Justice League Dark #1 (2011)

Justice League Dark #1 (November, 2011)
"in the dark, part one: Imaginary Women"
Writer - Peter Milligan
Artist - Mikel Janin
Colorists - Ulises Arreola
Letterer - Rob Leigh
Editors - Red Ogle & Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.99

"They're not really going to call it that, right?  That's surely just a place-holder title."

Those were my first thoughts when DC Comics announced a "Justice League Dark" title as part of their New-52! initiative.  I mean, it feels like such an awkward way to exploit a brand and it's just so damn cringy-sounding.  This sounds like something I would have "created" back in junior high.

"So, what's it about?"
"Well... it's kinda like [insert comics brand], only... dark, maaaaaaan."

Ehh, maybe I'm projecting.  After all, this came out just a year or two after Marvel created an entire "dark" line of books... that were equally cringy-sounding, but might've had an audience.

Anyhoo, let's get into it!

--

We open with Madame Xanadu, xanadoing what she does best... reading personalized tarot cards.  She has looked into the future, and seen that there is a terrible danger on the horizon.  There's a close-up on the "Fool" card, and that's when we're introduced to a troubled young woman by the name of June Moone.  She walks the streets of, whatever town we're in, and sees terrible demons.  She wanders into a local diner, where the townies are glued to the television... turns out there are a whole lotta ladies who look exactly like her currently wandering the freeway... and causing all manner of havoc.

We shift to a meeting between Shade the Changing Man and his girlfriend/better half/whatever Kathy.  She implores him not to leave, but he insists that he must.  Before he does, it's revealed that she wasn't a real girl, but a conjuring Rac made to stop him from being lonesome.  I wonder if this is intended as a callback or to cap off the 1990's Vertigo series in some way.  Wouldn't surprise me, I doubt any 2011 DC editorial execs read the thing!

Our next stop is a farmhouse... where a being known as the Enchantress dwells.

She uses her spells to bring about some madness in the world... it's some real non-sequitur stuff, and really feels like it's trying to evoke that early-Vertigo feel.

This has drawn the attention of the Justice League... er, Light-version, I guess.  Zatanna and Batman watch on the monitors while Superman, Cyborg, and Wonder Woman make their approach.  Cyborg doesn't have a good feeling about this... and, well... his intuition is correct.  The Mad Witch reveals herself... filling the skies with madness (and giving us our Pandora cameo [bottom left] to boot).

Suddenly teeth of all shapes swirl in the air, slicing Superman to ribbons... remember, he's got a weakness to magic.  It isn't long before Cyborg and Wonder Woman are overcome by the toothy-typhoon as well.

Back at the Watchtower, Zatanna informs Batman that she's going to head off and look into this.  Batman insists that he joins her, however, she has other plans.  She binds his feet and leaves without him.

Then... John Constantine pops into reality.  Hey, nice of him to make an appearance seeing as he's the reason we're all buying this book, right?

Back in town, June Moone knocks on a random door of a random apartment.  When the tenant answers, June tells her that she's looking for (a) Deadman...

Back at Madame Xanadu's shop, Rac Shade finds the lady of the house kayoed.  When she comes to, she informs him of the wickedness of the Enchantress and the fact that Imaginary Women have seemed to enter reality en masse.  She burdens him with the responsibility of setting things right.

We wrap up with Xanadu taking a look into the future... and not really liking what she sees.

--

Well... first things first.  This art is ridiculous... I mean, how gorgeous is this book?  I think this might've been my first exposure to Mikel Janin... and holy cow, this is one amazing-looking book!

Story wise, we get a pretty decent introduction to a few of our major players.  It is pretty cool to have Milligan working on Shade again.  I may be misremembering, but I recall so much of the "hoopla" around this book was the fact that John Constantine was going to be front-and-center.  Maybe I'm wrong... but if not, only having John appear on a single page feels like kind of a con.

