Two Face by Jegang

I love the graphic design elements in this work of art:

Two Face by ~Jegang on deviantART

Make sure to check out the rest of Jegang's "Arkham" gallery, too.

Think Batman will ever be like this again?

I gotta say, "HOLY STRETCH MARKS!" has now entered my vocabularly.

Look out, world.  I just hope I don't run into any pregnant women between now and the time I'll forget about that phrase.

Come on, admit it.  Some small part of you wants Dick back as Robin and randomly shouting things like, "HOLY HIGHER RENT DISTRICT!"

And now let's talk about Barbara Gordon

Well, I didn't see this one coming.

I remember a few years ago when Gail Simone mentioned in passing on her Twitter account about how she was fighting to keep Barbara Gordon as Oracle.  I had assumed it was that whole "Death of Oracle" event that was in question, but maybe it was this.

Letting Barbara Gordon go back to being Batgirl opens up a huge, gigantic can of worms, the least of which is getting rid of Stephanie Brown, the current Batgirl.  Stephanie's book was kind of a sleeper that wasn't ultra-popular, perhaps becuase it was in the shadow of all the other Bat-books.  (In fact, I don't think Batman ever showed up in her book.)  I came to like Stephanie Brown.  I really hate replacement characters, so coming from me this means a LOT.  Like Miss Martian, she grew on me very slowly, and I came to really enjoy her ditzy antics, sarcastic commentary, and enthusiasm for crime-fighting.  She almost reminds me of Miss Martian in a way, perhaps because they are both naive, un-ironic female characters.  Her book was light-hearted, easy-to-follow, and most importantly, fun.

Barbara Gordon, as Oracle, played a supporting role in Stephanie's book, until she stopped showing up and was replaced by Firewall, whose real name I forget.  Babs had to be there to pass the torch to Stephanie and give her her blessing, which is what the first arc was basically about.

Now I guess time is going to be rewound or erased or whatever, and Babs is going to be able to walk again.  Sigh.  It was nice seeing a character deal with a major, life-altering disability as gracefully and honestly as Babs did.  It was nice seeing a disabled character be a superhero.  I agree with pretty much everything Jill Pantozzi said on the subject, much more eloquently than I ever could.

While it was fun to read Batgirl: Year One (which is pretty awesome by the way) and see a Batgirl who was the daughter of the police commissioner fighting crime alongside Batman, I can't help but wonder if the trade-off is worth it.

And while we're at it, how exactly is this reboot going to work?  I mean, if we're going to erase time and have the JLA only have been around for five years, then Damian-Robin wouldn't even be born.  Jaime Reyes would probably be like thirteen, so how can he have his own book while Barbara Gordon is back being Batgirl?  I'm confused, and DC is supposed to be using this non-reboot to make things less-confusing.  And shouldn't Ted Kord not be dead, but back to being alive?

Yeah, I'm never letting that one go, DC.  Ever.

You can't pick and choose your time-rewinding without it seeming obvious that you're just picking the books that sell well as opposed to the ones that don't.  That's just marketing driving story, and I don't like that kind of "story-telling."

Batman or Shakespeare?

Quick, who said the following:

Smoldering, I burn you—burning you, I flare, hot and bright and fierce and beautiful.

Or this?

Welcome destruction, blood, and massacre. I see, as in a map, the end of all.

Were those two lines from a Shakespeare play, or from a Batman comic?

You can put yourself to the test at Sporcle's "Shakespeare or Batman" quiz.  You might be surprised at the answers.  (I scored a measly 67%.)

After that, you can go on to quiz yourself in how many U.S. Presidents you can name in ten minutes.  I somewhat redeemed my self-esteem for the paltry showing in the Shakespeare/Batman quiz by naming 36 out of 44 presidents.  I'm not sure if knowing who James K. Polk is is a better thing than being able to name a Batman quote, but I take my comics quizzes seriously.

