Panel Vision - No Man's Land

As you probably know Puerto Rico recently suffered devastation at the hands of Hurricane Maria.  It’s a natural disaster of incalculable scale made infinitely worse by the federal government's point-blank refusal to help Puerto Rico in the manner that would befit our so-called leaders.  If you’re at all able to give please consider donating to organizations like United for Puerto Rico, Americares, Convoy of Hope, Direct Relief, Catholic Relief Services, International Medical Corps, or Unicef.  The people of Puerto Rico are in desperate need of help and it’s painfully clear that it’s going to have to come from us because those in power are too cruel or incompetent to take action. 

This idea of being abandoned by our own government has been a running theme in 2017, especially with the way the natural world seems to be coming apart at the seams.  More and more, the organizations we once trusted with our basic safety and day-to-day concerns have turned on us with, at worst, a predatory maliciousness and at best a blind idiocy.  

In that power vacuum citizens have had to rely on one another to fight the battles we can’t as individuals, be that in the form of mass demonstrations and call-in over healthcare or the civilian fleet that went to Houston after Hurricane Harvey.  This blend of federal abandonment with the greater need for joint community action seemed fairly familiar to me because it’s also the core of my favorite Batman comic of all time- No Man’s Land. 

Black Mask set as Villain for Gotham Sirens

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One of the more interesting films coming out of the quagmire that is the DCEU is Gotham Sirens, a spin-off to 2016’s Suicide Squad.  I never actually reviewed Suicide Squad so I’ll just say very quickly that it was a garbage movie and I didn’t like it.  I know some people enjoyed it, but honestly, I thought Batman v. Superman was the better film.  I know those are fighting words on a lot of the Internet so I’ll temper that critique by saying I, along with the rest of geek culture, really liked Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. 

Harley Quinn’s always been a complicated character to get right, mainly because she walks along that thin problematic line between manic pixie villain and domestic abuse victim, but in more recent years she’s backed off from that point.  A lot of that has come from her newly out and proud romance with Poison Ivy, which will be the core focus of the Harley-centric spin-off Gotham Sirens.  Catwoman will also be on hand because we needed a third lead but now we’ve finally gotten an idea of who our villain is- Black Mask. 

Panel Vision - X-Men: Age of Apocalypse

Edited by Robert Beach 

s I write this, X-Men: Apocalypse is set to underwhelm the world as the latest installment of the shockingly subpar X-Men franchise. While, simultaneously, CW’s excellent The Flash show has delved into the well of madness and disappointment that is time meddling and the Flashpoint event comic. Throw in the Captain America’s turn to Hydra and the ongoing launch of DC Rebirth and it all adds up to a swirling cocktail of public conversation towards retcons, reboots, time travel, event comics, the X-Men, and Apocalypse. My point is, there has never been a better time to dive into the well of madness that is X-Men: Age of Apocalypse. 

Cover Story - Top 12 Azrael Covers

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Let’s talk about Azrael for a second.  Azrael is actually one of my favorite superheroes of all time.  A lot of this has to do with how I made the transition from animated superhero shows to actual adult comics.  One of my first exposures to adult comics was a series of audio Batman comics adapting various greatest hits, and I got a hold of a 3-part set that adapted the entire Knightfall Saga that introduced and established Azrael.  From that point on I was hooked on the character and, as luck would have it, he had an ongoing series at the time so it became the first comic I started buying monthly.  

That’s part of why it does wrangle a bit that modern versions like on Gotham or Arkham Knight seem so lacking.  It’s even more frustrating when so much of Azrael’s story plays like the good version of the Assassin’s Creed game plots so it’s not like he’s a character who needed a harsh reworking.  But, given those things have very momentarily catapulted Azrael into the public eye I’ll take what I can get to excuse a deep dive into the comic series that started me down this path with the top 12 Azrael comic covers.

Comics Rainbow - Gotham Central

Edited by Robert Beach 

Hello, and welcome to Comics Rainbow. This week has marked the return of Gotham, Fox’s well-intentioned if not terribly great Batman prequel show, to the airwaves. Though I’m not a huge fan of Gotham, I do get the impetus to do a show like it. Cop shows have been around more or less since the idea of “shows” came about. 

Batman’s relationship with the G.C.P.D. has always been fertile ground for storytelling. This has left the comics with a pretty expansive roster of cops to fill the ranks of Gotham’s character sheet, thanks in no small part to Greg Rucka’s excellent Gotham Central comic. So I decided today we’d get the full spectrum on the many members of the Gotham P.D. in all their shades, shames, and successes.