jhstack's review
3.0
The unraveling of another conspiracy in Gotham, this time involving Jim Gordon. A good but long read, however, the changing artists and styles threw me off.
apageinthestacks's review
5.0
4.5/5. Bumping up to 5 stars just because of how enjoyable this was to read. With so many writers and artists working on it, it really could have been disastrous, but this team knows what they're doing--and as usual, Scott Snyder doesn't disappoint.
My only main complaint so far was issue #11, where the art just really took me out of the story. I think it's a style that could definitely work on its own, but in this series was just jarring (thankfully, it's only that one issue).
But otherwise, this series is just great. I love seeing so many different story threads being told seamlessly together, and with the double-cliffhanger this issue gave, I can't wait to read more.
Definitely don't regret buying all the single issues (most of which I found in $1 bins, so it was actually cheaper than buying all the TPBs), especially because I wouldn't be able to wait until October for vol 3 to come out at the pace I'm reading. Highly recommended to any Batman fan, especially since you get to see so much of the Bat Family and so many Batman villains.
My only main complaint so far was issue #11, where the art just really took me out of the story. I think it's a style that could definitely work on its own, but in this series was just jarring (thankfully, it's only that one issue).
But otherwise, this series is just great. I love seeing so many different story threads being told seamlessly together, and with the double-cliffhanger this issue gave, I can't wait to read more.
Definitely don't regret buying all the single issues (most of which I found in $1 bins, so it was actually cheaper than buying all the TPBs), especially because I wouldn't be able to wait until October for vol 3 to come out at the pace I'm reading. Highly recommended to any Batman fan, especially since you get to see so much of the Bat Family and so many Batman villains.
19lindsey89's review
3.0
There were some really solid moments scattered throughout, but there was a lot going on and none of it really seemed to tie back together (Gordon in jail, Tim and Harper with the nanotech, Batwing battling mystic zombies?, Batman vs. Falcone vs. Penguin, Gordon Jr., Batgirl and Jason in South America, the new commissioner). There was just SO MUCH going on it was hard to see where it is all going. Plus, there seemed to be bigger threats to Gotham than the gang war, but Batman wasn't doing anything about it because... reasons?
This was also sort of a collection of my least favorite players from Batman's rogues gallery. Professor Pyg seriously needs to go. Why don't people treat him like a bigger threat? He's terrible. I'm also really not a fan of The Daughter of the Joker, probably because I don't understand her. But particularly in this comic I don't understand what she's doing or how it relates to the overall bigger picture. I can never take the Penguin seriously. Let's blame the Batman Returns movie for that. And let's not forget about James Gordon Jr. More villains does not make the comic better, guys!
This was also sort of a collection of my least favorite players from Batman's rogues gallery. Professor Pyg seriously needs to go. Why don't people treat him like a bigger threat? He's terrible. I'm also really not a fan of The Daughter of the Joker, probably because I don't understand her. But particularly in this comic I don't understand what she's doing or how it relates to the overall bigger picture. I can never take the Penguin seriously. Let's blame the Batman Returns movie for that. And let's not forget about James Gordon Jr. More villains does not make the comic better, guys!
chaswa98's review
4.0
Always been on my list to read. If you read it as if each issue is a new episode in a TV show, it's quite enjoyable. Each issue has its own story, but it also builds the overarching series plot. Excited for vol 2!
geewhizabbygee's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
zephyrsilver's review
3.0
This is probably closer to 3.5 or 3.75 stars in my opinion.
This book is a monster. It's huge. And it's not even the whole story.
I will admit, I'm mostly in this for the Batkids; Babs, Jason, Tim, Harper, and Stephanie (who makes her return in this book). They don't make too many appearances in this book, but when they do appear, it's great. I love these kids so much.
Thanks to this book I'm also going to start looking into Batwing. I've never read anything with him in it so this was my first encounter with him. I found him really intriguing so I hope to read more about him in the future.
I definitely see what people mean by this being a bit of a rollcall. Pretty much every Batman character makes some sort of appearance. Unfortunately that means a lot of the minor characters I've never heard of spent a lot of time in this book. I'm not going to lie; a lot of the characters I had no idea who they were. Especially a lot of the gang and cop people. Oh well.
I'm really curious to see where this continues, considering this could have been the entire story, but apparently there's more. I'm intrigued.
Maybe not my favorite Batman story, but it's still pretty good.
This book is a monster. It's huge. And it's not even the whole story.
