02/11 Comic Reviews: Legends Never Die

Immortal Legend Batman #6 written by Mat Groom and Kyle Higgins with art by Erica D’Urso and Dan Mora

This is it, the final issue of one of the coolest titles to ever be published by DC Comics. The exciting thing about a book from a team like this is that I’m free to set the bar as high as I like with the knowledge that they’ll soar right over it. There was only one thing I was worried about, but we’ll get to that at the end.

The issue opens with things looking as dire as we left them. The Man Who Laughs has taken Bruce’s transformation belt and become a twisted version of the Immortal Legend Batman. With Bruce seemingly disposed of, it falls to the remaining Immortal Legends, Robin and Nightwing, to end his reign of terror. I’ve said it every time, but every fight with the Immortal Legends makes me crave more. Seeing the various powers and attacks they use reminds me of the Showa-era Kamen Rider shows in the best way, with the heroes frequently revealing new and insane ways they can use their powers. It’s so clear that there are rules which keeps the fight grounded even if we don’t know what they are. Powers in tokusatsu are often just as much philosophy and emotion as they are forces. The ebb and flow of the battle is as much about the emotional state of the characters as it is about their individual skills and abilities, and victory or defeat are as much determined by the meeting of ideas as they are about one character physically overpowering another. Unfortunately, the psychotic escapism of The Man Who Laughs is running on overdrive and our two heroes are getting swept up in the current. As he says himself, the power of Batman comes from the shadows which means it’s naturally even stronger when a Shadow is in the cowl. It makes sense in terms of the worldbuilding while also providing a reason why the two heroes who should be individually equal to Batman are struggling against that power now.

While all this is going on, Bruce emerges from the water carrying Tommy Elliot. Despite what’s passed between them, Bruce is a hero to the core and won’t just leave someone to their death if there’s any chance they could be saved. Rather than return to a losing battle, Bruce has a plan to turn the tides and takes Tommy with him on a journey to the origin point of what became the planet Gotham: Old Gotham City. The idea that Gotham is the beast that devoured Earth after everyone else left while also being the location of the first portal into the shadow dimension marks this as a fitting place for the final battle while also showing how inexorably linked Batman and the city are regardless of what iteration of the character this is. Rather than wielding the powers passed down to them, Bruce reasons that the only way to turn the tables on The Man Who Laughs is with an entirely new power. Unfortunately, this is the point where Tommy Elliot draws the line. Whether it’s driven by envy towards Bruce or the influence of his father, Tommy wants to be Batman badly enough to hold Bruce off at gunpoint while plunging into the heart of darkness himself to results both predictable and tragic. With no one left to stop him, Bruce dives in and comes face to face with the darkness itself, whoever that might be. We’re not given answers regarding the true nature of the darkness, if there are even answers to be found in the first place. With little more than an ominous laugh, it casts Bruce out, leaving him to whatever fate he creates for himself, but at least newly armed with the power he sought.

The Man Who Laughs has long overstayed his welcome which means that his very presence will be a source of shadows and that he’s only going to be more difficult to excise from the world. Fortunately, Bruce returns to the battle with his brand new belt and with three words he rejoins the fight. Bruce has spent the series fighting his demons and clearly emerged the stronger for it. It goes unremarked upon, but the energy he’s wielding appears to be light as well as darkness, possibly representing some newfound sense of harmony allowing him to wield both simultaneously rather than interchangeably like Nightwing. Regardless, there isn’t any question that he’s stronger than his foe and all that remains is to clean up the mess in an appropriately bombastic fight perfectly channeling the tokusatsu inspiration of the story. However, the issue doesn’t end there. With the revelation of what happens when a shadow overstays their welcome, Bruce realizes there’s one last thing he has to do. Back in the first issue, we’d heard about an incident harkening to Dr. Freeze, but the events of which were left to our imagination. There is one more shadow remaining, but one unique in what it represents of Bruce’s psyche. It allows Bruce to explain what he’s been through and what he’s learned while being vulnerable in a way that he’d never be able to be with another person, not as he is now at least. Fans of Ressha Sentai Toqger may find this scene similar to one of most heartwrenching moments in the series. But despite wearing its influences on its sleeve, this scene, as with the rest of the book, is using those influences to tell a new story unlike anything we’ve seen before. It’s not only a perfect end to the emotional arc of the book, it’s also a meta-textual representation of what made this book so special in the first place.

With the crisis over, Bruce realizes that with the destruction of his inner demons, he’s also lost the childlike belief that becoming Batman could resolve his trauma. That, combined with the damage he’s done to the legacy he inherited, has made him realize that there needs to be a new legend. Who he passes the belt to is not surprising, but it is satisfying and yet another hook to pull readers back for future stories. Of course, there’s another belt on the table now and while Bruce may have lost the desire to use Batman as a coping mechanism, that opens the door for him to return to the mantle driven by a desire to fight evil and protect the innocent in a less self-destructive way. And, as the final page makes clear, there’s plenty that the Immortal Legends are going to have their hands full with in the coming days.

