Ten Reasons "One More Day" Is the Worst Spider-Man Story Ever

#5 - What Would Aunt May Think Of All This?

May Parker, along with her husband Ben, took in young Peter Parker when his parents were killed in a plane crash. They raised him as their own and doted on the boy to the point of being overprotective. The three of them became a family, the only family that any of them had in the world. After Ben's murder the bond between Peter and his Aunt May grew even stronger, despite his double life as Spider-Man. They were all they had, all they knew they could count on. When May's health began to fail, Peter took it as his responsibility to take care of her. It was his fault that Uncle Ben had died, so it was his job to make sure she was okay.

May loved Peter, but her poor health made her realize that she wouldn't be around forever and that he couldn't stay with her for the rest of his life. She knew it was important for him to make his own way in the world. To get out on his own, make new friends, and meet girls. That's why she was overjoyed when Peter finally conceded to meet Mary Jane Watson, and she saw the two of them get along so well.

So what would Aunt May think about the choice presented to Peter in "One More Day"? After all, this story does kind of revolve around her. And she doesn't get a say in it, at all. If she knew that one thing had to end, either her life or the love between Peter and Mary Jane, which do you think she would pick? Read these pages from Sensational Spider-Man #39 and let me know what you think...

[Note: Sensational #39 is only two issues before the start of the OMD arc. After being shot, Aunt May is in a coma. With the help of Madame Web, Peter is able to go into May's subconscious and converse with her. Once inside her mind, he finds himself in front of their old house on the night of Uncle Ben's murder.]

If you said that Aunt May would gladly give up a chance to save her life in order to ensure Peter and Mary Jane's happiness, you are correct. Even before reading that issue I knew that she would never, in a million years, accept the terms of Mephisto's deal. In Aunt May's own words, she's old, tired, and ready to hang it up. Hell, she's been trying to die for the better part of forty-five years. I can understand Peter not wanting to let her go. I can understand his feelings of guilt, that it would be his fault if she died this way. But to resort to ridiculously desperate means to save her (i.e. a deal with the devil) at the expense of his marriage when she, in not so many words, told him not to do that...to have Peter Parker violate what was basically Aunt May's last request was a really, really bad move. What if Marvel ever decides to set continuity back and May finds out about this? Do you think she'll be pleased with her nephew? How will Peter explain this?

Oh wait...it's magic, he doesn't have to explain it.

Enough with the Fastest Family Alive

I usually read through the Cheers and Jeers column over on Comics Should Be Good! and one of his points this week really caught my eye:

JEERS to Flash’s kids. I’m sorry, Mr. Waid. I don’t mind Wally being married. I don’t mind him having kids, even. But the whole Incredibles riff, while a cute concept, just isn’t working for me.

This struck home with me because it was that very reason that I decided not to read Flash once it was relaunched at the start of the Countdown era. I briefly mentioned this back in August when I talked about dropping the title.

This is not about the classic comic debate whether a family-based character works. I definitely don't want to fall into that hole. This isn't about whether the character changes with the aspect of coming home to the wife and kids and the occasional story where a villain puts them at risk. With a mature character like Superman, it really works. With a character like Spider-Man, it (THIS SENTENCE REMOVED BY MEPHISTO).

But what's going on with Flash is different. Here, the kids are actually in action with Flash. It's a family-hero book in the spirit of, like the article said, the popular Disney/Pixar movie the Incredibles. The super-powered kids go into action with the hero and together they make a fantastic team. That may work in a stand-alone book, but it really doesn't fit into modern DC (especially after all the death and destruction of Infinite Crisis/52/World War III/Countdown) and it doesn't work with a mainstream hero like the Flash. The Flash - especially the Wally West one - should be hero-ing out on his own. With his collection of rogues (quite possibly the second-best in comics, only falling to Batman's) and a well-populated supporting cast, there's more than enough to tell with Wally doing it on his own. There is no need for the excess baggage of this idea, and I'm questioning how long the format will last now that Mark Waid will be gone from the book.

