Digital Dollar Bin: Batman/Planetary: Night on Earth

Batman/Planetary: Night on Earth
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: John Cassaday
Release Date: June 25, 2003 (print), July 15, 2010 (digital)
Rating: 4 out of 5 Pixels

I wasn't all that excited about this weekend's Batman 101 sale (going through Sunday night!) because I already own most of these comics in trade form, but I decided to check out the Batman/ Planetary crossover because a couple months ago I bought the JLA/Planetary crossover when it was on sale for $0.99 and I loved it. I've never read a single issue of Planetary but that didn't impede my enjoyment of either of the two crossovers. I loved how JLA/Planetary took more of an Amalgam Comics approach to the crossover, combining the two universes into one rather than doing a traditional crossover, so I wasn't disappointed by Batman/Planetary, which takes another slightly non-traditional take on the crossover concept, yet one that also has a parallel to the mid-90s DC/Marvel crossover that Amalgam Comics was spawned from: like DC vs. Marvel, Batman/Planetary also centers around a character who lives between universes. While Access was set up to be a superhero, though, John Black is more of a tragic figure, a man whose ability to slide between universes comes from a cruel experiment that killed his parents, and who can't stop himself from killing those around him as he sends parts of them to alternate universes or collides multiple versions of the same person into the same place.

Warren Ellis has fun with the concept, making references to 1986's Crisis on Infinite Earths, allowing Planetary's Jakita Wagner to butt heads and egos with Batman, and best of all, giving John Cassaday the chance to have some fun himself by rendering several different versions of Batman. Apart from the basic John Cassaday Batman from the then-current DC Universe, Cassaday also faithfully portrays the Adam West version (whom Elijah Snow mistakes for a transvestite hooker),

the Dark Knight Returns version,

the Neal Adams version (in this Neal Adamsiest of poses),

the Bob Kane version,

and some kind of cool-looking futuristic Batman that I presume John Cassaday made up.

I'd like to read more about this Batman.

Apart from the fun of seeing multiple versions of Batman argue with Jakita and Elijah, this comic also offers a great character moment when Batman recognizes the similarity between his tragic past and John Black's, and offers Black advice on coping with the pain of losing one's parents. Overall a great comic, definitely worth a buck if you get a chance to pick it up before the sale ends tomorrow night, probably even worth whatever price it will be after that.

Now one of these days I need to actually read Planetary...

Diving Into Digital Part 4: Welcome to Pixelated Panels

The downside of buying comics online--whether digitally or through an online store like G-Mart--is that you don't get the social connection that you might from the weekly trip to the comic book store. To be honest, the only comic book store, of all the comic book stores I've frequented over the years, where I made any kind of social connection was Drom's Comics in Davis, California, where each week I'd chat with the owner, who was a really cool guy, about everything from who Bruce Wayne's replacement would be after "Batman R.I.P." to the woes of trying to raise children in today's modern world. As uncommon as that experience was for me, it was a good experience, and I miss it.

The upside of the internet is that it provides opportunities for social connection that those of us who aren't exactly social butterflies might not get otherwise. When I discovered Living Between Wednesdays a few years back, I was ecstatic to learn that there were people out there in the world who not only cared about comics in the same way I do, but who also said really clever, funny things about them. I quickly discovered several other blogs in the comics blogosphere, like Green Lantern Butt's Forever, Every Day is Like Wednesday, and the Absorbascon. Inspired by these blogs, I tried starting my own comics-themed blog, but then I discovered that I didn't have much to say that other comics bloggers were not already saying (my friend, Theric, now uses that blog to review mostly indie comics; check it out).

With all the buzz around digital comics lately, though, and my own immersion into the new medium, I'm hoping I've found my niche. I'm taking my cue from another comics blog I follow, Collected Editions, except that while Collected Editions is the "wait-for-the-trade headquarters," I intend to make Pixelated Panels the read-it-digitally headquarters. What does that entail? I imagine this blog will evolve over time, but at least right now, these are the regular features I have planned:

• Day-And-Date: Yes, I know "day-and-date" is an absurd, redundant term, but I'm embracing the absurdity and using it to describe reviews of titles that are released (and which I buy) digitally the same day they're released in print. You can expect to see these reviews every Wednesday night. 
• A Month Late and a Dollar Short: Reviews of comics that I wait a month to buy, in order to get them a dollar cheaper. Consider these reviews your reminder that Hey! These comics are a month old now, and maybe worth checking out for a buck less than cover price.
• Digital Dollar Bin: Reviews of comics that you can get for $0.99, either because they're on sale or because they're old enough that this is the designated price point. 
• Digiversity: As you may have guessed by now, my thing is superhero comics published by DC. In order to broaden my horizons, and perhaps yours, I'm challenging myself to regularly sample new things, whether it's a Marvel or Vertigo or Archie comic I can get through Comixology, or a webcomic on some random dude's website. I'll report back on my findings. 
• Digital Horizons: A weekly roundup of news related to digital comics, and my ponderings thereon.
• Unpixelated Panels (with a tip of the hat to the Collected Editions feature, Uncollected Editions): This is where I'll talk about comics that are not yet available digitally, but should be. And eventually this blog will be so popular and have so much sway with digital readers that the powers that be will have no choice but to respond to my call to action. 

So there you have it, folks. If you're not wowed by the awesomeness of Pixelated Panels yet, just wait. I'm sure I'll come up with something. Hopefully. Maybe. Pretty please?