Iron Man 3 review

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Action Comics 19 and DC upheaval

As a DC human (is that the opposite of a Marvel zombie?), I’m concerned about the very public creative upheaval that’s been going on at the company over the last year. As an outside observer, I don’t necessarily want to share my opinion about who is to blame for these issues – let’s face it, what with NDAs and conflicting rumors we’ll likely never know exactly what happened in most cases – but I do know that it’s certainly not in readers’ best interests to be subjected to the half-done, sometimes half-baked projects that come from a sudden shift in creative teams.

It was with that frustration that I purchased Action Comics #19, the first issue of Superman’s flagship title to boast the creative team of Andy Diggle on writing duties and Tony Daniel on pencils. As we now know, it’s also the last issue with the team, as Diggle quit the book before publication and Daniel will be scripting over Diggle’s plot for the next few issues. Going in, I viewed Action #19 as a curious artifact, a snapshot of what might have been had Diggle and DC been able to work out their differences.

We’ll never know now what might have been, but this first issue wasn’t particularly promising.

With a script bad enough that I’m half convinced that it too was mostly penned by Daniel (the man’s a competent artist, but his writing has never been to my taste), Lois and Clark are thrust into an Arab Spring-esque uprising in Qurac, DC’s fictional terrorist nation stand-in. Superman fights a few mechs ostensibly there to put down the pro-democracy uprising, and Lex Luthor puts in an appearance toward the end to reveal his hand in this latest plot to take down the Man of Steel.

Someone needs to tell Clark that human beings don’t talk like this.

Save for some good characterization of Luthor (I chuckled at his suspicion that his shrink might be a suicide risk), this was mostly non-compelling stuff, coupled with some truly horrible internal narrative and expository dialogue. Daniel’s art is competent as usual, and it’s elevated a bit by Tomeo Morey’s moody color palette (a distinct change from the more traditional tones of Grant Morrison’s Action run). This is nothing really to write home about, although there is some latent potential lurking within that will now never have the chance to be realized.

I’ll give him this: Tony Daniel draws a good Lex Luthor.

Ultimately, the most interesting thing about this comic is the rather cynical marketing plan around it. I’m not sure how far ahead of time DC prints its books, but the company’s main universe titles had preview art of issue 19 during the last week of March, and issue 19 itself teases upcoming issues as if Diggle and Daniel will be continuing on as originally planned. At the time of writing, DC’s own issue solicits still promote “the new creative team of writer Andy Diggle and artist Tony S. Daniel,” along with a few other promises that aren’t even touched on in the issue. Add that to a gatefold cover fake-out that has virtually nothing to do with the issue’s story and it’s hard not to feel like DC is attempting some sort of con on its readers.

The interiors of this book are not as described, and the ongoing story will not continue as described. Whoever’s fault this creative upheaval is, it’s DC’s responsibility to make it better.

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Action Comics: Morrison masterpiece or Supermeh?

Some light spoilers for Grant Morrison’s Action Comics run follow, but you didn’t really need me to tell you that, did you?

When DC Comics’ New 52 relaunch began, many Grant Morrison fans – and presumably DC execs – were excited to see the writer’s name attached to Action Comics, doing a retelling of Superman’s earliest adventures. After all, Morrison obviously loves the character, and a well-received run on the Man of Steel’s early years could have made a nice companion to the critical favorite All-Star Superman.

Morrison’s now-completed Action run certainly isn’t a worthy successor (or predecessor, as the case may be) to the writer’s classic tale of the final year of Superman’s life, but it was a decent run all the same.

Oddly enough, its utter decentness is part of what makes it so occasionally frustrating. There are seeds of great stuff (and, individually, some great issues), but a steady stream of niggling annoyances keep it from rising to the level of a Morrison masterwork.

True to Morrison’s past work, his Action run is a chronology- and dimension-jumping wonderment, made up of a series of mini-arcs, standalone issues and an eight-issue opening story that is punctuated by a two-issue time traveler tale. Together, they eventually form a mostly-complete narrative that mostly comes together in Action issues 17 and 18, the latter of which is new this week.

