James Harvey
01-05-2002, 02:22 AM
This isn't really news, but I'm a big fan of the Pipeline column by Augie De Blieck Jr. over at <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com">Comic Book Resources</a>. In his recent column, he began the first of a two part "favorite books of 2000" style column, and his #3 entry caught my eye. Here it is:
<a href="http://wf.toonzone.net/bbeyond/bga34.jpg"><img src="http://wf.toonzone.net/bbeyond/bga34.jpg" vspace=2 hspace=2 border=0 height=210 width=136 align="right"></a>3. Batman: Gotham Adventures: Even with the revamped lineup of creators on the core Batman titles in the past couple of years, the best of the Batman titles remains the one based on the animated series. The stories are short and sweet. They're always finished in the same issue they're started. They always work on more than one level, both as a straight-up mystery story and a morality play of some sort. Give writer Scott Peterson credit for not taking the easy way out of what's intended to be a kid's book. He's more than comfortable in leaving a question at the end of a tale for a reader to consider long after the book is put down and hidden back in the long boxes.
As great as the stories are, the regular art team of Tim Levins, Terry Beatty, and Lee Loughridge threaten to steal the show every month. The last redesign of the characters for the animated series by Bruce Timm never worked for me. The series went from being adult animation to being styled more as a kiddy cartoon. The ironic thing is that the style works so well when translated onto the page. While the simplified angles look awkward in animation, they make for the perfect tools to tell a story on a comic book page. It's just a matter of using the right design for the right medium. Levins does this well. His characters are expressive and act well. Nobody is stiff or staid. The art (inked by Beatty) is dimensional, but still leaves room for the colorist to do his thing. Colorist Lee Loughridge is one of the most underrated artists in the business today. His sense of style and design are second to none, as showcased in this book. If the secret of quality animation is "lotsa shadows", then Loughridge is the keystone of the art team. His colors add the depth and style to the comic that few others could.
It remains one of the great mysteries of our time why DC hasn't yet produced a compilation of their best stories for trade paperback form yet.
Read the whole Pipeline column at <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com">Comic Book Resources</a>.
<a href="http://wf.toonzone.net/bbeyond/bga34.jpg"><img src="http://wf.toonzone.net/bbeyond/bga34.jpg" vspace=2 hspace=2 border=0 height=210 width=136 align="right"></a>3. Batman: Gotham Adventures: Even with the revamped lineup of creators on the core Batman titles in the past couple of years, the best of the Batman titles remains the one based on the animated series. The stories are short and sweet. They're always finished in the same issue they're started. They always work on more than one level, both as a straight-up mystery story and a morality play of some sort. Give writer Scott Peterson credit for not taking the easy way out of what's intended to be a kid's book. He's more than comfortable in leaving a question at the end of a tale for a reader to consider long after the book is put down and hidden back in the long boxes.
As great as the stories are, the regular art team of Tim Levins, Terry Beatty, and Lee Loughridge threaten to steal the show every month. The last redesign of the characters for the animated series by Bruce Timm never worked for me. The series went from being adult animation to being styled more as a kiddy cartoon. The ironic thing is that the style works so well when translated onto the page. While the simplified angles look awkward in animation, they make for the perfect tools to tell a story on a comic book page. It's just a matter of using the right design for the right medium. Levins does this well. His characters are expressive and act well. Nobody is stiff or staid. The art (inked by Beatty) is dimensional, but still leaves room for the colorist to do his thing. Colorist Lee Loughridge is one of the most underrated artists in the business today. His sense of style and design are second to none, as showcased in this book. If the secret of quality animation is "lotsa shadows", then Loughridge is the keystone of the art team. His colors add the depth and style to the comic that few others could.
It remains one of the great mysteries of our time why DC hasn't yet produced a compilation of their best stories for trade paperback form yet.
Read the whole Pipeline column at <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com">Comic Book Resources</a>.