Book Review: BATMAN: BLACK MIRROR

In the world of comic books, ask someone if they prefer DC or Marvel and the answer can tell you a lot about a person. I’m a DC fan myself. Even though I enjoy Batman, I’ve always been more of a fan of Superman myself (and Green Lantern). The DC and Marvel universe have similarities, but they are very different worlds. The writers and execs for each company would do well to remember this. What often happens is that sales for comics slide (across the board) and the execs at DC start to panic and then they hire people to start copying Marvel or they completely reboot the universe (like what happened last year with the New 52). Personally, the stories I find most interesting from the DC world are the ones that stay within the established rules of the DC universe, but that tell new stories within those confines. THE BLACK MIRROR is a storyline that pretends to be one of those stories, but when examined at a deeper level it reveals itself to be just another mimicking stuff that happens in the Marvel universe.

THE BLACK MIRROR collects Detective Comics issues 871-881. These stories were written by Scott Snyder, the guy responsible for the new comic book horror series, AMERICAN VAMPIRE. The stories are set after the events BATMAN R.I.P. and BLACKEST NIGHT. Batman has returned from his trip through time. However, he decides that it’s time to set up a global organization. So, while he’s off traveling around the world to set up Batman Incorporated, he leaves Dick Grayson (the first Robin and Nightwing) behind in Gotham as Batman. What happens is one of the most bizarre and unusual cases that either Grayson or Commissioner Gordon have ever faced.


THE BLACK MIRROR is a fascinating story full of loops and twists connected to the premise that Gotham City is itself an evil place that somehow corrupts anyone who lives there. However, though the overall story is interesting, it’s an extremely violent story with really unbelievable situations even for a comic book. For instance, how does a giant man-eating killer whale appear in the middle of a bank lobby within a couple hours without anyone knowing? I mean that really seems like a stretch. Of course, how does Commissioner Gordon get that animal transported to Wayne Labs so Dick Grayson can perform an autopsy? None of that is really ever explained. There’s also the idea that somehow villains weapons have been sold on the black market for decades and Batman has never heard of this before. Batman is supposed to be the world’s greatest detective, but he’s never heard of this underground weapons dealer before? Really?

As briefly mentioned before, the story is extremely violent. In one segment a woman is found almost dead, bleeding in a shower. This is shown in graphic detail. In another scene a man is shown with his limbs cut off, part of his tongue removed, and an eyeball poked out. Some people might be impressed by all this blood and gore, but personally I found it a bit too much, even for a Batman comic. It reminded me more of all the over-the-top violent stories DC started putting out in the late 1980s and early 1990s because new execs at the company didn’t think DC characters were relevant anymore. One of the pinnacles of all of this was the one shot story, THE KILLING JOKE, a great story, but one which was never intended to be a part of DC canon. THE BLACK MIRROR is full of moments like that.

The story follows a post-Crisis history, which left me a bit confused. When I was a kid, Barbara Gordon was the actual daughter of Jim Gordon. Now I find out, she’s his adoptive daughter (I wasn’t aware that this had changed during the whole Crisis debacle). In addition, Jim Gordon has one biological son, James Gordon, Jr., born with his second wife. I realize that this stuff has been part of the DC canon for about twenty-five years now, but it comes as a bit of a shock. Also, I found it confusing for a story that prides itself as being rooted in Batman history how it ignores much of that history. For instance, there’s a moment in the story when a character comments how he knows this Batman (Dick Grayson) isn’t the real Batman because this Batman smiles and the real Batman doesn’t smile. Well, that’s just not true. Bob Kane always drew Batman smiling (go back and re-read the original Detective Comics and you’ll see that). It was later writers, especially those in the mid-1980s and early 1990s (here’s that period again), that stopped drawing Batman with a smile.

Besides all that, the other thing I didn’t like about THE BLACK MIRROR was the creation of a new villain. Aren’t there already enough villains in the world, particularly Gotham City to keep Batman busy? Why is it necessary to go and create another one? And (SPOILER ALERT), why is it necessary to take an innocent character who hasn’t been seen in decades and turn them into a villain? I get tired of Joker stories all the time, too, but Batman has a massive rogues gallery. Why create a completely new villain when one of the lesser-known villains from the rogues gallery would have been more impressive?

