#barbara ciardo

[panelswithoutpeople]

"You have to believe people can change."

Batman: Noel

by Lee Bermejo

[dcbinges]

Batman: Noël (2012) by Lee Bermejo & Barbara Ciardo

[the-gershomite]

Green Lantern #54 -July 2010

cover 1 by Shane Davis, Sandra Hope and Barbara Ciardo

cover 2 by Alex Garner

writer Geoff Johns

pencils Doug Mahnke

inks Christian Alamy, Tom Nguyen, Keith Champagne & Doug Mahnke

colors Randy Mayor w/Gabe Eltaeb

letters Nick J. Napolitano

[ultrameganicolaokay]

She-Hulk #34 ‘Lady Liberators, Part 1’ (2008) by Peter David, Vincenzo Cucca, Vincenzo Acunza and Barbara Ciardo. Edited by Bill Rosemann. Cover by Mike Deodato Jr. and Rain Beredo.

[burningthrucelluloid]

Christmas Carol-cember, Day 18

Taking a break from movies and TV, we dip into another form of media: graphic novels.

This 2011 comic comes to us by Lee Bermejo, an artist with a very distinct style that made him sought after due to the level of detailing he made with his penciling on several DC Comics such as the excellent “Lex Luthor: Man of Steel” miniseries and the grim 2008 “Joker” graphic novel as well as the superb Superman “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice And The American Way?”

But Bermejo wanted to branch out of just doing art and wanted to write his own story as well. Taking influence from Charles Dickens, Berjemo wrote and illustrated this graphic novel all by himself with coloring by Barbara Ciardo featuring the Caped Crusader under the title, “Batman: Noël." While the graphic novel was widely published, it didn’t attain the praise and reputation as a fabulous Christmas comic book until word of mouth began to share the book’s quality, especially for the Christmas season.

Is there any truth to this? Let’s flip through the pages and find out.

It’s Christmas Eve in Gotham as a down on his luck man named Bob is making a drop off for the Joker until he is pounced on by Batman. He lets Bob go when he proves unhelpful in telling him where the recently escaped Joker is, but secretly plants a tracker on him to use him as bait to catch the Clown Prince of Crime, much to the displeasure of his butler Alfred Pennyworth who points out using Bob as bait endangers his son, Timmy. Showing no concern, though this may be due to Bruce Wayne coming down with pneumonia, Batman dismisses this before he heads out to continue his search, temporarily having a hallucination of seeing his former Boy Wonder partner, Jason Todd, inform him of the spectral visitations that are to befall him.

On the streets of Gotham, Batman runs into Catwoman, who drags Batman into a chase across the rooftops while memories of the past plague Batman until he falls off to the streets below. He is greeted by the Man of Steel himself, Superman, who takes Batman across Gotham to see and overhear the private conversations of Commissioner Gordon and the Gotham Police force as well as watching the poverty stricken living conditions of Bob and Timmy before dropping him off at the Batmobile, encouraging him to go home and recover. But a bomb destroys the Batmobile as the Joker drags a stunned Batman into an open grave to be buried alive where Batman’s hallucinations show him visions of the future that finally force Batman to come to Bob’s aid instead of using him as bait as the Joker is unhappy with Bob’s failure. Encouraging Bob to show Timmy the man he truly is, Bob allows the Gotham Police to arrest the Joker as he is surprised with Wayne Enterprise employees showing up to repair the damages, gift a real Christmas tree and offers Bob a real living wage and 401K to support him and his son.

But to my disappointment, nowhere does Robin lay an egg, though with this one visual of Catwoman sending a tiger at him, I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t drop one.

I understand the leaps and bounds Lee Berjemo had to do to force Batman into this Scrooge shaped hole in order to tell this story, but it will never stop being so strange to me to see Batman willingly put the father of a child in harm’s way. Granted Batman is punching dudes and knowingly hospitalizing them, but he always shows concern when children are involved. After all, the core of Batman’s entire war against crime is rooted in the trauma of watching his parents shot and killed right in front of him by a mugger. So to see Batman scheme to place the father of a single child into a dangerous scenario where he could be killed or jailed for abetting a criminal out of desperation and he shows little concern if the boy could get lost in the foster system? The hell? Dude outright says “better to reduce the criminal surplus population” right to Superman’s face when Supes asks him if it’s right to let this boy suffer for the crimes of his father. 

Yeah, that’s where even I kind of have to raise my hand and say “excuse me? Who the hell are you and why do you have Batman’s suit on?”

Is this the same Batman from Frank Miller’s “All Star Batman and Robin” where Batman forced Robin to eat rats, drove his car through police trucks, had sex on the docks with Black Canary and gave us the infamously meme’d “I’m the G*d d*mned Batman” line?

