Graphic Novel Review - Batman Beyond: Hush Beyond

Let's take a trip back in time about 11 years, shall we? The year was 1999. Clinton was president, the twin towers were still standing tall, Buffy still had 4 seasons to give us, and a little cartoon called Superman: The Animated Series was in it's prime. Superman: TAS was the second series in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU), with the first being Batman: The Animated Series, considered one of the best cartoons of all time, with good reason.

However, executives had decided that, due to the success of both Animated Series, and the TV Show Buffy (Who was still in High School at that point), that they needed a new, more kid friendly "Batman In High School" series, to follow up Superman: TAS with. But the creators of the classic shows weren't about to make some watered down "Batman Babies!" show, no, instead they gave us a cartoon called Batman Beyond.

(I wanted to show the video of the intro here, but I can't find an embeddable version here... So click the link to see one of the best intro sequences ever. Seriously.)

Now, arguably they failed at making a more kid friendly version of Batman: TAS or Superman: TAS. In fact, if anything, it was darker and edgier than either of those shows. But it was incredibly AWESOME.

The series took place years in the future, after Bruce Wayne has hung up the cape, and Gotham has once again become a crime run city. New gangs, such as the "Jokerz" (who model themselves after the Joker) run around the city causing chaos, and corruption is rampant. That's when a new Batman, Terry McGinnis steps up and, working with Bruce Wayne, becomes the new Batman.

The show was excellently executed, giving Terry his own, new rogues gallery instead of just cashing in on the old enemies, while still paying their dues to the original Batman with episodes centering around old foes like Mr. Freeze, Bane, and the absolute pinnacle of the series, the feature length film, "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker", which in all honesty can hold it's own against any Batman film, and still be respectable.



I loved Batman Beyond. I was very young when it was on, but I remember loving every minute of it. I've even been watching the first season recently, and it holds up very well. (You can find it streaming here, but the episodes are out of order. A list of the episodes can be found here.)

The show was cancelled in 2001, and was succeeded by Justice League unlimited, along with Static Shock, both of which featured crossover episodes with Batman Beyond. In Static Shock, Static goes to the future, and rescues his future self, with the help of Terry. JLU featured an episode called "Epilogue" which finally gave the show the finale it deserved. I won't spoil that episode for you, but track it down if you get a chance.

Terry was a very different character from Bruce Wayne, but one who I felt, if given his due, could be just as compelling. Unfortunately, since the DCAU as a whole has been ended, and a new Animated Universe has begun, it seemed that Batman Beyond was dead for good.

Until, that is, last year, when a mini-series called "Hush Beyond" ran. 6-Issues. I didn't really start collecting comics until early this year, so I never read those. Until now that is, as I purchased the trade paperback for "Hush Beyond" collecting all 6 issues.

The mini-series itself was, thankfully, very popular, and actually ended up getting an ongoing series going, which started last January. IT. IS. AWESOME. I've gotten all 4 issues that have been released (the 5th is currently being mailed to me) and I've loved every second of them. I may review those at a later date, but for now, let me give you all my impressions of the mini-series "Hush Beyond".

"Hush", for those not familiar with Batman lore, especially recent Batman lore, is a villain who first showed up in Batman comics in 2003. He's really Thomas Elliot, childhood friend of Bruce Wayne, and super successful surgeon. I haven't read any of the Hush storylines from the Batman comics personally, so I'll explain his motivations as best I can, but for a better description, you may want to just go ahead and read the wikipedia article on him.

Tom Elliot was, like Bruce, a childhood billionaire, and a friend to him. Unlike Bruce, however, he hated his parents. A lot. As in, he cut the brakes on his parents car and tried to kill them both. He only actually managed to kill his Father though, since his Mother was saved by Bruce's Father, Dr. Thomas Wayne.

