By John Byrne & various: 3-D process by Ray Zone (DC Comics)
ISBN: 0-930289-77-3
The comic-book 3-D process was invented by Joe Kubert and Norman Maurer in 1953 and fed into the wider craze in movies. It resulted in some pretty spectacular comic-books but died out pretty quickly, although it still persists and periodically resurfaces. I’ve worked on a couple of 3-D projects in my other life as an advertising free-lancer, and can honestly say it’s harder than it looks to get right, but when you do it’s utterly mind-boggling.
Having said that and acknowledging that it’s a way of enhancing the visual impact of comics it’s always gratifying when the actual story works too. This forgotten tome from 1990 is a nice example, and is only the second time John Byrne wrote Batman, and is his first full art job on the character. ‘Ego Trip’ features a solid old-fashioned murder-mystery, a helter-skelter chase, dynamic action and a deadly competition between The Joker, The Penguin, The Riddler and Two-Face with Gotham City as their playground.
Although the dialogue is a little stiff, this is still a very readable Batventure for fans of all ages with many tributes to all the best iconic features of the strip and a measured understanding of what the stereoscopic process can add. There’s also a reprint of ‘Robot Robbers’ (with art attributed to Curt Swan and Sheldon Moldoff) which originally appeared in Batman #42 in 1947. It was one of four tales turned into 3D strips for Batman Adventures in Amazing 3D Action during that first boom period in 1953, and re-released in 1966 at the height of the TV Batmania craze. It’s a wonderful science crime romp well worth reliving.
By Bob Kane & various (DC Comics)
ISBN 10: 1-84576-618-0 ISBN 13: 978-1-84576-618-4
The latest chronological compilation of Batman’s crime-busting career covers May to October 1941 and features all his adventures from Detective Comics #51-55, Batman #6-7, and World’s Finest Comics #2-3. All the stories were written by unsung genius Bill Finger and the art chores were shared out between Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos. The World’s Finest covers were produced by Fred Wray.
Those necessary details dealt with, what you really need to know is that this is a collection of Batman tales that see the character grow into the major player that would inspire so many and develop the resilience to survive the many cultural vicissitudes the coming decades would inflict upon him and his partner, Robin.
‘The Case of the Mystery Carnival’, ‘The Secret of the Jade Box’ and ‘Viola Vane’ (Detective #51, 52 and 53 respectively) are mood-soaked set-pieces featuring fairly run-of-the mill thugs, but ‘The Man Who Couldn’t Remember!’ from WF#2 is a powerful character play and a baffling mystery that still packs a punch today.
‘Hook Morgan and his Harbor Pirates’ sees the Dynamic Duo clean up the docks and the four tales from Batman #6 (‘Murder on Parole’, ‘The Clock Maker’, ‘The Secret of the Iron Jungle‘ and ‘Suicide Beat’) range from human interest to crazed maniac to racket busting and back to the human side of being a cop, whilst Detective #54 went back to basics with the spectacular mad scientist thriller ‘The Brain Burglar’. A visit to a ghost-town produced the eerie romp ‘The Stone Idol’ (Detective #55) and World’s Finest #3 featured the first appearance of one of Batman’s greatest foes in ‘The Riddle of the Human Scarecrow’.
The volume ends with four great tales from Batman #7. ‘Wanted: Practical Jokers’ stars the psychotic Clown Prince of Crime, whilst ‘The Trouble Trap’ finds the heroes crushing a Spiritualist racket. They then head for Lumberjack country to clear up ‘The North Woods Mystery’. The last tale is something of a landmark case, as well as being a powerful and emotional melodrama. ‘The People Vs. The Batman’ sees Bruce Wayne framed for murder and the Dynamic Duo finally become official police operatives. They would not be vigilantes again until the grim and gritty 1980’s…
These are tales of elemental power and joyful exuberance, brimming with deep mood and addictive action. Comic book heroics simply don’t come any better.
DC Showcase Presents: Batman and the Outsiders, Vol 1
By Mike W. Barr, Jim Aparo & various (DC Comics)
ISBN 10: 1-84576-669-5 ISBN 13: 978-1-84576-669-6
During the early 1980s the general trend of comics sales were in a downturn – although team-books were holding their own – and the major publishers were less concerned with experimentation than with consolidation. Many popular titles were augmented by spin-offs, a recurring tactic in publishing troughs.
