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hidinginstacks's review
2.0
A let down, pure and simple.
Gave it an extra star for the sweet inclusion of some of my favorite artists. DC is trash and doesn't care about their readers, though.
Gave it an extra star for the sweet inclusion of some of my favorite artists. DC is trash and doesn't care about their readers, though.
jennmarshall27's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
etienne02's review
5.0
This might be one of the best comic book I ever read. Original, unique, very deep. Lot of guest art in it too so it's make it special in the artwork perspective. But it's definitely the story, the writing that have got into me. Sometimes I read stuff that seem to make sense the exact day I've read them, because of something I didn't know the day before and I wouldn't have got it all if read previously, or because of a particular state of mind I'm. This comic book was one of those. I don't usually cry often, and even less while reading (I remember crying at the end of Shutter Island, and I think I cry while reading Les misérables, but that's it), but today I cry reading a Batman comic... maybe I just get soft aging... but it's have been hell of a day for me today and this one just got me emotional. All that to say that it's a more emotional comic, no action here, but a very beautiful homage to those two characters.
I let you with a quotes (I know I never do that, but there's a first for everything)... Bruce ask Alfred if he can be happy, and there what Alfred answer: «After all you've done. All you've endured, suffered. To go on another day... Don't you have to be?»
I just find this so beautifully written!!
I let you with a quotes (I know I never do that, but there's a first for everything)... Bruce ask Alfred if he can be happy, and there what Alfred answer: «After all you've done. All you've endured, suffered. To go on another day... Don't you have to be?»
I just find this so beautifully written!!
samhain's review
1.0
This issue should be renamed "Batman : How not to write an arc 101". Contrary to most people, I'm not disappointed the wedding didn't happen. DC stands for Divine Cowards after all. It's no surprise they refused to change their main title's dynamic. The recipe's worked for ages, do not try and shake things up, god forbid! Even though I had a tiny bit of hope, it's them going for it that would have been surprising. Therefore, the wedding not happening left me indifferent.
But boy, am I disappointed in King!! How could such an amazing writer agree to this? He must have known pretty early in the game that he wouldn't be allowed to marry them, so why agree to a FORTY-NINE (!!) build-up (+ prequels) just to have the most boring and anti-climatic conclusion possible? Why did he spent all those issues meticulously crafting complex characters just to have them do something that doesn't respect a ounce of what he's made them out to be? Watching this unfold was made even more awkward by last month's issue. Dedicating an entire issue to the fact that, contrary to all his friends and all his enemies, Selina understands Bruce's misery and the mixed feelings of both desiring and fearing happiness/love, is utterly pointless if she reduces him to his first trauma in the next issue. If there's someone out there who can understand that Bruce finding a tiny grasp of happiness won't kill the Batman, it's Selina! She should never have fallen for this "he needs to be 100% miserable to exist" crap.
Even if we take Selina's ability to understand Bruce away from the picture, it still doesn't make any sense plot-wise. Bruce has Alfred's love since the beginning ; never stopped him from being Batman. He has four boys whom he loves dearly (even those poorly written prequels had that right, Bruce loves Dick, loves his sons) and who love him back in return ; he's still Batman. He has friends who would do anything for him, and again those damned prequels showed us that + King had several issues dedicated to the fact that Clark is his best pal ; still a caped crusader. Selina and him have been in a loving relationship for forever and they've been living together for months prior to this issue ; he still goes out every night to kick some villains' ass. How is a marriage that they can't even perform as their true selves going to change anything?! DC needs to stop with the idea that Batman only exists because of Bruce's grief for his parents. It's what started his fight, but it's certainly not the only reason he's doing this. Stop painting him as a selfish fuck who won't care what happens to his city once he's happy. Stop pretending Bruce and Selina are people who need a marriage to feel they belong together forever and that not getting married would be a terrible sacrifice for them / a strong enough reason to break up. It's even more ridiculous if you're doing it in a issue where several artists pay hommage to DECADES of undying love between the two!! They've been through thick and thin together, not celebrating a not-even-valid-because-it's-not-their-true-names-on-the-paper marriage won't change a thing for them. Holding onto one good thing won't transform Bruce into an entirely new person. He has several good things in his life, and he's still perfectly capable of brooding on top of a gargoyle during a rainy night, thank you very much.
But let's admit for a second that marrying Selina would somehow cure all of Bruce's misery and also turn him into a selfish person who won't risk his little corner of happiness not even to save countless of innocents. This still wouldn't be the end of the Batman because, guess what?? HE HAS FOUR CHILDREN AND SEVERAL FRIENDS IN THE BAT-FAMILY, READY TO TAKE THE MANTLE!! For fuck sake, has anyone at DC even read the comics they're supposed to write??! Are they all living in a parallel universe where they've never written titles about someone other than Bruce being Batman? And they can't even play the card of "Selina doesn't know that, this is why she still sacrifices herself for the Batman to prevail". She lives at the Wayne Manor. She's known those people ever since she's started being Catwoman. She knows perfectly well Bruce could die tomorrow and it still wouldn't stop any of those people from fighting crime, nor would it mean the end of the Batman. If anything, it'd make them all even more eager to stop evil once and for all. How a brilliant writer like King ends up burying everything in the story because it's inconvenient for the arc is beyond my comprehension...