A lot of stuff, none of which is really essential to understanding today's topic, happens, and Tom Elliot (surgeon extraordinaire) unites with Edward Nigma (The Riddler...) to kill Bruce Wayne, under the persona "Hush".



Eventually, he figures out Bruce Wayne is Batman, things happen, he's evil, yada yada yada, all of Hush's plots involved other supervillains in some capacity, we're moving on.

In "Hush Beyond" someone, Tom Elliot supposedly being dead, has taken up the mantle of Hush once more, tracking down and killing old Batman villians such as The Mad Hatter, or Calendar Man.

In short, this is a bad thing. After all, all these years later, a lot of these villains either did their time and went straight, or are still in mental hospitals. Hush, however, seems to be sending a message to Bruce Wayne, and makes very sure that Terry knows that Hush thinks of him as an "Imposter".

The mini-series takes a much darker tone than the series had, including bloody sequences, some fairly brutal murders, and it's very clear that this is aimed at those of us who, like me, were kids when they saw the series, and are now teenagers (or adults). The end result is excellent.

The mini-series, much like the show used to do, excellently blends new and old Batman mythos, including appearances by Cadmus, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, and even a new Catwoman.

The art is very nice, looking as good as any Batman comic on the market right now. The characters are fleshed out well, and it really feels like the writers knew, and loved, the characters as much as I did.

My only complaint, however, is that the last two issues are where the story falls a little flat for me. Without revealing TOO MUCH, let's just say Hush's identity is revealed, not because of Terry's detective skills, but because Hush chooses to out himself. That's just lame. Terry has taken up the mantle of Batman, world's greatest detective. I would have LOVED to see him use his detective skills he's picked up from Bruce over years of working with him, to figure out who Hush was BEFORE Hush unveiled himself. Unfortunately, that never happens.

Also, the identity of Hush itself felt a little bit anti-climactic to me personally, although your mileage may vary on that.

The action is great, the story is great, I absolutely LOVE the fact that they've introduced a new Catwoman (and I can't wait for her to reappear in the ongoing comic, as I'm sure she will) and overall, I'm glad I spent my $15 on the TPB. Could it have been better? Sure. Was it good? Oh heck yeah.

Seeing where all these characters who we never did see in the show are, even bit characters like Calendar Man, is awesome.

Now, I know I gave a lot of backstory at the beginning of this post, so I'm sure a lot of you are wondering, "Can I buy this without any knowledge of the Batman universe?". To that I'd say... Sure. It's actually a very good introduction to the Batman Beyond world. Everything you DO need to know is explained within the context of the story, even small things like who Dick Grayson was (which I'm sure most people know.) and even who Hush himself was.

So I'd say that if you're looking for a quality graphic novel, "Hush Beyond" is definitely worth your time and money. It may not be perfect, but it's a great way to start Terry McGinnis' comic career off.

New Year, New Layout, Same Sarcastic Writer

If you're reading this, chances are you've noticed a few changes to the layout of my blog. And by "few" I mean complete redesign. I thought I'd say a few words about it.

You see, mid December marked the first anniversary of this blog, and... Well, I've kind of had the same layout for the past year. And let's face it, that layout wasn't very good. It wasn't eye-meltingly bad, but it certainly had a lot of flaws. The color scheme was blah, the sidebars were functional but hardly exciting, and... Well... It was not very nice to look at!

So I decided to create a new layout with the new year. It's still a work in progress, and more changes may be coming later on depending on whether or not I decide to do them, but hey, it's certainly better than it was.

Also, about the header: The drawing in it (Batman and Portal, two of my favorite things), as well as my new "about me" picture, are drawings done by myself, and inked and colorized using Gimp. Yes, I kind of suck. Get over it. I'll post the images here real quick, in case anyone cares enough to see the full things.





(YES I KNOW THE CAPE DISAPPEARS BEHIND HIM GAH)

The Problem With Superman

It's not exactly unknown that I like Batman. Batman is awesome. Batman comics, movies, cartoons, whatever can be everything from campy fun, to serious looks into the flaws of humanity.

