Comics -- yes, I still read them!

[buggery]

A couple of questions. One is spoilery for the most recent issue of GOTHAM CENTRAL and possibly other titles, and is thus behind an LJ-cut... which you skipped past, if you're reading this.

So if you aren't caught up on all your comics -- I'm still months behind on some titles, myself -- and want to avoid possible spoilers, stop reading here.

Right.

So, in GOTHAM CENTRAL #34, we get, among other things, a tour of Arkham for the purposes of making sure all the inmates patients inmates are still where they're supposed to be. And... Harvey Dent is there.

Now, like I said, I'm *not* caught up on all my comics, but in the ones I am caught up on, and no more than two or three months ago in the ones I'm not, the last time we saw Harvey Dent was at the end of "Hush," at which time he had one face, no hair, and his freedom. So did I miss something, or is this how they meant to inform us that Harvey is back in the shrink-clink for whatever reason? Help.


Now, the other questions.

For those of you reading Y: THE LAST MAN ...is it still going? Is there a trade or trades out, and how many separate TPBs will collect the full run, if the full run *will* be collected? If you've read it all, or read up through the current issue (if it hasn't wrapped or been cancelled yet), did you like it / would you recommend the series?

Also, for those of you who read Brian Azzarello's year-long storyline in SUPERMAN... well, same questions, more or less. Is it collected in its entirety, and if so how many trades will it take to get the whoile thing? And if you read it, how did you like it? As far as this goes, I'd prefer recs (or pans) to avoid plot spoilers, if you can possibly tell me why I should/n't read it without spoiling me.

Thanks!

(My birthday is next Wednesday, and my mother called me a few hours ago to gently remind me that I haven't given her any idea what to get for me. From fandom people, any sort of Dick Grayson fanart or fiction would be more than welcome, but no gifts are expected.)

Comments

[impactbomb.livejournal.com]

No comment on Dent, as Bat editorial seems to be flailing about what they want as far as Harv's concerned, too. Some books he's sane, other books he's not, most books just want people to forget he was ever "fixed" to begin with.

Y: The Last Man - haven't read. All signs point to awesome, though.

Superman: For Tomorrow (the Azzarello arc) - first half is good. Last half is not.

(If I miss it, happy birthday in advance! Hope it's a good one!)

[buggery.livejournal.com]

Re Harvey, I'm starting to suspect editorial does in fact have a clear idea what they intend to do with him... but that they aren't sharing those plans with all their writers, and that they're not bothering to have anybody check the scripts coming from writers not in the loop to make sure they're not unintentionally using him in contradictory ways. (What the heck are these people *doing* to earn their pay, I have to ask...)

Re "For Tomorrow," is it that you found the storytelling in the second half lacking, or that you found the conclusion of the storyline unsatisfying?

[impactbomb.livejournal.com]

Oh, that makes me feel much better. In the way that it really doesn't. Oh, Bat-Editorial, you make my head go spinny.

The storytelling lacked, and Azzarello took some, let us say, rather un-Azzarello-ish twists off into strange-inexplicable-plothole land.

That and starting off with Superman-and-priest and ending with Superman-must-fight-Zod-(AGAIN) just . . . the tonal shift was too abrupt for me. I mean, the Supes and priest bit - that was amazing, and had that remained if not a focus then at least a presence in the storyline in the second half, it might have worked out better. But then bringing Zod into it all as an explanation when Zod's already been used at least twice before in the past year and a half for essentially the same fight irritated the heck out of me.

It didn't help that the second half pretty much confused the hell out of me.