A review by crookedtreehouse
Batman Vol. 8: Cold Days by Tom King
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.