Overall, THE BLACK MIRROR is a good Batman story that’s not told very well. It’s destined to become a Batman “classic”. However, with the elements reminiscent of the late 1980s and 1990s DC comics, that’s not saying much. This could be the start of a great new Batman or it could be the beginning of what might turn into the Batman version of AT EARTH’S END.

A Port-a-potty in the Middle of the Interstate

Two-and-a-half years-ago, I directed a production of TWELVE ANGRY MEN. I had a great cast and it was truly one of the finest shows I have ever seen performed. On the opening night of the production, the night of my directorial debut, my father died unexpectedly. The night that was to be my greatest theatrical achievement (at the time) was forever tainted by tragedy. I’ve thought back to that night many times because it sums up the way I’m tempted to perceive much of what happens in my life: when something good happens, that goodness is stolen by the arrival of something bad. Take a couple of weeks ago.

Two Mondays ago was not a good day. We’ve had a relatively mild winter this year, but that Monday we had a major winter storm come through. In the midst of driving home from a cancelled meeting, my car began acting up. Automobiles have been the bane of my family’s existence. If we go more than six months without some sort of mechanical automobile calamity, it’s a miracle. When the car was looked over, at first it didn’t appear there was nothing serious. However, when the initial repairs didn’t fix the problem, further investigation revealed there was a hole in the transmission. Next to a motor, the transmission is the most expensive part of a car. This was not good news, but I took things in stride as best I could.

Around the same time this happened, I received notice that I got an audition for a pretty prestigious professional theatrical production in St. Louis. For an actor who doesn’t have an agent, who doesn’t actually live in St. Louis, and who (beyond a commercial and some industrial work) hasn’t had any paid work, this was huge. My Mom let me use her car so I could attend this audition. The audition went well. I was asked back for the callbacks and during those I got to read for a specific part a couple of times. I know that the chances of landing a role are slim, but I felt invigorated by the process and at end of the day I left very happy and joyful.

While driving home from the audition, I found myself behind a large semi-truck. I was going to pass the semi when he turned into the passing lane and there, in the middle of the Interstate, was a port-a-potty. I was faced with an imminent threat of a head-on collision with a port-a-potty, so I swerved over and ran over a pile of lumber that had apparently fallen from the same truck as the port-a-potty. Later that night as I was driving home, my Mom’s car died in the middle of the Interstate. I thought back to the port-a-potty incident and believed the lumber was the cause for this. I ended up having to be towed and what began as a day I had been looking forward to, turned into a very long night.

We found out a few days later that the port-a-potty incident had nothing to do with the car dying. However, the car did have some sort of freakish damage to the engine (“we have no explanation of what caused this and have never seen anything quite like it”) and the entire engine had to be replaced. For two days, my mother and I were completely without any transportation. For some that might not seem like a big deal, but when you live in a rural area where there is no such thing as public transportation and you need a vehicle to get back and forth to work, this can pose a problem.

Some very kind people at the church I work at let me borrow their extra vehicle for the week and some other church people are helping me pay for the repairs. God is providing.

So, other than helping me clear my head by writing this out and sharing, what does this all mean?

Well, I’m an Eagle Scout and the Boy Scout motto is “Be Prepared”. In Scouts, you’re taught to plan and prepare and to be ready for whatever might lie ahead. However, there are times that no matter how much you plan and prepare, life will throw something at you completely unexpected and standard operating procedures just won’t apply and won’t work. What happens when you’re driving down the Interstate of Life and out of nowhere a port-a-potty appears? What do you do? How do you handle it?

Personally, I’ve discovered and am discovering it is in those moments where God can really reach out and speak to us. I’m not saying it’s easy, because it’s not. You feel like you’ve been doing all the right things and have been following the right path and all of a sudden you’re world starts falling apart. You feel like you’re being punished for some sin and abandoned to struggle on your own. Yet, though, that’s what you feel like, that’s really not what’s happening. It is in these moments of our greatest weaknesses and vulnerabilities that God reveals himself in powerful and nearly unimaginable ways. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been forced to be dependent upon others. In our self-reliant society, this is difficult to do. Personally, I find it’s much easier to give than to receive. However, the past couple of weeks I’ve been forced to receive. People who I barely know have poured out love. Through their actions, I have seen God at work and that is a truly remarkable thing.

