• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

  • Reading Orders
    • Marvel
    • My Marvelous Year
    • DC Comics
    • All Comic Book Publishers
    • Most Recent
  • Beginner Guides
    • Beginner’s Guide To Comics In 2023
    • Marvel 2023: Where to Start?
    • DC 2023: Where to Start?
    • Best of Lists
    • Tablets for Comics
    • Guides for Digital Readers
  • Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
    • DC Comics
    • Comic Book Movies
    • Comic Book TV
    • Video Games
  • Podcasts & Video
    • My Marvelous Year
    • Best Comics Ever (CBH)
    • CBH on Youtube!
  • About Me
    • My Favorite Comics of All Time
    • Columns
    • CBH Email Newsletter
  • Support Comic Book Herald
    • Ways to support

Steve Baxi

Gotham City is Hell: Why We Deserve Batman

October 22, 2022 by Steve Baxi Leave a Comment

In Gothic: A Romance, a 1990 Batman story from the pages of Legends of the Dark Knight, Batman finds himself battling a satanic monk who attempts to kill everyone in Gotham City, and offer their souls to the devil in exchange for immortality. His plan rests on Gotham’s specific architecture, utilizing a series of cathedrals designed to place the stress of their weight up towards heaven. Batman eventually stops him, but this poses an interesting question: If the cathedrals of the city point up to heaven, then where is Gotham? The answer of course, is hell.

Gotham City is Hell.

Legends of the Dark Knight #6

[Read more…] about Gotham City is Hell: Why We Deserve Batman

Filed Under: DC Reviews, Featured Tagged With: Batman

Who Watched the Watchmen? The Omega Men – The End is Here

September 29, 2022 by Steve Baxi Leave a Comment

It is often said that Watchmen is the most influential comic ever to be released. That comics wouldn’t be where they are without it, for good and for ill. But how did we get here, exactly? More to the point, just what influence did Watchmen provide to the larger world of comics? What, ultimately, is the legacy of Watchmen? Who watched the Watchmen?

Who Watches the Watchmen?

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? is a Latin phrase attributed to the Roman poet, Juvenal. It’s most commonly translated to “who watches the watchmen?” Historically, there are two ways of understanding this question: First, under what circumstances does a government have any accountability to the citizenry it provides protection and freedom to? Secondly, it could be interpreted as a comedic absurdity; that the very idea that fallible humans could at any time, in any way, impose, teach or carry out infallible moral claims is paradoxical. Philosophically, the idea of “who watches the watchmen” is answered by analyses of power. In economic terms, for example, John Rawls posits that the behavioral incentives to maintain the rights of the population at large is the only way to guarantee those same rights for yourself. Plato’s Republic also answers this question by proposing the Noble Lie which argues that the narratives and myths of a society are what binds people and governments into carrying out their shared responsibilities. [Read more…] about Who Watched the Watchmen? The Omega Men – The End is Here

Filed Under: DC Reviews, Featured Tagged With: omega men, Watchmen, watchmen legacy

Reckless & The Pandemic Pt. 2: Mortal Contemplations

June 11, 2022 by Steve Baxi 1 Comment

Previously: Pt. 1 – Pulp-Noir Nostalgia

Discovering Brubaker & Phillips

I’ve been reading comics my entire life, but the early years mostly consisted of me getting an assortment of old, random issues or trades with no sequence to them. I had copies of Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast, Superboy Annuals, Ghost Rider, etc. My first trip to a real comic book store, and my first ongoing series I kept up with was Captain America (2005) by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting and Mike Perkins. I was around 11 years old, and I followed the monthly adventures of Cap discovering his old sidekick, Bucky Barnes, was being controlled as the assassin, The Winter Soldier. The early parts of the Brubaker run were infused with a cold war spy thriller energy, and the desire to revive Bucky came from Brubaker’s own nostalgia. [Read more…] about Reckless & The Pandemic Pt. 2: Mortal Contemplations

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews Tagged With: brubaker, reckless

Reckless & The Pandemic Pt. 1: Pulp-Noir Nostalgia

June 4, 2022 by Steve Baxi Leave a Comment

Today’s the day. You’re done with work. You don’t have any appointments or plans. The evening belongs to you. And how do you use this opportunity, this oh-so-rare freedom from responsibility? Cracking open a vintage pulp paperback! Maybe you’re finally reading Richard Stark’s Parker. Or you bought an eBay lot of Travis McGee books and you’re at the good part of Darker than Amber. The new Reacher TV series is good, perhaps you wanna check out Killing Floor and see what all the fuss is about? Or maybe you’re like me, and this uninterrupted evening belongs not to an old favorite, but rather a new comfort. Today’s the day you open Reckless by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and Jacob Phillips.

One thing is clear as you burn through the adventures of Ethan Reckless, a troublemaker-for-hire: he satisfies a craving for the simple efficiency of the pulp fiction hero. He lives in a world that no longer exists: Everyone smokes, secrets are currency, and his quiet, pointed sentences paint a bleak picture of humanity. Reckless is at once the successor to an entire industry of detective novels of the last century and firmly grounded in where we are today. As we struggle through our third year of COVID-19, and process the same struggles day in and day out, we’re all seeking the escapist moral duplicity of a Parker or a Travis McGee character. Someone that takes all the complexity and distills it down into a soothing, almost Zen acceptance as we solve one problem at a time.