While on the subject, I'm not a fan of Constantine being a "mainstream" sorta guy... and really never glommed onto him being a member of the Justice League.  To me, he always worked best on the fringes... or as a pestering thorn-in-the-side for the "big" heroes.  This kinda feels like a DC exec thinking "Hey, deez kidz really like dis Constantine guy..." and then just adding him to "a" Justice League.  Ehh, it's over a half-decade in the past though... I may as well be shouting at the wind.  Fact is, this wasn't a bad issue... or series.

The early/proto-Vertigo evoking, while something I kinda feel like I've outgrown, is a welcome addition here.  The Flashpoint fall-out was, if I'm not mistaken (and I might be)... the combining of the "main" DC Universe, Vertigo, and WildStorm.  So, it stands to reason that some Vertigo-y elements would make their way through.  Again, I feel like the "random" weirdness is a bit played out... but, it really "spoke to me" when I was a teen-ager.  Hopefully it did the same for the teens of 2011.

But still... that name.  Just saying "Justice League Dark" is enough to make my skin crawl.  It's one of those titles that feels like "bully bait"... like if you were caught reading this at school or something, you'd be ragged on mercilessly.  It's such a try-hard way of sounding edgy.  It's not as though DC doesn't have "dark" teams... I mean, Shadowpact is right there... hell, Sentinels of Magic is too!

But, of course... you couldn't piggyback either of those with the Justice League brand.  Similar to how our current (soon to be ending) volume of Justice League of America (Volume 6, I believe) is basically Batman and the Outsiders under a new (and more "sellable") title.

But really, if my only complaint about a book is that it has a silly (to me) title... then I think we've got a winner.  I'm still not a fan of Constantine being a "team player" or anything, much less on any version of the Justice League... but still, I'd say this issue is well worth checking out.

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776

Shade the Changing Man (vol.2) #19 (1992)

Shade the Changing Man (vol.2) #19 (January, 1992)
"Bethlehem U.S.A."
Writer - Peter Milligan
Penciller - Chris Bachalo
Inker - Mark Pennington
Colorist - Daniel Vozzo
Letterer - Todd Klein
Assistant Editor - Alisa Kwitney
Editor - Karen Berger
Cover Price:$1.75

It's been a little while since I read any Shade the Changing Man.  I actually meant to give this run a scan-through when I started covering Young Animal's Shade the Changing Girl for Weird Science DC Comics... but, if you're a fellow blog-caster, you know how most of our "Reading Projects" go.

I think I got as far as piling them up on my nightstand.  Which, to be fair... is further along than I usually get!

Anyhoo... today we're going to take a look at a darker Christmas story.  Let's get to it!

--

We open with a hung-over Shade writing a letter to Kathy about how he had spent his first Earth Christmas.  He was in a town called Bethlehem, Kansas... which, yeah, is kinda on the nose, but we'll allow it.  Anyhoo, he was imbibing at a local watering hole when he was approached by a strange and excited man named Dave.  Dave is in search of a "New Messiah"... and claims that on Christmas this new Messiah will reveal himself.

Before moving forward with ol' Dave, Shade reminisces about how Christmas was spent home on Meta.  It was a day of reverence for the dead... a day in which the bones of loved ones would be dug up and displayed in the home... adorned with flowers, tinsel, and other shiny pretty stuff.  Not completely unlike our own Christmas trees I suppose.  In a cute bit, Shade laments that "The Day of Bones" on Meta has become too commercial over the years.

Okay, let's rejoin Dave.  Shade and Dave are walking down the street... and our main man is having a bit of an adverse reaction to all the liquor he'd downed.  It apparently went "straight to the Madness Vest"... and so, Shade manifests a strange ramshackle Santa Claus.

Well, this is all Dave needs to see to know that he's met the New Messiah.  Shade ain't buying it, but he's too drunk to really argue.  Dave proudly begins calling himself "Dave the Baptist", and leads our man into an alley... where he proceeds to kayo him with the butt-end of his pistol.

Shade stirs back to consciousness, only to find himself bound in a room beside a Santa Claus, a pastor, and a young woman.

The pastor speaks up... and winds up paying the price.  Dave blows the poor fellas brains out.

