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comics

My favourite Batman books

Continuing on the theme of Batman…

I have been thinking of getting out my old Batman comics and re-reading them. And then I thought, no, why not buy some new ones?

Thing is, I don’t think the seminal 1980s/90s Batman graphic novels have been bettered.

Lookit: here’s my list of the top 5.


1. Batman: the Killing Joke by Alan Moore, art by Brian Bolland

The great Alan Moore takes on Bruce Wayne and the Joker. It’s short, violent, disturbing and the best Joker origin story ever. The Joker as a struggling comedian who gets into petty crime for his girl? Woo. It was the first time I’d ever read anything remotely sympathetic about the Joker. The climactic scenes where Joker menaces Commissioner Gordon’s daughter in an abandoned fairground stunned me with their violence and realism.

This was my introduction to graphic novels. Some of the images are still with me now, even though I haven’t read it for over 10 years.


2. Batman: Year One by Frank Miller, art by Dave Mazzuchelli

Between them, Frank Miller and Alan Moore just about reinvented the tired superhero genre in the 1990s. Miller tackled Batman and Daredevil; Moore did Swamp Thing, Miracleman and CK himself – Superman.

Miller took Batman back beyond the camp 1960s TV show which gloried in the daftness of costumed vigilantes, and took Batman closer to Bob Kane’s original vision which was more film noir and pulpish. I’m also a big fan of The Shadow and The Spirit, both had their heydays in the 1940s and featured crime fighters who operated in the claustrophic world of the high-rise metropolis.

Batman Year One has been the inspiration for the latest movie visualization of Batman. Bruce Wayne is a difficult character to understand. He’s so multifaceted – playboy, businessman, vigilante, technophile. And as badly as we might want him to pair up with a girl, it’s fitting that he’s single. No man can do all that and also have time for a proper love life.


3. The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

The thing you need to know about this book is that strictly it exists outside of the Batman canon; i.e. it takes place long after the Batman most of us know and love. Batman is in his 50s and ostensibly, retired. Something bad has happened to the latest Robin (and this was pre-A Death In The Family) – something that prompted Bruce’s retirement.

But of course, One Last Thing drags him back into the costume. And that is the Joker – of course, Batman’s greatest enemy.

The artwork here begins to depart from the very literalistic interpretations we’ve seen in Batman up to now, becoming more filmic and manga-influenced.

Apart from Alan Moore’s Watchmen, this may be the single most influential comic book in the last 25 years.


4. Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison, art by Dave McKean

A typically multilayered and somewhat crazy narrative conveys the world of Arkham’s most disturbing institution – the asylum where inevitably, most of Batman’s enemies wind up.

After an era in which most Batman books concluded with the unrepentant criminal – the Joker, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, Penguin etc heading for the imposing gates of Arkham Asylum, Morrison asks the question that’s on all our lips: how close is Brucie to being in there with these guys?

Cos lets face it – he isn’t normal. Not what you and I would call normal. Think about it for a minute. Brucie’s life is way, way out there on the scale of most caped crusaders. Spiderman and Daredevil for example, are ordinary guys – a photographer, a lawyer – with extraordinary abilities. They live in small apartments; they worry about paying the rent.

Bruce Wayne is an extraordinary guy with nothing but cash and the will to power – power that in his case manifests as his one-man anti-crime spree.

Arkham Asylum explores the whole sanity thing in the context of Batman’s world. And Dave McKean’s artwork is outstanding.


5. Mad Love by Paul Dini, art by Bruce Timm

Now this choice may be controversial, because I’m putting this higher than most Batman fans would, above such (in my opinion) over-rated books as The Cult. I choose it because of the humour – which is always going to score big with me. Dark humour and a crazy love story as psychiatrist-turned-psycho, Harley Quinn takes on Batman in order to win the heart of her former patient, the Joker. Not many Batman books make me laugh out loud, which is why this is a stand-out for me.

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comics mexico nostalgia

From Mexican masked wrestlers to Batman


On the left: my sister (in the pretty dress) and I (in the Batman costume) dine out with clowns at Mexico City’s Mauna Loa restaurant. I’m probably 7 years old here.

On the right: our six-year old daughter as Mistico, the masked wrestler, taken a few weeks ago by new friend via Flickr, Alejandro.

Our six-year old daughter has a thing for Mexican masked wrestlers. I’ve seen it all before and I know where it leads.

I became fascinated with Batman via a fascination with the masked wrestlers who were and are still such big heroes in Mexico. When I was little it was Blue Demon and El Santo. These days there are others, like Mistico.

Truthfully I had no idea that the costumes I saw being sold all over gaudy stalls in Mexico’s Chapultepec park were anything to do with wrestling. I thought they were caped crusaders. And that was cool. So when our little daughter begged us to buy her a Mistico mask in Playa del Carmen recently, I knew just how she felt.

