{"id":7843,"date":"2005-08-06T14:57:08","date_gmt":"2005-08-06T21:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2005\/08\/06\/bt05-where-blogs-the-balding-blogathonner.html"},"modified":"2005-08-06T14:57:08","modified_gmt":"2005-08-06T21:57:08","slug":"bt05_where_blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/08\/06\/bt05_where_blog.html","title":{"rendered":"BT05 &#8211; Where Blogs the Balding Blogathonner?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Continuing with a look on what I&#8217;ve recently read.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Batman &#038; Robin the Boy Wonder<\/em> #1 (DC):  Frank Miller and Jim Lee take on Batman &#038; Robin from the get-go.  Some of Lee&#8217;s best work, and Miller&#8217;s no slouch &#8212; but I&#8217;m not sure we need an updating of the canon as to how Robin became Batman&#8217;s faithful ward.  Sabotage of the Flying Graysons&#8217; trapeze lines is evidently now passe &#8212; instead, they have to be sniped to the head.  Huh?  Judgment reserved.\n<li><em>Black Panther<\/em> #5 (Marvel):  This retelling of the early years of the Panther&#8217;s reign (I think &#8212; elements seem retro, others seem quite contemporary, esp. having to do with the US opposition) proceeds apace.  I think Reginal Hudlin&#8217;s story will read more coherently in collection, and the number of characters lurking about is daunting for someone not 100% up on his Panther lore.  John Romita, Jr. and Klaus Janson&#8217;s art works very well here, though.  This series is doing okay, even if I was sorry to see the old one end.<\/p>\n<li><em>Captain America<\/em> #5-6 (Marvel):  Ed Brubaker&#8217;s smoke and mirrors are working well here, with SHIELD, Hydra, Zemo, the Skull, the Cosmic Cube, the &#8220;Winter Soldier&#8221; project from the USSR, and even lonely Jack &#8220;Nomad&#8221; Monroe doing an elaborate shadowy dance around Cap.  I hate to see Cap become a &#8220;dark&#8221; character, but the world around him has certainly darkened, and Marvel seems determined to make him &#8220;relevant&#8221; to world geopolitical affairs as they seem them.  Whatever.  Steve Epting&#8217;s art is solidly realistic.  Good title, but not enthusiastically so.<\/p>\n<li><em>Conan<\/em> #18 (Dark Horse):  Kurt Busiek still amazes.  This issue includes the tale behind a very familiar helm, with, as a backup, &#8220;Conan&#8217;s Favorite Joke&#8221; (which would indeed have been pretty funny).<\/p>\n<li><em>Conan and the Jewels of Gwahlur<\/em> #3 (of 3) (Dark Horse):  Decent writing and beautiful art by P. Craig Russell, not surprisingly.  This tale of a younger Conan&#8217;s raid on a mysterious temple doesn&#8217;t quite measure up to Busiek&#8217;s efforts, but I plan on getting the TPB when it comes out.<\/p>\n<li><em>Concrete: The Human Dilemma<\/em> #6 (of 6) (Dark Horse):  The story wraps as unsatisfactorally as it must, with carefully crafted betrayal and philosophical maundering taking over from a solid plot.  Chadwick isn&#8217;t much for plot vs. message, and that&#8217;s not necessarily a bad thing &#8212; the intrinsically untidy nature of existence and human nature themselves is one of this themes, it seems &#8212; but this all seems just too carefully contrived in its uncertainty.  Not going for the trade on this one.<\/p>\n<li><em>City of Heroes<\/em> #1-2 (Top Cow):  While the new Mark Waid series is better than the one that preceded it, it&#8217;s still awkward.  The main characters remain stiff and difficult to relate to, and Waid seems unable to make Paragon City a decent backdrop.  I really want this comic to work (given my own City of Crack addiction, and my general admiration of Waid), but so far it really doesn&#8217;t gel.<\/p>\n<li><em>Daredevil<\/em> #45\/455 (Marvel):  The conclusion of the muddled &#8220;Decalogue&#8221; arc.  Bendis&#8217; dialog is less coherent than usual, and Meleev&#8217;s art is more difficult to follow than usual, and the whole story just never quite works.  Oh, well.<\/p>\n<li><em>Daredevil vs. Punisher: Means and Ends<\/em> #1-2 (Marvel):  A bit more traditional treatment of both characters, I got this inadvertently by the &#8220;automatic cross-over&#8221; subscription through Mile High.  Nicely done by David Lapham &#8212; nothing that&#8217;s going to win Eisners or be remember as a high point for either character, but a good read nonetheless.