tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post3996666336511646271..comments2024-03-15T07:12:40.918-05:00Comments on Collected Editions: Review: Batman Vol. 4: Zero Year -- Secret City hardcover/paperback (DC Comics)collectededitionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14698269790653953645noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-91240190620201553382014-05-19T16:00:05.623-05:002014-05-19T16:00:05.623-05:00Zero Year is an obvious choice for an Absolute edi...Zero Year is an obvious choice for an Absolute edition (along with Snyder's first two arcs). I might just skip this one in trades.Davidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-49669416662556271152014-05-16T14:17:40.716-05:002014-05-16T14:17:40.716-05:00I know this isn't for everyone, but I like to ...I know this isn't for everyone, but I like to see it as "fate," in a way. When I became a trade-waiter, I accepted there might be some issues I wouldn't get to read (wouldn't be collected) or I'd have to track down as a single issue. As it turns out, that's fewer than I thought, given how much is collected these days. The rest? At times I simply tell myself I wasn't "meant" to read those issues; others, sometimes I buy them and then later I think, "I didn't really need that issue" or "That issue doesn't really mean anything now." Those experiences have cut my attempts to track down missing single issues considerably; I just decide for myself that I'm not really missing anything.collectededitionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14698269790653953645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-68751278155997014482014-05-12T14:25:42.132-05:002014-05-12T14:25:42.132-05:00RE: collecting #0, Snyder said this on Twitter: &q...RE: collecting #0, Snyder said this on Twitter: "It definitely will at some point - I think (think) 18, 19, 20, 0 will be in a trade post ZY w/34 and 35?"<br />I don't mind that it's not in this collection since it just doesn't fit the Zero Year story. In #22 has Bruce's public "return" happens the same night Red Hood attacks his home, but in #0, knowledge of Bruce's return has been public for a few months (as per his conversation with Gordon) but Red Hood is just about to attack. <br />For completest, I'm sure it'll be collected eventually, like Snyder thinks, but I'm gladly it's not just thrown in here where it wouldn't even fit. <br />Hoping whenever they get around to it and the Annual, they also include 23.2 with the Riddler, since that's Zero Year-related as well.Randallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07161035389768213862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-30884299695461298252014-05-12T09:10:19.555-05:002014-05-12T09:10:19.555-05:00My pure speculative guess is that the relevant #0 ...My pure speculative guess is that the relevant #0 material will be held back for a complete Zero Year collection at some future date. The New 52, after buying singles for 30 years, was my jumping off point into becoming a trade-waiter. Uncollected comics must be my karmic punishment for no longer supporting my local comic store and just getting everything from Amazon. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-42655868277560086662014-05-12T08:28:43.632-05:002014-05-12T08:28:43.632-05:00Man, I hope they will publish the skipped issues (...Man, I hope they will publish the skipped issues (#0, #18-20, Annual #2) later on. Of all titles they produce it would suck if Batman was the one title where issues are missing. :(Spookyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07370993300280714554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-12809299429878258272014-05-11T08:12:21.990-05:002014-05-11T08:12:21.990-05:00#0+ #19+ #20+ Annual #2 + #28 (Eternal teaser) = v...#0+ #19+ #20+ Annual #2 + #28 (Eternal teaser) = vol 6. ???Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-70090671835658266692014-05-09T21:17:45.101-05:002014-05-09T21:17:45.101-05:00The collection here does work fine without #0 and ...The collection here does work fine without #0 and the Annual #2. But a part of me (and from numerous people from the sounds of things feel similar...) feels that #0 should of been here (the Annual has really nothing to do with Zero Year though). Like you mentioned, the exclusion of issue Zero does work. But as someone who owns and read #0, it really should of been included for a few reasons:<br /><br />1. It does have to do with the Red Hood Story. After this volume, the Red Hood storyline is over with for Zero Year. Having as much of Red Hood in one volume would be the way the go. It's basically Red Hood robbing a bank, we see way more of Bruce's gadgets and ideologically on coming back to Gotham, and we get a good piece of Gordan/Bruce's clashing ideas for eachother. It would of fit fine, in some ways.