He tells Shade that now that he's found the New Messiah... he's going to kill him!  Dave hates Christmas... because it's unfair to the lonely.  Not only Christmas... but any religious celebration... from any organized religion!  Well, at least he's even-handed in his hatred?

And so, he tapes up all the windows in the room, and prepares to transform it into a makeshift gas-chamber using a cyanide pellet.  He claims that he will spring his deathtrap... then amuse himself with all sorts of terrible murder and havoc... by the time he returns, the New Messiah will be dead, at which point Dave can blow his own brains out.  Merry merry, everybody!

Dave flicks the pill into a pail... and the room begins to fill with a green gas.  At this point, Shade is visited upon by... well, Rac Shade.  It's a bit wonky if this is your first exposure to the character... but he's kind of a body-hopper.  Fans of the recent Shade the Changing Girl series will know all about that.  Anyhoo... Rac hops into the "drivers seat" to break his bindings.

He grabs Santa's coat... and covers the pluming pail long enough to get it outside and smother it in the snow.  The day is saved... too bad about the pastor, though.

We rejoin Dave as he is unloading his gun into a loaded Church.  Luckily, Shade is right on his tail... and he smashes him with a Madness-construct fist.

Dave high-tails it outside, but finds himself surrounded by the police.  So, he does what any lunatic might do... he throws a grenade at a giant decorated tree... which falls on him, killing him.

We wrap up with Shade finishing his missive to Kathy... and it gets a bit, I dunno... "deep".  He asks Kathy how we would even know if the Messiah returned... perhaps he (or she) walks among us even today.  He quotes Kafka... which I'm sure tickled several of the high school students who were reading this... and we fade out.

--

This was really very good!

Sure, it was a bit precious in places... but also, just really good!  It was scary, and dark... and the juxtaposition with a festive Christmas scene really gave it an uncomfortable... and "wrong" feeling.

Dave might be a bit of a cliche in his misanthropy and disdain for "organized religion", however... he's definitely the kinda guy you can see existing in the real world, just dialed up to eleven.  He's the kinda person we like to pretend doesn't exist.

The way in which we meet Dave is kinda chilling as well... he comes across as a nice, if not a bit strange, fella.  For all we know, he's just bending the ear of the dude with the weird accent at the bar.  We've all been there, right?  Well, maybe it's just me.  Either way, I'd completely forgotten how this story went... so, when Shade was pistol-whipped and abducted, I was actually surprised!

Dave's ruthlessness was keyed up during the hostage scene.  Learning that he was planning to kill himself after fulfilling his destiny really added urgency to the proceedings.  He's truly a man with nothing to lose... which, obviously, makes him even more dangerous.  And, ya know... insane.

The writing does perhaps veer into the purple... but it's pre-Vertigo Vertigo, so it's par for the course.  And it's also... like I said, just so damn good!  It's nothing compared to the letters page though... those are positively dripping with chin-stroking pretentiousness.  Buuuut... it's a pre-Vertigo Vertigo letters column, so it's par for the course.

The art is... amazing.  Chris Bachalo is one of my all-time favorite artists, and his work here is absolutely super.  One of my favorite pieces of comics ephemera in my collection is a promotional Vertigo announcement freebie from 1992/1993 that is signed by Mr. Bachalo.  I'd show it off here if it wasn't still amid my many unpacked boxes.

Overall... I'd recommend Shade the Changing Man as a whole to anybody!  I feel like, of the initial... five or so "Mature" DC titles that made the jump to Vertigo, Shade often gets the short shrift when it comes to "play".  If you come across it... definitely give it a look.  This issue (and series) is available digitally.

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Precious Letters Page:

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On the Sixth Day of Christmas on Infinite Earths, I give to you Shade the Changing Man (vol.2) #19, Action Comics #762!  Young Justice #40, Superman: The Man of Steel #109, Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special, and a Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #2 Review.

