A word on my new approach, and several words about other things.

Okay, so I like the way my last entry read. I will continue to do that from next Wednesday. I missed a few weeks in there, because my wife, who is still living in Toronto (pending the government finishing with her paperwork) was down to visit me here in Florida over the holidays, and we were too busy for me to keep this up to date. That being said, there are some things about comics that have been floating around in my head, and how I will share them with you.


Spoilers ho!
Infinite Crisis #3 came out. It was indeed into the meat of the story. Kal-L (Golden Age Superman) starts trying to recruit people to his side. We find out that Alex Luthor and Earth-Prime Superboy are the real villains. Or at least, it looks like they have been manipulating Kal-L. Kal-L proves he is cool here, again. The story is picking up steam, and I am really looking forward to the next issue.
End Spoilers

Dan Slott's work on the Thing book continues to be excellent as well. This book should be checked out.

The other thing I wanted to talk about was the evolution of "Batdick" as people have taken to calling Batman, due to his... less than pleasant way of dealing with those around him.

(Mild Spoilers of the current "Victims" story arc of Batman below)
I remember a time when Batman used to go out and stop criminals. No, really. There was a time when his comics weren't so much about his villains being out to get him, but about his villains trying to accomplish some goal - get rich, take over Gotham, kill a bunch of people, whatever - mroe than they were about trying to take down Batman. I think the change started around the time of Bane. He definitely targetted Batman to try and take him down. Ra's had targetted Bruce a few times, but more as a test than to try and kill him. It just seems like with the addition of Hush, and the return of Jason Todd, we have more and more villains whose goal is the defeat or destruction of Batman more than it is to get something for themselves. This in turn has led to an ever-darker and less trusting Batman. Not to mention the propensity in writers to go for Batman's supporting cast so totally. Since Contagion, I cannot count the number of really bad things that have happened to Alfred. Including his most recent (in the current issue of Detective, I think) stabbing at the hands of Zsasz, and subsequent use as bait by Batman to bring Zsasz into the open.

Also, in this story, Batman did no real detective work. He basically says "well, Zsasz has no pattern, so I can't find him - have to bring him to me." This from a guy who has found rare mud at a crime scene and deduced someone's hideout, or knew that Ra's Al Ghul was testing him based on a faint fingernail scratch and Ubu's behaviour. This man is all three CSI's put together. And he just shrugs and says "the killer has no pattern, so I'd best use my best friend as bait?" The fact is that the darkening of the world around him has caused Batman to become darker still in response, and in my opinion is hurting what the character is really about.

But to return to the reasons for this, I think it stems from a need on the part of the writers to make the stories more personal. I'm not saying this is a failing on their part, it is merely an observation. By threatening Alfred, it brings the story much closer to home for Batman, and therefore, the reader. There was a time where threatening the city or innocents was enough, but for better or worse, it seems that time has passed. Now, it has to be Batman himself, or one of the supporting cast members who is threatened in order for us to care. This has caused the writers to make Batman react to this, becoming ever more paranoid, and ever more critical of those who would leave openings whereby someone could get at his loved ones. This more than anything else has created the nigh-unlikeable Batman who exists today.

I hope that Infinite Crisis has a way to deal with this, or that the editorial team behind Batman does, more specifically.

In other news, Doc Samson, always one of my favorite characters got his own Limited Series this week. It was okay. It had a nice blend of him using his mind and his Gamma-powered muscles to solve his problems. I recommend this one, too.