Comic Books

	I have been a fan of The Batman for about 40 years starting to read the comics in the 60’s. Yes, that was the age of the Pink Alien stories and the TV series. Although I dropped off reading them in favour of other novels I got drawn back to them due to a friend showing me a copy of Frank Millar’s “The Dark Knight Returns” and then buying myself a copy of “Killing Joke”. Since then I’ve been seriously hooked on the darker, grittier and harder Batman. I once read a description of him as a Role-playing character in Dragon magazine, being an Insane Paladin. It’s a description that does give depth to his dark brooding nature.   The recent movie “Batman Begins” gave me pause for thought as when I read that Christian Bale had been selected for the lead role. I didn’t think that he could carry off the role, I was wrong! The scene where he interrogates the corrupt cop matched the image portrayed in the books. Christian Bale’s line “Do I look like a Cop!” was delivered exactly as it should have been, hard, threatening and scary.
	In recent years I have found another series of books, which have attracted me not just for their complex storylines but also for their excellent artwork. These are William Tucci’s SHI series. The character of SHI is radically differing to The Batman in one respect Anna Ishikawa does not hesitate to kill. The basic storyline is that Anna is a Half American Half Japanese woman who saw her father and brother murdered. The initial series “Way of the Warrior” depicts her search for revenge.     They were published by Crusade Comics but now it seems as if Dark Horse have picked up the publishing rites. If you haven’t read any then, have a look you might find them interesting.	SHI