There are quite a few other comics-related quizzes at Sporcle, even quizzes relating only to DC Comics, if you want to take a look.

(Also sad: I didn't know what Captain America's real name was.  Have I mentioned I want to go in to every Marvel movie completely fresh?  Doesn't get fresher than that.)

Have fun!

Oh, and Frank, this one's for you:

Color me surprised!

Never pass up an opportunity to poke fun at Batman...

He has a little megaphone!  :D

Hangin' around and falling behind

I keep falling behind with all this comics news going on about Flashpoint, and now I have no idea what's going on!  Anyone else think that keeping up with the constancy of the comics world can be a little tiring?  Apparently there's red herrings and hidden messages galore on DC's Source blog, but I've missed out on all of it.  I guess I have some catching up to do.  But why does being a comics fan have to be so much work?

I'd rather just kick back and relax.  Of course, this is the way to kick back:

1989 Mayfair RPG Game Card: Batman

I was poking fun at Batman in my post from last night, and Frank took that as a sign that Batman was destined to be covered on this blog.  I am a pretty big Bat-fan, after all.

First off, a shoutout needs to go to Tom Hartley, who sold Frank his Mayfair RPG card set for a very fair price, I'm told.  I didn't get to thank either of them yesterday for their part in this.  So thanks, guys!

Now let's take a look at the Batman card:

Batman looks pretty spiffy in his blue-and-gray Batsuit.  I hadn't realized until recently that Golden Age Batman wore gray and black and that the blue was (correct me if I'm wrong, folks) a Silver Age addition.  Though modern Batman runs around in gray and black today, kids Batman still sports the blue and gray.  I guess gray is too boring to children.  (Can you tell I'm looking through toy catalogs for my nephews?)

Let's take a look at Bruce's stats, shall we?

Never one to miss a stray detail, DC made sure Bruce's stats reflect even his most eccentric hobbies, like his stint in Gotham Community Theater when he once danced Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream.  You don't get an Actor stat of 8 without a little greasepaint.  The folks at Mayfair also made sure to factor in Bruce's time spent as a juvenile deliquent immediately following the death of his parents by giving him a Thief stat of 10.  Yes, he swore to avenge them, but not without keying a few Studebakers, hassling a few soda jerks and knocking off a Walgreen's here and there.  What, you think a rich, privaleged, well-balanced guy like Bruce Wayne doesn't commit crimes and act like a jerk in his spare time?  Oh, the evidence is here, my friends, and it is hilarious.

Let it also be noted that the Bat Rope (TM) is only the length of 4 A&P stores put end-to-end, and that could be a drawback when chasing Man Bat up Wayne Towers, which is about 6 A&P's in height.  I guess that's where an Advantage like having Superman (TM) as your personal peon comes in handy.

And, like I predicted yesterday, Bruce Wayne's Wealth stat is indeed 5,000,000.  That means he'll win any battle, becuase money always trumps intelligence, brawn, and sheer brute strength in any fight.  Don't you remember that part in Final Crisis where Batman dropped a couple hundred Ben Franklins in front of Darkseid and said, "Dance big man, dance!" and then Darkseid sent Bruce on a lovely little vacation back in time to show his appreciation?

That's also the reason why Darkseid is such a pimp.

Want more Mayfairstivus coverage?  Want to air your grievances?  Go ahead and shout at random people on the street, and then check out these sites:

The Anti-Didio League of America

The Aquaman Shrine

Booster Gold: BOO$TERRIFIC
The Continuity Blog

DC Bloodlines

Diana Prince as The New Wonder Woman
Doom Patrol: My Greatest Adventure #80
Firestorm Fan
Flash: Speed Force
Girls Gone Geek
Green Lantern Corps: The Indigo Tribe
Hawkman: Being Carter Hall 

Justice League Detroit
Martian Manhunter vs. The Idol-Head of Diabolu
Once Upon A Geek
Power of the Atom
Subject: Suicide Squad [Task Force X]
Supergirl Comic Box Commentary 

Harley Quinn Sketch by Loston Wallace

November is just a crazy, and kind of bleak month, and I can't get my act together, and Frank from the Idol-Head of Diabolu was nice enough to call this to my attention.  So here's just a little something.

