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NAVIGATE THIS PAGE: Batman and Family | Review: Batman: Under the Red Hood | The Book (and Silent Film) That Influenced The Joker | Nightwing: Batman's Favorite Son | Scholars Look at 75 Years of Robin and Nightwing | Indie Comics You Just Can't Miss | Saga: One of the Best-Selling Indie Comics of All Time | Essential Marvel Comics | Terrifically Terrifying Comics | How the Horror Comics of the 1950s Nearly Buried the Industry... | Find more books about comics on Bookshop.org >>
NAVIGATE THIS PAGE: Batman and Family | Review: Batman: Under the Red Hood | The Book (and Silent Film) That Influenced The Joker | Nightwing: Batman's Favorite Son | Scholars Look at 75 Years of Robin and Nightwing | Indie Comics You Just Can't Miss | Saga: One of the Best-Selling Indie Comics of All Time | Essential Marvel Comics | Terrifically Terrifying Comics | How the Horror Comics of the 1950s Nearly Buried the Industry... | Find more books about comics on Bookshop.org >>
BATMAN & FAMILY
BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD
Judd Wince (author) Doug Mahnke (illustrator)
MY REVIEW: This compendium of Batman comics from the early 2000s is the resurrection story of Jason Todd, the second and most infamous Robin in Batman lore. Todd’s character was very unpopular with fans and he was ultimately killed off by the Joker in the 1980s, only to be resurrected years later as the vigilante, Red Hood. Batman always considered Jason and the circumstances leading up to his death as being his “greatest failure.“ In this book, Bruce Wayne must not only deal with his guilt about putting an emotionally unstable young man in harms way, but also not being able to save him from a brutal death. Jason, whose resurrection is the result of circumstance and magic, has a few feelings on it as well. It’s a mesmerizing and iconic set of stories. A must read for Batman fans.
Batman: Under the Red Hood collects Batman #635-641, #645-50 and Batman Annual #25.
Judd Wince (author) Doug Mahnke (illustrator)
MY REVIEW: This compendium of Batman comics from the early 2000s is the resurrection story of Jason Todd, the second and most infamous Robin in Batman lore. Todd’s character was very unpopular with fans and he was ultimately killed off by the Joker in the 1980s, only to be resurrected years later as the vigilante, Red Hood. Batman always considered Jason and the circumstances leading up to his death as being his “greatest failure.“ In this book, Bruce Wayne must not only deal with his guilt about putting an emotionally unstable young man in harms way, but also not being able to save him from a brutal death. Jason, whose resurrection is the result of circumstance and magic, has a few feelings on it as well. It’s a mesmerizing and iconic set of stories. A must read for Batman fans.
Batman: Under the Red Hood collects Batman #635-641, #645-50 and Batman Annual #25.
THE BOOK (AND SILENT FILM) THAT INFLUENCED THE JOKER
DC Comic's representation of Batman's greatest nemesis — The Joker — has a surprising origin. The Man Who Laughs was a novel published by Victor Hugo in 1869. In 1928, it was turned into a silent black-and-white film starring Conrad Veidt as a young nobleman named Gwynplaine.
While Batman's Joker may be homicidal criminal, Gwynplaine was a tragic character, disfigured as a child on the order of a vengeful king so outwardly he can express no emotion other than endless mirth. This condemns him to a life as a sideshow freak, a good person who's forever the butt of everyone else's jokes. While the film is considered an example of early horror, its success giving rise to Dracula and Frankenstein three years later, it was intended to be romantic melodrama. Even more surprising, however, is that Veidt's grinning countenance became the artistic inspiration for The Joker some eleven years later when the villain debuted in Batman #1. Can you see the similarities? Read more about this.
DC Comic's representation of Batman's greatest nemesis — The Joker — has a surprising origin. The Man Who Laughs was a novel published by Victor Hugo in 1869. In 1928, it was turned into a silent black-and-white film starring Conrad Veidt as a young nobleman named Gwynplaine.
While Batman's Joker may be homicidal criminal, Gwynplaine was a tragic character, disfigured as a child on the order of a vengeful king so outwardly he can express no emotion other than endless mirth. This condemns him to a life as a sideshow freak, a good person who's forever the butt of everyone else's jokes. While the film is considered an example of early horror, its success giving rise to Dracula and Frankenstein three years later, it was intended to be romantic melodrama. Even more surprising, however, is that Veidt's grinning countenance became the artistic inspiration for The Joker some eleven years later when the villain debuted in Batman #1. Can you see the similarities? Read more about this.