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Batman #454 (1990)

Batman #454 (September, 1990)
"Dark Knight, Dark City: Part III"
Writer - Peter Milligan
Pencils - Kieron Dwyer
Inks - Dennis Janke
Letters - John Costanza
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Assoc. Edits - Dan Raspler
Edits - Denny O'Neil
Cover Price: $1.00

Alrighty... let's get straight to it...

Of course, if you need/want to catch up, you can check out the previous two chapters here and here.

--

When last we left Batman, he was about to perform a tracheotomy on a newborn.  Armed only with a dirty butcher's knife and his wits... he cuts a hole in the baby's throat... before rushing out of the sewer and delivering him to the hospital... where he would lay on life support.

Batman meets up with Jim Gordon at the hospital, and we learn that the baby is named Michael and is only eight days old.  On his diaper was pinned yet another clue...

Only one left, a little boy crawler...

You'll find lots of him, though shorter and taller...

Well, my mind went straight to fun house mirrors, howsabout you?  Batman has the same idea in mind... though he humors Alfred's attempt at referencing a Thomas Pynchon novel.  When Cooney's Circus Land is popped into the Bat-Map, the locations of the last several riddles appear to be an unfinished question mark, hmm... When Batman proactively "finishes" the question mark, he believes the Circus is just one stop before the final showdown... Stockman's Square.  Hey, where have we heard that name before?

Oh yeah... back in 1793, we visit with our old friend Jacob Stockman... he's busily jotting away into his journal.  His mind keeps going back to "that night"... no, not the one where he and his parents went to see Zorro... the night when him, Thomas Jefferson, and some other wigged goobers locked a poor woman (who'd undergone preparations to become a "human bat") in the cellar with the daemon Barbathos.

Back in the present, we join Batman at the circus.  He heads straight into the Hall of Mirrors... where he finds himself standing before the baby and... a goat?  A confused Batman is then shot with a flamethrower by one of Riddler's men.  He narrowly avoids the flames by engaging in some aerial antics.  When the smoke clears, Batman finds himself alone with the goat... and the final (unharmed) baby.  He sits in a disturbing silence looking his surreal surroundings... shattered mirrors, a baby... and a goat.

Batman hands the tot off to a passing squad car and, remembering that the question-mark labyrinth on Gotham City map ends at Stockman's Square, makes haste.  Minutes later, he finds himself standing outside of Q&A Storage.  Inside, the Riddler's goons are surprised when Batman leads with a goat!  In the distraction, Batman swoops in and kayos one of the henchmen but good.

This must be a pretty old building... Batman's batline breaks one of the rotting beams near the ceiling, and he crashes to the ground.  Just before the Riddler's flamethrower goon barbecues the bat... the Riddler shoots him in the gut.  If it hasn't been made clear already... he needs Batman alive.

Some time later Batman wakes up.  Before him stands the Riddler, who is wearing some sort of robe... and reading from an old tattered book.  We pan out and come to find that Batman has been tied to an altar... and there's some symbols on the wall behind him.  Riddler explains that the book is in fact the journal of Jacob Stockman... the same journal we've been visiting on and off throughout this tale.

He explains to Batman about the sacrificial ritual that was never completed... even going as far as showing him the skeletal remains of the poor young lady from our flashback bits.  He continues, telling Batman that the young lady had been prepared... prepared to become a "human bat".  She completed several trials, willingly, to be the sacrifice... we learn that all the hoops Batman has been put through over the past several chapters were fulfilling those same requirements.

The first step... kissing the lips of a hanged man... which Batman unwittingly did when he gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the hung security guard at the Gotham University Library.

Next, bathing in blood... which Batman did at the transfusion center.  Third, taking part in a danse macabre... which occurred at the Gotham Military Cemetery when the zombies attacked.  Fourth, slaying a wild dog (hopefully not that Wild Dog!) with a silver knife... which happened when Batman stabbed the attacking pit bull terrier.  Next, and perhaps the most disturbing slitting the throat of an unbaptized child... which Batman had little choice but to do when that child is choking on a ping pong ball.  Finally, a "Black Sabbath Dance" (I... am... Iron Man) which is when you dance before the devil (in the pale moon light?)... which is a bit of a stretch here... Batman did acrobatic maneuvers to avoid flamethrower fire... in front of a horned goat?  Ehh, why not?

