Batman by Scott Snyder Vol 1: The Court of Owls

Of all of DC's titles, there can't be one of more consistent quality than Batman. So strong it is that it supports multiple spin-offs, for several of Batman's supporting cast, such as Nightwing, Batgirl, as well as its own sister title Detective Comics.

Grant Morrison, Dennis O'Neil, Paul Dini, all of them made their mark on the Dark Knight Detective. In the so-called New 52, when DC de-aged their universe and rolled back the clock on some of their heroes and some of their own stories, it was Scott Snyder's turn with Greg Capullo, previously of Spawn fame.

The first time I read the first issue, I actually didn't get it. It didn't ring true for me how optimistic Snyder's Batman was, how he enjoyed his job of taking out the criminal trash of Gotham City. But c'mon, dude sticks a bat under the sole of his boot. He wants you to know it was him that kicked you in the face. How can you not enjoy that.

So join me as I explore Snyder and company's take on Batman. Starting with...

Batman Volume 1: The Court of Owls

by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, and Jonathan Glapion

I was much more stingy in 2011 when they introduced the New 52. I was in college, with plenty of time on my hands but not so much cash. It was easy for me to be picky, and that made me refuse this title after the first issue.

What a mistake! Just when you think you know Gotham City, Snyder makes it feel brand new. He gives Bruce Wayne the lofty goal of revitalizing the city's infrastructure and making it a city of tomorrow. Bruce Wayne is a character, Batman is a character, and Gotham City is a character. With the narration that Snyder gives Bruce, you can feel the history and the love that Bruce feels for the city he grew up in. It's apparent in Issue 2 (I think it's issue 2), when the assassin comes to murder Bruce on the top of Wayne Tower. He's already explained to you the 12 "guardian statues" on the tower, as he and the assassin are falling from the height of the tower and trying to survive...

When, for the grace of his family and the hidden intimacy he has with the tower, he survives the fall where the Owl assassin meets his (apparent) death. Not only is this world-building, but it's character-building, dealing double duty for just the second issue in.

Reading Snyder's Batman is like peeling an onion....there are layers to the story that you thought you knew, when instead they reveal to you the actual truth. For example, when Bruce saw the bat through his window and decided to become a bat... that same bat on that same night got caught by an owl and was later devoured as a meal! The story is almost holographic...look at in one way and you see one story. Look at it another way and it's a whole different story. These issues are about Bruce Wayne's fight to claim his story, and his city. Or has he already lost to the 400 year-old court of owls, the cadre of elite Gothamists that have been planning his demise from the very start?

For the way every issue reads as its own story, I bet these would have read splendidly as single issues. There's so much content in each issue with palpable depth, taking the time to slow down is really worth it with this book. But I was disappointed to see the last issue hang on a cliff. Why even collect these issues together then? Why not collect the first 12 rather than the first 6? The Owls storyline was collected in full in the collection The Court of Owls Saga, so you would be better off reading that, or Vols. 1 and 2 together.

Highlights:

The court of Owls employs a "Talon," a highly-trained assassin with a convoluted method of reanimation from death. When Dick Grayson's DNA shows up on one of the Talon's targets, Nightwing tells Batman his alibi...

And Batman doesn't need to hear it from Nightwing. Because he already checked it himself. This is the Batman I know, the man who checks all his facts and covers every angle, even those against the people closest to him. The man does not discriminate.

Appreciation must be given to the art team...just look at all these broken windows man...

And lastly, check out this clever frame, after Batman's taken the mask of the Talon into the Batcave for analysis.

The frame gives the dialogue through the eyes of the Talon...how creepy is that! Even when the Talon is dead, the Court is still watching you!

Follow along for more New 52 Batman:

Read all my New 52 Batman reviews:

Volume 1: The Court of Owls

Volume 2: City of Owls

Volume 3: Death of the Family (bonus: Joker: Death of the Family)

Volume 4: Zero Year -- Secret City

Volume 5: Zero Year -- Dark City

Volume 6: Graveyard Shift

Volume 7: Endgame

Vols 8 & 9: Superheavy & Bloom

Volume 10: Epilogue

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China Trip Pt 2: Food and the rest

I went to China and now I'm blogging about it! Catch up here:

Pt 1: Flight and the Great Wall
Pt 2: Food and the rest

It's an interesting experience being a Chinese-American and coming to China. We had a tour guide in Beijing, and in his words, it was our roots. For my parents, they were home. For myself, I look like everyone else, but I can't exactly speak like everyone else. I lost that at some point when I began my childhood education and stopped speaking Chinese at home. In Beijing, they speak Mandarin, and in Taishan, they speak a dialect of it (Taishanese). My basic knowledge of the language meant I could only go so far as telling other people in their language, that I couldn't speak their language. Gestures are also very useful.

