I spend some time today poking around girl-wonder.
I stopped reading the Bat books (except for the good-girl art books, Catwoman and Birds of Prey, because I suck) around the time Norm Breyfogle left. So I missed Azrael and the various event series that have involved things like plagues and earthquakes and gang wars and whatnot. I was, of course, aggressively contemptuous of anything named "Blüdhaven". I have very little idea what's been going on with the supporting characters.
It certainly sounds like, for the past few years, the Bat-books have been stupid, occasionally crossing over to flat-out offensive. Girl-wonder's particular bête noire is the death of Stephanie Brown, but nothing else sounds good, either: The sudden appearance of a teenage girl who's one of the best martial artists in the world, the rebirth of Jason Todd, Leslie Tompkins' unconscionable and out-of-character refusal to treat Robin (or any patient) resulting in death....
Is there anything in the Bat-books that has been actually good, that should make me want to read them?
Gotham Central and Brubaker's Catwoman are really all I could recommend. I am mildly interested in the James Robinson and David Lapham stories that came out recently, but not enough to actually have ordered the collections. I am very interested in Grant Morrison and Paul Dini's upcoming runs.
I have no comment on the Batbooks except for this: when they named "Blüdhaven," I assume they were going for a name that would be pronounced "Bloodhaven." But doesn't the umlaut mean that the name of the city is actually "Blewdhaven?" Not exactly the imposing, scary place they wanted it to be, is it?
ü is a high front rounded vowel that doesn't exist in English. Basically, say "eeee" but purse your lips like the "oo" in "cool". To English ears, it's probably going to sound close to "oo".
I tend to pronounce it as BlUdhaven, with U pronounced like "oo" in "book", but I'm mostly making fun of it.
I am reasonably certain that the name makes little linguistic sense. In German, it'd be "Blüthaben"; in Dutch, it'd be (I think) "Blödhaven". Regardless, nobody names cities with the word "blood".
But it's an evil city! Surely the founders must have known that when they named it.
Originally it was going to be "Daisy Town," but the city fathers thought, "Geez, we don't want the sophisticates in Gotham to think we're a bunch of wimps! Let's come up with something that sounds a little tough instead..." Unfortunately for them, the only person who had any other ideas was a hack writer of "comic engravings" (somewhat popular at the time), and the rest is history.
lol! It actually wouldn't surprise me if that were indeed the case.
Okay, now I've got this mental image in my head: Picture if you will three vampires in a shadowy basement in Olde Gotham Towne...
VAMP 1: Man, this city is too corrupt even for us! And now that the vampire hunters are on our trail, we gotta find a new place to haunt!
VAMP 2: You know, we should found our own city, secretly control it from the shadows, make it a safe haven for vampires in the New World.
VAMP 3: That's a great idea! What should we call it?
VAMP 2: How about "Daisy Town?"
VAMP 1: Daisy Town? Are you kidding me?
VAMP 2: Seriously, we should name it something happy and non-menacing, so no one will suspect--
VAMP 3: Dude, I did NOT become a vampire so I could live in "Daisy Town!"
VAMP 2: But--
VAMP 1: We should name it something cool, like... like... Blood Haven!
VAMP 2: Uh, guys, you can't do that! "Blood?" Everyone will know vampires live there!
VAMP 1: So we give it a funky spelling -- like, you know, "Blüdhaven," with a "u" and an umlaut.
VAMP 3: What's an umlaut?
VAMP 1: You know, the two little dots over the letter.
VAMP 3: Ohhhh! Right on! Umlauts kick ass! In the future, lots of metal bands will use umlauts in their names -- and we all know that future vampires love speed metal!
VAMP 1: Rock on!
VAMP 2: I like folk guitar music.
VAMP 3: Are you really a vampire? Are you sure you're not just gay?
VAMP 1: Dude, don't you read Anne Rice? We're all bisexual.
VAMP 3: Oh. Really?
VAMP 2: God, you guys are morons. I shoulda signed up with the werewolves...
VAMP 1: Speaking of werewolves, did you hear about the city they're founding outside of Metropolis Towne? Clawhaven!
VAMP 3: Clawhaven -- sweet! Does it have an umlaut?
VAMP 1: No, proving once again that vampires are way cooler than werewolves!
VAMP 3: Tha's right, beeyatch! Blüdhaven rocks! Now let's go shopping for some new black leather trenchcoats.
VAMP 1: Right on!
VAMP 2: *sigh!* Someone please just slay me now...
Sounds like the founders of Bludhaven were also the ancestors of The Monarch's henchmen #21 and #24.
The man who created Bludhaven was Chuck Dixon, sponsored by Denny O'Neil.
I don't think further explanation is needed, really...
All the batbooks have been terrible until *NOW*, orher than the Engelhart - Rogers - Austin mini last year.
But the issue of Detective that came out today is everything anyone could want in a Batman book. Self-contained well written detective story that actually involves some detective work, written by Paul Dini, and JH Williams III on art. And Morrison's run will be good, judging from the previews.
Forget the last ten years' worth of depressingness, start buying from today.
All comments regarding cities named after bodily fluids aside, I will say that I am looking forward to what Mr. Dini will do with the Batverse.
