Introducing even more Batman comics (there are four core Batman comics per month, plus several others featuring various members of Batman’s supporting cast of characters) could be viewed by the cynical as a ploy by DC to exploit the completist tendencies of their fans and collectors.

However, All-Star Batman and Robin sounds a bit different, given that one of the most respected Batman authors of all time - Frank Miller, whose The Dark Knight Returns was a revelation not only for Bats but for the entire comic book genre - and (with all due respect to Neal Adams) the current fan favorite Batman artist - Jim Lee - are the creative team behind the project. Lee, for one, sounds really excited about it, as he posted on his weblog:

To say this is my ultimate, dream project would be an incredible understatement.

When one of the most sought-after artists in the business says this, then it tends to get people riled up a bit. Looking forward to this title sometime in Summer 2005.

Despite his questionable social views, Orson Scott Card is still a damn good author and storyteller. As his non-fiction writing for the Commodore-themed magazines Compute! and Ahoy! suggest, he also has a deep interest in and knowledge of technology.

These virtues make him a very interesting and compelling choice for writing Ultimate Iron Man (as Comic Book Resources recently revealed) since Tony Stark is the Marvel Universe’s premiere technology-based superhero. But he’s also a bit of a cad, traditionally written as a flamboyant womanizer with a drinking problem. Given Card’s conservatism and his predilection for writing heroes who have unerring moral compasses, it’ll be interesting to see how the author’s work plays out on this title (currently only planned as a mini-series).

Well, the San Diego Comic Con International (CCI) has long since overtaken my hometown con as the world’s largest (even though we still get Joss, Jeph, and Kevin Smith), so it’s the preferred forum for publishers big and small to make announcements.

Two things irritated me about DC Comics’ Batman panel:

The first is that everyone, including the normally astute Comic Book Resources, seems totally oblivious that Sin Tzu, the master of military strategy and tactics, is almost certainly the Batman villian behind the events of the upcoming “War Games” crossover. I mean, this was obvious (to me, at least) as soon as I heard the title of the story. Perhaps I shouldn’t be so hard on the guys at CBR, since I was probably one of three people who played Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu AND actually paid attention when the developers said the Jim Lee-created villain would eventually be introduced into the comic book continuity - explaining the panel’s “yeah, kind of” response to questions about whether or not the crossover would introduce new characters. (He’s new to the books, but not new to the Batman metamythology.)

The second is the announcement that Judd Winick has been named as the “permanent” writer on Batman. As I’m sure is obvious to even the most casual reader of this weblog, Batman is my favorite comic, and I thoroughly dislike Winick’s writing. I didn’t like it on Green Arrow, I never read it on Exiles or Green Lantern, and I don’t like it on Batman. I also dislike the fact that he took a mediocre cartooning gig at our alma mater’s student newspaper (Judd and I spent overlapping stints at the same university) combined with pseudo-fame from being on MTV’s The Real World and used it to get his break in comics. For me, that - plus the fact that I just don’t like his writing - makes his assignment to Batman unearned. I know that it’s self-defeating of me to let a writer’s background distract me from what should be my favorite comic, but what can I say? I’m protective of my favorite character.

Want to know what US$1 million in comic books (according to the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide) looks like?

Have US$250,000 laying around and feel like buying a collection that not only inlcudes Batman #1, Superman #1, and Amazing Fantasy #15, but also EVERY ISSUE of Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, Captain America, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and the Uncanny X-Men - plus 10 copies of Giant-Sized X-Men and 60 copies of the Frank Miller Wolverine Limited Series (among many others) thrown in?

This auction at e-bay has you covered. (At least go look at the pictures and drool.)

Mike Carey, whom we’ve posted about once or twice, is taking an unusual twist from his DC exclusivity and the metamythological Lucifer to write Ultimate Elektra (a 5-part miniseries) for Marvel Comics, and the linked article hints of an ongoing series.

Elektra was written as such a compelling character while in the gifted hands of Frank Miller, but has been trivialized into a meaningless “female ninja showing a lot of skin” by lesser writers. I have a lot of respect for Carey and his work on Lucifer - he took the seeds of a character planted by a master like Gaiman and did the unthinkable… he made the character better. Here’s to hoping that lightning strikes twice and he can do the same with Miller’s creation.

Desiree pointed me to this article in the Chicago Tribune (free registration required) explaining how Japanese PM Koizumi had to reprimand some of the junior lawmakers in his party for reading comics and sending instant messages during legislative sessions, which struck me as very funny for some reason.

I had no idea this was going on, but now that it’s over, I’m happy with the result.

It seems as if there was a royalties dispute between two of the most incredible comicbook creator/writers ever. Gaiman had written a guest issue of Spawn and introduced the following characters: Angela, Cogliostro and Medieval Spawn. He later decided to give the characters to McFarlane in exchange for another character he had helped create.

McFarlane backed out of the deal later, leaving Gaiman in the lurch.

For Dan…

Gaiman won the legal battle…I’m just sorry to see these great minds, who worked so well together, come to blows.

The BBC has an article about a Japanese court ruling which asserts that the manga Honey Room was obscene.

The judge’s standard for this ruling was that “bodies were drawn in a lifelike manner with little attention to concealment (of genitalia), making for sexually explicit expression and deeming the book pornographic matter”. Hell, that description could easily be applied to any of the manga I’ve read. (Well, except for the Batman manga.)

I wonder what’s going on here - has Japan singled out Honey Room arbitrarily in an isolated incident, or is this representative of a larger cultural shift looming on the horizon?

The Oregonian has a good interview with Greg Rucka. He talks (among other things) about how he broke in to the comic book business, his approach, and the pressure of being the first author to write Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman simultaneously.

The Washington Times has a story about the new Batman Illustrated, which reprints some of Neal Adams’ groundbreaking work. The article also talks about Adams himself and the controversial decision to redo some of the work found in Batman Illustrated. His explanation:

“If you guys are going to [fiddle] with this stuff,” Mr. Adams says he told DC, “at least let me [fiddle] with this stuff.” He added: “I’m trying to reach a new audience, while saying to my old audience, ‘Had it been done properly the first time around, this is what it would have looked like.’ ”