Though Morrison is known for piling high concept upon high concept to create twisty narratives, the strength of his Action run (and of All-Star Superman, for that matter) lies in characterization, particularly in his outstanding knowledge of what makes Superman Superman and what makes Clark Kent Clark Kent. His young Superman may have been a brasher, sassier Kal-El than in recent years, but he was still Superman. He believed in people’s best impulses, and he was always looking out for the little guy. Similarly, Clark Kent retained his aw-shucks earnestness without being corny, and his interactions with everyone in the run, from the ugly landlady who-is-more-than-she-seems Mrs. Nyxly to his now-deceased parents to his journalistic peers, are characterized by humility, sincerity and kindness. Clark Kent and Superman work best when they are portrayed as the personification of the human ideal – and as an inspiration for us to aspire to that ideal – and Morrison nails those themes again and again.

There is nothing about this that isn’t great (Click to make bigger).

The other element Morrison aces is excitement. Before the run began, the author gave interviews talking about how Superman needed to always be in motion, emphasizing the “Action” in Action Comics. The idea is delivered on consistently, as practically every issue is filled with frenetically paced fight scenes and thrilling moments of daring do. Even with a visually inconsistent art team (more on that in a moment), Superman consistently looks really cool and strong when he fights, particularly when he’s in his early T-shirt and jeans outfit (Sorry DC, I’m still not sold on the armored suit).

Now for the not so good. I’ve been harping on inconsistent art teams lately, but it does seem as if DC’s “must ship on time” policy is too much for some of the company’s pencilers. Ostensible series artist Rags Morales and co-penciler Brad Walker are both capable of fine work, but their styles are incredibly different, and dropping Walker’s art in when Morales can’t finish pages is jarring. Add that to Morales’s occasional inability to draw a consistent-looking human face, and you find yourself looking forward to the Gene Has, Travel Foremans, Andy Kuberts and Ben Olivers who come in for a guest issue.

Has Clark Kent ever looked uglier than this?

“But how was the story?” you may be asking. Well, that depends on how much you like Morrison’s comics in general. The first 8 issue arc is very satisfying, and the core story of the whole run – that of an omni-temporal imp with a grudge who takes revenge against Superman in a disorienting way – is a solid concept. But there are a few problems that keep it from being all it could be.

First, the loose ends. Due to the time-twisty nature of the narrative, telling parts of the story out of sequence is certainly acceptable, but Morrison often makes the reader wait so long as to try patience. “Rewarding observant readers” is not always the same thing as “including a throwaway-but-confusing panel that will not be explained for 10 issues,” and while the back-up to issue 13 will make readers say “ohhh” when they remember issue 3, that doesn’t mean that the third issue is served by possessing what is quite literally an out-of-context panel. Morrison’s approach also sometimes made reading the book monthly something of a chore, as one issue might not make sense at all until the next month’s installment came out.

This did not need to be where it was.

The loose ends idea also extends to some story elements that end up getting short shrift. Lex Luthor is a huge factor throughout the front eight, but his sudden appearance on the final page of issue 17 is rather out of nowhere, and his presence is both ill-explained and short-lived in 18. What happened with the “Icarus” side-plot, and why was Luthor involved in it? Apparently we’ll never know. The Captain Comet subplot seems very rushed, as well.

The other problem is the run’s conclusion, and here in particular is where your mileage will vary. While I’m certainly a Morrison fan, I tend to like his superhero work best when the central problem of his story can be solved in a concrete, rather than metaphorical, way. To use a recent example for fans of the author’s work on the Dark Knight Detective, Batman punching his way out of a coffin due to his years of training is much more satisfying to me than him not accepting Anti-Life by remembering “the first truth of Batman.” When Morrison ends an arc in a more metaphorical or spiritual way, he often counts on the frenzy of his imagination to carry the reader, spewing some half-sensical pop psychology and hoping that we can piece together the story enough in our heads to make up for what he’s left off the page.

The ending of the Action Comics run ends up somewhere between these two outcomes, as Superman solves his central problem in a physical way that requires a bit of nonsense to justify it. In the end, I liked the journey a bit more than the destination, but the journey was fun enough.

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Postscript 1: I did not mention the back-ups in the main text of the review, as they were primarily standalone or supplemental in nature. Suffice it to say that they started out corny, briefly became unbearable and then ended up good from issue 13 forward.

