Y the Last Man

Y the Last Man was a very interesting comic. While I only have read the first book so far, I am intrigued to see what happens. So far I like the characters and the plot. I especially like agent 355. I like the fact that she doesn't have a name. I also enjoyed the structure of the book. Each chapter starts out in the now, then goes back a certain amount of time and works forward again to the present. It makes for an interesting and captivating read. I think that the strongest pages were pages 31 to 33 when all of the men die and you see one panel pictures from all over the world. It was a very good way to convey the fact that this tragedy was happening everywhere and it was also a good way to introduce characters. I also think the art work is amazing! I think the splash page on 59 is my favorite. It is a painting of Yorick jumping out of the white house in front of the American flag with his mother and some other women holding guns below him. It is very dramatic and aesthetically interesting. Since the style of that page is so different from the others, the page really sticks out and makes an impression. I cannot wait to read the other books.

Character Description

Bean:

Bean is a young girl throughout most of the novel, but she gets older as the story goes on. Bean's universe is very similar to ours, the only real difference being what the people look like. There are boys and girls, men and women, even though at times it is hard to distinguish between the two. Everyone wears cloaks that covers their entire body except for their faces. In Bean's part of the world, known as Timaginoan, spoken words are rarely used as usually the people's faces convey what they are thinking. People in Timaginoan have stopped thinking for themselves and conformity is rewarded. Children are meant to learn the rules and a trade, but nothing else. Bean's problem is her insatiable curiosity. It is the reason she cannot sleep at night. She knows there is more to learn than what she is taught and there is more to see than what is around her. The books at the school full fill Bean's thirst for knowledge for the time being, but when she leaves she gets that nagging to find something new again. Bean's restlessness only increases with the knowledge that there is something beyond her small part of the world. She has a good sense of adventure and can tell stories at the drop of a hat.
The people of Timaginoan eat very bland foods pureed together into a sort of mush. (It is called moosh). It is a blend of cabbages and potatoes, on special occasions carrots are used. Bean discovers other foods while on her travels, some as exotic as pomegranates and avocados.

Dark Knight Strikes Again

Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again is Frank Miller's sequel to the Dark Knight Returns. It has all the same super heroes a long with some new ones like Wonder Woman and Dick Grayson. The story begins with Batman and Catgirl (formerly Robin) training a group of batboys to fight against Lex Luthor's control on the city. The batboys release many other super heroes from government buildings, where they were being forced to work for the evils that be. Superman, who is also under control of Luther, is told to stop Batman, but is defeated in the Batcave. Batman finds himself and his 'soldiers' to be pop culture superstars and start making public appearances preaching rebellion against the government. The Question, sort of a similar character to the Watchmen's Rorscharch in that he writes down his thoughts and observations in a notebook and tends to work alone, spies on Luther. The Question tries to get Martian Manhunter to kill Superman because he is too much of a powerful weapon for Luther to have in his power. However, while they are planning they are attacked by someone who looks like the Joker. The Question is rescued by the Green Arrow, but the mysterious bad guy gets away. Brainiac releases a monster on the city, which Batman ignores because he sees that it is an attempt to get him out of hiding. However, Brainiac makes sure that his monster defeats Superman and the other super heroes under his and Luther's control to make people stop believing in the power of super heroes. Superman does not die though because he is saved by his daughter Lara, who is also the daughter of Wonder Woman. Superman, Wonder Woman, and Lara run away from Luther to join Batman. But they also trick Brainiac into thinking they are going to give him Lara and by doing this they get the Atom to get into the bottle, where he lets out the Kandorians. This starts the revolution. Batman then lets himself be captured by Luther to distract him while the Green Lantern destroys his satellites that were going to kill most of the world's population. Luther is then killed by the son of Hawkman. Then Catgirl sends a message to Batman telling him that she is being attacked by Dick Grayson, who it turns out was the villain who looked like the joker, but he heals extremely fast and has the mind of the criminally insane. (Dick Grayson was Batman's first Robin). Batman throws himself and Grayson into a fiery pit of lava, but he is saved by Superman and Carrie.
Whew, summarizing is a lot of work for these books. I thought a lot of the same about this Batman book as I did about The Dark Knight Returns. I thought it was cool and fun, but not my favorite. I did like in this one how Miller explored a darker side of Batman by making it so he is willing to sacrifice the lives of innocents because the risk is too great. I also thought that Lara was an interesting character, showing traits of a villain even despite the fact that her parents were Superman and Wonder Woman. The art, again, was great; entertaining and lively. I also thought the pace of this book made it an easier read than the Dark Knight returns. All considered I liked this one better than the first.

