The Cat's Meow: What's Good On the Shelf This Week

THE BATMAN STRIKES! #25: “Behind Bars” (All Ages)

Jai Nitz (w); Christopher Jones (p); Terry Beatty (i); Mike Sellers (l); Heroic Age (c); cover by Dave McCaig

Concept: Follow the adventures of Bruce Wayne in his early years as Batman. Based on the current WB animated series.

In this issue: Killer Croc has spent his life being kept in cages. Now he's broken free, and only the Batman can keep Croc from taking an explosive revenge on all of Gotham City !

Review: It's to the credit of writer Nitz that we feel a bit sympathetic toward Croc at the beginning, as we see him locked up three different times during his life: as a lab experiment, a sideshow freak, and finally, a criminal captured by Batman. But the feeling doesn't last, as Croc escapes and plans an explosive situation. It's up to Batman to stop him—with butler Alfred and sidekick Batgirl's help. The artwork is very nice; Croc himself looks awesome. There's a lesson on the importance of listening, as Batgirl figures out a way to stop Croc by listening to his dialogue with Batman while fighting him

Since this was a slow week, I thought I'd pull something from my collection and review it. In keeping with the theme of Batman comics based on WB animated shows, I present:

BATMAN BEYOND (All Ages)

Concept: In Gotham City of the future, Bruce Wayne has retired from crime fighting and watched as the city has been overrun by a new breed of criminals. Seeing the need for the return of the Dark Knight, Bruce trains and equips the young and brash Terry McGinnis with a new futuristic Bat-suit.

Review: This is my favorite version of the character. Terry's story is similar to that of Peter Parker/Spider-Man: they both feel responsible for the murder of a loved one, they both struggle to keep their costumed identities a secret, and they both face off against some colorful villains. In this case, that includes a corporate executive-turned-radioactive monster (Derek Powers/Blight); gang members who dress like The Joker (The Jokerz); a shapeshifter (Inque); a family of criminals dressed as playing cards (The Royal Flush Gang); humans injected with animal DNA (splicers); a villain who uses sound as a weapon (Shriek); and more. BATMAN BEYOND began as a six-issue miniseries, then became an ongoing series which lasted 24 issues, as well as a comic adaptation of the “Return Of the Joker” film. The series was written (for the most part) by Hilary J. Bader, who also wrote episodes of the show. Rick Burchett penciled the miniseries; the talented Craig Rousseau, whose work I became a fan of with this title, took over and drew most of the ongoing series. It's worth searching for; it has great scripts and great artwork, and you just might learn a tidbit or two about science along the way.

Check out the artwork of Craig Rousseau at his website.

The original miniseries was collected in trade paperback format and is available to order at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com.

To be included in next week's column:

KRYPTO THE SUPERDOG #1

LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS VOL. 2 #3

RUNAWAYS VOL. 2 #20

By thy side,

John “Figaro” Norris

Sept. 17, 2006

Any questions or comments, contact me at comicsintheclassroom @ gmail.com