EspanolBot's Opinionated Bests and Worsts in Comics of 2011

[espanolbot]

Due to moving house, I unfortunately have been unable to make any Casstoons to cover this, so here is a prose semi-list of things I thought were good and bad about comics (mainly DC) that happened in the year 2011.

Break-Out Writer of the Year - Scott Snyder

Although I'd already read his work in the kind of meh series Iron Man: Noir and in the excellent American Vampire (of which Stephen King managed to hog most of the credit), this year I was really surprised by the quality of his runs on the Batman related titles, such as the backup storyline that became the Black Mirror, the Gates of Gotham and his current run on Batman. All of them were excellent, and word is that his work on Swamp Thing is really good as well, though due to budget concerns I sadly am having to wait for the trade.

Runner Up - Paul Cornell

Continuing his winning streak from his work on Marvel, Cornell has managed to write consistently entertaining work with his Black Ring storyline in Action Comics, as well as Batman and Robin, Stormwatch and Demon Knights runs. Kind of like a British Gail Simone in some respects, only without the Joss Whedon-ish tone that seeps in occasionally to her work. Definitely looking forward to his Saucer Country series for Vertigo next year.

Consistently Best Superhero Comic - Batgirl (2010 - 2011)

A fun book about the one character in the Bat Family that doesn't seem to be overwhelmed by depressed navel gazing. A lot of fun, with mostly consistent good art and interesting characters, Stephanie Brown's journey from being seen as merely a nuisance or hazard by the other members of the Bat Family to being accepted for her own merits was really an interesting journey. Not really the most deep of books, but sometimes we just want to read a book where a plucky young woman teams up with Supergirl to fight a horde of overacting, angsty Draculas. Or maybe that's just me.

Runner-Up : Batman Inc.

Although it showed a lot of promise in the start, as well as having a lot of new and exciting ideas being introduced into the Bat Universe, this series seemed to be to sadly not hold up to muster, at least at up until it hastily being semi-concluded in Leviathan Strikes!. Maybe it warrants multiple reads like the majority of Morrison's Batman work, but there's a difference between having a complex story and having plot elements thrown at you as if from the mouth of a crazy homeless person. There are definitely good moments to it, the opening few issues introducing the Japanese branch of Batman Inc. were VERY good in terms of art, story and in the interaction between the characters. With the relationship between Selina and Batman being a particular highlight. The issue with the CG art was inexcusable though. Blarg.

Most Disappointing Event Comic - Flashpoint

Probably only brought about as an internal means of justifying the reboot, the series didn't really gel with me as some of DC's other event storylines. The spin-off titles were ironically more interesting than the main title, with the Batman tie-in where Bruce Wayne died and his parents are now Batman and the Joker evidently was really good. The Traci 13 centric one was also really good, though problematic in parts. The fact that the main series was based around one of the more bland of DC's "iconic" cast probably didn't help matters, and leads us to our next segment...

Biggest Unintentional Villain of 2011 - Barry Allen

Although it was highly unlikely that the creators intended it that way, Barry Allen's decision to try and change the past to suit his own means managed to come across as being kind of selfish, and the fact that it ended up destroying time and creating the dystopian world of the Flashpoint Universe made it even worse. Maybe they were going for the irony factor, but wasn't trying to change the past to right some tragedies that happened to him the origin of the Flash villain Zoom? And Wally West, the Flash at the time (who seems to have been erased in the reboot by the by) refused to let him do it as it would break the timestream? Hell, Hal Jordan tried to do the same thing, and that caused even Superman to decry him as a crazy supervillain. And then you get into the fact that Barry wouldn't fix things the way they used to be, erasing people like Wally West (his wife's nephew) and his family... Yeah, accidental or no, I can't really find myself rooting for the guy at this point.