Somehow that fascination turned into a full-on obsession with Batman (that I’m not really over to be honest…). My Uncle Johny, a childhood pal of my father’s was always crazy for comic books and ‘pulps’. So naturally his boy, my cousin Juan Fernando, had the best batman suit money could buy. How I envied Juan Fernando that suit. I coveted it something rotten, so when Juan grew out of it, my uncle and aunt kindly gave it to me. The true owner! Only I truly loved that suit.

I wore it everywhere and all the time. I wore it to the university where my grandfather worked and the students would ask ‘Hey Batman, where’s Robin?’ until I actually got fed up.

There wasn’t always a Robin, yanno…

I wore it to restaurants. There was no point arguing with me on this. Thank goodness there were no family weddings or christenings that summer or I’d have worn it to them too.

My Uncle Johny had a library that was to me, basically like a temple. It was full of book shelves and cases of precious sci-fi books, adventure stories, comic books and collectibles. He used to lend me his Ellery Queen books and his Batman paperback versions of the comics. It was in Johny’s library that I first read the Batman origin story, the most impressive one, I believe, for any caped crusader. A rich, privileged boy sees his beloved parents murdered in an alleyway by some thug, all for a string of pearls. And that’s it: over. His life of privilege and all his riches can never replace what he loses right there – his childhood. Bruce Wayne spends his whole life trying to put back something that can never be fixed. And he’s never content – how can he be? No bereavement counselling for Bruce – just a premonition in a bat cave and a life of violence and vendetta against the breed of scumbag who destroyed his life.

Gosh it’s cool.

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comics movies top 10

Top Ten Superhero Films Part 2

It turns out that I’m an idiot who can’t count. I forgot one key superhero movie which is awesome, easily in the top 5, and when I looked at the other 4, none could in all good conscience be thrown out in favour of Spiderman 3, which I loved even if everyone says it’s bad.

The one I forgot is now at number 4. I think it’s that good.

5. X2
You know the X-Men franchise takes itself pretty seriously – at least this far in its run – from the fact that it opens in Auschwitz. Ooer, dark; Frank Miller, Alan Moore territory here we come. After that it comes together very nicely as one of only 2 successful multi-protag superhero movies. A raft of terrific actors have a great time with a good screenplay.

4. The Incredibles
I remember watching this at the cinema with my daughters and being impressed at a film which could hugely entertain a pre-school child, a teen and an adult. The story structure is terrific, the pace never lets up, the humour sections are genuinely funny and not just saddo cheese-fests (I particularly loved the costume fitting). It’s not easy to write a great story that has pace, humour, always with an eye on the video game opportunity. I think The Incredibles really pulls it off. My only teentsy concern is the self-referential nature of the movie, with its commentary on the nature and perception a world in which superheroes exist. It seemed a very original twist on the superhero mythology when Alan Moore did it in ‘Watchmen’, but now seems a bit passe. Then again most people haven’t read ‘Watchmen’.

3. Spiderman
I love Tobey Maquire and have always loved Peter Parker. Green Goblin was a great villain to pick for the Spidey movie. Peter’s growing delight with his powers and the way that, despite being a superhero he only slowly dispels his nerdy-boy persona, are the stand-out bits for me. Yes, the swinging is all very good too, love the swinging and the wall-crawling.Everyone in this movie is just great, but Jonah Jameson is a special delight.

2. Superman II
I almost put this top. It’s not top of anyone else’s list, as far as I know, which makes me think; where were you people in 1980? Don’t you realise the significance to those of us who were lovelorn teens, of the moment when Clark tells Lois that he’s Superman? Their first kiss is up there with Han Solo’s kiss with Princess Leia as one of the defining movie smooches for people my age! We also get to learn more about Supe’s homeworld, see the camp wonderfulness of the exiled Kryptonians and actually worry that Superman may not win the day. The end somewhat spoils it, with Clark being allowed to get his powers again. I see that it’s called for, but basically, it’s a deus ex machina.

1. Spiderman II
It’s unusual for a sequel to be better than the first, but not uncommon in Superhero films. Why? Because the first superhero film necessarily serves up the Origin Story. We all know more or less what such a story will give us. Ordinary guy becomes extraordinary and finds that he must use his extraordinariness to help people. Big Baddie threatens the world, superhero to the rescue, problem solved. Not very interesting, so far. The surprises, threats and complications really arise in stories further along the line. Jaded superhero; superhero tempted to evil; superhero in love, etc. Spiderman II goes for an early foray into Jaded Superhero. It’s probably not a bad time for that story. You can’t really roll that one out again until the superhero is supposedly ‘past it’, as in “The Dark Knight Returns”. Doc Ock is great, ripping chunks out of walls and hurling them at people. So many classic moments of the genre, so well executed.

Didn’t make the list:
Daredevil – one of my greater movie disappointments. How was this not wonderful? Why didn’t they get Frank Miller to write it? What was with the stupid, pumping rock soundtrack? Why was Matt Murdoch not blond??? I love MM but Daredevil was baaad, and not in the good way.

Elektra – not as dreadful as people say, actually. Better than Daredevil. But again…why didn’t Frank Miller write? Why didn’t they at least use one of his Elektra stories?

