Batman Incorporated v2 #11 Annotations
Chris Burnham mentions in this interview what a big influence manga writer/artist Go Nagai was on this issue. I'm not really familiar with any of Nagai's work (apart from the Cutie Honey live action movie, which I saw while drunk in a cinema probably 12 years ago?) and the same can be said for many of the Japanese pop culture touchstones at work here. This is way out of my area of expertise, so insincere apologies all round that I'll probably miss a lot more stuff than usual.
The Batman Incorporated: Gotham's Most Wanted book that collects issues #7-13 relegates this issue to back matter, following the conclusion of the main storyline. Presumably the upcoming Absolute Batman Incorporated will do the same.
Annotations
Cover -Primarily as a side effect of DC's New 52-led devotion to the One True Bat, Jiro - the Batman of Japan - has so far had a different costume for virtually every appearance he's made. This latest one was designed by Chris Burnham (with a helping hand on from studio mate Sean Dove) and is based in part on the costume worn by Battle Kenya from Battle Fever J, the third Super Sentai series broadcast in Japan in 1979-80. Fellow Japanese TV super-hero Kamen Rider provides inspiration for Jiro's fetching red scarf.
The variant this month is by Ricken, a Japanese artist who's done a handful of covers for DC but not much else (or at least not much in the US) according to ComicBookDB , though she does have a ton of cool stuff up on DeviantArt.
Jorge Lucas fills in for Burnham on art duties with a charming and unexpected Kirby riff that's light years away from his work for Marvel and Top Cow. An odd choice for a story steeped in Manga and Anime references perhaps but it works for me.
BATMAN INCORPORATED v2 #11
Interlude: A Bird In The Hand
DC Comics, July 2013, Color, 32pgs, $2.99
Written by CHRIS BURNHAM ; Art by JORGE LUCAS; Cover by CHRIS BURNHAM; 1:25 Variant Cover by RICKEN
Batman’s world has been devastated by his war against Talia, but is he willing to give up on his own humanity?
Commentary
Announced only a couple of weeks before publication, this Chris Burnham-penned fill-in issue was met with slack-jawed disbelief by a vocal portion of the internet comics commentariat, who objected more to it's existence than the content within. It's a fun little done-in-one though, and serves as a much needed pallet cleanser before the veil descends once more for the grim n' gritty conclusion to Morrison's Bat-run.
Red's throwing what looks like a cup of 'Silver Dollar' coffee all over her compatriot. DC's usual in-universe coffee brand is Sundollar (which appeared prominently in Morrison and company's 52); maybe this is the DCU Japanese version?
Page 3 - Jiro was pestering Batman for a go on his shrink ray back in Batman Incorporated #0. His date is Shy Lolita Canary from the Super Young Team, the Japanese supergroup created by Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones who first appeared in the pages of Final Crisis. As we see this issue, Canary is the Batman of Japan's own bird-themed partner in crime-fighting
"I've always wanted to hold an apple" ...
Page 4 - What a way to end a romantic evening...
We last heard of Internet 3.0 back in the deeply weird Batman Incorporated v1 #8. It's good to see Burnham give it a final nod, even if it didn't really go anywhere in the main story.
The tubes to the Batcave are, of course, personalized with Batman and Canary's respective logos.
Page 5 - "BATMAN!" "CANARY!", Shouting the name of who (or what) you're transforming into is a long-storied tradition in Japanese cartoons that's featured in Voltron, Mazinger and Getter Robo, amongst many others. The strange machine that transforms them into their super-selves is straight out of Kirby's O.M.A.C.
Like many of the Batman Incorporated agents we've encountered in the series thus far, Jiro's Batcave showcases a trophy collection that closely mirrors the original (alongside some fine Kirby-tech). In for the giant penny is a giant 5 Yen piece; in place of the robot T-Rex is what looks like a statue of Marvel's Devil Dinosaur, and in the costume cabinets are (from left to right), Jiro's second costume from Batman Incorporated #0, his original Mr. Unknown costume from v1 issue #2, and the Batman costume he briefly wore on the last page of v1 #3, and in v1 #6. There's also a Batcomputer (the Bat-Tron) complete with Batman '66 symbol, and a Robin suit in a glass case over on the right. Maybe a nod to the Japanese Robin who appears in the Chip Kidd-designed Batmanga! book?
Page 6 - Sailor Moon is a long running manga series about magical schoolgirls fighting evil. The 'Sailor' bit comes from a style of girls' school uniform popular in Japan, also seen on the victims here.
"Who the flang are you supposed to be?" Urban Dictionary page for flang here. Take your pick :)
Anyone who follows Chris Burnham's Twitter feed will know of Chris's deep, abiding love of a ribald insult. Some fine examples showcased here.
Page 7 -"SUMMIIMASSENNN" 'Sumimasen' is most often translated in English as "Excuse me" or "I'm sorry", though it's such a widely used word in Japan apparently there's a whole lot more to it than that.
Jiro's hidden blade might be a nod to Hideo Yamamoto's Ichi the Killer, though his retractable blades were in the heels rather than the toes of his boots.
Page 9 -The sign in panel 2 says Furu Mina Jin Jya. It's a sign for Furumina Shrine (thanks @Cormacaroni!). And I'm pretty sure the library sign from the following panel is from here.
