Batman Volume 10: Epilogue and Blanc (2023)

We here at chezkevin have always been a Batman comic book blog first, everything else second. So, today we conclude the 2011 "New 52" run of Batman and include a recent video game I finished.

Batman Volume 10: Epilogue

by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, James Tynion IV and more
collects BATMAN #51-52, BATMAN: FUTURES END #1, BATMAN ANNUAL #4 and a special preview of BATMAN: REBIRTH #1

These are mostly non-stories that wrap up the the series, putting a bow on the whole package. It's a collection of several standalone stories and tie-ins to other Batman events, much like Volume 6: Graveyard Shift.

1. Remains: A Future's End tie-in, a heist story in which Batman risks his life for one last go, to steal a major component from Lexcorp for his clone machine (what clone machine? See Volume 9). There's some pithy dialogue from a hologram Lex as Bruce infiltrates the facility, and if it weren't for the cloning thing, would be a pretty good timeless Batstory.
2. Madhouse: If it weren't for the whole losing-his-house thing, would be a pretty good timeless Batstory. In the aftermath of Superheavy, Bruce reclaims his Manor from the city, which somehow repurposed it to Arkham Asylum, but not before he has to kick out some of the inmates. It's a nice closed-door detective story that demonstrates how Batman is more than a suit: it's the man underneath. 
   
   
   
3. Gotham Is: This is the "timeless" story you're looking for. This feels like a story that you could read at any point in the history of Batman. It's mainly centered around a journalist whose whole column is about how he takes reader suggestions for what "Gotham Is," a kind of collaboration between reader and writer about their shared city, in the midst of a city-wide blackout. Of course, Batman is on the case along with his extended family, and we visit a host of supervillains, including the Penguin, the inmates at the Asylum, and the Society of Owls underground, but they all admit that they weren't behind it. The twist is that it was just a freak natural occurrence that resolves by daybreak, giving us one last chance to tour the Gotham City of Snyder and Capullo. A solid slice-of-life Batstory.
4. The List: A flashback story of Bruce's healing process as a child, into adulthood. He makes a checklist of things he needs to do in order to move on from his parents' death. It's a cutesy but very nice way to put a pin on the series: ending on issue #52 and checklist item #52: Remember that your parents will always be proud of you.

In the end, they did a great job of showing something new about Batman in an increasingly repetitive and derivative genre. They told us the whole time when they showed in the very first issue of Batman facing down another jailbreak of villains from Arkham Asylum, with a smile: Batman is hope. Batman is insanity. Batman is fighting a battle, knowing that it will never end, but knowing that the fighting itself is victory.

Blanc (2023)

by Gearbox Publishing, played on Nintendo Switch

I ran into this game last year and was easily taken by the charming, artsy style. It was recently on sale for $7.50, down from $14.99 and when my wife said she was willing to partake, it was a no-brainer for me.

We finished over the course of roughly 2 weeks in 30-minute play sessions, for about a total of 3 hours total playtime. It's quite a short game, but that might have been the only way we would have been able to digest it. Between putting the kids down for bed and various "me time" things, it wasn't always easy to get the two of us to sit down together and apply our brains at the end of the day.

As for the game itself: there are ten chapters, never really marked or called out during play. The screen itself is very minimal and there are no "HUD" aspects you'd expect in a "traditional" game, ie, a map a health bar, progress bar, and so on. This really emphasizes the background itself, and it's gorgeous. For some reason I have an affinity for black and white: our dog is black and white, our sheets are black and white, and the sheer visual imagery of the game is in black and white. I found myself taking screencaps every now and then; it was such a beautiful game.

The "game-y" aspects of it come in when your characters are able to do certain actions, ie, jog, slide down a snow-covered hill, jump to a certain terrain or help a character or call for help. Other specific puzzles come into play when you need to interact with other characters in the game: IE, providing a windshield from the snowstorm so that little ducklings can get to their mother duck. There are various NPCs in the game, and it's a little heartbreaking how some of them conclude (spoiler: the ducklings AND the baby goats get pissed at you after they miss a jump and that's just the end of your relationships!)

The mechanics are not always smooth. Sometimes you have to be in just the right position to get the right prompt, and there was a variety of puzzles that were difficult not because they were a puzzle, but because the mechanics of the game just prevented you from seeing the puzzle itself. This is the largest failure of the game, buttressed by just utterly gorgeous hand-drawn views.

Blanc isn't a perfect game, but it doesn't need to be. I got my money's worth and in this case the style really was the substance. The lack of "game-y" aspects lifted a barrier for my wife to play, and it was fun to figure out puzzles together, and occasionally, just roll down a hill and take in the views.

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