Reviews

Batman: Detective Comics, Volume 5: Gothtopia by Jason Fabok, John Layman

viera's review against another edition

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4.0

This was fun, though the narration was a bit much. The art was beautiful and classic. The stories were fun. Story 1 focused on Jim Gordon and worked as a prologue to the book. Story two was about the man bat and his wife and had some nice little misdirection. Story 3 creeped me out. I never want to see Catbird again. Same with Bluebelle and her band of bellends. The first half read like weird fan fiction and I had to put it down several times before getting to the “twist”. But part 2 of the scarecrow teamup was interesting (Harley Quinn, Mr. Freeze, Professor Freeze, Killer Croc and Merry Maker). Batman and Poison Ivy have to come up with an antidote to save the world from Scarecrow of all people. His team did nothing that regular henchmen couldn’t do, but maybe they were there to look intimidating. The bookend is a bunch of small boring vignettes. But when it worked, it worked. Once each of the stories got going I was fully invested.

ajmaese's review against another edition

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5.0

Beautiful, horrific, meta, and campy, I really liked these issues (with the exception of no. 25 that ended the previous run). The 75th anniversary issue didn’t disappoint…

“How many times? How many times do I have to relive this? In every age. From every angle, in every medium. And the new threats. A beating around every corner, always changing. Darker. Meaner. Cutting ever closer to the bone. My insides torn out and spread across the page, the screen, again and again and again, a vicious cycle, an existential loop… Why are you doing this to me?”

“You will be what we want you to be. What we need you to be. We need you to bear the weight of our sins and fears.”

earlapvaldez's review against another edition

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3.0

The idea of having Catbird was fun as it lasted. Unfortunately, the whole Gothtopia thing seemed to be a rip-off of anything that resembles Pleasantville.

shannonleighd's review against another edition

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1.0

Thank god Gothtopia is over. I was especially annoyed when the villains captured Batman and DIDN'T TRY TO KILL HIM or any of the Bat Fam.

Like, seriously, I understand Batman doesn't kill but the villains should've offed him and not carted him to Arkham expecting him to sit tight. I normally like Scarecrow stories but giving him villain sidekicks who should've tried to kill Batman but didn't because ... why, exactly? ... made zero sense.

Issue #27 was billed as a special mega-sized anniversary issue with over 80 pages, but I'll be honest I skimmed almost the whole thing because it didn't fit into any of the main storylines at all. This was more like an anthology I pick up because it has one or two stories that tie into series I'm in the middle of and just skip the rest.

Also, way to be a dick to Selina in the end, Bats.

lindakat's review against another edition

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4.0

I loved everything about this story, I adore the idea of an alternative universe (even one perpetuated by a certain toxin wielding sociopath) where everything is this idealistic utopia. I just wish that version of events was explored more. As someone who ships Batman and Catwoman hard, I would have loved to have seen them as an idealistic couple a little longer.

birdmanseven's review against another edition

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3.0

Such a disjointed collection. I mostly liked it though.

depreydeprey's review

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4.0

Layman's run on Detective Comics concludes in this volume. It is a grown up story about optimism and pessimism in Gotham that doesn't rely on excessive sex and violence to tell a captivating story.

booknooknoggin's review

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4.0

This story threw me through a loop, and the reveal was great. This and the shorts at the end made this a 4 star book.

susurrus's review

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4.0

Gothtopia compiles the end of the Man-bat story from the previous trade, a run of Scarecrow, plus some history of Gordon and some alternate stories of Batman to celebrate the character's 75th anniversary.

I loved Gordon's story, which is the first in the trade. It shows how he initially encountered Batman and got the idea for the bat signal.

Scarecrow's plot was also really awesome. When it first started I was really confused because Catwoman was there but
partnered with Bruce and calling herself Catbird
and I thought I might have missed some major plot points in another issue or something. Turns out,
Scarecrow has just made everyone have mass hallucination that everything is totally fine, so his fear serum can have maximum effect.
Pretty sad moment between Selina and Bruce after the whole thing.

Issues at the end were just a bunch of throwbacks. The diary of Batman under the super-overtold Red Hood/vat of chemicals story; campy Batman and Robin complete with dot-art; Bruce as a septuagenarian; Bruce undergoing a "It's a Wonderful Life" type world where his parents survived; and a weird clone(?) Batman history.
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