Batman: Damned
Batman: Damned is a sequel of sorts to the Joker comic put out by the same writer and artist ten years earlier but it was also the first comic to be published under the imprint of DC’s Black Label, which was targeted at mature audiences. The first printing of Damned even included a picture of a nude Bruce Wayne with his dick hanging out, and there are few things as adult as Batman’s dick. So . . . it was something old and something new. But what I really found it to be was overblown and confusing.
The blame, in my opinion, falls on Brian Azzarello. I really didn’t like the writing on any level. Most of it is woefully ungrammatical, no matter who is speaking. The Enchantress I could give a pass too since she’s a demon zombie witch or something so I figure she can say “I be fate written. Die cast. Why you no remember?” But why are Batman’s “diaries” full of stuff like “what don’ kill us eats us alive”? Why are the rapper’s rhymes so weak? Why does the homeless guy say things like “seen him with my own too [sic] eyes”? Why would the mandarin Waynes say things like “Don’t be here when I do get back”? Were these typos? In a prestige publication like this? Or did they have some meaning I was missing? Hell, I even hated the lettering. This was all terrible.
Then there was the plot, which was another take on the idea of the journey of the soul after death. The aim was to do a sort of horror comic, but I was too confused to find any of it very scary or unnerving. So as usual it just turned out dark. There were cameos from figures I didn’t know well (John Constantine, the Spectre) or barely at all (the Enchantress). And there’s an uncomfortable appearance by Harley Quinn, who nearly rapes Batman at one point because . . . she hates him. I didn’t need any of this. But then Swamp Thing shows up and I always like to see Swampy so that was a plus.
It looks fantastic. Lee Bermejo’s art is on point with the noir-horror vibe throughout, making me almost wish DC had done the book as one of those comics without words. I might have followed the story just as well. I’ve really liked some of Azzarello’s stuff, but this struck me as a poorly developed idea that tried to make up for its deficiencies with lots of heavy breathing and broken English. And that’s a shame because I did have the sense it could have been something great.
Alex Good 
You could get a felt tip pen and colour over the words.
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But then I’d have big black bubbles over all the pages. I think that is something I did in some comics as a kid, but today it seems like work.
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Maybe you should color on a pair of black boxer briefs on Batman so you don’t have to see “that”….
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I think they cut the offending panel out of reprints and it was always censored in the digital version.
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On a different note, did Black Label ever succeed or was just another experiment that failed?
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I think they’re still going, at least according to the Internet.
Also: correction on my previous comment. They didn’t cut the panel out but shaded over Batman’s junk.
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so many jokes, must resist…..
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Yeah, I was trying to avoid them.
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Is the new layout of the WP reader working out for you?
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Yeah, seems to actually be a bit easier to navigate actually.
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It’s almost back to the ease of use when I started in ’17. Sigh…
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‘there are few things as adult as Batman’s dick’
How is that adult?
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Uh oh, does Alex need to have “the talk” with you about the birds and the bees?
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I’m thinking sex ed isn’t a big thing in Scotland. But I mean there are instructional videos on YouTube . . .
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And Eddie doesn’t have netnanny, so he should be all set…
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No telling what sort of wickedness he’s watching now. Probably something about goats . . .
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or goats having demon car babies!
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This is the kind of corruption that happens when Net Nanny is disabled.
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Exactly.
Shaaaaaaaaame.
On pretty much everybody, just on principle…
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It’s a grown-up thing. I’d show you a picture, but it’s censored and my site would probably get tagged as adult content.
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But if you think the content you’re discussing is adult, then surely it is adult content?
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It’s showing vs. telling that gets you in trouble.
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Sounds like a case of edgy = adult. That’s how it works, right?
I think the best “adult” Batman comic I read was Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth, although I was teenager when I read it so maybe it was a case of past me thinking the edge = adultness.
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Batman is always aiming to be edgier and more adult. The Dark Knight keeps getting darker. This is basically Batman Goes to Hell.
There were a lot of Arkham Asylum books. Think I’ll be doing some of them. Not sure if I’ve read Serious House though.
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