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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
A tale of two Bat stories.
The first half of this story is a rich, intriguing story involving The Joker and a new serial killer villain in Gotham. We also get to see the GCPD divided as Gordon and his loyal officers bump heads with the latest mayor while some corrupt cops appear to be after Batman and in league with ... someone.
I enjoyed the pacing of this book, Daniel's art, and the absolute wildness of the role Joker's face plays into this story in several different ways. I thought this title might even be superior to Snyder's [b:Batman, Volume 1: The Court of Owls|13223349|Batman, Volume 1 The Court of Owls|Scott Snyder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1674319615l/13223349._SX50_.jpg|18412501]. Alas, the back half of this collection is incredibly boring. One of Batman's girlfriends ends up in a convoluted story about twins, the mayor, The Penguin, and a boyfriend who can shed his skin like a snake. It's dull. It almost unwound all of the optimism built up in the first half. It certainly makes me hope they don't keep Bruce's girlfriend around for future stories.
Fingers crossed that the next volume is more in-tune with the first half of this book, which I recommend to all Bat-fans. It will become very important to the lore of all the other Bat books.
The first half of this story is a rich, intriguing story involving The Joker and a new serial killer villain in Gotham. We also get to see the GCPD divided as Gordon and his loyal officers bump heads with the latest mayor while some corrupt cops appear to be after Batman and in league with ... someone.
I enjoyed the pacing of this book, Daniel's art, and the absolute wildness of the role Joker's face plays into this story in several different ways. I thought this title might even be superior to Snyder's [b:Batman, Volume 1: The Court of Owls|13223349|Batman, Volume 1 The Court of Owls|Scott Snyder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1674319615l/13223349._SX50_.jpg|18412501]. Alas, the back half of this collection is incredibly boring. One of Batman's girlfriends ends up in a convoluted story about twins, the mayor, The Penguin, and a boyfriend who can shed his skin like a snake. It's dull. It almost unwound all of the optimism built up in the first half. It certainly makes me hope they don't keep Bruce's girlfriend around for future stories.
Fingers crossed that the next volume is more in-tune with the first half of this book, which I recommend to all Bat-fans. It will become very important to the lore of all the other Bat books.
the illustrations were fantastic. the story itself was kind of choppy and jumped around a lot... but all in all it was a good read.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So, this was a mixed bag as Tony Daniel, both writer and artist, delivers a good and a story bad story. The thing that stands out most, in both tales, is Daniel's tremendous artwork. Its fantastic. The lead story was really good, introduced some creepy new villain while tying him to another classic villain. The story shows some real potential and delivered enough mystery to keep my attention. The second story is the opposite. It takes a character we've barely been introduced to and creates twists and turns that never land due to our lack of history with the character. Its all generic cliches. Overall, a decent first story is enough to recommend the book but the back half was a drag to read.
Meh. It was just "okay". Again, sketches at the back were my favorite.
Why do I feel like I was the only one who really liked this book? Tony Daniel, you rock. And all this condescending nonsense about "well, he's not Grant Morrisson." Hey Tony, honestly that is the BEST compliment they could pay you.
I have been a Batman fan since before I could read. Changes in my life had caused me to pull away from my comic addiction a few years ago so I have been a bit out of touch with the DC Universe lately. When I saw my library had this graphic novel I was as excited as a kid at Christmas time. I couldn't wait to step back into Gotham city and visit my ultimate hero. I knew going into this that things have changed in the DCU and the New 52 is basically a reboot of all the big series characters. This was not what I expected.
I was so excited to read this becuase I had heard bits and pieces about the story and thought it would be amazing, with Joker loosing his face and a new villain on the loose. The story seemed like it could have been so dark and, Batman would be pushed to his limits once again. Sadly the story and Batman fell flat for me. Batman is always a dark private character and that was expressed here, but throughout the whole book I felt like Batman was missing some aspect of his personality, and that he was really flat as a character. It was hard to like him or be excited about the action in this book. I know it has been awhile since I have read Batman, and even longer since Bruce Wayne has been back in the cape and cowl, but this seemed off.
The story had some real potential, but nothing really went anywhere. The joker story line only took up half the book and there was really no resolution. I understand stringing the reader along so they keep coming back, but when this ended I felt like "Is this really it?". Next we get a Penguin story, that is typical and really didn't impress me much. All it did was give Batman's current girlfriend a little more page time. The story wasn't very special at all and again I was left asking if that was it.
On to what I liked about this book. Tony Daniel is an amazing artist. I have loved his work on the Batman series and I hold him in such high esteem as I do Jim Lee who did amazing artwork for Batman Hush, and numerous other comic series. Mr. Daniel is also a very good story teller, I loved his series [b:Batman: Battle for the Cowl|6359290|Batman Battle for the Cowl|Tony S. Daniel|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320549431s/6359290.jpg|6546338], and I kind of expected a story worthy of that caliber. I think Tony Daniel is amazingly talented, but this book was not his best work. It happens to everyone so I will not hold it against him. I still gave this 3 stars because of the art work and the potential to be a great story line. Who knows, when Vol 2 is released I will pick that up and maybe learn more about the Joker situation and it will make this better.
I was so excited to read this becuase I had heard bits and pieces about the story and thought it would be amazing, with Joker loosing his face and a new villain on the loose. The story seemed like it could have been so dark and, Batman would be pushed to his limits once again. Sadly the story and Batman fell flat for me. Batman is always a dark private character and that was expressed here, but throughout the whole book I felt like Batman was missing some aspect of his personality, and that he was really flat as a character. It was hard to like him or be excited about the action in this book. I know it has been awhile since I have read Batman, and even longer since Bruce Wayne has been back in the cape and cowl, but this seemed off.
The story had some real potential, but nothing really went anywhere. The joker story line only took up half the book and there was really no resolution. I understand stringing the reader along so they keep coming back, but when this ended I felt like "Is this really it?". Next we get a Penguin story, that is typical and really didn't impress me much. All it did was give Batman's current girlfriend a little more page time. The story wasn't very special at all and again I was left asking if that was it.
On to what I liked about this book. Tony Daniel is an amazing artist. I have loved his work on the Batman series and I hold him in such high esteem as I do Jim Lee who did amazing artwork for Batman Hush, and numerous other comic series. Mr. Daniel is also a very good story teller, I loved his series [b:Batman: Battle for the Cowl|6359290|Batman Battle for the Cowl|Tony S. Daniel|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320549431s/6359290.jpg|6546338], and I kind of expected a story worthy of that caliber. I think Tony Daniel is amazingly talented, but this book was not his best work. It happens to everyone so I will not hold it against him. I still gave this 3 stars because of the art work and the potential to be a great story line. Who knows, when Vol 2 is released I will pick that up and maybe learn more about the Joker situation and it will make this better.
Tony Daniel is one the best Bat-writers/artists from the last 20 years or so. This 'New 52' relaunch of Detective Comics didn't hold back on the gore or creepiness and I'm looking forward to seeing just what the heck happened to the Joker after he willingly had his face cut off.
A good start.
Owls, the Dollmaker, and the Joker.
8 cuts out of 10.
Owls, the Dollmaker, and the Joker.
8 cuts out of 10.
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No