I haven’t totally given up on the “DC Casualties” series, but I’ve decided that maybe it’s time to review something DC published that people actually read. And DC’s certainly made that easy with its series of gigantic reprints of the ‘90s “Knightfall” storyline. Have you seen these things? Each one is over six hundred pages, around a year’s worth of Batman continuity, all in color for just under thirty bucks. (Okay, one cent less than thirty bucks, and it’ll cost over thirty dollars after taxes, but still…) I followed this event off and on when it was published, but I’ve only read about a sixth of the comics previously, so the vast majority of this material is new to me. And if this goes well, maybe I’ll explore some of the other stunts life-changing events from ‘90s DC that are in trade paperback. Has Hal Jordan’s descent into insanity been preserved for the ages?
if you going straight from the new trades be aware several stories are missing in the second and third one
ReplyDeleteIt's somewhat amazing that even when they are in dumb overarching plot mode, Batman is better than most comics of his era.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm prety sure "Emerald Twilight" is reprinted somewhere.
Kabe
I actually love this period from DC, since I think they did a much better job with their events like Death and Return of Superman and this particular story.
ReplyDeleteKnightfall drags a little bit during the middle after Batman gets replaced, and I'm both a fan of Azrael and the awesomely 90s Batman costume he wears.
Emerald Twilight is collected, it has the three issues where Hal goes crazy, followed by the first three issues of Rayner's tenure as GL. Overall, I actually liked it, but then again I hate Hal Jordan and the Corps, besides select members like Guy Gardner and Kilawog, is kinda meh for me. If you don't have any particular attachment to the GL mythos, it's kinda cool to watch the whole shebang get torn down in three issues, and Kyle's first appearances are decent, plus you get to see the inspiration for the term Women in Refrigerators Syndrome (and the scene is some admitedly weak writing from Ron Marz, who otherwise did a lot of good work with Kyle).
Kyle Rayner is da greatest GL
ReplyDeleteKabe
Nice! I actually just re-read the first chunk of "Knightfall" (up through issue #500) because I got sucked in by the massive full color paperback reprint tomes last summer as well (I got all three at various times for less that $20 each via B&N online, which was a steal).
ReplyDelete"Knightfall", running as it did right around the time I was seriously getting into comics for the first time, was the first Batman story I'd ever read, and thus holds a lot of nostalgia for me (I even remember getting some of the issues in those Toys R Us three packs).
I was surprised at how well, overall, it held up when I re-read it this summer (I didn't read then and haven't read yet the follow-up series, though I did read the novelization of them years ago).
At any rate, I'm excited to read your take on them.