Scan barcode
kpeninger's review
4.0
This was the strongest Batman collection I've read recently. I thought the story was very strong and very well put together, the character work was very good, and I actually liked most of the art (even if it was, at times, like the artists had never seen a woman's body before - but I am usually prepared for that in comics). The emotional beats were there, and at no point did I read any part of this having to pretend I knew who one of the characters were - they were all actually introduced in some way, even if it was just someone saying their name! (There have been... so many comics... where a character is running around, and they're a secondary character, and no one ever says their name so I genuinely have no idea who they're supposed to be. This isn't even just my having less comics knowledge - the art changes so much in comics that it's sometimes hard to know what the person looks like!) But yeah, this is my favourite so far; it really feels like the plot is cohesive, which is another thing that can't always be said, and I'm really enjoying it.
nickpalmieri's review
1.0
Read this as part of my Robin read-through (the book contains Robin #126-129 plus assorted other appearances), so I only read the Tim or Stephanie-centric issues and skimmed the rest.
The word "misguided" is too innocent. This is downright despicable. It's hard to distance my feelings from my knowledge of what went on in the background. Essentially, you have dozens of threads which are so meticulously placed that it all feels hollow, and it's all to the end of watching a bunch of kids get murdered. This book is the poster child for "executive meddling" and the bad creative work that can result from it.
Even the prelude stuff with Stephanie as Robin goes by too quickly to leave any sort of impact. She's there, now she's gone, and her motivations are never fully believable. It's a perfunctory arc done just like any other in this book: a shallow attempt at piecing together bad plot points that the writer probably didn't want to deal with in the first place. I also know how it all ends in the next book, and knowing that makes the whole thing far, far more offensive.
There's really no reason to read this bloated, boring, offensive mess.
The word "misguided" is too innocent. This is downright despicable. It's hard to distance my feelings from my knowledge of what went on in the background. Essentially, you have dozens of threads which are so meticulously placed that it all feels hollow, and it's all to the end of watching a bunch of kids get murdered. This book is the poster child for "executive meddling" and the bad creative work that can result from it.
Even the prelude stuff with Stephanie as Robin goes by too quickly to leave any sort of impact. She's there, now she's gone, and her motivations are never fully believable. It's a perfunctory arc done just like any other in this book: a shallow attempt at piecing together bad plot points that the writer probably didn't want to deal with in the first place. I also know how it all ends in the next book, and knowing that makes the whole thing far, far more offensive.
There's really no reason to read this bloated, boring, offensive mess.
More...