A comiXologist recommends…
BATMAN/ELMER FUDD
Batman/Elmer Fudd #1 is here to make some very funny and beautiful noir comics out of the bumbling and gullible hunter. Disclaimer - NO OFFICIAL CANON CLAIMS HAVE BEEN MADE, but they should. I just think Fudd and the rest of the Looney Tunes (who might be in the book) should be in Gotham all the time. The tracks have been laid and we need only to buy our ticket into a new vibrant world where our most treasured comedy characters stalk the streets at night.Tom King and Lee Weeks bring about the most old-school Batman story this year. Elmer Fudd is an intense as all heck gun for hire who has been sent to take out Bugs “The Bunny,” a sleazy crook who hangs out at Porky’s Bar down the way. After a brilliant opening monologue in Fudd’s trademark Rhotacism up against Bugs’s clever roundabout ploys the hunter goes looking for Bruce Wayne. It isn’t Wabbit Season. It’s Bat Season.
This is some simple fun for everyone who loves Looney Tunes and Batman. Weeks’s art is intense classical Batman noir which always works on me and anybody with eyes. Tom King’s writing is intensely hysterical because it has all the beats of a good Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies short while capturing the crisp, rain drenched sulk of our favorite crime thrillers.
This one issue is one for the ages, and I hope to high heaven it becomes canon.
Most importantly, EVERYONE should try to read Fudd’s dark dialogue out loud and as grim as they can make it.
Matthew Burbridge is a Digital Editor at ComiXology and he thinks you’re super cool.
A comiXologist recommends…
BATMAN #21 by Tom King, Jason Fabok, & Brad Anderson
Holy crap, what an amazing issue! After the unbelievable bombshells that dropped in DCU Rebirth, the new DC Universe stayed in a holding pattern for a bit while the characters settled into their new status quo. Batman #21 brings us back to those electrifying and world-changing storylines. The book starts with an ominous prophecy from a fan favorite legacy character and then leads into the dark mystery surrounding the bloody Watchmen button found at the end of Rebirth. This issue does not fail to deliver on the promises set up in Rebirth. The weight of the revelations are profound and are sure to lay the base for all the upcoming heavy-hitting arcs that spread throughout the DCU.
Not into crossovers? Totally fine. This issue definitely stands up on its own as well. In fact, it’s impressive how far the storytelling pushes the limits of what comics can do. Without giving anything away, Batman has a pretty crazy fight scene in this book. It is, with no exaggeration, one the most impressive comic book fight scenes that I’ve ever seen. The way the artist and writer play with the progression of time and set up driving elements is stellar. I found myself on the edge of my seat with this book, more eager than I’ve ever been to turn the page and see what happens next.
I can’t fully articulate what a pleasure this book was to read, and how excited I am for the next issue. From the deep mystery surrounding the Comedian’s button buried in the Batcave wall, to the return of some really important characters long thought gone or erased, to the way the storytelling was done in this issue, Batman #21 is worth every bit of the marketing campaign that DC has thrown behind it.
Jonah Chuang is a Technical Account Manager at comiXology. He’s a bigger Superman fan than a Batman fan, but this book might change that.
Favorite cover of the week - Stephanie Hans for BATMAN #14, by Tom King and Mitch Gerards
“I AM SUICIDE” epilogue! Back in Gotham City, Batman and Catwoman confront their past and make a decision about their future that may change their city forever.
A comiXologist recommends…Best of 2016 Edition!
Vision Vol. 1: Little Worse Than A Man and Vision Vol. 2: Little Better Than A Beast by Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Michael Walsh, and Jordie Bellaire
Early on in the writing process for my own sci-fi book, my co-writer and I were struggling with the core arc for one of our characters, a robotic A.I. teenage girl named R.A.I.Ch.E.L. who had been a recent addition to a rather strange human family. The clearest path would have been to have her deal with her own sense of humanity and belonging and self, but we dismissed the idea out-of-hand because it seemed like the story had already been done to death. From Frankenstein to Pinocchio to Not Quite Human, the story of the construct that wished it was human had already been wrung of all its potential. Or so we thought.
Over the past year, Tom King has proved both of us dead wrong. And I could not be happier about it. Vision (2015-2016) is a brilliant, mature science fiction story that is incredibly human despite (or more likely, because of) its protagonists’ lack of humanity. It is moving, thoughtful, and at times hilarious. The story follows Vision of the Avengers as he attempts to establish a family in the DC suburbs, and struggles to find a “normal” life. The Visions are so awkward with one-another and with their neighbors, and of course things start going poorly in a variety of ways, from the chuckle-worthy to the terrifying, leading to a page-turning suspense story that moves the series along at a break-neck speed.
