GRAPHIC NOVEL and TRADE PAPERBACK (TPB) REVIEWS

Going Sane
  I originally reviewed this storyline here; subsequently it was collected, along with -- I think -- Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #200.

Gotham by Gaslight
see review in Batman Elseworlds section

Batman: Gothic 199_ (SC TPB) 128 pages

Written by Grant Morrison. Art by Klaus Janson.
Colours: Steve Buccellato. Letters: John Constanza. Editor: Andrew Helfer, Kevin Dooley.

Reprints: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #6-10 (1990)

Rating: * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 2

Suggested (mildly) for Mature Readers.

The sinister, supernatural Mr. Whispers is going around killing Gotham City mobsters, enacting revenge for their having "murdered" him twenty years before. Meanwhile, Batman begins to suspect that Mr. Whisper is really his old boarding school head master, as well as a child murderer, leading him to a European monastery and tales of a centuries old deal with the Devil.

There are some intriguing aspects to Gothic, and moments that threaten to get creepy and moody. But the opening issue establishes some of the overall problems. Though intriguing, in order to establish that someone is killing Gotham mobsters, writer Grant Morrison depicts Mr. Whisper going around, killing mobsters...again, and again, and yet again -- at least once in a particularly gratuitously grisly way. And since that's about all there is to that issue (other than Batman having a dream, recalling his childhood), there's a real sense of thinness...and repetition.

Morrison seems to have trouble developing his story. Batman is told that Mr. Whisper had been murdered 20 years before, and also recalls that his headmaster (whom he suspects to be the same man) quit the school under a cloud of scandal. So wouldn't you think that would be his first area of inquiry, looking into the events of twenty years before? Apparently not. In fact, it's never explained what the scandal was that caused the headmaster to leave the school (since it's unclear anyone other than Batman -- and that only now -- connected him to thee child murders). Morrison stretches out his story by introducing questions, ignoring them for an issue or two, and then having some character explain it all in a rush that leaves little room for the story -- or the suspense -- to unfold. In one sequence Batman is told about a haunted monastery, where the ghost of a flaming nun has been seen. Batman goes to said monastery, and sees...the ghost of said nun. Uh, wouldn't it have made more sense to have Batman be warned simply of strange lights seen in the monastery, so that when he investigates, he -- and the reader -- can be surprised by the nature of said lights?

The mystery aspects are also oddly handled, with Batman gleaning clues from dreams or happenstance, rather than from more conventional deductive sources. At one point he infers a clue because he accidentally plays the wrong tape (which even Alfred remarks seems like a stretch)! Maybe because of the supernatural aspects to the story, Morrison figures such plot devices are justified (perhaps we are to assume God is helping Batman along or something) but it just makes the story seem loosely plotted.

Even the moderately intriguing idea of underworld figures banding together to hunt Mr. Whispers two decades before (which Morrison lifted from the famous German melodrama, "M") doesn't really seem developed, nor are the characters.

Which brings up Morrison's treatment of Batman. Morrison tells the story only through the pictures and dialogue -- not even a voiceover narration as other Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight stories have employed. This may explain why Batman seems like such an elusive character throughout. I kept reading chapters thinking Batman only had a bit part, but then I realized he appeared on many of the pages -- Morrison just fails to make much impression with him.

As well, I've long felt there was a problem with the modern take on Alfred. In the mid-80s, writer Frank Miller (and editor Denny O'Neil) introduced the idea of Alfred as a sarcastic, wisecracking character, which, admittedly, injected some humour into the stories. But the danger is that Batman's sole human interaction -- with Alfred -- can be sapped of all warmth or humanity, rendering an already isolated character (Batman) even moreso. Some writers have bridge the two versions. Not so Morrison. The scenes between Batman and Alfred are cold, again, explaining why Batman -- as a human character -- doesn't really emmerge in this story. Worse, Alfred's asides aren't even all that funny!

Lack of character, and humanity, lingers throughout. Morrison spends a lot of time with the mobsters, without ever fleshing them out. Batman, meanwhile, suspects a childhood school chum, who he had always assumed had transferred away from the school, was in fact murdered by Mr. Whisper. Yet that never plays into his motivation -- in fact, it's barely even addressed.