Postscript 2: Another element of the series that I didn’t touch on is how the comic functioned as part of The New 52, i.e. as a book that new readers could attach themselves to with little knowledge of previous continuity. Given that the method of defeating the villain is never explained outright but is known by those with previous Superman knowledge – not to mention the fact that the final issue features a brief return of Curt Swan’s lion Superman! – I’d say “not well,” but as I am not a new reader, I didn’t mind.

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A Tale of Two Rotworlds

Warning: mild spoilers for Animal Man and Swamp Thing

In the months prior to the New 52, I read that Scott Snyder, a writer I’ve had good things to say about before, would be writing Swamp Thing after DC’s relaunch. I excitedly added the book to a list of New 52 titles I’d be picking up come September.

I then read that Jeff Lemire, a writer I knew little about, would be writing Animal Man, a character I knew maybe even less about. However, when I learned that Animal Man would be crossing over with Swamp Thing for an epic story called “Rotworld,” I readily picked up Lemire’s first issue as well.

Nineteen months and an overlong crossover later, Animal Man is the series I don’t regret picking up.

Neither of the series have been perfect, perhaps both hampered by a crossover that was planned out before the relaunch but didn’t actually begin until more than a year later. With a mandated 12 issues before the foretold Rot-related carnage could unfold, the preceding issues sometimes felt like a slow burn but often seemed like wheel-spinning.

Still, both series had very strong first issues, especially Swamp Thing. Before the relaunch, Yanick Paquette’s beautiful, hyper-detailed artwork was promised as the status quo for the book, and he delivers in a big way for Alec Holland’s New 52 debut. The reveal of the Rot monster and an early double-splash page portraying superheroes’ reactions to the sudden mass death of animals are particularly striking, setting a creepy tone and leaving the reader wanting more. Animal Man is similarly eerie, though Travel Foreman’s art is really showcased in later issues where the forces of the Rot and the Red take on more grotesque forms.

A few of Foreman’s less extreme horrors.

In the months that followed, Animal Man expanded its world while Swamp Thing alternated between classic Snyder creepiness and the establishment of a strange continuity that was unnecessarily confusing and certainly not inviting to a new reader.

While neither title was perfect, Animal Man had a great elevator pitch: C-list superhero balances work and family and fights to protect the world and his clan – all the while realizing that his own daughter is more powerful than he is.

Swamp Thing, on the other hand, ended up with an uninviting premise: Alec Holland, the man who Swamp Thing thought he was but ended up not being, comes back to life and then denies his destiny before actually becoming Swamp Thing, which he was always supposed to be from the beginning. The other half of the pitch – that Abigail Arcane has a tie to the Rot almost as strong as Alec has to the Green – is an interesting twist, but it’s just one plot thread that’s lost in a sea of overwrought narration and pointless continuity wrangling (the worst of which was found in the execrable 0 issue, which recontextualizes Swamp Thing’s origin story in a pointless and ultimately nonsensical way).

Also not great: the book’s decompression (I’m not a big fan of issue-long fight scenes, especially not in a series with such a cerebral lineage) and weird bursts of violence, like two cliffhangers involving Alec’s painful impalement within four issues.

This basic thing happens more than once.

When the crossover finally arrived, there were some complaints that it was too similar to Blackest Night, but I don’t actually think that’s fair. The “one year later” conceit was a legitimately surprising one, and the artists found some fun spins to put on the zombified characters (a particularly fun transformation was Bruce Wayne’s undead bat transmogrification). And, of course, last week we saw the true finales to Rotworld, with a couple of key character status quos changing and the threat of Anton Arcane being defeated. Both stories end on serviceable emotional notes, and though they do feel a bit manipulative, I didn’t mind too much (though Snyder’s ending could limit what future writers can do with the character).

In all, the linked sagas of these books’ initial stories could be remembered as mildly enjoyable comic book fare, done with a serviceable-but-not-particularly-memorable amount of craft. However, I haven’t yet mentioned the element that most clearly elevates Animal Man while sinking Swamp Thing: artistic consistency.

In this regard, Foreman and particularly Pugh are heroes. Both men were able to consistently crank out creepy, Red-and-Rot horrors week in and out, and Pugh’s expressive faces were an additional benefit to the Animal Man’s emotional core (as an additional way to keep Pugh’s consistency on the book, he handled the “future” elements on Rotworld while Timothy Green II handled the “present” sequences — a much better way to handle art changes than to switch between similar pages or issues).