But what about other superheroes? Well of course, I like those too! Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Spider-Man, The X-Men, Wonder Woman, and so on and so forth, I like those too. They're pretty cool.

But there is one Superhero that everyone loves. Superman. The Superhero to end all Superheroes.

Of course I too, like Superman. He's Superman. Arguably, without him, there wouldn't even be a Superhero Genre. But there is one fatal flaw with Superman. He's too perfect.

Invincible, super strong, able to fly, able to melt things JUST BY LOOKING AT THEM.... Let's not kid ourselves here, Superman is basically a god.



Selin Fireheart wishes he were Superman.

The problem with Superman is that in order to have any sort of drama, you either need to have plots which

1. Exploit one of his two weaknesses, kryptonite or magic.
2. Deal with absurdly high stakes.

If you exploit his weaknesses EVERY SINGLE STORY, it gets repetitive. And redundant. And repetitive. And redundant. I mean seriously, I'm pretty sure enough kryptonite fell to earth to rebuild the planet krypton 3 times.

And dealing with absurdly high stakes can only work so often. You can't battle for the stake of the entire universe every other day, or it gets a bit... Ridiculous.

I mean, when you have Batman comics, you have a city, the city of Gotham, which is completely controlled by evil. No matter how much Batman does, he's still just one man. That's one of the greatest things about Batman. Is that he's just one man. The streets of Gotham are still incredibly dangerous, even with the equivalent of Ninja Chuck Norris running around in a bat suit every night.

But Metropolis is a safe place. A boring place.

And then there's his villains. There's Lex Luthor, who's awesome, and interesting. There's Brainiac who's cool. There's Darkseid who, if Superman is a god, is the devil. And then there's... Toyman?



I can't possibly take Toyman seriously. Sorry.

And no, Doomsday does not count. Doomsday is just a deus ex machina with arms and legs. The only thing Doomsday was created for, and has ever REALLY done, is kill Superman. Doomsday isn't a villain, he's a plot device.


Mr. Mxyzptlk? Eh, the only thing that gave him any creditablity is the "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" one shot comic, which, by the way, if you haven't read, you should.

Lex Luthor is a cool villain because he's basically an ordinary man fighting (and sometimes winning) against Superman, but that can only go so far, Brainiac can be cool depending on the story he's in... I guess Darkseid is the only villain that can be any real threat to Superman... He's pretty cool I guess. The only graphic novel I've read with him in it is "Superman: The Dark Side" which doesn't really count since it's an Elseworld about evil superman.

The problem with Superman becomes even more apparant in the first Superman movie right about when there are two missles and... Well...



So what really baffles me is that ANYONE thinks the "Superman Vs. Batman" movie that's been floating around hollywood for AGES is a good idea. I just... Why? Why would you do that?

Let me allow a video explain why this is the worst idea ever. *Caution strong language*



Worst. Idea. Ever.

Movie Review - The Batman Vs. Dracula

"I thank you for keeping my legend alive in my absence, but now there's only room for one BAT MAN in Gotham."

Pop quiz: Who remembers the 2004-2008 series "The Batman"? I do. And I liked it.



The Batman is an often forgotten Batman cartoon series. Sure, it wasn't as good as Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, or arguably (I haven't seen many episodes of this one) The New Batman Adventures, but it was different, instead of focusing on Batman after he's an established hero, focusing on his first few years of being "The Batman". The show, focusing on a younger audience than TAS or Beyond were, had a very different tone to it. A brighter tone. And while I personally prefer the darker tone of Batman, such as the films, or TAS/TNBA/BB captured, The Batman was still really good, in my opinion, and I'd rate it up there as one of the best cartoons of the past ten years. The first two seasons focused solely on him as several villains began to surface. The third season broke the traditional Batman lore by introducing Batgirl before Robin was introduced. In the fourth season, Robin was introduced. I only caught a few episodes of the fifth and final season, but it was still pretty good featuring the forming of The Justice League. The cartoon featured a different art style from DC Animated Universe series, and overall a different tone. The cartoon was still quite popular though, popular enough to warrant a feature length Direct to DVD film set between the second and third seasons, "The Batman Vs. Dracula".

