Reviews: Batman & Son and Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul

I like Grant Morrison.

At least, I thought I did.

I liked Arkham Asylum as well as anybody else. And I enjoyed his run on Justice League right from the start.

But reading the books leading up to Batman: R.I.P., I can't help but wonder if I don't like him as much as I thought I did.

Take these two storylines.

The main plots of Batman and Son and Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghulare simply ridiculous. There's nothing to them at all.

In the first one, it turns Batman has a kid, and he's a more annoying version of Jason Todd. In the second one, Ra's Al Ghul comes back from the dead.

The first idea is a real stinker. Batman fans have already proven they're willing to pay money to kill off annoying kid characters. The second idea simply drags out something everyone knew would happen anyway--in a medium filled with characters coming back from the dead, Ra's is pretty much defined by coming back from the dead over and over. It's certainly not compelling enough to warrant its own book.

But that's not to say these books are entirely without value. There's a great subplot about Batman being attacked by alternate versions of himself. The subplot and the mystery surrounding it is far more compelling than anything in the main story.

And in the Ra's book, the interesting subplot isn't about Batman, Talia, or their little tyke--the most compelling conflict is the one involving Tim Drake and his parents. In order to win Tim's trust, Ra's offers to bring Robin's parents back from the dead.

There are some legitimate questions in the subsequent moral conundrum Tim has with himself and Nightwing as he debates why, in a world like the DCU, where people like Ra's can come back from the dead, where zombies and Dead Man and other heroes and villains run wild, why not bring his parents back?

Of course, that conflict takes place in the part of the crossover that wasn't written by Morrison. So what does that mean?

It doesn't mean I've given up on Morrison completely--he did write the great Batman-confronted-by-alternate-Batmans stuff that runs through these books, so I've got hope for the guy. And I've got hope for Batman: RIP, which I haven't read an issue of yet.

And I didn't hate it for the reasons I thought I would. I thought I'd hate it for the same reasons I hated Superman Returns--the idea of super-hero orphans going around having kids they don't know about is not only silly, but untrue to the characters.

But the history of this one is basically that the old graphic novel Batman: Son of the Demon really took place, and Batman had the kid during a drug-induced farce of a wedding to Talia, the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul.

So I've still got hope that Batman: RIP will be worth reading.

The G.I.Joe movie, on the other hand, I've just about given up on.

New Watchmen Trailer

What's going on with the old Marvel GI Joe comics?

So you may have been wondering what's going on with all the G.I.Joe comics. Why are old volumes so hard to get? Why does the property change hands so much? And where can I get a hold of them?

Well, the answer is Hasbro. Hasbro keeps a pretty tight reign over the G.I.Joe comics franchise, and they have a tendency to change companies. And under the terms of their contracts, publication rights transfer back to Hasbro when they pull the comic liscence. So the reason Marvel's old trade paperbacks of the Marvel comics are out of print is because Marvel simply doesn't own the rights to those comics any more.

But here's the good news. Hasbro is trying to get those books back into print with the new publisher, IDW.

The first G.I.Joe trade paperback, collecting issues 1-10, will be coming out in January.

In April, they're going to be releasing a special hardcover of G.I. Joe: The Best Of Larry Hama. This will include issue 21, the famous "Silent" issue, which featured Snake Eyes trying to rescue Scarlett from Storm Shadow, and was told entirely without dialogue, and issue 85, a follow-up called "SFX," which was told with only the sound effects (like "Whoosh" and "Zip").

Other issues included are 26, the part one of the first Snake Eyes origin story, issue 63, where Snake Eyes and Scarlett rescue Stalker, Snow Job and Quick Kick from a gulag-style prison, and issue 86, the anniversary issue where the Joes meet "Just Another Guy Named Joe."

In the meantime, they're putting out more of the G.I.Joe Comic 2 Packs--the ones where you get a couple of figures bundled with a classic comic book.

Joker T-Shirts

So you've already stocked up on Punisher T-Shirts and Green Lantern Shirts?

Well, check out these Joker designs if you're looking to sport the Clown Prince of Crime. There are even a couple shirts here of Heath Ledger from the Dark Knight.

Click on any of them to head over to the website and check out the other designs they've got for Batman and Joker.

Teen Titans: A Kid's Game by Geoff Johns

It's no secret I dig Geoff Johns. The man just gets the DC universe. He understands what people like about these characters and this universe, and he touches exactly those notes when he writes.

