Batman: Gotham Adventures #43 Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES #43

http://comics.toonzone.net/bga/covers/t-43.jpg (http://comics.toonzone.net/bga/covers/43.jpg)

Written by Scott Peterson and Tim Levins; art by Levins and Terry Beatty; cover by Bob Smith and Beatty

In stores October 24. Who's out to get Harley Quinn? Batman has to take her on as a sidekick to find out. The answer awaits deep in Harley's history…that is, if she and the Dark Knight survive the traps set for them all over Gotham!

Comments?

[Joker85]

Well, to star off, I loved the cover!! As for the issue, hmmm. It was ok I guess. It was nice to see Harley in another solo story, though this was the weakest by far. The artwork was pretty good. The most enjoyable part of the issue to me was the cameos by the Arkham inmates. It is cool to see what everyday life is like for them. They kinda just sit around and gossip all day!!:D Like I said, I enjoyed this issue ok, it was definitely a BIG improvement over the last couple of issues. I have high expectations of the next several issues( Two-Face, Arkham, Ventriloquist) and they better not let me down!:)

[Blight]

I thought this issue was pretty good, compared to the last couple of issues. It was a fairly good story, and had some nice, funny moments. I thought it was histerical when Batman was interrogating the criminals, and I especially loved Freeze's reaction! Everthing about this issue was very well done, and I too liked the cover (Which was like a "Where's Waldo" sort of thing, except you're looking for villians. I could only spot Mr. Freeze, Clayface and The Riddler though......:( ) Anyways, an all around good story, and I'm really looking forward to the next 2 issues!

See ya!
Blight

[Trent Lane]

Okay, I'm glad someone pointed out the Mr. Freeze thing. That was pretty funny, one of the more inteligent things in B:GA in a while. The issue was okay, the art was really well done. Levins hasn't made some of the villains look exactly right, but Harley was dead on. The only beef I've got is they forgot to color Harley's red glove a couple of times through the story, but aside form that, an improvement over the past...

[James Harvey]

The issue was definatly an improvement. Still simplistic, yes, but an improvement voer the dreck we've gottren for the past couple of months like that horrible Joe story. The art was good, too. Levins did a great job on Harley. Can this titlwe finally be on the upswing? Man, I really hope so. As of March 2002 it'll only be this title and JLAdv on the stands, and I'd like to see this book hit issue #75.

[Trent Lane]

It could happen. I'd love to see it happen. Maybe they ought to try the different creative teams like Superman Adventures and ow JL Adventures. It's worth a shot, I mean, look how many issue SA ended up having. Levins art has grown on me, but the Peterson's stories are lacking something still. This issue was an improvement, but there's still so much potential for this book...

[James Harvey]

There is alot of potential for this book. I wish that Kelley Puckett would return. He did such a masterful job that returning to this book would be like putting on an old glove. I think he'd be an idela fit. I've had enough of Peterson. There are so many awesome potential stories coming, and it sucks to see them dissapoint in the end.

[DisneyBoy]

I am soooooo glad other people are finally becoming tired of Peterson's childish, simplistic, 40-second-read stories. Levins isn't terrible, but not right for this book. And there's still soooo much to explore:

Dick and Tim, Two-Face and Robin, Nightwing and Batgirl and Bruce (M a 3!), Catwoman, Huntress (wasn't she supposed to come back?), Talia and Batgirl, Joker and Riddler, Riddler and his inability to not riddle, Two-Face and his mental sanity, Firefly, Calendar Girl, Creeper, Summer Gleeson, Bullock and Montoya...

The list goes on and on and on......Mister Peterson...:mad:

[Trent Lane]

Right on, Disney boy!!! I'd love to see some of the past characters show back up, including Huntress, Anarchy, Jason Blood/Etrigan, and so many more. You'd think they'd do that but noooooo... I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

[Joker85]

I agree Disney Boy! They have the potential to explore all these possibilities and they keep going back to these same old generic stories with no depth whatsoever to them. I have high hopes that this book will turn around after the return of Two-face next month(FINALLY!)

[DisneyBoy]

I just pray that some intelligent DC execs came across this page and realize that there are other, better teams out there for this book! Come on guys! Give us Ty Templeton, Darwin Cooke, ALUIR AMANCIO, Rick Burchett, Kelly Pucket, Mike Manely...