The art for this book has been consistently fantastic since the first page of the first issue, so it’s without question that the same holds true here, but to leave it at that would be an injustice to the truly insane work we see throughout the issue. The Immortal Legend Batman Who Laughs looks amazing and terrifying as he becomes progressively more monstrous over the course of the issue. The fights are explosive and intense with Igor Monti’s colors adding all of the light and spectacle one would expect from a tokusatsu final battle. But even the quieter moments of this book look fantastic. Bruce and Tommy sharing a smile as they work together has stayed in my mind since finishing the issue for how good of a job it does emphasizing what could have been and making it all the more tragic when Tommy falls. Bruce’s talk with his final shadow is perfectly composited as well, keeping all of the narrative energy and momentum despite the lack of action. It would have been easy for the energy of the book to plummet at that point and it speaks to the skill of the creative team that the quiet moments are just as compelling as the action-packed ones.

I’ve made my love of these suits clear time and again, and this issue gives us yet another Bat-suit for me to fall in love with. It’s similar to Bruce’s original suit with only a few adjustments to give the impression that it’s an evolution on his previous suit without being something wholly distinct. It really captures the idea that the suit is exactly how Bruce described: the same powers, but made for him specifically. The best part of seeing Bruce hang on to the belt is the possibility that we may get to see more of the suit down the line. As was the case in the previous issue, Dan Mora illustrates the last two pages of the main story as there is no backup. As the originator of the concept in the first place, it’s appropriate that the book end with his art, not that I’d ever say no to more Dan Mora art in the first place. The man is a superstar now for good reason, and that final page, hoo-boy… As I said earlier, there was one thing I was worried about going into this issue and that was there not being any hint towards future stories set in this world. The final page of this book delivers on that while also giving us yet another insane Dan Mora toku-inspired design, and if we don’t get any more, I’m going to hit the streets.

I knew going into this six-issue miniseries that I was going to love it, and it’s no surprise that I did. I knew the story and the art would be amazing, and it’s no surprise that they were. What did surprise me was just how much depth there was in the worldbuilding. The history, lore, and scale of this new universe are deep and vast, filled with far more than six issues can explain to us. It’s clear that the creative team has been meticulous in crafting this world and its rules, ensuring that everything is consistent regardless of whether the readers know the rules or not. I’ll be poring over these books for a while, looking for every scrap of lore I can while I enjoy the stories over and over again. If this is where things end, then this will have been an excellent self-contained mini-series with a satisfying conclusion, but there’s just so much potential here that it would be a crime to see it untapped. I cannot possibly recommend this book enough. If any of the words in the phrase “tokusatsu-inspired superhero space opera” appeal to you, then do yourself a favor and check this book out, because Immortal Legend Batman delivers on all of those and more and, if things go our way, there’s even more in store.

Absolute Wonder Woman Annual #1 written by Kelly Thompson with art by Mattia de Iulis

Comic book annuals can be a real mixed bag. In theory, they’re meant to be one-off stories slightly longer than a normal issue, giving the readers a fun treat while also being something that isn’t required reading for the book. That’s easier said than done, however, and many a writer has struggled with telling a self-contained story within the pages given to them. Absolute Wonder Woman Annual #1 is a phenomenal self-contained story that does not have to be read to understand the plot of the main book. However, it’s so rich in characterization and so well-drawn that it would be insane to skip it. The hook of the book for me has always been how likeable and compelling Diana is, and this annual is that all the way through, so if you’re reading the book for the same reasons I am, this is definitely “required reading.”

The issue begins with Diana doing what she does best: giving her all to help people in need. If, for some reason, someone were to pick this book up without having read any issues of the main Absolute Wonder Woman series, the first page would have them immediately caught up on who Diana is. The next few pages are a montage, Diana saving people intercut with her petitioning the goddess Athena on behalf of Medusa, whose form Diana took on while fighting the Tetracide. Diana’s most defining quality has always been her unrelenting compassion and the readers are presented with it on two fronts here: the first being her devotion to protecting the innocent and the other is her refusal to ignore the suffering of another. Diana using Medusa’s form against the Tetracide was a cool moment that made use of the mythology surrounding her as well as showing off the magical prowess that distinguishes her from her mainstream counterpart. The suffering she experienced as a result was presented as a trade-off of her using that power and could have been left at that, power and the price paid for it. But that isn’t who Diana is. She is not the kind of person who learns of suffering and simply returns to her daily life unaffected by it. Every day, we are presented with innumerable injustices in the world from the moment we go online and that isn’t even getting into the injustices occurring right outside our doors. Surviving is not easy, and we naturally tend to draw lines regarding how much help we’re willing to provide and to whom. Diana has powers and doesn’t seem to require a job like most people do, so it’s easy to write it off as something that she’s in a better position to do than we are, but Diana bleeds for Medusa’s sake. She has never met her, but having experienced a brief window into how much she’s suffered, she has made it a mission to undo that suffering at whatever cost she has to pay. It’s not any easier for her than it is for us, but her integrity demands that she do nothing less. It’s a humbling experience and another example of why the Absolute heroes are so inspiring. They suffer for doing the right thing, just as we fear we might, but they do it anyway.

