GRAPHIC NOVEL and TRADE PAPERBACK (TPB) REVIEWS

Batman: Blind Justice 1991 (SC TPB) 160 pgs.

Written by Sam Hamm. Pencils by Denys Cowan. Inks by Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin.
Colours: Adrienne Roy. Letters: Todd Klein. Editors: Dan Raspler, Denny O'Neil.

Reprinting: Detective Comics #598-600 (1989)

Rating: * * * * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 3

I should apologize to writer Sam Hamm.

Hamm co-wrote the 1989 Batman movie which I regard as, well, pretty awful -- in fact, all of the big budget Batman movies have been pretty excruciating. As such, learning DC had landed Hamm to write a genuine comic book story, I figured I'd give it a pass. I mean: puh-lease! Compounding my ambivalence toward this saga was my mixed feelings towards artist Denys Cowan's work. But my curiosity got the better of me, particularly as I started hearing how, like just about every screenwriter before him, Hamm's screenplay had been somewhat mangled before it hit the screen.

And so, I picked up the three issues (amounting to about 150 pages as the first and third issue were "80 page giants" in which, in addition to filler pieces -- art and short essays -- commemorating Batman's 60th anniversary, the story itself was some 60 pages each issue) that comprise Sam Hamm's Blind Justice in a back issues bin about four or five years ago. And I've read it a few times since -- and each time (with only a few minor quibbles here and there) I emerge, if anything, even more impressed with it than I was before. Quite frankly, I consider it one of the best Batman sagas ever written and may well be the best mainstream Batman saga ever.

What do I mean by mainstream? Well, I'm discounting stories like Frank Miller's Batman: Year One and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (not to be confused with the dreadful Dark Knight Strikes Again) as both, though brilliant, were a little atypical (one chronicling Batman's beginning, the other his end). And precisely what made them so effective, also made them a bit unsustainable. Miller's slightly unhinged version of Batman worked well in finite, stand alone stories, but probably couldn't have carried an on going series. Whereas Sam Hamm's Batman is very much a mainstream Batman -- dark, tormented, yes, but also rational and more easy to empathize with. And this is very much the comic book Batman, not the armour wearing, blow-up-the-bad-guys one from the movies.

The story has Batman investigating when a new, murderous super villain arrives in town -- the Bonecrusher; a mysterious foe who seeming can die, then come back the next day. Meanwhile, in his alter ego of Bruce Wayne, he becomes involved in a woman's search for her brother, a Wayne Enterprises employee who has vanished. Both trails ultimately lead to a sinister conspiracy involving mind control within Wayne Enterprises itself -- and, no, the Joker, or Two-Face isn't behind it all. Hamm actually treats us to original foes.

Where to begin trying to explain why this is such an impressive effort?

How about the way Hamm deftly mixes nice, familiar super hero adventure, as Batman prowls the night, getting into battles with the Bonecrusher, with a sophisticated detective story where Hamm's not afraid to have scenes of people just talking, or of generating suspense and tension through sinister machinations as much as fight scenes? How about the clever plotting that means the story often zigs when you expected it to zag, going farther and farther afield before twisting about upon itself, so your constantly curious about how the seeming disconnected elements relate, yet in a way that rarely seems contrived or slapdash? How about the grown up use of "guest star" characters, such as the woman searching for her brother, and the brother himself, when so many comics are satisfied with just wrapping the story around the same old familiar hero, recurring villain and regular supporting characters? How about the artful way we are treated to clever analysis of Batman's character and motivations...without it seeming as though Hamm is so in love with his psychobabble, he's forgotten to tell a story?

Re-reading it, I appreciate Hamm's clever turns of phrase, his thoughtful use of text captions. For a screenwriter, used to working only with dialogue, Hamm takes to the "multi-media" nature of comics quite well. There's a subtly written passage near the beginning, as Hamm relates how Batman can ignore pain, ignore discomfort, and ignore his nightmares, that takes a moment to sink in (ignoring pain, in his line of work, is good, but ignoring the neuroses at the root of recurring nightmares is potentially dangerous).

