The Authority: Human On The Inside is the brand-new hardcover graphic novel from Wildstorm that features, as the title says, the much-abused-by-editorial-since-September-11-superteam. After managing to piss off the not-George-Bush president, they find themselves victims of an orchestrated attack to tear them apart at the basest level - their emotions. This both works and doesn't for fans of the Warren Ellis and Mark Millar runs - John Ridley's script plays with the team deftly and shows all the various facets of their personalities, which really works if you take this as a single graphic novel but treats the team in a way that's not been done previously. I found this to be a bit disorienting - I'm used to The Authority dropping buildings on the bad guys and partying with abandon with no introspection. Taken on its own, though, it's handled beautifully and shows that Ridley can write like a mother - there's not a single dangling plot to be shown, the emotional arcs and beats work perfectly, and every bit of dialogue is believable. Ben Oliver's art works nicely and manages to tell the story well enough. I personally found it to be a little stiff and not as dynamic as I prefer for my funnybooks but can see how he got the assignment. All in all, worth a look at the hardcover price and worth a buy when it hits softcover in a few months.
Batman In The Eighties is pretty disappointing. While it's nice to see Trevor Von Eeden get some reprint love, a two-part Batgirl story wherein she battles the Velvet Tiger? Uh. "The Messiah of the Crimson Son" from Batman Annual #8, while not my favorite story, at least has Batman battling larger than life odds and not some chick in a fuzzy kitten costume. Including two stories reprinted in The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told and its Joker companion seems silly, but printing only the first part of a Don Newton pencilled two-parter with the Penguin is just asinine. At least they had the good sense to include that Wrath story from Batman Special #1 with gorgeous Michael Golden art and any chance to get a Mike Barr / Alan Davis Detective issue on good paper is appreciated. I found the well-written text pages to be terribly frustrating as they kept referring to excellent stories that weren't available in that volume or any other trade currently available. This is not the primer that I'd recommend to people wanting to see why some many nerds consider the eighties to be the best decade that Batsy had.
Yes, I just called him Batsy.
And, oh yeah, Mark Millar? Toilets covered in excrement are not what I want to see upon opening a comic while biting into a brownie at Diesel. Thanks.
I'll be in Toronto for the weekend. Be good. I'll bring back some of those Canadian snacks for you all.
