Personally, barring a personal tragedy in the life of someone on the creative staff, there is never a GOOD reason for the artist to already need to be filled in for on only the 4th issue of any book, much less a book with as much promotion as Absolute Batman has been given and as much hype as it has received. That being said, I think this is pretty nice cover. The interior art is an interesting choice, as is the choice to draw the storytelling and backgrounds very pro level, yet he chose to draw all the figures like many 13 to 15 year old kids would draw them in the flashback scenes Bruce is recounting/narrating, which I'm assuming is related to the story. It's intriguing and I look forward to more closely looking at it when it get around to reading it. I've read Batman: Dark Patterns and I have to say I really love The Wound Man's character design and the premise behind it is pretty cool, too. Also, credit where it is due: While Sherman's quasi, Kaluta-esque art style on Absolute Wonder Woman was nothing special, the art so far in this series is several notches above that. The panel design and arrangements are incredibly unique and inventive. In some of the splashy cityscapes, I felt like I was the cameraman, up high floating next to the skyscrapers. The perspectives he used were so well done and realistic, it felt like I was in the scene. It's a really fun murder mystery with an intriguing new villain in The Wound Man, with really outstanding art. I definitely recommend this title to any Batman fan. The combination of story and art absolutely blows away that of Absolute Wonder Woman. Given how much the original pages of that series cost, by all rights these pages should sell for multiples of those, if the quality of story and art were the only thing that mattered. Alas, things aren't always that simple, are they? With all the industry push and hype being placed on the Absolute titles and this one barely getting any attention I've seen, it remains to be seen how much the art from this title will be priced at in comparison to AWW. The opportunity to promote the art from the much better of the two titles is right there for the taking, but we'll see if Felix decides to favour the more heavily hyped but weaker title as the one with the pricier art, or if he'll recognize Sherman's work in Dark Patterns is far superior (as is the story) and price these pages accordingly. I look forward to seeing what happens! Thanks for another great video review, Carl!
I really enjoyed the Combiner war taking a backseat almost, as it really brings scale into the picture. It shows how small Optimus and the others are in this battle. Also, ugh that TMIFU variant cover is fantastic! Wish I was collecting the singles, but I'll have to wait for the TPB and hopefully one day a Hardcover!!!
It’s so funny because I thought they were going to throw us a curve and do something uncharacteristic by giving us an entire issue of almost singularly focused action on the combiner fight with tidbits of other threads being advanced and nope! I agree I very much approve of the work they delivered instead. The thing that most surprised me was how much time was dedicated to Elita & Cliffjumper. Very intriguing storyline developing there! Pretty masterful all around with this issue!
I love Gabriel Hernandez Walta's art. Sentient (written by Jeff Lemire, published by TKO) and The Vision (written by Tom King, published by Marvel) were excellent stories he did, and his issue #5 of Haha he did with W. Maxwell Prince was my favorite issue that came out that year. Cool that he's getting a chance to do Batman, bummer it's a fill-in issue this early in the run
@@bunkmastab Thank you!! Vision is what I know his name from! I’ve not read that one (but know I should) but have seen pages of the art & really dug it. I agree, it was a tough issue to chat about because I really do like the art style, but having it place in this opening arc is just a let down. Granted it’s (mostly) all flashback but we’ve seen flashbacks in each of the first three issues too, so it’s not like it is a clear division & stands alone as “the flashback issue.” I’d love to see more of his own take on Batman & I’d likely very much enjoy it!
Personally, barring a personal tragedy in the life of someone on the creative staff, there is never a GOOD reason for the artist to already need to be filled in for on only the 4th issue of any book, much less a book with as much promotion as Absolute Batman has been given and as much hype as it has received. That being said, I think this is pretty nice cover. The interior art is an interesting choice, as is the choice to draw the storytelling and backgrounds very pro level, yet he chose to draw all the figures like many 13 to 15 year old kids would draw them in the flashback scenes Bruce is recounting/narrating, which I'm assuming is related to the story. It's intriguing and I look forward to more closely looking at it when it get around to reading it.
I've read Batman: Dark Patterns and I have to say I really love The Wound Man's character design and the premise behind it is pretty cool, too. Also, credit where it is due: While Sherman's quasi, Kaluta-esque art style on Absolute Wonder Woman was nothing special, the art so far in this series is several notches above that. The panel design and arrangements are incredibly unique and inventive. In some of the splashy cityscapes, I felt like I was the cameraman, up high floating next to the skyscrapers. The perspectives he used were so well done and realistic, it felt like I was in the scene. It's a really fun murder mystery with an intriguing new villain in The Wound Man, with really outstanding art. I definitely recommend this title to any Batman fan. The combination of story and art absolutely blows away that of Absolute Wonder Woman. Given how much the original pages of that series cost, by all rights these pages should sell for multiples of those, if the quality of story and art were the only thing that mattered. Alas, things aren't always that simple, are they? With all the industry push and hype being placed on the Absolute titles and this one barely getting any attention I've seen, it remains to be seen how much the art from this title will be priced at in comparison to AWW. The opportunity to promote the art from the much better of the two titles is right there for the taking, but we'll see if Felix decides to favour the more heavily hyped but weaker title as the one with the pricier art, or if he'll recognize Sherman's work in Dark Patterns is far superior (as is the story) and price these pages accordingly. I look forward to seeing what happens!
Thanks for another great video review, Carl!
another fun video buddy, thanks
Thanks bud!! See you next week!!
I really enjoyed the Combiner war taking a backseat almost, as it really brings scale into the picture. It shows how small Optimus and the others are in this battle.
Also, ugh that TMIFU variant cover is fantastic! Wish I was collecting the singles, but I'll have to wait for the TPB and hopefully one day a Hardcover!!!
It’s so funny because I thought they were going to throw us a curve and do something uncharacteristic by giving us an entire issue of almost singularly focused action on the combiner fight with tidbits of other threads being advanced and nope! I agree I very much approve of the work they delivered instead. The thing that most surprised me was how much time was dedicated to Elita & Cliffjumper. Very intriguing storyline developing there! Pretty masterful all around with this issue!
I love Gabriel Hernandez Walta's art. Sentient (written by Jeff Lemire, published by TKO) and The Vision (written by Tom King, published by Marvel) were excellent stories he did, and his issue #5 of Haha he did with W. Maxwell Prince was my favorite issue that came out that year. Cool that he's getting a chance to do Batman, bummer it's a fill-in issue this early in the run
@@bunkmastab Thank you!! Vision is what I know his name from! I’ve not read that one (but know I should) but have seen pages of the art & really dug it. I agree, it was a tough issue to chat about because I really do like the art style, but having it place in this opening arc is just a let down. Granted it’s (mostly) all flashback but we’ve seen flashbacks in each of the first three issues too, so it’s not like it is a clear division & stands alone as “the flashback issue.” I’d love to see more of his own take on Batman & I’d likely very much enjoy it!