In case you have some free time, you can check out my latest column over at
Buzzscope. It's all about Batman 452-454 by Peter Milligan, Kieron Dwyer, and Dennis Janke - the three-part Riddler story "Dark Knight, Dark City."
Read it here. Do I really need to convince you read it? It's Milligan, for crying out loud, and not crappy-
Elektra Milligan, either!
It DOES seem like Milligan has an evil twin sometimes, doesn't it? What's the deal with that?
ReplyDeleteMilligan's just wacky that way. He may be the most problematic writer in comics today. When he has no real interest in a work (ELEKTRA, per exemplum) the outcome is awful, of course; yet even within those work that obviously engage him (i.e. SHADE, X-STATIX, HUMAN TARGET) you'll find patches between the brilliance that compell the reader to grimace and look away (ENIGMA being the exception that seems to prove the rule).
ReplyDeleteBut during those moments when he's on, I find myself forgiving him all those faults. He can be that good.
-R
Sounds awesome, and I just found someone selling all three issues on ebay in the UK for £1.95!
ReplyDeletePeter Milligan is one of my favorite writers. You know, when he's good. When he's doing it for the checks, he's crap.
ReplyDeleteHis Batman was excellent. I've only got part two of Dark Knight Dark City, but I've read other classics like "Library of Souls," "The Executioner Wore Stiletto Heels," and my personal favorite, "The Hungry Grass."
Oh, and he did the Idiot Root, didn't he? Have to track down the rest of those, too...
Now if they put Milligan back on a Batbook and had Norm Breyfogle draw it, I might just die.
Was "The Hungry Grass" the story he did with Aparo? With the grass that caused events to be re-enacted? I loved that one!
ReplyDeleteAlong with Peter David' & Dale Keown's Hulk, "Dark Knight, Dark City" got me to become a regular comic book reader at age 12.
ReplyDeleteThe Riddler was my favorite villain on the Adam West show. I had just seen the Tim Burton movie. The Mike Mignola covers were awesome.
At 12, I would not have been interested in a Batman story if it wasn't "dark," and "DK,DC" delivered dark in spades. When Batman had to perform that trachaeotomy on the baby, and found out why the Riddler was acting so out of character... brrr.
I didn't buy Batman regularly (the art of Jim Lee, Keown, and the rest of the soon-tobe Image crew drew my interest away from less flashy artists like Dwyer), as my budget was limited to my allowance, but that first Batman story made me think comics could be "cool." (The folly of youth!)
Yes, T., that's the one you're thinking of. He did about five issues of Detective, all of which are very weird. He also did The Idiot Root, which I considered writing about, but it's not his best work.
ReplyDeleteNo. People should not own those comic books.
ReplyDeleteRiddler suffocating babies?
Batman cutting open said babies for demon rituals?
blech. I wish those comics had never been published, let alone ending up in my collection.
This was a great story. To me Milligan is always hit or miss. Great blog by the way!
ReplyDeleteBut Chris, is it better to have the Riddler act completely out of character and just chalk it up to "he's insane" (which he never has been, in my opinion), which I believe was the justification for Loeb treating him so poorly in "Hush" (I could be wrong - I've tried to blot those issues from my memory), or to have him act completely out of character and even his henchmen wonder what's wrong with him? When you're starting to freak out hardened criminals, then you know something weird is going on.
ReplyDeleteAnd I hardly think Batman giving a baby an emergency tracheotomy to save its life constitutes "cutting it open." Sure, he made a cut, but he didn't gut the girl. I like that Batman better than the one who almost bludgeoned the Joker to death (even though the Joker had it coming) because it's a Batman who is saving lives, not (almost) taking them.
I was so sad when I realized all batman comics weren't as good as the ones written by Milligan.
ReplyDeleteI bought these issues when i was 10, because i had a mad on for the riddler during he animated series where they drew him really suave.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed them, but the paper stank, on the other hand, i didn't think it was a very good riddler story, they gave it a mention pre knightfall when he got injected with venom (i recently discovered the cover to that by was Charest, too bad he pissed off to do european comics)
The Gaiman Origin story captured him the best.
Colin - you're right - the Gaiman origin story was brilliant.
ReplyDeleteGod, I loved that story. When I bought it at the 7 Eleven in Elementary School, the scene with the baby tracheotomy completely freaked me out, but I think what struck me more was that after Batman got the ball out, he was very "coochy coochy koo!" with the little one. We never get to see Batman smile anymore.
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