Monitoring the Set

So now I've actually read Countdown #1, erm, #51 and I'm just not sure I'm on for the ride, which seems to be the general consensus.

I mean, I liked 52. I like Paul Dini. The art's pretty good. So what's wrong?

I think the problem is the Monitors.

As a concept, I've never liked the Monitor. Not only did he have a name that might as well have been "Not-the-Watcher", but DC Comics already had an omniscient expositor, and he's got better fashion sense. Furthermore, while I like continuity, I don't like stories that are about continuity, and the Monitor was entirely about was protecting continuity (or, as he called it, "reality").

So I wasn't exactly thrilled to see that the new multi-verse comes with a complete set of Nu-Monitors.


Yes, as Diamondrock points out, the Monitors act as continuity cops, correcting confusing continuity errors... "with EXTREME PREJUDICE!" < wailing guitars > But they won't, as he hopes, reduce the "porousness" of the multi-verse since any story with the Monitors will feature someone jumping between worlds, if only to get shot. By their very existence, the Monitors will only increase the porousness. Similarly, stories with the Monitors will increase the number of stories that are about the existence of the multi-verse, rather than simply set in it.

And Countdown looks like it's going to follow the same pattern. Andrew Hickey, at his new Countdown Blog, points out that the characters featured in the first issue, and those slated to appear, are the stress points of DC continuity: characters that are "supposed" to be dead, like Jason Todd and those whose histories contradict "official" canon, like Duela Dent, which implies the story will be about their status as continuity question marks.

Which could not interest me less. Stories intended to solve continuity problems, turning editorial errors into story engines, also turn compelling characters into walking plot points. Donna Troy is not interesting because her origin got screwed up by constant re-writes. She's interesting in spite of it (if she's interesting at all). So centering a plot on how much her background doesn't make sense is like...

It's like seeing a play with an amazing, intricate set. Something truly spectacular to look at. But the play itself is just characters talking about the set, either how pretty it is or how bizarre or just detailing how each piece fits together. As a guy who built sets in college, sure, I might find it interesting to know how it was built, but I'm not sure I could stand the characters in the play just gabbing about it and nothing else for two hours, with a fifteen minute intermission.

And all the Monitors seem to do is walk onto sets, shout "That tree is made out of cardboard!" then shoot the first character who knocks down the 2-D tree.

Maybe it's too soon to make the call, and I will pick up the next issue (especially since it looks like it features Jimmy Olsen vs. Dini's take on the Joker). But I know that 52 wow'ed me AND set up its theme of change in its first issue; and Countdown just didn't. So before I can commit another $150 dollars and a year's time to this thing, I need to know it's about more than just cardboard cut-outs.

Guess Who's Back. Back Again.

My MySpace account finally pays off and I get a preview of DC's new weekly, Countdown.

And it looks like Darkseid's back, still playing with his HeroClix:


I mean, it's cool and all that Paul Dini and Co. are not being coy about who the bad guys are, and Darkseid's desire to be the architect of the new universe nicely ties this series into the underlying theme of 52, but it's hard to look at an Evil Space Tyrant looming over detailed models of his enemies and not think of this:

One, Two Punch

Y'know how I said I was working on a post about Detective 823 that I had to be careful writing? This isn't it.

It is about Detective 823, though. (Can you tell I'm procrastinating on the big post?)

So, my major complaint about the issue was the abbreviated ending. The plot's going along fine up till page 20 or so: just as Batman and Robin discover that the plant monster attacking Poison Ivy is made up of the resurrected bodies of her victims (basically putting her on the wrong side of the Swamp Thing origin story), the creature attacks, in the heart of the Batcave, and promises to kill her and anyone who gets in its way. That's a pretty good set-up.

It's a shame that Dini only has two pages left, because the entire resolution is Batman immediately releases some Bat Plant-Repellent and the creature runs away. The end.

The problem, I think, is that Dini decided to lock himself into a single issue format for his run on Detective, where each issue's main plot was wrapped up in that issue. Now, I like a good done-in-one story, but in this case I think the story would have been much better served as a two parter.

Issue one would be basically the same issue, but ending where the creature screams out its name (possibly in logo font)! Issue two would be Batman and Robin, having been put in the uncomfortable position of saving a murderer from the bloody vengeance of her own victims, teaming up with the almost assuredly treacherous but admittedly brilliant Ivy to figure out a way to stop the monster without killing it.

