Comics: Happy Batman Day!
by Dee. 7/23/2014
Many people might not know it, but today is Batman Day: the one day a year that people join together across the world, pretending to be a man dressed as a bat.We have free copies of Detective Comics #27, and a few caped crusaders have been seen around the store (it's just staff in capes, but still!).
The biggest change in comics recently has been Doctor Who's change of publisher, from IDW to Titan Comics. Since David Tennant (tenth Doctor) and Matt Smith (eleventh Doctor) are so popular, Titan brings us Doctor Who: Tenth Doctor and Doctor Who: Eleventh Doctor so we don't have to choose just one.
There is a suggestion of Bad Wolf in the opening to the Tenth's issue, which is kind of awesome. The heroine (and potential Companion?) is Gabriella, a waitress at her father's New York restaurant, who gets to wait on the Tenth Doctor. It's Dia de los Muertos, and you know what that means: freaky ghosts, demonic spectres and one doctor with his sonic screwdriver to rule them all. I mean, figure out the origins of this space-time anomaly, and resolve the problem. This was an excellent issue, and would probably translate well to a TV script, as it is very much in the tone of the Tenth Season (with less pouting). Also, the "Sontaran Stand-Up" on the back page of the comic is worth a look. The joke is that Sontarans can't relate to anyone, while sounding very similar to a Bill Cosby routine.
Both issues specifically mention the different sonic screwdrivers of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors on the inside cover, so that readers can follow along at home. Doctor Who: Eleventh Doctor's issue starts out much more... grim. Alice has just lost her mother, and life keeps getting harder. The use of color to portray a contrasting attitude (major depression vs. hanging out with the doctor) is an excellent start to a Doctor Who issue. The phrase "It's me, the Doctor. From earlier. Weird alien nosebleedy lamppost dog man," captures the sillier tones of Eleven, but it's followed up with genuine concern for Alice's well-being. I am a big fan of this issue as well, as Matt Smith has some clever almost-fourth-wall-breaking lines. "Service with a Shhhh" is the bonus story in the back, and it differs from the "Sontaran Stand-Up" in that it actually makes more sense if you have seen the issue(s) to which the bonus story refers. No spoilers.
All in all, the art style is photo-realistic when it comes to the main characters, and is very creative when it comes to alien creatures. I generally approve of both the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor Who comics, and I look forward to reading more of them.
I'm Batman, and I approve this post,
Dee