Runner-Up: the Guardians of the Universe


Always balancing on the edge between being godlike but benevolent beings and immortals with huge chips on their soldiers, 2011 opened whole new ways for the supposed Big Goods of the DCU, the leaders of the Green Lantern Corps (the Guardians of the Universe) to go from just being cold and distant to being overtly villainous. For example, brainwashing the more traditionally heroic of the Guardians, Ganthet, due to becoming a representive of the Blue Lanterns because him feeling hope and love was an abomination, apparently. Though these are the guys who seemed to think that turning their own people into dogmatic cyborgs (after their last attempt at robotic minions failed spectacularly with the Manhunters) would be a good idea, so I guess that shouldn't be suprising.

Greatest Internet Arguments Caused by Comics?
A tie between,
- The DC Reboot: Good or Bad?
- The Reboot and Sexism: Catwoman raping Batman and Kori the disinterested sex object.
- Wonder Woman's New Origin
- Barbara Gordan's Cured Paralysis: Does the loss of Oracle outweigh having BatgirlClassic back?

Runners-Up
- Racists complaining about Idris Elba in Thor
- Frank Miller calling the members of the Occupy Movement rapists and whiners.
- The debate over whether the complaints about Ultimate Spider-man being replaced by Miles Morales are racist or not (most of them WERE).

Series with the Consistently Best Cover Art - Gates of Gotham


Most Bizarrely Adorable Semi-Incest Implict Pairing
Cassandra Cain (Black Bat) and Tim Drake/Wayne (Red Robin) at the end of Gates of Gotham.

Building on their relationship from Cass' own series, up through the implications of Beechen's unfortunate Robin run and into the pre-reboot Red Robin series, the attraction that was implied appeared to finally come to a head, when the adopted siblings appeared to officially become a couple at the end of Scott Snyder's excellent miniseries. Chances are that any relationship between the two has now been erased due to the reboot, same as Supergirl apparently getting some in the conclusion of her own series, but if something DID happen between Cass and Tim, it kind of makes for a weirdly sweet end to their ten or so year pseudofriendship.


The Worst Way to Show the Retconning of a Marriage
Lois and Clark
There are good ways and bad ways to reboot a relationship. A good way is to have them just be friends and build from there. The bad way would be to should them as friends and show they aren't a couple anymore by having Clark interupt her having sex with her boyfriend. Allen, this is your doing!


Worst Costume
Zatanna's outfit in Flashpoint


Best New Villain
James Gordon Jr.
The son of Commissioner Gordon, James Jr came back into the Batman universe during Scott Snyder's Black Mirror run on Detective Comics, in a story that originally was meant to be a back-up story for the main one, but DC dropped the concept of backup stories Snyder's story made its way to the forefront.

The explanation as to why Jim Jr acts the way he does is never really explained, possibly the drop from the bridge in Batman: Year One, possibly him just being born that way, he manages to come across as both genuinely disturbed as well as actually frightening, even before the extent of his illness is revealed.

Still around in the DCnU (appearing in a panel in the start of Snyder's Batman run), I really hope that IF he is returned, it is by people who'd not dumb down his protrayal into something more akin to Zsasz or something. Or the Dollmaker. Blarg.




More to come if I think of them. But what are your Bests and Worsts of the year? Let us know. :)

Comments

[jaybee3]

Having Jim Jr. be such a clear psychopath was the one misstep in Snyder's writing for me. I would have much preferred it had he left it at Cary Grant/Suspicion level with Babs and Jim Sr. playing the Joan Fontaine role of always wondering/agonizing if their suspicions are right or maybe they're seeing it wrong (Hitchcock had to kowtow to the studios not to make Cary Grant's a murderer in the movie but you can still watch it and imagine otherwise).

A lot of the the other things mentioned fall under the "Unfortunate Implications" trope where it seems that the people at DC are either unaware of what they're doing (such as replacing bi-racial and their most successful woman of color ever solo title wise Cass Cain as Batgirl in the most tasteless way with yet another blue eyed blonde girl to go with already blue-eyed blondes Wonder Girl and Supergirl) or they ARE aware of what they are doing and have that much contempt for their audience (which is what I consider the Lois Lane/Clark Superman #1 isssue - they released those particular pages - the last in the actual issue itself - to the national media while Lois/Clark were STILL married in the comics and had commentary from Jim Lee himself that we are supposed to feel "sorry" for Clark in this circumstance even though L/C have never been a couple in this continuity but don't even seem particularly close friends after 5 years - even John Byrne gave us better character development than that).

