Reviews

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight by Eduardo Barreto, Mike Mignola, Brian Augustyn, Robert Bloch, P. Craig Russell

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breamfish1138's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Plot is a bit thin, and the novelty does wear off slightly to the end but man you can't argue with the art. Mike Mignola never fails to cook every time

Content Warnings

ndizz87's review against another edition

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2.0

This is a good reminder that you really shouldn’t go into anything with high expectations. Nearly all the Batman graphic novels that I’ve read have been extremely rewarding. They are dark, psychological, and action-packed. This definitely was not the case with Gotham by Gaslight. I had high hopes! I mean, it’s an alternate timeline where Bat-man worked in a 1890’s Gotham. Think of what you can do with the story arc and the villains! You could create a steam-punk detective story featuring friggin’ Jack the Ripper! You had that in your hands and what do you do with it? You half-ass that story in the first part and then pivot entirely to a new plot that is just flat out absurd.

In the first part we do have Bruce Wayne come back from a long time training to become the Bat. During his time coming back, he meets his Uncle Jack, who has no other reason to be in this other than the fact they make him Jack the Ripper. That’s it, folks. There’s no character development of Bruce Wayne. He just comes back and is the Bat-man. Alfred gets zero mention and is completely flat in all of this. There’s some interesting speculation regarding the nature of the Bat-man from citydwellers that I found interesting, if not entirely fleeting. The idea of Jack the Ripper coming to Gotham is super interesting and could have really been a true detective story which would have served the plot well seeing as how I expect less action (at least in my mind) from a story taking place in the 1890s. However, it swindles that plot fairly quickly and the death comes very slowly and painfully.

There’s a love interest, but I couldn’t tell you her name or give you enough information to really care about her. She’s severely one note, other than she does try to attempt to save some people from a burning building...and she figures out he’s actually the Bat-man. I’m only writing to remember that she’s there.

After the horrendous handling of the Jack the Ripper plotline we entirely shift to something that’s even more ridiculous than that. You do get a severe case of whiplash and are scratching your head trying to figure out what happened. Long story short some French dude and a slumlord have a large blimp with a magnifying glass and they’re going to burn a fair down. End of story. It’s just as ridiculous as it sounds. This part was just an utter failure. I see where they could have taken this as it was really the first introduction to some steampunk elements, but man they really did butcher this part.

This had all the makings of a classic Batman graphic novel and a very ‘novel’ take on the timeframe, and it misses all the marks. Take the characterization and the plot and put it aside, the renditions have a lot to be desired. It’s like they didn’t even try. Bruce is flat….well, they’re all flat. It was a miss in all the categories. It’s lucky to even get a 2 out of 5 from me.