Comics Fondle

Discussing some of Marvel Comics’ newer writers (new to Marvel, but not to comics), a friend observed the stories appeared to be in the tone of 1970s and 1980s comics, only better–suggesting the writers are simply retelling their favorite rendition of the characters. The comic books in question certainly appeal on those terms, but at DC–where the company mandates hyper-hipness–Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight is the last refuge for third-tier writers to tell the stories they want to… Gage’s Cold Case–though the title references the ultra-modern, ultra-hip TV show (I’m sure it was hard to sell DC on it)–is a Batman story from the late 1970s or early 1980s. It’s Robin-free and seems like it would fit soon after Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers’ stories. It’s an homage to Batman the detective. Gage wrote for “Law and Order: SVU,” and one can feel the police procedural in the story, as well as his familiarity not with DC comics, but the Marvels were each issue had a recap of the previous issue.

While Gage’s story is fine–the solution is silly, but the investigation is interesting and the art, by Ron Wagner and Bill Reinhold is nice (their Catwoman actually looks like an athlete)–he doesn’t have anything to say about Batman. He covers very familiar turf–Bruce Wayne and Papa Wayne–there’s a conversation between Alfred and Bruce about it and it’s been two or three of the movies and a few hundred comic books. Maybe more than a few hundred. While I don’t believe in continuity, I do believe in doing something original. As adoring homage, Cold Case isn’t bad at all and Gage uses these characters he likes well and comes up with some amusing situations–the police staking out Wayne Manor, for example… but there’s no relevant observations about Batman or Bruce Wayne. Gage doesn’t voice an opinion about the dichotomy (old DC, Batman is a mask for Bruce Wayne, new DC, Bruce Wayne is a mask for Batman). He sits it out and gives the reader some cheap malarky about the unknown, forgotten father. I do, of course, love how Bruce Wayne’s mother is again discarded. Gage follows the company line on that one.

Recently, I’ve been these comic books meeting the bare minimum–it’d be nice if all comics were as good as Cold Case, but it’s not because Cold Case is particularly good… It’s probably the third or fourth story I’ve read in the last month of that quality. It’s a missed opportunity and missed opportunities always piss me off the most.

C-

Technorati Tags: Batman, Christos N. Gage, Comic Book, DC Comics, Review, Ron Wagner

Recommend on Mahalo