There are plot holes and unexplained aspects (Batman is tied up in one of those goofy death traps villains like so much...but it's entirely unclear how he escapes it; particularly annoying since the death trap is the cliff-hanger between two chapters and is stretched out over a number of pages). And, overall, like a lot of the five chapter, "epic" stories published in LOTDK, this really doesn't seem to have enough to fill out its length (perhaps explaining why, after beginning the series with a bunch of five-chapter stories, the idea was dropped for the next hundred or so issues of LOTDK!)

There are also a few oblique scenes that assume you know your Bat-lore intimately, like tying an aspect of the story into the night Batman's parents were murdered...without ever actually coming right out and saying that!

The art by Klaus Janson also left me with mixed feelings. Janson, formerly an inker with a highly identifiable crude, heavy brush style, could enhance an artist's pencils with dark, raw mood and smouldering atmosphere, even as he could hurt the work by blunting over the finer details of a picture. As an artist, his work retains a certain kineticism and dark mood, and some nicely composed panels (perhaps a storytelling knack he picked up from his years of inking Frank Miller) but the underlying pencil work seems rushed and shows only the vaguest grasp of anatomy, or even how human bodies bend. The result is art that is intriguing at first, suiting the dark, sinister mood, but starts to wear after a while in its crudeness and lack of nuance.

An intriguing, decidedly dark, potentially creepy tale, full of hints of big -- even relevant -- themes...but the whole thing seems undeveloped, its potential largely unfulfilled. Not terrible, perhaps, but nothing noteworthy, either.

This is a review of the story as it was serialized in Batman: LOTDK comics.

Cover price: $18.95 CDN./ $__ USA.

Batman: Hong Kong
   For my review at www.ugo.com, go here.

Batman: Hush (parts 1 and 2)
see my review (plus an interview with Jeph Loeb) here.

Batman in the Eighties 2004 (SC TPB) 192 pages

Written and illustrated by various.
Colours/letters: various

Reprints:

Rating: N/R

Number of readings: 1

I haven't read the full book, hence why I haven't given it an official rating

DC Comics periodically releases TPB collections spotlighting a decade in the lives of either of its two chief properties, Superman and Batman (such as Superman in the Seventies. The latest is Batman in the Eighties featuring a variety of tales culled from the 1980s. Essentially, these are "Best of..." collections and, often, the results can be a bit mixed (everyone will have a favourite story that they felt should've been included). But Batman in the Eighties is a surprisingly strong effort, and a nicely diverse one (in contrast, Batman in the Seventies consisted mainly of stories written only by one author, Denny O'Neil).

I don't have the book, nor have I read all the stories collected in it. However, I do have a number of the original stories in my collection and, based on them, I can say this is a good book. Even if the remaining, unread, stories are utter dreck, it shouldn't detract from the quality of the better efforts.

"To Kill a Legend", originally published as the lead feature in the 500th anniversary issue of Detective Comics, has already been collected more than once over the years (including in The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told). Admittedly, I have qualms about that: TPB collections are sufficiently expensive, and seem to be propogating exponentially, that companies should try to avoid repetition if possible. With that being said, it's an emotionally rich tale as Batman is given the opportunity to avert his parents' murder on a parallel world -- but Robin worries that to do so will mean that parallel world's Bruce Wayne will never grow up to be Batman. And which is the greater crime? Intelligently told by writer Alan Brennert, with strong dialogue, and illustrated competently by Dick Giordano, it's definitely a memorable one, drawing upon the then-mythos relating to who and why Batman's parents were initially killed (stuff no longer considered canonical).

The double sized "The Player on the Other Side" (Batman Special #1) may well be one of prolific comics writer Mike W. Barr's finest achievements. I'm generally ambivalent about Barr, a writer who often tried for ambitious themes, but usually with mixed results. But this works exceptionally well. Batman meets his doppleganger in the Wrath, an assassin whose parents were killed by a cop the same night Batman's were murdered by a crook, and who grew up to wage war on all law enforcement. His current target is Commissioner Gordon -- the one-time beat cop who killed his parents. In addition to the clever themes of dual destiny, and some memorably written exchanges, it's just a well crafted thriller, with some nice, edge-of-the-seat suspense scenes (Batman frantically calling home after realizing the Wrath knows his identity and that Alfred is in danger). It's drawn by the too rarely seen Michael Golden, with the only flaw that Golden could only ink of few of his own pages, leaving the rest to Mike DeCarlo, an inker with a rigid, hard-line style not wholly suited to Golden's soft, organic pencils. Also the colours in the climax don't exactly evoke the night time setting. But those are minor quibbles.

