This book has the same creative team but it doesn’t have the same scope as the two Batman stories because there are fewer characters. This book aslo strikes a rather different tone which grew on me after a while but I found a little odd at first. This book is funny because it teams up Catwoman with the Riddler and their association leads to all types of high jinx. Selena has gone to Italy to find out if Carmine Falcone was truly her father. Her quest leads her on several adventures and run-ins with the mafia in Rome she gets some answers and is mostly left with more questions. She has a final showdown with the Riddler who was playing on curiosity about her past to get her to steal this very special ring. In the end she is able to survive and get one up on the Edward but she did not find the answers she was truly seeking.
Again Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale deliver a solid story and art with this book. Is it essential to read this to understand Batman: Dark Victory, no. If you are a Catwoman fan or a completest of Loeb and Sale work then yes you will want to read this. I believe this is the version of Selena that Anne Hathaway based her performance on for the Dark Knight Rises. This title is not essential but it does open that world up just a little more.
Batman: Dark Victory picks up where Batman: The Long Halloween left off. The Holiday killer has been caught and is behind bars the Roman is dead, but our heroes are coping with the loss of Harvey Dent. Two-Face has taken over and the last remnants of Harvey Dent are slowly being erased throughout this book. There is a shining light in this book as it showcases how Dick Grayson became the first Boy Wonder to team up side by side with the Dark Knight. There are new characters to make there appearances as well such as Janice Porter. This book is sort of a mirror reflection to Batman: The Long Halloween because instead of the mob being targeted police officers are being targeted every holiday by a new killer called the Hangman and a piece of evidence is found at each scene linking Harvey Dent to each victim. Janice Porter is the new district attorney but she is hiding something that when it is revealed is one of the greatest twist that Jeph Loeb has ever written in a Batman story because it’s not something you expect. There is more of a shock value I think at the end of this book when it is revealed who the real Hangman killer is.
Like I mentioned earlier one of the shining lights of this book is seeing the origin of Dick Grayson how and why his parents died. How he discovered the Bat-cave and how he became Robin. It doesn’t take very long but it is something that felt quite fulfilling to see put to the page in this collection. There is surprisingly little Bruce Wayne in this book compared to its predecessor. The relationship between Bruce Wayne and Selena Kyle seems to dissolve in this book as he pushes her away in his grief over losing Dent. But on a side not it is because of events in this book that there is a spin-off story of sorts about a journey that Catwoman goes on in between two of the chapters in this book.
If you read Batman: The Long Halloween then you mostly know what to expect with this sequel closing out some of the early adventures of the Caped Crusader. I highly recommend it on the artwork alone as I love Tim Sale’s work but it is a very well crafted story.
Some of my favorite books to come out of either Marvel or DC Comics are the collaborations by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Batman: The Long Halloween is the start of the Holiday Quartet by Jeph Loeb in the other books in this are Batman: Haunted Knight, Batman: Dark Victory and Catwoman: When in Rome. Batman: The Long Halloween takes place after Batman: Year One. These stories are composed more in the vein of crime noir tales than Batman stories and that is what makes them so intriguing this is the era when crime shifted from the mob to Batman’s rogue gallery that we know and love today. This first book showcases the downfall of Carmine Falcone aka the Roman and the main kingpin of Gotham City. This book also gives us the origin of Two-Face and the downfall of Harvey Dent.
First off before we move on to story the art work is spectacular on every page a Tim Sales drawings are amazing and the colors work so well with the setting and tone of the story. Pretty much all of Batman’s villains appear in this book at one point or another. I really like the character development that was put into this story as we see the building of the relationship between Batman and Jim Gordon, Gordon and Dent, Batman and Catwoman. Again back to the art work in this book Tim Sale is masterful at framing and perspective.
The story centers on the Holiday killings in which a different member or groups of members are killed each holiday of the year and all of the victims have connections to the mob. This is truly a different type of crime noir story because it takes so many of those tropes and it turns them on their heads. The mafia is on the defensive the entire book instead of being on the offensive. Batman is trying to solve the case one way while Gordon and Dent are attacking it from another angle. This book also perfectly captures Bruce Wayne’s public life balanced with his private life something that can rarely be seen outside of Batman the Animated Series. The fall of Harvey Dent is the perfect cliff hanger to leave this book on because for those of us who are comic fans or Batman fans in particular we already know the story or at least the broad strokes of the story.
