Review: Detective Comics #866

DETECTIVE COMICS #866
Written by Dennis O'Neil; art by Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs.

Here's a perfect example of how certain comic book fans let their obsession with continuity ruin their enjoyment of the medium they supposedly love. (This is a topic I've been wanting to write about for some time, and I will elaborate on it in a later post.)

There's nothing wrong with Detective Comics #866. It's written by Dennis O'Neil, who knows a thing or two about how to write Batman comics, and it's drawn by Dustin Nguyen, who's one of the best artists currently working at DC. Both do an excellent job with this simple, enjoyable, unpretentious story.

So what's everybody complaining about?

Continuity.

Because, you know, Dick Grayson didn't actually nail the Joker on one of his first nights out at Robin, and Batman didn't encounter the Order of St. Dumas until much later in his career, and according to Dark Victory, Harvey Dent was no longer District Attorney by the time Dick Grayson became Robin.

My answer to all of these complaints is simple: Shut the fuck up! Seriously. Stop being a continuity geek for five minutes and try enjoying the story that you are reading for what it is – i.e., one of many possible interpretations of these characters, which fits into a rich history of multi-layered and sometimes contradictory interpretations. Turn off the ridiculous instinct that compels you to make 70 years of storytelling by hundreds of different storytellers fit into a neat, linear timeline in which everything makes perfect sense. You might actually enjoy a comic book or two that way.

I love reading new stories by veteran writers like Dennis O'Neil or Paul Levitz. Their old-fashioned approach to comic book storytelling makes them stand out in this contemporary context, but I like that they're not trying to completely reinvent their styles to fit current trends. O'Neil's third-person narration at the beginning of this issue doesn't sound dated – it just sounds classic.

It's a weird coincidence that there were two stories featuring Dick Grayson in an early Robin adventure last week. The other one, unexpectedly, was in Superman #700. I always enjoy these stories for the little details. In Superman, there was a moment where Dick apparently calls Alfred "Alfie" for the first time. Here, we see him still adjusting to the idea of calling Bruce "Batman" while they're in the field.

But what makes this comic book such a gem is Dustin Nguyen's amazing layouts (with finishes by Derek Fridolfs). He uses two completely different styles for the different time periods in which the story is set, with the flashbacks in a somewhat more cartoony style reminiscent of Batman: The Animated Series. Colourist David Baron emphasizes this difference by giving the flashback scenes a more faded palette and adding effects that make the pages look like an old, worn comic, with creases and colour dots.

Batman #700 tried really hard to tell a story that spanned several different eras of Batman's history with different art styles for each period. The story came across as a big mess and the art felt rushed and poorly patched together. Without any fanfare, Detective Comics #866 achieves all that and makes it seem effortless. And you don't even have to pay an extra dollar for a bullshit pinup gallery in order to read it. Big win.

Review: The Spirit #1

THE SPIRIT #1
Written by Mark Schultz; art by Moritat / Co-feature written by Dennis O'Neil, art by Bill Sienkiewicz

(This review contains spoilers.)

It's always a bit baffling when you're immediate reaction to a work is mostly negative, but then you find out that the overwhelming majority of reviews were positive. This is what happened to me with the first issue of The Spirit. I came away from my first reading thinking it was poorly written and already considering dropping it from my pull list. Then over the next couple of days, I saw plenty of reviews online praising the book. Newsarama even called it "the best-written, best-drawn and best-packaged book out in the market this week." After a second read, my opinion of the book did improve, but I still have mixed feelings about it.

I was looking forward to this book for three reasons. First, although I've never read Will Eisner's celebrated original run on the title he created, I know it by reputation and was curious to see how DC would breathe new life into this character. Second, this book spins out of the First Wave mini-series and takes place in this alternate "pulp" universe, which sounds like a lot of fun and nice break from the continuity-heavy mainstream DC universe. And finally, there's the amazing cover by Ladrönn, which is dynamic and has an old-school Indiana-Jones-meets-Dick-Tracy kinda feel.

If only the issue had featured anything as exciting as the scene depicted on the cover. I know it's a long-standing tradition for comic book covers to feature scenes that are not even in the book, but I felt a bit cheated by this one, considering nothing comes even remotely close to it. I'm assuming the woman holding on for her life with The Spirit on the cover is Ellen, the police chief's daughter. She appears in four consecutive panels in the book, where she has an argument with her father in his office – that's it.

But let's forget about the cover and concentrate on what we do get in the book. The opening pages are by far the strongest, from the opening splash page that embeds the title into the shape of the buildings (a tradition apparently carried on from Will Eisner's classic series), to the brief but stylishly laid-out fight on page 3 (where the title is again embedded into the art, this time in the shape of the panels themselves), to the classic full reveal of our protagonist as he walks away from an explosion on page 4. It sets up place, character and mood remarkably well in a relatively short amount of space.

Unfortunately, the book doesn't keep up this pace. The next several pages deal with The Spirit collecting information throughout the day, first disguising himself as an old geezer and collecting notes from singing street urchins, and then paying a visit to police headquarters, where he eavesdrops on the aforementioned argument between Ellen and her dad, Dolan. The Spirit then goes for a walk with Dolan and they end up at a diner, where Spirit eats a hotdog (shown below in what is without a doubt the ugliest panel of the entire book - how does he talk with his mouth full like that?). The problem with this section is that although it's meant to establish the relationships our protagonist and his supporting cast, we learn almost nothing about any of these people. The conversation with Dolan goes on for three pages, but all we get are clichés about corruption and a rehash of things we already know. The art also starts to suffer at this point. Moritat's depictions of the cityscape are very good, but he sometimes seems to be struggling with the characters, especially their facial expressions and hands.



In the second half of the story, the crime families meet and express their frustrations with the Spirit. They've been trying to get rid of him for two years, so they've decided to hire a European assassin called Angel Smerti. No one seems to have met this guy, but they've all heard stories about how ruthless and deadly he is. This buildup takes us to the last scene, in which a hot woman arrives at the airport and convinces the customs officer that he neither needs to look at her passport nor check her luggage, simply by flashing her boobs at him and promising to make him "a very happy fellow." I guess this is supposed to be a convention of the pulp genre, but you could also simply call it a tired cliché. It's also extremely implausible and mildly offensive. And in case the readers haven't guessed it by now, the last page confirms it: Angel Smerti has arrived in Central City.

It's not a terrible issue, but it's not great either. Writer Mark Schultz has just two more issues before his run ends. Hard to say at this point whether that means the book is going to get better or worse, but a change of staff this early on certainly does not bode well for the longevity of the title. I've committed to buying the first few issues, so I'm going to keep reading until this first arc wraps up, but seeing as there are so many other titles I'm looking forward to this summer, I'm probably going to jump off after issue #3.

Bill Sienkiewicz's black and white art for the backup story is stylish and kinetic, and probably the best thing about the issue. Unfortunately, Denny O'Neil's writing doesn't live up to it. The story is a simple one, but that's not where the problem lies. It's the dialogue that is really cringe-inducing. Said during a gunfight: "The mask! Now I got him. Wotta target! Missed! I'll hit him next time, though!" Ugh.