However, I stopped and reconsidered that when it occurred to me that all of this was not really being told from Batman’s perspective.

At least, not completely.

It is revealed that the story is being narrated by Bob to his son so it stands to reason that Bob is telling the story his way through his own perspective.

Hence why he describes the Ghost of Christmas Present as glowing like an angel while, for Batman, he just sees Superman flying past street lights. How he knows what Batman looks like with the mask off is irrelevant as I think his narration is a diagetic story he is telling to his son but the imagery we see of Batman is intended for us the viewer. I’d use the diagetic/non-diagetic discussion again but comic books are a different matter because we are reading them as opposed to hearing them.

But plot is one thing, what truly makes this comic stand up is it’s art and Lee Berjemo did not disappoint.

His artwork is stunningly beautiful, from the retro feel of the visions from the past glory of Batman and his crime-fighting days with Robin, to the Saturday Evening Post look of Bob and Timmy as well as the insane level of detail for Gotham City. The shading is truly stellar, showcasing the talents of a man who dictates the penciling for shading to showcase mood in the visual format, even when obscured by snow. Granted some times the artwork can really exaggerate a scene a bit too much, like Batman screaming at Bob that spittle flies out or Batman looking so angry that I feared he was turning into the Joker. But to be fair to Berjemo, a lot of comic books do that so I’m not gonna lay into him too much, especially when the artwork itself is so beautiful to look at.

“Batman Noël” is a fantastic comic book. While it has the occasional goofy panel and it stretches Batman’s tough on crime attitude, it makes up for it with this down to earth telling of the Charles Dickens novel through a character who could stand to remember what it is he fights for.

Not to scare superstitious criminals or beat up costumed supervillains. But to make sure children like Tim never have to experience what he did. 

To remind himself that criminals are never as easy as black and white.

For that, I respect what Berjemo was doing to take the themes of the Dickens story and place them within the haunting cityscape of Gotham City. While it feels a little out of character to throw Batman into this role of cruelty, sometimes the needs of the narrative require some character tweaking, especially when you know the end goal for the character is to be better by the story’s end.

Pick it up and give it a read. It’s one Bat Time of a compelling story.

“Batman: Noël” is available to read as an ebook on Amazon Kindle along with Apple Books and Barnes & Noble.

Next time, we return to the UK for what happens when Scrooge turns to meanness instead of kindness.

[balu8]

Wednesday Comics #1

"The twelve issues of the title were published in 14" x 20" broadsheet format, deliberately similar to Sunday newspaper comics sections."

Kamandi by Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook

Superman by John Arcudi;Lee Bermejo;Barbara Ciardo; Ken Lopez

Deadman by Vinton Heuck; Dave Bullock;Dave Stewart and Jared K. Fletcher

Green Lantern by Kurt Busiek; Joe Quinones and Pat Brosseau

Batman by Brian Azzarello; Eduardo Risso Trish Mulvihill and Clem Robins

DC

[primepanels]

A Brief Superman Earth One Review

Synopsis:

Clark Kent strikes out from his family's home in Kansas to seek his purpose in life. You know, basically the same most Superman origin stories. Except this time, someone comes down from space looking to kill him. And other monstrous villains show up after that.

My Thoughts:

It was actually difficult to decide which I liked better, this or Teen Titans Earth One. I went with this series because it's still a Superman story, and Superman's stories usually involve him fighting to save others rather than being so self-focused like the Titans were.

I'm not a huge fan of J. Michael Straczynski. It's hard for me to look at his work objectively after he wrote my least favorite Spider-Man story ever, One More Day. He also wrote Superman: Grounded, which was Obama-rific, so I didn't like it, either. However, I do give him credit for Supreme Power and the 9/11 issue of The Amazing Spider-Man.

Superman Earth One fits squarely between those two extremes for me. I don't like the art very much. I think they want Superman to look too much like Tom Welling, whereas I prefer him to have a thicker build and squarer jaw. I don't like all the sexiness in the story. There's no full nudity, and I'm not sure that anyone actually has sex (besides a married couple in the third book), but Clark Kent's sex drive seems to be stronger here than in any other Superman story I've read. And while his love interest (not Lois) became more sympathetic to me as the story progressed, she came on very slutty in her introduction, and she never really apologizes.

I liked the determination of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, and I thought that Perry White had some cleverly written (though awfully harsh) lines. I liked the tension with the villains. They were all pretty powerful, and I was curious to see how Superman could defeat them each time.