So when he took over the relaunch of the Teen Titans, it's no suprise to anybody that he started doing stories steeped in the history of the Titans comics, but also staying true to each of the characters that populate the new team.

Naturally, the villian in this one is Deathstroke, but it's Deathstroke as you don't expect. Yeah, I'm not going to say more than that--so I still care about spoilers, so what?

So who's in this version of the team? Playing the "mentor" parts are Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy. At this point in the continuity Donna Troy and Jericho are dead and Dick Grayson is leading the Outsiders. Playing the "Teens" in Teen Titans are Tim Drake as Robin, Conner Kent as Superboy, Cassie Sandsmark as Wonder Girl (she's the blonde one), and Bart Allen as Impulse.

If you read any of Young Justice, you remember that it was a fairly lighthearted look at the Titans. This book isn't like that at all. Not only is the tone serious, but the story depends on you taking what's happening really seriously.

And for me, at least, that isn't hard. Johns gets what I dig about DC as well as anybody, so he plays the characters right.

That's not to say the book's perfect. There's a bit of a scuffle between the Justice League and the Titans that seems more like it was worked in because it was a cool concept than that it actually grew organically out of the characters.

But the Deathstroke story works great and good foundations are laid for some of the conflicts that come up in some of the later books in the series.

Transformers Animated on Cartoon Network

This may be heresy to those true Transformers fans out there, but I was never a huge fan of the various incarnations of Transformers. Transformers: Cybertron, Beast Wars, Transformers: Billabong, none of them ever really did anything for me. And the new movie--well, let's not talk about the movie.

So I had, well, pretty much zero hope for the new Cartoon Network series Transformers Animated.

If you haven't seen it, the premise is this. Optimus Prime is trying to protect the Allspark from the Decepticons. His efforts end up bringing him and a few other Autobots to Earth, where, unbeknownst to him, Megatron has already been for years, severely incapacitated. Of all the people on Earth--professors, military personnel, scientists, engineers--the Autobots end up teaming up with a kid to help them.

Sound familiar?

And what if I told you that in this one, Optimus Prime is not voiced by Peter Cullen? Do you have any hope left at all?

Well, you should. The series is actually respectable, believe it or not.


Here's where this show and the movie part ways:

In this one, Optimus Prime, rather than being the leader of all the Autobots, is actually a fairly low-level officer in the Autobot army, with a reputation as being an unreliable maverick (think of him as sort of the Autobot Jack Bauer). He tranforms into a fire truck.

There are only a handful of Autobots with him on Earth. There's Ratchet, the grizzled veteran of the Autobot/Decepticon wars who transforms into an ambulance, Prowl, the ninja-esque warrior who transforms into a motorcycle, Bulkhead, the strong-but-dumb behemoth who transforms into a swat truck, and, of course, Bumblee, the comic relief childish one who Transforms into a regular yellow car with a siren on top, so he can fit in with the rescue-and-law-enforcement theme of the other Autobots.


The story takes place in the city of Detroit in the near future, when robots that can do menial jobs are starting to become common. The Autobots befriend the designer of all these robots, Dr. Isaac Sumdac, but don't know the technology came from Megatron, whose head sits in Dr. Sumdac's lab, trying to teach Sumdac Cybertronian technology in the hopes that one day Sumdac can build him a new body.

The kid is Dr. Sumdac's daughter, Sari. To me, the best fix of the show is that they actually found a plausible reason why the Autobots would hang out with her, of all people. See, there's this key that can harness the power of the Allspark, and for some reason when the Allspark first sees Sari, it gives her the key. So the Autobots keep Sari around because the Allspark told them to. It's a kind of faith and curiosity that makes them keep her around--only later do they actually become friends.

Her key fuels a lot of the plots. Rather than give life to anything it touches, like the allspark in the movie does, it gives sentience to already-working robots. Think of it sort of like how kryptonite created the freak-of-the-week in the early days of Smallville. Thus we get such iconic characters as the Dinobots, Soundwave, and Wreck-Gar.

But there's also a bigger story going on here. Not only does the Megatron story progress each week, but many stories feature flashbacks to the lives of the Autobots before they came to Earth, creating a broader mythology for the Autobot history.