Don't get me wrong - I love Mark Waid's work, but I just couldn't get into this format, and that's why Flash left my list of monthly titles after one issue under the old numbering.

Messiah Complex - Almost there!

We're a week and a day away from the finale of Messiah CompleX and one day from what is usually the climactic chapter of such a storyline. So where are we?

SPOILERS AHOY!

• Killed by Layla Miller in the future, Madrox's consciousness returns to his prime form and reveals to Cyclops' group (Emma Frost, Iceman, X-Factor) that Bishop is the traitor.
• Bishop, meanwhile, is with an unsuspecting X-Force (Wolverine, Wolfsbane, Warpath, X-23, Hepzibah) in assaulting the Marauders on Muir Island, trying to reclaim the baby.
• An injured Cable has enlisted the aid of Professor X, and the two are also headed to Muir Island.
• Predator X has come to the Institute and face-to-face with the remaining members of the New X-Men.
• Mystique and Gambit have taken control of the baby and, apparently unbeknownst to the other Marauders, have seemingly done away with Sinister.

So there's the present leading into tomorrow's New X-Men #46. Knowing writers Chris Yost and Craig Kyle, I'd say at least one person will be dead and gone before the issue's done. So who's gone down so far? Here's the casualty list:

• Blockbuster (Marauders) - Killed by Purifiers on the initial move for the baby.
• Prism (Marauders) - Killed with Blockbuster.
• Hellion (New X-Men) - Skewered by Lady Deathstrike, in critical condition.
• Pixie (New X-Men) - Injured in a blind teleport.
• Nightcrawler (X-Men) - Shot by Scalphunter, in serious condition.
• O*N*E Sentinel Pilots - Transformed into Sentinel-hybrids, apparently killed.
• Elixir (New X-Men) - Injured by debris in the Sentinel attack, unconscious.
• Peepers (unaffiliated) - Devoured by Predator X.
• Caliban (X-Men) - Killed by shots from a Reaver.
• Lady Deathstrike (Reavers) - Killed by X-23.
• Forge (unaffiliated) - Injured by Bishop.
• Sinister (Marauders) - Taken down by Mystique, possibly killed.
• Lady Mastermind (Marauders) - Skewered by Wolverine, possibly killed.

That's stacking up pretty nicely, huh? I was going to write a list of hits and misses thus far, but I think I'll wait a week and give the final wrap-up after the last issue comes out. See you then!

Ten Reasons "One More Day" Is the Worst Spider-Man Story Ever

#6 - Even the Guy Writing It Didn't Think It Was a Good Idea

The following are excerpts from postings by former Amazing Spider-Man writer J. Michael Straczynski on Newsarama and his own site, JMSNews:

"Spider-Man belongs to Marvel, not to me, and at the end of the day, however much I may disagree with things, and however much I may make it very CLEAR to all parties that I disagree, I have to honor their position."

***

"In the current storyline, there's a lot that I don't agree with, and I made this very clear to everybody within shouting distance at Marvel, especially Joe. I'll be honest: there was a point where I made the decision, and told Joe, that I was going to take my name off the last two issues of the OMD arc. Eventually Joe talked me out of that decision because at the end of the day, I don't want to sabotage Joe or Marvel, and I have a lot of respect for both of those. As an executive producer as well as a writer, I've sometimes had to insist that my writers make changes that they did not want to make, often loudly so. They were sure I was wrong. Mostly I was right. Sometimes I was wrong. But whoever sits in the editor's chair, or the executive producer's chair, wears the pointy hat of authority, and as Dave Sim once noted, you can't argue with a pointy hat...So at the end of the day, all one can do is try to do the best one can with the notes one is given, and try to execute them in a professional way...because who knows, the other guy may be right."

***

"...the primary reason I finally threw up my hands on the book, which had mainly to do with how the resolution was handled.

To explain, here's the conversation I had with Marvel, in sum:

"So what does Mephisto do?" I ask.

