Tag Judd Winick

Panels of Awesomeness: Batman by Mark Bagley

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

THE ISSUE: Batman #688

CREATORS: Judd Winick (Author), Mark Bagley (Penciller), Rob Hunter (Inker), Ian Hannin (Colorist), Jared K. Fletcher (Letterer)

RELEASED: July 8, 2009. Collected in Batman: Long Shadows.

THE SCENE: Shortly after taking up the mantle of Batman, Dick Grayson trains with Damian Wayne, who has just become the new Robin.

WHY THEY’RE AWESOME: This scene has been hanging around in my subconscious for the near-decade since it was published.

On the surface, it’s not particularly remarkable. Just Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne training together. Sort of a Karate Kid scenario with Dick in the Mr. Miyagi role. But as Eric Bischoff might say, “context is king.” This issue came out shortly after Final Crisis, in which Bruce Wayne “died” at the hands of Darkseid. Thus, Dick Grayson has once again taken on the role of Batman, and Damian has become Robin.

Putting these two together was a perfect recipe for personality conflicts. Dick’s generally friendly and warm personality clashed with Damian’s defiant, abrasive, and often bratty disposition. Especially early on in their partnership.

But in Batman #688, Judd Winick took the time to balance the scales a little bit, and show us is indeed a qualified mentor for Damian. Not necessarily because of his fighting prowess, but the patience and wisdom years of experience have brought him. It’s a quality that can’t be taught, and one that makes for a damn good teacher.

I was working on a piece of fiction recently, with a scene that had a similar teacher/student premise. For whatever reason, I kept coming back to the line Dick has at the end of this scene: “Don’t anticipate.” I like that. Simple. Concise.

I know Judd Winick isn’t everybody’s favorite Batman writer. But more often than not, I really dug his stuff. Throw in the art by Mark Bagley, who’d just come off his legendary run on Ultimate Spider-Man, and these pages definitely have their fair share of awesomeness.

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A Batman #14 Review – They Totally Had Sex!

Rob Siebert 3 Comments

Batman #14, 2017TITLE: Batman #14
AUTHOR: Tom King
PENCILLER: Mitch Gerads. Cover by Stephanie Hans.
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASED: January 4, 2017

***WARNING: Spoilers lay ahead.***

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

In 2011’s Catwoman #1 and #2, Judd Winick and Guillem March put together a scene where Batman and Catwoman have sex, complete with masks and costumes. We don’t see anything X-rated. But the climactic (no pun intended) page of issue #1 depicts what I think is supposed to be our heroes having achieved penetration. It was generally regarded as distasteful. An assessment I agree with.

In Batman #14, our heroes have sex again (shown below). Once again, I believe we see them achieve penetration. I’m generally not a fan of actually seeing superheroes have sex. Implication is usually fine. But actually showing us the act? No. There’s a trashy, niche porn element to it that I can’t shake. Let alone the fact that these characters also appear on lunch boxes and kids t-shirts.

But if for some reason you must show us Batman and Catwoman doing the nasty, this is how you do it.

batman #14, 2016, sex scene, Mitch GeradsSelina Kyle is about to go to face life in prison without parole for the murder of 237 people. (How/when did this happen, by the way? Is this something Tom King did for this story? I’m lost.) Batman is convinced she’s not guilty. But for whatever reason, Selina isn’t proclaiming her innocence. Now they have one last night together, and they’re spending it where they belong: The Gotham City rooftops.

So why is the sex in this issue different from what we saw in 2011? As much as I enjoy Judd Winick’s work, it was instantly clear that his scene was done for shock value. It was about the sex itself, rather than what the sex meant. Batman #13 is a romantic story that builds to the characters giving into their desires. As Selina puts it, it’s about what they want to do, as opposed to what they have to do.

While I still wouldn’t have actually shown us any of the act, this is actually my favorite Batman issue Tom King has done. I love stories that look at the Batman/Catwoman dynamic, and it’s satisfying to see these characters have a moment like this.

As we’ve frequently seen during King’s run, Batman and Catwoman call each other Bat and Cat. I like that. It adds a layer of familiarity, and almost intimacy to their relationship. It’s so simple that I’m surprised we haven’t seen it more often.