Odd that the most direct tribute to Moore’s Swamp Thing run came in the pages of Animal Man.

Yanick Paquette is one of my favorite comics artists current working, but his intricate style is apparently too slow for a monthly book. In Batman Inc., this ended up being a blessing, as readers were eventually gifted with the excellent Chris Burnham, but Paquette’s inconsistency on Swamp Thing just led to him constantly trading duties with Marco Rudy.

Now don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing wrong with Rudy’s art. But a constantly shifting art team can dramatically hurt the flow of a comic story, and Rudy ended up helping on or straight-up filling in for 6 issues. Add that to three other issues penciled by guest artists (including Rotworld’s climax, which was penciled in a cartoony style so out-of-line with the series’s tone that the mind boggles), and you had a “featured artist” who could barely be counted on to show up for half of his issues.

Andrew Belanger is good, but this is so different from anything else in either book.

I doubt Rotwold will be remembered as one for the ages, but it’s frustrating to think of the potential that was wasted by shifting art styles and an ill-advised start time of issue 13. In the end, Lemire was able to come up with an effective story by keeping the emotions grounded and the action consistently drawn, while Snyder was brought down by an overthought premise and a muddy visual direction. The combined series created something of a mish-mash, with every moment of brilliance seemingly followed by a maddening flaw.

I still like both writers, but I wish them better luck next time.

On Batman: Death of the Family and ending well

Warning: Spoilers for Death of the Family throughout.

In November, I wrote an article about the first issue of Scott Snyder’s “Death of the Family” arc, which reached its conclusion last week. In it, I questioned what I thought might be a developing trope of Snyder’s and a disturbing trend in Batman stories in general: the preponderance of people, both heroes and villains, who know Batman’s secret identity.

Since then, I have thought up a number of other complaints about DOTF: its somewhat contrived narrative twists, its strange expository fascination with ancient Batman continuity and its unfortunate crossover status (readers of the main series are never shown, for example, how Nightwing survives the reservoir explosion or how the Joker captured all of the Bat family). But after Batman #17, perhaps the best issue yet of Snyder’s run, none of those complaints really matter.

One reason is that my primary complaint about DOTF’s first issue is nullified. Joker does not know Batman’s identity and in fact has no desire to know. It’s not a unique choice, but it’s the best one for a character who so clearly enjoys the game. The other reason, however, is that Snyder’s ending is so strong and hits all the right narrative and emotional beats.

In so doing, it reveals another Snyder narrative trend, one I’m a little more comfortable identifying.

Snyder and penciler Greg Capullo, whose kinetic and evocative work continues to shine, hit so many great notes in Batman #17, from the interpretation of the Joker/Batman relationship to the recognition that the Caped Crusader may actually have been wrong to the quiet, simultaneous fraying of Bruce’s interpersonal relationships. But what really sold the issue for me was its sense of ambiguity, and it’s not the first time Snyder has dipped into that well.

Rather than ending the way many prognosticators believed it would, with a fat, definitive period (possible endings: Joker dies, a member of the Bat family dies, Batman decides to go “lone wolf” ‘90s style), Synder trails off with an ellipsis. In this case, it’s far more effective than a period could ever be.

Shades of the Ledger Joker, from the appearance to the attitude.

First, there’s the matter of knowing the Joker/Batman’s civilian identities – or former identity in the case of the Clown Prince of Crime. While it’s implied in Joker’s case and outright stated in Batman’s case that the alter egos are still intact, Snyder wisely asserts the status quo while suggesting that the real truth may be different. We’re led to believe Batman is bluffing when he tells Joker he knows who he really is, but what if he wasn’t? Likewise, Bruce’s confidence that his brash visit to Arkham Asylum went unremembered by his nemesis seems irresponsible at best and fanciful at worst. In another story, this might strain credulity, but Snyder successfully uses the asylum checkup as an example of Batman’s hubris.

