Frank Miller has a great quote about Batman. He was once asked if he felt like he’d been handed a Ming Vase when he first started writing the character. He answered (or retconned that he answered):
“I said no, it’s more like an unbreakable diamond. I could smash it against the wall or ceiling without hurting it. It’s just a matter of finding a facet no one’s used before.”
What with all of the grim and dark and broody Batman that we’ve been immersed in since 1989’s Tim Burton-directed flick, you might find yourself wishing that someone else would shine their flashlight on a different facet.
Batman: Li’l Gotham is a new and fresh facet that you will enjoy and, if you’re someone who has kids walking around the house, a book you won’t mind them picking up if you leave it somewhere within grabbing distance. The art is much more of a kawaii style (it’s “cute”), the stories are simple and elegant (some light detective stuff, some fun moments teaching Damien about American culture, some funny stuff with child-friendly versions of the bat-villains), and it’s a breath of fresh air after decades (how is 1989 27 years ago?!?) of grim and dark and broody.
Now, violence is still used to resolve uncertainty so it’s not like it’s appropriate for teaching any particular moral lessons, but if you enjoy superheroes and you want some superheroes that feel like the superheroes of your childhood, this comic book feels like an updated version of the old 60’s Batman television show made into something that grown-ups can enjoy too, rather than the Paul Dini cartoons (that felt like the Frank Miller Batman with the jagged edges sanded down into something that children can enjoy too).
Check it out!
So, what are you reading and/or writing?
(Featured Image is “Edison’s Telephonoscope” by George du Maurier from Punch Almanack for 1879)
I’m enjoying the new Dark Knight master race. Miller is like George Lucas. He needs help and input from others to produce good work.Report
Dark Knight master race
The one where his parents were murdered by Jews?Report
I didn’t like Designated Survivor as much as the rest of the internet did. To me, it took the worst parts of the West Wing and Battlestar Gallatica and combined them. Then added plot holes that are impossible to fill.
There’s plenty to nitpick too, and I wouldn’t have problem if it were only Kessel run parsecs nitpicking. The problem is something like this:
The chess team is going into a big match, but the captain and everyone else gets sick from food poisoning and can’t play – save one guy that wasn’t at the banquet because he was about to get kicked off the team. Plus, because he’s more of a jock than a nerd to begin with, no one thinks much of his ability at the chess board anyway.
Ok, so far so good. The guy goes into a game with everyone thus doubting him, and then, in an amazing show of skill – moves his rook diagonally. And *everyone*, friend and foe alike, are impressed with this and start to think ‘wow, maybe this guy can play’
MeanwhIle *I’m* almost shouting at my TV “That’s not how it works! That’s not how any of this works!”Report
BTW, what is it with some of these comic book artists? They aren’t like athletes where they lose their physical skill with age. And they aren’t like writers who can run out of good tunes or stories.
But I think it’s because they get paid by the page, a few notables, including and especially Frank Miller adopt shorthand styles where they phone their work in. John Byrne too. But not George Perez, one of my favorites.
They all looked better when they tried to accomplish what Neal Adams did in his prime. And of late, Adams has joined them in phoning his work in too.Report
The secret is: Miller was never good, at least not at the writing part. DKR has terrible plot and terrible characters, and thrives on the art and composition. Closest thing he did to a good batman book was Year One, and that only worked because Batman was a background character in a detective noir story.Report
Eh, I can take DKR, but both Year One and his run on Daredevil is pretty awesome.Report
What about Batman ’66? Isn’t that one literally an update of the 60s show?Report
There’s actually been something of a renaissance in “Sixties Batman” lately, people realizing that there was something going on there beyond BAM POW title cards and Cesar Romero mugging.Report
I haven’t dipped my toes in that yet.
I think that a modern and updated Batman Show that attempted what Batman ’66 did using a ’66 version of modern tropes?
That would either be ahead of its time and be a huge hit, or so much ahead of its time that people wouldn’t realize that it should have been a huge hit for years.Report
You could argue that Batman: Brave and the Bold was a spiritual decendant of the 60s show.
It was also delightful.Report
Frank Miller said “there are 50 different ways to do Batman and they all work”
Report