King also brings a bunch of C and D-list Batman villains along for the ride. The Clock King, Film Freak, Condiment King, and Kite Man are just a few of the names our heroes spend this special night with. An especially busy night, it would seem…

batman #14, Mitch Gerads, two-page spreadMitch Gerads handles the pencils, inks, and colors. Almost everything in this issue is bathed in cool blues, which sets the tone beautifully. When we get to the intimacy between Bruce and Selina, Gerads uses those blue tones to highlight some of the scarring on Bruce’s body. That’s an interesting touch.

Early on we get a gorgeous two-page spread of a starry night sky. It’s tremendously fitting, given the importance of this night, and Selina’s talk about it shining like a diamond. Gerads also does some lovely work with Selina’s facial expressions, whether it’s her excitement at being on the rooftops, or her sorrow at having to go away.

Tom King’s Batman run has been a mixed bag. But his intentions have obviously been good, especially when it comes to Batman and Catwoman. Sex notwithstanding, this is the issue where that’s the most plainly seen. As such, it’s his best.

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A Red Hood: The Lost Days Review – Aw, It’s a Rerun…

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Red Hood: The Lost DaysTITLE: Red Hood: The Lost Days
AUTHOR: Judd Winick
PENCILLER: Pablo Raimondi, Jeremy Haun. Cover by Billy Tucci.
COLLECTS: Red Hood: The Lost Days #1-6
FORMAT: Softcover
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $14.99
RELEASE DATE: June 22, 2011

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

I feel like a good title for this book would have been I Know Who Killed Me. But instead they gave that title to a Lindsay Lohan movie. Cheeky bastards…

The Lost Days is a prequel to Judd Winick’s Under The Hood story, in which he brought Jason Todd back to life as an anti-hero, determined to rid Gotham City of crime the “right” way with guns, killing, and capital punishment in general. This book serves as the bridge between Jason’s resurrection and his return to Gotham in the Hush storyline. He gets some fresh combat training and becomes skilled with explosives before he’s finally ready to take on the man who killed him…The Joker. But can he bring himself to do it?

It doesn’t matter, since both characters have to make it to Under The Hood. But it’s the thought that counts!

Red Hood: The Lost Days, Jason ToddThis book isn’t perfect by any means, but it has its moments. What really sucks is that Winick has to devote an entire issue to exposition for people who didn’t read Under The Hood. I put down the first issue thinking: “I read all of that already!”

I’ve talked before about how great Winick is with raw emotion. There’s a scene in the second issue where Jason learns Batman hasn’t killed The Joker that’s very well done. To a degree, the reader understands Jason’s outrage, frustration and pain. His surrogate father didn’t love him enough (at least that’s how Jason sees it) to break his rule about killing. We can’t relate to Jason’s situation, but we can understand that rage.

Oddly enough, one thing we don’t learn in this book is why Jason chose the Red Hood moniker. From a creator’s perspective, it’s obviously meant to connect him to The Joker (before he became a killer clown, Joker called him self The Red Hood), but from a character standpoint, we don’t know why Jason did it. You’d think that would have been one of the first things Winick would want in the story.

Red Hood: The Lost Days, Jason Todd ,Talia al GhulAlso, don’t be fooled by Billy Tucci’s wonderful issue covers. While they do display Jason in that awesome red helmet (at least I think it’s awesome) and combat gear, he doesn’t put that stuff on until the last page of the last issue. With some of these issues, the covers were more exciting than the story could hope to be.

Jason spends two issues foiling Russian mobsters, which is okay I guess. It works to establish the fact that he’s not just a heartless killer, and he still believes in justice.We see a lot of Talia al Ghul in this story, as she helps Jason obtain the resources he needs. There’s a bizarre sexual element to their partnership that doesn’t make much sense. In the first issue, Ra’s al Ghul flat out tells Talia that helping Jason won’t make Bruce Wayne love her. So then she not only helps him, but goes that way with him? Yeah, THAT made a lot of sense.

All in all, The Lost Days really doesn’t give us any information that wasn’t implied before, save for the Talia/Jason awkwardness that shouldn’t have been there in the first place. It’s not necessarily a bad story, but I get the impression the only reason this was all brought up again was to coincide with the DVD release of Batman: Under The Red Hood, which conveniently, Winick worked on. This book was never going to be a 10, but it certainly could have been better.

RATING: 4.5/10

Image 1 from comicvine.com. Image 2 from cornflakepizza.tumblr.com.

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