I was surprised by the inclusion of "Shadow Play" (Batman #348) partly because I initially assumed it was the story from one issue before (which also had "shadow" in the title) which was more clearly aiming to be a profound semi-classic. But re-reading "Shadow Play" again, I'm glad they went with it. Firstly, it's written by Gerry Conway, a comics writer who wrote for just about every title at one time or another in the 1970s and 1980s (as did most writers of his generation). Conway had his creative ups and downs, but I don't think he's ever quite received his due from fandom. And his tenure on Batman, including an epic masterpiece of Byzantine sub-plots, is one of my favourite creative periods of any title in any era (as I detail here). But "Shadow Play" is also just a well told tale, and one that showcases an unusual aspect of Batman -- his compassion -- as he journeys into the dark catacombs of the Batcave, risking life and limb, seeking the mad Man-Bat in an effort to cure him. It's well paced, with Conway's nice ear for easy, humanizing dialogue between the characters making you believe in them and their relationships, and it's effectively illustrated by the unusual combo of Gene Colan and Klaus Janson.

What you notice about all three of these stories -- culled from what's known as pre-Crisis continuity -- is that it's a rather different Batman than is often depicted today. He's a more human, well rounded Batman -- one capable of compassion, and of fear, of self-doubt and guilt, and of demonstrating easy comaraderie with Robin...all while still being driven and brooding.

Gosh -- I miss him.

"Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker...!" (Batman #321) is a more problematic choice. It too has been collected more than once before (including in The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told). And I just don't see what the fuss is about. It's a perfectly O.K. romp, but a tad generic -- there's nothing that sticks out about it. Though, in this context, that might be its appeal -- its lack of pretension. It's drawn by Walt Simonson and scripter Len Wein is one of my favourite writers from the Bronze Age. And it's the dialogue that I appreciate most here. Sometimes with just a line or two, Wein could convey whole layers of character interaction (such as a brief, understated exchange between Batman and Selina Kyle, then reformed and dating Bruce Wayne).

This collection also includes a two-part Batgirl tale originally run as a back up feature. Batgirl had long lurked in the back pages of Detective Comics, often no more than competently written or illustrated. This story wasn't so much a breath of fresh air, as it was a tornado of oxygen -- particularly in the art department. Moodily illustrated by the dynamic, eclectic Trevor Von Eden, and with Barbara Randall (later Barbara Kesel) writing an off beat tale involving sibling rivalry and corporate crime, it kicked the dust off the character. It was a Batgirl tale that suddenly made me look forward to Batgirl tales...so, naturally, it also turned out to be the last Batgirl tale, at least in that period, as DC dropped it. Why bring in a whole new creative team...and then pull the rug out from under the character after only two seven page instalments? Still, particularly visually, I tend to think of this as one of the Silver Age Batgirl's finest hours.

What's interesting and applaudable about this collection is a desire to reflect the whole of the Bat-mythos. In addition to the solo Batgirl story, there's also material dealing with the Outsiders (Batman's early 1980s team) and the Teen Titans (Robin's group). In fact, the motive behind including "Shadow Play" may well have simply been to present a Man-Bat appearance. Also collected here are stories from Batman #384, Detective Comics #571, The New Titans #55, and DC Sampler #3.

As mentioned at the beginning of this piece, I haven't read all the stories here -- but most of those I have are worthy efforts. In fact, based on these stories, and assuming the same care and taste went into selecting the others, if my wallet was any heavier, I'd be sorely tempted to pick this up to see what I'm missing. As it is, I can say with reasonable confidence that Batman in the Eighties is well worth the trip through time.

Cover price: $__ CDN. $19.95 USA.

Batman-Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham  1991 (SC GN) 64 pages

Written by Alan Grant, John Wagner. Illustrated and painted by Simon Bisely.
Letters: Todd Klein. Editors: Denny O'Neil, Steve MacManus.

Co-published with Fleetway Publications.

