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daileyxplanet's review
4.0
Someone once said that an alternative timeline or universe shows a character's true essence and I think at least with the Batman issues, this is true. I didn't read every #0.
library_jones's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
thecommonswings's review
3.0
In this year’s Christmas 2000AD, Judge Dredd “teams up” with his two cinematic portrayals. It’s a nice idea that acts as a criticism of how the films frequently misunderstood the nature of how Dredd works, but basically reminds us that the real Dredd - the one who has grown, soured, aged and doubted - is the one we have followed for nearly fifty years of comics. A man in his seventies who knows the end is closer to the beginning
I thought of that because of how weirdly this Batman book tries to deal with time: it’s there for some lighthearted fun as grim dark Batman and Robin meet the original, bumbling Alfred; it’s there for a bit of baffling Batgirl action (amounting to “there’s something different about THIS Batgirl, because she has functional legs” and that alone); it’s there for a frankly terrible Catwoman and prehistoric animals nonsense; and it’s there for a fine team up of Robins. It’s a nice idea and at its best deals with the complex agony of a character who has to age in some way (because the plot is so often driven by how Bruce engages with his past) but not enough to make any bloody difference to the status quo. There’s no sense of how brutal all this could be, save for the issue where Batman turns up in a world where his parents are fine but he was the victim of the shooting
It’s the issue zeroes that effectively round off the book that are the problems. I suspect the idea was that the Zero Hour comics look at the past in an interesting way, and the Beginning of Tomorrow ones kick start a new era. Except that never really happens except for the Viewpoint issue of Legends of the Dark Knight, which is visually arresting (if schizophrenic as all comics with dozens of artists usually are) and interesting in terms of plot. Otherwise we almost literally get the same story told from different creators again and again - and nothing dulls an impact like reading the fourth (or is it fifth?) variation of the Wayne’s getting shot in the same book. Some of this feels enormously phoned in both in terms of art and writing
But it’s also kind of interesting as an example of a big tentpole character on the cusp of a wildly different way of storytelling and art. It’s a transition piece, although I don’t think it fully knows this. It feels almost like a final fanfare of an industry knowing what it does is basically the same as it did twenty years previously. Things get interesting - for good and bad - for both big publishers in comics in the 21st century and these stories would be written and drawn in a wildly different way. So it’s an interesting time capsule if nothing else
I thought of that because of how weirdly this Batman book tries to deal with time: it’s there for some lighthearted fun as grim dark Batman and Robin meet the original, bumbling Alfred; it’s there for a bit of baffling Batgirl action (amounting to “there’s something different about THIS Batgirl, because she has functional legs” and that alone); it’s there for a frankly terrible Catwoman and prehistoric animals nonsense; and it’s there for a fine team up of Robins. It’s a nice idea and at its best deals with the complex agony of a character who has to age in some way (because the plot is so often driven by how Bruce engages with his past) but not enough to make any bloody difference to the status quo. There’s no sense of how brutal all this could be, save for the issue where Batman turns up in a world where his parents are fine but he was the victim of the shooting
It’s the issue zeroes that effectively round off the book that are the problems. I suspect the idea was that the Zero Hour comics look at the past in an interesting way, and the Beginning of Tomorrow ones kick start a new era. Except that never really happens except for the Viewpoint issue of Legends of the Dark Knight, which is visually arresting (if schizophrenic as all comics with dozens of artists usually are) and interesting in terms of plot. Otherwise we almost literally get the same story told from different creators again and again - and nothing dulls an impact like reading the fourth (or is it fifth?) variation of the Wayne’s getting shot in the same book. Some of this feels enormously phoned in both in terms of art and writing
But it’s also kind of interesting as an example of a big tentpole character on the cusp of a wildly different way of storytelling and art. It’s a transition piece, although I don’t think it fully knows this. It feels almost like a final fanfare of an industry knowing what it does is basically the same as it did twenty years previously. Things get interesting - for good and bad - for both big publishers in comics in the 21st century and these stories would be written and drawn in a wildly different way. So it’s an interesting time capsule if nothing else
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