The Batman Vs. Dracula had a much darker, creepier tone than the TV series did, much more similar to TAS's tone.



The film opens with Penguin and Joker escaping from Arkham Asylum. Forced to only follow one, Batman pursues Joker to the top of a building overlooking the river. The Joker tries to escape by jumping into the river, but the joy buzzer (Of doom) he had in his hand malfunctions and apparently kills him.

Upset by this Batman returns to the batcave, and tells Alfred of Joker's untimely demise. When asked where Penguin is, he replies he doesn't know, but he's going to find him.

Cut to Penguin in a Gotham graveyard. He finds a tomb which he thinks contains a treasure and opens it to find a chained up coffin. Being an utter moron, he cuts the GIANT RED CHAINS OF DEATH, and opens the coffin. And cuts himself. And bleeds on Dracula's skeleton, bringing him back to (un)life.

And that's where things get awesome. Why do things get awesome? Well, let me put it this way...

BATMAN. VERSUS. DRACULA.

Seriously. Just the title alone is so awesome I think I go partly blind every time I read it. I heard someone once said the title of this movie once, and spontaneously turned into Chuck Norris. And exploded. And it was awesome.

This isn't the first time Batman's run in with vampires either, heck he's even run in with Dracula before. But this is the first official movie where he's met Dracula. (Note that I say official.)

So, does the film live up to this title of pure nerd joy? Well... Yes and no. Let me start by saying it's a very different movie. For one thing, the Vampire's in the movie are actually more similar to fast zombies than traditional Vampires. That's not to say they aren't scary though, in fact, they really are scary. Whenever it cuts to the Vampire's point of view, there's this cool vein effect on the other characters, where the Vampire can see the heart and blood of the person they look at. Plus, and this is a bit of a spoiler... Vampire Joker.



Vampire Joker is creepy and crazy. And I love him for it. Plus there's a downright heartwarming scene (in a strange way) where Batman... Well, I won't spoil it.

Speaking of Batman, he's pretty awesome in this movie. He's, again, not as good as Batman in TAS, but he's still a pretty good version of the character.

But, with that said, there are a few continuity holes. For example, in one scene it's very important to note that Vampires don't have reflections... Until a scene later in the movie where you see a Vampire's reflection. That's not the only plot hole sadly, but it is the most blatant in my opinion.

But darn it, the movie promised Batman Vs. Dracula. So how is Dracula in this movie?

Freaking. Awesome. He's just about the perfect Dracula, he's suave, smooth, smart, and evil. Plus he has some of the best lines in the whole movie like the aforementioned

"I thank you for keeping my legend alive in my absence, but now there's only room for one BAT MAN in Gotham."

Or

"(Responding to a solar energy storing device Bruce is showing off at a party) About time the sun was used for something positive."

He's strong, he's fast, and more importantly, he's an awesome villain. Everything Dracula should be.

So Batman and Dracula are both awesome, but it promised Batman VERSUS Dracula. Does it deliver? In a word, yes. Yes it does. The fight scenes between the two of them are very fun, and they give you a sense of just how out of his league Batman is. Dracula is, for all intents and purposes, superpowered. A foe more befitting a hero with superpowers, like Superman or the Green Lantern. And so Batman has to rely on his brain, and his ability to outwit Dracula. And boy is it fun.

And so there you have it. The Batman Versus Dracula. It's not a perfect movie... But c'mon, it's BATMAN. VERSUS. DRACULA. It may not be the best movie in the world, but it is FREAKING AWESOME. It's just a LOT of FUN! It's not quite as good as say, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, or Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, and it's certainly not in the same league with The Dark Knight, but any Batman fan who sees this movie will not regret it. You will get to see Batman fight Dracula. And it will be awesome. Really, really awesome.