Though I'm pretty sure it's digital, I like the brush rendering used for the coloring, which makes it actually look like a sketch and not a scene from a comic.  A nice choice, I think.  And Harley's smile is a nice blend of crazy and sweet.

Talking Comics With the Uninitiated, Part 2

So a while back I had a conversation with my mother about Wonder Woman's new costume and how much she hated it.

I'm starting to get my Halloween costume together.  Two years ago I made a promise to someone (who's going as the Joker) that I'd be Harley Quinn, which left me kind of at a loss as to how to pull off a work-safe (a.k.a. not super-tight) Harley Quinn costume.  Lo and behold, I managed to pull it off by finding a jester costume to modify.  I have no sewing machine skills, so this is where my mother comes in.  She has no idea who Harley Quinn is.

I had been showing her various pictures of Harley to give her an idea of what she looked like, but I never explained to her who she was exactly.  Actually, I did, but she wasn't listening at the time.

Apparently my mother thought the costume was a part of her body or her skin something, and not like an actual suit.  I don't know what goes on in the heads of non-comics readers...

Mom:  Well, I don't know what all these superpowers do to people!

Me:  She doesn't have superpowers, Mom.  She's just a girl in a suit.

Mom:  Oh.  But what about the horns?

Me:  They're part of her costume!  She's got pigtails and stuff.

Mom:  Okay.  You still have to make the glasses yet, right?

Me:  They're not glasses!  That's a mask!

Mom:  Oh.

Me:  And she doesn't have superpowers.  She's just crazy.

Mom:  What?

Me:  She's nuts.  She's the Joker's sidekick.

Mom:  She's a villain?!  Wait, I thought she was a hero!

Me: *facepalm*

Mom:  So she's a devil or something?

Me:  No!  She's cute!!!  See?  She's all like clingy and the Joker's all like, "Get off of me!"  It's funny!

Mom:  Okay, I guess she's kind of cute.

I then started asking my mother if she could take the headpiece apart and re-sew it back together because the black and red were on the wrong sides and she's like, "Does it REALLY matter?"  And of course I'm like, "YES."  Never offer to make anything for someone with OCD.  She is going to switch the sleeves around because they don't match at all, but I conceded the headpiece and the tunic, so it will be backwards, so I'll just have to pretend I'm Bizzarro-Harley or Left-Handed Harley or something.

You can just imagine how entertaining it will be when I take her to see the Green Lantern movie next summer.

75 Favorite Moments in DC History: Number 49

49.  Justice is served, Harvey Dent style (Batman: Shadow of the Bat #62-63, 1997.)  (***Potential Spoilers!***

I know hardly anything about The Punisher, but the more I think about it, the more I think I'd like him.  Sometimes I need a break from the peaceful-warrior style of Justice served by heroes like The Martian Manhuner, and I need a Machiavellian approach to satisfy those darker yearnings for Revenge...er...Justice.  (Did I mention I'm half-Sicilian?)

Fun Fact: My Mom's dog is a Chow Chow!

There's a book I have called Batman and Philosophy in which one of the essays examines whether Batman's decision to not kill the Joker is causing more lives to be lost.  Depending on the mood I'm in, I'll waver between, "Don't sacrifice your morals and break your one rule!" to "Oh, just kill him already and be done with it!"  But Bruce Wayne won't ever pull a trigger, even in the name of Justice.

But guess who will?

All Batman villians must laugh when shooting their henchmen.  It's just tradition at this point.

