I followed Ed Brubaker’s Captain America until Steve Rogers returned during Captain America: Reborn. Rogers’ return was not great to put it mildly. It was equal parts story and shipping schedule that hurt it, but I’m over it and I’m ready to enjoy Secret Avengers. Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter are running the show here and this is really Brubaker’s continuation of their story as Bucky Barnes has taken over the pages of Captain America. I did fall behind in reading as this book was shipping, but diving back into them made for some fun reading. Intrigue, an interesting cast and a mandate to protect the world from unknown threats combine to form something special here.

Spoilers may follow.

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Yesterday, I took Mrs. Lydonwrites and Mother Lydonwrites to see the Cirque du Soleil show DRALION. I owed Mother Lydonwrites for her birthday in November, and this was the Mrs’ Xmas gift, but of course, I went along too. If you’ve never seen Cirque du Soleil, you don’t know that seeing it is a gift to yourself, even if it’s the second time you’ve seen a particular show. Allow me to explain.

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Throughout December I was inundated with all manner of media related to Disney’s TRON: Legacy, the sequel to the 1982 classic TRON. This is ok, I’m a fan, but there was so much TRON in my life all month it would be wrong not to mention it here. Seeing the movie was just the tip of the iceberg. There’s also music, comic books and video games of all kinds, which is appropriate since the original TRON Arcade game may have actually been more popular than the first movie.

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Batman: The Dark Knight #1 variant cover art by David Finch

After a lot of hype and a lot delays, DC Comics’ newest Bat-title, Batman: The Dark Knight, arrived at comic book stores yesterday. Helmed by artist, David Finch, this title is the latest in a string of Batman books written by creators better known for drawing comics than writing them. In some ways, it’s reminiscent of the debut of Image Comics almost twenty years ago. As you’ll see, it isn’t a bad thing in this case, but it’s a rather bold direction for the publisher to take with their flagship character.

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This article has been planned since shortly after MLD ran the State of the X-Men piece back in November. The delay in the post has been directly tied to the delay in DC Comics publishing their second new high profile Batman title, David Finch’s Batman: The Dark Knight, which was originally due to ship November 24. Well Batman: The Dark Knight #1 is supposedly shipping this week (though I’ll believe it when I see it), so this seems like as good a time as any to assess the state of the Batmen Family.

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