stillmuseum's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I am genuinely surprised at how much I liked these stories. Outside of the first one - the Penguin/Catwoman story, where Selina feels like some weird trophy wife Oswald has earned for doing good - I think I enjoyed all of them on one level or another.
The Scarecrow story was beautifully atmospheric. The art was phenomenal. I will have to look up more work by Wes Craig.
This book has the best Poison Ivy I’ve read/seen in years. I love her design - instead of her usual femme fatale body suit, she is draped in leaves and vines, a la Swamp Thing. Plus, she’s doing her ecoterrorist thing, which is a part of her character that no one seems to care about anymore. It was written by G. Willow Wilson, so I’m not surprised that it’s great. She’s writing an Ivy standalone that I am really excited for. I hope this artist comes back too, Emma Rios. This was my favorite art of the book, I think.
The Scarecrow story was beautifully atmospheric. The art was phenomenal. I will have to look up more work by Wes Craig.
This book has the best Poison Ivy I’ve read/seen in years. I love her design - instead of her usual femme fatale body suit, she is draped in leaves and vines, a la Swamp Thing. Plus, she’s doing her ecoterrorist thing, which is a part of her character that no one seems to care about anymore. It was written by G. Willow Wilson, so I’m not surprised that it’s great. She’s writing an Ivy standalone that I am really excited for. I hope this artist comes back too, Emma Rios. This was my favorite art of the book, I think.
The Red Hood was unexpected. It’s not the Red Hood you expect. I’ll leave it at that. I liked this story. It was solid.
The Mad Hatter was probably the story I was least interested in. For one, It’s not quite on theme. All the rest of the books are from the villain’s perspective, however, this one is more from Robin’s. This change was kind of annoying, but, thankfully, I don’t care about the Mad Hatter. Many of these stories are set ups for storylines that will finish elsewhere. This story was the most transparent in that endeavor.
Killer Moth was a happy surprise. ;) There’s always so much going on in Gotham and I like reading stories about how C-List/D-List villains get by. The truth is that most of them probably do just fine, as this story illustrates.
And now to the one-two punch that made me want to read this book. The Al Ghuls. Ra’s and Talia each get a story and the contrast between them is revealing. The Ra’s one centered around a chess game between him and Batman. One that is never finished…
In a bit of very satisfying character development, the Talia story centers around her as a child in training – not unlike how she would later train her son. She is burdened with questions about her mother as well as her place in her father’s world. I hope to GOD Nadia Shammas gets to write Talia again! This story truly felt special.
Just like Batman, I love Selina Kyle. But also like Batman, there is still room in my heart for Talia. However, she is rarely the focus of her own story. This might be a first. I hope its not the last.
Overall, this was a solid anthology. I highly recommend it.
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