More Batman readings
I haven’t been posting here for a while as I was pretty occupied taking care of my son and wife during the holidays. I have however had some time to go on reading some books, and all of them were Batman stories…
First in line was Batman: Anarky trade paperback that collects Detective Comics #608-609, Batman Chronicles (1995-2000) #1, Batman: Shadow of the Bat (1992-2000) 40-41, and Anarky (1997 1st Series) #1-4 all written by Alan Grant. I had no idea who Anarky was at first, but it was a Batman story with Alan Grant in the mix so it couldn’t possibly turn out to be too bad. And I think that’s exactly how I felt when reading it: “Not too bad”. It did not really thrill me to read it, Anarky is an OK character between a hero (or a “vigilante” as he says in the book) and a villain who’s trying to save humanity by doing not-so-legal things that put him on Batman’s blacklist. The art was just horrible in the first story but it got better as I read on, without being astounding… So yeah… “Not too bad” is what fits best when talking about that book in my opinion.
The second trade paperback I read was Batman: Gothic. I was a bit disappointed by the art at first… I found it was too “fuzzy” like when there’s too much noise when watching TV (the kind of noise that makes the image sloppy) but when reading I found it matched the story pretty nicely and wasn’t bothered by it. I found the story interesting as it unveils a part of Bruce Wayne’s childhood, and the outcome was quite unexpected but I was a bit disappointed by it… Ends up like one of those Japanese animation series where they seem to have used up their entire budget and only have enough money to produce ONE episode. So of course everything gets mashed up and it leaves a lot to be desired… So that’s a bit how I felt, the whole story is a crescendo but it’s concluded in 1 page so it leaves a “So that’s it?” impression. But besides that the story was good and pretty creative too and I think it stands out a bit thanks to its originality.
Last but not least is Batman: Hush vol.1 & 2. I’ve finished reading the first volume and am half way through the second one, and damn that’s a good book. Jeph Loeb is the writer (remember A Long Halloween?) and artist is not Tim Sale this time but Jim Lee. Let me tell you the combination is great! The story’s good, the art and colouring are impeccable, plus you get to see Batman kicking some Metropolitan’s ass which doesn’t spoil anything. Really worth the time and money spent…