One thing that seems to be a constant, to some degree, in every Earth One story is how the government isn't to be trusted. In Wonder Woman Earth One, they were suspicious of Diana the moment she showed up, and all they wanted to do was find out how to defeat her and take over Paradise Island. In Teen Titans Earth One, the group of scientists that trapped Starfire and experimented on her and the others were either working for the government or some big corporation. In Superman Earth One, the military keeps hiring people to find ways to kill Superman. In fact, in the third book, the governments of the world agree to let another powerful being who is obviously more dangerous and uncontrollable take out Superman in exchange for…him taking out Superman. No concern about what he'll do after Superman's dead. At least they're reamed out for it later.

So, yeah, overall, I thought there was more good than bad. But I would have liked it a lot better with a different artist.

[fuckyeahbatmanvillains]

[pinfildiarts]

Rorschach Tribute

Done days ago, with the real signture of Barbara Ciardo, official DC Colorist of Watchman: “Before Watchman: Rorschach”

[asmudgedmind]

So where’re you from?

Smallville. - Clark Kent/Superman

No, really. What’s the name?

Superman: Earth One Vol. 2

Writer: J. Michael Straczynski

Artist: Shane Davis

Colours: Barbara Ciardo

[dailydccomics]

shout out to the art team wow

art by Shane Davis, Sandra Hope + Barbara Ciardo Superman: Earth One #1

[panelswithoutpeople]

Batman: Noel

by Lee Bermejo

[dcbinges]

Batman: Noël (2011) by Lee Bermejo & Barbara Ciardo

[maximusmaximomax]

Superman Earth One Volume 2

Writer-J. Michael Stracynski

Penciler-Shane Davis

Inks-Sandra Hope

Colors-Barbara Ciardo

[uncannyfantastic]

“Leda” by Naples (Italy)-based artist and colorist Barbara Ciardo @barbaraciardoart . #leda #ledaandtheswan #barbaraciardo https://www.instagram.com/p/B043M2YFJTn/?igshid=1ux9o3agtefze

[thecomicsnexus]

BATMAN: NOËL NOVEMBER 2011 BY LEE BERMEJO, BARBARA CIARDO AND TODD KLEIN

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE)

In Gotham City, Batman tracks down a man named Bob Cratchit that he knows to be working for the Joker. Bob has a young son, and out of desperation, he took a job doing a delivery for the Clown Prince of Crime. Batman catches up with him, though, causing him to drop his package. The package is full of the Joker's money, and Batman grabs him, interrogating him about his enemy's whereabouts. Bob knows nothing, and knowing that the Joker will want his money back, he uses Bob as bait, and lets him go free - with a tracker placed on his scarf.

Bob returns home to find his son Tim fashioning a makeshift Christmas tree out of a dead plant and some garbage. The boy is excited to show his creation to his father, but the stressful encounter with Batman has left Bob rather harrowed. Tim wanted to add something to represent Batman to his tree, because Batman is a good guy. Thinking of himself, Bob mutters that sometimes good people have to do bad things.

In the Batcave, Alfred notes that Bruce seems to have a rather severe cough, and should probably not be out in the cold so much. He notices that Bruce is performing surveillance on the Cratchit household, and expresses some disgust at his master's invasion of privacy - and in particular his placing a child in danger by using a parent as bait. Bruce believes that if left to his own devices, Bob Cratchit will raise his son to be a criminal like him. Alfred coldly warns that there was once another boy whose future was risked on his watch.

That boy was Robin. As Batman's sidekick, the boy had brought out a side of his mentor that has not been seen in some time. But Robin is dead, and has been for years. And with him went that happier side. Still sick, Bruce has a vision of Robin, and that apparition warns that he will be visited by three more people who will help him to see what he's lost.

Batman responds to the Bat-Signal and meets with his confidante Commissioner Gordon. Gordon tips Batman off to a report that Catwoman plans to knock over an auction house and may have some information about the Joker's whereabouts. Batman thinks it would be a waste of time to check into it, given the games Selina plays, but decides to stop her anyway.

Near Sprang's Auction House, Catwoman jokes that she could hear Batman's laboured breathing from far away, and dares him to chase her. Angrily, he grabs her and demands to know where the Joker is. Coyly, she responds that she made the story up just to get him to come for her. As he leaves in anger, she calls after him that he has changed. He used to be more determined to pursue her, more willing to play. Annoyed, he gives in and chases her, and something about that action reminds him of the man he used to be, the man he was with Robin. However, in his condition, he is not able to do all he should, and when she makes a desperate leap across a gap between buildings, he misses his mark and falls into the alley below.