Tourism is universal, so after our Great Wall hike and lunch, we went to Beijing for a show: "Golden Mask Dynasty." This show is notable for using gallons of water as a part of the show, and it was a delight to watch. As the water rushes in, you can feel the cool air on your face. And later, the water is used as a pond on the very same stage.

The next day, we went to the Forbidden City, notable for its political history and tourists, followed up by a different temple, and then Peking Duck for dinner. That was actually my first experience with Peking Duck, but for the uninformed, it is a form of roast duck, sliced into bite size. You're meant to combine it with other toppings such as chopped onions and hoisin sauce and put it all in a lettuce wrap to eat -- pretty delish.

After this, we took a flight to Taishan, my parents' hometown. We paid respects at the old villages of both of my parents, and did more, you guessed it, eating.

The roast pig is one of the most decadent items you can have in Chinese cuisine. It is often an offering for your ancestors, and it is shared with the ones making the offer as a communal food. The crispy skin combined with the juicy meat makes for a delicious combination.

After we ate our fill, we finally returned home. My wife and I left early, but everyone else continued on to Hong Kong. For another day, HK.

Everybody comes from different backgrounds, and regardless of where you are from, travel widens your view and helps you learn about yourself. I had a great time, and someday hope to do it again.

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Endgame Prep

Behold, mere mortals, the God of Thunder:

Stare into his eyes, and stare into the fury of mother nature herself.

Look away, but only if you dare.

This is but one of the twenty-four (24!) possible Happy Meal toys for Avengers: Endgame. I watched the movie on opening weekend with friends, and in preparation, I watched Infinity War and some other movies. Particularly, the last two Captain America movies, Winter Soldier and Civil War. These two stand out as some of my favorite marvel movies from the last era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The relationship between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes is one of my favorites in the comics, and on my re-reading of it, I never realized that they interact so little with each other.

It's not their interaction that makes the comics compelling. It's their non-interaction, their longing for their friend that makes it such a good comic and makes us want to read more. As the reader we yearn to see their relationship, because and that yearning makes us flip the page. It's comic book angst at its finest.

It's long-form storytelling at its finest, but because of that you would need a great deal of patience to read anything individually. The best way to read this is by binging.

To catch yourself up, read about Ed Brubaker's first 25 issues of Captain America in the omnibus. Then I'll follow up with the next few issues.

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God Bless America!

Right Hulk?

Uh. . .

Happy Independence Day everybody. From Jonathan Hickman's Ultimate Comics Ultimates.

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China Trip Pt 1: Flying and the Great Wall

Last month, I took a Spring Break trip with my family to China. It was my first time there, and I spent a week while everyone else took 3-4 weeks. It was my first international, overseas trip, so I wanted to take thorough documentation via pictures. We went to Beijing, the country's capital and then Taishan, my parent's hometown. Everyone else went on to places like Hong Kong.

Did you know that international flights have tablets on the chair backs? It was a 13-hour long flight, so we had amenities like a care package of socks, toothbrush, eye mask.

It was a unique flight for me. My fiancee and I sat in a row of three, with one unoccupied -- meaning we enjoyed the privilege of 1.5 seats! We watched Charlize Theron's Atomic Blonde, a movie I've had on my list for a while. The plane air system creates a lot of ambient noise that made it difficult to hear. I had earphones, but it must have been a better experience for my fiancee, who had a bulky pair of Beats.

I was thinking it was a modern spy thriller story, but I was completely wrong -- it's a spy thriller told in the era of Cold War Berlin, coated in a thick layer of contemporary German techno/pop music. Would have been nice to know beforehand, previews.

The meals are very fancy, though I was dismayed by the amount of packaging and tray usage on the flight.