Life is hard. Bad things happen to good people and we don’t always know why. Yet, despite this, God has not abandoned the world. Jesus is here and he walks among us in the hands, feet, tongues, tools, and talents of his followers. I’m sure there will be more things like a port-a-potty in the middle of the Interstate that happen to me. Despite all that has happened, I can’t say for sure how I will respond or act when an event like that happens again. However, I do know that I will be just a little bit more at peace and just a tad less worrisome because of what I’ve been through so far.

Standardized Test Scores and the Average Bear

--Jonny Hawkins, 2011 Teacher Cartoon-a-Day Calendar

How George Lucas Plans to Redeem Himself

--"HijiNKS Ensue" Feb. 20, 2012

The Most Vulgar Character of All Time

-Mike Bates

Book Review: American Vampire, Volume 1

Created by Scott Snyder, AMERICAN VAMPIRE VOL. 1 will always be remembered for being the “Vampire comic book that Stephen King wrote.”  I’m a fan of Stephen King’s writing. However, King is only responsible for part of this volume. The book is actually split between two different stories split into four different chapters. One of the stories deals with the origin of the Skinner Sweet, the title character of this Volume of the comic. This is the story that King tells (though as he explains in the Introduction, he had to stay within the master framework of the story from Snyder). The second story takes place in 1920s Hollywood and isn’t really about Sweet, but is about a young woman named Pearl Jones.

The origin story is told from the perspective of an aging author who is giving a lecture upon the re-release of his very popular horror Western, “Bad Blood”. In 1880, the notorious outlaw Skinner Sweet has finally been apprehended and is placed under the custody of James Book of the Pinkerton Agency. Sweet is a man who has robbed lots of banks and killed lots of people in cold blood. He also has a penchant for eating candy. He knows he won’t ever make it to jail because his gang is going to derail the train and set him free. Indeed they do, but what no one considers is that one of the financial backers of the Pinkerton Agency is actually a vampire who needs Sweet dead for his plans in the Wild West of America to come to fruition. That vampire kills Sweet and his gang, but before Sweet dies a drop of the vampire’s blood splashes into Sweet’s eye. So, Sweet comes back as the “first” American vampire (the story hints that there might be other American vampires out there). Unlike the European vampires, Sweet can walk in broad daylight and appears immune to many of the other weaknesses of those vampires. Oh, he’s also got that arrogant, can-do attitude typical of all Americans.

The other story in the book is set in 1920s Hollywood. Pearl Jones is an aspiring actress. When she’s invited to a private party thrown at the home of a major film producer, she thinks it might be the break she’s been trying to get. As it turns out, the reason the party is so exclusive is that it’s a special feeding party for vampires. Pearl is practically left dry and is found the next day by her roommate and boyfriend wandering in the desert with massive bite marks all over her. Pearl dies, but not before the creepy guy next door (Skinner Sweet) puts some of his blood in her eye. When she wakes up, Pearl is in the morgue and Skinner informs her of what he’s done. He goes over a few “rules” with her and then leaves. As it turns out, Pearl is even a different type of vampire than Sweet. She grows massive monstrous claws and saber-toothed tiger fangs. Like Sweet years before, she’s sets out to get her revenge (something Sweet approved). Along the way, she confronts her boyfriend Henry who loves her just as much even after finding out what she’s been turned into. It’s a love story far more interesting and realistic than the one in the Twilight books.

The illustrations of the series are done by Rafael Albuquerque. Besides just vivid pictures, he does a great job of using different color tones to capture the mood of the age. Sweet’s death takes place in 1880 and though in color, it has a sepia-feel to it similar to that of old movie Westerns. Also, though it’s a slightly different time frame, his 1920s Hollywood has the perfect blend of both the blithe and bleakness of the period.

