BATMAN 80 PAGE GIANT #1
What did the
iFanboy
community think?
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Size: pages
Price: 5.99
This review contains spoilers, click here to read
I'm really not comfortable with going against the consensus view, I'm usually not that daring, but I'm a little bewildered by the high rating this book has received so far. I have to say I was extremely disappointed. Maybe I built it up too much, after all it should be the perfect combination for me. I'm a long time Batman fan and when you add in snow, the Christmas holiday etc, this should really press my buttons. Unfortunately the whole enterprise fell flat.
First the art rarely rose above the average. The pencils on the first story, for example, by a chap named Grey, seemed to be aiming for something akin to Frank Quitely, and as a result they just felt lacklustre. In other places it just seemed kind of bland and generic, paling against some of the work in the regular books. I would however say that the Samnee stuff stands out because of it's quality.
On to the writing and I can't help but feel the same criticisms. I knew I'd struggle with this book from page one, because the narrative on Grevioux's story was much too wordy and cliched. We've seen this before over and over. There's nothing new in the story itself and I felt that he didn't really handle Dick and Damian's characters effectively either. The rest of the book continued in the same vein. Little morality tales that never felt like they had much substance. I did like the Saint of Orphan Alley story however, feeling that it struck the right tone of mourning and caution.
So, in conclusion then, I was let down by this book. The price is high, but you get a lot of pages, and I would not begrudge the cost if I'd opened the book and found something special. I don't necessarily even expect the polish of half a dozen all star creators. Sometimes these anthologies can work as effective proving grounds for new talent. The thing is, the Batman relaunch has been excellent in so many other ways I was really optimistic for an early Christmas present that would reach the same heights.
Of course it does have the interesting distinction of depicting an Alfred Pennyworth spirallin so far into despair after Bruce Wayne's death that he has taken to cavorting among high society in the company of hookers, before taking them to a lonely hotel room where he sniffs their underwear...at least that's how I read it....
Art: 2 - Average
Hmmm, most people liked the Saint of Orphan Alley story, but I thought it was a little weak myself. It kind of did not have a point to make. Being a hero is difficult? You might get hurt helping others? I’m not sure what the point was. So it was weaker for me.
My fav was the Catwoman story. I liked the art quite a bit and the story was dense, but you had to pay attention. I’ll write a review asap.