Tom King’s Batman Volume 1: I Am Gotham Review

Hi, this is Kevin Conroy, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. You've just jumped

inside the pull bag. Join TFG1 Mike and the rest

of the comic reading crew here at the GCRN as

they make their great escape into comics. From

DC, Marvel, IDW, Boom Studios, Xenoscope, and

more, we have everything you wanna read right

here. Transformers comics? Yeah, we cover that.

He -Man? Yeah, sure. DC superheroes like Batman,

Batgirl, Nightwing, and Batman Beyond? Yep, we

have those too. How about TMNT from IDW and I

Hate Ferland from Image Comics? Yeah, we have

all that here. Plus, so much more. It's all inside

the pull bag here on the Geekcast Radio Network.

So without any further ado, it's time to talk

about the comics we are reading right now here

inside the pull bag. This is episode 352. I am

of course TF2 Mike. Joining me is Ryan the Unamable

Markly. Hello, sir. Hello. And this week, the

next to last or second, I don't know how many

weeks are in May, there's another Batman episode

here in the pullback for Batman month. We are

jumping on board with Batman Rebirth. Which is

the beginning of Tom King's run volume one entitled

Brother of the Block King. Oh, sorry. I am Gotham

I was going to I should have said I am interrupted

Tom King and David Finch On this it does list

Scott Snyder as I guess a backup writer under

King's name So David Finch, Mikael Janin, Ivan

Reiss Matt Banning, Danny Mickey, there's I mean

I know this is probably just for the rebirth

issue but so I was excited for rebirth because

I was kind of ready for somebody else to take

the Batman cowl by the horns and and tell new

stories. That's fair. I love Snyder's run, but

I think I felt the same way too. Yeah, and I

was definitely excited by Tom King who Wasn't

a household name, especially at the time but

people who read his stuff knew. Yeah, he's very

very good And this is a Batman like I have never

seen He's very different so Last week we reviewed

Endgame, and we talked about the fact that that

started with a bang. Well, Tom King starts things

off with a bang as well, which was impressive.

I mean, when you put Calendar Man and Psycho

Pirate in the same trade... I'm just happy that

we're starting at a number one, because as somebody

from your network pointed out, I and so many

people don't remember things from one to seven.

Yeah. To me on Twitter. Oh boy. Man, I'm funny.

Anyway, so. This is game of Batman, not game

of idiots. So bad. How bad does your show have

to be that I'm literally not interested in your

finale? Where were we again? So I figure you

want to start with the yeah, I know I figure

you want to start with the art Don't get me wrong.

I absolutely love Okay, so outside of Batman

Beyond and all the artists that we've worked

on the Batman Beyond stuff I've only really read

Scott Snyder Greg Capolo Batman like I didn't

read Batman incorporated. I didn't read um the

other batman titles they had back in the new

52 anyway i read main batman and i read scott

snider and greg capolo so and i loved what capolo

did with the art and danny mickey and everybody

else in the colors but oh my god jacob finch

and and everybody else on this like first of

all let's look at the main not the main cover

but the the cover of the first issue here where

it's basically just batman with a batarang in

his hand It's kind of like a portrait shot. Like,

damn, they kind of nailed Christian Bale's face

under there a little. Because it almost looks

like Bale. So I'm going to cheat and point this

out before you do. The Batman character in this,

so the artwork, by the way, is absolutely amazing.

I don't know what it is that you and I, every

book we review just seems to be required to have

jaw -dropping art. But the Batman character himself.

takes a lot of cues from different versions.

He kind of looks like a mishmash. But having

said that, the Batmobile and Gotham itself, I

feel like are pretty firmly Batman, the animated

series. Oh, absolutely. I think the layout and,

you know, certainly the car. But I mean, the

layout of the city is it just reminded me so

much of that show. Yeah. And it was done in a

way that he wasn't trying to. it didn't seem

like a cash -in or or a nostalgia thing it's

just he just did it brilliantly and it seems

like a living really well done homage to you

know it's like anybody having been influenced

by batman the animated series they're going to

be using that influence to show you in this you

know But like capital was run to the city was

almost a character of itself. And in this, it's

the same sort of thing, especially in this early

bits where, uh, jumping ahead of geez, uh, by

the way, so only complaint is if you're going

to name two new characters, could you make it

less confusing for those of us that have to do

podcasts? Yeah, that's the only complaint I have

as well. So yeah, the new heroes are Gotham and

Gotham Girl. And so anytime we talk about Gotham,

you're going to have to specify the city. But

anyway, when I'm in this initial bit, where we

lead into Batman being saved and the reveal of

the two of them in those sequences, though, before

being saved. Good Lord, Gotham looks amazing.