Diana prays day and night for an audience with Athena to no avail for a while, but her determination ultimately outweighs the patience of a god and Diana is able to speak with the goddess of wisdom face-to-face. Interestingly, Athena goes along with Diana in referring to what happened to Medusa as an injustice, but does not elaborate on what part, if any, she played in that fate. She scoffs at Diana for believing the stories told by humans, but offers no alternative to them. As we see in flashbacks of young Diana being tutored in strategy by the goddess, this has been a constant of their relationship. The goddess is pragmatic and insists that Diana’s compassion is a vulnerability that is best covered before it is exploited and is unwilling to help Medusa when doing so may leave her vulnerable to other forces. Diana is characteristically unswayed and offers a deal to Athena: a single boon in exchange for all of the gifts the various goddesses have given her, at least until her quest is over. Athena agrees and Diana goes in search of Medusa and her sisters, possessing little more than her natural abilities and her skill in magic, impressive but not much in the face of myths and monsters. There’s a nice nod to her encounters with Batman when she climbs a mountain with her own mortal strength and reflects in amazement on the fact that Bruce does things like that on a regular basis. She reaches the peak of the mountain and is forced to enter with her eyes closed, lest she be killed with a gaze from Medusa or her sisters. They are strong enough that they’d be a threat with her full power and her eyes open. Without either of those things, her only hope is to state her intentions and hope they hear her out. It doesn’t go well, but she ends up before Medusa nonetheless and only then does she reveal the boon given to her by Athena. I won’t spoil it here, but both the boon and her reasoning for it perfectly encapsulate who Diana is and what makes her heroic. It’s easy for her to believe the best in people when she has the strength to deal with it if they betray her, but even deprived of most of her power, she’ll still bet on the better nature of others no matter what it may cost her. Notably, the issue does not go out of its way to reinvent Medusa as a figure of myth. The myths depict her as a more sympathetic figure punished unjustly while in media she’s often portrayed as cruel and monstrous as her appearance. What information we’re given in this issue only blurs the line even more, but the point of this book is that it doesn’t really matter either way. Regardless of who Medusa is or what she may have done, Diana has come to the conclusion that her punishment was both unnecessarily cruel and unproductive as a way to correct a person’s actions. Rather than an eternity of suffering, an act of mercy and charity may reverberate to something greater down the line. Then again, it may not, but is still worth doing nonetheless. By the end of the issue, it’s made clear once again why Diana is the one the goddesses have put their hopes in and why she’s the shining beacon of the Absolute Universe.

Mattia de Iulis’s has drawn what might be one of the most breathtaking double-page spreads I’ve ever seen. It’s striking, majestic, and a perfect example of the mythological scale this book is dealing with. That said, the art is fantastic from the first page to the last page. Diana’s compassion radiates from her eyes in every scene whether she’s rescuing children from a fire, begging a goddess for mercy on behalf of another, or offering the most compassionate act she can to someone who has suffered incomprehensible pain. The book covers a wide array of settings and each one is illustrated beautifully, from the various locales Diana helps people in, to a goddess’s domain at the top of a mountain, or within a cursed and sinister ruin inhabited by those made into monsters. The design of Athena stands out as a high point, especially because of the aforementioned spread. A metallic and angelic figure, clearly evoking her symbol of an owl and status as a war goddess, the goddess has no face that can be perceived, only a helm with light bursting from every opening. It conveys a profound sense of otherworldliness and makes Diana look small and vulnerable even while in possession of all of her gifts, making her all the braver to be there in the first place. The fact that her helm is a golden-variant of Diana’s own makes it clear how foundational she is to Diana’s development and helps fill in the blanks of a relationship of which we only see a small piece.

Despite how new this book and this version of Wonder Woman are, stories like this add a depth of history that makes it feel like she’s been around for ages. Much of that is owed to Kelly Thompson’s consistent characterization. In fact, the very premise of the issue takes what could have been an afterthought from a previous story and uses it as a testament to the authenticity of the character that the suffering of another would never be an afterthought. Beautifully written and illustrated, this issue is also the furthest thing from an afterthought and provides us with yet another wonderful story in what may be the best comic on the shelves. If you haven’t been following Absolute Wonder Woman, this issue is a perfect way to learn about the character, showing her at her best without spoiling any prior events. If you have been following the book, then you already know how great it is and shouldn’t need any more reason to check this annual out too.