I really enjoyed AMERICAN VAMPIRE VOLUME 1. Both of the stories were really interesting. The stories are intertwined, yet they are very distinct stories. Also, the conclusions of both tie-in nicely with the next Volume of the series. I enjoyed Sweet’s origin story, but in all honesty I found Pearl’s story the more interesting of the two tales. She’s a much more likeable character than Sweet. Overall, this is a solid opening chapter to what appears to be a very interesting American comic book horror saga.

Why Real Books Will Never Die

Kevin DeYoung has a great post about why real books will never die. Here are a few of his thoughts:

"The other problem with ebooks is their bland sameness. This is why I can’t make it much farther than two books on any electronic device. The books don’t feel like anything. The font is the same and the white space is the same. There is no variance in paper or size or weight. Each book, when read on an ereader, loses its personality. I can’t quite explain it, but I simply couldn’t read the new Jeeves and Wooster book I downloaded for my iPad. On my computer screen–looking and feeling like the last book I read–there was no joy in Wodehouse, no novelty, no new experience to be had. It was just another PDF or Word document sent my to inbox.

"Books have not been around forever. There are other ways to put words together on paper, papyrus, or cow’s hide. So it’s possible something else will come along to take the book down from the shelf. But it won’t be the iPad I’m using right now. It won’t be the laptop on which I’ve written books and blogs and sermons. In a virtual world, with all its ethereal convenience, there will be many–an increasing number I predict–who long for what is real. Something solid. Something you can hold. Something that hangs around even when you are finished with it. Something like a book.

"And kind of like an old friend."

You can read the entire post here.

Food Police in North Carolina

When I first heard this story earlier today, I thought it was a joke. As it turns out, it's not. A little girl in North Carolina who brought a lunch from home consisting of a turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice was told it didn't meet the proper U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines and was given chicken nuggets instead. If that's not bad enough, they sent her parents a bill for the school lunch. Read the whole story here. This is seriously reminds me of Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia. There's not much I can do about it, but pass along the information and try to change and influence things when given the opportunity.

What I'm Reading Right Now

X-Peanuts

This is a picture I came across the Internet. It was created by Cynthia Rodgers. You can check out more of her work here.

OK Go's New Video: Needing/Getting

Check out this new fascinating video from the band OK Go.

Aquaman Gets His Due

Aquaman has been the brunt of jokes in comic book and geek circles for a long time. I feel sorry for the guy. He's mostly been hampered by bad writers; if he had people writing his stories like the one in the "Brightest Day" saga from DC, he wouldn't be such a laughingstock. Anyway, here's a little comic where Aquaman gets his due.

-"Pop Culture Shock Therapy" January 19, 2012

Jesus Isn't Against Religion

There's a new video that's spreading around the Internet like wildfire on a hot summer day during a drought in the Plains. The video was posted on January 10, 2012 and as of today, January 15, 2012, it already has 11,000,000 views on Youtube. The creator/author of the poem is a young man named Jefferson Bethke. You can watch the video below.

There are a lot of good things that the author says in this poem. However, there are some things that just aren't true that could lead some astray. The intent and motive of Bethke is pure. That's not questionable. However, there are issues in the poem that need and should be addressed, not because, as Kevin DeYoung points out, "this video will launch a worldwide revolution. I want to spend some time on this because Bethke perfectly captures the mood, and in my mind the confusion, of a lot of earnest, young Christians."

DeYoung has already parsed this poem far more clearly than I could. You can read his entire assessment here. But here are a few key points:


"More important is Bethke’s opening line: “Jesus came to abolish religion.” That’s the whole point of the poem. The argument—and most poems are arguing for something—rests on the sharp distinction between religion on one side and Jesus on the other. Whether this argument is fair depends on your definition of religion. Bethke sees religion as a man made attempt to earn God’s favor. Religion equals self-righteousness, moral preening, and hypocrisy. Religion is all law and no gospel. If that’s religion, then Jesus is certainly against it.

"But that’s not what religion is. We can say that’s what is has become for some people or what we understand it to be. But words still matter and we shouldn’t just define them however we want. “Jesus hates religion” communicates something that “Jesus hates self-righteousness” doesn’t. To say that Jesus hates pride and hypocrisy is old news. To say he hates religion—now, that has a kick to it. People hear “religion” and think of rules, rituals, dogma, pastors, priests, institutions. People love Oprah and the Shack and “spiritual, not religious” bumper stickers because the mood of our country is one that wants God without the strictures that come with traditional Christianity. We love the Jesus that hates religion.