It does Again, it feels like a real city. Yeah,

and sometimes it's just sort of this dark set

piece But you can see how the city works from

things like fire escapes to clothes lines to

whatever it just seems like a living city and

Especially having Batman have to do a Superman

move and try to save a plane. I mean, that's

something I you know think of Superman, like

I don't think of Batman turning this crashed

Gotham Air airliner into the new Batwing or Batplane

or whatever, and that's exactly what he does

to get it out of, you know, citizen's way and

to be able to get it to crash, and then obviously

Gotham and Gotham Girl come into here, and...

I'm loving the story Tom King. I'm sorry. The

only thing I don't like is the character Superhero

names their regular names are fine But don't

like the lead -up it worked for me Yeah, I mentioned

in the previous volume that some of the stuff

because I know that man because I know DC Comics

that I kind of figured out where some of the

stuff was going to go and that certain things

were just a red herring. But the way the tension

and everything is ratcheted up early on before

the big reveal was really well done. You actually

kind of feel like there's a chance something

real bad is going to happen to Bruce. Exactly.

I like their inclusion of Solomon Grundy. And

I like how they basically tell new readers Solomon's

entire story over the panels. I thought that

was really cool. I just don't think that Gotham

needs... Batman and the Bat Family are fine,

but we don't need Superman and Supergirl cosplayers

that... Well, luckily as we read on So we keep

on going so Batman unsurprisingly is both distrustful

But he also kind of loses a piece of himself

here because he's sure he was gonna die. Yeah,

and he very much As we'll see later on but he

very much Again at the same time that he's distrustful.

He's kind of having a Bit of a breakdown here.

He doesn't believe that he belongs in the era

of Superman Yeah, and again, I mentioned this

last episode that one of the appeals I think

of Batman and that one of the things that's made

him so great and Stand the test of time is again.

He's just a guy in an era of gods Yeah, realistically

like Superman Green Lantern Wonder Woman They're

insanely powerful. And no one person could stand

up and no one person can do what they do. But

he damn sure tries. And it was interesting to

see that kind of taken away from him early on

with, okay, now Gotham has their two super people.

Yeah. And I like their story. I think their story

is cool. I like how Tom King lays all that out

with the plot of the book. I like how, you know,

we eventually get back to the Justice League

being in the book. Yeah, and I liked the so for

the first time in a while, I don't Hugo Strange.

Was big of course in the Arkham video games Yep,

but aside from those he's never I can't remember

him being a major sort of character in a lot

of things he had one episode of You know Batman

the animated series He he had a whole run with

BD Wong playing him on Gotham. Yeah, I didn't

watch Gotham. Sorry I'm just saying no, I know

I'm not saying it's bad or anything. Yeah I didn't

know that sorry, but it was interesting that

he's used here I don't remember him in the comics

an awful lot. Yeah is what I'm getting at and

He is able to manipulate so I mean we see why

but able to manipulate somehow nudge nudge Gotham

and Gotham girl god damn it. Why did he name

them anyway? Give them a different name, able

to manipulate the characters with the same name

as the city. Yes. Yeah, I mean, Hugo being in

here is very cool. You're right. He wasn't used

very much. He may have popped up in the animated

series several different times. I'd have to go

look. Like I said, he's had he had the whole

run on on Gotham with BD Wong playing him. And

of course, anybody who knows BD Wong knows that

he was, you know, the therapist on SVU for the

longest time. As well as the creator of dinosaurs.

Okay. No, Jurassic Park. Oh. And then Jurassic

World, and then Jurassic... whatever the second

World one was. Anyway. Anyway. Again, like I

said, I love how the... Gotham and Gotham Girl

story intertwines with Batman and how Batman

Bruce has to help Gotham Girl and how that all

plays out. I love that they have a Justice League

moment in here. I love that it basically ends

with Amanda Waller, because ending with Amanda

Waller in Batman is always fun and leading into

obviously the next volume, which I will most

definitely be covering on here at some time.

I don't know when, but... After reading this

first volume, it's like I want to buy every other

volume that's available currently and read it

all because damn So do you want to talk about

the ending a lot? So the only things were I kind

of figured that Waller and her group would would

have played into the creation of Super person

another super person. Mm -hmm and I don't know.