I will admit, I'm mostly in this for the Batkids; Babs, Jason, Tim, Harper, and Stephanie (who makes her return in this book). They don't make too many appearances in this book, but when they do appear, it's great. I love these kids so much.
Thanks to this book I'm also going to start looking into Batwing. I've never read anything with him in it so this was my first encounter with him. I found him really intriguing so I hope to read more about him in the future.
I definitely see what people mean by this being a bit of a rollcall. Pretty much every Batman character makes some sort of appearance. Unfortunately that means a lot of the minor characters I've never heard of spent a lot of time in this book. I'm not going to lie; a lot of the characters I had no idea who they were. Especially a lot of the gang and cop people. Oh well.
I'm really curious to see where this continues, considering this could have been the entire story, but apparently there's more. I'm intrigued.
Maybe not my favorite Batman story, but it's still pretty good.
writethruchaos's review
2.0
Holy confusing comic book, Batman! I was so excited to read this one. Scott Snyder is one of my favorite DC writers and the initial plot was promising. I mean Commissioner Gordan a murderer??? I was excite to see how that would play out. Despite its New 52 origin I was optimistic. It had generally positive reviews, which is saying a lot for a New 52 title. Now I'm just frustrated.
Buckle up, I have a lot to say about this one.
What could have been a simple, interesting plot because massively overwhelming as DC tried to incorporate as many characters as possible. (I'm still confused as to why they went for Spectre over Constantine). The more you read the more tangents the plot goes on and the less sense it makes. At first many of these tangents were clever subplots and even enjoyable but they ultimately became stumbling blocks that disrupted the flow of the story. Jim Gordon had some great character development (the scene with him and his son was so so good) the other characters get thrown under the Batmobile. On the topic of characters I will say I liked Batgirl's subplot (especially hers and Jason's interactions and their relationship) but she didn't really get an arc. It was more like "check out BG kicking the crap out of people" but she doesn't change and never goes as far as Batman is afraid she will. The writers should have played into her dark side a bit more. That would have made her final scene with Jason more impactful. I also did enjoy Stephanie Brown's subplot! I would have liked more of that! (I don't know why we need to revisit Steph's origin but the New 52 was confusing times). Luke and Spectre's team up was cool too. Too bad the writers pushed it to the side and spent no time exploring it (I still think Luke and Constantine would have been a better team up).
Let's talk about the art. of the multiple crimes committed in this story, Batman and the Batfam failed to apprehend the artists (Except for you, Dustin Nguyen, you are innocent and fantastic!!!). As common in comics but to my growing frustration, there is a simple equation; Women = object for sexual exploitation. I kid you not, every female character is drawn in the most sexual way no matter the situation. DC, if the goal is to be more inclusive, you gotta respect women first. This means framing your panels so that a woman's butt doesn't fill the whole screen. Yes, yes all comics do this to the point where its "normal" but this was one of the recent DC eras where the powers that be decided DC had to change, to the point of rewriting character backstories and reinventing character images. "But Catwoman is supposed to be sexy," I hear the gatekeeping geeks wailing (you know, the ones that fetishize Harley and Ivy's relationship while despising Tim Drake's bisexuality). Yes, Catwoman is a sexy goddess but she's so much more than that. She's a cunning thief that grew up on Gotham's streets and looks out for the innocents in the city's underbelly. But, yes, let's draw her like she only exists to be a pretty face with a sexy body and call it "Strong Female Character". There's more to unpack here but we have more ground to cover. (To understand what I mean, look into The Hawkeye Initiative)
Speaking of rewriting characters let's talk about costumes. For the New 52 DC decided to make some choices with iconic costumes... For example, Batman got a more sleek, stealthy costume with subtle changes, Scarecrow got a more unnerving look, the Talons looked AMAZING, but others weren't so lucky. We are all familiar with Red Robins Vegas look from the cursed New 52 Teen Titans run (*PTSD* *war flashbacks*) and Red Hood's face mask with a mouth..? But with all the "creativity" they put into their reinvented characters for the new era the side characters got the bare minimum. I mean they couldn't think of anything better to but Julia Pennyworth in besides a black, latex, catsuit?!?!?! And don't even get me started on the weird clown fetish that is the "Joker's daughter" character (Pennywise is quaking). She's a great example of a character that might have been a good idea in the writers room but was just a flat copy of Harley on the page (with a terrible character design. Clown-school-girl-core? Ew). Again you can't claim to be "progressive" and inclusive while pumping out character designs that cater to the male gaze.