Yeah, that's right, Batman: Harvey Dent will get your dirty work done.  Good thing about leaving things to the Fate of a coin toss: it's really good at absolving guilt.  The good portion of Harvey's psyche decices to emerge and punish criminals under the mantle of "Janus."  He's pretty darn close to being a superhero, too: he dons a mask of the Greek god Janus and some black robes and starts punishing criminals and righting wrongs, and even twarts Two-Face's plans to destroy the city, becoming his own nemesis.  I could get used to this.

Plus, as an added bonus, we get to see Harvey Dent in a naval uniform and speak all piratey and shoot people with a gun that makes really cool sound effects:

C'mon, say it out loud, you know you want to: SHFF!!

Oh, and slap people around, too.

If anyone at DC is looking for a "new" angle to take Harvey Dent in, instead of the hoodie-wearing-betrayed-by-his-own-gang incarnation, you could always revisit this.

Just don't forget the military uniform, okay?

Finally got my nerd street cred...!

For a while now I've been bemoaning my lack of nerd t-shirts.  I'm alway too self-conscious to wear one in public.  ('Cause, you know, it might start a conversation with someone, and then I'd actually have to talk to a human being.  GASP.)  So, I never could justify spending the twenty-plus dollars on one.

That is, until, I got a little e-mail in my inbox saying I had WON a t-shirt.  Like, for FREE.  Not only that, but the t-shirt of MY CHOICE!

This is all because I placed an order for a Martian Manhunter magnet at Superherostuff.com (thank you, obsession with all things J'onn J'onzz), and I was automatically entered in their Labor Day drawing, and they picked me!!!  I never have that much luck with drawings, but with comic stuff I'm doing pretty well.  Last fall I won a Black Lantern Ring, and now this.

So which t-shirt did I pick?  This one!

I was almost going to get the Alex Ross Martian Manhunter one, but I'm not really a fan of t-shirts that aren't fitted because it looks like I'm wearing a tent.  There was a women's Green Lantern symbol one, but the phrase "I'm a night person" couldn't describe me more perfectly and tipped the scales for me.

So, hooray for free stuff!!

Something I bet you never thought you'd see in a kid's comic...

After Batman and Robin's little shower scene at Sally's blog, I was reminded of this:

Batman: Harley and Ivy #1

How did this get into a comic aimed at kids, I'll never know.

Two Batmen? I've got a better idea...

I recently caught sight of the New York Post article last night detailing Dan Didio's plans for Dick Grayson to continue as Batman alongside the newly-returned Bruce Wayne.

Well, I've got a better idea.

How about this:

Plus this:

Yeah, that's right.  TWO Batgirls.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  Cassandra Cain plus Stephanie Brown would be fun.  They've each got different personalities (unlike Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, with the latter just being a muted copy of the former), different fighting styles, they're both great characters for different reasons, and they're fun to read.  And, as a bonus, they're already friends:

Now who wouldn't want to see that?

75 Favorite Moments in DC History: Number 55

55.  Two-Face gets a cupcake.  (Yes, you read that right.)  (Detective Comics #747, 2000, collected in Gotham Central Volume 2, "Half a Life," 2005 and New Gotham: Volume 1, 2001)

"Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones," said Phillips Brooks, a guy who I don't know from Adam but just found a quote from through a quick Google search.

Face it, comic books are about BIG moments.  Planets blowing up and things being thrown into the sun and all that.  And while that's fine and good, it's a lot easier to relate to the smaller things in life.

The single-issue story in Detective Comics #747 is all about a day in the life of Gotham police detective Renee Montoya, specifically, her twenty-ninth birthday.  A small mystery crops up when an unsigned bouquet of flowers arrives on her desk.

Amidst the day-to-day tasks of a detective, like testifying in court and putting up with obnoxious partners, Detective Montoya goes about solving the mystery of the unsigned flowers and finds out it was none other than Bruce Wayne who sent her the flowers.

Or was it?

