Batman Eternal - Volume 1

So GOOD WHY IS IT OVER

I think its such a neat idea that DC put out three, one year long, weekly stories. Waiting a whole month (or sometimes more if an issue is pushed back) feels like such a tease. I like the idea of only having to wait one week for the next issue to come out.

My coworker recommended me this volume to read which is issues #1-21 of Batman Eternal. The story arch started in March of 2014 so it has a few months left. I think they are on issue #37 right now. So its all current stuff and the idea is so awesome.

I am really into the idea of having multiple artists and (one main, but some other co-writers) writers working collaboratively on one story so it can continue to come out each week. I felt like the story writing was cohesive throughout but sometimes the switch of artists was hard to get used to. I felt like for the most part, everyone's characters looked the same but Jason Bard looked so different each issue it was hard to get past.

This story has some MAJOR plot twists which I am down with but also struggling currently because this volume ended with a major one, and volume 2 doesn't come out until the summer so that means I have to get single issues starting with 22 and read from there on because I must know whats up with Jim Gordon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I also found that this book introduced a lot of characters (like most superhero universes do) but something that is helpful for me to do is read it, and any character I don't know, I write their name down and then cross reference it with wikipedia if they keep coming up and I'm still confused about who they are. I found it to be really helpful for characters like Jim Corrigan and Red Hood who I didn't know before. But! In reading about Jim Corrigan, I realized that I already DO know his character from reading the first issue of Gotham at Midnight. But I had no idea of his importance or back story then.

Anyway, very cool read. I also now am super interested in one of DC's other year long story archs, Futures End which is about Gotham but is set 5 years into the future. I don't see how everyone can keep these stories straight because they are all about the same place but totally different things happening at one time.

Batman - Court of Owls Volume 1

"We are who we choose to be, Bruce. Not the role the past says we should play." - Dick Grayson

 I had my third day at work on Wednesday and while I've been reading a number of different story lines for homework, I told my manager that I am really very intimidated by superhero comics. He gave me Batman, Court of Owls to read, said it was a good starting point.

WAS HE RIGHT OR WHAT

First of all, this was amazing.

I wasn't too familiar with the storyline of Batman because I've only seen the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, so Dick Grayson (Nightwing), Tim Drake (Red Robin) and Damian Wayne (Robin) were all new characters for me. They weren't really in this volume too much but I'd like to learn more about their characters/what their scene is to the overall Batman story. The idea of someone or a group of people (the Court of Owls) knowing more than Batman about Gotham city is scary and intriguing, and the Court of Owls is a whole group of villians, not just one villian, so Batman really has no idea who they are or where they are or what is even going on!

Last night before I started reading this I was thinking to myself, I can just go online and watch a classic Batman movie to learn more about Batman, being a whiny 21st century baby who can't use their own imagination. But luckily, my computer battery was dead and I have lost my charger so I had no choice but to read this and I feel bad for ever thinking that I might not be into this storyline. Let me say it again...

I AM SUPER DOWN WITH THIS BOOK. The writing is incredible, from the very beginning I was hooked. I feel like I need to get the second volume immediately and forgo all other plans for the rest of my life until I have read everything in this series.