chrismello:

Apparently a horse gets hurt in the new Batman and people on twitter got fake mad at Scott Snyder

So he took to Amazon to review this shirt

averagecomicnerd:

Number 4: Batman #12 by Scott Snyder and Becky Cloonan

Well hello there Miss Harper Row! God it is always nice to have a brand new character to inject some originality into the dinosaur that is DC comics! Harper Row is a brilliant character, but would you expect less from Scottie? Cloonan’s art is beautiful and a refreshing break from Capullo. I LOVE YOU GREG, but still it’s nice to see someone elses take on Gotham once and awhile. I can’t wait to see what Scottie has in store for Harper. I’ve heard speculation mostly wishing that she ends up the next robin which I agree would be awesome. I do have the problem of loving the shit out of Damian so I hope he’s not going to die! Harper is a badass because she PWNS Batman by ignoring him and taking none of that shit. 

*Yea I called Scott Snyder Scottie cause were on a first name basis….in my head*

I think the sadder truth is that Scott Lobdell actually thinks he’s improving Superman.

Have faith people, Scott Snyder is taking over Superman in 2013. All will be well once more.

stathatwoh:

30 Days of DC - Day 5 - Favourite Non-Masked Character

This one would’ve been more simple, but DC has a habit of removing characters from roles you’re used to seeing them in, which makes it difficult to view them as non-masked characters. Regardless, while I’m not a huge fan of some of Scott Snyder’s decisions over the course of his Batman run - I don’t think trading in Poe-esque horror with things in the walls, constantly watching you and stalking you, for a standard supervillain beatdown is a good choice - I do like some of the characters he’s brought in, chief amongst them Harper Row.

I’ll be honest and say I couldn’t give a shit if she is just a fill-in for Cassandra Cain; She clearly isn’t just that, since the role she plays - especially in the epilogue issue she stars in - is not a role that could fit Cass Cain. As such, I really like her. She’s maybe a little hipstery, but then there isn’t much in the way of style in the Batman Universe; Everyone’s either a rich kid or poor - I remember really being amused the one time they vaguely dressed Cass up in a slightly punk fashion. So in that respect, I like her.

But I also like someone who has general moral decency even before they meet Batman; it’s one of the reasons I like Kate Kane - Morally, she’s solid, and her meeting with Batman just provides the last piece of her puzzle - he basically gives her the symbol and iconography she wants to live by. Harper’s not quite the same, and yet I like the slightly more adolescent, average-person take on a Gothamite meeting Batman. Over the years, his supporting cast has basically become these people who know him well or quickly become inducted into his life, and too often, I think they miss out on exploring the fact that actually encountering Batman in Gotham must be astonishing if you’re just some kid walking home who happens to get into trouble.

So there’s that. There’s also the quirkier approach to her appearance and her job, and the fact she’s introduced by Becky Cloonan, who easily has to be one of the more esoteric artists to feature in a Batman title since the Brubaker/Rucka days.

marsvolta23:

Review

Batman #12

“The Ghost in the Machine”

Written by: Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV

Art by: Becky Cloonan & Andy Clarke

Cover by: Greg Capullo

 

This is a neat epilogue to the Court of Owls / Night of Owls storyline. Snyder re-introduces us to Harper Row – the mysterious teenage girl who knew enough about Batman to save his life way back at the end of Batman #6. As promised, Snyder provides us with some answers.
 

After attending a Bruce Wayne fundraising event, Harper Row returns home to find her gay brother, Cullen, beaten, a victim a homophobic attack. The siblings later encounter Cullen’s attackers in the street where Harper confronts them on with a home-made taser but is quickly out-numbered. In swoops the Dark Knight to save the day.
 

Harper becomes fixated with Batman and, through her day job as an electrician, discovers Batman’s ‘ghost network,’ which, amongst other handy things, blocks out CCTV coverage wherever Batman is. She takes it upon herself to improve the network and boost the range of the ‘Bat-Boxes.’ Whilst showing Cullen what she’s discovered, she notices that part of the network has failed and she heads out, intending to fix it. She locates the box in the sewers and fixes it, whilst in the background Batman is fighting Tiger Shark on a giant yacht. From the shadows she helps Batman stop the villain and then quickly flees the scene. Harper is left ecstatic (and very smelly) from what she has accomplished, but Batman tracks her down to give her a stern warning. Somehow I don’t think Harper’s going to heed his words.
 