Since this takes place right after No Man's Land, during which Montoya caught the eye of Harvey Dent and/or Two-Face (you're left guessing which side (or both) is enamoured with her.  Though the truth is revealed in Rucka's No Man's Land novelization), Montoya surmises Bruce Wayne did sent the flowers on behalf of Dent.

This is the Batman I like: the one who still believes in redemption, who has a heart, who would do a favor for an old friend, which to me is much more heroic than just running around beating the stuffing out of criminals proclaiming you are the night.  It's also the same Batman that was on the animated series back in the early 90's.

So, Montoya decides (grudgingly) to go visit Harvey:

Dammit, Dent!  I said off the phone already!

And, Batman leaves one of his friendly neighborhood Batman notes in Renee's car:

See?  Even Batman knows villains need to be loved.

Oh, and the type of flowers Two-Face sent Montoya?  Tulips.  Do you know how many times I read this story and STILL didn't figure out why it should be tulips?  I also just realized now that the color scheme throughout this issue is made up of only two colors.  I may not be the sharpest tack in the tool shed, but hey, that doesn't stop me from trying.

75 Favorite Moments in DC History: Number 58

58.  Harvey Dent argues against Two-Face (Detective Comics #739, collected in Batman: No Man's Land, 1999).

Well, it's no secret that I'm a big sucker for a Two-Face appearance, no matter how small.  The gigantic Batman crossover No Man's Land featured Two-Face quite prominently.  He was still being characterized as a gangster with split personalities ("dissociative identity disorder" being the proper term for it nowadays), which, as I'm reading more comics, I'm starting to like less and less.  (It's Scipio's fault, really.)

Anyway, the lawlessness of No Man's Land provided the perfect opportunity for Two-Face to set up his very own courtroom, which never ceases to amuse me.  Frankly, I think the writers could've milked this a little more for what it's worth (perhaps they did in the issues that weren't collected in the trades.)  But what I think makes Two-Face the "scariest" (when written correctly) villain is, that, like Batman, he believes in justice, albeit a darker shade of justice.  Vigilante heroes, by definition, operate outside the law to administer justice when the legitimate justice system can't.  Why should Harvey Dent's version of vigilante justice be any less legitimate than Batman's?

Well, that's a topic to be explored for another day.  But, back to No Man's Land.  Basically, Harvey's little courtroom involved putting Jim Gordon on trial.  Two-Face was the prosecution, and Harvey Dent, after Renee Montoya's pleading, became the defense, and both sides of his personality argue against each other.  (Which I find a bit of a stretch.  I mean, a D.A. playing defense attorney?)

Here you go:

They never tell you who the stenographer is...

It is a bit over-the-top, but, hey, it's Gotham, so what do you expect?

75 Favorite Moments in DC History: Number 63

63. Batman Adventures goes noir (Batman Adventures #8, collected in The Batman Adventures Vol. 2, 1993.

I have a soft spot for comics written for "kids," even the silliest definitely-for-four-year-olds titles.  But every now and then you'll find a children's comic with a depth to it that can be appreciated by both younger and grown-up readers.  Plus, the simplicity in storytelling has a way of highlighting the theme with the kind of clarity you just don't see in grown-up comics.  I really am a fan of the obvious, what can I say?

Anyway, this issue of The Batman Adventures, penned by Kelly Puckett, has a sense of pathos at its core layered over with tones of noir.  (It's title, "Larcey, My Sweet," is even a riff of Murder, My Sweet, the title of a 1944 Philip Marlowe film noir classic movie.)

There's not much I can tell you about the story without spoiling the ending.  But basically it's about a young Gotham reporter falling in love with a man who may or may not be on the wrong side of the law. What never ceases to amaze me about (good) kids' comics is how an entire story can be told efficiently and powerfully in just a single issue, whereas in grown-up comics the same story would take four issues.

When I grow up, I want my fist to say "CHOK!" whenever I punch someone.

