joshgauthier's review against another edition
4.0
King continues to do excellent work with the characters of Batman and those closest to Bruce Wayne. In the aftermath of vol. 7, King takes us into Batman's emotional turmoil, examining his flaws and struggles in a couple major storylines--with the Mr. Freeze story that starts off the volume being particularly effective.
With characteristic skill, effective art, strong storytelling, humor, and a dash of self-aware humor, King's next installment in his run of Batman is strong and complex, leading us from one of the biggest events in Bruce Wayne's life into the next chapter of his adventures. King's storytelling is always effective, and he brings fresh humanity to the characters under his direction.
With characteristic skill, effective art, strong storytelling, humor, and a dash of self-aware humor, King's next installment in his run of Batman is strong and complex, leading us from one of the biggest events in Bruce Wayne's life into the next chapter of his adventures. King's storytelling is always effective, and he brings fresh humanity to the characters under his direction.
boards_books_and_brews's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
georgezakka's review against another edition
4.0
Damn.. this is the 4th book I’ve given 5 stars this week, I’ve really been enjoying a lot recently.
Anyways. There are three arcs and loved them all.
The first being about mr freeze and how Batman used excessive force against him to force a confession that wasn’t true. Mr freeze lied because he knew he didn’t do it but he wanted Batman to stop. To stop hurting him. You later see Bruce and others in a room and they all think mr freeze killed three 3 ladies because he “confessed” but Bruce convinces them that Batman made him confess because Bruce felt guilty. I really enjoyed the art by lee weeks which was weird at first but gets better after.
The second was a fun issue with nightwing and Batman roaming through Gotham fighting baddies and shows how when dick was young and his parents died he went through a lot of trouble and the issue shows how fun nightwing can be.
The third was about KGBEAST killing nightwing. This arc was really cool because you notice that Batman has already been hurt a lot when Selina Kyle leaves him at the altar but then nightwing is shot in the head. Imagine how much that must hurt. You also see how scary KGBEAST is such as killing his dad and his entire family and killing everyone who knows him.
Overall great book.
Anyways. There are three arcs and loved them all.
The first being about mr freeze and how Batman used excessive force against him to force a confession that wasn’t true. Mr freeze lied because he knew he didn’t do it but he wanted Batman to stop. To stop hurting him. You later see Bruce and others in a room and they all think mr freeze killed three 3 ladies because he “confessed” but Bruce convinces them that Batman made him confess because Bruce felt guilty. I really enjoyed the art by lee weeks which was weird at first but gets better after.
The second was a fun issue with nightwing and Batman roaming through Gotham fighting baddies and shows how when dick was young and his parents died he went through a lot of trouble and the issue shows how fun nightwing can be.
The third was about KGBEAST killing nightwing. This arc was really cool because you notice that Batman has already been hurt a lot when Selina Kyle leaves him at the altar but then nightwing is shot in the head. Imagine how much that must hurt. You also see how scary KGBEAST is such as killing his dad and his entire family and killing everyone who knows him.
Overall great book.
garthranzz's review against another edition
4.0
Finally! King returns to form! After the disappointment of how the wedding arc ended, Cold Days hits the ground running.
crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
3.0
Tom King's Batman run has been a rollercoaster for me. I disliked his first issues enough that I decided to take a break from Batman. Then I read some of his issues about Bruce and Selina when they were dating, and I thought they were well done, and decided to read the wedding issue ranks along with Snyder's Commisoner Bunnyman, and Grant Morrison's Bruce Wayne travels through time, as some of the absolute worst of modern Batman.
Today, I picked up the three most recent trades, and loved volume six, hated volume seven even more than I imagined, but this volume was just sort of okay.
I enjoyed the idea behind the trial of Victor Fries/Batman. I think if it had been two issues instead of three, it could have been stronger, but it was still a four star book for me.
The Batman/Dick Grayson/KGBeast was both poorly conceived and executed. Instead of connecting to Bruce and Dick's relationship in modern comics, King chooses to make the TV show style relationship canon to his run, and it just doesn't work with how he's otherwise portrayed them. So it ends up feeling more like a lazy Elseworld book than part of his own run. Even Matt Wagner's art felt forced to me. And having it switch back and forth between Silver-agey Batman and Robin and modern Bruce and Dick was cheap, especially coming so close to the issue where he did the same thing with Bruce and Selina.
I don't really recommend this book unless you're desperate for a tale about KGBeast or overwrought family issue Batman.
Today, I picked up the three most recent trades, and loved volume six, hated volume seven even more than I imagined, but this volume was just sort of okay.
I enjoyed the idea behind the trial of Victor Fries/Batman. I think if it had been two issues instead of three, it could have been stronger, but it was still a four star book for me.
The Batman/Dick Grayson/KGBeast was both poorly conceived and executed. Instead of connecting to Bruce and Dick's relationship in modern comics, King chooses to make the TV show style relationship canon to his run, and it just doesn't work with how he's otherwise portrayed them. So it ends up feeling more like a lazy Elseworld book than part of his own run. Even Matt Wagner's art felt forced to me. And having it switch back and forth between Silver-agey Batman and Robin and modern Bruce and Dick was cheap, especially coming so close to the issue where he did the same thing with Bruce and Selina.
I don't really recommend this book unless you're desperate for a tale about KGBeast or overwrought family issue Batman.
rashthedoctor's review against another edition
4.0
Absolutely loved this one .
The story showed the after math of the wedding and finished with Bruce facing another tragedy . This leads me to believe that we are going back to the times when Batman became very disturbed emotionally during the Jason Todd death and Breaking the bat storyline in the past.
The first part of the story specially , which involved Bruce doing jury duty was absolutely fantastic and despite lack of any action it dwelled deep into the psychology of Batman fandom and fanaticism that exists at Gotham .
Not to say that the other stories were bad , the banterous relationship between Dick and Bruce was fun to watch and although we know of Dick learning of Bruce's identity , we first time got to know how the early year relationship between Dick and Bruce was .
The only thing I didn't like was the art during the first part of the volume and the narrative style of King which still remains confusing for large parts of the story as well as , long monologues .
I'll say though , that this was the first time that King's Batman did Batman and not just roll over and got rescued by an Ally
The story showed the after math of the wedding and finished with Bruce facing another tragedy . This leads me to believe that we are going back to the times when Batman became very disturbed emotionally during the Jason Todd death and Breaking the bat storyline in the past.
The first part of the story specially , which involved Bruce doing jury duty was absolutely fantastic and despite lack of any action it dwelled deep into the psychology of Batman fandom and fanaticism that exists at Gotham .
Not to say that the other stories were bad , the banterous relationship between Dick and Bruce was fun to watch and although we know of Dick learning of Bruce's identity , we first time got to know how the early year relationship between Dick and Bruce was .
The only thing I didn't like was the art during the first part of the volume and the narrative style of King which still remains confusing for large parts of the story as well as , long monologues .
I'll say though , that this was the first time that King's Batman did Batman and not just roll over and got rescued by an Ally
rhyno0401's review against another edition
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5