It’s hard to believe it’s been three years of lockdowns, and I don’t entirely remember how I filled most of that time. With the exception of how many hours I devoted to reading and thinking about Reckless. The series would not exist without the pandemic and it’s easily the perfect company through our tumultuous times. [Read more…] about Reckless & The Pandemic Pt. 1: Pulp-Noir Nostalgia

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews Tagged With: brubaker

Who Watched the Watchmen? Kingdom Come by Waid, Ross, Klein!

April 7, 2022 by Steve Baxi 1 Comment

It is often said that Watchmen is the most influential comic ever to be released. That comics wouldn’t be where they are without it, for good and for ill. But how did we get here, exactly? More to the point, just what influence did Watchmen provide to the larger world of comics? What, ultimately, is the legacy of Watchmen? Who watched the Watchmen?

In the second issue of Kingdom Come⁠ — Mark Waid, Alex Ross, and Todd Klein’s DC elseworld magnum opus ⁠— Superman makes his grand return from self-imposed exile in order to respond to a new generation of brutal, erratic “heroes” who do more harm than good. He travels to a seedy dive bar filled with punk rock aesthetics, disrespectful youths, and 90s armor clad brawlers, where we see a cameo of none other than Rorschach, from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen. The implication is quite clear: Waid, Ross and Klein are responding to the influence Watchmen has on superhero comics, by taking Rorschach on his face as a violent, morally gray, and compromised hero that represents a new normal. Rorschach in the same room as these characters, where our point-of-view, Norman McKay, calls them “kids,” “monsters,” and “beasts” all before Superman, very paternalistically declares “Party’s over” has the same weight as father coming home to set the children right, crashing their fun and wondering “What happened to the world? Things were better in my day!” [Read more…] about Who Watched the Watchmen? Kingdom Come by Waid, Ross, Klein!

Filed Under: DC Reviews, Featured Tagged With: Watchmen, watchmen legacy

Primary Sidebar

The Comic Book Herald Podcast!

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsRSS
My Marvelous Year reading club helps Marvel fans become comic book experts

Recent Posts

  • DC and The Matter Of Crisis, Part II January 28, 2023
  • Sins of Sinister! | Comic Book Herald Live! January 27, 2023
  • Spawn Reading Order! January 24, 2023
  • 2001 Pt. 3: Daredevil Yellow & Bendis’ Daredevil! January 23, 2023
  • DC and The Matter of Crisis, Part I January 21, 2023
  • Immortal X-Men #10!!! Hell Yeah, What a TWIST! | Comic Book Herald Live! January 20, 2023
  • Knights of X #1-5 in Review January 19, 2023
  • 2001 Variant A: Most Consistent Marvel & DC Titles, Zack’s Facts, & French Comics! January 16, 2023
  • The Nine Major Modes Of The Big DC Story January 14, 2023
  • X-Men: Red #10 Review – Evil in Spades January 13, 2023
  • X-Men #18, Legion of X #9, & Dark Web Tie-Ins | Comic Book Herald Live! January 13, 2023
  • Who Watched the Watchmen? Justice League Unlimited January 12, 2023
  • Where to Start With Marvel Comics In 2023? January 11, 2023
  • Ed Brubaker on Batman: Caped Crusader, Streaming Comics, & Comics Adaptations! January 10, 2023
  • 2001 Pt. 2: X-Force, Exiles & Xtreme Claremont! January 9, 2023

Popular Articles

DC Rebirth Guide

Batman Reading Order

DC New 52 Reading Order

Marvel Ultimate Universe Guide

Civil War Reading Order

Marvel Cosmic Reading Order

The Best Comics of All Time!

Deadpool Reading Order

Justice League Reading Order

Complete Thanos Reading Order

X-Men Reading Guide (Modern Era)

Age of Apocalypse Reading Order

Modern Marvel Universe in 25 Trades

Best Tablet For Digital Comics

Is Marvel Unlimited Worth It?

Footer

New to Comic Book Herald?

Hey there - my name's Dave and this is my comic book blog. It's my way of sharing my borderline obsessive addiction to the comic book medium, and I hope you like some of what's going on here.

Most people that come here are looking for my (WIP) Marvel reading order guide. You can probably also get a sense if CBH is for you by taking a look at some of my columns.

If you like what you see, let's connect on Facebook or Twitter. Or, leave a comment on the blog here, I'm always looking for new awesome people in the comic book community.

More on Comic Book Herald

  • Home
  • About
  • Support CBH
  • My Marvelous Year
  • Join!
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

Recent Posts

  • DC and The Matter Of Crisis, Part II
  • Sins of Sinister! | Comic Book Herald Live!
  • Spawn Reading Order!
  • 2001 Pt. 3: Daredevil Yellow & Bendis’ Daredevil!
  • DC and The Matter of Crisis, Part I

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in