This issue (and the forthcoming zero issue) are great jump on points for top Bat-book. Readers of the New 52 Batman title get some answers and fresh readers are presented with grounded route in to Batman’s Gotham through the eyes of young, headstrong student and electrician, Harper Row.
 

A first for the top two Bat-books (Detective Comics being the other), is a female artist drawing the issue, Becky Cloonan who, most notably, provided art for Brian Wood’s ‘Demo’ series. Cloonan brings a dramatic change of art style to this issue. She serves us up a sketchier and more cartoon-like style that wonderfully reflects seeing Gothamthrough the eyes of a naïve and headstrong teenager.
 

Her life in Gotham startlingly alters when encountering Batman on the second occasion in this issue. Here we get a dramatic change in artist as Andy Clarke draws, in great detail, the last quarter of the book, as Harper attempts to assist Batman in sewers of Gotham. Although jarring, the art shift serves a transitional purpose: Harper is now fully immersed in Batman’s world of stark detail and uncompromising realism.
 

Batman’s very brief and stoic chat (17 words) with HR is a wake up call to the intelligent teenager to stay away from his dark and dangerous world but Snyder has crafted such a wonderfully strong character for someone so young – caring for her gay brother, unafraid and highly intelligent, that its easy to see that she has a big future in this part of the DC universe. It’s refreshing to see Harper depicted as a regular teenager with baggage rather than supermodel looking woman baring a singular grudge.
 

Harper’s introduction presents us with some questions, which will no doubt be answered in Snyder’s forthcoming arcs: how will Harper and Cullen fit in to the Bat-Universe? Who is the mysterious father she mentions? Is she tipped for a greater role within Gotham?
 

One of my favourite panels of this issue is where Harper returns home to find her brother Cullen collapsed at home after the attack on him. Cloonan, on a six panel page, reduces the scope of the third panel to two circles of vision – only the floor and wall area around the two characters is visible. This highlights the love Harper has for her brother, the shock she feels seeing him there and her caring nature. I think this panel effectively sums up Harper’s pre-Bat-world and works even better that it’s not a splash panel. Very subtle but conveys a page worth of emotion. I can only feel though that Harper’s involvement with Batman will strain her relationship with her brother.
 

Cloonan draws a fantastically noir-ish Batman who wouldn’t look out of place in Miller’s Batman: Year One. We only get a three panel glimpse of him in Cloonan’s section of the book, as he’s battling Cullen’s attackers, but this is because we’re seeing Gotham and its characters through Harper’s ever widening eyes: another mysterious tease for new readers, emulating the mystery that was so effectual in the Batman Begins films, where Bruce breaks up the drug shipping operation at Gotham Docks.
 

Cloonan draws makes her action panels small and snappy then uses larger panels for the  quieter moments, a device that Sean Murphy employs wonderfully in his work and this helps guide the pace of the issue wonderfully. Her layouts are very simple and this does makes for a rough transition to Andy Clarke’s edgier and irregularly shaped panels, reminiscent of JH Williams III’s work on Batwoman. This layout change does again emphasise the alteration to Harper’s world. The same can be said for FCO Placencia’s colouring – we go from muted pastel colours, which adds a glow of youth, to the vivid Technicolor of Gotham’s criminal underworld.
 

Snyder pens convincing youthful voices for Harper and Cullen and this is a side to Snyder’s writing that we rarely glimpse in Batman and one that I hope we get to glimpse again soon. The writer switch from Snyder to Tynion IV is seamless. These guys are on the same wavelength and I’m hugely looking forward to their collaboration on the forthcoming Talon series.
 

Snyder and co have created a well-crafted and fresh tale here, which sets up the future of Harper Row in the space of only 30 pages.
 

Next up is Batman #0 which will set up the next year for book and will also delve in to the past.