"He makes everybody forget Peter's Spider-Man."

"Uh, huh. So Aunt May's still in the hospital --"

"No, he saves Aunt May."

"But if all he does is save her life and make everybody forget he's Spidey, she still has a scar on her midsection."

"No, he makes that go away too."

"Okay...:

"Then he wakes up in her house."

"The house that was burned down?"

"Right."

"But how --"

"Mephisto undoes that as well."

"Okay. And the guys who shot at Peter and May and were killed, they're alive too? Mephisto can bring guys back from the dead?"

"It's all part of the spell."

"And Doc Strange can't tell?"

"No,"

"And the newspaper articles? News footage?"

"Joe, it's been forgotten."

"I'm just asking is that stuff there or not there?"

"Not there. And Peter's web shooters are back."

"Is this the same spell or a different spell?"

"Same spell."

"How does making people forget he's Spidey bring back his web shooters?"

"It's magic, okay?"

"I see. And Harry's back."

"Right."

"And Mephisto does this too."

"Yep."

"So is Harry back from the dead, or has he been alive? If they ask him, hey Harry, what did you do last summer, will he remember? And the year before? And the year before? If he says they all went on a picnic two years ago, will they remember it?"

"It's --"

"Because if he now has a life he remembers, if he's not back from the dead, then you've changed the continuity you said you didn't want to change. Those are your only options: he was brought back from the dead, and there's a grave, and people remember him dying --"

"Mephisto changes THEIR memories too."

"-- or he's effectively been alive as far as our characters know, so he's been alive all along, so either way as far as our characters are concerned, continuity's been violated going back to 1971.

How do you explain that?"

"It's magic, we don't have to explain it."

And that's the part I had a real problem with, maybe the single biggest problem. There's this notion that magic fixes everything. It doesn't. "It's magic, we don't have to explain it." Well, actually, yes, you do. Magic has to have rules. And this is clearly not just a case of one spell making everybody forget he's Spidey...suddenly you're bringing back the dead, undoing wounds, erasing records, reinstating web shooters, on and on and on.

***

[Note: Straczyniski's original outline for the changes to Spider-Man in OMD involved changing one thing in Spidey's history, that being Peter calling out Harry on his drug addiction and forcing him into rehab. Harry gets clean, he and MJ stay together. Thus, Harry never becomes the Green Goblin, never dies, and Peter and MJ never get married. Joe Quesada didn't like this option because he thought it invalidated more than twenty years of Spider-Man continuity. Of course the plan he ultimately went with didn't do that at all, did it? Ugh.]

What I wanted to do was to make one small change to history, a tiny thing, whose ripples we could control to only touch what editorial wanted to touch, making changes we could explain logically. I worked for weeks to come up with a timeline that would leave every other bit of continuity in place. It was rigorous, and as logical as I could make it. In the end of OMD as published, Harry is alive and he's always been alive as far as the characters know...so how is that different than he was alive the whole time?

It made no sense to me.

Still doesn't. It's sloppy. It violates every rule of writing fiction of the fantastic that I and every other SF/Fantasy writer knows you can't violate. It's fantasy 101."

***

"Mainly, the book was rewritten in the editorial offices to a degree that the words weren't mine any longer, to a certain degree in three, and massively in four. If the work represents me, I leave the name there and take the rap; if it doesn't, then that's a different situation. There's just not much of my work there, especially once you get to the last dong of midnight...everything after that was written by editorial.

Whether my work is good or it sucks, it's mine. What came out of the end of OMD wasn't, hence my desire to omit the writing credit. Joe graciously offered to share it on the last issue. I think that helped. Credit where credit is due."

'Nuff said.

Ten Reasons "One More Day" Was the Worst Spider-Man Story Ever

#7 - Let's Make A Deal

Joe Quesada doesn't want characters to smoke in any Marvel comics because he feels it delivers a bad message to children. He also shot down the idea of Peter Parker being the father of Gwen Stacy's twins in J. Michael Straczynski's poorly received "Sins Past" storyline in Amazing Spider-Man because he didn't like the idea that Spidey had had unprotected, premarital sex. He also insists that simply divorcing Peter and MJ would irrevocably taint the characters and once again send a bad message to children. But trading off your immortal soul in exchange for a favor from the Prince of Darkness? Have at the one kids!