Now, Batman is fully "prepared" to be sacrificed.  Before the Riddler does the deed, Batman asks him what's going on.  In a really neat bit, he plays to his rationality... offering that he always thought they had a kind of respect for one another.  The Riddler, however, ain't buying it... just as he's about to plunge the blade into Batman's chest... a "presence" makes itself known.

The Daemon Barbathos begins speaking to the pair.  He mocks the Riddler, claiming he was nothing more than a means to an end... what it wanted was the Batman.  The Riddler frantically beats a hasty retreat... and re-boards up the underground temple, leaving Batman to die alongside the poor sacrificial woman from two centuries prior.

Barbathos turns its attentions to Batman, who by now has freed himself from his bindings.  It shows Batman the events of that tragic night in 1765.  Stockman, Jefferson and the whole gang all flee like cowards... and leave the young woman behind.  We watch her scratch at the door until her fingers bleed.

We learn that the bat-shaped figure that swooped into the unholy temple was... get this, just a bat.  These geeks ran away from a normal bat.  Barbathos uses the skeletal remains of the bat as a means to communicate with Batman.  It laments the fact that it has been trapped in this underground temple for 200 years... and demands that Batman finally free the young woman, and in so doing... free Barbathos.

Batman and the woman, who we come to find is called Dominique share a moment's conversation.  They feel a sort of kinship between them... almost as though they share a bloodline.  As they chat, smoke starts billowing through the cracks in the hatch.  The Riddler has set the building on fire!

A few panicked moments later, the hatch opens.  Alfred has saved the day!  Batman takes Dominique in his arms, covers her with his cape... and runs out of the burning building.  Outside, when Batman opens his cape, we find that he was carrying Dominique's remains.

Time passes, and we join Batman at the Wayne family crypt... where he'd had Dominique interred.  On her plaque, she is referred to as "My Sister".  We learn that the baby, Michael survived... and may just get a visit from Mr. Wayne the next day.

--

What a crazy story!  This is one of those gems that it's so fun to revisit once every bunch of years.  As I think I'd mentioned previously, it's been about a decade since I last read this... so, most of the finer points of the story were forgotten.  I had a blast experiencing this bugger again.  The main thing I remember from my last read through was that I walked away from it satisfied.  It was a tight, well-paced, beautifully rendered tale that made sense and ended with a pay-off.

I know there'd been mention of Barbathos during Grant Morrison's run on Batman & Robin before Flashpoint, which isn't much of a surprise.  I remember hearing that before taking over the Batman-ship, so to speak, Grant Morrison read every single issue that came before.  I could definitely see this Peter Milligan story catching his eye... I can't remember just how deep the mention went, and I would have to dig through many longboxes to find the answer.

It was interesting that Batman was sorta-kinda given a sorta-kinda sister at the end there.  I cannot find any reference of Dominique "Wayne" following this story... but I think it was a pretty neat addition to the mythos.  If I were to guess, I'd figure there may have been an "Easter Egg" or two referring to her the the subsequent decades... but I cannot say for certain.  Maybe one day we'll get another visit to the Wayne family crypt and see if she's still there.  Do the Waynes have a crypt?  I always thought they just had a grave site... hmm...

I suppose I gotta mention the man of the hour... The Riddler.  Wow, what a take on this classic character.  Truly disturbing... and a fun approach to Nigma.  I really appreciate how the entire event was weaved through riddles... I would say that the Riddler would be an odd fit for such a dark and occult tale, but given the circumstances, I really dig it.

Even though I just spoiled the entire thing... this one should definitely be tracked down.  There is such a wonderful flow throughout these three issues, that I'm sure my spoilery synopses didn't do proper justice to.  This is a story all Bat-fans should experience!

That's gonna wrap up our impromptu Bat-Week... we'll do something special for Independence Day tomorrow... and then...

Christmas on Infinite Earths... in July???

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