I fully recommend this book if you are a Batman fan by any means this is a title for you. I may be a little longer to get through but in the end you will be rewarded for sticking with it.
Another limited series that leads up to the Avengers vs. X-Men event. I have loved Jeph Loeb's work in the past. His Marvel & DC collaborations with Tim Sale are amazing. Batman: Hush is a fabulous look at the Batman character over the years illustrated by Jim Lee. Usually when Jeph Loeb's name is attached to a project it is supposed to be amazing both in art & story. However I found this story to be lacking in both story & art. The story revolves around that idea that Cable needs to take out the Avengers because of some unexplained event that involved his adopted daughter Hope. I feel that there was almost no lead up to this story There could have been one or two more issues in this series to build up the threat of the Avengers to the X-Men. The story moves at breakneck speed as Cable only has a limited amount of time. It seems this is a story simply to put Nathan Summers back on the playing field but it doesn't explain how he survived the X-Men: Second Coming event. The story takes place over the course of one night it starts & ends way to quickly. The art also seems title off for this series I like Ed McGuinness's work on his previous collaboration on the Superman / Batman for DC. but some of the paneling choices seem off & don't work for the characters. However it is nice to see a story that reminds readers why Cable is such a bad-ass but this story has almost no substance does not seem to lend much credence to the upcoming event.
Batman: Hush is one of the quintessential batman stories of the Post-Crisis DC Universe. Not only does this story introduce one of the best new villains to be added to the Batman rogues gallery but it also mines the Batman mythos to core when it comes to the characters in this story. The story touches on past story arcs from Batman: Year One, Batman: A Death in the Family & Batman: The Killing Joke. This story also pushes the story forward on the Batman, Catwoman relationship & moves forward with that. This book not only has a whose who of Batman's rogue gallery but also a complete guest star list of the Bat-Family's supporting cast; even Superman & Lois Lane are in this story. Jeph Loeb has crafted a terrific story that has stood the test of time & the big reveal at the end & who the real master mind is just great. Also this title paves the way for future Batman events such as Batman: Under the Hood. The story is enhanced by superstar artist Jim Lee who is still one of the best artist in the business draws the whole story.
This volume kind of disrupts Cullen Bunn's short run on the character. It is however a chance for Jeph Loeb to tell a sequel to his previous Wolverine story. I have not read the previous Jeph Loeb story Wolverine: Evolution which came out in the previous Wolverine series shortly after Civil War. Really the only thing you need to know from that story is that Wolverine finally killed Sabretooth. Like much of Jeph Loeb's Marvel work this is a hit or miss story writing wise the art however is awesome. Simone Bianchi art brings everything to life in this book & sets more of tone than the writing does. There were parts of this series that were good like how did Sabretooth come back from the dead. Which now that I think about it this title raises more questions about that than it answers. For someone who is unfamiliar with Wolverine's villain Romulus this was a nice introduction. He comes off as Wolverine if he embraced Magento's ideology with a little bit of Ras Al Ghul thrown in for good measure. I frankly was just starting to like Bunn's work on Wolverine & this volume just broke that stride to tell a back story that is set prior to any of the events currently going on. Frankly when it comes to Loeb's work the only time I've really been super impressed with him is when he collaborates with Tim Sale. Their color series for Marvel is some of the best character work out there. Another good series of titles by them is the Batman quartet starting with Batman: The Long Halloween.
I finally picked this book up & it deserves all the hype it is given. Spider-Man: Blue
is probably one of Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale’s greatest collaborations.
Even the introduction from John Romita Sr. is touching & makes this
story just a bit more personal to anyone who is familiar with the history of Spider-Man. I admit I
haven’t read any of Spider-Man’s early adventures but I still know of
them & because of that I was able to get a lot of the Easter eggs
put forth in this mini-series. The final scene in this book brought the
whole story home for me even though Peter Parker’s marriage to Mary
Jane has been annulled in the One More Day story-arc, it is
still an incredibly touching moment. If you have ever read any of Loeb
& Sale’s other work you’ll want to pick this up if not this is a
great starting point. They have done collaborative work for both DC
& Marvel. I've heard they’re working on Captain America: White but who knows when that will come out.