The second ambiguity is the handling of Joker’s demise. Rather than killing the villain outright or carting him away to Arkham at the end of the story, the more ambiguous fall down an underground cavern allows Snyder to tie a bow on the immediate narrative while allowing Joker to come back easily in the ongoing Batman meta-story. A concrete death would lessen DOTF’s impact once Joker inevitably returns from the grave; an Arkham lock-up makes the story more common. The dispatching of the Joker in DOTF carries an even bigger impact with the loss of the “mask face,” signifying a figurative death of this version of Batman’s greatest foe.

The mask led to some good visuals, but it’s almost sure to date the story.

Finally, there’s the veracity of Joker’s claims and rightness of Batman’s actions. Snyder rightly avoids the hoary old chestnut of “Why doesn’t Batman kill Joker?” and instead focuses on a moment when Bruce saves his enemy from an accidental death. Why? “Everything that happens to you tonight happens by my hand.”

By saving Joker only to beat him with a crowbar, by leaving his family alone with a dangerous gas in order to settle a score and by being confident enough in his own knowledge to knowingly light his sidekicks on fire, Batman illustrates that the Joker may be right. Perhaps his obsession with his nemesis is more important to him than the people he cares about. Maybe it is a crucial breach of trust to not fill in the team on his extra-curricular Joker encounters. As the ending of DOTF shows, these questions will gnaw at Batman and his peers throughout upcoming issues.

A non-omnipotent Batman is a Batman I like.

This isn’t the first time Snyder has used ambiguity to good effect in a Batman tale. In “Court of the Owls,” the true existence of “Bruce Wayne’s evil brother” is left up for debate, and in “The Black Mirror,” a more subtle but far-reaching suggestion is made that the mutants of “The Dark Knight Returns” may be the product of James Gordon Jr.’s demented mind.

A good story leaves you thinking, both on its themes and its narrative. DOTF asks the reader if the thing we think we hate actually helps shape us, but it is wise enough to know that answers are often more effective if the reader answers them himself.

A story can cover a multitude of sins if it sticks the landing. “Death of the Family” did not commit a multitude of sins, but Snyder and his team stuck the landing anyway.

The 2012 Comics Year in Review (minus Saga)

Please note: First of all, while I do dip my toes into the Marvel and indie pools every now and then, budget and character interest generally point my interest toward DC. Also, I have a habit of not reading Brian K. Vaughan’s stuff until it’s collected into trade, so I haven’t read Saga yet.

It was an interesting year, if not always a great one, for comics. DC saw its first full year of the New 52 (is it still new, guys?), Marvel got a reboot/relaunch of its own with Marvel NOW!, Before Watchmen got going, Image launched Saga, the future of Dark Horse’s Star Wars comics became dubious, and more. What were the year’s highlights and lowlights? I’ll compile a few below.

Best webcomic: xkcd, Randall Munroe

Xkcd wasn’t always the funniest webcomic this year, but it was the most ambitious. In a format that seems designed to break the traditional comic strip or comic book format, many creators are content to simply reproduce digital versions of things that could be easily be published in printed form. Not so with Munroe, who mixed his jokes and nerd humor one-offs with graphs of the nation’s political history, odd physical representations of calendar references, and most famously a huge, scrollable world, the wonders of which I’m still discovering.

– Best strip: The aforementioned open world strip is hard to beat, as is this number on the jokier side of the spectrum

Best publishing initiative: Monkeybrain Comics

Chris Roberson got fired from/quit DC, but he’s making it look like a good thing with his rapidly-expanding business at Monkeybrain. Attracting big name creators to the small publisher might be the thing that ultimately pushes digital comics to the next level.

– Runner up: Marvel NOW!

Worst publishing initiative of the year: Avengers vs. X-Men

Just the press about this got tiresome, to say nothing of the interminable tie-ins, muddy plot and jerky behavior by all characters involved. Thankfully, some of the Marvel NOW! titles are salvaging the story.

Best pleasant surprise: Action Comics #0

In a sea of mostly disappointing number 0s from DC in September, Grant Morrison pulled out one of his best Superman stories yet, a simple tale of faith in the superheroic ideal. Ben Oliver provided a nice change of pace for the art.

Biggest disappointment: The Shade maxiseries

James Robinson’s Starman is awesome, The Shade is awesome, and many of the artists involved with the antihero’s most recent shot at stardom were awesome. Unfortunately, this series started slow (but good-looking) and ended slower, with too much exposition, not enough sense and three horribly boring issues drawn by Javier Pulido (which is odd, because his stuff is great in Hawkeye #4-5).

