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thealucinaut 's review for:
Batman: Curse of the White Knight
by Sean Murphy
I won't write a whole superlong essay about this one like I did the first volume, but suffice it to say that this was more of the same, in a mostly good way.
Murphy uses all of the benefits of an Elseworlds tale that I spoke about before (being able to make true, permanent choices for characters without worrying about further continuity) and cranks the dial up, going scorched earth. As with part one, I really liked the ideas being played with here and the conversations its having with the larger Batman mythos in a meta sense and in-world, and I found the story itself to be supremely readable and page-turn-y, while I think that some of the transitions and executions (not the literal ones) were a bit muddled at times.
Spoilers.
I continue to adore this Harley Quinn, as Murphy clearly does as well. She is weirdly rational and almost Jessica Jones-like in this wild world and it really worked for me. I'm glad to learn that she's getting her own mini series soon. Her as a mother just made me like her more! (Though one pretty strong criticism was her cute little twins just silently hanging out amongst all of the horrors and action around them. Not that I want kids in danger or screaming with trauma, but it was a little silly to see them just calmly sleeping while Joker is firing guns around them.
Last time I forgot to mention his art at all, which is a shame because I think it's pretty great. I was a fan back during his WW2 American Vampire days and I think the style is great for a bat-book.
Azreal is handled pretty well, he's truly scary and unhinged just like he used to be, and his body count in this one was...staggering. I was pretty bummed to see all of the Gotham's rogues go out like that, but it seems that Murphy is deadset on making this world more and more different as he goes.
I found the deeper lore stuff to be fun and interesting, too. The cop stuff still a bit...fine? I like Gordon and Bullock and Montoya, but the GTO is still a bit of a clanger idea for me, and doesn't feel great as in militarizing the cops further. Interested to see where that goes. The inexplicably aged-up Duke Thomas barely had a word here, which isn't a great look.
Overall I thought this one might have been stronger than the first. A bit clearer, if still suffereing from the bit of getting stuck in the mud as the first part did occasionally. I'm invested in this series now and hope it continues to be this fun to read.
Murphy uses all of the benefits of an Elseworlds tale that I spoke about before (being able to make true, permanent choices for characters without worrying about further continuity) and cranks the dial up, going scorched earth. As with part one, I really liked the ideas being played with here and the conversations its having with the larger Batman mythos in a meta sense and in-world, and I found the story itself to be supremely readable and page-turn-y, while I think that some of the transitions and executions (not the literal ones) were a bit muddled at times.
Spoilers.
I continue to adore this Harley Quinn, as Murphy clearly does as well. She is weirdly rational and almost Jessica Jones-like in this wild world and it really worked for me. I'm glad to learn that she's getting her own mini series soon. Her as a mother just made me like her more! (Though one pretty strong criticism was her cute little twins just silently hanging out amongst all of the horrors and action around them. Not that I want kids in danger or screaming with trauma, but it was a little silly to see them just calmly sleeping while Joker is firing guns around them.
Last time I forgot to mention his art at all, which is a shame because I think it's pretty great. I was a fan back during his WW2 American Vampire days and I think the style is great for a bat-book.
Azreal is handled pretty well, he's truly scary and unhinged just like he used to be, and his body count in this one was...staggering. I was pretty bummed to see all of the Gotham's rogues go out like that, but it seems that Murphy is deadset on making this world more and more different as he goes.
I found the deeper lore stuff to be fun and interesting, too. The cop stuff still a bit...fine? I like Gordon and Bullock and Montoya, but the GTO is still a bit of a clanger idea for me, and doesn't feel great as in militarizing the cops further. Interested to see where that goes. The inexplicably aged-up Duke Thomas barely had a word here, which isn't a great look.
Overall I thought this one might have been stronger than the first. A bit clearer, if still suffereing from the bit of getting stuck in the mud as the first part did occasionally. I'm invested in this series now and hope it continues to be this fun to read.