But then I tend to think that two-parters have the perfect pace for modern comics. One issue to explain the plot and get everyone into their positions, ending in a great cliffhanger with a one month intermission for the readers to figure out how our heroes are ever going to get out of this one, and then the second issue to provide the surprising yet ultimately obvious solution, that hopefully involves a lot of kicks to the head. One issue to set 'em up, one issue to knock 'em down.

I do know that some of my favorite stories are the two-parters. The first Zauriel story, for example, does a nice job in the first issue of explaining the four or five problems the JLA faces, including a falling Moon and Rogue Angel General on a tear in San Francisco, and the second issue resolves each conflict, one by one, until peace is restored.

Geoff Johns had a great run on JSA where every other issue ended with certain death ("Oh no, Hawkman and Sand have been poisoned and there's only enough antidote for one!") only to be followed by an issue where the team overcomes the impossible odds in some clever fashion ("Oh, Sand has turned to sand and is thus temporarily immune from poison.")

But mostly, I think the two parter takes better advantage of the serial nature of comics than the done-in-one does, without stretching out a story too much the way a five or six part arc can. The story moves, but it also has the space to get somewhere.

I think.

Is Green Skin Some Kind of Turn On?

I have a longer post on Detective Comics #823 that I want to be very careful writing before posting, so in the meantime a thought I had while composing:

The plot depends upon Pamela Isley's ability to walk into a bar and pick up strangers. To which I have to ask, "don't they notice that she's, y'know, green?" Isn't that kind of a hint that she's POISON FRICKEN IVY, known killer and walking bio-hazard? That MAYBE it's not a good idea to go home with her?

Or are there a lot of green women running around the meet-markets of Gotham? Are there enough aliens, Atlantians, mutants, robots, and anthropomorphic animals running around the DCU that green skin just isn't that big a deal any more? Not just green, of course. Starfire's orange, Bulletteer's silver, Blue Devil's, well... and they seem to be able to have normal lives, outside of superheroing. I mean, Detective Chimp may get funny looks when he orders his soda in a French cafe, but they still serve him (and EVERYBODY gets funny looks in a French cafe).

So maybe the citizens of Gotham have just gotten used to the fantastic, and don't give the green skin a second glance. What's one more plant person, more or less?

Still, if she's walking around in her usual garb of strategically placed foliage, and looks like POISON IVY, then I just MIGHT consider hitting on the brunette in the corner instead.

Oh Bruce

So in Detective Comics #822, Batman reveals that the Riddler has spent the year since Infinite Crisis in a coma, and has no memory of figuring out that Bruce Wayne is Batman.

That's right: Shining Knight clobbered the Riddler so hard she knocked the Hush out of him.

Hot damn.*

Anyway, that seems to be the only thing he's forgotten. Things Eddie Nigma remembers include, but are not limited to, how to dress, morse code, where he hired his former hench-wenches, the name of the masked bouncer at an S & M club and all of the secret tunnels that lead to said club, how many times he's been in the Batmobile and that he's never been conscious while being so, and hasn't seemed to lose a bit of his puzzle solving abilities.

Well, isn't that convenient. Not for Bruce. The Riddler knew his real name for about three years now and it didn't impact Batman's life one iota. No, it's pretty convenient for the Riddler. Batman threatened to feed him to Ra's Al Ghul if Nigma ever told anyone what he knew. Now the one secret that Batman would have had the Riddler killed over has just "slipped his mind".

Or has it? Even if the Riddler really had suffered brain damage and memory loss, he's clearly recovered his mental abilities and seems even more observant than before, knowing Bruce's height to the inch and his weight to the pound. He certainly knows Batman's height as well, and seems to recognize Bruce's chin from... somewhere.

And what was that scene at Wayne Manor about? Dini makes it a point that no one, not Gordon, nor the police, not even Nigma, who lead them all there, really suspected Bruce Wayne of the murder. Nigma seemed to just be wasting time.

Unless... the Riddler was trying to get Batman's attention. Batman knew about the murder before, but doesn't get involved until after the Riddler comes knocking on his door. The Riddler even calls him on having a personal stake in the case, though Batman shrugs him off. And the Riddler clearly wants Batman there, to show off for and to take credit when Batman solves the case.

The Riddler also demonstrates that at any time, quite brazenly, he could lead a team of photographers and reporters into Wayne Manor with Gordon following close behind. Even at times it would be... inconvenient for Bruce not to be there.

So tell me, Bruce, do you really think the Riddler forgot the small fact that you're Batman?

Oh, Bruce, you idiot.




*Renee Montoya (2006)