Defending The Dark Knight

*Warning, the following contains major majors spoilers for "The Dark Knight". Do not read this post unless you have seen the movie. Also, several of the sites and or videos I link to may contain harsh language. Be advised.*

Guess what? I like Batman. A lot. I've said this before, but what I'm not sure if I've said is the fact that The Dark Knight is my all-time favorite movie. That's right, The Dark Knight, is my favorite movie. Ever.

Now, I suppose many of you find it odd that the blog post is titled "Defending The Dark Knight" when the film was both a critical, and box office success, which is like saying that World War II was a minor scuffle. The movie made a billion dollars. That is a metric crapton of money. The film has a 93% rating on IMDB, and a 96% rating from the users of the site. The film is one of the biggest film success stories ever.

So why would the film need defending? Because, some people have criticized the film, pointing at a few supposed weak points, and claiming that the film is an overrated disaster because of it. Well y'know what, no. I am going to tell you exactly why this is my favorite film of all time and why most (though not necessarily all) of these criticisms are invalid. Why? Because I can darn it. I will do this by justifying and explaining my opinion to the most important elements, and common criticisms of the film.



1. The Plot
This is the biggest one, so let's get it right off the bat. (No pun intended.)

Some people have claimed that the plot is non coherent, and has major plot holes in it. Many people have said that while the dark tone is good, the writers left a few ridiculous plot holes in it. The most pointed to plot holes are conveniently given in song form in the following video.

*Caution, some harsh language*


Sigh.... Alright, let me start by saying I love this video. I really do think this video is a quite funny. But, I also think it completely misses the point of the ENTIRE FILM.


"And The Joker pulls crimes in such an orderly manner, he must write it down in an evil day planner. His henchmen are Psycho and expendable, and yet they're completely dependable."
This is the complaint I hear the very most about the movie. The Joker's plot. By all rights, in order for the plot to work right, he would have to had known how EVERYTHING would unfold from the start, a feat that would require nothing short of clairvoyance.

Now, I honestly would agree with this, and this would take away from my absolute love of this movie if it wasn't for ONE FACT. One line. You can find it in this clip (0:51). It's the one line that ties the entire film together. "Do I look like a guy with a plan?"

The Joker's "plot" seems disjointed, as if he couldn't possibly have been plotting it the whole time, because he WASN'T. He was playing it by ear. He was improvising.

The most plan he ever had, was for one step at a time. He had a plan for the bank robbery. Once he robbed the bank, he decided to go tell the mob he was going to kill Batman. And from that point on, he played it by ear. One. Step. At a time. His plan wasn't to corrupt Harvey from the beginning. His "plan" really was to just kidnap the both of them. He kidnapped Rachel and Harvey, rigged them both up, and decided to see what happened. And guess what? Harvey lived.

So he took advantage of that.

Then he saw what happened.

The Joker is an agent of anarchy. People are completely missing the point of the character to criticize his plot for being too random.


"And why is Morgan Freeman all ****ed at me? He seemed to resign kinda randomly. It's OK to build me an armored tank car, but OH tapping phones, that's going too far."

The difference between building an "armored tank car" as they put it in the song and the Bat-Vision that he uses at the end of the film is an invasion of privacy. The difference between building someone a large powerful vehicle, and a machine that can literally allow you to see everything everywhere is BIG. The Bat-Vision was an invasion of privacy. Morgan Freeman's character, Lucius was disgusted by the fact that Batman would, in his opinion, finally cross the line he's been treading on so closely for so long.

"And what about Ms. Dawes? It's like you forgot her!"
I don't get this, I felt they showed Bruce's mourning of Rachel very well, and kept the relationship really well done for the entire film.