<\/ul>\n<p>\n<small><i>(listening to: Battlefield Band, &#8220;The Tail o&#8217; the Bank&#8221; from <\/i>Celtic Hotel<i>)<\/i><\/small><br \/>\n<small><i>(listening to: &#8220;Isotoxin &#8211; Necros _ Fm&#8221; from <\/i>Unreal<i>)<\/i><\/small><br \/>\n<small><i>(listening to: Mouth Music, &#8220;Bratach Bana (White Banners)&#8221; from <\/i>Mouth Music<i>)<\/i><\/small><br \/>\n<small><i>(listening to: Biggs, E.Power, Organ\/Boston Brass Ensemble\/Richard Burgin, Conductor, &#8220;Frescobaldi &#8211; Canzon quinta in G minor&#8221; from <\/i>Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli<i>)<\/i><\/small><br \/>\n<small><i>(listening to: Sinatra, Frank, &#8220;Someone to Watch Over Me&#8221; from <\/i>Classic Sinatra<i>)<\/i><\/small><br \/>\n<small><i>(listening to: lang, k.d., &#8220;Big Boned Gal&#8221; from <\/i>Absolute Torch and Twang<i>)<\/i><\/small><br \/>\n<small><i>(listening to: Cockburn, Bruce, &#8220;Riu Riu Chiu&#8221; from <\/i>Christmas<i>)<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Continuing with a look on what I&#8217;ve recently read&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogathon","category-media-comics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15412,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/26\/bt09-hey-kids-more-comics-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":7843,"position":0},"title":"BT09 &#8211; Hey, Kids! More Comics! (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 26-Jul-09 5:28am","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, it is now officially past the time that I usually get up on weekday mornings. That makes it way too late for me not to have gone to bed, and my body is chiding me soundly for it. I'm risking a bit more caffeine -- it's got a half-life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blogathon&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"kidscomics","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/kidscomics.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9340,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/07\/25\/a_big_blue_boy.html","url_meta":{"origin":7843,"position":1},"title":"A Big Blue Boy Scout","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 25-Jul-06 3:22pm","format":false,"excerpt":"My results: You are Superman Superman 85% Spider-Man 75% Robin 62% Iron Man 55% Hulk 55% Supergirl 47% The Flash 45% Green Lantern 40% Batman 40% Catwoman 35% Wonder Woman...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comics &amp; Comic Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comics &amp; Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5476,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/03\/04\/gary_gordon.html","url_meta":{"origin":7843,"position":2},"title":"Gary Gordon","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 4-Mar-04 3:04pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Gary Oldman ... as Commissioner Gordon? Um ... well ... isn't that ... uh ... disturbing. Oldman has signed as Commissioner Gordon in the newest Batman flick, Batman Begins. The...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;DC Media (DCEU, DCU)&quot;","block_context":{"text":"DC Media (DCEU, DCU)","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/dc-cinematic-univese"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133647,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/10\/star-tributes-to-the-one-real-batman.html","url_meta":{"origin":7843,"position":3},"title":"Star tributes to the &quot;one real Batman&quot;","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 10-Jun-17 9:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It's kind of funny -- I keep seeing folk referring to West's \"camp\" Batman, but his genius in the role was always playing the quintessential straight man, taking the role and the situations with an utterly straight face and earnest attitude. (Leslie Nielsen adopted the same tack in his later\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9640,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/05\/19\/comic_quickies.html","url_meta":{"origin":7843,"position":4},"title":"Comic Quickies","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 19-May-06 2:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"From this week's pull box. A nice collection of entertainment. Robin #150: Well, we find out who's framing Robin and killing various folks around him. Bleah. Emblematic of what's wrong...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comics &amp; Comic Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comics &amp; Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1719,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/05\/12\/the_killing_jok.html","url_meta":{"origin":7843,"position":5},"title":"The Killing Joker","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 12-May-02 2:58pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Some months back, I recall reading (but, evidently, not blogging about) a direct-to-video Batman Beyond movie, The Return of the Joker. The controversy at the time was that WB had...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comics &amp; Comic Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comics &amp; Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Original and Best","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/batman1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7843\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}