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kilforheaven's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
stevenyenzer's review against another edition
3.0
Solid follow-up to Long Halloween. I found the plot a bit hard to follow at times, but the art and action were good enough to keep me from caring too much.
georgesc's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
jdemster's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing. This combination of creative minds have come up with my favorite stories in the Batman universe. Huge huge fan of this team. The writing, character development, artwork, pacing, and tone of this tale is awesome. I love how it handles the integration of Robin into the established Batman they established in TLH, which was brilliant. Everything that was great about that book is continued here.
oddmara's review against another edition
5.0
I didn't think I'd like this better than The Long Halloween but I did. By a lot. First of all, even if it fully is the same artist I liked the artstyle in this one so much more, it feels like in The Long Halloween they were figuring it out, and for this one they fully got it down.
On one side, funnily enough, this felt like The Riddler's tragic backstory, I swear to god. These two stories are laying down exactly why the Riddler becomes a villain because fully, with all these vigilante and evil bitches coming to bully little ol me, I too would become a villain. I also love how Selina gets completely and utterly ignored both in and out of costume. It's the funniest thing.
Onto more serious things, every single time Bruce uses the words "Havery" and "friend" in the same sentence something breaks in me. I don't know if there's anything left to break. It's so tragic. Every single time I think I've recovered, he hits me with a fucking bat (ha) again. Harvey is such a good fucking villain because we all want him to be what we've met preciously. And we hold on to that hope.
Sofia was also a great villain. I loved the reversals that came with her character, I enjoyed how unpredictable she was, I loved her hatered, her always denying that she was the same as the other villains of the city even when Alberto kept insisting that they were, since they were both disabled (and it's interesting to ask if the reason she killed him in the end was because he was disabled, since he did make his point that that brought him closer to everything she hated, and also got an extremely visceral response out of her when he put her in the same pool).
Porter was Porter. Not very likeable, not very unlikeable her death was very memorable though, I'll give her that. She was more of a plot driving force rather than an actual character, but for what her role was, she fulfilled it nicely. I wish her relationship with Havery was more low-key or at least introduced more progressively.
On one side, funnily enough, this felt like The Riddler's tragic backstory, I swear to god. These two stories are laying down exactly why the Riddler becomes a villain because fully, with all these vigilante and evil bitches coming to bully little ol me, I too would become a villain. I also love how Selina gets completely and utterly ignored both in and out of costume. It's the funniest thing.
Onto more serious things, every single time Bruce uses the words "Havery" and "friend" in the same sentence something breaks in me. I don't know if there's anything left to break. It's so tragic. Every single time I think I've recovered, he hits me with a fucking bat (ha) again. Harvey is such a good fucking villain because we all want him to be what we've met preciously. And we hold on to that hope.
Sofia was also a great villain. I loved the reversals that came with her character, I enjoyed how unpredictable she was, I loved her hatered, her always denying that she was the same as the other villains of the city even when Alberto kept insisting that they were, since they were both disabled (and it's interesting to ask if the reason she killed him in the end was because he was disabled, since he did make his point that that brought him closer to everything she hated, and also got an extremely visceral response out of her when he put her in the same pool).
Porter was Porter. Not very likeable, not very unlikeable her death was very memorable though, I'll give her that. She was more of a plot driving force rather than an actual character, but for what her role was, she fulfilled it nicely. I wish her relationship with Havery was more low-key or at least introduced more progressively.
zach_collins's review against another edition
1.0
The Long Halloween was something of a letdown, but thankfully Loeb got the chance to make up for that with the sequel, Dark Victory.
Apparently, instead of trying to stop the Holiday Killer, a maniac who murders people on holidays and leaves clues next to their bodies, in Dark Victory Batman is trying to stop the Hangman, a maniac who murders people on holidays and leaves clues next to their...
...Wait, what? You mean the villain is recycled, the only thing Loeb changed was the name? Huh.
Well, at least Loeb worked on his dialogue, no more corny lines from the cops or inexplicably dumb ramblings from the villains, like Scarecrow's insistence on playing "patty cake" or the Riddler's lame jokes or Catwoman's purring.
...What? The dialogue is the same too? Even Scarecrow's "patty cake?" No way!