"The only problem is, he didn’t. Jesus was a Jew. He went to services at the synagogue. He observed Jewish holy days. He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17). He founded the church (Matt. 16:18). He established church discipline (Matt. 18:15-20). He instituted a ritual meal (Matt. 26:26-28). He told his disciples to baptize people and to teach others to obey everything he commanded (Matt. 28:19-20). He insisted that people believe in him and believe certain things about him (John 3:16-18; 8:24). If religion is characterized by doctrine, commands, rituals, and structure, then Jesus is not your go-to guy for hating religion. This was the central point behind the book Ted Kluck and I wrote a few years ago....

"...Christians need to stop perpetuating the myth that we’ve basically been huge failures in the world. That may win us an audience with non-Christians, but it’s not true. We are sinners like everyone else, so our record is mixed. We’ve been stupid and selfish over the years. But we’ve also been the salt of the earth. The evangelical awakening in England in the eighteenth century is widely credited for preventing the sort of bloodbath that swept over France in the “enlightened” French Revolution. Christians (and conservatives in general) give more to charitable causes than their secular counterparts. Christians run countless shelters, pregnancy centers, rescue missions, and food pantries. Christians operate orphanages, staff clinics, dig wells, raise crops, teach children, and fight AIDS around the globe. While we can always do more and may be blind to the needs around us at times, there is no group of people on the planet that do more for the poor than Christians. If you know of a church with a dozen escalators and no money and no heart for the hurting, then blast that church. But we have to stop the self-flagellation and the slander that says Christians do nothing for the poor.

"Thanks for reminding us about Jesus. But try to be more careful when talking about religion. After all, there is one religion whose aim is to worship, serve, know, proclaim, believe, obey, and organize around this Jesus. And without all those verbs, there’s not much Jesus left."

The Joy of Books

Here's a great little stop motion video with some dancing books.

Book Review: IN THE LAND OF BELIEVERS

When I turned thirteen, I joined a youth fraternity that was aimed at young men. The organization does a tremendous amount of good work in the communities where a chapter is located. The people who belonged as young men have gone on to be some of the most respected men of their communities. Some have even obtained national and international status. I was told when I was being recruited for the group that once I was in, my membership alone would be enough to get me into places that other people couldn’t go. Bright a boy as I was, I had no idea what that meant. I decided to join because most of my friends had abandoned our local Scout troop (which I was a part, too) and joined. I also wanted to know what a “fraternity” would be like. In my mind, I pictured a fraternity being a highly secretive organization where everyone wore crazy costumes and where, as part of my initiation, I would have to ride a goat or drink lamb’s blood. Reality was nothing like my exciting visualizations. For initiation, I had to memorize a few lines and repeatedly say “I will” after a series of very serious questions. In all honesty, it was rather boring. I left the group a few weeks later and stuck with the Boy Scouts where I eventually earned the rank of Eagle.

Gina Welch did something similar. However, she wasn’t curious about a young men’s fraternity. She was curious about a segment of a particular religion: evangelical Christians. As a young woman from California who came from a Jewish background, but was an atheist, she had been hearing a lot about “evangelical Christians” in the news. According to the types of media she paid attention to, these people were the reason her candidate had lost the past two Presidential elections to a rich cowboy from Texas. She wondered who these people were, what made them tick, and why did it seem there was such a divide from her own life and theirs. To better understand “Evangelicals” she went undercover at Thomas Road Baptist Church, the church started and ran by Jerry Falwell. In order to get a better perspective on things, Welch pretended to be someone who was seeking answers. She joined a Bible study. Eventually she faked a conversion and was baptized. She attended worship services faithfully each week, joined a young adult singles group, and eventually went on a witnessing mission trip to Alaska. She sometimes agonized over her deceit because she soon came to see many of the people she was associating with as real people and one of them became so close to her that they actually became friends.

