The Art of the Panel

You ruled by partial codes. Half measures.    I didn't rule at all. Snyder is building something. The writer of Dark Nights: Metal introduced a cataclysm from the dark multiverse, a realm of worlds doomed to die. These planets are where the heroes failed or were corrupted beyond recognition, and now a being known only as Tempus Fuginaut warns of another coming crisis, a multiverse-altering event, and at the center is the dark multiverse. What this offers DC, out of world, is a chance to create alternate takes on famous comic book runs in a slew of one-shots, kind of their version of Marvel's WhatIf? comics. The first issue of Tales from the Dark Multiverse addresses what would have happened if Batman had failed to reclaim the mantel of his namesake from Azrael following the events of Batman: Knightfall. Azrael rules Gotham with an iron fist. It is hinted the rest of the world fell to an event of some sort, whereas Gotham "thrived," or at least remained standin...

If we need peace, if we need to heal, if we need anything, does that then mean we are broken? Heroes in Crisis is a very transparent take on mass shootings, written by Tom King, who is currently involved in DC's Batman run. It begins as an intriguing mystery-thriller, revealing a slew of slaughtered B and C-list heroes at a secret haven known as the Sanctuary. This pitches a question seldom asked about the mental health of those who have to risk their lives to fight superpowered beings and prevent world-ending threats from coming to fruition day after day. The emotional and mental strain this must take is enormous, and Heroes in Crisis is designed to show how the heroes cope. This is when King's writing is at its best, superhero therapy. Several cameos from heroes of varying fame stop in to confess some of their thoughts on camera, and it offers a new look at the internal demons each of them faces. The most stricken of the bunch is Wally West, who was wiped from existence...

But a train couldn't kill you. Not with your healing factor.   No, but it hurt... an' sometimes that's enough. After Mark Millar and Steve McNiven cooperated on the monumentally successful; Civil War, the dynamic duo teamed up again to take on an eight-issue Elseworld's story within the main Wolverine run, setting the Marvel universe several decades in the future in an alternate timeline where the villains successfully massacred the heroes and took over the United States. The former U.S.A. has since been dubbed "the Wasteland, " and sections of the country have since been split into boroughs, each ruled by a supervillain. The country is a blend of Marvel and the Fallout franchise of sorts, featuring wacky developments as survivors try and scrape by, with several locations calling back towards older icons of Marvel. The worldbuilding is the most interesting element of "Old Man Logan," a cross-country journey where an aged Wolverine and blind H...

When did you turn into a good guy? The premise of Batman: White Knight is whether Batman, not the villains of Gotham City, is the problem. This Elseworlds tale, written and illustrated by Sean Murphy with color provided by Matt Hollingsworth, takes the "crusader" element of the caped crusader and asks if that is what Gotham really needs right now. The Joker, reformed after nearly being murdered by Batman, proposes Batman's efforts are little more than a villainous crusade, and the real problem plaguing Gotham is the rampant inefficiency at which the city's leaders operate with. With that, the traditional roles of Batman and the joker are flipped. Batman becomes the villain, the scapegoat for the villains' continued presence in Gotham, while the Joker dons the name Jack Napier and champions for a new Gotham, one its residents can feel safe in and be proud of, one without Batman. Napier is Gotham's white knight. The story is ripe with political allegory, ...

But what am I supposed to do? You know. I'm supposed to just quit? Just so they stop laughing?    Just so they don't call me a joke? Tom King's ongoing Batman "Rebirth" series heavily differs from Scott Snyder's work during the New 52. King is more subdued as a writer, preferring to let the dialogue do the work for him and analyze the relationships of the characters he works with. He also is not afraid to make drastic decisions, like when he opened the entire Rebirth run by having Batman be confronted by siblings who could spar with Superman. It doesn't really seem like the Dark Knight's usual class of rogues when he goes solo, yet here King is, writing with fun on the mind as the first priority. It has led to his work being met with mixed opinions, and it really depends on whether the reader likes the decisions he is making. King is not afraid to gamble and it can leave some displeased, but ultimately he has a much longer 100 issue plan. "...

Listen to me... You can't kill an idea. It always comes back. Resurrected.    Or reborn into a different form. Marvel has created three iterations of Secret Wars and a Secret War. The first two, labeled S ecret Wars and S ecret Wars II, from 1984-85, were designed primarily to sell toys. They are significant in how they kind of invented the idea of the crossover for Marvel Comics but from an artistic standpoint needed to accomplish little more than that. That's not to say they were not valid additions from the Marvel library. A cosmic team-up of all the popular super teams with dramatic consequences that would roll into the currently ongoing runs was unheard of. They changed the field and created a template that would be used for years to come. In the modern-day, this template is arguably abused, which is where 2015's Secret Wars came in. The choice of title was symbolic. This was going to reset the vast, confusing mythos of Marvel and merge or do away with sever...

Being a superhero is one thing. Going up against Thor's family is another.    Are you afraid?  Out of my socks. And you should be too. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. Siege is less so a standalone event than it is a conclusion to a year-long crossover known as Dark Reign. It was an unusual miniseries for several reasons: it was only four issues long, it premiered in January, and its first issue was not even necessarily Siege number one. The core miniseries is the culmination of the New Avengers and Dark Avengers runs, a final four issues for both that were made into a crossover rather than split into their own lines. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Oliver Coipel, Siege promises little beyond a short story packed to the brim with action and delivers in all folds. Norman Osborn used a staged event to shoehorn his way into one of the world's highest positions of power, replacing Tony Stark as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and rebranding it H.A.M....

The world changed... but you wouldn't. So they chose me. They chose the man who would kill over the man who wouldn't...   ...and now they're dead. Kingdom Come  is a story of deconstruction. Both a post-contemporary take on the established DC mythos and a breakdown of the comic book industry at the time. Mark Waid and Alex Ross worked to create an Elseworlds tale that sits on a pedestal of DC literature possibly second to only Watchmen. It is a clash of two out of touch factions as they struggle to gain the upper hand over the other, all the while a middleman watches with the help of an angel-like deity, fearing the rendition of the apocalypse via the conflict. It is not just a superhero comic book, it is a work of literature, a stance on the comic industry itself that both breaks down its flaws yet makes a convincing case for the recognition these novellas so desperately deserve. It was Ross's idea, a story he'd allegedly been working on since a young age....