He’s a much more difficult character to handle because unlike someone like Batman (billionaire playboy by day, brooding one-man-army by night) he isn’t cool. He’s a big blue boy scout and proud of it, but unfortunately for him, since Han Solo came around all the kids want to be Wolverine, not Cyclops. So what can you do? The solution most writers and artists found was to emphasize his god-like power. This meant gigantic alien fistfights and virtually no character development. Yes they’ve killed him, brought him back to life and turned him electric blue, but have we seen these creators truly push the limits of the man of tomorrow? Has anyone tapped his true potential? I didn’t think so until I read All Star Superman.

The series doesn’t really run along a singular narrative (something that the recent animated adaptation suffered from trying to force) but sufficient to say it features a super powered Lois Lane, an encounter with Black Kryptonite, an interview with an imprisoned Lex Luthor, an excursion to Bizarro World, an altercation with Kryptonian explorers and a sun eater among other things. The scale of the series is at once epic and intimate and it succeeds in crossing many subgenres within the realm of science fiction. Presumably taking his lead from Alan Moore, Morrison is hugely respectful of the character’s rich history and revels in the opportunity to turn many of the sillier or ‘goofy’ ideas from the Silver Age into some brilliantly cool components.

This is helped in no small part by the outstanding artwork of Frank Quitely whose style transcends decades of mythology to capture the essence of the character. His depiction of Superman perfectly encapsulates his power and humility; tall, broad and a little bit clumsy. Unlike Bill of Kill Bill fame, I don’t think that Clark Kent is Superman’s critique of the human race. To me they are one in the same sharing strengths and insecurities. Quitely finds the overlap and brings it out for all to see. Together this artist and writer have found the vulnerability in a seemingly indestructible character and proceed to strip him bare with each new adventure.

In the ninth issue, Superman describes himself as ‘a scientist’s son. It’s in my nature to observe and learn…’ This is a quality in the character that helps to anchor the tone of the series. It’s a celebration of life, the universe and everything. He is not humanity’s resident strong man, more a scatterbrained genius with one hundred plates spinning at once. He is an inspiration, a symbol of human potential. This comic put a fresh spin on an already iconic character and in my opinion it is the greatest Superman story ever told. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Joe Read.

The art is the driving force behind this adventure, dizzying and dazzling while keeping the reader fixed in another world. In fact I sometimes felt overwhelmed by some of the visual effects and distracted from a fairly simple story. If I have a problem it’s that this installment felt like Batman Inc just showing off another weapon in their arsenal.

By #6, Grant Morrison had convinced me that the operation was fully established and expanding by the second. I was impressed. But one of the biggest appeals of Morrison’s Batman has been watching the risks he is willing to take with the character. With no real challenge or depth a series can become as formulaic as a 3D CGI cartoon. However this is all very unlikely given the journey we’ve been on to get here.

I believe in Grant Morrison. You can’t argue with someone who writes villainous dialogue like, ‘Die, Batman! Die, Batman! Die, Batman! Die!’ Overall this was an enjoyable escapade, if a little light. It was fun to see Barbara and Bruce fighting side by side again and the reference to the return of an old flame was a great note to pause the series on. I might not be buzzing over the new 52 but this title will keep me coming back for many months to come.

Joe Read.

Have you ever seen The Three Amigos? If you have then you’ll know how they foil a gang of Mexican dicks by dressing a whole town up in their costumes (they’re the cowboy equivalent of the Justice League) and thereby freak out the Mexican dicks because they seem to be ‘everywhere’. If you haven’t seen that movie, I suggest you do as it’s incredibly funny. What was my point? Oh yeah, Bruce Wayne goes about dressing up all these jerks as Batmen so as to freak out all the criminals of the world by the fact that he’s ‘everywhere’. It’s the same right? Anyway, this issue makes you feel like Bruce really does have something up his sleeve to fight the criminal element, which a Batman comic always should. He even visits a chatroom to throw people off the scent that he’s Batman, which is a nice little nod to us as an audience, I assume Grant Morrison just assumes I spend all my time thinking up conspiracy theories and predicting the plot details of current TV shows…

Grant Morrison actually seems to be making progress with the series, I can actually start looking forward to discovering things that I haven’t been told yet… Which is nice. It’s got creepy, brain washed kids, a villain making all sorts of outlandish but incredibly vague plans, and Bruce Wayne is stepping up his skills at appearing increasingly more unhinged in public. He looks well crazy.

Chris Burnham, who recently signed on to be a DC exclusive artist, draws really nice pictures of all sorts. I probably would’ve been well jealous of him at school. His style is in the same swimming pool as Frank Quitely, so for anyone who’s read All Star Superman (which is probably most of you) that will be sweet, sweet news. Unless you thought All Star Superman sucked, in which case you exist in the Flashpoint universe.

