Category: Comics

Amish Otaku, Comics, DC, Features, Movies

Bat-mania: Batman

Guest Post

“Decent people shouldn’t live here. They’d be happier some place else,” deadpans Jack Napier (the great Jack Nicholson) when District Attorney Harvey Dent comments on making the streets of Gotham safer and a quote that summarizes the plight of the Batman in Tim Burton’s 1989 classic of the same name.

It is true that I have seen ittoo many times to count. It was one of my favorite movies when I was a little kid and my beat to Hades VHS copy somehow still has some life in it. I have most of the lines memorized to the point where they taste like McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets after you’ve eaten your 25th one in a single sitting which is essentially like dirty rubber.

Ah hah! Dirty Rubber! Just like the Michael Keaton Batsuit which in retrospect seems a little silly, on paper at least, compared to verbally advanced Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale model, which brings an intriguing question: which was the better Batman film? Batman Begins or Batman? My brother challenged me to watch them back to back. And thus was born the first official installment of Bat-Mania, in which I will try my best to provide the readers with a review of something Batman related every week until the release of the Dark Knight on July 18th. Continue reading “Bat-mania: Batman”

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Amish Otaku, Comics, Viper

Wulf and Batsy: We Have No Home

Josh Howard's issue #1 cover

Wulf and Batsy is a new black and white series written and illustrated by Bryan Baugh and published by Viper Comics. Baugh has an interesting resume grounded in animation. In his words: “During the day I work for Disney Animation, where I make a living as a storyboard artist, on a new Winnie the Poohanimated TV series. But then I come home at night and draw horror comics, which have monsters and blood and half naked girls in them.”

The story follows Wulf – a.k.a. Cevin – and his vampire “ladyfriend” Batsy. Cevin and Batsy are itinerant, wandering from town to town, looking for some place to call home. When they get to the village of Eppworth Ruddy they hope for a place to settle down, but when a young shepherd woman interrupts Wulf feeding on her father’s flock Batsy intervenes to save the young woman’s life then puts her to sleep to facilitate their exit.

The next day Batsy sleeps while Cevin explores the town. By explore of course I mean slink into the local brothel. And where else would the local shepherd maiden run to first when she woke up but the brothel to let everyone who’s anyone know about this latest monster infestation. I’m not sure if Baugh is trying to be tongue in cheek or if these types of things are merely unintentional incongruities. Either way it’s amusing. Continue reading “Wulf and Batsy: We Have No Home”

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Amish Otaku, Comics, DC

Bat-mania: Batman: The Dailies 1943-1946

Guest Post

From rich-guy superheroes to black and white dailies, this collection fits in thematically with my AO work from the past month. There is one difference, however. Unlike Iron Man and the Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy this is not a must see, except for the die-hard Batman fan due to the historical significance of being the largest body of work that Batman creator Bob Kane penciled solo. The stories are near 100% camp and it is clear that the creators were writing only to kids and from that aspect the stories cannot be faulted completely.

This collection also has the first references to the Bat Cave by name, the great, spectacular, first appearance of the Joker and loads of cruising in the Batmobile and Batplane, the former of which – honestly – looks ridiculous in the initial incarnation while the Batplane looks wicked. Other than that, the stories are generally predictable and not good. Joker’s nickname for Robin, “Boy Hostage,” a grim term that would become serious when the Clown Prince kills the ward (actually Robin II) in the dramatic 1990’s Batman: A Death in the Family storyline, has never been truer. Robin always gets knocked out and captured. I realize that the addition of Robin was for kids to connect with someone their own age and imaginatively tag along with the Batman, but what fun is imagining yourself getting ensnared by crazed villains every other day? Continue reading “Bat-mania: Batman: The Dailies 1943-1946”

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Amish Otaku, Caught My Eye, Comics, Features, Image

Caught My Eye: Noble Causes Archives Volume 1

Guest Post

Noble Causes is a book that has caught my eye for a long time, but I just never got the full urge to read it until the recent archive collections were solicited. While some comic books are often compared to soap operas due to the themes and long running plots, Noble Causes embraces that concept and bases the entire series on it.

That does not mean the comic is looking for an audience within stay at home moms and grandmothers, but that it focuses on the characters and builds on them in ways few other comic books do.

The release of this archive collection (and soon the second volume) coincided with a new push in the series. These two huge collections contain the entire series up to the point in the series where it takes a five year jump in the story as a way to get new readers to try out the series and feel comfortable with all the history of the title. From a marketing perspective, that seems like a good idea since DC did something similar with One Year Later following the Infinite Crisis crossover.

Continue reading “Caught My Eye: Noble Causes Archives Volume 1”

Clint Page
Amish Otaku, Comics, Marvel, Movies

Iron Man

I finally watched Iron Man. And because of it, I am writing the AO response. It was cool. Very cool. I do not know if Tony Stark was ever that cool in the comic book since I never picked it up. My version of the Iron Man origin comes from a kiddie book on tape and accompanying storybook which also featured the origin of Victor Von Doom, aka Dr Doom.

In the brief origin I read, there was not any room for Tony to be the Bruce Wayne on steroids playboy that he apparently is, just enough space for him to get injured, get saved by the Vietnamese doctor (this was an earlier version) and blast his way out of the cave in his going-out version of the Iron Man suit. The sound effects on the audio tape were fun. And honestly, I always remember Tony Stark having that creepy Steve Buscemi/John Waters style pencil thin mustache. Definitely not so cool.

