I'd have to disagree, insofar as it's going out of its way to drag back in all the wacky 1950s stories that were tossed out by Batman editors and writers during the "realism = grim" vogue you mention. This seems to me to be something even weirder: an effort to get ALL the different eras of Batman to fit together.

The revamped Joker is being played like the grim, involuntarily smiling murderer of the early 1940s (and, not coincidentally, the upcoming film). Damian, Talia, Man-Bats, the Silver St. Cloud stand-in Jezebel Jet et al. are straight out of the 1970s with Mike Barr's 1980s follow-ups tossed in. And the Club of Heroes/Club of Villains, "Death of Robin" sense-tank experiment, Commissioner Vane, and Bat-Mite and Zurr-En-Arrh stuff are direct references to the day-glo 1950s stories.

All we're missing is the 1960s Gardner Fox and John Broome sorts of stories, and some of the "three ghosts of Batman" seemed to resemble the sorts of characters Broome would come up with. And "Batman, R.I.P." is a delightfully Gardner Fox sort of gimmick title.

This seems too willing to pull in surreal and even light-hearted elements -- Batman has a supercool rocketship, a French villain called the Hunchback whose henchmen dress up as gargoyles, a villain named "Dr. Hurt" -- right next to the nastiness to be merely a retread of the grim 'n' gritty trend.

It’s all multicultural and shit.

That made me laugh out loud.

Boosting the brightness of the colors can help, but it's not a guaranteed fix.

Over time, Bianchi and Peruzzi, who're closely collaborating on the art, should be able to work out the kinks and find a palette that works. They've got 23 more issues to get it right.

Just throwing that out there, because that's what was said about Ultimates 3 #1, and in this case it actually seems to be true.

This Batman storyline seems to be taking the "what if superheroes were real and/or had real mental problems" route that's been so in vogue since the mid 80's. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's been done to death. I'm hoping Morrison finds a new way to make it shine, but I'm wondering if he will. Ever since Moore and Miller, it's been trendy to graft elements of reality (read: schizophrenia, addiction, horrible crimes, a linear concept of space-time, "adult" situations, politics) onto something as innately absurd as classic superheroes and it's often an awkward fit.

The joy of Morrison is that, in the past, he's seemingly embraced the inherent absurdity and steered clear of the "Wouldn't it be weird if Bruce Wayne were like a real person and all the stuff that happened to Batman in the 50's actually fit into his life? He'd be nuts!!" kind of story that he's doing now. In terms of tonality and theme, this honestly reminds me of something Mark Millar would write... it bears no resemblance to the 4-color anarchy of the Doom Patrols and Invisibles of yesteryear.

Sorry for whining, I'm just sort of hoping Grant gets out of the mainstream DCU and back to something more his own. If he can't make these characters sing, nobody can.

However, if he turns up later in Final Crisis as Highfather, then it's a work of genius.

Manhunter I just don't see what the fuss is all about, and Kate-Sue just never intrigued me as a character I can care about. I do want to check out Faeber's titles, they seem to be good old-fashioned super-heroics done well.

With the writing I can get along, it's just the beginning and Ellis' out-of-continuity (supposedly) take on the X-Men should be very interesting.

...the best live album of all time!

Best CAR STEREO dashboard-poundin' live album of all time. It's in heavy rotation in our car, anyway.

I rather liked Astonishing too, and at this point it's the only MARVEL book I'm buying. But I will add a caveat that if it takes another year or two for the next six-part arc, I'm out. As it is it's hard to justify not just picking up the trade used from Amazon six months after it comes out.

It was a really good issue.

Anyway. Storming Paradise looks neat; I'll have to remember that.

Nah, I have no interest in Captain Marvel or "kids' comics," and Bianchi's art looked awful in Astonishing. Ellis phoning in another Marvel comic wasn't enough to overcome that. (And yes, I'm guessing that he's phoning it in, but his track record seems to indicate he is.)