What's worse is that it wasn't even a good culminating point for the arc. It felt cheap, easy to the point of laziness, boring. The villain they fought at the very beginning has been working in the background through an agent who happens to be friends with one of the victims, and one of the persons who's in on this plan is the very first broken hero we met in this title. How convenient... Did I miss the announcement letting us know the conclusion would be written by a fourth grader? Seriously, I've read better fanfictions written by kids. I can't believe the Joker died for this. Chances are, the insult sufficed to make him rise from the grave and that's how he's at Bane's side in that last panel.
It should be maddening how they disregarded literally everything in the Batman-verse just so they could write a cheap drama. But the truth is, this was so lame it couldn't even manage to anger me. I'm merely disappointed that someone with King's talent signed up for this, and sad that the awful quality of this retroactively impacts the forty-nine previous issues. There was absolutely no point to everything that's happened in them, all that wonderful characterization meant nothing, and re-reading them will just be awkward. Thanks for naught, DC.
But boy, am I disappointed in King!! How could such an amazing writer agree to this? He must have known pretty early in the game that he wouldn't be allowed to marry them, so why agree to a FORTY-NINE (!!) build-up (+ prequels) just to have the most boring and anti-climatic conclusion possible? Why did he spent all those issues meticulously crafting complex characters just to have them do something that doesn't respect a ounce of what he's made them out to be? Watching this unfold was made even more awkward by last month's issue. Dedicating an entire issue to the fact that, contrary to all his friends and all his enemies, Selina understands Bruce's misery and the mixed feelings of both desiring and fearing happiness/love, is utterly pointless if she reduces him to his first trauma in the next issue. If there's someone out there who can understand that Bruce finding a tiny grasp of happiness won't kill the Batman, it's Selina! She should never have fallen for this "he needs to be 100% miserable to exist" crap.
Even if we take Selina's ability to understand Bruce away from the picture, it still doesn't make any sense plot-wise. Bruce has Alfred's love since the beginning ; never stopped him from being Batman. He has four boys whom he loves dearly (even those poorly written prequels had that right, Bruce loves Dick, loves his sons) and who love him back in return ; he's still Batman. He has friends who would do anything for him, and again those damned prequels showed us that + King had several issues dedicated to the fact that Clark is his best pal ; still a caped crusader. Selina and him have been in a loving relationship for forever and they've been living together for months prior to this issue ; he still goes out every night to kick some villains' ass. How is a marriage that they can't even perform as their true selves going to change anything?! DC needs to stop with the idea that Batman only exists because of Bruce's grief for his parents. It's what started his fight, but it's certainly not the only reason he's doing this. Stop painting him as a selfish fuck who won't care what happens to his city once he's happy. Stop pretending Bruce and Selina are people who need a marriage to feel they belong together forever and that not getting married would be a terrible sacrifice for them / a strong enough reason to break up. It's even more ridiculous if you're doing it in a issue where several artists pay hommage to DECADES of undying love between the two!! They've been through thick and thin together, not celebrating a not-even-valid-because-it's-not-their-true-names-on-the-paper marriage won't change a thing for them. Holding onto one good thing won't transform Bruce into an entirely new person. He has several good things in his life, and he's still perfectly capable of brooding on top of a gargoyle during a rainy night, thank you very much.
But let's admit for a second that marrying Selina would somehow cure all of Bruce's misery and also turn him into a selfish person who won't risk his little corner of happiness not even to save countless of innocents. This still wouldn't be the end of the Batman because, guess what?? HE HAS FOUR CHILDREN AND SEVERAL FRIENDS IN THE BAT-FAMILY, READY TO TAKE THE MANTLE!! For fuck sake, has anyone at DC even read the comics they're supposed to write??! Are they all living in a parallel universe where they've never written titles about someone other than Bruce being Batman? And they can't even play the card of "Selina doesn't know that, this is why she still sacrifices herself for the Batman to prevail". She lives at the Wayne Manor. She's known those people ever since she's started being Catwoman. She knows perfectly well Bruce could die tomorrow and it still wouldn't stop any of those people from fighting crime, nor would it mean the end of the Batman. If anything, it'd make them all even more eager to stop evil once and for all. How a brilliant writer like King ends up burying everything in the story because it's inconvenient for the arc is beyond my comprehension...
What's worse is that it wasn't even a good culminating point for the arc. It felt cheap, easy to the point of laziness, boring. The villain they fought at the very beginning has been working in the background through an agent who happens to be friends with one of the victims, and one of the persons who's in on this plan is the very first broken hero we met in this title. How convenient... Did I miss the announcement letting us know the conclusion would be written by a fourth grader? Seriously, I've read better fanfictions written by kids. I can't believe the Joker died for this. Chances are, the insult sufficed to make him rise from the grave and that's how he's at Bane's side in that last panel.
It should be maddening how they disregarded literally everything in the Batman-verse just so they could write a cheap drama. But the truth is, this was so lame it couldn't even manage to anger me. I'm merely disappointed that someone with King's talent signed up for this, and sad that the awful quality of this retroactively impacts the forty-nine previous issues. There was absolutely no point to everything that's happened in them, all that wonderful characterization meant nothing, and re-reading them will just be awkward. Thanks for naught, DC.
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