Dark Knight Returns

The Dark Knight Returns was an epic comic. It had all the big guys; Batman, Superman, Robin, Green Arrow, and a whole army that Batman trains! I had no idea that this book was like this. It starts out normal enough with Bruce Wayne becoming Batman again after coming across a Mutant gang in the alley where his parents were killed. Carrie Kelly helps him as his new Robin (I did not like this character very much. I think her role as the 'side-kick' was boring and expected, although it was cool that she was a girl). Commissioner Gordan is replaced by Ellen Yindel and Batman sees that even though Two Face looks normal again, he is still bad. When Batman finds out that an army general was giving guns and weapons to the Mutant gangs, he confronts him and finds out the general was only doing it for the money to save his sick wife. He kills himself in front of Batman. Then Batman fights the Mutant gangs, but the leader of the gang kills the Mayor. Batman gets him out of jail so that he can kill him. Then the Joker gets out of jail and gets Batman to come to a talk show, where he sprays him with Joker venom and runs away. The Joker takes Selina Kyle and ties her to a bomb in the middle of a field after killing a group of Cub scouts. Luckily, Robin (Carrie) defuses the bomb. Batman finally fight the Joker and breaks his neck, but does not kill him. However, like the army general, the Joker kills himself in front of Batman by twisting his neck to break the rest of his spine. The old Mutant gang members who became the Sons of Batman after he killed their leader become the local law force, a source of vigilante justice. The government gets Superman to come and fight Batman and during the battle Oliver Queen shoots Superman with a Kryptonite arrow and Batman wins. BUT! Batman soon after has a heart attack and Alfred blows up Wayne Manner (then Alfred dies of a stroke). However, when at the funeral of Batman, Superman hears a heart beating in the coffin and realizes that Batman is still alive. Overall I thought the book was cool, but I didn't like it as much as the Killing Joke. I enjoyed each of the stories, but not on as deep a level as I enjoyed The Killing Joke. I thought the art work was good, but not my favorite of the books we have read. I think this might have been too superhero-y of a comic for me. I prefer the ones that take it to the next level and give it more depth.

The Killing Joke

I have not read a lot of Batman comics, but this one will probably be my favorite no matter what. The Killing Joke was simply amazing. The insight into the psyche of the Joker is incredibly well done and intense. I like the portrayal of the joker as an intellectual, rather than just a "jokester." I think that it gives his character much more depth to have him give reasons for why he is bad. His description of man kind is particularly bleak. For instance, on page 290 the Joker says, "I give you...the average man! Physically unremarkable, it has instead a deformed set of values. Notice the hideously bloated sense of humanity's importance. The clubfooted social conscience and the withered optimism....How do they live, I hear your ask." He calls humanity club footed and withered, clearly giving a dark outlook on human life. The format of the book sort of reminded me of in Hamlet, when the gravediggers are digging Ophelia's grave make jest of death. Same as in the Swedish film, The Seventh Seal, where the Squire plays chess with death. All three of these characters, the Joker, the gravediggers, and the Squire believe death to be an embittered and hopeless joke. This complexity of the story made it a very sophisticated and interesting read. Besides the story, the artwork was also amazing. Each panel is a masterpiece in itself and as a whole it is an incredible piece of art. One of my favorite panels is the one on the bottom of page 282 where the Joker is looking straight out at the reader with his head tilted sharply sideways. His eyes are bloodshot and the thin, jagged lines that go through it make it even more intense. Everything about it screams insanity. Overall, I really liked this book and the more I think about tit the more I like it. I enjoyed all the conversations between the Joker and Batman, and the back story to how the Joker became the Joker. It has definitely become one of my favorites.

All Star Superman

Grant Morrison's and Frank Quietely's All Star Superman was a very interesting read. After reading We3 I was excited for the art work before I even opened it up and I was not disappointed. I have never read a Superman comic before because Superman has never been one of my favorite super heroes, but I did find this to be pretty good. Most of time I find Superman to be pretty cheesy, which I am sure is part of its appeal, but just not for me. However, I thought the dialogue in this version was sophisticated and I liked the stories. Of the six episodes in volume 1, I think my favorite was the fourth one, Superman/Jimmy Olsen War. I liked it for a number of reasons, mainly I liked seeing the dark side of Superman and I like Jimmy Olsen as a character. I thought the use of color was particularly good in this episode, also. For instance, on page 93, we can see the beginning of Superman's transformation into bad superman as the background of his speech bubbles becomes gray. Then when he makes the full transformation they turn fully black. I also like the rainbow jacket. One thing about the comic that I really didn't like was the lettering of the titles (on pages 30, 41, 80, 84, 109, 137). I thought they didn't fit with the rest of the art work that was so incredible. These titles reminded me of stuff people make in Microsoft Publisher. I just didn't like how it fit in with the rest of the book. The use of color throughout the book were also really impressive. I liked how the panels went back and forth from black and white to color on 46 to 47 to emphasize that Louis Lane is finally seeing things clearly. Then on the next two pages the panels alternate from a dull grey background to a vibrant pink. I think that it keeps the reader interested, or at least it did for me. Another thing I found amusing was that the dogs in Superman are so similar to the dog in We3. I liked that because you can see the artist in the works.