In the background we can see Jiro's (almost) full complement of Bat vehicles - a Bat-copter, Bat-cycle and Bat-plane. The plane looks like it might be based on something but, yet again, I don't know what that something is.
Page 10 - Chris Burnham is obviously unafraid of huge swathes of Stan Lee-esque info-dumping dialogue...
The statue of Hachiko stands at Shibuya station in Tokyo, a monument to an exceptionally loyal dog who continued to walk to the station in time to meet his owner's train every day for nine years after the owner's death. Something of a cultural touchstone in Japan, he has a annual ceremony of remembrance in his honour and has been the subject of various book, movies and cartoons.
The Asakusa Temple, or Senso-ji, is the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan, founded in 628. The Tokyo Tower is an orange and white Eiffel-esque communications tower that will be familiar to anyone who's watched more than a handful of Godzilla movies. It's also the second tallest structure in Japan.
Nice to see that even though Chris Burnham has put the pencils down for this issue, there's still a healthy gross-out factor at work.
Page 2 -The face of the guy in panel 2 is a nice touch. I don't think it's referencing anything directly, more an appropriation of style, but like I said, I'm way out of my depth here...
The evil lady biker gang's colour-coordinated outfits are another hat-tip to the Super Sentai (more familiar to most Western kids as the various re-edited Power Rangers shows) and Kamen Rider. The silver lady's bike has Akira written on the side, another obvious reference point.
The cat on the left of panel 3 is the star of a long running and 100 million selling manga series, Doraemon. Though Doraemon's adventures are usually based around boring life lessons like the value of honesty or looking after the environment, it's all livened up somewhat by the fact that he's actually a robot cat from the future with a "fourth-dimensional pocket" full of crazy gadgets.
Page 1 -Damian's cat Alfred, keeping vigil at his graveside. The art for these first two panels (and the last on the final page) is by Burnham."We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming..." A great scene transition from Burnham there. What does "epidemic speed" mean??
Page 15 - The original Kamen Rider series featured villainous henchmen that had been turned into brainwashed mutant cyborgs by the super-terrorist organisation Shocker.
The bikers' origin tale is appropriately ludicrous, though in all honesty I probably would read the shit out of that story. Burnham turns Leviathan preying on the disaffected and abandoned into a comical grotesque. The tone of this issue is about as far from the grim proceedings that precede and follow it as you can get. It's not really that hard to see why some weren't so keen.
Page 16 - Those Photoshopped tiger fists crack me up. Hilarious.
Page 17 - "Connecting to Internet 3.0" The trap is sprung.
Page 18 - Another bit of trademark Burnham brutality there.
"Wherever the standard of the Bat rises I will shred and devour it" echoes corrupt Leviathan-sponsored businessman Tanaka's "Wherever the standard of the Bat rises it will be torn down!" from the previous Internet 3.0 story in Batman Incorporated v1 #8. Tanaka then was presumably named for Tiger Tanaka, James Bond's Japanese sidekick in You Only Live Twice, and is maybe related to Lady Tiger Fist? Her husband perhaps?
Page 19 - "Wow! That was violent! I'm glad we rendered it in silhouette!" is a reference to the same decision made by DC editorial regarding Damian Wayne's death scene in Batman Incorporated v2 #8.
Ueno Zoo is Tokyo' biggest zoo and is home to a number of Sumatran tigers, though in real life they don't appear to have any Robot Laser tigers there currently. More's the pity.
Page 20 - "Wow, holding an apple is great!" Is this the dirtiest joke that's made it into a published Batman comic? Maybe son, maybe.
Burnham's framing device is a fine flourish, accentuating the huge gulf between this bright and breezy issue played mostly for laffs, and the ratcheted-up tension of the closing chapters of Morrisons Batman Inc.proper...
Speaking of which, only Two! More! Issues! To! Go! And that means more annotations... soon.
In the meantime, please feel free to get in touch and tell me how much I missed. Sayonara!
"Promiscuous butt chunks" ...
Page 14 - Jiro's pose at the top of the page echoes page 14 of Inc. v1 #2, Jiro's first appearance in the Mister Unknown costume.
"...Leviathan will finally acknowledge our chapter as the most vital python coil in its empire! And together we shall wring the will to live from this worthless rock!" Superb bit of dialogue from Burnham there.
Page 12 - Power Rangers shows (and by extension I assume the same is true of the original Super Sentai versions) tend to stick to interiors-only for the majority of their villainous lairs, but I'm sure if budget permitted, Lady Tiger Fist's gold Tiger Palace would fit right in.
Page 13 -The middle panel there might be homaging some particular Power Rangers/Sentai line-up. They're certainly the kind of poses that the Rangers put themselves in when facing down a bunch of guys in rubber suits. There's usually a bit of banter involved as well, as there is here.
Page 11 -The standard of Leviathan flies proudly in Lady Tiger Fist's lair. The Lady is a Burnham/Lucas original who makes her debut here.
Jiro's Batmobile looks to be mostly inspired by Speed Racer's Mach 5, along with a dash of the Japanese tin toy Batmobiles released during the 1966 Bat-craze. An exit ramp to nowhere features in the opening of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, ending at the crater left by the bomb that destroyed old Tokyo.
