4-Color Review: Guess who's back?

So it's night in Gotham city right? And you're a hoodlum, up against the wall, right? And Batman, no way is he letting hoodlums into Gotham, so he's staring right down into your face and he's got his arms right up above you. You can just see his eyes grimacing at you from behind that cowl. Face it; you're terrified, and you say "Crazy! You're crazy!" Batman responds,

Is that what they say?

That I'm crazy?

You nod furiously and say "Yeah. . . yeah. . ." as he leans even further forward towards you. The Dark Knight continues,

Then you know what that means.

It means there's no telling what I might do.

And. . . scene. This little flashback in Catwoman #79 was meant to show how Catwoman learned to interrogate people with fear, and quite frankly, it wasn't done so well. That dialogue from Batman sounded way too Millerian, and I'm talking ASBAR Millerian.

I'm really emphasizing this scene, because it's very out of Pfeifer's usual style of writing. Aside from that though, this month's issue of Catwoman was standard fun comic book action. Catwoman finds the culprit who took her home and possessions, "the Thief" while she was on the Hell Planet, but now she's back. . . With A Vengeance! The writing is very direct and anyone who can read should pick this up.

There was a particular smart part from David Lopez's art in subtly showing that Catwoman's gun was loaded with blanks, but the rest is Will Pfeifer having lots of fun with a female antihero, and lemme tell you, this is some good fun.

And check out the cover!

That cover is gorgeous! Everything about it is so right! Look at Selina's expression amid all of the neon lights of urban decay! It's great isn't it! And check out the use of the Catwoman banner! That's too clever! And the tail from her coat! She's finally back from the Hell Planet!


Amazing Spider-Man #560
by Dan Slott and Marcos Martin

Boy, the pacing on this issue was really fantastic. It seemed like something significant happened in every page, only some of which include Paper Doll's murdering spree, Peter's descent into celebrity photog sleaze, to JJJ's anger, to Dexter Bennett's manipulation, to Carlie Cooper's crush on Peter, to Peter's guilt over the murder to Peter being renamed "Scoopy."

Basically, a lot of stuff happens here, and I think Slott is really putting a lot of effort into Brand New Day. Also, an observation: he likes to make lots of plays on words, and I think it really works with Spidey here. Marcos Martin on art is really cool too; his style brings a nostalgic tone that very much fits Brand New Day, and he really knows how to use Spider-Man's anatomy to play up Spidey's acrobatic side.

I may not be fond of Brand New Day, but it is getting treated pretty well.

Oh, and I forgot to mention one small tidbit. It's only EVERYTHING I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR SINCE ONE MORE DAY:

Note the allusion to Faust, which involves a guy making a deal with the devil.

You also gotta love that little blurb on the bottom.

Note the tongue-in-cheek reference to the infamous "It's magic. We don't have to explain it."

Well face it, tiger. MJ's gonna explain it to us!

So with Mary Jane returning to Amazing, and Catwoman returning to Gotham, it just seems to be a great day for comebacks, and a great week for comics, period.