Everytime I read this, I'm reminded of just how good it is, how Hamm elevates the story with elements borrowed more from mainstream thrillers and detective stories, without ignoring, or belittling, the inherent colourful, comicbooky nature of the character and the medium. There are exciting action scenes, but also a leisurely restraint to other scenes. And he creates a saga that comes around upon itself, and intelligently threads themes of loss and family throughout (the woman searching for her brother is, like Bruce, an orphan).

And then there's the art by Denys Cowan, inked by Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin. I've generally had mixed feelings about Cowan's art, but here, combined with the inkers, it truly impresses. Cowan has a nice, eclectic eye for telling a story, an edgy use of close ups, and appropriate angles, but his style often looks rushed and hasty, with deliberately scratchy pencil lines. But Giordano and McLaughlin smooth that out, adding definition to his figures and faces, letting the best of Cowan's style shine through, while reining in the excesses. The result is art that is moody and compelling, and brings the story to life with a sophistication that matches the script.

What just leaves me stunned...is how much this saga seems to have been ignored by fans and pros alike (even though some of the plot would seem to have been cannibalized for the later Knightfall Saga). I mean, sure, it has been collected in a TPB, and generally when people mention it, it's favourably. But they don't seem to mention it very often. I find it amazing that in a medium desperate to find smart, sophisticated works, and where Alan Moore, Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, and others are held up as the "It" writers, Hamm's saga is generally ignored. Of course, part of that may be that industry folk figure there's little point in celebrating a story written by a man who isn't a comics writer by nature. What's the point of celebrating it, when Hamm presumably has little intention of writing anything more in the field (and maybe Hamm himself could never rise to this level again)?

Occasionally I wonder if I've exaggerated its greatness. Maybe it's not that cleverly plotted, maybe the characters aren't that carefully handled. But then I read it again...and, once more, I'm dully impressed. It's a little bit like reading J.M. DeMatteis' "Going Sane" story line (from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #65-68) and wondering how that can be ignored, while Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke" is held up as one of the greatest comics ever written?

I just don't get it.

I often find myself reading comics, looking for that "perfect" story, or story arc; the comic that has it all -- character exploration, clever plot, cool scenes -- and can almost be viewed as "the" definitive story of a certain character. The story that is "the" Superman story, or Spider-Man, or whomever. The story where, if I had to sell off my collection, and could only keep one story for each character, that would be the one -- the true "graphic novel". I haven't found my saga that so perfectly epitomizes Superman, or Spider-Man, or whomever. But I sometimes think that, when it comes to Batman, I have in Blind Justice. In many respects, it is "the" Batman saga.

Not that I want to get rid of my collection. But if I ever did...

This is a review of the story originally serialized in Detective Comics.

Original cover price: $11.59 CDN./$7.50 USA
Re-issue price: $__ CDN./ $19.99 US.

Batman: Child of Dreams 2003 (SC & HC) 352 pages

Written and illustrated by Kia Asamiya. English adaptation by Max Allan Collins.

Additional notes: pin-up gallery; behind-the-scenes pages; interview with Asamiya

Rating: * * * * 1/2 (out of 5)

Number of readings: 1

Child of Dreams has a slightly unusual production history, as DC licensed out Batman to a popular Japanese comic book creator, Kia Asamiya, to basically do a Japanese manga version of Batman -- though still operating under DC editorial supervision. That is: this is still DC's Batman, not an Elseworlds or other out-of-continuity project. And the result was then released in North America, in an English translation/adaptation, as a massive 338 page graphic novel.

The story has a plucky Japanese reporter, Yuko Yagi, and her film crew arriving in Gotham to do a report on the mysterious Batman, just as Batman is confronted with a strange new threat. Various of his key foes are cropping up around town, but turn out not to be his foes, but perfect dopplegangers apparently connected to a new street drug. Who and what is behind it eventually leading Batman back to Japan in pursuit of answers.

