Thursday, February 24, 2022

Batman and Robin #18: "Undone" (Retrospective)

Batman and Robin #18
Comic books are a fascinating medium. Blending two traditional forms of storytelling, prose and image, these stories are often scorned by the upper echelons of literary criticism—and much of it is deserved. But every now and then, one comes along that transcends genre conventions and catches the eyes of even the literature snobs. These tend to come packaged as "graphic novels." Much harder to do is tell a story in a single issue that warrants serious critical evaluation. Yet Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, and Mick Gray pulled it off.

Tomasi and Gleason's Batman and Robin title, part of DC's New 52 initiative, was a book that prioritized Bruce Wayne's relationship with his mischievous son, Damian. The title nailed their dynamic perfectly, rising above the conventional genre fare to become a thoughtful study on the relationship between fathers and sons. So, when Damian was killed in the pages of another Batman title—an odd creative decision I continue to bemoan—the status quo for Tomasi and Gleason had to undergo an obvious, serious change. Whereas the usual expectation for comic books is to brush such traumatic deaths aside with little more than a passing mention (after all, no one is ever truly dead in this medium), writer Tomasi had something else in mind entirely. And with issue 18 of his run on Batman and Robin, he delivered what can only be described as a masterpiece of the genre in a single issue.

Even more impressive, the story, titled "Undone," is told entirely without text. Usually comic books have speech bubbles that indicate dialogue between characters, or thought bubbles to indicate a character's internal thoughts, or words to indicate sound effects—there is none of that here. It's just Gleason's pencils and Gray's ink on display. Though textless, this particularly story loses nothing in the way of narrative force, as Tomasi chooses to tell this one with a total reliance on emotional beats rather than a traditional plot structure. The payoff is an unexpected emotional resonance.

Readers of this remarkable issue are carried through Bruce's very authentic procession of grief via hauntingly beautiful imagery that makes his emotional turbulence all the more palpable. As he struggles to cope with his son's death, he sits alone in complete and total darkness. He curls his fingers into his palms so fiercely the skin breaks. When he goes out on patrol as Batman, he stalks the night with unusual menace and ferocity. But try as he might to find ways of escaping his pain, he constantly sees reminders of Damian all around him, even as fleeting glimpses in the reflections of building windows. These are simple images that work on a gut level and are sure to resonate with anybody who has lost someone close to them. This is the kind of hurt that only subsides with time and distance—and even then, it subsides only because memory is a funny thing, and because something else in life will always come along to demand emotional investment. Were it not for those things, then it's likely this kind of hurt would never go away. And it all culminates in a brutal, heartbreaking final panel that will shatter even the sternest of resolves.

If the old adage that "a picture is worth a thousand words" is true, then Batman and Robin #18 is an epic of intimate scale that lays bare the darkest corners of the Batman's tormented soul. For being a completely textless issue, this comic is anything but silent.

Friday, February 18, 2022

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Captain America: The First Avenger (Retrospective)

After a plethora of dark knights, tortured heroes, and spoiled brats learning to go straight, viewing a film as good-natured as Marvel's Captain America: The First Avenger comes as a breath of fresh air in a genre threatened with staleness. Having met Tony, Bruce, and Thor, we are finally introduced to Captain America—the star-spangled man with a plan. Functioning as the Marvel analogue to DC's Superman, he fights for truth, justice, and, quite literally, the American way.

Marvel's Captain America: The First Avenger
The framework story follows the exploits of S.H.I.E.L.D., the shadowy organization led by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), as they seek to recover the long-lost Captain America for reasons unknown. The narrative proper begins when the film catapults us back to an alternate version of World War II. Here we meet Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a scrawny young man who is a patriot at heart and wants nothing more than to join the Allied fight against the Axis powers. But, despite numerous attempts, a plethora of health conditions have prevented him from enlisting. When his best friend, James "Bucky" Barnes (Sebastian Stan), prepares to ship out, he has a conversation with Rogers that's overheard by Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci). Erskine is immediately taken with Rogers's heart and determination, and schemes to have the young man enlisted in a special program headed up by Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones), your typical military curmudgeon, and overseen by Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), a spitfire of a British officer.

Seemingly against all odds, Rogers is chosen from the program's candidates to undergo a unique super-soldier experiment. In one of the film's best moments, Erskine explains to Rogers why he's been chosen. It has nothing to do with his physical capabilities, but because of his character and heart. Unlike Tony, Bruce, and Thor, Steve is already formed and well-adjusted. He's a true hero, through and through, brave and courageous despite what's stacked against him. So, Rogers undergoes the experiment, and emerges the perfect specimen of a human soldier, but he's got a moral compass already honed to a fine point. Of course, government suits try to get involved and Phillips tries to keep him off the front lines, but eventually he proves himself the hero we all know him to be when he liberates nearly 400 prisoners of war.

His adventures bring him into conflict with Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), a confidante of Hitler's and leader of the terrorist organization known as HYDRA, as well as someone who takes Nazi occultism to extremes. He tampers with forbidden sciences all in the name of world domination, with hopes of eventually toppling Hitler himself. He's a kind of perfect antithesis for Captain America, having undergone a similar super-soldier experiment, only to turn inward. He's malformed and selfish, and Weaving portrays him with all the mustache-twirling glee one would expect from this kind of larger-than-life villain.

The side-characters we meet along the way are all likable, probably because the cast is rounded out by wonderful character actors like Neal McDonough as the husky "Dum Dum" Dugan. We also get a nice bit of connective tissue in the form of Dominic Cooper, who portrays the brilliant Howard Stark, who will eventually father Tony. And the whole thing ends on a surprisingly bittersweet note, as Captain America wakes up in the present day and meets Nick Fury, bringing the whole thing full circle.

Captain America: The First Avenger really is a fun film with a lot of heart. It doesn't have the quips and wisecracks or offbeat humor of Iron Man or Thor, nor does it put front and center a protagonist wrestling through personal conflicts, like The Incredible Hulk. Instead, what we have here is a film that works from a much older template, the kind of big, blockbuster action-adventure war movie that Hollywood used to revel in. If, in watching the previous MCU films, we learn to admit when we're wrong and how to grow, Captain America gives us a hero that we can look up to, an ideal to which we can aspire. Now that we've met Steve Rogers, the Avengers have found their leader. And all that's left for them to do is assemble.

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Marvel's The Avengers (Retrospective)

Marvel's The Avengers  (2012) After four years and five films of teases and buildup, The Avengers  landed with no small amount of fanfar...