It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t focus on Batman this week. Since last Wednesday comic book releases of several Batman spin-off titles – Nightwing, Batwoman, Catwoman, Birds of Prey and Red Hood and the Outlaws of which Nightwing as always being the standout title amoungst the Batman spin-offs. These comics got me in the mood for Friday nights opening night of The Dark Knight Rises, it was unfortunate that whilst many of my friends and work colleagues were busy booking their cinema tickets in excitement of that evening that we discovered the shocking news of the Denver shootings. I have since had time to read and watch the news on the event and I am sadden by the event and that 12 people have lost their lives in this senseless death. My heart goes out to these people and their family and I can only imagine what they are all going through. It is a terrible shame that now like the Dark Knight this final movie will be also associated with the death of innocents. I’m not blaming the franchise or anything it’s just that like that but just agree with Christopher Nolan’s statement; “I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on-screen is an important and joyful pastime. The movie theater is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me.” This isn’t just true for America but the world, the cinema or even watching a movie in your own home should be a time of escapism to spend with friends and family. When the opening titles of The Dark Knight Rises started began I couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy as I thought about the killings in Denver. My heart goes out to all of them. It has been reported that this weeks Batman Incorporated #3 has been delayed due to Denver Killings and that Christian Bale has also of his own accord visited the victims of the Denver Killings.
I recently reviewed The Dark Knight Rises and hands down this was the best ending to a superhero trilogy that I have ever seen. It tied up things nice and finally gave Bruce Wayne and ending to his tragic life which is something we will never see in the comics but also left things slightly open for maybe a possible Robin or Catwoman follow-up but I imagine that both of those would be unlikely and that we will most likely be faced with yet another reboot. I for one would love to see more of this Gotham City and the characters we have grown to know with Christian Bale’s Batman somehow forced to come back even to train Robin, or perhaps a Catwoman prequel showing the eight years between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.
Today I picked up a British comic called “Batman The Dark Knight” for £2.99 which is a reprint of The Dark Knight #1 and Detective Comics #1 from DC’s ‘The New 52’ relaunch from September 2011, published by Titan Magazines. In September 2011, I tried to pick up a lot of ‘The New 52’ these are two titles are two that I didn’t pick up. I don’t normally pick up British reprints of American comics as I have prefer to have 1st printing from America but I thought I would try it out and I really enjoyed both tales. This comic reminds me of being down the coast when I was much younger and fancying a comic which contained several different tales in one magazine. The first story focuses on Bruce Wayne the Billionaire with hints at a police investigation in Batman and shows on the final page a brand new ‘Two-Face’. While the second story is more of a flashback to an earlier Batman focus on the first time Batman meets the Joker. Despite all his madness you can see how clever and cunning the Joker is and it looks like things from issue two onwards are going to get even darker. I’m going to stick with this and fight past my OCD of first printings and pay my local newsagent and more regular visit.
Mark Brassington 