The Weekly Panel of Steel #11

Fair warning...this week's Panel of Steel is a bit on the spoilery side, so look away now if you're not up on your reading of Superman/Batman #86.

With that said, I've been enjoying the heck out of the artwork on this three part story, that I guess is going to hit the lights on the way out. Nothing against this story, but it seems a little anti-climactic, especially seeing how this title came out gunning for glory with its first issue.

But yeah, the artwork has been right up my alley. I've been a fan of Tomas Giorello with his work closing out the final issues of Dark Horse's Conan revamp, and subsequently pencilling just about all of the follow up series, Conan The Cimmerian.

While this issue doesn't quite have the stunning coloring job that Conan always seemed to be blessed with, it still looks pretty sharp...especially that last page.

Here's your last chance to avoid the spoilers about the story's antagonist, so let's get going with this week's Panel of Steel!


That's one way to kill a story, I suppose.

Script by Joshua Hale Fialkov
Pencils by Tomas Giorello
Digital Inks by Blond
Colors by Blond
Letters by Travis Lanham

Superman/Batman #86
The Secret Part 2 of 3
September 2011
Copyright (c) DC Comics

The Weekly Panel of Steel #4

It's kinda slim pickin' for a Panel of Steel this week as Superman only made one appearance, and that was in the pages of Superman/Batman #82.

The story continues to chug along quite nicely as Batman and Detective Chimp uncover some important clues into the disappearance of Superman, while Superman himself begins to find his footing in the not too distant future under a magically reanimated sun.

It sounds crazy, but then again the best comic books usually are. Cullen Bunn continues to impress with a very clever script (I love the magic world Batwing! If only this was a Batman themed blog that would've been the panel of the week right there.) and Chriscross makes it all look pretty. There wasn't really one panel of Supes that stood out, however, as Batman took the center stage for most of this issue. Luckily for us we are saved with a stunning cover by Travel Foreman and Val Staples!


I love the blue monochrome look to whole thing, with the focal point being Superman's glowing white hand. The blue gradually gets darker as the light recedes from his hand, giving the battle between Batman and an army of Solomon Grundys in the background an especially eerie feel.

The highlights in the sword are a nice touch and tie the whole image together, letting us know that the rules are somewhat different on this magically influenced earth.

Good stuff, and well worth the price of admission alone. The fact that you got a kick-ass twenty page story to back it up makes it even better.

Artwork by Travel Foreman
Colors by Val Staples

Superman/Batman #82
May 2011
Copyright (c) DC Comics

The Weekly Panel of Steel #2

My apologies for being a little late with the Weekly Panel of Steel feature, as I was away in Indianapolis on business with no easy access to a scanner. Of course it's only the second installment, so as far as anyone knows its only schedule is an erratic one.

We'll see if I can't maintain a Thursday schedule in the future, but in the meantime let's see what this week had to offer.

There were some flashback scenes in Justice League of America #54 that featured Superman, but Brett Booth has never been my cup of tea, so we'll keep looking.

I thought for sure that when I saw that he was going to be showing up in Green Lantern #62, as drawn by Doug Mahnke, that we'd have our winner. Alas, standing around in the Watchtower does not make for the most stunning of visuals, especially with Batman getting all of the best lines.

Luckily, we also had Superman/Batman #81 released this week. This title has actually been quite good for a couple of months now, so I was pleased to see that new creative team was able to keep things going strong. Cullen Bunn and Chriscross did such a good job, that they gave us our Weekly Panel of Steel!


In an issue filled with dragons, demons, and medieval versions of the World's Finest, it was this simple panel of Superman's eyes that steal the show.

You'd think that stare would be enough to let you know that you just crossed the line with Superman, but him being Superman, he's still going to give you a chance to bow out before he beats you senseless.

Script by Cullen Bunn
Pencils by Chriscross
Inks by Marc Deering
Colors by Brad Anderson
Letters by Swands

Superman/Batman #81
Sorcerer Kings Part One
April 2011
Copyright (c) DC Comics