The Batman Adventures, like the cartoon, was heavy on atmosphere, and penned dark and seedy, and there's a whole lot of things in there you wouldn't expect in a kid's comic: cigarettes, liqour, Playboy Bunnies (selling cigars of all things), and a Danny Devito-esque concierge at a sleazy rooms-by-the-hour hotel.  (Plus my personal favorite: thugs in Fedoras.)  It's amazing the kinds of things you notice when you're all grown up.

I was telling the truth about the Playboy Bunnies part.  Danny Devito?  That's up for interpretation.

Plus, looking back, you realize how much animated Bruce Wayne's appearance has been streamlined down into almost a charicature.  Remember when Bruce Wayne actually had a nose?  And hair that didn't look painted on?

Anyway, it's a good story, and a single-issue story is a refreshing break from the complexity of grown-up titles that seem to go on for ages.

75 Favorite Moments in DC History: Number 66

66.  Batman almost reveals his identity to Jim Gordon (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #125, collected in Batman: No Man's Land Volume 4, 1999-2000)

Batman: No Man's Land was a massive crossover spanning 80(!) individual issues and multiple titles.  While the actual event took placein 1999, well before I started reading comics, I read all five collected volumes, which is a comic book fan's emotional equivalent to a romance buff watching Gone With the Wind five times back-to-back.  And only 40 issues are collected in the trade paperbacks, so imagine what reading all the separate issues must've been like.

No Man's Land is the rare crossover that is actually good in terms of both plot and characterization.  While it has has its own internal logic, there are a few moments (including the setup) which are of course obvious plot devices, but it's executed well, so who cares?  Anyway, the plot basically revolves around a major earthquake striking Gotham city and the rest of the country seals off the city from outside aid.  Batman is mysteriously absent for much of the story, leaving many Gothamites (Commissioner Gordon included) feeling as though he's abandoned them.

After a year of Gotham suffering as a No Man's Land, Batman decides to make an appearance, and Gordon now doubts whether his trust in Batman for the past ten years was misplaced, and whether Batman is worthy of being considered a friend, a manipulator, or worse.

Amongst the many dramatic and emotional moments in comics that I can think of, this ranks pretty close to the top.

(Click if you can't read the text.)

By the way, I prefer this incarnation of Batman magnitudes more than I do the current Batman (Bruce Wayne or Dick Grayson, they're basically the same)  I think today's Batman has had too much of Bruce Wayne excised out of him.  Do you think today's Batman would pop in on Leslie Thompkin's clinic to see how she was doing?  And then go on to take advice from her?  I doubt it.  He's too busy being the ***damn Batman for that.

75 Favorite Moments in DC History: Number 74

74.  Harvey Dent gets things done his way (Batman: The Long Halloween, 1997).

The Long Halloween was the first graphic novel I ever read, so I kind of have a soft spot for it in my heart. I know a lot of people aren't Jeph Loeb fans, but I rank this graphic novel as one of my favorites, and I really think Loeb gots things right with The Long Halloween.  Why?  Because not only is it a definitive retelling of Two-Face's fall-from-grace origin, but it showed how Harvey Dent is perhaps the most threatening of Batman villains: Harvey Dent is a scary, scary man, but not because he kills without abandon like the Joker, but because he believes in justice, just like Batman and Gordon and all the other good guys do.  The scary part is that he has no reservations about crossing the line to mete out justice, even if this means killing two men in cold blood.  Basically, in this incarnation, Harvey is like Batman without his "one rule" against killing, and if Harvey Dent protected Gotham instead, there'd be no criminals escaping every other month from Arkham to go off on killing sprees like they do under Batman's watch.  The even scarier part is when you realize that perhaps Harvey's way of doing things might actually be better.  For what's the point of having a justice system if it's corrupted, or a police force that can't protect its citizens, or an oath against killing if it only results in more death?

Here's that moment, and Harvey's reasoning:

Click to enlarge.

Now can you understand why I was so excited at the possibility of a Harvey Dent Batman?