Now, I don't believe in the devil. I know you can't realistically do that in the way you could do the other three things I mentioned. I also know Mephisto isn't really Satan, but in the Marvel U he might as well be. But I also know that there are people do believe the devil is real. And if you're the kind of person to consider all these things to be real possibilities and really bad things, which one do you think would be the worst?

And the fact that Spider-Man trusts Mephisto and accepts the deal? Hasn't he seen or read any of the hundreds of stories where the devil promises someone something fantastic only to somehow screw them over? Spidey's supposed to be smarter than that.

Status quo changes, good? Liar!

Change is not good in comics. Nobody wants change in comics. They'll tell you they do, but believe me, they're lying. People like the status quo, and they'll raise hell if you try to change it.

There was a time when some guy named Grant Morrison took the X-Men franchise and turned it in a brand new direction. Gone were the costumes, the super-epic missions and in their place were a school-based setting with the team members functioning as teachers. It was different, edgier, and at first, people didn't like it. Sure, no one will admit to it now, because the run turned into one of the greatest periods in X-Men history. Looking back, the complaints appear as what they actually are - hating change to the status quo.

Where were you when Captain America died? If you're like a good number of fans, you were in front of your computer complaining about it onto any and every forum you could find. How could you kill such an iconic character? Surely he won't stay dead! How could you have the title go on without him? Nevermind that since his death, the title has churned out quality issue after quality issue, showing the strengths of the supporting cast without the lead being present.

So of course, we get to One More Day, the Spider-Man storyline that completely changed the status quo of the character. While in my mind it's not as tragic as people seem to think (read Joe Quesada's five part interview closely), people seem unable to get past the fact that it happened, and do not look forward at all to future storylines. You have star teams of writers and artists taking on a character in a setting that really makes him shine. Personally, I would prefer a happy, wise-cracking Spider-Man with a colorful supporting cast mixing his two lives rather than the grim, no-nonsense, on-the-run Spider-Man that followed Civil War. Was this the best way of solving the solution? Perhaps not, but it was better than taking the years needed to get there, with brash mischaracterizations in every other place Spidey was appearing (why was he so happy in New Avengers?).

If the storylines of Brand New Day are good, which I say is a strong chance with the star power involved, people will quickly forget about One More Day. That's how it works with status quo changes - about a month of complaining, then acceptance and moving on. The future may vindicate the story, like Morrison's New X-Men did, or it may bury it like the Electro-Superman debacle did.

Either way, quit your bitching and try to enjoy the stories for what they are, rather than what you think they should be. If you don't agree, feel free to write your own.

Ten Reasons "One More Day" Is the Worst Spider-Man Story Ever

#9 - Haven't We Been Here Before?

Spider-Man made his debut in Amazing Fantasy #15 in August of 1962, celebrating his 45th anniversary last summer. The Web Head's had a multitude of titles over the years as well: Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Unlimited, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man, Sensational Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and I'm sure there have been others. My point is that there's a veritable cornucopia of Spidey stories out there for the reading. The vast majority of those stories featured the secret identity and the mechanical webshooters. Peter Parker was single until 1987 and those first twenty-five years featured plenty of stories about a down-on-his-luck Parker trying to pay the bills, get a date, keep his identity secret, and take care of dear old Aunt May, all the while fulfilling his responsibilities as Spider-Man. These aspects can be considered Spider-Man's trademarks but they can also be considered Spider-Man's cliches. After all the growth that the character has experienced in the last few years, the changes brought about by "One More Day" seem like a huge step backward. Do we really need to go back to stories that feature Aunt May's poor health, running out of web fluid, and secret identity skulduggery as convenient plot devices? I'm not saying the stories would necessarily be bad, but why try to turn back the clock instead of moving forward? This leads right into my next item...

