Review- BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL VOL. 3- KNIGHTSEND

BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL VOL. 3- KNIGHTSEND (DC, Third Printing, 2013; Softcover)

Collects Batman #509, 510, 512-514, Catwoman #12, 13, Detective Comics #676, 677, 679-681, Robin #8, 9, 11-13, Batman: Legends Of The Dark Knight #62, 63, and Batman: Shadow Of The Bat #29, 30, 32-34 (cover dates July, 1994- January, 1995)

Writers: Doug Moench, Alan Grant, Chuck Dixon, Jo Duffy, and Denny O'Neil

Artists: Pencilers (*also inkers)- Mike Manley, Bret Blevins*, Graham Nolan, Ron Wagner, Tom Grummett, Jim Balent, Joe Rubinstein*, Barry Kitson, Mike Vosburg, Mike Gustovitch*, Romeo Tanghal*, Lee Weeks, Phil Jimenez*, MD Bright, and John Cleary

Inkers- Dick Giordano, Bob Smith, Scott Hanna, Ron McCain, Ray Kryssing, Rick Burchett, Mike Manley, John Stokes, and Klaus Janson

Christ on a stick, would it have killed DC to do a complete run in any of their books? Did they have to omit the Zero Hour crossover which ran across the titles? They included one issue from it in this book while omitting the rest. Between this and the omitted issues from Vol. 2 it is apparent that DC will forever be second to Marvel's Collected Editions department. DC used to lead, and indeed helped define, this market segment but in the past decade became complacent. Marvel upped their game and raised the bar, leaving DC in the dust. All of the people who helped to build DC's collected editions department have long since left, leaving the clueless buffoons we have now running the show

This book starts out with the Knightsend crossover which ran across twelve comics. In that arc we see Bruce Wayne ready himself to return and resume the mantle of Batman. The problem is that his chosen successor, Jean Paul Valley (Azrael) is mentally unstable and is unwilling to give it up so easily. So Bruce Wayne has to defeat him in a pitched battle that requires not one, but two Aftermath issues to wrap things up. It is disgusting that this arc required folks to buy so many different titles in order to get the complete story. That is everything that is wrong with this industry. They should just slap a label on the cover reading ATTENTION COMIC FANS: We think that you are stupid sheep and will buy any and every piece of swill that we shovel at you.

The next arc is Prodigal. Bruce Wayne is not yet ready to resume his role as Batman, and picks Robin (Dick Grayson) to be the new Batman. The real Robin, not to be confused with the then-current Robin (Tim Drake, the third one). I used to spit at DC because of these multiple identities but Marvel has followed suit in the past decade, making me spit at them just as much. Ridiculous. At least this arc shows some true character development for Dick Grayson, as he regains his confidence while battle Killer Croc and Two-Face. Bruce Wayne returns at Batman on the final page of this twelve issue arc. He is wearing an all black costume reminiscent of the 1989 movie.

The writing and artwork are all good to very good, depending. While it is easy to lump in all '90s comics in together I think that DC was doing better superhero stuff than Marvel at this point in time. These three Knightfall books were an enjoyable line marred by DC's omissions. I would love to see DC go head to head with Marvel and do a chunky line of full color trade paperbacks which will eventually collect everything. These 600-650 page beasts are a good place to start.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I love thick chunky trade paperbacks of complete runs.

Linework and Color restoration: Things look good overall. The linework is tight and clean. The original color palette is maintained if certain liberties are taken where the original gradient blends are.

Paper stock: The paper stock is slightly thicker than the cheap paper that DC uses in most of their collections of classic material. It looks like real pulp comic paper, which is nice, but I don't know how well it will hold up over time. Then again, a recent trip to John King Books in Detroit showed me how durable paper can be. I was flipping through books that were 70 plus years old and the paper was solid if browned.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover.

Review- BATMAN: PREY

BATMAN: PREY (DC, First Printing, 2012; Softcover)

Collects Legends of the Dark Knight #11-15, 137-141 (cover dates September, 1990- May, 2001)

Writer: Doug Moench

Artists: Penciler- Paul Gulacy; Inkers- Terry Austin (#11-15) and Jimmy Palmiotti (#137-141)

I am a casual Batman fan, cherry picking random collections based on creative teams or the era of original issue publication. The team of Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy was too great of a draw to resist. I normally despise ret-cons, as they usually mean one of two things: One, that the character(s) involved is/are so screwed up in their current incarnation that there is no other way to tell a cohesive story about said character(s), and/or Two, that the creative team involved is so lazy and unimaginative that there is no other way that they could tell a story using an established hero or villain. Batman seems to be the victim of endless retellings and reinterpretations of his early exploits, which serve to only further muddy the waters of continuity.

That said, these were enjoyable reads. Batman has more “dark” and “mature” themes applied to him than any other mainstream superhero, and given his origins as a derivative pulp character I can go with the Noir angle, but only to a point. Moench is a fine writer and Gulacy is a fine artist. Gulacy is paired with a pair of top notch inkers in Terry Austin and Jimmy Palmiotti. The art is easy on the eyes even if the paper in this book is shit.

The arc found in the first five issues collected in this book is a reinterpretation of Batman's first encounter with Doctor Hugo Strange which occurred in Detective Comics #36 way back in 1939 (the cover date was February, 1940, but the issue would have been on the stands in the final days of the 1930s). Since everything is better when it is made darker and grittier, Hugo Strange is made even kookier than he was in his first appearance, on down to a fetish with a manikin with a Batman costume...because, you know, story.

The second arc collected here is the sequel, this time with the Scarecrow in tow. I am a sucker for the Scarecrow, as scarecrows are cool as Hell. Catwoman is also featured prominently in this arc, but the ret-con factor totally ruins this for me. Like I said before, Moench is a fine writer, but is he really so bored with these characters that all's he can do is pretend that Batman doesn't know Catwoman? We have seen so many reboots, reinterpretations and ret-cons that none of these stories mean anything now. Cue douchebag fanboy whining, where they say Who cares one whit about continuity so long as we get a good story. If that's the case then nothing shown in any story matters. Sorry kids, but continuity matters because otherwise reading any story becomes a waste of your time. It matters or it doesn't...and if it doesn't then I don't care.

I loathe how Batman's narrative is done in a semi-cursive, semi-printed fashion. It is difficult to read in the murky gray boxes, made even murkier by the shitty paper that DC passes off on people in their collected editions. This was an at times entertaining read, although the aforementioned paper and lettering issues annoyed me. DC's collected editions department remains a joke.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This being DC, there are of course omissions. They could have included the covers for the three previous trade paperback releases, but instead we get one blank page and three pages of ads for other books in the back. Marvel also advertises other books in their collections, but they do it on the inside covers of these books. DC's inside covers are blank.

Linework and Color restoration: Irrelevant, since the grade of paper used makes things a murky washed out mess of it.

Paper stock: What year is this? Why are DC fans content to accept subpar paper in their collected editions? This is some seriously crappy paper. It is worse than the paper used in the original 2001 issues and makes the computer colors look washed out and muted. This cheap paper is garbage and doesn't lower the cost of the book one bit.

DC lists their “Sustainable Forestry Initiative” in the indicia like they are environmentally responsible. Please. Your entire business model is based on killing trees. Acting like you are responsible by using the SFI logo is laughable. You sell dead trees. The blood of mother Earth is on your hands!

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Thick laminated cardstock cover. At least DC did that right. It was probably a mistake.