So yeah. That's my opinion. I rate this a solid 2 stars. The gang war plot and Gordon's plot was great. The unnecessary twists and turns the writers threw in ruined it for me. That plus disconnected characters and nonexistent character arcs make this one of my least favorite Batman titles. But hey, there's plenty of potential for fanfics based around the original plotline.
Buckle up, I have a lot to say about this one.
What could have been a simple, interesting plot because massively overwhelming as DC tried to incorporate as many characters as possible. (I'm still confused as to why they went for Spectre over Constantine). The more you read the more tangents the plot goes on and the less sense it makes. At first many of these tangents were clever subplots and even enjoyable but they ultimately became stumbling blocks that disrupted the flow of the story. Jim Gordon had some great character development (the scene with him and his son was so so good) the other characters get thrown under the Batmobile. On the topic of characters I will say I liked Batgirl's subplot (especially hers and Jason's interactions and their relationship) but she didn't really get an arc. It was more like "check out BG kicking the crap out of people" but she doesn't change and never goes as far as Batman is afraid she will. The writers should have played into her dark side a bit more. That would have made her final scene with Jason more impactful. I also did enjoy Stephanie Brown's subplot! I would have liked more of that! (I don't know why we need to revisit Steph's origin but the New 52 was confusing times). Luke and Spectre's team up was cool too. Too bad the writers pushed it to the side and spent no time exploring it (I still think Luke and Constantine would have been a better team up).
Let's talk about the art. of the multiple crimes committed in this story, Batman and the Batfam failed to apprehend the artists (Except for you, Dustin Nguyen, you are innocent and fantastic!!!). As common in comics but to my growing frustration, there is a simple equation; Women = object for sexual exploitation. I kid you not, every female character is drawn in the most sexual way no matter the situation. DC, if the goal is to be more inclusive, you gotta respect women first. This means framing your panels so that a woman's butt doesn't fill the whole screen. Yes, yes all comics do this to the point where its "normal" but this was one of the recent DC eras where the powers that be decided DC had to change, to the point of rewriting character backstories and reinventing character images. "But Catwoman is supposed to be sexy," I hear the gatekeeping geeks wailing (you know, the ones that fetishize Harley and Ivy's relationship while despising Tim Drake's bisexuality). Yes, Catwoman is a sexy goddess but she's so much more than that. She's a cunning thief that grew up on Gotham's streets and looks out for the innocents in the city's underbelly. But, yes, let's draw her like she only exists to be a pretty face with a sexy body and call it "Strong Female Character". There's more to unpack here but we have more ground to cover. (To understand what I mean, look into The Hawkeye Initiative)
Speaking of rewriting characters let's talk about costumes. For the New 52 DC decided to make some choices with iconic costumes... For example, Batman got a more sleek, stealthy costume with subtle changes, Scarecrow got a more unnerving look, the Talons looked AMAZING, but others weren't so lucky. We are all familiar with Red Robins Vegas look from the cursed New 52 Teen Titans run (*PTSD* *war flashbacks*) and Red Hood's face mask with a mouth..? But with all the "creativity" they put into their reinvented characters for the new era the side characters got the bare minimum. I mean they couldn't think of anything better to but Julia Pennyworth in besides a black, latex, catsuit?!?!?! And don't even get me started on the weird clown fetish that is the "Joker's daughter" character (Pennywise is quaking). She's a great example of a character that might have been a good idea in the writers room but was just a flat copy of Harley on the page (with a terrible character design. Clown-school-girl-core? Ew). Again you can't claim to be "progressive" and inclusive while pumping out character designs that cater to the male gaze.
So yeah. That's my opinion. I rate this a solid 2 stars. The gang war plot and Gordon's plot was great. The unnecessary twists and turns the writers threw in ruined it for me. That plus disconnected characters and nonexistent character arcs make this one of my least favorite Batman titles. But hey, there's plenty of potential for fanfics based around the original plotline.
disniq's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
I really enjoyed this one. It's an absolute beast length wise, but that gives it the time and space to develop the intertwined stories without feeling rushed or disconnected. The batfam all feel reasonably in character, which is always a plus. Only not 5* because one issue has really odd art and it was incredibly jarring compared to the rest.
lukeisthename34's review
5.0
Loved it. Great to see a Batman story that is long, complicated and given the room to breathe.
monty_reads's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0