Best Cover: The Shade #4, by Tony Harris

Harris has been under fire lately for comments he made about female cosplayers, but his art is still unimpeachable in this old-timey Daily Mail-style cover.

– Runner up: Daredevil #10.1, by Marcos Martin and Manny Mederos

– Action Comics #0 variant, by Rags Morales

Worst (mainstream) Cover: Catwoman #0 (original), by Guillem March

Picking a worst cover of the year is an exercise in futility. For example, the actual worst cover I saw in a comic book shop this year was to Cavewoman: Natural Selection #2 (which I won’t bother linking to), but selecting it is defeatist because it’s trying to be exploitative and trashy. However, March, a respected artist working for a major publisher, should know better. His original Catwoman cover for DC’s Zero Month, in which Selina Kyle is seemingly all butt and breasts, was so quickly reviled by fans that the publisher pulled it before printing.

Best development for creators: The continued success of Image and smaller publishers

With The Walking Dead hitting 100 issues (and a crazy amount of sales), Image winning widespread acclaim and many other series getting their start this year, it’s good to know that many talented creators can find a home at Image or other smaller publishers if the Big Two aren’t to their liking. Marvel and DC have great characters, but sometimes creators want or need another outlet. Never has that outlet been more readily available.

Worst development for creators: DC editorial meddling

This is a year that has seen the likes of Chris Roberson and (temporarily) Gail Simone tossed off of books, John Rozum and George Perez going public about editorial meddling, and, in a less valued but still telling loss, Rob Liefeld engaging in a very public walkout from DC. Editors obviously have an important job to do (and, in Roberson’s case, there’s something to be said for not biting the hand that feeds you), but I want a DC Comics where the likes of Greg Rucka and Mark Waid are welcome again. Please DC, stop alienating top-flight talent.

Best single issue art: Batman Inc. #5, Chris Burnham

Burnham has been killing it on Batman Inc.’s art duties ever since he took over in 2011, but Batman Inc. #5 just might be his best. In a return to the grim future-world where Damian is Batman, Burnham peppers the pages with unsettling imagery, weird ideas, and in my personal favorite moment, a disturbing callback to the most famous scene in “The Killing Joke.” Props as well to Nathan Fairbairn, whose colors make the future-world feel properly post-apocalyptic.

– Runner up: Hawkeye #3, David Aja

– Batman and Robin #15, Patrick Gleason

– Batman #5, Greg Capullo

Worst single issue art: Green Lantern #6, Mike Choi

I probably wouldn’t be a big fan of Choi’s soft-focus, “ripped from the pages of a dungeon master book” art style on Green Lantern #6 no matter what, but what really nags at me is the jarring stylistic change from regular penciler Doug Mahnke. Changing an artist in the middle of a book’s storyline drives me crazy, especially when the differences in the art are so noticeable. What should have been an important, memorable issue of Green Lantern was marred by a mismatched art outing.

Best single issue writing: Hawkeye #2, by Matt Fraction

Hawkeye #3 gets all the attention for finally getting a car chase right in comics (and props to Fraction and Aja for doing so), but the banter between Kate and Clint in issue #2 is just perfect, to say nothing of the spot-on internal monologue.

Worst single issue writing: Phantom Stranger #0, Dan Didio

Didio is not typically a good writer, and his work on Phantom Stranger is no different than the norm (“Yeah, all my life I’ve been filled with an uncontrollable rage,” one character says to another at one point in this book, with not an ounce of sarcasm or self-awareness). From a boring plot to a rather nonsensical and badly-explained introduction of The Spectre, this book is amateur hour.

However, the worst part of the book is its premise: the revelation that The Phantom Stranger is, in fact, Judas Iscariot, clothed in Jesus’s robe and wearing as an unremovable necklace the 30 pieces of silver he received for his historic betrayal. Every time he does a good deed, the Phantom loses a silver piece, hoping to eventually gain redemption. Christian or no, this is in bad taste and a stupid idea.

Best series art: Greg Capullo, Batman

Aja’s Hawkeye and Burnham’s Batman Inc. were strong contenders for this slot (consider them my runner ups), but Capullo wins out for his consistency and for the fact that he’s the only one who’s been doing this all year. He also wins out for the above splash page, perhaps my favorite panel in a comic book in 2012.