It's So we don't get a resolution at the end

which I'm okay with yeah, I'm alright with the

fact that when we end here Bruce is Still not

back to normal and I was okay with the fact that

Hugo strange kind of goes away Yeah, as long

as we get a resolution later nudge nudge wink

wink, but I'm alright with that stuff and I don't

know how I felt about one character having to

off another one. One thing I will say, so you

mentioned it in the previous volume with Snyder's

run. He uses Alfred for humor and we get that

here as Alfred's kind of the impetus to end the

reign of chair of Gotham. The character not to

sit in whatever anyway. So. we get a lot of comments

from Alfred and It does a good job of so the

comments are just kind of there. I found with

Snyder stuff Not knocking it or anything like

that with Kings. I feel like it It was more levity

like it was more funny in Kings Yeah, it kind

of takes away a bit from how dark the story really

is when you sit and think think about it which

works fine it wasn't as though it took me out

of it yeah absolutely no none of alfred's stuff

took me out of the comic at all it actually enhanced

and at least again for someone who you know kind

of grew up on the animated series um okay so

here's here's the one that i did share from the

pull bag uh yes gotham city descends ever ever

into chaos what a shock sir I hear Ephraim Zimbalist

Jr.'s voice in my head reading that because I

know BTAS Alfred, that is something he would

say. Yeah, seems to have the same voice. No,

it's true. I mean, it's just so, so good. And

like I said, I cannot wait to read more of King's

Run. I don't know where King's Run is going,

but I just shared an article about Issue 71,

I guess they're up to or something or it's coming

up where 75 Okay. Well, I don't know All as I

know is the story I shared had something about

him changing the bat color the color of the bat

signal So I don't know what that's all about.

I'm gonna wait obviously until I read all of

it to get up to that but And some of these alternate

covers, oh my god, there's one by Batman number

one variant cover by Tony S. Daniel. I have loved

Tony Daniel for the longest time. He did one

of my favorite covers on the Nightwing annual

back in New 52. It's a cover with Batman looking

over a young Bruce in Crime Alley with two roses.

Oh, it's so good. Talking about the art too,

going back to Finch for just a second because

we talked about it with Capella. For my money,

this is Finch's best work. He's done a lot of

different work over the years as I lose my voice

for some reason. But yeah, this is probably my

favorite. He did a really good job on stuff like

Brightest Day, had a ton of different... characters

and couldn't have been easy to draw. Just, you

know. Yeah, absolutely. I love Finch's art. I

love the colorists. The color, the colors in

this book are just amazing. You really, really

are. The art, I just can't get enough of the

art. I just like, it's not just the art too.

It's the stylistic choices. You know, I mentioned

it before that I am a fan of Batman the Animated

Series, obviously. I will always be a fan of

it. I really think it was the introduction of

Batman to me, as well as kind of what comics

could be when they were going through the horrible

dark time known as the 1990s. it and to see it

on the page but not used in a way that felt cheap

or hey remember this time or anything like that

was that was outstanding to me and then the character

designs as well as it's one thing to reimagine

or do your own Batman and especially for Finch

who's already drawn Batman in other series but

it's another thing to establish completely new

characters and have them look they look like

people you know you could see these people seem

you can see the life they've kind of led up to

this point in the art which is probably one of

the better compliments I can give it absolutely

and like you said Gotham City and how it looks

how it looks like a full functioning moving realistic

city on the page. I cannot wait to read more

and see what he does, what they do with the Batmobile,

because that one shot of revealing it, it's the

full -on BTIS style, but it's basically all black

instead of the blue, and then it has the bat

-faced front, which is another homage to another

part of the Batmobile's history, because it used

to have that back in the 60s, I think. I could

be wrong, it could have been the 50s, I don't

know. but just as soon as I saw that Batmobile

I literally jumped two inches off my seat because

I was like holy crap they didn't do that but

yes they did and damn if I don't love it I'm

hoping in the future that the Batcave changes

a little bit the big shot that we got of the

Batcave in this volume I liked it but I don't

know it just didn't like I expect to see more

vehicles or like a different layout with the

vehicles there It was like a couple of bikes,

a couple of Batmobiles, and I don't know. Anyway.

He doesn't need a whole fleet of stuff. Come

on now. If you're eventually going to bring in

Robin, Batgirl, all that stuff, you need a lot

of vehicles. Anyway, I am Gotham. Maybe a four

and a half for me out of five. I'm going to stick

with a four because that's what I gave the previous

one. But yeah, it's still. Very little story

here. I felt like there was no missteps in the

story because it was an all -new story to me

And again, like you said earlier starting out

at number one at the beginning of the run You

know, there's that It's true. It's tough for

me. I'm trying not to give out perfect all the

time. Come on Well, between Batman and Transformers,

we got a lot of perfect going on, at least in

the year one of IDW, year 13 of IDW. There's

just a lot of great comics going on. It really

bugs me when, yeah, I could talk about this.

