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shadowofadoubt89's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting story line. I really want to see this arc as a whole volume to make sure that I didn't miss any of the side stories and such.
aryawilson's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
janedoelish's review against another edition
5.0
If you want to know why Dark Nights:Metal is purely awesome, this volume will serve even if you never bother to read the rest of the series.
afterthehype's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
georgezakka's review against another edition
4.0
Crow crow crow said the crow. Crow crow 🤘 said the other crow.
Plots - the book has a bunch of short stories of the dark knights of the dark multiverse. The red death, a Batman that steals the speed force from Barry, the murder machine a Batman made of nanotechnology who’s motivation was Alfred’s death, dawn-breaker a young Bruce who gets a green ring but overrides it with anger so it allows lethal force, the drowned a aquaman bat-woman hybrid, the devastator who is a Batman who injects himself with the doomsday virus, the merciless who wears the thingy or ares and the Batman who laughs who kills the joker than becomes him. Then there’s a one shot called wild hunt.
My thoughts - I really enjoyed most of the dark knights one shots, the best ones were dawn-breaker, the red death and the Batman who laughs. The red death has amazing art from carmine giandomenico. The Batman who laughs has a great backstory and is scary and maniacal. The dawn breaker takes revenge too far and gives into the darkness. The murder machine has weird art but also cool and has a cool story. I think the worst ones were the drowned, the merciless and the devastator due to their boring stories. The wild hunt issue at the end is confusing but is cool, it has a bunch of really good artists like Howard porter or Jorge Jimenez.
Overall good book
Plots - the book has a bunch of short stories of the dark knights of the dark multiverse. The red death, a Batman that steals the speed force from Barry, the murder machine a Batman made of nanotechnology who’s motivation was Alfred’s death, dawn-breaker a young Bruce who gets a green ring but overrides it with anger so it allows lethal force, the drowned a aquaman bat-woman hybrid, the devastator who is a Batman who injects himself with the doomsday virus, the merciless who wears the thingy or ares and the Batman who laughs who kills the joker than becomes him. Then there’s a one shot called wild hunt.
My thoughts - I really enjoyed most of the dark knights one shots, the best ones were dawn-breaker, the red death and the Batman who laughs. The red death has amazing art from carmine giandomenico. The Batman who laughs has a great backstory and is scary and maniacal. The dawn breaker takes revenge too far and gives into the darkness. The murder machine has weird art but also cool and has a cool story. I think the worst ones were the drowned, the merciless and the devastator due to their boring stories. The wild hunt issue at the end is confusing but is cool, it has a bunch of really good artists like Howard porter or Jorge Jimenez.
Overall good book
ashleyomeganova's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
itcamefromthepage's review against another edition
5.0
If for no other reason than "The Batman who laughs" this is an essential Batman comic.
crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
2.0
Updated, as part of a read-through of The Batman Who Laughs:
It isn't difficult for me to see why I reacted so strongly to this the first time I read it. It's not a new or interesting concept, but I think I was a little hard on the overall book because of its resolution.
Each of the first seven issues of this collection are fine. While none of the stories wowed me, they also weren't terrible. They were seven different origin stories for Bruce (or Bryce) Waynses/Batmen who decided to turn on their worlds' heroes in the misguided hopes of saving a different world where they could survive. Each sloppily conceived story is well told by some of the best writers willing to work for DC.
What makes this collection a mess is the final issue, co-written by the eight writers of the previous seven issues. It's awful. The art is beautiful and striking, as it is in absolutely every issue. The story reeks of miscommunication between writers. There is no logic to the plot, no real direction to the story other than OMG SOON BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN! It's difficult to say if the characters act
with any sensical motivations because every character is just a series of bad decisions pointed at a cliffhanger, except Detective Chimp who is used merely as a barometer for how bad things are going around him.
This is a Very 90s idea being written by, again, some of DC's most capable writers. But I'm excited to see what happens with the following series, which has just one writer who will, hopefully, have a more focused sense of narrative.
**********Original Review***********
As an art book, this series is ok. There's a variety of styles, some cool costume designs, and excellent panel layouts.
The writing is terrible.
Every issue is An Evil Batman gains a power of another Justice Leaguer so that he can Evil. What sort of evil does he have plan? What does the World's Greatest Detective want? Ehhhh. Power? Maybe.
There is zero character development, no real explanation for the various Nightmare Batmen (apart from "Dark Matter make bat evil"), no twists in the story. This would have been a three star single issue, maybe four if they managed to cram in all these art styles.
Mostly, this is a seven issue series with less than seven pages worth of ideas in it.
If you love unnecessarily dark Elseworld Batman books, I imagine this one would be okay. Mostly, I'd recommend this for people who like to see how Batman would look with different uniforms and powers. Or, again, fans of stories where the art style changes frequently, and is almost across the board great. Fans of storytelling, character development, or good Batman stories will want to stay far away from this.
It isn't difficult for me to see why I reacted so strongly to this the first time I read it. It's not a new or interesting concept, but I think I was a little hard on the overall book because of its resolution.
Each of the first seven issues of this collection are fine. While none of the stories wowed me, they also weren't terrible. They were seven different origin stories for Bruce (or Bryce) Waynses/Batmen who decided to turn on their worlds' heroes in the misguided hopes of saving a different world where they could survive. Each sloppily conceived story is well told by some of the best writers willing to work for DC.
What makes this collection a mess is the final issue, co-written by the eight writers of the previous seven issues. It's awful. The art is beautiful and striking, as it is in absolutely every issue. The story reeks of miscommunication between writers. There is no logic to the plot, no real direction to the story other than OMG SOON BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN! It's difficult to say if the characters act
with any sensical motivations because every character is just a series of bad decisions pointed at a cliffhanger, except Detective Chimp who is used merely as a barometer for how bad things are going around him.
This is a Very 90s idea being written by, again, some of DC's most capable writers. But I'm excited to see what happens with the following series, which has just one writer who will, hopefully, have a more focused sense of narrative.
**********Original Review***********
As an art book, this series is ok. There's a variety of styles, some cool costume designs, and excellent panel layouts.
The writing is terrible.
Every issue is An Evil Batman gains a power of another Justice Leaguer so that he can Evil. What sort of evil does he have plan? What does the World's Greatest Detective want? Ehhhh. Power? Maybe.
There is zero character development, no real explanation for the various Nightmare Batmen (apart from "Dark Matter make bat evil"), no twists in the story. This would have been a three star single issue, maybe four if they managed to cram in all these art styles.
Mostly, this is a seven issue series with less than seven pages worth of ideas in it.
If you love unnecessarily dark Elseworld Batman books, I imagine this one would be okay. Mostly, I'd recommend this for people who like to see how Batman would look with different uniforms and powers. Or, again, fans of stories where the art style changes frequently, and is almost across the board great. Fans of storytelling, character development, or good Batman stories will want to stay far away from this.
blackbird9805's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25