So, in closing; Batman Inc #6 was really good, and if you wanted to jump on to it, I suggest you do it with this issue. Because you might not get another chance…

Joe Innes.

In the best traditions of Narnia and Wonderland, Joe is an ordinary boy who journeys to a fantastical world. At first glance, it’s all a little too familiar: he is Windsor McKay’s Nemo, The Neverending Story’s Bastian. Another “Hero’s Journey” against a different background. Yet in Morrison’s hands, the classic quest narrative is brought into the modern world to create something utterly unique. Mature and sweet, steeped in visual metaphor, and with a world as fully realised as Tolkein’s but condensed into an afternoon seizure, it’s impossible not to be swept away.

In the first issue, Morrison lingers in the lonely reality of Joe’s everyday life, giving us time to identify with a boy growing up too fast: a father killed in Afghanistan, a house under threat of repossession, and problems at school. Even as he begins to slip away into his hypoglycemic hallucination, Joe can’t escape these issues; when he arrives in his fantasy world, the great battle is already lost. His innocence is in flames, the toy soldiers of his childhood defeated by the forces of King Death. In order to bring light to the kingdom once again, all he has to do is get from his attic to the basement. But in his hallucinatory state, this becomes an epic quest from Skyland to sunless Hypogea, aided by his samurai rat bodyguard Jack. (Don’t you just want to read it from that one sentence?)

It’s in the way these worlds interact that Morrison’s ideas shine through. Capturing that childlike imagination necessary for such pastimes as “the floor is hot hot lava,” Joe’s house unfolds into an incredible landscape: coats on hatstands become screeching undead knights, leaking taps create majestic waterfalls, and lightning strikes are the voices of gods. That sense of irreversible corruption pervades though, and a melancholy note gives Joe’s beautiful world a sense of real danger.

For all Grant Morrison’s ideas, the true star of this comic is Sean Murphy. It’s his artwork that makes you want to pour over depictions of these bizarre places, to uncover the symbolism hinted at in the narrative, to cheer for Joe and Jack as they struggle onwards. His occasionally cartoon-like style is lent a dynamism and maturity by the innovative use of ink. Scratched lines, hyper-kinetic splatters, confident brushstrokes, half-tone screens, and even thumb-prints are used to render Joe’s collapsing childhood. Deep areas of black coalesce alongside intricate submarine battles, sweeping castles, and treacherous swamps. Even the more domestic environment of Joe’s house, at risk of being overwhelmed by its illusory counterpart, is crafted with a loving eye to detail. Murphy’s
mastery of his angular figures and their expressions are no less impressive. All these abilities mark him out as one of the most important contemporary artists in comics.

Credit must also be given to Dave Stewart, the colourist who further enriches Murphy’s work, and the narrative as a whole. The watercolour textures and gradients are overlaid with bold acrylic-like painting, and liberal use of half-tone screens, mirroring Murphy’s use of them at the inking stage. Stewart’s contribution shines through in the way that he uses colours to distinguish between the two worlds. His muted palette of neutrals in the mundane, and the saturated vibrant riot of colour when we enter Joe’s, become a visual signal. When he uses this control to eventually blur the boundaries between worlds , the reader is all the more unsettled.

Fans of the series had to wait until Morrison finished his work on Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne before getting their hands on the eighth and final issue. It seems too cruel that having waited six months for the end of Joe the Barbarian that it would disappoint, but it does. For having come so far as a rare gem, the final issue is pock-marked by some cheesy dialogue that cheapens the fantasy world and bizarrely, the introduction of new characters. Joe and Jack are as well-realised as they can be in a narrative contained to eight-issues and packed with so many visuals. But this additional space could have easily been used to flesh-out the minor players. Worst of all, in the last few pages, it falls back into a familiar cliché many tales like it have succumbed to. After the gorgeous hallucinatory world, an ending which harkens back to the mundane has hardly any emotional resonance. It will leave you hungering for a more unexpected, intelligent conclusion.

In the end, the praise far outweighs the criticism. Joe the Barbarian is a series for those who love visual storytelling, and the density of information it affords. Each page is a highly considered composition unto itself, alternating between lingering silence and ocular caffeine. Subtle allusions and metaphors permeate the tale, but Morrison and Murphy never allow them to slow down the action. It’s up to the reader how long they peer into Joe’s hallucination. So please, while you read, pause, and drink in the detail. You’ll want to stay in the Dying Boy’s world for as long as you can.

Joe the Barbarian will be released in hardback September 2011

Tom Hunt.

Ed – Just thought I’d say, Tom Hunt is an awesome comics creator as well as the author of this fine review, find his comics HERE.

Batman Inc #3 is released on Wednesday 9th March, 2011.

Invisible Words