<br /><br />2. It will be awkward in any other volumes afterward. Because after this volume, regardless of where DC decides to put the #0 issue into, it feel forced and out of place of wherever it lands into. It's a story of Red Hood before he became the joker. Unless Snyder makes an issue to set up something, it will feel weird.<br /><br />3. $24.99 for 3 issues and a double-sized issue, with backups, really makes about 6 regular issues for the price. The addition of the entire script for issue 21 is cool, but its page filler. The addition of the #0 would of been nice. That, and, ironically, #0 would fit the modify of Zero Year.<br /><br />So those are some of my ideas. Now I will admit the big problem with #0 fitting into Secret City is the ending section, which is basically a different reenactment of issue #22 where Red Hood drops Bruce off at his place in the taxi. Because #0 is/was meant to be a general teaser for the entire 11-run of Zero Year. I guess DC could of edited #0 into this volume, which DC has been doing a lot of to begin with in most of their crossover trades. <br /><br />So I think, CE, that for those who never read the single issues as you have, the collection works fine. But for every person who has or will read it at some point, they will scratch their head as to why it wasn't included in some shape or form. I don't know, we'll see how things will turn out with #0 in the future. AngryLionheart1https://www.blogger.com/profile/08551845755863689101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-55582513225130675102014-05-09T16:17:42.601-05:002014-05-09T16:17:42.601-05:00I don't know if the issues were regular-sized ...I don't know if the issues were regular-sized plus the backups or shortened plus the backups, but I think they were regular (extra) sized; so, the book might not look so thin with the issues plus the double-sized issue plus the backups. There's not much story content to the backups, admittedly, but they're there, and as a completist I did appreciate that.collectededitionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14698269790653953645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-30472648021679476962014-05-09T16:13:34.223-05:002014-05-09T16:13:34.223-05:00I guess it's not that it makes me mad but I ju...I guess it's not that it makes me mad but I just don't understand. If this Vol. 4 has only 4 issues (and yes I know it's probably closer to 5 since issue 24 is double sized) but it will still look funny when vol. 5 comes out and it's 8 issues and twice as thick. I'll forgive the Annual which I only read once but since Capullo drew issue 0 it should have been in there, but alas it is what it is. Maybe it's just my OCD.John Joycehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08041372144991975782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-68778185529817465882014-05-09T16:07:26.483-05:002014-05-09T16:07:26.483-05:00The retelling angle, that's definitely part of...The retelling angle, that's definitely part of it. Origin fatigue is too, I was never one of those that thought Year One was sacred, I was happy for a new version in theory, but I don't feel it has entirely justified the need for this one. I think a red hood story by Snyder right after his Joker one didn't help either.<br />But it's something more subjective, a soullessness that isn't in the similar (as you point out) Morrison Batman & Robin. Or feeling of disconnect which I'm not used to when reading my (probably) favourite fictional character. It was there in earlier stories of Snyder's New52 Batman too, I just can't get into his Batman's head space. The Owls and Joker stories had more of a psychological hook from the threat, so I was drawn in from that point of view, especially at the climax of each which left me shaken (in a good way because that was how Bruce was meant to be). I'll keep with Zero Year, maybe the third volume's climax will impress me as much. Maybe the pace; telling in 12 issues what Miller did in 4 (Nolan did in 2 hours and Garner Fox did in two pages).<br />Anyway, I can't quite put my finger on it, so I have a sense of bemusement when I see most critics raving about it. I liked your more measured reaction. Sorry, for the rambling comment, wish I could explain myself better. XDGlintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-53140180352557658392014-05-09T14:11:43.427-05:002014-05-09T14:11:43.427-05:00Obviously what makes you mad is your own business ...Obviously what makes you mad is your own business and I wouldn't judge that. For me personally, however, here's why this doesn't bother me as much.<br /><br />First, the fact that the New Teen Titans Vol. 3 Omnibus jumps around and only contains parts of some stories bothers me. This bothers me because the first two volumes reprinted sequential stories and didn't jump around, so there was an unspoken "contract" that this is what the omnibus series would do. To change up the format with the third volume (of a series of very expensive books) feels like a "bait and switch" to me, and I can't at all comprehend only reprinting parts of a story in a book that wasn't billed as an artist spotlight title. So that makes me mad.