Did you know? In 2016, airlines produced 5.2 million tons of waste. Reading that article, all of the packaging makes sense, but I still think they could use less trays. We flew Hainan Airlines, which was a good experience, as far as 13-hour flights go.

I also watched the animated movie Batman and Harley Quinn on the flight, and have some words on it. It's in the style of Batman: The Animated Series and retains the voice of B:TAS icon Kevin Conroy, but it's much more racy than the original children's cartoon. There's a steamy scene between Harley and Nightwing, when Harley (gasp!) strips down in front of Nightwing, tied to a bed (gasp!). Your children's Batman, this is not. There are also fart jokes. If anything, this is a cartoon comedy that happens to involve Batman. The Batman show this ain't.

I also caught all four Island Guardians in my Pokemon Sun game! Outside of my productive flight with video games, movies, and power naps, eventually we landed in Beijing Capital International Airport.

The Airport is optimistically a half hour away from the heart of Beijing, but getting out is a little different. The plane taxis you to the ground, but from there you need to take a shuttle bus to the airport proper. It's your job to know which shuttle to take (there are people with signs), so you can take your correct transfer/exit/baggage claim. Not a user-friendly experience, but survivable.

Our tour guide was outside the gate waiting for us, and from there we checked in to our hotel at the evening. The next day, we had breakfast like you wouldn't believe.

Fried noodles? Check.
Kimbop? Don't mind if I do.
Long johns? Yes please. The breakfast had everything we needed and more. Not pictured: bacon, congee, soup noodles, more long johns.

Our first day was a visit to a Jade gallery and then the Great Wall of China. There are some tours that are pushy and try to force you to buy something. In the past, my mom has spoken of the tour waiting hours for you to buy something, like some kind of high-noon showdown!

Thankfully that was not the case for us. Our tour guide snuck us in with someone giving a tour of the gallery, and jumped off when they started pushing products on us. I took it as a chance to walk around and take some sweet pictures of jewel art.

Jade is a special mineral in China and one of the country's biggest imports. Different emperors/empresses in history have valued it, and our tour guide told us of one who was given a Jade mouth in her grave!

Like many other things in China, Jade is subject to counterfeiting: here are a couple tips to help you not get bamboozled: hold the jade up to a light and it should be translucent, and, when you knock it on a hard surface, it ought to make a pleasant knocking sound. Jadeite is second to Diamond in hardness (6.5 and 10, respectively), and it's said that if you nourish your Jade for 3 years, it will nourish you for life.

Next up was the Great Wall of China. Some parts of the Wall are closed off for reconstruction, and it took us quite a while to get up to the right spot: a little village called Mutianyu. We went through the mountains and passed numerous villages, some that had even built an economy as resorts for Great Wall hiking. It was an enjoyable hike, not longer than 2 hours perhaps, and the top was a rewarding view. My poor mom got tired halfway, and sat down in the cabin area while the rest of us got to the top of our particular section of the Wall.

The Great Wall is also known as China's largest cemeteries -- peasants and prisoners were conscripted to work on the wall, and when they died of exhaustion (which was often), their bodies were buried with their work. Yikes.

The rest area was a halfway point that also included a toboggan area. Fiancee and I took the toboggan, while everyone else walked the rest of the way down. Billed as "the Michelle Obama experience" (there are photos!) by our tour guide, it was a hoot. It moved quickly and while the line was long, we were consistently moving along. My one complaint was the slow people in front of me. You need to use the control stick on your toboggan: push it forward to go forward, pull it back to brake, and there was more than one person who didn't get it. Heck, the man in front of me was using his hands to push himself along the rail -- idiot!

We met up at the bottom, washed our hands and left. An interesting note about sanitation: things are generally more dirty on our trip than in the states. It may be partially due to the mugginess, but I never felt quite as clean as I do normally. The water isn't potable, and so if you want clean drinking water you need to boil your own water or purchase bottled water. Most toilets are squat toilets, although our hotel had sit-down toilets. Squat-ies aren't too bad. After an emergency at the Temple of Heaven, I got accustomed to them, and if you ask me, they seem more maintainable than sit-down toilets.

That'll do it for this post. Next time: the Forbidden City and Peking Duck! Have you been to Beijing before? Used a squat toilet before? Leave your comments below, and I'll reply!

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