DC Relaunch: Red Hood & the Outlaws

So you're the Red Hood. Life hasn't just been tough; it's been weird. First of all, you've got some bad beginnings on the street. A man comes along and tries to lift you up and brighten your life. That man is Batman. Somewhere you can see where that might go wrong. Oh and then you're brutally murdered, resurrected and trained by assassins, and decided to execute your own justice on the city you call home.
Now, you've got a couple of other people who are sitting on the wrong side of the fence of their own people, and they seem drawn to you. Exactly what you wanted.

Red Hood & the Outlaws is one of those series that none of us saw coming, but it doesn't leave people unintrigued. Jason Todd has been gaining popular since his reemergence as the Red Hood, despite the previous years of phone call ins regarding his death. Jason is generally not good at working with others, and usually prefers to do things his way. Compromise and consideration are not appropriate descriptives. Recently, fellow Outlaw Roy Harper has fallen on hard times and back into drugs. On his good days though, he's one of the best in the world with a bow and arrow, and just about any other weapon for that matter. He's hard-headed, which he gets from his mentor, the Green Arrow, and he seems to have picked up some of that ladies' man charm as well. Starfire has recently been in some odd places for her, after years of being on Earth being off world and working with REBELS. She expresses herself very openly, and her level of personal intimacy is much less guarded than most people. She's also one of the most powerful beings on Earth.

DC Relaunch: Nightwing

As people, one of the more difficult things we often have to accept in our lives is that we have outgrown something. Whether it be something as simply watching a show that's not quite our age level as we progress up, or something more complex, where we feel embarrassed for our old attachments.  But we move on, and create new pieces for ourselves, new molds for us to grow in. In comics we often want our heroes for freeze in time and stay that same age we remember forever. But what ended up being a surprise move was the day that Dick Grayson grew up, threw off the pixie boots, put on some damn pants, and became Nightwing.

Nightwing is the Dick Grayson coming into his own. While many people may argue that his brief tenure as Batman would be this, I would say that his time as Batman is him holding up the mantle, waiting for the true bearer to come pick it up so he could go back to the life he felt he should be living. Nightwing represented Dick's freedom from the Bat, no longer being the necessary sidekick to the bat and cowl. And while at the time of the original self-transformation, there was an argument between him and Bruce, Dick has maintained his friendship with his old chum .

Usually as Nightwing, Dick Grayson has stayed somewhere other than Gotham for his personal adventures. Often early on this was wherever the Titans were. As time went on, he established himself as protector Bludhaven, and later in New York City when Bludhaven fell under a nuclear attack. This time he'll be staying in Gotham, and the dark mirror than was placed under him as Batman will only warp slightly in image. Despite these new villains, Dick's personality always shines through. Extremely friendly and light in mood at just about all times, Dick has been there as adopted son, surrogate older brother, mentor, and even lover. So now Nightwing dons again the shoes that feel most comfortable, albeit with a slightly different design, and returns to us as Nightwing.

DC Relaunch: Batman & Robin

Most superheroes, somewhere down the line, have had sidekicks. It's an interesting dynamic that many books have tried to imitate over the years. Sometimes just a goofy tag along, other times actually involved in the crime-fighting, it varied depending on how the writer decided to approach it. The kid sidekick was ever more prevalent, to the point that entire team, the Teen Titans, is composed of them. But the original kid sidekick is, of course, Robin.

Batman and Robin are frequently referred to as the dynamic duo, and they've certainly earned that name. There is literally a dynamic between the two, in terms of a light/dark balance, and in terms of approach to the fight that makes it interesting. Now the Robins have varied over the years as has Batman's personality, and it seems to fit well enough if you take that into account. Currently, Robin is Damian Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, daughter of the R'as al Ghul, and involved heavily with her father's organization, the League of Assassins. Trained by the best in fighting, and learning how to live normally at a relatively slow pace, Damian has shown an incredible darkness that is markedly different than Robins of the past. And yet, there is a certain lightness all the same. Damian became Robin under the batwing of Dick Grayson, and now with Bruce back in the role as the only Batman, the dynamic changes again. Perhaps it is time for Bruce to change against the darker Robin, whether further down the spiral wil just have to be seen.

