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25th April 2024

Batman

Detective Comics #935 (review)

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Detective Comics #935 (review)
(DC Comics, August 2016)
Writer: James Tynion IV

This story follows the classic bridge format of serialised superhero comic books: a pillar of action at both ends, supporting a broad span of melodrama. It stars DC Comics’ major character property, Batman, and over half-a-dozen ancillary characters: Red Robin, Spoiler, Orphan, Azrael, Batwoman and her father Colonel Kane, a young Clayface, and Batman’s loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth. Missing are the other significant associates: Nightwing, Robin, Red Hood, Man-Bat, and Batgirl, no doubt caught up in their own or other titles.

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The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade (REVIEW)

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The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade
DC Comics, June 15, 2016
Writers: Brian Azzarello, Frank Miller

In February of 2016, American publisher DC Comics published “Dark Knight Returns III: The Master Race”, which is the third part of Frank Miller’s iconic The Dark Knight Returns franchise. This series of titles portray a future version of the character Batman, in his twilight, weakened by old age, aware of his own mortality, yet unable to turn a blind eye as his world descends into chaos.

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Nighthawk #1 (Review)

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Nighthawk #1
(Marvel Comics, May 2016)
Writer: David F. Walker

As discussed in World Comic Book Review’s previous essay on homages to famous DC Comics’ character Batman, the other major American comic book publisher Marvel Comics has never hidden the fact that its character property called “Nighthawk” is intended to be a Batman analogue. The two characters have a similar backstory; each are depicted as being members of a group of substantially identical superheroes; and each character is described as deploying a similar Dracula-esque modus operandi of dressing up as a nocturnal creature and fighting street-level criminals at night.

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Justice League #50: The Broken Springboard

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Justice League #50 (review)
(DC Comics, May 2016)
Writer: Geoff Johns

As the fiftieth issue of this title, American publisher DC Comics have published an extra long issue, concluding an ongoing story line entitled “The Darkseid War”.

The Justice League are a collection of DC Comics’ principal character assets, teamed-up and pitted against various threats in what is now many decades of stories. For reasons not explained in the issue but which have apparently unfolded in earlier issues of Justice League, some of the Justice League’s members are imbued with the powers of the New Gods. The New Gods were a concept created for DC Comics by legendary American comics writer Jack Kirby in 1971. The characters comprising the New Gods each have a separate and distinctive set of superpowers.

In this single issue, the superheroes face a panoply of threats:

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