Constantine – (based on Hellblazer) really good. Would put it at twelve.

Spidey 3 – cos I can’t count, but I’d put it at 7 probably, in a rejig.

Superhero Movies I’d Like To See:
The Spirit, Watchmen, a good Daredevil movie, Groo the Wanderer, The Trouble With Girls. Technically neither The Spirit, Groo nor Lester Girls have superpowers. But then neither does Batman, so fair is fair.

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comics movies top 10 writing

Top Ten Superhero Films Part 1

Let’s count down.

10. The Shadow (1994)
I like that The Shadow isn’t a victim of a horrible accident or scientific experiment gone wrong. I don’t quite understand where his powers come from and the film doesn’t really explain properly, which is all to the good – leaves some ambiguity. Is he some reincarnated warrior, or an immortal? Why does he change from handsome Lamont into ugly-mug Shadow? But the psychic aspect is really intriguing. The 30s-art-deco thing is done perfectly here, not overstated but consistently elegant. Alec Baldwin when he was still very hot, is deliciously inaccessible to the feisty blond sidekick who wants to get her paws on him. This movie is under-rated as far as I’m concerned. A certain amount of cheesiness is called for in superhero movies.

9. Batman Returns (1992)
Utterly classic! For Batman fans, this has it all – the scenes of Arkham Asylum – the lunatic, disfigured baddie (Penguin), the introduction of the sublime Catwoman (Michell Pfeiffer giving Julie Newmark a run for her money), and Batman before he became, as he is wont to do, a self-parody.

What is about The Bat that makes him eventually descend into bad self-parody? The new incarnation of Batman was allegedly influenced by Frank Miller, great reinventor of Brucie as a tough, angsty crusader. But by the third movie all that was forgotten and we were lurching back into Adam West territory. So now, with Batman Begins, we’re back with the Miller-esque Batman. Let’s hope it sticks. But 1992 was still a heyday for long-time Bruce Wayne fans like me.

8. Batman Begins
Comic books films grow up! said the critics. hey! Who said we wanted them to? This explores not just the origins of Batman and his early years, allegedly based on Frank Miller’s Batman Year One (and presumably Year Two, not written by Miller, but which introduces Ras Al Guhl to the early-Batman lore). Quasi serious and quite violent action movie. Brilliantly explores the psychological dimension of Bruce Wayne’s incarnation as the Batman, in a similar way to the best Batman comics.

7. X-Men (2000)
Now I’ll confess to never having read X-Men comics. I don’t like multi-protagonist comic books; there I’ve said it. With the exception of the brilliant Watchmen. This is my beef with Marvel. If one hero is good then two is better, seems to be the prevailing thinking. I always worry when I pick up a Daredevil that shows MM battling a few demons with the help of Spidey et al. Oh, boo, demons v the Marvel crowd, I go. So I don’t read JLA or XMen or Fantastic Four.

I prefer my superheroes to fly solo and preferably to be in big trouble, suffering. (Which is why Miller’s Daredevil is my favourite stretch of comic books stories ever)

This meant that I didn’t expect the movie of X-Men to be so damn great! Who knew?! It’s awesome. If I had time I’d go back and read the comics. But I don’t. And now I’m probably too old to properly enjoy them.

Part of the movie’s brilliance are the performances of Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman, amongst others. But the writing and effects are also terrific.

6. Superman (1978)
People forget how amazing this was. It was fabulous! Christopher Reeve made it look simple to be goofy Clark Kent and Superman too, but it was a genius performance. And Marlon Brando as Jor-El, the whole Krypton thing, Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. This is where great superhero movies all began.

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comics movies

Spidey 3 – Best Comic Book Movie Ever?

Spiderman 3 starts with such sunshine and happiness in the eyes of young Peter Parker that you just know things are going to get real, real bad.

But what a movie! It has romance, massive action including Green Goblin (2) on his board, two laugh-out-loud-for-ages-funny comedy scenes, pathos; heck, it’s got it all!

In the tradition of Marvel superhero comics, the climactic scenes feature a titanic battle between the improbably-abled, unfortunate victims of scientific-experiments-gone-horribly wrong. In this case, that would be Green Goblin (2), Spidey, Venom and Sandman (not Neil Gaiman’s…the Marvel one).

Those clashes-of-titans can be a a bore to read for the ‘mature’ comic book reader, but heck, they look good onscreen. What makes it much, much better here is that, true to the recent vogue in some comic books – since the early days of Frank Miller and Alan Moore – the superheroes are motivated solely by human tragedies and personal demons. The whole story is constructed on the relationships between the characters.

And no sign of a Pinky-and-the-Brain plot, whatsoever.

(Pinky: ” Gee Brain, what do you want to do tonight?”
The Brain: “The same thing we do every night, Pinky – Try to take over the world!”)

PS. I’ve just remembered Superman 2. (Old-skool Superman, the one when Supe gives up his superpowers so that he can ahem! Lois Lane). Is Spidey 3 better…? Hmm, tough call.