But Loeb isn't abusing a plot twist to try and spice up an otherwise flat story, right? He isn't? Well that's a relief, I thought it was pretty cheap to hinge the whole story on a plot twist that really doesn't do much for the story, I mean, who does he think he is, M. Night Sha...
...Huh? There's not one, but SIX plot twist?! And only one of those twists really affects the story?!
Ok, all of this sounds pretty bad. But it can still be salvageable, I wasn't expecting Dark Victory to be Ulysses or anything. After all, it is a comic book about a man dressed as a giant bat. As long as the origin story of Robin told well, I think I can forgive Loeb for everything else, Robin's origin story was the reason I wanted to read Dark Victory in the first place.
...Robin's origin story IS in Dark Victory, right?
...So, Dick Grayson doesn't show up until halfway through the book and he finally becomes Robin in the last 17 pages?
...Is there ANYTHING good about Dark VIctory?!
...Ok, you're saying there is a short bit about how Batman shouldn't be alone, that his goal of stopping crime and delivering justice is too much for one man to handle. But that isn't exactly new, I'm pretty sure the same thing was said in The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Back, A Death in the Family, and Knightfall, and I'm getting the feeling that those four stories do a better job exploring Batman's humanity than Dark Victory ever could. Am I right?
...I thought so.
I'm just glad you warned me before I actually read it. I would have been pretty irate if I had read almost four hundred pages of what you had just described. I probably would have been so upset I would have posted a really lame post on goodreads in a desperate attempt to keep people from reading Dark Victory.
Apparently, instead of trying to stop the Holiday Killer, a maniac who murders people on holidays and leaves clues next to their bodies, in Dark Victory Batman is trying to stop the Hangman, a maniac who murders people on holidays and leaves clues next to their...
...Wait, what? You mean the villain is recycled, the only thing Loeb changed was the name? Huh.
Well, at least Loeb worked on his dialogue, no more corny lines from the cops or inexplicably dumb ramblings from the villains, like Scarecrow's insistence on playing "patty cake" or the Riddler's lame jokes or Catwoman's purring.
...What? The dialogue is the same too? Even Scarecrow's "patty cake?" No way!
But Loeb isn't abusing a plot twist to try and spice up an otherwise flat story, right? He isn't? Well that's a relief, I thought it was pretty cheap to hinge the whole story on a plot twist that really doesn't do much for the story, I mean, who does he think he is, M. Night Sha...
...Huh? There's not one, but SIX plot twist?! And only one of those twists really affects the story?!
Ok, all of this sounds pretty bad. But it can still be salvageable, I wasn't expecting Dark Victory to be Ulysses or anything. After all, it is a comic book about a man dressed as a giant bat. As long as the origin story of Robin told well, I think I can forgive Loeb for everything else, Robin's origin story was the reason I wanted to read Dark Victory in the first place.
...Robin's origin story IS in Dark Victory, right?
...So, Dick Grayson doesn't show up until halfway through the book and he finally becomes Robin in the last 17 pages?
...Is there ANYTHING good about Dark VIctory?!
...Ok, you're saying there is a short bit about how Batman shouldn't be alone, that his goal of stopping crime and delivering justice is too much for one man to handle. But that isn't exactly new, I'm pretty sure the same thing was said in The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Back, A Death in the Family, and Knightfall, and I'm getting the feeling that those four stories do a better job exploring Batman's humanity than Dark Victory ever could. Am I right?
...I thought so.
I'm just glad you warned me before I actually read it. I would have been pretty irate if I had read almost four hundred pages of what you had just described. I probably would have been so upset I would have posted a really lame post on goodreads in a desperate attempt to keep people from reading Dark Victory.
bone173's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
x_bird's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
enzan's review against another edition
5.0
I adore the art in this run of comics. SO iconic and genre impacting. This book was just a follow up of Long Halloween and dragged forward the story, but it is such a work of art that I have no complaints about that.
huntercamp's review against another edition
3.0
It's a decent read. Extremely similar to The Long Halloween, but didn't have the same feeling of being special. It's a fun read and seeing the Loeb/Sale take on The Boy Wonder was a lot of fun. Not great, not terrible. It's cool to see the similarities with Nolan's The Dark Knight.