BATMAN ODYSSEY #1 (OF 6)

Review by: Rbigley

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Avg Rating: 2.6
 
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Written by NEAL ADAMS
Art and cover by NEAL ADAMS
Sketch variant cover by NEAL ADAMS

Size: 40 pages
Price: 3.99

Neal Adams coming back to Batman is like Kirby doing the FF again.

I remember seeing his art for the first time when Batman: 30’s through the 70’s was published by Bonanza, that reprinted story from Detective  # 395 “The Secret of the Waiting Graves” was amazing. The realism, the detail in anatomy, it was gorgeous. I since then sought out his back issues with Detective  # 397’s “Paint a Picture of Peril” being a favorite. Just the angles and compositions used to tell this story by Denny O’ Neil was unlike other comic book art done at that time.

Now, after spending years away from the comics industry he back on Batman, a character he originally lobbied for when he began working for DC. And its not good. The art itself was fine, but the storytelling was a mess. I have no problems with Dick wearing Tim Drake’s outfit (he did on the animated series) or not having this in continuity (which he named his own comics company back in the 80’s), but you need to establish the world you are setting this in right away. It took me until half way through the book to realize that this is an elseworlds type story. The way Man Bat is used seemed odd, he’s there to give Batman info, him and Robin seem to spar but out of nowhere Batman then berates him for being in his Man – Bat form, or the 10 pages it took to explain why Batman doesn’t use guns. Comics is a visual medium. Few can pull off a “Bendis” with loading your pages with text, Adams is not one of them. The thought balloons alone had my eyes rolling to the back of my skull, why did I need to know that the train conductor’s name was Arthur O’Brien, and he thinks Bruce Wayne is a strapping young man?

UHHHH. . .  total disapointment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuity_Comics

Story: 1 - Poor
Art: 2 - Average

Comments

  1. I agree with the story rating of a 1, but the art was a bit better than a 2.  Overall, dropped this book like the proverbial hot potato.

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