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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
Dazzling artwork and an interesting story. Not perhaps the best Batman comic, or the best Neil Gaiman comic, but still full of the Gaiman weirdness and originality. Definitely worth reading.
A crowd is gathering in the Dew Drop Inn. A car pulls into Crime Alley and Selina Kyle gets out and heads into the pub, she is directed to a room in the back. People are gathering for a wake and taking their seats in front of an open casket. Inside is the Caped Crusader himself. As more people arrive they tell their stories of their encounters with Batman, each one recounting how he died, but what is the truth? Can this really be the end? Why does he die a different way each time?
I have read almost all the Gaiman Sandman series, probably the graphic novel series that he is best known for, I had enjoyed them, so when I found this on the shelf in the library, thought I’d give it a go. Gaiman always manages to take what has gone before and give it those couple of extra twists that lift it from the original storyline. This is no different. I really liked the section where they show the way that the cartoon progresses from a rough pencil outline, to a detailed pencil sketch, before it is drawn and coloured for the final strip. Not a bad book overall.
I have read almost all the Gaiman Sandman series, probably the graphic novel series that he is best known for, I had enjoyed them, so when I found this on the shelf in the library, thought I’d give it a go. Gaiman always manages to take what has gone before and give it those couple of extra twists that lift it from the original storyline. This is no different. I really liked the section where they show the way that the cartoon progresses from a rough pencil outline, to a detailed pencil sketch, before it is drawn and coloured for the final strip. Not a bad book overall.
dark
sad
fast-paced
Technically I should have re-read this after Batman RIP, but for some reason I like reading this after The Killing Joke. Both graphic novels tell poignant tales, the one focussed on the Joker this one on Batman.
I don't know if the plot of this would have worked had it not been Gaiman at the helm, as it is this is one of the best Batman tales I have read - it is, you could say, the Batman tale to end all Batman tales.
The idea that Batman is not just a person, but an icon, is not a new one. After all, the film Dark Knight Rises sets Robin up to be the new Batman, just as Dick Grayson takes the role on numerous times in the comic book verse. But Gaiman#s interpretation of this concept seems, to me, to be more... depressing, more intense, more sorrowful. To take a quote directly from the graphic novel:
"You don't get heaven or hell. Do you know the only reward you get for being Batman? You get to be BATMAN. And when you're a child, you get a handful of years of real happiness, with your father, with me. It's more than some people get. You're DONE, now, Bruce, this time. You can stop fighting now... just for a few more years... it's over."
And as funny as it may seem out of context, I don't think there is anything else sadder than Batman bidding farewell to a mechanical dinosaur, the people of Gotham or a giant penny.
I don't know if the plot of this would have worked had it not been Gaiman at the helm, as it is this is one of the best Batman tales I have read - it is, you could say, the Batman tale to end all Batman tales.
The idea that Batman is not just a person, but an icon, is not a new one. After all, the film Dark Knight Rises sets Robin up to be the new Batman, just as Dick Grayson takes the role on numerous times in the comic book verse. But Gaiman#s interpretation of this concept seems, to me, to be more... depressing, more intense, more sorrowful. To take a quote directly from the graphic novel:
"You don't get heaven or hell. Do you know the only reward you get for being Batman? You get to be BATMAN. And when you're a child, you get a handful of years of real happiness, with your father, with me. It's more than some people get. You're DONE, now, Bruce, this time. You can stop fighting now... just for a few more years... it's over."
And as funny as it may seem out of context, I don't think there is anything else sadder than Batman bidding farewell to a mechanical dinosaur, the people of Gotham or a giant penny.
The Caped Crusader's many incarnations are examined. A celebration of the Batman legend.
Neil Gaiman does Batman - perhaps my expectations were a little bit high when it came to this collection. The centrepiece is the title piece - where Batman attends his own funerals and friends and foes alike tell different tales of his life and death. The art is subdued but colourful, fitting for a funerary piece, and while some of the art changes with the tale being told the base, much like the story, stays the same.
The other tales here are interesting a but mostly forgettable. A black and white piece treating Batman and Joker as actors in television show can't help but make the reader smirk while the other stories - a Poison Ivy tale, and a reporter story interlaced with a bizarrely fascinating Riddler story done in older style - aren't quite up to the same caliber.
The other tales here are interesting a but mostly forgettable. A black and white piece treating Batman and Joker as actors in television show can't help but make the reader smirk while the other stories - a Poison Ivy tale, and a reporter story interlaced with a bizarrely fascinating Riddler story done in older style - aren't quite up to the same caliber.
Picking this up on a whim seeing it was written by Neil Gaiman. The best thing was his intro/love letter to Batman. I'm a fan too- watched the TV shows, followed the movies, but I didn't get Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?. He's dead and listening to eulogies by he nemesis-es? Huh? He's dead and then is reborn?!? Then there's a sketchbook showing how the drawing was done, followed by other villain short stories. Unsatisfying.
Not my favorite Batman or Gaiman, but like pizza or sex, even when it's not the best...
Another entry into Neil's exploration of the stories we tell, this is a story about the story, kind of meta-story, as it deconstructs parts of the Batman mythos to illustrate the point that the details are often unimportant, that it is the persistence of the character of the Batman that matters, and that whenever he is rebooted from his latest death or disappearance or whether he's Bale or West or Keaton or Dini or cartoons, what we're drawn to is the essence of the Batman, who he is and what he stands for. In short: if you expect to call yourself a fan of Batman comics, you'll need to read this.
The backup material is rather less satisfying - reprints, presented in kind of jarring way that just stops rather than ending.
Another entry into Neil's exploration of the stories we tell, this is a story about the story, kind of meta-story, as it deconstructs parts of the Batman mythos to illustrate the point that the details are often unimportant, that it is the persistence of the character of the Batman that matters, and that whenever he is rebooted from his latest death or disappearance or whether he's Bale or West or Keaton or Dini or cartoons, what we're drawn to is the essence of the Batman, who he is and what he stands for. In short: if you expect to call yourself a fan of Batman comics, you'll need to read this.
The backup material is rather less satisfying - reprints, presented in kind of jarring way that just stops rather than ending.
Gaiman has written the "last" Batman comic. Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? is a trippy little story, not at all surprising considering it's a Gaiman. It's hard to say much about what happens without giving something away so I'll just say it was a really a fun, fast read. I loved that they drew it to pay tribute to some of the other Batman artists of the past. And I loved the repeated storyline told from different characters points of view. My only complaint is that it was too short!
This was very Neil Gaiman-y. An interesting tribute/retrospective to various incarnations of Batman. Also, I think there was something else I should have read first....