Continue reading “Iron Man”
Ahmad Chaudhary
Amish Otaku, Caught My Eye, Comics, Features, Viper

Caught My Eye – Gypsy Joe Jefferson

Guest Post

It would seem that I’m turning into something of a roadie of writer Jason M. Burns, but the truth is he’s sending me advance things to review that no one else has! One thing that can be said about Jason’s work is that he has a billion ideas rumbling around in his head. I kind of think of him as a new up-and-coming version of Grant Morrison because he has some pretty out there ideas that are just different from what you’re used to. Gypsy Joe Jefferson proves this trend continues.

Gypsy Joe Jefferson is a former boxer who has retired from the sport due to getting older and not being able to compete with the new, younger guys. His wife is a corporate woman who landed him a gig in security where, naturally, the bigwigs decided to take more from him than his yearly bonus. The basic plot is that he was altered in such a way that after being around people for five minutes, they start to go stark raving mad. The story follows Joe as he comes to terms with this and tries to find those responsible. Continue reading “Caught My Eye – Gypsy Joe Jefferson”

Clint Page
Amish Otaku, Comics

The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy

By Ahmad Chaudhary

Today is a little after my first-year anniversary with Amish Otaku, but this article is in celebration of my first year nonetheless. Dick Tracy has been my avatar since those first few days, and I have not discussed the self-proclaimed “World’s Most Famous Detective” even once. I did write on Torso, which believe it or not is markedly related to Chester Gould’s fictional crime stopper, who created Tracy in 1931 as a solution to the depression-era headlines that formed the successful part Elliot Ness’ career as a G-Man and at least the murder but not sexual aspects of the Cleveland Torso murders that ended Ness’ career.

If per se, your only perspective of Dick Tracy is (not quite as lantern jawed but pretty-damn close to) Warren Beatty in a yellow rain slicker yammering on his two-way wrist radio, hunting down grotesque criminals wearing not-so-subtle colors with minimal bloodshed being shown, you’re in for a surprise. The collection – anything but PG-13 – is very gruesome and is closer to Bonnie and Clyde, the film in which Beatty starred with Faye Dunaway, than the Dick Tracy motion picture, even though Celebrated Cases is in black and white and is composed of comic strips. Continue reading “The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy”

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Amish Otaku, Comics, Viper

Dead@17: The Compendium Edition

Dead@17 first showed up back in 2003 from Viper Comics. It follows the story of Nara, an innocent teenager who is brutally murdered in her own home only to be reborn as the potential savior or destroyer of humanity. But that’s just the setup.

The story is really about the ultimate struggle between good and evil. Nara is the intended vessel for the rebirth of the demon Bolabogg in his quest to usurp the power of God. When that plan fails it’s up to Nara, her friends and some shadowy occult paramilitary organizations to stop him from using another unlucky girl who’s just been killed and resurrected in Nara’s stead.

Throw in some zombies possessed by a demon named Legion, a still alive and fighting Joan of Arc and plenty of risqué panels of Nara, her friend Hazy, and substitute vessel – and Nara’s nemesis – Violet, and you’ve got a recipe for an entertaining and thoughtful graphic novel that plays fast and loose with the classic story of the apocalypse. Continue reading “Dead@17: The Compendium Edition”

Daniel Allen
Amish Otaku, Comics, Features, Viper

A Dummy’s Guide to Danger: Lost at Sea #2

Guest Post

It wasn’t too long ago that I wrote a review for A Dummy’s Guide to Danger: Lost at Sea, but I was given an opportunity to check out issue number two in advance, so I figured I would dust off the cobwebs on my keyboard and give the second issue a mini review. The second issue in the mini series continues the trend of mixing humor and mystery with an assorted gang of interesting characters that is hard to put down.

I won’t go into the general plot in this review since I covered that in first review. The first issue leaves you on a cliffhanger and this one picks right up from there. But if you can’t find the first issue at your local comic shop, you won’t be too lost since it was written in a way that you can pick it right up.

One thing that I will give the writer, Jason Burns, credit for is that he knows how to set up proper cliffhangers in each issue. The first issue leaves you with one, and the second issue continues that. Having good cliffhangers is very important in comics and I think Jason agrees with me in that regard. The end of this issue leaves you in a place where you just have to march down to your local nerd den and plop over the money that Big Oil was expecting that week. Continue reading “A Dummy’s Guide to Danger: Lost at Sea #2”

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Amish Otaku, Comics, Marvel

Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born

This comic born of some of the best talent at Marvel and the dark mythos of Stephen King’s Dark Tower is one of the most visually stunning series I’ve seen in a while. It’s obvious a lot of work goes into the art and the story is lifted directly from King’s novels, so we’re given an impressive and expansive world to explore.

King works as creative director on the series with help from his long-time research assistant Robin Furth, so it has been held to a higher standard than some of the more notorious movie adaptations of his works (think Langoliers or Cujo). The script was adapted by Peter David, who has been writing for print, television and comics for years now, including work on Incredible Hulk and Babylon 5.

Considering David has worked extensively on expanding the ideas of others, it’s no surprise that he captures perfectly the dark tone and oppressive mood of King’s Midworld – the primary setting for The Dark Tower. Continue reading “Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born”

Daniel Allen