<br /><br />Second, that the JSA Omnibus might have started with issue #6 made me, if not mad, then disappointed (before this was fixed). A lot of us had waited for a JSA Omnibus for a long time, and not to reprint it "complete" was a disappointment; also it seemed to me shortsighted on DC's part to think readers wouldn't want the book's first five issues just because another writer wrote them. So that's why that made me "mad" until it was resolved.<br /><br />Regarding Zero Year, however, I don't expect DC's "regular series" trades to be "complete." They have rarely been "complete" historically (those Ostrander/Mandrake Batman issues that appeared during the Grant Morrison run were never collected, to give a minor example); "back in the day," trades only collected the most relevant part of a storyline, no more, and certainly they didn't have trades that collected every single issue of a series. <br /><br />I read the Zero Year - Secret City collection, but I haven't read Batman #0 or Annual #2, and I don't feel like I missed anything. If DC doesn't think enough of those issues to collect them, that's fine with me -- this self-selecting gives me one less thing to read. If later on I feel like I really needed to read those issues (which I probably won't, because again DC didn't feel they were important enough to collect), then I know I can buy them digital forever; otherwise, I call it no loss, no foul. Two years from now I'll be reading entirely different Batman stories and I won't even care about these missing issues.<br /><br />So that's why I can't get too wound up about it. Just my take; again, your results may vary.collectededitionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14698269790653953645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-52738086175586564992014-05-08T21:50:05.222-05:002014-05-08T21:50:05.222-05:00This is pissing me off, I knew that this volume wo...This is pissing me off, I knew that this volume would skip over 18-19-20 and I understand that b/c it wouldn't make much sense, and now they skip issue 0 and an annual too? I just don't get it. And how does issue 0 with the red hood stuff mix in there...C'mon DC!John Joycehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08041372144991975782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-40284149324120134602014-05-08T15:22:44.377-05:002014-05-08T15:22:44.377-05:00This may or may not be what you're getting at,...This may or may not be what you're getting at, but one thing I didn't like about Zero Year -- Secret City was the point in which I realized, "Oh, he's retelling Detective #[redacted] here." Earth One goes its own way; Zero Year remains faithful to established DC lore. Ultimately I liked this re-telling, but as I mentioned above, I have a general fatigue when it comes to origins and re-tellings.collectededitionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14698269790653953645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-60282651747586135152014-05-08T14:42:51.790-05:002014-05-08T14:42:51.790-05:00I don't know what is it about Zero Year, I lov...I don't know what is it about Zero Year, I loved Black Mirror and most of Snyder's other work and I can appreciate the talent and quality of the book. But I just can't connect with it for some reason. Perhaps because, like you say, it does self-consciously swerve away from Year One. Perhaps because, for me, Batman Begins was such a definitive origins story and Zero Year just doesn't get me into Bruce's head like the movie did (nor does Year One on subsequent re-readings).Glintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-6022443061973748082014-05-08T11:34:25.333-05:002014-05-08T11:34:25.333-05:00No. Despite other listings, it's issues #21-24...No. Despite other listings, it's issues #21-24, backups, and the Director's Cut book. Issue #24 is double-sized, so call it about a five-issue's worth or so trade.collectededitionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14698269790653953645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-64782814723207586442014-05-08T09:57:45.080-05:002014-05-08T09:57:45.080-05:00Isn't Issue 0 and the Annual in it too? The A...Isn't Issue 0 and the Annual in it too? The Annual is almost useless though.John Joycehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08041372144991975782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-89026016689584187962014-05-08T09:39:49.812-05:002014-05-08T09:39:49.812-05:00Issues #21-24, including backups, and (parts of?) ...Issues #21-24, including backups, and (parts of?) the Director's Cut edition.collectededitionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14698269790653953645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-56925249145529026432014-05-08T09:27:19.926-05:002014-05-08T09:27:19.926-05:00What is the actual content of this?What is the actual content of this?Michael Stapletonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03996888289006706401noreply@blogger.com