"How does Harvey Dent do a total 180? Well he barbecued his face, and he lost his lady."
This one actually answers itself, but I want to elaborate on this. The point of the way Harvey changed into Two-Face is because it shows that The Joker has won. After everything they tried to do, The Joker was still the winner. The Joker just wanted to show that his philosophy was true. The Jokers philosophy is that one bad day is enough to turn the best men among us into psychopaths like him. That's the point of his "ahead of the curb" line in the interrogation scene. That's the point of turning Harvey. By turning Harvey he proved that Harvey Dent, Gotham's White Knight, who's entire campaign for the DA position was "I believe in Harvey Dent", could be turned just as crazy as himself, after just one bad day.


"And how did you have time to rig up both of those boats?"
The Joker has hundreds of Henchmen, and it's implied that most of the cops in the city are under his payroll. Somehow finding time to put some barrels on a boat doesn't seem so impossible to me.

"Like why the **** did I agree to take the rap, Harvey Dent killed those people, who gives a crap?!"

This is the biggest one. Why would Batman take the blame for all the murders Harvey Dent committed? Simple. Remember how I said The Joker won? They couldn't let the city believe that. Harvey was more than just a public figure, he was seen as Gotham's LAST HOPE that good men still existed in Gotham. Also, remember the line about how all those mobsters wouldn't be convicted any more if Harvey crossed a line? Well, I'd say multiple homicide crossed a few lines, wouldn't you?

So I've defended the films plot. So what makes the film my personal favorite movie?

2. Heath Ledger's The Joker
The Joker in this movie, played by the late Heath Ledger, is one of the best performances ever captured on the screen. Heath Ledger gave life to this character unlike anything ever seen. Now don't get me wrong, I love other incarnations of The Joker character, and in fact, Mark Hamil is in my opinion the definitive Joker (his voice acting is incredible in every instance he's done the character.) but Ledgers version of the character is completely DIFFERENT from any other.



It's dark, it's creepy, it's just... So good. In fact, a lot of people say the reason for Ledger's tragic death was partly because of this performance.

He took the character and made it his own. This version of The Joker just stole the screen, in a way that is rare for a character to do. The Joker is already such a great villain, and Ledger both completely changed him, and kept him true to his roots. Part of this is in the way his backstory is explained multiple times, in conflicting ways. Part of it is just the insanity of Ledger's performance. Part of it is from that magic trick. Thankfully he did get best actor for this performance, despite the film getting snubbed even so much as a best picture nomination it most certainly deserved. Either Way, Ledger's Joker is one of the main reasons this film is so great.


3. Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent



It's almost a shame Ledger was so good, because he completely overshadows a fantastic performance by Aaron Eckhart, an actor I had not heard of before The Dark Knight. Eckhart's performance as Harvey Dent, the DA of Gotham was not only perfect for the character (in my mind, he owns this role now) but he tied the plot together perfectly. Some people have complained that Two-Face was only in the movie briefly, but that was partly the point. Two-Face wasn't the villain of the movie, Dent was one of the heroes. And to see him changed into a villain over the course of the film was great. I loved the line in the beginning about either dying a hero, or living long enough to see yourself become the villain. It was a really good line.

Plus you could really feel his pain when Rachel dies, and totally understand why he became Two-Face. I loved his performance in the film, and I really think he could have been strong enough to carry the movie if it had focused on just him instead of Ledger's Joker as well.

4. Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne

Note that I say his "Bruce Wayne" and not his "Batman". This is because while he was a FANTASTIC Bruce Wayne, he was only an adequate Batman. I mean, he wasn't BAD as Batman, although he did go a tad overboard on the rasping, but man, he blew Bruce Wayne out of the park in my opinion. Honestly, if he hadn't been as good a Bruce Wayne I would've disliked the casting, but as it is, he's a great Bruce Wayne, and an... Ok, Batman.

