jdurden 's review for:

Batman: Son of the Demon by Mike W. Barr

4.0

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Reading this, I realised that I do prefer the experienced Batman to deal with bigger problems than just being a billionaire beating up street gangs, which is probably why I was not a big fan of the beloved animated series (he's allowed to do that when he's not experienced or that how my idea of it works, lol). And Ra's Al Ghul is always such a great character to explore the bigger implications of Batman in the world. There are certainly aspects of this that are not the best and the main plot that progresses almost felt like a placeholder for character exploration. What makes this work really well is the different conflicts Batman faces. His skills are portrayed as second to none in the world but his emotions are what leads him to do everything as much as he wants to hide it. The choice of love and happiness. and depriving of it makes it harder for him to follow his code all the time. The ending did have me confused a bit but it seems this is not canon and that's why it ended that way. However, elements of this have been influential in a lot of other Batman stories that have become essential lore.