We could do entire shows on this when idiots

talk about how comics are bad or superhero comics

are bad. There's a ridiculous amount of great

work being done, and there's just so many great

writers, and we've covered two. Just now who

have Yeah, who have come just I don't want to

say out of nowhere, but Snyder I don't know that

he was really well known before the initial run

on Batman I think some people knew who he was

and then since then he's got a number of other

different projects and things He's worked on

that. It's just fantastic as well Love bitches.

So anyway, and then for Tom King my initial I

think the first thing from Tom King I read was

the vision miniseries, which was amazing. I'm

not a fan of vision. I Don't know enough about

him really so I haven't read much but his work

on that was Amazing one of the best sort of miniseries

and got me more interested in the character than

I ever thought I would be And yeah, to see him

then get to transition into Batman, who is a

character who I think a few people know pretty

well. You know, one or two people might have

heard of the guy, but... Yeah. Whether it's Adam

West, whether it's Kevin Conroy, Michael Keaton,

Al Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale. Whether

it's Adam West again in the animated stuff, the

Scooby -Doo animated stuff, plus their own animated

stuff back in the 70s. Whether it's DTIS or any

of the other Justice League stuff. Every time

I read Batman lines, I hear Kevin Conroy's voice

in my head, no matter what he's saying. Whether

it's Bruce or Batman, I hear. And again, because

I interviewed Kevin seven years ago at this point,

what I loved about Kevin Conroy being Bruce Wayne

and Batman is how much of a different inflection

he had for both. Versions of the care like Bruce

Wayne is his own character and Batman is his

own character Bruce Wayne's voice is softer and

Batman's character You know Batman's voice is

more stern kind of thing so if only Bruce owned

more than that accursed brown and yellow suit

Needed a chain. There were a couple of times

later where he was in like a black tux and things

towards Justice League, but yeah in BCAS It was

that brown suit with the yellow shirt. Yep. It

became a running joke though behind the scenes

if you ever listen to the And I have commentary.

Yeah, so that's part of the reason it showed

up all the time Yeah, anyway, this is This, so

King and Snyder's run are both fantastic. King

is ongoing. King is a near perfect writer. I

don't like Heroes of Crisis at all, or else he

would be perfect. So yeah, pick either of them

up. Yep, and we will be doing more of Tom King's

run later in the year, maybe next year, I don't

know. Folks, I've got a crazy notion. And I know

financially I cannot do it. So I looked on Comixology

and if I look at all of the Nightwing stuff that's

on there, the trades, I told Steve Megatron that

I had an idea this November to do 30 nights of

Nightwing. Basically one episode a day. Covering

one night wing trade from the very beginning

1995 and then the 96 to 2009 run then that's

also a lot of reading yeah, I know I Understand

that but financially I looked at it, and I'm

like fuck. I can't do that. I can Night wing

Lee November Yeah, exactly I think I put I think

I found enough stuff to do 24 out of the 30 Nights

and it ended up being close to 285 dollars in

comics ology. I'm like empty cart Yeah It's an

idea I can always do it for another year at some

point because I don't see this podcast going

away anytime soon Maybe we after we hit our 10

year anniversary or something But who knows who

knows what the hell kind of comics gonna be out

by year by 2023 So yeah, coming up next time,

it'll probably be Ryan and I most likely talking

about the first volume of the Stephanie Brown

Batgirl. So that's what's coming up here inside

Batman Month on the pull bag. Where can the people

find you, sir? At nightbeat on Twitter. I am

at TFG and Mike on Twitter. You can follow at

the pull bag as well. Make your greatest game

in the comics and we will catch you next time

here inside the pull bag. You've just heard the

latest episode of The Pull Bag, the GCRN's first

comic review and discussion podcast. There are

several ways to get in touch with us and leave

feedback for the show. You can visit the website

geekcastradio .com where you can comment on the

episode and all of our different podcasts. You

can rate and leave a review for the show on iTunes.

Be sure to leave us feedback. Become a fan of

us on Facebook, facebook .com slash The Pull

Bag. Send us an email, feedback at geekcastradio

.com, follow us on twitter at The Pullback and

at Geekcast Radio. So until next time, make your

great escape into comics and unleash the geek

in you.