#8 - This "New" Version of Spider-Man is Readily Available In Other Places

The version of Spider-Man that Joe Quesada sought to establish in the regular Marvel Universe post-"One More Day" already existed, basically, in three other formats. The young, single Spidey not only existed in the first quarter century of Spider books, but relaunched in books like Marvel Age Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man. If this change , as Joe Quesada insists, is what's needed to get more people reading Amazing, then these two books should be outselling the flagship title, right? They're not. I didn't research it extensively, but according to Diamond's sales numbers to comic specialty stores throughout 2007 Amazing Spider-Man was consistently in the top 15 books sold for the month, Ultimate was usually somewhere around number 25, and Marvel Age Spider-Man was usually found somewhere in the low 200s.

The First Post of a New Year

I realize I haven't posted much here in the last couple months and to be perfectly honest, it's because I've been lazy. But that changes now, as I've read a comic story so mind numbingly awful that I simply must write down my thoughts about it if only to get them out of my head so I don't get a tumor. So let's begin the first installment of:

Ten Reasons "One More Day" Is the Worst Spider-Man Story Ever

For those you who might not know, "One More Day" is the story of Peter Parker and his wife Mary Jane desperately looking for a way to save the life of Aunt May, who is at death's door after taking a bullet from an assassin sent after Peter, a direct result of him publicly revealing himself to be Spider-Man. Exhausting every possible option, Peter and MJ ultimately make a deal with Mephisto (Marvel's version of the devil) to save May's life. The catch is, Mephisto wants their marriage as payment. Phisty waves his pointy red hand and undoes the last twenty-some-odd years of Spider-Man continuity. Peter is single, living with Aunt May in Queens, his secret identity is once again intact, his organic webshooters are gone and his former best friend Harry Osbourne is back from the dead.

I honestly don't care if I spoiled it for anyone. If I did, I see it as me doing you a favor. This story is so fundamentally flawed it's ridiculous. I tried to sit down and write out how I felt about it in one concise entry but I couldn't. There was simply too much to complain about. So with out further ado, here's number ten...

#10 - Joe Quesada Said This Kind of Thing Wouldn't Happen

In the late spring of 2006 the second issue of Marvel Comic's Civil War series hit the newsstands. This wasn't just another installment of what would turn out to be a landmark series for the company, this particular issue contained a huge event for what most would say is the company's flagship character. At a press conference held by Tony Stark, Spider-Man took off his mask and told the world that his name was Peter Parker.

This was arguably the biggest event in the character's 45-year history. The story garnered national media attention. Here's an excerpt from a Los Angeles Times interview with Marvel Editor-In-Chief, Joe Quesada on the subject:

"It can be very intimidating if you don't know where the story is going or how it ends; we do, so we're just excited about where it takes us and the story possibilities it offers," Joe Quesada, Marvel's editor-in-chief, said Wednesday.

So they were excited about the possible story ideas? So was I honestly. There were forty-five year's worth of Spider-Man secret identity stories on the books and it was exciting to think where they could go without it. Where did they go? Let's see...since the unmasking there was "Back In Black" that ran thru Amazing Spider-Man, "The Lethal Foes of Peter Parker" and a Mr. Hyde story in Sensational Spider-Man, and something Peter David wrote about a crazy lady made of spiders over in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Not a lot in my opinion and the only things that really capitalized on the potential of the unmasking was "Back In Black" and a one-off issue of Friendly Neighborhood that featured a confrontation between Peter and J. Jonah Jameson. There was still much more fertile ground to explore with this new status quo. And creators seemed to have plenty of opportunity to do it, because the interview goes on to say:

He also promised that Marvel won't be backing-off of Spidey's big revelation by zapping the public with a forget-me ray or saying the press conference was a dream or a hoax. "We won't be pulling a Bobby Ewing with this," said Quesada.