Rating: * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 1

Mature Readers

Batman meets Judge Dredd (and Judge Anderson) while villain Judge Death meets villain the Scarecrow.

Batman is, of course, a costumed vigilante who lives in modern day Gotham City and is published by DC Comics. British creation Judge Dredd is a draconian police officer/judge/jury all in one who lives in a distant future and was published by Fleetway Publications (and various other companies in the U.S. -- including DC briefly). This company crossover has a Dredd villain, Judge Death (pursued by another Dredd villain, the comic relief Mean Machine) arriving in modern day Gotham City, while Batman gets flung into Dredd's future/alternate reality of Mega-City One. While Judge Death teams up with Batman's foe the Scarecrow in Gotham, Batman gets arrested by Judge Dredd in Mega-City One, eventually escaping with the aid of a more level headed, female judge, Judge Anderson. The two return to Gotham City to tackle the villains who're on a killing spree, with Judge Dredd in pursuit.

Judgment on Gotham (the first of three team-ups between the two) is kind of uneven. Judge Dredd is one of those comics which fans seem to acknowledge is violent and even fascist, but is labelled satirical. And this story is clearly meant to be silly in spots, but that's part of the problem. It's cute, it's even amusing...but it rarely quite becomes funny. Mean Machine is a big guy with a dial on his head that he can adjust to make himself meaner, whose chief tactic is to head butt people. That's kind of absurdly amusing the first couple of times, but wears thin after a while. Still, the story trundles doggedly along for the most part, not being particularly good, not being particularly terrible, but the conventional plot seems like John Wagner and Alan Grant (writers of both Judge Dredd and, in Grant's case, Batman) presumably banged it out over a cup of coffee (before their coffee had time to cool) and doesn't offer any surprises or clever ideas. And the violent climax just kind of drags on and on until, I'll confess, ennui set in.

Even the fish-out-of-water idea is barely explored. Batman doesn't really get a chance to run around Mega-City One, nor does Dredd explore Gotham. You come away not really having much sense of either characters' reality.

There are practical concerns with the story, too. Crossovers, let's face it, are not so much artistic excercises, but commercial ones. Two companies get together, hoping they can tap a new audience. That is, a Batman fan buys it, and gets turned on to Judge Dredd, or vice versa.

But Batman's a bit out of his element in a story that's not meant to be taken seriously. A dramatic character can function in a comedic environment as long as the character can stay in character. But the problem with a satire is that it's not really meant to be held up to analysis. Batman can't comment on what he really thinks of Judge Dredd's reality (other than a brief quip about Dredd being "gestapo"), 'cause it would force Judge Dredd into a more serious corner. As such, Batman has to be a bit of a blank slate, character-wise. Even ability-wise he is underused -- he doesn't escape from jail using his skills or intellect, he is broken out by Judge Anderson.

Judge Dredd fares even less well, appearing in only a few scenes in his own team up! Judge Anderson is featured more.

Wagner and Grant seem far more interested in the villains. More than a third of the pages are devoted to the villains (Judge Death, Scarecrow, Mean Machine) traipsing around with nary a hero in sight -- more pages, in fact, than are devoted to scenes of the heroes without the villains! I'm kind of cool to the idea that villains are more interesting than heroes, particularly when the villains are such motiveless, anarchic characters. And in the case of Judge Death, such a brutally violent character.

Simon Bisely's painted art is another mixed bag, all cartoony distortions, inflated muscles and extraneous lines and paint splotches. Painted comics are always kind of neat, and there's a certain atmosphere at work...but other times it works against any mood, with busy panels that are hard to figure out what's going on. It's certainly not a style that lends itself to subtle facial expressions which would convey emotion or characterization. And he seems to have one (surrealistc) style, meaning his Gotham (with cops driving racing cars and morgues like something out of gothic sci-fi) and Mega-City One look pretty homogeneous, robbing the story of what should be its point: the contrast between Batman and Dredd.

Recommended for mature readers due to violence. There's also a scene where Judge Death shows his willy, if that appeals to ya. Judge Anderson (the pretty, female character) has a couple of racy panels, too, but is draped in shadow. Ultimately, this is for Batman or Judge Dredd completists, but others might prefer to get a sample of these guys elsewhere.

Cover price: $6.95 CDN./ $5.95 USA.

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