Pete Tomasi will write along with long-time partner Patrick Gleason on art. The two had worked together previously on Green Lantern Corps, and have also had a 3 issue run on the previous Batman & Robin title, where they introduced an odd new adversary. Now they take the reigns of Bruce along with Damian, and hopefully continue that amazing dynamic of their own. Pete Tomasi has worked with the Bat family previously, crafting a great run on Nightwing. He also co-wrote the year-long Brightest Day along with Geoff Johns.

Damian has really grown alot in the past few years. There's very little of the previous Batman & Robin series that's not worth checking out:

Batman & Son by Grant Morrison & Andy Kubert

Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, & Philip Tan

Batman & Robin: Batman vs. Robin by Grant Morrison, Andy Clarke, & Cameron Stewart

Batman & Robin: Batman Must Die! by Grant Morrison, Frazier Irving, & Cameron Stewart

And then tomorrow we'll look at David Finch's take on the Bat, in Batman: The Dark Knight

DC Relaunch: Detective Comics

One of the longest running DC comics is restarting. It's not the only one, ind you, but still. Detective Comics, a new number one. Who thought that would happen? And while it didn't start with him, and hasn't always been just him, it's still running with Batman in the lead. In recent years, DC has done a pretty good job of maintaining themes slightly separate from that of the Batman title and so on. In the past few years, we've seen Paul Dini's done in ones, as well as his more overarching Hush epic, Greg Rucka and JH Williams' masterful Batwoman stories, David Hine's bizarre dealings of Jeremiah Arkham, finally bringing us to Scott Snyder's exploration with Jock and Francavilla of the Gotham as mirrored against a Dick Grayson'd Batman.

Likewise, Detective Comics as written and drawn by Tony Daniel promises to be different from Scott Snyder's Batman, and no doubt will be different from the other two main books. Whereas Snyder promises to explore the ways that Gotham has changed in Bruce Wayne's absence at the primary Batman of Gotham City, Tony Daniel's exploration will be of darker matter altogether. And part of his exploration will directly involve the Joker. As Batman changes through the years depending on the writers, so too does the Joker to reflect that Batman. He can be deadly and psychotic, and he can be playful, annoying, and goofy. He definitely tries to cover any bases that the phrase "evil clown" could possibly garner. The Joker has never made his longstanding relationship easy for Batman, even going so far as to kill one of the Robins.

The Joker's relationship to the Robins is interesting with regards to his relationship with Batman. As his relationship with Bruce Wayne as Batman is directly oppositional, he is different with Dick Grayson as Batman. With Dick, he recognized that he was not his Batman. And rather than be directly antagonistic, he provided support, in his on sort of way. With the Robins, I feel like the Joker often sees them as bait. They aren't who he's fighting, he's fighting Bruce Wayne. The Robins are just part of the whole thing. But Dick made it all fun. It was a joke, it was a dance, it wasn't all grim and serious and deathy. Likewise, Jason Todd as Robin just didn't fit to him. And so he beat him to death with a crowbar. Tim Drake is very much a detective like Bruce. There's something about Tim's demeanor, his defiance of being just a leadup to Batman, and his association with friends that give him another response from the Joker, one of almost admiration and respect, despite him still being, in general, a potential hostage. Damian, I don't think he took seriously at first, and he made a mistake. He underestimated him. His interest in Damian outweighed that of Dick as Batman. I think there's a certain level of fear involved in that too. And that leads into tomorrow, with Batman & Robin.

Tony Daniel leads this along on both scripting and art. The cover indicates to me a new style he's experimenting with that may go hand in hand with the dark story he wishes to tell. Usually, Tony Daniel has very clean lines, and his recent Batman stories allow a certain level of colorfulness to the odd world around Batman. As we saw in his run on Batman with Grant Morrison as writer, the colorfulness can be even more disturbing, depending on the subject matter.

Here's a few of Tony Daniel's work with Batman and an excellent Joker story as well:

The Man Who Laughs by Ed Brubaker & Doug Mahnke
Batman: The Battle for the Cowl by Tony Daniel
Batman: Life After Death by Tony Daniel
Batman: Eye of the Beholder by Tony Daniel

Tomorrow we investiage the Batman & Robin dynamic, and the current Robin, Damien Wayne.