5. The Setting

The Dark, edgy setting of the film really helps knock this movie out of the park, and make it my personal favorite. It was mostly shot in Chicago, and man, the city looks amazing. You can just see the dark crime side seeping out of every facet of the city. Even the jails manage to look corrupt and evil.



Overall, because of these reasons, and just because of some really strong writing, and directing, I consider The Dark Knight to be my personal favorite film. Why? Because it's freakin' awesome. That's why.

Graphic Novel Review: The Long Halloween

I've covered my love of Batman before. More than once. So, it may shock people when I say I've never read the comics. Like, at all.

Well, I haven't I love Batman, but I've never read the comics. I've just never really been able to get into comics. Something about the format doesn't appeal to me as much as it does to a lot of other people, only getting one chapter of the story a month, I dunno, I've never been able to get into them. Perhaps I will some day, perhaps not.

The other day however, I purchased a used copy of "The Long Halloween" graphic novel, from a nearby bookstore. And the graphic novel format appeals to me a LOT more than the comic format.

For those who don't know, a graphic novel is basically just a collection of a complete series in one tome when a series has run it's course. "The Long Halloween" for example was a 13-part storyline that ran in 1997.

The comic begins with some quick plot exposition. Carmine "The Roman" Falcone (A name that may sound familiar to fans of The Dark Knight, who haven't read the comics, such as myself.) is a mobster who essentially controls Gotham. His "Roman Empire" rules the city with fear, and an iron fist. Much to the dismay of three of the only good men left in Gotham, Jim Gordon who is one of the last good cops in Gotham, Harvey Dent the Gotham District Attorney, and of course, Batman. And so the three make a pact to take down Falcone. Gordon makes sure to tell the two others that they "Can bend the rules, but [they] can't break them."

This pact is put to the test, when a criminal nicknamed "holiday" begins picking off Falcone's men one at a time, each murder on a holiday. What follows is an exciting murder mystery that will not only keep you guessing, but features a large portion of Batman's rogue's gallery. The Joker, Poison Ivy, Solomon Grundy and many more are all featured in the story arc spanning over a year.

This murder mystery itself is interesting, and all of the characters involved in the mystery are fleshed out in a way that gives almost every character in the comic motive, and the murders themselves are shown in a way that you never know who it is until the very end.

The art is gorgeous, the characters all feel very much like themselves, and... Well... It's Batman!

The only shortcomings are that with as many of the villains as are featured, a few of them feel a bit wedged in, as though they were just trying to get the villain into the arc somehow, when it really would have been better without them in it. Particularly Poison Ivy. She appears for all of 5 or 10 pages before disappearing into obscurity. However, this is a minor complaint, as a lot of the villains were given their due, while still focusing on the Holiday murder plot line.

And the Holiday murder plot line is extremely well done. It not only kept me unsure of who Holiday was until the very end, but even at the very end it surprised me. More than once, actually. There was one detail I was a bit sketchy on, which I can't mention without giving away a MAJOR plot point, but overall it was still an extremely well done plot line.

Overall, The Long Halloween is a great graphic novel that's most definitely worth your time.

Da Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na BATMAN

I know this will shock a lot of people, but I like Batman. A lot. Batman is my favorite superhero, and is pretty darn awesome.

But most people don't understand Batman. I'm not talking about in context of the comics/movies/whatever, I'm talking about real people don't understand what's so great about Batman. Most people see Batman and see a superhero in a bat suit beating guys faces in. But believe it or not, the character of Batman is rather deep, and some interesting parallels are raised by his enemies, Joker, Riddler, Bane, Scarecrow, even lesser known ones.

Of course everyone knows the story of Batman. There's quite a few different tellings of exactly what happened, but the basic story is always the same:

A young Bruce Wayne is at the theater with his parents. As they leave, a man mugs them, and his parents are killed. Sure, we can get caught up in semantics here, in some versions Bruce made them leave the theater early, Bruce was angry at his parents, the man who shot them turned out to be The Joker later on, but really, that's the basics of it.