What truly makes the story unique, I think, is not that it focuses on how a robot struggles to find humanity, but why. Vision finds himself not only working hard to teach his family to behave “normally,” but also doubly-hard to convince them why it’s a worthwhile endeavor. Striving for human-ness can never truly succeed, the book seems to say, but the attempt itself is, in many ways, more human than anything most actual humans will ever achieve.
Vision (2015-2016)’s creators took a story-trope that, by this point, should have had no more to give. And they ended up with a masterpiece. Go read this right now.
Mike Isenberg is a Production Coordinator at comiXology, co-writer of First Law Of Mad Science, and contributor to the New York Times bestselling FUBAR anthology series. He lives in Harlem with his cats, Tesla and Edison.
New today! BATMAN #12 by Tom King, Mikel Janin, Hugo Petrus, and June Chung
“I AM SUICIDE” part four! As Bane decimates Batman’s team, the Dark Knight must decide how far he’s willing to go-and who he’s willing to sacrifice-for those he left in Gotham City.
Pretty much all our favorite people are contributing to this BATMAN ANNUAL, out today!
“SILENT NIGHT”! A hush of winter snowfall has fallen over Gotham City…but a quiet night in this place is never truly quiet. Batman and his allies-and his many foes-stalk the streets in this icy showcase of top talent, including Paul Dini, Ray Fawkes, Tom King, Steve Orlando, Scott Snyder, Neal Adams, Declan Shalvey, and more!
A comiXologist recommends …DC BOGO edition!
Grab two of DC’s most critically acclaimed titles of 2016 from Tom King – The Sheriff of Babylon and The Omega Men!
(Use code DC16 at cart page, sale ends 11/28)
New this week! BATMAN #11 by Tom King, Mikel Janin, Hugo Petrus, and June Chung
“I am Suicide” part three! Plunging into the belly of the beast, Batman and his team of misfits infiltrate Santa Prisca. Betrayal and savagery unfold as Batman races to steal Bane’s prized possession…and not everyone will make it out alive.
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
Read the conclusion of the outstanding run on VISION by Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, and Jordie Bellaire.
A while ago, a robot created a family. And all was good. For a while. Then came the murders. The lies. The betrayals. The battles fought. The battles lost. The family lost. And now, at the end, Vision stands alone. He must decide how he will go on, if he will go on, if he can go on. And that decision will shape the Marvel Universe for quite a while. The epic, stunning conclusion to the most highly praised series of the year. Simply put, this is the issue everyone will be talking about.
A comiXologist Recommends
Sheriff of Babylon #10 by Tom King and Mitch Gerads, cover by John Paul Leon, Vertigo/DC
The Sheriff of Babylonis superb. There is not much more I can say, the book is absolutely excellent and should be read by everyone. Staff Pick over.
I suppose I can expand upon this. When I say superb, I am judging in in a realm that has many, many entries. We’ve all seen and read them- the post 9/11 tale in either Iraq or Afghanistan, showing the trials and tribulations of the American G.I., or C.I.A. agent, or of the regular person of those countries. In each of these stories, we are presented with sides that are fairly “cut and dry”, “black and white”. There is a distinct sense of “us” versus “them”. Whether it be the audience it is intended for, or the overall sentiment of our place in those warzones, there is a distinct lack of a “grey area”.
Sheriff of Babylon, brings this “grey area” by telling an overall more complex and interesting story. In general, good and bad are extremes, and it is easy to tell a story of one against the other when the extremes are involved. We can clearly feel and connect with the “good” (or the “bad” if that is your inclination) while also being entertained by the extreme methods one or the other use to accomplish their goal. That is why the middle is often overlooked- with the thought that the middle is not AS entertaining. Though Babylon rides that middle-of-the-line and makes it entertaining. It takes complex, moderately-based characters and places them in the extremes. This makes the overall story and characters more… real. I care more about them. I care more about the situations. And it helps me understand a frightening and intense situation that I have very little experience with.
Most books that are out really do not excite me as much as Sheriff of Babylon. It is intriguing, interesting, and illustrated beautifully. When I saw that issue #10 was up for a Staff Pick this week, I jumped on it. It is superb.
Dane Cypel is not a sheriff and has never been to Babylon. He is a production coordinator at comiXology.