NIGHTWING: BATMAN'S FAVORITE SON
SCHOLARS LOOK AT 75 YEARS OF ROBIN AND NIGHTWING
Kristen L. Geaman (editor)
Dick Grayson — alter-ego of the original Robin of Batman comics — has gone through various changes in his 75 years as a superhero but has remained the optimistic, humorous character readers first embraced in 1940. Predating Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, he is one of DC Comics' oldest heroes and retains a large and loyal fanbase.
The first scholarly work to focus exclusively on the Boy Wonder, this collection of new essays features critical analysis, as well as interviews with some of the biggest names to study Dick Grayson, including Chuck Dixon, Devin Grayson and Marv Wolfman. The contributors discuss his vital place in the Batman saga, his growth and development into an independent hero, Nightwing, and the many storyline connections which put him at the center of the DC Universe. His character is explored in the contexts of feminism, trauma, friendship, and masculinity.
Kristen L. Geaman (editor)
Dick Grayson — alter-ego of the original Robin of Batman comics — has gone through various changes in his 75 years as a superhero but has remained the optimistic, humorous character readers first embraced in 1940. Predating Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, he is one of DC Comics' oldest heroes and retains a large and loyal fanbase.
The first scholarly work to focus exclusively on the Boy Wonder, this collection of new essays features critical analysis, as well as interviews with some of the biggest names to study Dick Grayson, including Chuck Dixon, Devin Grayson and Marv Wolfman. The contributors discuss his vital place in the Batman saga, his growth and development into an independent hero, Nightwing, and the many storyline connections which put him at the center of the DC Universe. His character is explored in the contexts of feminism, trauma, friendship, and masculinity.
INDIE COMICS YOU JUST CAN'T MISS
SAGA: ONE OF THE BEST-SELLING INDIE BOOKS OF ALL TIME
Brian K. Vaughan (author) and Fiona Staples (illustrator)
If you're looking for a series that breaks the comic book mold — no superheroes and intensely character-driven — then you probably couldn't choose better than Saga.
The story follows a family — Marko, Alana and their daughter Hazel — who are on the run across the galaxy, pursued by two different warring factions from which they deserted. It's a sweeping tale set against a galaxy as vast and interesting as anything you'll find in Star Wars or other, best-known franchises, but it never loses sight of also being an intensely personal family drama. And the artwork is both stylish and beautiful.
Started in 2013, there are now numerous Saga books to enjoy and the series has won multiple awards including a Hugo for Best Graphic Story.
Brian K. Vaughan (author) and Fiona Staples (illustrator)
If you're looking for a series that breaks the comic book mold — no superheroes and intensely character-driven — then you probably couldn't choose better than Saga.
The story follows a family — Marko, Alana and their daughter Hazel — who are on the run across the galaxy, pursued by two different warring factions from which they deserted. It's a sweeping tale set against a galaxy as vast and interesting as anything you'll find in Star Wars or other, best-known franchises, but it never loses sight of also being an intensely personal family drama. And the artwork is both stylish and beautiful.
Started in 2013, there are now numerous Saga books to enjoy and the series has won multiple awards including a Hugo for Best Graphic Story.
ESSENTIAL MARVEL COMICS READING
TERRIFICALLY TERRIFYING COMICS
HOW THE HORROR COMICS OF THE 1950s NEARLY BURIED THE INDUSTRY...
While contemporary critics still heap plenty of hate onto comic books, back in the 1950s concern over them was so intense it actually resulted in Congressional hearings and the formation of the Comics Code Authority (CCA), a regulatory body formed by the industry in 1954 as a way of heading off widespread government censorship.
However, at least part of the hysteria that led to the CCA etc. may have been warranted. During what's often considered the most idealistic decade in American history, horror comics were truly horrifying. While many of these books were intended to be morality tales in which greedy, selfish and spiteful protagonists get their horrific just-desserts in the end, having them eaten alive by corpses was way too much for many parents and law-makers. Graphic depictions of dismemberment, decapitation, cannibalism, bondage, occult activities and more were really shocking, especially for a time we often remember as being defined by the bland entertainment of Leave It to Beaver and bubblegum pop music.
While contemporary critics still heap plenty of hate onto comic books, back in the 1950s concern over them was so intense it actually resulted in Congressional hearings and the formation of the Comics Code Authority (CCA), a regulatory body formed by the industry in 1954 as a way of heading off widespread government censorship.
However, at least part of the hysteria that led to the CCA etc. may have been warranted. During what's often considered the most idealistic decade in American history, horror comics were truly horrifying. While many of these books were intended to be morality tales in which greedy, selfish and spiteful protagonists get their horrific just-desserts in the end, having them eaten alive by corpses was way too much for many parents and law-makers. Graphic depictions of dismemberment, decapitation, cannibalism, bondage, occult activities and more were really shocking, especially for a time we often remember as being defined by the bland entertainment of Leave It to Beaver and bubblegum pop music.