The Flashpoint thing is something I don't think DC or Johns did knowingly but is true nonetheless. Hal Jordan (who wanted to bring back the entire multiverse in Zero Hour) was villifed for less than what Barry Allen did. And either Zoom (who set all this in motion) becomes the greatest super-villain in DC history since the Anti-Monitor or Barry himself did but literally wiping out not only marriages but entire LIVES just for his own purposes. And the fact that no one seems to remember it was done (no Psycho Pirate seemingly) makes it all the more worse.

[mrstatham]

To just pass off Steph based on her hair and eye colour is pretty dismissive, frankly. She isn't exactly the same as Supergirl or Wonder Girl just because she looks vaguely similar. It ignores how great her book was. Given the book wasn't even meant to be Steph's to begin with, either, would you have been so bitter about it if it were Babs in the role?

[espanolbot]

I know I would, and that's coming from someone who actually liked Steph and her series. I have issues with the Batgirl reboot, though I'd prefer to know what's happened to Cass and Steph before making my final decision on the matter.

[jaybee3]

My commentary had nothing to do with Steph persay - I like her very much but about the Powers that Be at DC not even noticing that implications of replacing one of their few successful minority characters with yet another white blonde girl in an era that also saw Power Girl, Stargirl, Wonder Girl, Saturn Girl, Supergirl, Black Canary & Lady Blackhawk, Ravager, etc. all starring already in an ongoing title. Even in the less diverse 1960s, Wonder Girl, Batgirl, and Supergirl weren't ALL blondes.

As for the Babs thing, I would be bitter but for different reasons. There's no way I can see Oracle reverting to BatGIRL when there's a less experienced BatWOMAN out there already and when she personally had given the name and legacy over to Cassandra - even if she was healed. And yet...we know Didio was ready to make just that move even without a reboot explanation. That would have have left an even bitterer taste in my mouth (and I still don't see why Cassandra had to be switched out at all - and in a tasteless one page and you're outta here manner - if they changed their minds about Babs).

[mrstatham]

Except to suggest that these characters all have no worth because they look vaguely similar, again, feels somewhat unfair, frankly. It ignores whatever value these characters have beyond their skin tones, be it in powers, personality, attitudes, skills, roles in their books and so on. Maybe DC didn't want to do another series with a quasi-metahuman Batgirl who had been controversial for the past two years or more anyway and just wanted something fun and light. Given it was a period where DC clearly didn't know what the fuck they were doing with Cass anyway, I don't see as it hurt to give Steph a shot as Batgirl. DC clearly had no interest in giving Cass the role again anyway, given they considered everyone from Steph and Babs to Misfit and Bette Kane as well as Cass, suggesting they were doing their darnedest to avoid using her.

I also don't see the need to bring Kate into this, since she has a legion of her own fans now, and to have Babs replace her as Batwoman would create much the same amount of bother as replacing Cass or Steph. And again, Cass was switched out, most likely, because fans had spent every opportunity complaining about every last thing DC tried with the character. If you tell a kid to draw something, and you don't like it, you make them draw something else, and you don't like that, eventually the kid's going to stop drawing. DC just did the same thing. And the tastefulness is a matter of opinion, really. If Cass had been butchered and Steph immediately donned the costume and started being all chipper, that would be tasteless.

[icon_uk]

Surely it would have made far more sense in the reboot for Babs to take on the Batwoman name (If they had to make her not-Oracle, which I sincerely wish they hadn't), and for Kate to take on the ID of Batgirl (Kate I like as a character, but her instant elevation to hyper-accomplished heroine able to talk down to much more experienced heroes (and yes, by that I mean Flamebird) irks more than a little)

Babs as Batwoman would still ensure brand recognition AND allow for character growth, which the reboot does seem to be in short supply of since it's reset her so much.