Whether doing creepy character work or frenetic action scenes, Capullo infuses his drawings with emotion, creeping horror and kineticism. I’m a big Scott Snyder fan, but part of the reason he’s been so well-received  in the comics world is his wealth of outstanding collaborators.

– Additional runner up: Stuart Immonen, All-New X-Men

Worst series art: Green Arrow, Dan Jurgens, Ray McCarthy, Ignacio Calero, Harvey Tolibao, Steve Kurth, Freddie Williams II

Can you guess why I didn’t like Ollie’s art this year? Once again, visual inconsistency was a huge factor in the wildly shifting tone of this series. Also, how does Green Lantern still have feet when his calves are so tiny?

Best series writing: Hawkeye, Matt Fraction

The two artists on Hawkeye so far have acquitted themselves wonderfully, but Fraction brings the charm with his writing. From Clint Barton’s quips to the intentionally bad translation jobs (“Some Spanish-sounding stuff!”) to the exceptional sound effects at play during “The Tape” (KGlassssss!), Fraction has created a hilarious and surprisingly compelling world for everyone’s go-to non-powered Avenger. In addition, his commitment to self-contained stories means that exciting stuff is going on every issue.

– Runner-up: Batman Inc., Grant Morrison

– Batman, Scott Snyder

Worst series writing (that I read): Red Lanterns, by Peter Milligan

Yeah, I know, this is from 2011, but it’s a good example of the overwrought prose at play here.

There are some series that I avoid based on creative teams/bad word of mouth, so I would imagine Milligan didn’t do the actual worst this year. However, I checked out a few issues of “Red Lanterns” to see if I needed to know anything in regard to “Rise of the Third Army,” and boy, was this dire.

It’s probably not all Milligan’s fault. I can’t imagine it’s easy to write a book in which the only emotion characters feel is rage. Perhaps DC should have left them as supporting characters in the Green Lantern books.

Best single issue: Batman Inc. #5, Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham

This makes it two in a row for Morrison and Burnham, who last year cranked out Batman Inc. Vol. 1 #7, my favorite issue of 2011 (the Man-of-Bats issue). However, while 2011’s best issue was full of humor and weird political subtext, Batman Inc. #5 is all apocalyptic horror, creating images and feelings that will stick with you well after you reach the final page.

– Runner-up: Batman #5, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo

– Hawkeye #2, Matt Fraction and David Aja

– Action Comics #0, Grant Morrison and Ben Oliver

Worst single issue: Green Arrow #13, Ann Nocenti and Freddie Williams II

Williams’s art has certainly been better, but the bulk of the blame for this mess of an issue falls on the shoulders of Nocenti, who decides to make seemingly every line of dialogue a horrible wisecrack. I’m not sure which is worse: anachronistic smart-aleck ghosts or Green Arrow’s internal monologue about how shooting off a Chinese man’s ponytail is an insult, followed by him shooting off a Chinese man’s ponytail and an onlooker saying, “That’s the biggest insult ever!”

Best comic/ogn: Batman, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo (with a good fill-in from Becky Cloonan)

While a few other comics reached higher highs this year, no one impressed as consistently as Snyder and Capullo did. A consistent Top 5 title that earns its status, Batman is constant tension, psychoanalysis and action. With their two initial story arcs guaranteed to have lasting effects on the Batman world, Snyder and Capullo have exemplified everything good about bombastic superhero comics. Recognition should also be given to James Tynion IV and a host of artists who have provided solid work in the book’s backups.

Worst comic/ogn: Superman Earth One, Volume Two, J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis

This was a tossup between Earth One and Avengers vs. X-Men, but while Earth One was slightly more interesting, it earns its status as worst of the year by being completely tone deaf on why Superman works as a character. An angsty Superman is a bad Superman, but a Superman who encourages a violent coup and leaves a man to die in the Alaskan wilderness is no Superman at all.

Creator of the year: Ryan North

An old picture, but a funny one.

North was a creative force this year, continuing to churn out the consistently hilarious Dinosaur Comics, working on the critically lauded Adventure Time series and shattering Kickstarter records with his choosable adventure Hamlet story, “To Be Or Not To Be, That Is The Adventure.” Anyone unaware of North’s work should check him out posthaste, and it’s never been easier or more fun to do that than in 2012.