For those of you who might not understand the reference, Bobby Ewing was a character on the hit show Dallas played by Patrick Duffy. Here's what Wikipedia has to say in regards to "pulling a Bobby Ewing":

At the end of the 1985 season, Patrick Duffy expressed his desire to leave the series. Thus, his character of Bobby died when he was run over by a car driven by his sister-in-law, Katherine Wentworth. This proved to be a mistake as it left the show without one of its most popular characters. Larry Hagman persuaded Duffy to return to the series the following season. Dallas scriptwriters created a storyline which featured Pam waking up to find Bobby in the shower (in the May 1986 cliffhanger episode) - with the realization that the storylines of the preceding season, including the accident, were nothing more than a lengthy dream sequence (thus invalidating the entire 1985-1986 season of the show).

So Quesada said that there wouldn't be a story written that would magically undo the unmasking let alone any number of other Spider-Man stories. Less than a year and a half later, that's exactly what happened. Now I know he didn't say this in a courtroom with his hand on a bible but he said it nonetheless.

Quesada has also said that he wasn't a fan of the idea of Marvel having a "crisis" or a DC-esque rebooting of continuity for any of the Marvel books as he felt it was entirely unnecessary. If a writer wanted to change a character's status quo or something about their past that he didn't like, the writer simply told the stories that logically got the characters from one point to the next. (As Ed Brubaker masterfully did with restoring Daredevil's secret identity and bring Bucky back as the Winter Soldier.) You didn't just zap the characters from one point to another and point to a big deus ex machina as an explanation for any changes. (Although there is a little of that in House of M.)

But if you ask Joe Quesada, he'll tell you that "One More Day" didn't change a thing about Spider-Man's continuity. More on that later.

The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul

---Spoilers---

Batman Annual #26
By Peter Milligan & David Lopez

Talia tells an uninterested Damian stories about the past of Ra's al Ghul. These stories include Ra's first love, Sora, and how they discovered the Lazrus Pits from work her late father had done. However, his ambition lead to her death. From this, he becomes enraged, and assumed the title of the Demon's Head. Another story has Ra's being instrumental in Napoleon losing the battle of Waterloo, and taking Napoleon's mistress. The last story is from the time of Jack the Ripper, in London, and shows the White Ghost (Ra's assistant) informing Ra's of a way to cheat death if he cannot get to a Lazrus Pit in time. Part of the plan includes the writings of Ra's history. It is revealed that Damian is hearing these stories because the White Ghost plans on Ra's inhabiting Damian's body, and those memories are necessary. Damian and Talia escape before White Ghost can perform the ceremony for Ra's to inhabit Damian's body. During this time, Batman is investigating the disappearance of two scientists, and finds their murdered bodies, on the way to finding White Ghost's Lazrus Pit. Nicely written story showing some of the history of Ra's al Ghul. Released in August, successfully teased the upcoming cross-over.


Robin Annual #7 "The Festival of the Hungry Ghosts"
By Keith Champagn & Jason Pearson
In this back-up story, Damian fights a bunch of ghosts. There's more to it than this, but not necessary to the tale. At the end he defeats four Robins (Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, original Tim Drake costume, new Tim Drake costume). It is revealed that this was just a test, and a cloaked Ra's al Ghul was watching him.

*note: While only the second story in this annual involves the Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul, the first story, "The Great Pumpkin," also written by Keith Champagne, worth a read. It is a mystery of some gruesome killings happening around Halloween. It's difficult to write a truly dark Robin story that is also good and true to the character, but Keith Champagne accomplishes it.


Batman #670 - Prelude "Lazarus Rising"
By Grant Morrison & Tony Daniel

Major plot points: I-Ching was attacked by someone being possessed by the Sensei, who is looking for Nanda Parbat; Batman rescues I-Ching; Talia hires 3 female villians to distract Batman; Batman easily takes them out, and learns of the return of Ra's al Ghul; Ra's al Ghul reveals his bandaged, decomposing self to Talia and Damian; it is learned that Damian is to be the new host body for Ra's, and this will effectively kill Damian's consciousness; Damian escapes.