I just pray that this series is saved and makes it to issue #100! After everything the animated series did for the mainstream comics, Batman Adventures deserves a noble, High point ending. If it dies like this (knock on wood-all of you!!), I'll never forgive the crew or myself for not doing more. Is there anything we can do to try to show DC to change the team??? For those of you who like Levins and Peterson, you've had some 30 issues to enjoy. For people who like Ty's art and stories or others, we've had less than a dozen issues or none at all! What's more important Peterson, Levins, fans and DC: Selfishly driving this legendary Title into the ground, or (finally) letting it shine again?

[James Harvey]

The big factor is staying realistic. Templeton won't come back becuase he's hitting it big, same with Rick Burchett. Both ar enow working on high profile projects for DC. Darwyn Cookie is too busy with Catwoman and (soon) X-Force so he won't come back (I loved his BB covers). I really think that Kelley Puckett and Mike Manely could really work as a new creative team. Kepp ol' Terry Beatty and we have a perfect creative team that could bring the seires back to THE BATMAN ADVENTURES-esque quality!

[Trent Lane]

It'd be nice to see the creative team change, but how long are Peterson and Levins attached to this book for in the future? Bring in some other guys to do some work, I'd be all for it...

[DisneyBoy]

Is there anything that we the fans can do to support such a crew change? I've always wanted to write Gotham Adentures a polite letter asking if the crew will ever be changed and pointing out the reasons why many of us think it should, but I've come to wonder whether or not such a letter would ever make it to the lettercol. Has anyone else ever compared the lettercols from Batman Adventures to those in Gotham Adventures? TBA had both positive an negative letters with honest and insightful critiques whereas Gotham Adventures only seems to publish letters written by young children or very positive letters (and there are only about three small letters per issue). All of this is besides the point. Please tell me if there is anything I or the rest of us can do. I realize I've written some rather hostile-sounding posts on this board expressing my frustration at the current state of my one and only comic, but love the series, even the parts that I don't like so much and I just want this series to be the best it can be. I would very much like to help. :) Show me how...

[James Harvey]

I've been really dissapointed in BGA's letter column. They used to be a diverse selection of negative and positive comments about nay given issue. Now it's just...bland. I used to send a monthly letter (via email) but since they don't post my letter anymore I just gave up. The best option would be to write amn honest letter without resorting to hostility and anger. Be calm and tell them your ideas and dissapointments. Then again, DC is like WB and rarely listens to anyone outside their board meetings.

[Firefly]

Hey DG what name did you use when sent letters mabye we have read them and didnt know

[James Harvey]

Originally posted by Firefly
Hey DG what name did you use when sent letters mabye we have read them and didnt know

James Harvey. I will admit some of them are pure suck up letters becuase I just wanted to get printed. But then again, when Templeton and Burchett were on board, they could do no wrong. I stopped sending letter awhile into Peterson's run becuase they wouldn't print them. Maybe one "negative" one got printed - I don't remember.

[Blight]

So it WAS you! I picked up some old B:GA issues a couple months ago and read some of your letters and thought that name sure sounds familiar............ and it finally clicked!

Boy, i'm sure reading some harsh comments on Peterson. Everthing that has been said is true though. Peterson's storys are sometimes so childish, I wonder if Peterson has reached his teens yet. You know what the worst thing he ever wrote was? In B:GA #41, there is a part where Batman tells Joe that he encounters "bad people" all the time, in those words! When did Batman get the vocabulary of a three year old?! Geesh! As for Levins, I think he is pretty good. I just wish he would stick to Timm's style, because his faces are sometimes annoying.

See ya!
Blight

[Trent Lane]

Yeah, Peterson's dialouge is really lacking. "Bad people" is just about three-four year old language, so it doesn't work coming out of Batman, and frankly wouldn't work coming from Robin either...

[James Harvey]

My recent comic review shave gotten "worse". I completely blasted that horrible Joe issue.That odd thing is, Peterson used to be the editor of this book during the old Batman Adventures days and it boggles the mind how he can't get it right, yet guided the best comic run in recent history.

[Trent Lane]

You're right, DG, you think some of that good writing would have rubbed off on him. I guess everybody's got their owm way of doing stuff, I just wish Peterson would kick his writing up a notch or get out of the way and let someone else take a crack at it...