Down there, he has vivid memories of his parents' murder. His reverie is interrupted by the appearance of Superman. He comments that he heard Bruce coughing all the way from Metropolis, and using his X-Ray vision, he determines that Batman has the beginnings of pneumonia. Bruce shrugs him off, and sighing, Superman takes his friend's hand and offers to give him a lift to his car. Batman agrees on the condition that they stop by the Cratchit house. Superman comments that it is bad for a hunter to use parents or children as bait. Despite the fact that it is clear that there is plenty of love between Bob and his son, Batman is blind to it and treats the family only as a means to capturing his foe.

Superman is disappointed with Bruce's approach, and decides to show him something. Lifting the Dark Knight high above his city, Superman urges him to see the good within Gotham's citizens in their every day life. Gotham's present is full of acts of good will and kindness above and beyond its crime and dirt.

Superman takes Bruce to the home of Commissioner Gordon, where he has invited one of his officers to share some 'cheer' with he and his wife. The officer comments that there were some Batman sightings across the city, but things seem otherwise quiet. Gordon admits that his relationship with the vigilante isn't easy to keep, and his guest suggests that Batman is a necessary evil. Gordon responds that Batman is by no means evil, but that he walks a fine line and occasionally blurs that line too much. He likes to think that he can temper that instability in Batman.

Afterwards, Superman drops Batman off at the Batmobile, warning his friend to take steps to improve his health. As Bruce makes his way to the car, though, it suddenly explodes, knocking him back. Nearly unconscious, Bruce only has enough time to see a figure approaching before he blacks out. The Joker drags Batman from the alley into a cemetery. He kicks the unconscious Dark Knight into an open grave, and begins shovelling dirt on top.

In his unconsciousness, Batman dreams of a future without him. The city is full of riots, and it has been overrun by rival gangs inspired by his example - only more willing to cross the line. These gangs are at war with another gang inspired by the Joker. James Gordon is tried for aiding and abetting a known criminal, obstructing justice, harbouring a known fugitive, malfeasance in office, and accessory. He is found guilty and sentenced to 30 years without parole. Wayne Manor and its contents are sold at auction and Alfred watches his life taken away from him. Everyone who had cared for Batman is worse off - and why should they care if he died when it seemed to them that he didn't care for them at all? Realizing that he has a chance to make this all right, Batman returns to consciousness, and thrusts his fist up through the dirt which had covered him.

That night, Tim answers a knock on his door, and is horrified to find the Joker standing there. He begins laying out tools of torture on the table and demands to know where Bob is. When he threatens Tim's life, Bob gets up the nerve to come out with a baseball bat and threaten his one-time employer. Unfortunately, the Joker dodges the blow quickly and places the muzzle of a revolver in his face. He demands his money, and makes it clear that he will kill to get it.

Suddenly, Batman smashes through the window and knocks Joker to the floor. Before the clown can retrieve his gun, Bob Cratchit grabs it and turns the tables. He cries out that if the Joker wants to play games with his son's life, he will show him how to play, cocking the revolver. Joker dares him to fire, but Batman urges Bob to show his son that he is not a criminal; to show him what a hero is. Reluctantly, Bob lets the weapon drop, and Batman delivers the Joker to the police.

Tim and Bob are brought closer together by their experience, and Commissioner Gordon's faith in his mysterious friend is restored. Batman returns to the cave, and goes to sleep.

The next day, Batman furnishes the Cratchit household with a real Christmas tree, presents, and even a job for Bob courtesy of Bruce Wayne. Later, Bob would tell the story to his son, borrowing motifs from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", hoping to teach Tim that a man can change for the better.

REVIEW

I am not a Christmas person (I may be dead inside) and I am definitely not a fan of “A Christmas Carol”, perhaps because the story has been adapted too many times, with mixed results. It’s just best to create a new story.

In any case, this novel focuses in the idea of people being able to change (which is the right approach to the original material), and puts Batman in the role of Scrooge. I could debate about how accurate this could be, but the story was non-canon and it happened on the same month as the New 52 debut, if you needed more reasons to believe this was an elseworld. So let’s just accept that this Batman is always on “Mike W. Barr” mode.

I felt like the Catwoman part of this novel is perhaps the less interesting one (but it also feels like that in the original to me).

The creative twist in this novel is the way it’s told. While we can accept a narrator telling the story in a book without thinking too much about it, here, it comes as a surprise. When I started reading the novel, I thought someone was telling this story, but no. I differ with the DC Database interpretation, Bob is not telling this story with elements of “A Christmas Carol”, I think he is telling the Christmas Carol story as he remembers it. And we just happen to see a different version than the one he is narrating. It’s a bit complicated, but let’s just agree on the fact that Bob couldn’t know about Superman, Catwoman and Gordon. So we are reading two stories in parallel that have the same elements.

The art, well, do I even need to say something? It’s just mesmerizing, and the colors give his pages an “Alex Ross” feel.

I give this novel a score of 9