That's not to say the show is particularly heavy. The supervising director, Matt Youngberg, worked on Teen Titans, and it shows. The animation style and humor on this show is very similar to that one. Lots of slapstick comedy, lots of jokes about people (and robots) being too dumb to know stuff.


I think my favorite touch is making Blitzwing, the triple changer Decepticon who goes from robot to tank to jet, have multiple personalities. That was brilliant.

So there you go. It's not the Autobots you grew up with, but it's not a dismal failure either. It's a decent show with some good plots and some fun potential. Here's to a long life for it.

Press Confrence With Harvey Dent

A lot of you who've been following the Dark Knight viral campaign probably got this email in your inboxes today:

Harvey Dent is committed to truth and honesty in governing. He is also committed to truth and honesty in campaigning. And the honest truth is that we’ve had a tough week.


Everyone who knows Harvey Dent knows that the vicious smears by a mysterious group calling itself "Concerned Citizens for a Better Gotham" are not true. Harvey Dent is innocent of these charges, and the truth will triumph.


Harvey Dent believes that the movement to take back Gotham is bigger than one person. It’s never been about Harvey Dent. It’s about our hopes for our city. It’s about you.


Harvey Dent has always said that if he becomes a distraction from the bigger issues of the movement to fight crime and corruption, he’ll make the best decision for the movement itself.


We’ve done a lot in the last few months. We’ve shown the city that we will not stop fighting against the dark forces that have Gotham in their grasp. We showed everyone that we do have power. That there is hope for Gotham City.


The I Believe in Harvey Dent campaign will be holding a press conference today at 3:00 pm (EDT). The audio will be streaming live at www.ibelieveinharveydent.com. Whatever Harvey Dent says, I know one thing – I’m proud of him. And I’m proud of all of you.


I still believe in Harvey Dent. Do you?


Allan Cypes
Media Manager, Dent for DA

But, what with it being Sunday, you didn't get the chance to hear what went down.

Well, as you can guess, it wasn't really a press confrence. Instead, it was sort of a little audio play where the press confrence was supposedly interrupted by a gunman, a cop who was suppossedly guilty of killing his former partner.

By the end, Dent traded himself for the gunman's hostage, playing hero.

Whether this has to do with plot that happens in the actual movie or is just backstory for the movie is beyond me. I'm trying hard to stay relatively spoiler free on this one, even though I am really interested in all this viral stuff.

Geoff Johns Hearts DC

If you've ever talked to Geoff Johns, once you get over the insane jealousy that a guy who has your dream job can be so down to earth, friendly, and gosh-darn cool, you've probably heard him wax poetic about his affinity for DC.

So it's no suprise to anybody that Geoff has re-upped his exclusive contract with DC.

But for those of us who share his feelings, there's a cool interview on the matter here.

Cobra Commander is WHO?!?!??

Cobra Commander has been cast.

And it's that guy from 3rd Rock From The Sun. No, not that guy. The kid. Yeah, that kid.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, little Tommy Solomon from 3rd Rock. According to ESI, the little guy will be playing the big bad guy in the new live action movie.

Here's the cast list so far, from their website:

The cast for G.I.Joe includes Ray Parks (Snake-Eyes), Sienna Miller (Baroness) and Rachel Nichols (Scarlett), Said Taghmaoui (Breaker), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Heavy Duty), Marlon Waynes (Ripcord), Channing Tatum (Duke) and Dennis Quiad (Hawk), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Cobra Commander), Arnold Vosloo (Zartan) and Karolína Isela Kurková (Cover Girl).

Who knows how this is going to be at this point.

Larry Hama says he's excited, but he sure isn't acting excited.

When was I talking to Larry?

I wasn't. But IESB was, and they've got video here.

You Want Punisher T-Shirts? We Got Punisher Shirts.

Stylin Online has a ton of Punisher shirts in every possible design, from the Punisher movie logo (a logo that was way cooler than the movie was) to the full logo like it looked in the comics in the 80's. There's even Punisher sweatshirts and a Punisher Club shirt.

Check 'em out.

Get Green Lantern Shirts Online

Yeah, the guy in green is pretty hip. Hal Jordan is back alive, and Geoff Johns writes him as good as anybody.

So you want to sport him on your masculine chest? Here are some shirt designs from Stylin Online, plus a Stylin Online exclusive Green Lantern sweatshirt--a zipper hoodie.