Be sure to check out Matinee Culture for the rest of Ryan’s pop culture bests and worsts!

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Batman: Not actually the best at keeping secrets?

This post contains spoilers about a number of recent Batman comics, as well as a mild Batwoman spoiler.

When is it too early to identify a trend about a new comic writer? Scott Snyder is an established name in DC’s superhero stable these days, but it wasn’t even two years ago that his first issue of Detective Comics hit the stands. These days, he’s one of the company’s hottest commodities, boosting Batman to even higher highs, reviving Swamp Thing and preparing to write a not-yet-titled Superman series next year with fellow sales sure thing Jim Lee.

For all that fame, he’s only finished two real comic book story arcs so far: Detective’s “Black Mirror” and Batman’s “Court of the Owls.” Swamp Thing got an extended reintroduction which has led into the still running “Rotworld,” and Batman’s second arc, “Death of the Family,” has only just begun. And yet, I’m starting to see a pattern – and no, it’s not the previously documented one where he begins his stories with monologues about the subject’s deceased relatives.

It’s clear that Snyder is adept at writing high-stakes stories, and that’s certainly commendable, but what is beginning to nag at me a little is his predilection to make every story personal. Namely, he seems to have examined the nature of superheroes with alter egos and determined that the surest way to ratchet up the tension is to allow the story arc’s villain to discover the hero’s secret identity.

I’d noticed this before, but the subject really stuck in my mind after reading October’s Batman #13, which ends with primo Bat-baddie Joker about to viciously assault Alfred – seemingly implying that the Clown Prince of Crime knows Bruce Wayne is Batman. The issue 14s for Batman and Batgirl continue to toy with this idea without confirming it outright.

Does this mean he knows who Alfred really works for?

That’s certainly a significant development, but it’s put into even sharper focus when you consider that “Court of the Owls” included an encounter with a delusional man who believes himself to be Bruce Wayne/Batman’s brother (not to mention a number of the Court’s deadly Talon assassins storming Wayne Manor and stumbling across the Batcave) and that “Black Mirror” ended with the revelation that James Gordon Jr. knows that Dick Grayson is part of the Bat family.

Add that to the very personal conflict going on in Swamp Thing right now with Anton Arcane – a recent retcon even decreed that Arcane was responsible for Alec and Linda Holland’s murder – and you have something.

Couldn’t get the reveal posted, so here’s another creepy James Jr. grab.

The first couple of times it happened, it bothered me a little, but not enough to dampen my enthusiasm for Snyder’s obvious talent. I’d been a trade reader for a number of years, but Snyder’s ‘Tec run was one of the very first I started buying on a monthly basis – a great start to my single issue collection. It was nothing against Snyder’s abilities, just something of a personal gripe. I buy the idea that some villains might know a certain hero’s identity and be willing not to spill the beans, but when Batman’s secret is or has been in the hands of Ra’s Al Ghul, Talia, the late Jezebel Jet, James Jr., Thomas Wayne Jr., and now perhaps the Joker, that starts to stretch the bounds of credulity – not to mention cast Bruce’s stated commitment to secrecy into a doubtful light.

The Bat family alone is already enough to make you fear a security breach. Readers of the New 52’s Batwoman saw how fast a sidekick can inadvertently give up a hero’s identity, and every additional confidante, good or evil, puts another chink in Bruce Wayne’s once unimpeachable façade.

Why don’t they just tell somebody?

It wasn’t until the Joker reveal that the trend really started to irk me. While previous writers have toyed with the idea that Joker either knows or doesn’t care about Batman’s secret identity, making it a written fact diminishes some of the mystique, and tossing out a similar plot point for the third time in three Batman stories starts to look like a narrative crutch, an attempt to make every story a game-changer by changing the game in the exact same way.

I still like Snyder a lot. He does tension and action very well, he’s good at dialogue, and he’s excellent at writing to the strengths of his writers. I’m still excited about his Joker story, but I hope he turns away from this trend soon (or even better, that I’m wrong about the implications of his attack on Alfred).

Then again, so long as his Superman story doesn’t turn on Lex Luthor figuring out Clark’s identity, the world will go on.

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