Jared Matthews > Recent Status Updates

The Joker is a total chaos agent, this makes him the perfect enemy for Batman. A good detective can get an inkling of what most villains next move might be. With joker, all Batman can do is react to who he chooses to target, Batman is put on the defensive.

This volume gives voice to the psychology and horror of his victims. It really feels like they are in a horror movie, just trying to survive.

It’s really cool how they tied in the original 1950s joker origin story, poisoning the mayor, to his return in the New 52.

That really characterizes this run as a whole. Fresh in that it reinvents many characters, but familiar in that it builds upon previous lore, doing a good job of not retreading old ground.

Capullo’s art does a great job of capturing the horror movie style that Joker brings with him. The scene in the police station with the lights flickering feels straight out of a slasher movie.

This iteration of Joker’s horror elements are amplified. The deal with his face is reminiscent of Hannibal Lector, and his mysteriousness feels like Pennywise.

This adds to the suspense and really ups the stakes.

This issue is where Absolute Green Arrow borders on horror (if it hadn’t already done so). Getting an inside look into Slade’s island, and Dr. Iker’s playground, is about as disturbing as a Nazi concentration camp.

With no second thoughts, Hammond won’t let anything get in the way of cheating death, even if it means becoming an agent of death, and gruesomely experimenting on humans.

Barry’s initial goal of returning the past to how it should be is complicated by the removal of his most traumatic moments from his life.

His mother is alive, and he had a relatively normal childhood, in contrast to the life that he lived through.

This is an interesting conflict, prompting the question: is a life without your most tragic moments worth retaining even when it removes core parts of your identity?

Setting Thomas Wayne as the Batman in this universe is one of the best parts of Flashpoint.

It allows for Batman to be darker, grittier and more emotionally closed off, since he was clearly traumatized by the death of his son (and insanity of his wife).

However, it creates an emotional core inside him that allows for a softer side of him to emerge when he learns that Bruce survived in Barry’s reality.

There’s just something so rawly creative about reimagining familiar characters or worlds such that everything you know is different, all the while retaining that familiarity.

A limited series is a perfect place for this, where the author does not have to make safe decisions since they are supposedly canonical. In this format, risks can be taken, which certainly pay off in this story.

This collection includes the X-Men annual as the second issue. It was very skippable and boring. Although fun to see Dr Strange there.

The first issue is a glorified recap of the X-Men history up until this point, with special attention towards Jean Grey, obviously intended for new readers to get up to date.

Its framed as an elegy, with Cyclops remembering his history with Jean. It’s a smart way to do it, in that it feels meaningful to readers still grappling over Dark Phoenix but inviting towards new readers.

However, I do see it as skippable.

The last issue is truly a roller coaster of emotions, particularly as the duel reaches its end. Slowly, the readers hope for the X-Men’s success dies as they get beaten one by one until only cyclops and Jean Grey remain.

Then, Phoenix is reborn, a fate worse than their defeat. However, Jean is briefly in control. She begs the X-Men to kill her, but they can’t. She does what she has to do, taking her own life.

Wolverine recognizes the obvious distinction between Jean Grey and the Phoenix. However, he’s skeptical whether they can be cleanly separated, with Grey exempt from any blame.

Professor X acts like a protective father, willing to duel to protect her. Cyclops’ is unchanged, ever defensive of Jean, believing in her goodness. Jean is horrified by her actions but unsure how to take responsibility.

In the epilogue, Claremont shows what the effects of the Dark Phoenix saga have had on each of the X-Men, individually.

While some might expect them to take her side, their responses are much more nuanced, and a realistic result to betrayal.

Nightcrawler, with many of the X-Men, are conflicted. While they love Jean as a sister, they aren’t prepared to excuse her of the atrocities she committed as Dark Phoenix.

Claremont does a great job at exploring what the heroes are thinking about to themselves, and deliberating at. Many of his pages are purely thought bubbles.

The epilogue’s courtroom setting and political style is a major change of pace from the physical and fast-paced battle that had been happening up to this point.

However, it lets the dust settle. The characters are held truly accountable for what transpired and the damage they were responsible for.

In Claremont’s typical storytelling style, everything doesn’t go back to normal after Dark Phoenix is defeated.

The last issue feels a bit out of place, almost like an epilogue. At least so far, it feels like the next to last issue would have been a better stopping point for this volume. However, I don’t know what me going to be the fate of the Phoenix, so maybe I’m speaking too soon.

Throughout the entire story, even in her most evil moments, Cyclops never gives up on Jean. He knows that Dark Phoenix isn’t really Jean and that she is still in there.

His commitment and loyalty to Jean shows most strongly when everyone else has given up on her and sees her as the enemy, perhaps reasonably so.

It’s hard to tell if his love for her is making him blind or making him patient and understanding.

What sets this story apart from many other comic book “crises” is the orientation of the heroes towards the villain.

Typically the heroes want to stop the villain by whatever means necessary, even if that means death.

However, in this case, the villain is the friend of the heroes. More than stopping her, they want to save her. Their orientation is one of helping the villain rather than hurting them.

When the Dark Phoenix reaches its potential, it is what is most terrifying: an evil God. Limitless power, with no restraint on purposing it for good.

While this the “evil god” is a typical kind of comic book villain, what spectates Phoenix is the transformation.

Not only is she a near limitless evil god, but she is not alien. She is from earth, with family and friends. This makes her all the more unsettling.

Part of the reason that Wolverine succeeds in this arc is that he’s put in positions where he can do what he does best: fight as a lone wolf with a chip on his shoulder.

When he is separated from his team, his speed and raw power is given full reign to go on a rampage against the myriad of enemies intent on stopping him.

In this context, his arrogant attitude can seem more like relentless heroism.

The fight that Cyclops fought was characterized as being for the very heart and soul of Jean. It’s a must-win scenario for them. The stakes are high, and they’ve gone all in.

Horrifically, Cyclops loses this battle. The stakes remain the same, yet everything seems lost. Even the reader is forced to abandon hope.

The unwritten rules about comics are being broken. The villains win and the heroes have lost.

In chapter 4 and 5, the stakes are unbelievably high and the X-Men are fighting from behind the whole time. Because of how long it’s taken for the story to build to this point, the suspense is immense!

Jean terrifyingly transforms into the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. While we know that she is still Jean Grey, the way she acts feels is totally villainous.

While her behavior change is primarily due to a delusion she is living, thinking that she is Lady Wyngarde, this still doesn’t explain her behavior.

In this delusion, she taunts them and tries to kill her slave. Even without the delusion, this isnt Jean.