Boston Comic Con: Part Two
Welcome back to the "Vigilant" recap of Boston Comic Con 2014! Since there were so many attractions to cover, this review had to be split into three parts!! Incredible.. I know!
Anyhow, down to business... and yes comic books are a business! .... and yes, I MEAN BUSINESS when talking about them...
The next panel that is absolutely VITAL to mention is the BAT-PANEL!
NANANANANANANANA BATMAN!! ... PANEL :
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| BATMAN: ZERO YEAR (paying homage to Batman's first appearance in Detective Comics #27, Bob Kane and Bill Finger) |
Characters: The Vigilant Geek and his team of evil comic book geniuses, a room full of annoying strangers dressed in silly costumes, and of course, the greatest creative team in comic books today, the current writer and artist of the Batman title book, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo.
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| Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, DC's Super team (Capullo left, Snyder right) |
I am well aware that I tend to talk a blue streak about these two gentlemen on here, and maybe after this article, I'll give it a rest for a little while, but they are just so damn good at what they do! These two have revamped and redefined the dark knight with such grace and articulation, that there is no possible way either of them won't go down in bat-history as two of the absolute best to ever work on the book, (alongside the likes of Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Denny O'Neill, Neal Adams, Chuck Dixon, Frank Miller, Paul Dini, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, to name a few). DC exec. Dan Didio handed these two the metaphorical "keys" to Gotham City at the dawn of the "New 52," and the duo has been hitting it out of the park ever since.
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| Snyder has been handed the keys to Gotham, and I don't think there is anyone out there that wishes for him to give them up anytime soon.
Snyder made his name working on the Marvel book, American Vampire, often collaborating and receiving mentorship from the king of horror himself, Steven King!! Once DC discovered Snyder's incredible talent for creating elements of a dark and disturbing nature, they made sure to put him right on their darkest book, Batman! Ever since that point, approximately three years ago, he and Capullo have provided us with such hits as The Gates of Gotham, The Court of Owls, The City of the Owls, Death of the Family, Zero Year and coming next month.. Endgame!! He has also blown everyone away with his horror thriller for the Vertigo Comics line, The Wake.
Capullo made a name for himself in the realm of the dark and disturbing as well, working alongside comic book legend Todd McFarlane on their infamous run with Spawn. He is also famous for his work on Haunt. With a horror-filled rap sheet like that, this charismatic master of pen and paper, (who came out to the panel not unlike pro-wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin), was the clear choice to draw the dark knight and all of his rouges gallery. Listening to Capullo talk about how he came to work on Batman is actually a hilarious tale. In a nutshell, he stated that he got married, his wife came with kids, forcing him to make more money, forcing him to go "mainstream," forcing him to decide between working on Avengers vs. X-men for Marvel, or Batman for DC... Well Greg, I think I speak for the comic geek masses when I humbly say, YOU MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE!
Snyder and Capullo, scared stiff by the monster they themselves created.. The New 52, Death of the Family Joker! Perhaps the most gruesome and horrifying Joker we will see for a long time.
The coolest part of the panel for me was that these two weren't afraid to talk about their work dynamic and how it has evolved over the past three years working together. In fact, Snyder and Capullo could not stand each other when their partnership first kicked off. Snyder, being a fresh young mind for DC at the time, found himself a neurotic worry-wart, still in awe that he was now the leading mind behind Batman's adventures, trials and tribulations for the indefinite future. Therefore, his scripts tended to be extremely lengthy and redundant in regards to the artist descriptions. Clearly, he just wanted to do the title justice and not miss a beat. Capullo on the other hand, being a veteran of the industry, was annoyed by Snyder's scripts, being used to working off of much more concise scripts in the past. With this much conflict, it's a wonder how some of their earlier work, such as The Court of Owls, was so damn good! Then again, these are two golden gods of the graphic novel medium we are talking about here. Needless to say, the two must have ironed out all of the kinks, because they have been producing what I like to refer to as "Bat-Gold" ever since their partnership began.
Scott Snyder with his son, little Bat-Snyder! This is freaking adorable!
The duo then began to drop very subtle hints regarding their next Batman story arc, Endgame. Though they didn't disclose as much information as I was hoping they would, Capullo can be quoted as stating that this arc will be their biggest "game-changer" yet. What I did learn about the arc was that Batman will be dawning a new, heavily-armored, high-tech batsuit. The reason for this you might ask? Apparently, Batman will be facing off against, "a character from the DC Universe that no one would ever expect Batman to go up against"... HMMMMM.....
Well, it's probably not Superman, because that's been done by Frank Miller and is being converted to live-action by Zack Snyder, (no relation to Scott), for 2016's Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Who will the caped-crusader have beef with over the upcoming year then?? Darkseid? Mongul? Doomsday perhaps?? The suspense is killing me, but just like the rest of you.. I guess I will have to wait and find out..
Another huge bomb dropped by Snyder was that, "the Joker WILL reappear in Endgame."However, with this being said, apparently Batman will have much bigger fish to fry. For those that follow the literature, I wonder what the Joker will look like in this arc, due to the fact that his face fell off again and dropped down the sewer at the end of Death of the Family, only to be recovered by the Joker's Daughter. Will the Joker be faceless? Perhaps he staples a new face onto his dome?? Maybe he gets his old face back from his so-called "daughter?" Once again, we will have to wait and find out!
The Joker WILL return for Batman: Endgame
To conclude this portion of the review, I found it appropriate to make a quick run through recent bat-history, pointing out all the exciting new and revamped characters Snyder and Capullo have given us over the past three years:
Batman: The Court of Owls
The Court of Owls, a secret society within Gotham with a very evil agenda
A "Talon" assassin of the Court of Owls
The Joker from Batman: Death of the Family
The Joker, DOTF, shown hacking away at a Gotham Police officer
The Joker, DOTF, shown having an eerie waltz with a bloodied batsuit
Bruce Wayne having a nice civil chat with Clayface during a short interim arc
Snyder and Capullo's new Joker origin, (paying homage to Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's The Killing Joke) from Batman: Zero Year: Secret City
Lucious Fox having an unfortunate run-in with Doctor Death, from Batman: Zero Year
Doctor Death may not be making house calls, but he was an instrumental part to the Riddler's master plan, from Batman: Zero Year
Snyder and Capullo's recreation of The Riddler, from Batman: Zero Year
Second only to Lex Luthor as the biggest narcissistic, "know-it-all" douchebag in the DCU. Batman: Zero Year
The Dark Knight and the "Emerald Douchebag" facing off. Batman: Zero Year
Wow, what a ride over the past three years!! Although it is rumored that this super team is leaving Batman with the conclusion of Endgame, I sincerely hope that the Snyder/Capullo freight train continues at full steam for years to come. Thanks guys, from one of your biggest fans, the Vigilant Geek.
*** The Vigilant Geek Boston Comic Con 2014 recap is still not over!! Join me for part three sooner than you can say.. SHAZAM!!
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