I Readed A Book! (Review of Huntress: Cry for Blood)

Huntress: Cry for Blood

Story by Greg Rucka

Pencils by Rick Burchett

Inks by Rick Burchett and Terry Beatty (issues #5 and #6)

Short Synopsis:  After being framed for murder, Huntress must prove her innocence.  After meeting The Question, we learn her story as the only surviving family member of a mafia hit.

The Bottom Line:  A character-driven drama with noirish elements and a well-plotted story line, written on one of Rucka's good days and with great art, to boot.  Read it!

Why It's Good:  The comics medium, by its very nature, doesn't lend itself well to stories about moral choices and character change.  After all, if a character keeps changing over his or her decades-long history, are we going to recognize them anymore?  This works, though, for certain characters, and for flashback stories for popular, well-established characters.

The Huntress herself is a character in constant internal conflict, always straddling the line between Justice and Vengeance.  When it comes to her family history, that line, in her mind, gets a little blurred.  Fortunately, Huntress never lets this conflict devolve into an angsty angry-at-her-life attitude.  Instead, she's out for blood.

Our story starts with the murder of two mafiosos who have each been killed with an arrow from Huntress's crossbow.  The media, the police, and even Batman and Family suspect she's guilty.  Just when it seems like she's got no one to turn to, she nearly runs over The Question one night, and after some sparring, he absconds with her to his Super Secret Zen Hideout, where he and Richard Dragon give her a new outlook on life.

Helena, about to tell Vic her story

The story's a weighty one, heavy on backstory, and with clear-cut stakes for both Huntress and The Question.  For Helena, she must not only clear her name, but choose who she ultimately is: an agent of revenge struggling away from a broken past, or someone "better" than that who upholds the law.  The Question hopes Helena will put his wisdom into action after investing his time in taking her under his wing, plus there's the possiblity of a romantic relationship.  I'm not going to give away the ending, but it's a good one.

Granted I haven't read too many Huntress comics (but I've read quite a bit of The Question), but I feel Rucka is on his game when it comes to characterization.  I secretly suspect Rucka is Italian, because he writes them so well.  (They are also drawn very believably by Burchett.)  Rucka handles The Question quite well, too, and I really like seeing Vic as the good-hearted Sensei To The Superheroes and in a lighter mood than his Denny O'Neill days.  I wish Vic would come along more often and set people straight.  (Oh, wait, he can't.  He's dead.)  Rucka balances the Zen insight with the sarcasm quite well, too.  (The latter being, of course, Vic Sage's one superpower.)

The Art:  I really enjoyed the art.  It's quite different from today's comic art: very "2D" with little shading, and the characters' expressions are very slightly caricatures while at the same time preserving realism.  His figures are realistic: no over-roided guys or DDD-busted girls here.  There's a great efficiency of line and cleanliness to the style and inking that you don't see today unless you crack open a Johnny DC title.  It's a nice, refreshing break from the complicated, fantasized, hyper-reality of comics art today.

Not only that, but Burchett draws Vic Sage really well.  Vic is a real character, and that should show on his face, and Burchett thankfully doesn't hold back on the smug little expressions that only Vic Sage is capable of.  Compare and Contrast time!

Vic channeling the Great James Cagney?

A more recent appearance of Vic.  (Oh wait.  "Charlie."):

Mr. Generic

Not to mention, there's all sorts of great little visual details, like Vic punching a soda machine.  If anyone gets to punch a vending machine in the DC Universe, it's Vic Sage.

Oh, yeah, and Batman shows up.  And Vic gives him some lip.  That's always amusing.

Batman: Mr. Grumpy Gills

The only downside to the story is that it's rather complicated to keep all the mafiosos and who-did-what and who's-related-to-whom straight.  But I wouldn't let that detract from a very enjoyable story.

It's a shame it's not in print anymore--hopefully it'll be reprinted soon.  But I urge you to look for it and read it, if you haven't already.