Morrison's writing maintains its high standard. Tony Daniel on art is a nice addition to the book.


Robin #168 - Part 1 "A Boy for the Demon"
By Peter Milligan & Freddie E. Williams II

Major plot points: Damian sneaks into the Batcave looking for Batman, but finds Robin; Damian and Robin have a confrontation then fight throughout stately Wayne Manor; Ra's has Talia captive on a boat; Batman rescues her, but Ra's is gone; Sensei continues his search for clues as to the location of Nanda Parbat; large number of members of the League of Assassins approaching stately Wayne Manor.

This had the first of two fill-in writers working on the cross-over, but Adam Beechen did not write the issue before this either, and Chuck Dixon is taking over this month. So, having a fill-in writer is not bad. And besides, Milligan is a pretty good writer, in my opinion.


Nightwing #138 - Part 2 "The Lesser of Two Evils"
By Fabian Nicieza & Don Kramer

Major plot points: Nightwing is alerted to go to stately Wayne Manor, and teleports there; Batman and Talia search for Ra's, leaving Damian and Robin to fight the LoA; Sensei continues his quest; Ra's has to get to Nanda Parbat to prepare to posses Damian; big fight between Robin, Nightwing and Damian versus the LoA; Robin and Damian taken away when Nightwing keeps the 3 female villians from the Prelude from being poisoned.

Here is the second of the fill-in writers. Marv Wolfman left the book, and I believe Tomasi is taking over in January. Nicely written issue. It should also be noted that Damian is a hothead, and does not really listen to anyone. Just a little bit of the character development that is missed by just covering the main plot points.



Detective Comics #838 - Part 3
By Paul Dini & Ryan Benjamin

Major plot points: Damian and Robin are taken to Ra's; Damian escapes, and leaves Robin behind; Ra's plays mind games with Robin, offering to bring Robin's parents back to life, and mentor him; Batman and Talia run into I-Ching during their trek through mountains, in search of Ra's; Nightwing and Alfred arrive in Tibet, and fight off some LoA members and Ubu; sword fight between Batman and Ra's; Ra's asks Batman to choose which son of his will die, Robin or Damian.

I like Paul Dini's writing. It's not the usual fare we have been seeing in Detective, but still a well written issue. See a pattern forming?


Batman #671 - Part 4 "He Who Is Master"
By Grant Morrison & Tony Daniel

Major plot points: Sensei has found and taken over Nanda Parbat; Batman agrees to take Ra's al Ghul to the Fountain of Life in Nanda Parbat in order to save Robin and Damian; Batman and Ra's make it to Nanda Parbat and fight the Sensei's men; they go to the Fountain of Life, and find the Sensei, who is revealed to be Ra's al Ghul's father; Sensei "kills" Ra's, and fights Batman; during the fight, Sensei goes into the Fountain, and it burns him; Ra's al Ghul's spirit inhabits another body.

Did I mention early that I like Morrison's writing and Daniel's art? Well, I do. And whoever decides the layouts does a phenomenal job. The fight between Sensei was amazingly done. Sensei says that he can fight all out for under two minutes, and fortunately only needs one to defeat Batman. The fight keeps going after Sensei believes he finishes off Batman, and asks him what he is doing. Batman replies with, 'lasting longer than a minute.' It was just a nice Batman moment.


Robin #169 - Part 5
By Peter Milligan & David Baldeon

Keep in mind that Robin is thinking about Ra's al Ghul's offer, or asking questions about it the entire issue. Major plot points: Robin, Damian, and Talia fight of the LoA; Damian hightails it out of there before the fight is done to rejoin his father; Talia chases after Damian; I-Ching keeps the LoA busy for Robin to leave as well; Robin questions Talia about how the Lazrus Pit works, but she is more concerned about Damian, and leaves to find him, while he stays behind; Batman finishes off the Sensei's men, and denies the hand of friendship extended to him by Ra's; Robin briefly fights the White Ghost, but convinces him to take him to the Lazrus Pit; I-Ching allows Robin the choice of going into the pit, but Nightwing shows up to stop him.