The format of Child of Dreams initially struck me as rather intriguing. Although the term "graphic novel" is bandied about a lot, in America it usually refers to 48 or 64 page stories, occasionally an "event" 96 pager. Longer volumes are not original graphic novels, but collections of stories originally serialized in monthly comics. So the idea of doing a 350 page graphic novel struck me as an audacious experiment -- a true graphic novel! However, reading the end notes, I realize that the story actually was first serialized in monthly instalments in Japan, it's only the English edition that exists only as a collected version. Anyway...

Child of Dreams has strengths and weaknesses, but emerges as a refreshingly strong, compelling -- even thoughtful -- saga. And I say that not being one especially fond of Japanese manga styles.

But the art is quite stunning at times. Presented in black and white -- as are most Japanese comics -- Asamiya makes great use of the lack of colour, presenting some meticulously shaded and toned images. There's an intriguing atmosphere generated that's almost dreamlike -- appropriate given the title -- and where Batman seems to exist less in a world of night, than a world of misty twilight. There is a certain cartooniness to faces, particularly with Asamiya's penchant for drawing big noses even on the good looking characters like Bruce Wayne and Yuko, but it only occasionally strays into the more magna style exaggerations and caricatures that one associates with the Japanese style (big eyes and comical expressions). And the world they inhabit exhibits an intriguing realism, with Asamiya perhaps utilizing photo references when drawing his city scapes and cars. As such, the story seems more real, more grounded, than a lot of Batman comics.

And Asamiya has a great eye for composition, the scenes often strikingly presented. The early scene where the Japanese film crew arrives in Gotham and first see the bat signal is stunning, as Asamiya presents the image, not as a spotlight in the sky, but as an image that looms over the city, barely glimpsed in some panels. His Batman inparticular is a nice blend of ideas, being at once all shadowy mystery, while still seeming to be just a man in a costume.

With all that being said, and the fact that I think the art is a big appeal of the story -- and the black and white presentation adding something colour might lack -- Asamiya isn't without his flaws. Namely the action scenes can be a bit confusingly staged. This is partly because the general realism he had applied to figures can get tossed aside a bit and the figurework itself get a bit distorted, partly because, in drawing a dark suited figure battling, often, other dark suited figures, it's hard to tell who's doing what, and partly because of his choice of composition, utilizing extreme close ups -- of what, you aren't always sure -- and strange angles. Now doing a super hero saga where the action scenes can be awkwardly presented might seem a kind of deadly flaw but, strangely, in Child of Dreams, the action scenes aren't exactly paramount. There's as much talking as fighting.

There is a strange...elegance to the tale, where the story can seem as much about the people and the mood and the suspense, as it is about any two-fisted dust up.

The story is a bit slow moving, a bit protracted. Does it really need 350 pages to tell the tale? Well...no. And scenes can go on longer than they need, both conversations and action scenes. And though I've complained about that in other comics, here, though a flaw, it was often only a minor one. (And learning the story was originally serialized, one wonders if some of that sense of repetition and extended scenes was because ideas needed to be recapped from issue to issue). And that's partly because it does let the story, the scenes, and the characters...breathe. And maybe that's one of the strengths of the story -- it does seem as much about the people (limited though the cast is) as the events.

Yuko is a principal figure, and if not exactly a radical characterization (just a plucky but naive gal) she's nonetheless appealing. I've commented that super hero comics are often loathe to employ "guest stars" -- that is, to introduce and develop a character in a story that's not part of the regular mythos. Asamiya bucks that trend. Of course, with the focus on Yuko, one might almost bristle at the conceit of the creator -- doing a Batman story where his own character seems to hog some of the centre stage. But in the context of a Batman story, it actually kind of works, as DC has long played up Batman as a character who has worked to make himself as much a legend as a man -- as both Batman and billionaire Bruce Wayne. So telling the story, partly, from an outsiders perspective plays into this, allowing the reader to maybe appreciate Batman as others would. And, as well, Batman -- and Bruce Wayne -- are hardly neglected. In fact, although there's plenty of scenes of Batman in all his gothic grandeur, Asamiya also puts the emphasis on Bruce Wayne, allowing Bruce to act as the driving personality, who investigates some of the mystery in his civilian guise. And there's some intriguing reflections on the character and what makes him tick.

