My immediate thought was that the color scheme and feather-like cape evoke one of Norm Breyfogle's rejected designs for Tim Drake's Robin costume:
Given Movie Batman's all-black costume, with a yellow utility belt and yellow bat-symbol, this Batman and Robin will match in a way no other version of the Dynamic Duo ever has before.
I actually had to stop and think of Batman comics Jock has drawn. He drew "Black Mirror," Scott Snyder's debut on the character, back when Dick Grayson was wearing the cape and cowl and some months before the New 52 and Snyder's "real" run on the character began. He also drew the Dark Nights spin-off The Bataman Who Laughs and...I think an All-Star Batman arc or issue with Snyder, and...?
That's all I got, although I feel fairly certain he drew the character before "Black Mirror" too. I honestly think of Jock more as a Batman cover artist than a Batman artist.
It got me thinking though, about who really deserves such a designation. Who would you say are the most iconic Batman artists of the 21t century? I know my favorites, like Kelley Jones, Guillem March, Riley Rossmo and Chris Burnham, but I don't know if I'd use that phrase for any of them (Jones' art is certainly iconic, and his is one of the most definitive and distinct Batmen, but he also did an awful lot of his most prominent Batman work in the 20th century).
I suspect Greg Capullo is the reigning champ, having both a substantial and well-received run on the character in the 21st century. Maybe Jim Lee ("Hush", All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder), or Andy Kubert (portions of Grant Morrison's Batman run) or Frank Quitely (Batman and Robin)?
It's an interesting question to consider. Most of the artists I associate with either drawing definitive or unique versions of Batman did the majority of their work in the 20th century, not the 21st.
Say, "The Return of Scarface" storyline collected in Batman: The Caped Crusader Vol. 6 is the comic story I came into the mainstream DC Universe with! It was my first introduction to the Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle team, after which I started in on my comic shop's back-issue bins to snap up all of the Grant/Bryefogle comics I could find.
This volume collects Batman #475-#483 (plus an issue of Detective Comics that was part of the "The Return of Scarface" arc), which means it includes not only the aforementioned Grant/Breyfogle arc, but also the two-part "A Gotham Tale" by John Wagner and Cam Kennedy, featuring these amazing covers by Tom Taggart that are among the most distinct to ever grace a cover of the long-lived book; a Grant/Tom Mandrake done-in-one introducing the Gotham City vigilante Pagan (a character I have been meaning to write about for a while, as I think her very nature would explode the heads of some of the worst comics readers with Internet connections); a Grant and Jim Aparo issue; a Doug Moench/Aparo story arc introducing Maxie Zeus' one-time associate The Harpy, and a Moench/Aparo issue introducing villains Crash and Burn...who, like The Harpy, I'm not sure ever actually appeared again.
I've read most of these issues, but I'm still excited to revisit them in this format.
I'm interested to see if there will be a seventh volume of this series, as there are only about four more issues before Azrael and Bane show up in Gotham City, and the countdown to the oft-collected "Knightfall" arc begins...
Check out that killer Frank Quitely cover too, huh? DC should really commission him to do portraits of Batman's whole rogue's gallery...
That's a great idea for a Looney Tunes comic right there. I think I actually want to read Looney Tunes #263.
That image of Nightwing and the Batgirls is the cover of Nightwing #86, by the way.
That's...weird. I assume Connor wiped the floor with Damian during round one, and will do so again, because even with home book advantage, there's no way Damian could take Connor in a fair fight.
I'm glad to see Connor exists in the DCU again, though. I was actually just thinking about him this week, in light of the revelations about Tim Drake's sexual orientation. Would Connor and Tim make a cute couple? Admittedly, I was only thinking that because I was curious how long-time Tim Drake and Connor Hawke writer Chuck Dixon would react to the pairing...
First, what is Dick wearing? With the New 52 reboot no more, Dick's Robin costume should have reverted back to the original one, as it already has in several flashback appearances. (There are multiple covers for the first issue of the series also solicited for November; in those, Dick seems to be wearing a version of his original costume, but with a pair of black slacks instead of green trunks over bare legs.
Second, why is Killer Croc on the cover? Croc doesn't come to Gotham City for the first time until after Jason Todd is Robin.
It's a three-issue prestige format miniseries though, so maybe it's meant to be out of continuity...?
I wonder if this is well they will pick up on the story of Tim Drake, or if Batman: Urban Legends will remain the main place to find Tim Drake. They are going to pick up on that story. I mean, they didn't just have Tim come out as bisexual just for a few days' worth of mainstream media attention, with no plans to follow up on the development anywhere, right?
Right?
2 comments:
Taylor and Redondo's Nightwing is definitely buy-to-own good. Really captures the feel of Chuck Dixon or Devin Grayson's versions of Dick.
Among the newest reprints of Batman: Knightfall, the Prelude to Knightfall trade starts its Batman issues with Batman #484 — so, my guess is this is the last volume of Caped Crusader (that these will end when they intersect with the newest Knightfall trades) and that similarly Dark Knight Detective will end with Detective Comics #653 (ahead of #654 in Prelude to Knightfall).
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