After last week's Spinner Rack post about Mark Waid's Superman epic in Action Comics, we're looking to the main man again with today's posts about Justice League Unlimited and Batman & Robin: Year One.
I've been a fan of Mark Waid's writing even before he was writing comic books but was writing about them in the late lamented fanzine Amazing Heroes.
Mark combines modern character development with a genuine affection for the history of the comic book medium.
Justice League Unlimited is what it says on the tin: the Justice League with an unlimited membership.
Are you a super hero in the DC universe? Congratulations, you're in the Justice League!
Mark Waid subverts the trope of super menaces happening one at a time. Two months ago, the League fought Dr. Destiny. This month Despero is attacking. In a couple of months, the Secret Society will take their shot at the League.
With JLU, there is always some kind of bad shit going down somewhere on the planet which means there is always something for someone to do.
There is a principal source of bad shit, a super secret organization known as "Inferno".
As it was for Mark Waid's Absolute Power, the art on Justice League Unlimited is by Dan Mora whose style meshes well with the colorful Flash, the dark shadowly Batman and powerful Wonder Woman and every other character Waid throws at him. I haven't seen an artist this adaptable to different characters since the heyday of George Perez.
Batman & Robin: Year One continues as General Grimaldi continues his stealth campaign to take over Gotham City by pitting the various crime families against each other. It is a scheme producing gruesomely deadly results.
The nascent team of Batman & Robin continue to grow, still learning how to make this crime fighting Dynamic Duo work. But it seems that while Dick Grayson is coming into his own as Robin, he may be having more trouble with what to do with himself when he's not Robin.
There's a scene where Batman is down in the cave ruminating on what the hell is going with Gotham's crime families while Alfred is trying desperately to get a word in edgewise.
Until Alfred yells at Bruce: "WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE BOY!"
Bruce responds, "That's the first time you've ever raised your voice at me. I don't like it.... but you wouldn't have without reason."
Bruce is confused by Dick's conduct and behavior. Dick is behaving just like a normal boy and Bruce was never a normal child after the death of his parents.
Bruce wonders, "Are all boys his age like this?"
Alfred firmly reminds Bruce that Dick Grayson is his problem and it's up to him, no Alfred, to fix it.
Combined with the gorgeous artwork of Chris Sammee, Mark Waid has got a very special and unique Batman & Robin story going on here.
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Coming up on future editions of the Spinner Rack....
Chip Zdarsky ends his run on Batman.
And I look back 50 years at comics I bought when I was a kid.
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