There's also a tentative romance that is developed between Bruce and Yuko that gives the story an added, human, element.

And perhaps most refreshing is Asamiya's presentation of the Batman character. Despite describing him as "more terrible than the villains", Asamiya's Batman is actually a more sympathetic, more compassionate hero than is often depicted, one who would as soon talk down a conflict, as fight it out, and one who can show pity toward his foes. This, as much as anything, helps to really make the story a memorable -- emotionally involving -- saga.

Of course, how much Asamiya deserves credit and how much Max Allan Collins does, I don't know. American writer Collins (who briefly wrote some Batman stories in the 1980s) is credited as "English Adaptation" which might imply he simply translated -- but "adaptation" implies a little more creative input than simply "translation". And at the back of the book, a few pages are reproduced, showing the original Japanese pages -- and it looks as though the Collins' version includes a few extra word balloons as if he was adding dialogue that Asamiya hadn't.

Ironically, despite the blatant fantasy of this super drug that can even alter physical appearances, there seems to be a groundedness to this Batman story, partly because, as noted, of Asamiya's realist backgrounds, and partly because of its emphasis on the people as people. I'd almost have said is that the Japanese influence? Except in a closing interview with Asamiya, he reveals that he had wanted to make it more weird and fantasy-based, but it was the American editors at DC who asked him to keep it more realist!

As mentioned, the story plays up the notion of Batman as a pop icon, even within his own reality, and the story plays with themes of media and celebrity, as the villainy is tied into a bizarre appreciation of Batman, as the mysterious villain announces early that he's Batman's "biggest fan". It could get a little too cutesy, or self-reflective, but Asamiya keeps it from sliding into self-referential camp. Ironically, you could perceive the story as being a criticism of over-zealous fandom -- except then, in that closing interview, Asamiya reveals he's a huge Batman fan himself and has collected a bunch of memorabilia!

Ultimately, I can't say Child of Dreams is flawless -- it's a bit too long, a bit slow, a few too many scenes protracted. For a "mystery", like a lot of comics, it's not like there are too many genuine surprises as to who the villain is, or even his motives (although there are some nuances that are developed). And there's a definite tenuous logic to the drugs involved and how they evolve. In fact, the mystery is supposed to coincide with the arrival of the Japanese film crew -- but they're "barely through customs" before the action begins.

Yet for all that, after one reading at least, Child of Dreams nudges it's way toward the top of my list. It's full of atmosphere and haunting mood, some beautiful, striking imagery, and a human, character-based tale -- one about people as much as super heroes. Batman is what a hero should be -- brooding and driven, yes, but also compassionate and sympathetic. It's nicely self-contained, with Yuko and the villain and his scheme entirely original to this store, but has fun playing on the Batman mythos with appearances by dopplegangers of Batman's key foes. In a way, it reminds me of some of Jeph Loeb's Bat-sagas like The Long Halloween and Hush, but seeming more intriguing, more -- dare I say it -- sophisticated. And as the title implies, there are hints of themes and subtexts threaded throughout the plot.

Hard cover price: $24.95 US.

Batman: Collected Legends of the Dark Knight 1994 (TPB) 160 pgs.

by: James Robinson / Tim Sale - Alan Grant / Kevin O'Neill - John Francis Moore / P. Craig Russell.
Colours: various. Letters: various. Editors: Archie Goodwin, Bill Kaplan.

Reprinting: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #32-34, 38, 42-43 (1992, 1993)

Rating: * * * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 2

This is a collection of stories from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (LOTDK), a Bat-comic with no consistent writer-artist, often telling more ambitious or off beat stories than other Bat-titles, usually set during Batman's early years of crime fighting. Critically well regarded, quite a number of the early storylines have been collected in TPBs.

Enough of the preamble, on with the review.

