bishop, the guy who came back to warn the X-Men of a traitor only to himself become a traitor, strikes a deal with an all-too-familiar face. 
Jeffrey Brown inhabits that corner of comics that goes straight for the life tales, eschewing spandex for flannel, and never settling into the overwrought. In books like “Unlikely” and “Clumsy,” he showed a warts-and-all sentimentality about relationships. His writing and art have matured over the years since he started, and it’s obvious in seeing his newer works. It’s gone from relationship-focused to life-encompassing, and even campy and ridiculous, as seen in certain backup stories in “Feeble Attempts.” 
Doominator: So, Doom, we recently perfectly legally watched the direct to DVD Wonder Woman movie.