I really enjoyed IN THE LAND OF BELIEVERS. The book is well written and, though it tackles some difficult issues, it’s easy to read. Perhaps that’s because instead of an expose it’s a memoir. There are descriptions of events and conversations that the author has that are startling, if not shocking. However, as the author eventually learns, all of the people she meets aren’t exactly the same. They have a core set of beliefs they all agree upon, but beyond that they can be very different.

There were times that I was fascinated by what I read; not so much by what the author encountered, but by her own reactions and interpretations. For instance, the author describes that during one Sunday while singing, she experiences what she decides to describe as “Feeling X”. During this time, she doesn’t enjoy most of the songs she sings in church and as she mentions near the beginning of the book, she still viewed the people she voluntary decided to surround herself with as "shrill and prudish, they loved bad music and guns and Nascar, told corny jokes, and spoke in sound bites.” She can’t explain it and has no idea why it happens, but she gets this new, strange feeling. From the way she describes it, this new sensation is comforting and positive. Since she doesn’t know what it is, she begins referring to it as “Feeling X”. As the story progresses, Welch finds herself experiencing this emotion more often. I was fascinated by this account because Welch never seems to actually seriously consider that, perhaps, “Feeling X” is actually God or his presence. If one is truly open to all possibilities, then even that possibility, no matter how improbable, could be possible.

What I found most fascinating by the whole story is how little the author seemed changed by the experience. At the end of the novel she tells her friend Alice, “Church had changed me…I loved having the sense of community and also that serious, regular, self-inquiry. Our relationship had changed me; feeling so happy in our friendship had made me think differently about Christians.”

Friendships are important and I’m glad that the author now thinks differently about Christians, but beyond that, how did her life change? After she quarantines herself from all church activities as a way to detox herself from the life she had been living, it seems from the text that the author went back to being the same person she was before the whole experience. Granted, once we experience something we are never the same people because each experience changes us. Still, beyond the section in the epilogue, I never get a sense from the text exactly how the author changed as a result of her experience.

There are many Christians who might find it difficult to read IN THE LAND OF THE BELIEVERS. Some will find it difficult to read because of the way “evangelical” is used. According to the Bible, all believers should be evangelical. However, the term has a different meaning when used by those outside the faith and it is this use and its perception that some will take issue with. Other Christians will find the book difficult to read because they will let their emotions overcome them (something that Welch points out in the book as a kind of fault of the people she worships with for two years) at the deceit of the author in pretending to be converted, her fake baptism, and the two years she spent hiding her true life from all of her church “family” and friends. Personally, I can’t fault the author for what she did. I can understand why someone completely unconnected from Christianity would pretend to be a Christian for two years. After all, there are many people who attend churches who every Sunday for years on end for most of their lives who do the very same thing; they pretend to believe but never really do. Welch was correct in that the only way she could ever get a true inside perspective was to pretend to be something she is not because even though many of the people at Thomas Road would have been open and honest with her, she never would have been a part of the “inner circle”. She writes about this somewhat when she talks about a meal she attended just before Christmas when she was still pretending to be someone who was seeking. Despite her deceit, at least Welch eventually admitted what she did and came clean.

I think Christians can benefit a great deal from reading IN THE LAND OF BELIEVERS. I am a Christian and I think it’s beneficial for us as believers to really know what people outside of the faith think of us. Though we are not of the world, we are IN the world.

What I found most fascinating by the whole story is how little the author seemed changed by the experience. At the end of the novel she tells her friend Alice, “Church had changed me…I loved having the sense of community and also that serious, regular, self-inquiry. Our relationship had changed me; feeling so happy in our friendship had made me think differently about Christians.”

Friendships are important and I’m glad that the author now thinks differently about Christians, but beyond that, how did her life change? After she quarantines herself from all church activities as a way to detox herself from the life she had been living, it seems from the text that the author went back to being the same person she was before the whole experience. Granted, once we experience something we are never the same people because each experience changes us. Still, beyond the section in the epilogue, I never get a sense from the text exactly how the author changed as a result of her experience.

IN THE LAND OF BELIEVERS is a fascinating book that I highly recommend especially for Christians. Non-believers can enjoy the book, too, but I think Christians can take away the most from reading the book.