"Blades" (#32-34)
A charming, swashbuckling superhero, the Cavalier, becomes a media darling when contrasted with Batman's dark, sullen demeanour. But while Batman is obsessed with a killer of old people, the Cavalier veers from the straight-and-narrow of superhero-dom. Batman eventually captures the serial killer...and then must face the Cavalier in a final confrontation.

This is a popular storyline, and it's easy to see why. For one thing, despite the serial killer angle, this isn't a violent, hyper-macho opus the way some Batman stories are presented. It's almost lyrical in spots, and a story rather than just an action piece. The Cavalier isn't a black-hat bad guy, and you've got to love any story where some of the key action scenes aren't Batman beating up bad guys, but Batman saving lives. Too many comic book writer's (even those who decry the juvenileness of the genre) rely solely on violence and fisticuffs to generate excitement, forgetting Batman is as much a defender as an avenger.

Artist Tim Sale has a (slightly) cartoony style (lots of big heads), lending the story its vaguely fairy tale ambience, and he has a nice eye for composition (accentuating one of the story's themes -- showbiz -- with exaggerated shadows and llights, as if Gotham itself were a stage). And colourist Steve Oliff's use of earthtones complements him beautifully, giving Gotham a melancholy, yet hauntingly poetic air.

"Blades" isn't perfect: there's a feeling James Robinson was striving too hard to write a "Great" story, and didn't always write a good one -- it's too aloof in spots. His dialogue lacks naturalism, and the story and characters could've used some fleshing out (it's hard to believe it took 77 pages). And Robinson fails to make all his themes connect.

In the end, though, the strengths of "Blades", the atmosphere, and the tragi-comic figure of the Cavalier, haunt the reader long after the weaknesses are forgotten. Actually, it's one of the more memorable comic book stories to be published in the last few years.

"Legend of the Dark Mite" (#38)
Bat-Mite, the other-dimensional imp conceived in the more whimsical '50s, is here re-introduced into the modern, more "realistic" Bat-mythos through the conceit of possibly being a junkie's drug-induced hallucination.

And it answers the question "what would Batman be like as done by counter-culture animator Ralph Bakshi?"

O.K., O.K., so this satirical curio is better than anything Bakshi's ever done. It's funny in spots, and visually off-kilter, but there's an underlying ugliness and meanness that sours it a bit. The nihilistic-'90s digging its talons into the product of a more guiless era. And though LOTDK is a comic published without Comics Code approval, this is the only story in this collection that seems as though it mightn't have got that approval if it wanted. Though since some of the (admittedly cartoony) violence may be a hallucination, maybe it's justified as unreal.

"Hothouse" (#42, 43)
A new drug leads Batman to the supposedly reformed Pamela Isley (a.k.a. Poison Ivy), who can have a bio-chemical effect on men. Isley claims she's an innocent dupe of a couple of drug suppliers, and Batman wants to believe her...but is he just falling under her spell?

Like "Blades", "Hothouse" also avoids being a testosterone-driven pummel-fest, and is instead more a detective piece. John Francis Moore scripts some nice, wry lines, and Batman is a more compassionate figure than he's often allowed to be, making the story surprisingly ingratiating, particularly after a second reading. Even Ivy is more multi-dimensional, and sympathetic, than she's been in some stories.

Conversely, for a 50 page story, the plot isn't all that complex, or unexpected, making some of the talkie scenes a bit dry occasionally.

The art by P. Craig Russell, like Moore's script, is a mix of plus and minus. His lush, flowing style gives the piece a sense of elegance, but it can be a little too stylized and aloof.

Ultimately, "Hothouse" is a fair, understated effort: likeable, but not riveting.

"Blades" is haunting, "Hothouse" likeable, and "Legend of the Dark Mite" is, well, interesting, making Batman: Collected Legends of the Dark Knight a pleasing compilation -- although you could probably pick up the original issues at a well-stocked comic shop for no more than the price of this collection..

Cover price: $17.95 CDN./$12.95 USA.

This is a review of the stories originally published in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight comics.

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