Comics Shelf

This blog had been decommissioned for five years now mainly because I've been writing my own stories in earnest using a platform that I won't disclose, but it's been nonetheless gratifying for me. That is not to say I just stopped reading comics in general; it's only been superhero comics that I've taken a break from since I also couldn't find time or focus to sit down and type reviews among more important responsibilities to attend. However, I'm feeling rather nostalgic after I perused through the things I've typed here, especially the insights each meaningful Batman story fostered and revealed about myself not just as an avid reader and writer but also as a person. 

And so if you stumbled upon this blog for the first time, either via my Goodreads page or a random Google search, curb your expectations because I claim no professional authority in comics or Batman lore. I'm just a geek catching up on stuff that defined my childhood and early adulthood, and those include the Bats. Read THIS too as the official introduction to the blog. Now, coming back here (and on my X-Men Blog), I can't help but have this playing in my head the entire time: 

Oh, boy, I surely missed a lot! That includes how much the formatting of blogspot was updated, which was easy enough to navigate as someone who's been a LiveJournal user since he was a teen. Speaking of which, I feel as if I must disclose that I identify now as a transmasculine non-binary person. I use the pronouns 'he/they'. This will be a much needed context, particularly since earlier reviews from 2014 in this Blog would have me address myself as a woman, which I discovered after some soul-searching that I've never been, and that's probably one of the reasons I was drawn to Batman comics and the Rogues Gallery in particular. There was this strife inside me that I denied and sugarcoated, complicit was I in maintaining heteronormative status quo for myself, but alas, though a laborious journey which took thirty years to reach the apex of epiphany of, I'm glad to be in a much better place now. I can understand what makes me a person wholly, and I'm no longer scared of it. 

My experiences in reading and reviewing certain Batman titles are as immersive as they could get once you understand that the underlying context was my quest for a more stabilized sense of gender identity and sexuality. It's why some stories resonate far more deeply to me than others, and why certain characters, themes, and tropes that appear in Batman's canon reflect the adversity I tried to overcome since I was twenty-two. And so if you wish to read through my posts here, please keep in mind that this is foremost a journal. I was never getting paid writing these reviews, so don't expect anything professional or polished. And that's part of the charm of it, I guess. Below are the titles I've finished from 2014-2016. Someday I want to pick up the titles I left on hiatus for 2017.

At the moment, I plan to read THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS. I'm dropping into that story with no context whatsoever, so my reviews for the issues should be a hoot. I plan to do some small research and then figure out the rest as I go. If I'm intrigued by he story enough, I may follow-up on the accompanying roster of titles that operate in the same continuity, but there are no guarantees!

STANDALONE WORKS

• The Batman Who Laughs by Scott Snyder [FINISHED]
• Batman: White Knight by Sean Murphy
• Batman: Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison
• Batman: The Adventure Continues by Paul Dini
• Batman: The Three Jokers by Geoff Johns

MAIN ONGOING TITLES

• Batman by Tom King (volumes 1-11)
• Batman by James Tynion IV (volumes 12-13)
• Detective Comics by Peter J. Tomasi (volumes 1-3)
• Batman: Black and White (volumes 1-4)

OLD SHELVES

NEW 52

• Scott Snyder's Batman issues 0-40, collected editions [FINISHED] 
• Peter J. Tomasi's Batman and Robin issues 0-40, collected editions [FINISHED] 
• Batman Black and White issues 1,4,5 [will continue on next diet]
• Batman-Superman issues 1-4  [will continue on next diet]

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• The Black Mirror by Scott Snyder [FINISHED]
• Gotham by Gaslight by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola [FINISHED]
• Knightfall [Omibus] volume 1 by Chuck Dixon, Jo Duffy, Alan Grant, Dennis O'Neil, and Doug Moench [FINISHED]
• Son of the Demon by Mike W. Barr [FINISHED]
• Batman Incorporated volume 1 deluxe edition by Grant Morrison  [FINISHED]

NEW 52

• New 52 Detective Comics issues 1-40 [FINISHED] 
• Batman Eternal issues #1-40  [FINISHED ISSUES #0-32] 
• Grant Morrison's New 52 Batman Incorporated issues 0-13, collected editions [FINISHED]
• The Dark Knight volume 1-2 [FINISHED]

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Batman Reborn: Batman and Robin by Grant Morrison [FINISHED ISSUES 1-12]
• Whatever happened to the caped crusader by Neil Gaiman [FINISHED]
• The Man Who Laughs by Ed Brubaker and Douh Mahnke [FINISHED]
• Strange Apparitions by Steve Englehart and Len Wein [FINISHED]
• Knightfall [Omibus] volume 2 by Chuck Dixon, Jo Duffy, Alan Grant, Dennis O'Neil, and Doug Moench [FINISHED]

 2015

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• A Death in the Family by Jim Starlin [FINISHED] 
• Gates of Gotham by Scott Snyder  [FINISHED]
• The Dark Knight Vol. 3: MAD by Greg Hurwitz [FINISHED] 
• The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb [FINISHED] 
• Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb [FINISHED]

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES REVIEWS

• Episodes 1-5 [FINISHED] 
• Episodes 6-10  [FINISHED] 
• Episodes 11-15 [FINISHED] 

• Batman by Scott Snyder issues #46-52 [FINISHED] 
• Detective Comics by Peter J. Tomasi issues #48-50 [FINISHED] 
• ROBIN: Son of Batman by Patrick Gleason issues #6-10 [FINISHED] 
• BATMAN: A CELEBRATION OF 75 YEARS [FINISHED] 

• Batman by Tom King issues #1-19 (ONGOING SERIES)
• All Star Batman by Scott Snyder issues #1-8 (ONGOING SERIES)