@ralphsix, @Jay_Kay, ok that would be a fun one to do if y’all haven’t read it. Next week is 2013 Batman Black and White. At the end of the month We’ll be doing The Dark Prince Charming or Europa haven’t decided yet. Kinda leaning towards TDPC but the art is fantastic in both.
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All cool books, looking forward to them!
Finished The Batman of Arkham, by the way. I liked it, an interesting exploration of what Batman could be like. I like that it explores an aspect of Bruce that we don’t see often enough, and that’s his sense of compassion and hope that those he puts away can be redeemed. Really, if anything the weak points of this book is when Bruce puts on the costume and fights The Joker. If they focused more on the psychology of some of these criminals like Killer Croc and Poison Ivy, I think it would have came out more interesting than just a reskin of Gotham by Gaslight.
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Just finished it myself. I liked it as well. I see how one might not think so in comparison to Gotham by Gaslight but it was still a interesting and good story in itself. That panel where he smacks the head of of Scarface while talking with the ventriloquist was hilarious. Really loved the art and panel layout which is why I picked it really. If anything I wish it was longer of a story. I liked the panels with Batman and Joker myself. If I had to nitpick anything it would be how it just jumped from him and croc in the cell to all of the sudden he’s fine. But overall I liked the story. Good art, psychological aspect, Rouges gallery, Batman fighting the Joker, and Batman almost going too far by killing. I mean those are pretty good check boxes for a Batman story.
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I get what you’re saying but its an elseworld story. I saw that you said you haven’t read much of the elseworld stuff, but besides some fatties like Gotham by Gaslight and Dracula 100 ish pg. Red Son 3 issues around 150 pg. most are about the size of 2 comics 50 60 pg. So you can only get into so much of the story. There just interesting concepts, “what if Batman was in the past or a Green lantern or Superman in the past or was batman.”
Yeah it was not meant to be super serious, but rather a fun and silly story. If you haven’t read any of Cooke’s work, he’s great and you should check out some of his work like The New Frontier or Kryptonite.
I’ve been meaning to read The New Frontier since I loved the animated movie, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
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Oh theres a lot more to it def worth a read. Kryptonite is really good to and if you haven’t read his stuff before it def shows he can do a more serious story.
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Oh, and as far as the selections go, I’m just kind of a nuts-and-bolts plot stickler. These are both a little style-over-substance, but I think the style won me over better with Batman/The Spirit. There’s just something so lifeless about Alan Grant’s dialogue that I just can’t stand, but I seem to be the only one that has this issue.
It might be sort of a familiarity-breeds-contempt issue, though. I’ve been trying to do a month-by-month Post-Crisis readthrough of a bunch of books including Batman and Detective Comics, and Grant had huge runs on both and then worked for years on Shadow of the Bat, so I’ve had to put up with a ton of his writing when it’s really not good enough to justify the sheer scale of those runs.
And I mean, if there’s one bit of credit I can give him, I suppose he actually understands Batman himself as a character better than a lot of writers. Now, Grant’s Batman tends to be a little long-winded and hammy, but too many writers forget that Batman actually does care about people and want to do the right thing. He wouldn’t do what he does at all if he didn’t
It’s just that Grant has very wooden dialogue and his plots are often highly repetitive and preachy, so his handle on the character can’t really salvage that.
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@JeepersItsTheJamags No I hear you. I grew up with Shadows of the Bat as a kid. Brian Stelfreeze cover art was great though. This month I wanted to focus on art and see how we thought the story held up with it though. I can get over plot details or lack of explanation if the overall premise is good. Gives you things to ponder on if its not handed to ya. But if the art isn’t good it’s harder for me to be forgiving on a weak story. I have never read The Cult by Morrison and almost picked it for one of the weeks this month but I wasn’t gonna do that to you LOL.
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Are you referring to Batman: The Cult? That’s a decent book but not by Morrison. Before his time.
@JeepersItsTheJamags The New Frontier is a must read. I was surprised how good it was when I finally did.
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Yeah, The Cult was by Jim Starlin, not Morrison.
And yes, The New Frontier is definitely worth a read.
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Ah, I do like The Cult, even if it’s another case of Jim Starlin tracing over the lines of Frank Miller’s work. There’s some serious DKR envy going on in that series. If nothing else, I enjoy it because Starlin writes Jason as something other than a little punk for once. 
(Hint hint: I’ll be covering that one eventually, too!)
Oh, and The New Frontier is brilliant, as others have said. The animated film is really good, too, but it’s a bit better if you haven’t already read the comic. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck thinking about all the great things that got left out instead of appreciating all the great moments it offers.
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Oh goodness don’t no why I was thinking it was Morrison. 
The panels and art do remind me of Millers stuff.
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Really? Huh. I mean, both Wrightson and Miller’s art is dripping with black ink to add mood, but I’m not sure I see connections in how they draw. At most, like I think it was @JeepersItsTheJamags who said the writer was extremely influenced by Dark Knight Returns and a thus shares a lot of that panel layout and some key moments.
Man, we GOTTA do The Cult on one of these book clubs as soon as we can.
Pretty sure that was @AlexanderKnox, considering I only read half of The Cult (wasn’t bad as far as I read, I just got distracted) and know DKR mainly by reputation. I saw the first movie but never got around to the second and I’ve only read snippets of the comic.
@AlexanderKnox, @Jay_Kay, @JeepersItsTheJamags, @ralphsix, Thanks y’all for joining in this week and look forward to your thoughts on Black and White!
Have a great week y’all!
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I’ve never read Gotham by Gaslight, so therefore I can’t compare it to The Batman of Arkham. But, I absolutely love Elseworld tales, and greatly enjoyed this comic. Thank you for recommending it!
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Glad you liked it! And definitely pick up Gaslight, if you get the chance, it’s worth it if only for the Mike Mignola artwork. 
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