My brief summary does not come close to doing Milligan's script justice. If you've been keeping up with Robin for the past 3 years, you know who he has lost, and how tempted he would be to flirt with the idea of resurrecting them. There is a typo in this issue though. Like Detective Comics, this issue does not have an issue title, just the storyline title and what part it is. Only, on the first page, it says "Part 4" instead of "Part 5." Oops. Mike Marts, as the editor, that is on you.


Nightwing #139 - Part 6 "Living Proof"
By Fabian Nicieza & Don Kramer

Major plot points: Nightwing fights Robin, and tries to convince him to leave the Lazrus Pit alone; I-Ching joins in briefly; Damian sneaks onto a cargo helicopter, which was the White Ghost's plan; Robin decides to leave the Lazrus Pit alone, and Night hugs him; Robin, Nightwing, and Talia fly to Nanda Parbat to find Ra's about to inhabit Damian's body.

Once again, the summary does not convey the emotion of the issue. I seriously suggest reading this issue. Even if you don't read any other issues in the story arc, read this one. This was a very emotional issue. I cannot recall any other moment where Nightwing has to play the tough, big brother roll, and Fabian did a wonderful job writing it. Through most of the issue, it remains a mystery as to what Robin will do. You know that he should just leave the Pit alone, but at the same time, you feel sorry for him because he has lost several people close to him, in a short period of time. To hammer this point home, there is a panel right before his final decision that shows him with liquid from the Pit in 3 sample vials, and he sees Stephanie (Spoiler), his dad, and Conner (Superboy) in each of the vials. There's also a bad ass scene of Talia in shredded clothing, a bloody katana in one hand, and a bloody battle axe, thrown over her shoulder in the other.


Detective Comics #839 - Part 7 "Entitlement"
By Paul Dini & Ryan Benjamin with Don Kramer

Major plot points: Batman stops Ra's from taking over Damian's body; Damian shows that he really is a scared, little boy when Batman tells him to pick up a weapon and fight in the war they are in, while Nightwing and Robin show up fighting; Talia babies Damian and he runs off; White Ghost is revealed to be a son of Ra's, and Ra's inhabits his body (permanent since White Ghost is a blood relation); Ra's reveals himself to everyone; Talia knocks out Damian, and runs off with him; sword fight between Batman and Ra's; Robin and Nightwing fight the Sensei's men, who are now working for Ra's; the Monks of Nanda Parbat intervene to put a stop to the fight, by destroying the the place; everyone escapes.

I do believe it was important to show how Damian hesitated when told to pick up a weapon and fight, whereas Robin and Nightwing jumped right in. It reinforced the theme of family that the issue ends with, and was brought up at other parts of the story arc.

-Overall reaction-
I will admit, at first, I was disappointed with the ending. Batman and Ra's are fighting, fighting, fighting, then they separate, appearing to be readying themselves for one final charge. Then the monks show up and things just abruptly end. It had the feeling of being very anti-climatic. But then I thought about more, and the story was titled "Resurrection." And Ra's al Ghul was brought back to life. And it was a fairly believable, for a comic, bringing back to life. No punching a wall of God only knows what.

And the characters did not simply tread water through the story. There was quite a bit of emotional development. Nightwing shows he is capable of showing tough love to protect his brother. Robin shows that he is a emotionally fragile teenager, but still strong enough to overcome. Talia showed that even though she is a fierce warrior, she is also an over-protective mother. Damian showed that his development is no where near that of Robin or Nightwing.

So, with some retrospective, I really enjoyed this story. Yes, it took a second read-through, but enjoying is enjoying. I like where the Batman family is at the end of this story. There was an epilogue in Detective Comics #840 that wraps things up...for now. But you don't get that in this review, because I am only including what is going to be in the trade. In conclusion, I would suggest that you read this story. An actual reading, not a skimming.