[James Harvey]

Exactly! What I don't understand is that he was apart of this greatness for BATMAN ADVENTURES and BATMAN & ROBIN ADVENTURES and yet his stories play off like ones you find in coloring books or in the pre-school section of BARNES & NOBLE. It really boggles the mind. I think a letter may be in order soon...

BTW - I put up a review for issue #42 of BGA on the site. I should have #43 done really soon!

[Trent Lane]

So, just to break the Peterson put-down streak here, what issue of B:GA that he'swritten have you liked most? Which one had the most potential to be a good story but just sucked?...

[James Harvey]

The one that had some real good potential, but majorly sucked arse is probably the SCARECROW (#32) or even the CATWOMAN issue (#24). Those were two stories that had a host of possiblities. Peterson sometimes made these character unrecognizable, like Batman willingly letting the FBI take a sample of his blood in #26.

[Trent Lane]

I agree with you and I'll add a few myself that could've been oh-so-good but weren't: B:GA #23 and #40. Issue 23 just was resolved way too fast. And not in a very good way either. And with #40, I was really looking forward to seeing Freeze in the book again, but this story just made no since, especially the "crush" he had on Talia...

[Joker85]

yeah, they just totally messed up freezes character. He was truer to character in the most recent issue with Harley!!:p

[James Harvey]

They totally screwed him over in issue #40. A crush on Talia? That is the most off-characterization thing I've ever read. Even if you saw Heart of Ice or even Cold Comfort once, you'd know this man has no feelings!

BTW - I'm dropping the "#43" in the title and changing it to Gotham Adventures Talkback.

[Phishman]

I'm also really dissapointed in this title. It started off so great but is now almost a pale imitation of itself. he stories lack imagination and the art isn't up to par. We do need a new crew on the title.

[Samhaine]

Did anyone notice that they picked up the Bs as Gs speak for Scarface? He never had it in the cartoon, or the book, but now, all of a sudden, it comes out of nowhere. I miss Pucket. I was reading the first issue of Batman Adventures. Those were some good times...

[Joker85]

Originally posted by bloodone
Did anyone notice that they picked up the Bs as Gs speak for Scarface? He never had it in the cartoon, or the book, but now, all of a sudden, it comes out of nowhere. I miss Pucket. I was reading the first issue of Batman Adventures. Those were some good times...
Actually, he did use that dialect in 1 issue, Batman adventures #14 I think. It was called Puglic Enemy and explains the whole Bs as Gs thing.

[DisneyBoy]

It is nice to read that I'm not the only person who feels disappointed with this series. I've been saying it all along, though often not to politely (sorry), that Peterson's stories are so far from great that they make me want to cry sometimes. What, just because he writes in a single panel a flashback to the night the Waynes died, his totally-stolen "Perchance to Dream"/"Legends of the Dark Knight" issue should be considered worthy of my purchace? They've really been making it difficult for me to justify buying this book at all. I've seen the series through it all, though, and will continue to do so in the hopes that it will shine once more. Come on DC...

RELIGHT THE BATSIGNAL!

[Trent Lane]

Maybe by Peterson actually using bigger villains in his stories, they may actually get better. The Two Face issue better be good or I'll just go crazy. They can't mishandle another great character...

[Trent Lane]

BTW, anyone else wonder why we've never gotten a two-parter in this book? The ones from Superman Adventures have always been pretty good- the Jax-Ur and Mala story, the Livewire-Brainiac story, and the alternate universe story (issues 30-31?). I've never understood why they haven't done it in B:GA.

[James Harvey]

I've been dissapointed in the lack of multiparters. There are some issues that could have been plotted out morem but instead we get a quick 5 minute read about some kid named Joe. Blah.

[Samhaine]

Wasn't there a Harley two-parter early on (that was started in issue 10 and then the conclusion was issue 14)?

And IIRC, there was some kind of "continuity" early on as well, while two characters where cross-Atlantic, there was a story in Gotham saying that they were still gone.

But yeah, I miss the multi-part stories. Remember the one from Batman Adventures #34-36?? That was intense.

[Trent Lane]

Yeah, issues 6, 8, and nine were a mini-story, and it was mentioned in the beginning of 10, and that issue concluded in issue 14. That's the only stories with significant ties to each other...

[James Harvey]

Ah yes - those were connected. I forgot about those. The underlying plot was a cool thing, and Templeton pulled it off good.