I have not been impressed with Mr. Morrison's take on Batman in the past; however, his recent work with Seven Soldiers and All-Star Superman piques my interest.
ISTR Bludhaven was founded by a guy named Blud or summat, potentially explaining the linguistic mangulation. The Wikipedia entry says it started as a whaling town, but has nothing about the nomenclature.
Morrison's Batman is now, in Morrison's own words, a 'hairy chested love god' rather than the Arkham Asylum version.
I would pay cash money for any comic in which a grim, obsessive Batman fights crime in Daisy Town.
I haven't read many Batman regular comics in a long time, but I did read and like some of the specials (the last Arkham Asylum mini).
I also happened to read the Bruce Wayne Murderer and Fugitive series in TPB format, and while not great, it was at least moderately entertaining.
I avoided the "Batman at the end of time" looking series when Gotham collapsed into ruin for a year. Oddly enough, I thought, "How silly is this? A city collapses into ruin and is essentially destroyed by nature. People are told to flee and those that are left are basically abandoned by the country around them and their government. How possible is THAT??" I thought it was too stupid to believe. Then Katrina hit and essentially I expect there to be a Nawlins version of the Bat winging around trying to keep order in a city that has been all but abandoned. Hmmm... Anyway, was it any good? Worth reading any of the trades? Or just give up and enjoy Dini and Morrison (as I plan to do).
No Man's Land, for the first half at least, was quite good- the Bob Gale Batman stories are pretty awesome, for one. Greg Rucka's stories remind me of a time when I didn't want to punch him in the face repeatedly.
But somewhere along the line things start spinning out of control- was it REALLY a good idea to introduce Harley Quinn into the Bat-mythos in the middle of this? And the ending, where Joker plugs Sarah Essen, is just too grim for its own good, for something that's been dark for so long. Of course, that leads to yet another "You can't kill the Joker!" scene.
Fuck that. Kill the Joker. KILL KILL KILL KILL.
Now that Mr. Dini's first Detective story is out, what did you guys think of it?
Excerpt from my blog re: 'Tec 821 (because it's easier than typing it twice):
This is mainly for you comics readers out there, but really it's a recommendation for anyone interested. But you comics fans have probably experienced--especially in recent years--a few trends in superhero comics. I'm speaking of a new writer hopping on a title and it being heralded as a "bold new direction!" for the character, and it's intimated that this will be the Best Story Ever!! Now, this is exciting at first, but said stories often wind up disappointing for many readers.
All of this is by way of preamble to talking about the new issue of Detective Comics (issue #821), just out yesterday, the first issue written by Paul Dini, who's probably best known to comics fans for being the show runner of the '90s Batman animated series, as well as a writer on pretty much every great animated series over the past, oh, 15-20 years, stretching back to "Tiny Toons" at least. Non-fans would probably know him best as the story editor of the first season of "Lost." (Which, yes, I have yet to see. Yes, Strahd, I know I've had your box set for 3 weeks now....) He's also written some fun comics over the years, but this is his first time (I believe) as the regular writer of a mainstream title. In other words, his run is much-anticipated by fans and, bucking the trend, he's not interested in any new direction, going back to a rather old one. He's not writing the Best Batman Story Ever. No, Dini's revolutionary idea is to write good, solid Batman stories that are done in one issue and pack a whole lot of story into the pages. His Batman is a thinker, once again, doing detective work (shock of shocks) and solving the crime, as well as....uh...punching people. His Batman interacts with people around him, even on an occasional friendly basis. Dini has said he thinks of this as being like his B:tas series--tell a good story, finish it in one episode, give it ties to continuity, but make sure everyone can read and understand it. The fact that this is so revolutionary is a bit depressing to me.
Basically, what I'm saying is that if you've liked pretty much any version of Batman, you should pick up an issue of Detective, #821 or any issue after that, since they're all telling self-contained stories. Not the Best Stories Ever!!! but really good, solid, enjoyable work.
If Mike wrote the comics, pt. 327:
Bludhaven was originally Columbus. They sold the naming rights in a fiscal crisis five years before the comic book opens. The other potential names were "Enron" and "3 Com," so just be happy wioth "Bludhaven." (I'm happy with US Cellular," myself, because as long as the stadium was named after that rat bastard Comiskey, we weren't going to win a goddam thing. We appeased the baseball gods and...)
I agree with Jonathan's review completely. It is so nice to read a comic, put it down and have read a complete story without waiting for the next 10 issues, 3 crossovers or other such mess. I appreciate the work done on those types of larger stories but Jonathan's right, it is revolutionary in the fact that it is taking us back to a simpler way to to write a continuing comic.
I will add that I enjoyed William's artwork which is detailed but not too busy. The colors are still muted (it IS Batman, after all) but not dreary. It was fun to see the Bat make fun of the "usual suspects" in his discussing who the possible culprits might be. It will be interesting to see if he can keep this up and engaging AND hopefully build an audience (new audience).
My hope is that Busiek does this well with Superman (another book I haven't really enjoyed...well, ever). Supes is hard to write for but I have enjoyed his handling of larger-than-life icons with his own Astro-City "Superman" charater as well as the larger-than-life Conan books. This could be the fresh take that makes me want to buy it.
Good stuff. I would agree it isn't the "coolest" Bat Story ever told but it is certainly a good read and a great start.