After his parents are killed he is raised by his butler, Alfred (former spy). Eventually, when he was grown, he used his parents fortune to build gadgets and gizmos, and physically trained himself to become Batman. It's a simple enough story... Right?

Well, no. There's actually a lot more to it than that. You see, Batman isn't like a lot of superheros. Let's use Spider-Man as an example:

Peter Parker puts on his mask and is Spider-Man. Spider-Man is Peter Parker, and Peter Parker is Spider-Man. All Spider-Man is, is Peter Parker with a mask on. Same person, in disguise.

Batman and Bruce Wayne aren't the same person though. You see, Batman has multiple personalities disorder. In fact, like many of his villains, he's not exactly mentally stable. Bruce Wayne is a millionaire playboy. But when he puts on his mask he become someone else entirely, he becomes Batman. He's crazy, but his craziness saves lives, and protects Gotham. Which is why they put up with Batman.



And then you have The Joker. Now, The Joker is the polar opposite of this. The Joker is crazy, but also evil. The Joker's origins change around depending on the version, in some he fell into a vat of chemicals, in some he wears makeup. One thing is for sure: He finds murder really funny. He's a clown. A psychopathic clown. Now, I'm going to use Mark Hamil's interpretation of The Joker in B:AA and B:TAS more than Heath Ledgers in TDK for the purposes of comparisons here. In my opinion, Heath Ledgers and Mark Hamil's versions are equally awesome, just different.



Joker may be crazy, but he's not stupid. Let me use Batman: Arkham Asylum as an example here: In that game, The Joker has a plan, which, by enacting it, generates a backup plan, and he's also got a third, fake, cover up plan. I'm not going to spoil it, since that's really one of the best games of all time, and everyone should play it, but The Joker is not stupid. He's insane, but not stupid. There's a moment in Batman: Arkham Asylum where Batman has a clear shot at Joker, and could end things once and for all. Joker looks at him, and tells him to end it once and for all... But he knows Batman can't. Batman won't kill. That's all that separates him from his enemies.

And who can forget Joker's and Batman's exchange at the end of The Dark Knight?


*Spoilers*

"This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren't you? You won't kill me, out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness... And I won't kill you because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever."
"You'll be in a padded cell forever."
"Maybe we can share one?"

The Joker and Batman are two sides of the same coin. They're both crazy, one is just crazy for justice, the other for chaos.

I don't really know what to say.

So here's Pee-Wee Herman being VERY SERIOUS.



So um... Uh...

Hey, here's some random funny pictures:

I'm The Gosh Darned Batman

Batman: Arkham Asylum, great game, or greatest game? Well I don't know about greatest, but it's probably in my top ten. They nailed almost everything in that game, and the few complaints I had, (Terrible boss fights, being the biggest one) paled in comparison to how good the game is.

I had mile-high expectations for this game, and I was still blown away. Not only is the gameplay good, this is one of the few games to nail multiple aspects right (Beat-em-up, stealth, detective work...) but the atmosphere was really solid, and they redesigned many characters, to really make the game unlike any other form of Batman we've seen. It's still Batman, but they really made it their own, and I'm glad they didn't try to make "The Dark Knight: The Video Game" because that would have sucked.

And let me just say this: The Joker in B:AA, is as good, if not better, than Heath Ledgers. Say what you will about Luke Skywalker being the performance of a life-time (a rant for another day.) Mark Hamil gave the performance of a lifetime as The Joker in both TAS, and this. He's a different Joker, but an amazingly good Joker.

Not only that, but his plot was surprisingly good. Without getting too spoilery: He has a Plot, disguised by a cover-plot, and a backup-plot in case the plot, and cover-plot fail. That's 3 layers of plots.

So, in short, B:AA, is amazing. If you haven't played it yet, do.