Bat-napped

Some bat-family comic reviews. No bat dancing though.

Catwoman 50
Will Pfiefer writes what DC is calling a "milestone issue" here. Will's blog post of the cover-- Selina walking past a huge poster of Zatanna, very noir, intrigued me to buy this issue. Zatanna feels guilty over the 'mind altering' they did of of Catwoman, to make her "trade evil for good". There is a lot of talk about the "blessed event" coming for Catwoman, but Will says those issues are months down the line.


Batman and the Monster Men #1
Story and art by Matt Wagner.
Very cool retro horror art. Bruce Wayne's girlfriend, Julie Madison-- a redhaired gray-eyed law student, able to handle herself. When Bruce arrives at the charity ball, he's surrounded by women, "I'd have to beat them off you with a stick" teases Julie. "I'm pretty good at defending myself, except when it comes to smart, stylish, grey-eyed law students."

We are fooled by panels drawn in shadow of a man working out, who turns out to be the scrawny Professor Strange, and not Batman. Ridiculed at the charity ball, Professor Strange takes the couple hostage, and feeds them to his monster men.


Batman and Robin 3
My least favorite of the three. After all the Frank Miller panty shot talk, I felt sort of dirty reading the Black Canary portion of the book. Besides just the cover shot, there are at least 3 shot from blow scissor kicks that are just too much. Sometimes crotch shots can get in the way of the story!
Plus, I hate when a story tries to tell a "message" by becoming an example of a message...this one was that all the men in the bar where ogling, making comments about, and touching Black Canary, and then she beats the hell out of them because "a sweet young thing like me can only take so much". This is accomplished with leering shots of the 'strong female' (much like the prostitutes of Sin City). Hopping on a motorcycle "the Harley's a roaring lion between her legs".
Once we move to the bat-napping of Robin, the story is better. Jim Lee's artwork of the batmobile underwater, a sleek machine with light showing Bats and Robin within, that works. The story ends with a ticked-off Superman reading about the kidnapping.