Skip to main content

Detective Comics #934


(SPOILERS ahead, and I don't just mean the character)

The reason DC Rebirth has worked is because they have started focusing on stories. It's a simple rule that I wish more superhero comics stuck to in general. See, here's the thing: unless you have an unhealthy obsession with these characters, which means keeping up with every branching storyline and subplot and spinoff regardless of whether you're actually enjoying them or not, all anyone has ever cared for when reading superhero comics have been colorful characters fighting crime in larger than life scenarios and emotionally stirring milieus. Granted, over time, they've become more psychologically refined, which makes their antics feel charmingly out of place. But that's all anyone needs: good art, good writing, and above all, a good story. And this is what DC is doing so well now. Take Detective Comics. I just read the first issue (and I know it's been a while since it was released), but here we have a threat (someone's manufacturing highly advanced drones to take down vigilantes in Gotham City), a plan (Batman recruits Katherine Kane to train a ragtag group of do-gooders), a surprise (Clayface?! I've always been a fan of the character ever since the days of Batman: The Animated Series, so it's good to see him back in the spotlight, as a good guy, no less!), and optimism in the face of imminent doom (which has always kept me coming back to Gotham, which otherwise in its modern incarnation is bleak as all hell, to the point of being depressing). Then there's the good old cliffhanger splash page:


Turns out our heroes have bitten off more than they can chew! However can they triumph over such eeevillll?

See, DC? That wasn't so hard, was it? Now all you need to do is bring back Martian Manhunter...and we'll call it a day.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Crash

Around ten years ago I encountered J. G. Ballard's Crash for the first time. And I was disgusted within a matter of a few pages. The incessant and grating descriptions of car crashes and sexual climaxes seemed pointless, not to mention repulsive. I was also disappointed to find the author of such visionary fictions such as The Drowned World, amount to nothing but a cheap, sensationalist pornographer. Fast forward to today, when in a caffeine haze I galloped through the first 50 pages again. The book seems completely changed now. It is, if anything, honest in it's decision to stick to it's theme of marrying technology with sexuality. There is no cheap moralizing, nothing but a razor sharp introspection into the twisted psychology behind explosions and car crashes. In the aftermath of the Vegas shooting, Ballard is more relevant than ever before. The context may be gun violence, but the appeal remains the same. Incidents come and go, but our acceptance of them betrays a perv...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cuphead

Cuphead is an instant classic. Everything about the game points to a kind of polish that few game developers can even hope to achieve. From the animation to the music to the level design, every aspect of Cuphead comes together to deliver an action platforming experience that will take its place in the history books before long. Cuphead makes use of a cartoon style that should be instantly recognizable by anyone who grew up in India during the 80s or 90s. Endless reruns of Max Fleischer, Tex Avery and MGM cartoons have thoroughly ingrained that manic, zany energy and grainy aesthetic in our collective memory. Add to that the fact that for any kid growing up around that time, platformers were possibly the most favorite gaming genre. Cuphead is an amalgam of that kind of retroplatforming and hand drawn animation, but it is not stuck in the past. Every aspect of gameplay has been refined till it plays out almost flawlessly. The controls feel responsive like very few 2D games before i...
Post a Comment
Read more