Batman was the star of two and two half titles at the time, sharing World’s Finest Comics with Superman (until its cancellation in 1986) and with rotating guest-stars in The Brave and the Bold, as well as his regular spots in both Batman and Detective Comics. He was also a member of the Justice League of America. In July 1983 The Brave and the Bold was cancelled with issue #200 and in it was a preview of a new Bat-title. One month later Batman and the Outsiders debuted…
The basic premise was that the JLA was not fit for purpose; that too many problems were beyond their reach since they were hamstrung by international red tape and, by inference, too many laws. This volume collects issues #1-19, the first annual, that aforementioned preview and the New Teen Titans #37, which was the first part of a crossover between the two titles.
It all kicks off with a revolution in the European nation of Markovia (nebulously wedged into that vague bit between France, Belgium and Russia) and details a telling personal crisis when The Caped Crusader’s friend Lucius Fox goes missing in that war-torn country. As neither the US State Department nor his fellow superheroes will act, Batman takes matters into his own hands. He begins sniffing around only to discover that a number of other metahumans, some known to him and others new, are also sneaking about below the natives’ radar.
Markovia’s monarchy is threatened by an attempted coup, and is being countered by the King’s unorthodox hiring of Dr. Jace, a scientist who specialises in creating superpowers. When King Victor dies Prince Gregor is named successor whilst his brother Brion is charged with finding their sister Tara who has been missing since she underwent the Jace Process. To save his sister and his country, Brion submits to the same procedure. Meanwhile two more Americans are clandestinely entering the country…
Rex Mason, ‘Metamorpho’, is a chemical freak who can turn into any element, and he wants Jace to cure him, but Jefferson (‘Black Lightning’) Pierce is infiltrating as Batman’s ace-in-the-hole. Things go badly wrong when a ninja assassin kills the General Pierce is negotiating with, and he is blamed. Whilst attempting to rescue him Batman finds a young American girl in a bombed-out building who has fantastic light-based superpowers – and amnesia.
As Prince Brion emerges from Jace’s experimental chamber, the revolutionaries attack and not even his new gravity and volcano powers, plus the late arriving Metamorpho can stop them. Brion is shot dead and dumped in an unmarked grave whilst the Element Man joins Batman, who, encumbered by the girl, was also captured by the rebels. The heroes and Dr. Jace are the prisoners of the mysterious Baron Bedlam…
The second issue provides the mandatory origin and plans of the Baron, but while he’s talking the new heroes are mobilising. Like the legendary Antaeus, Brion (soon to be known as Geo-Force) is re-invigorated by contact with Earth and rises from his grave, whilst the girl (code-named Halo) is found by the ninja (‘Katana’) and together they invade the Baron’s HQ. Not to be outdone, the captive heroes break free and join forces with the newcomers to defeat the Baron, who now has powers of his own courtesy of the captive Jace.
As introductory stories goes this is above average, with plenty of threads laid for future development, and the tried and tested super-team formula (a few old and a few new heroes thrown together for a greater purpose) that worked so well with the ‘New X-Men’ and ‘New Teen Titans’ still proved an effective one. As always Barr is an adroit scripter and Jim Aparo, an artist who gave his all to a script, is in top form – and his skill is actually enhanced by the absence of colour in this bargain compendium.
Issue #3 began a long run of high-quality super-hero sagas with ‘Bitter Orange’ as the new team get acquainted and also stop a chemical terrorist with a hidden agenda. This is followed by that preview from The Brave and the Bold #200, a hostage crisis tale designed to tease, followed in turn by ‘One-Man Meltdown’ (Batman And The Outsiders #4) in which a radioactive villain from Batman’s past returns.
‘Death Warmed Over’ and ‘Cold Hands, Cold Heart’ tell the tale of The Cryonic Man, a villain who steals frozen body-parts and ‘The Hand That Rocks the Cradle’ is a sinister supernatural Christmas treat guest-starring possibly Aparo’s most fondly remembered character (most certainly for me) The Phantom Stranger. BATO #9 introduces a super-villain gang with ‘Enter: The Masters of Disaster!’ (the first half of a two-part tale) plus a back-up tale of Halo in ‘Battle For the Band’, written by Barr and illustrated by Bill Willingham and Mike DeCarlo. ‘The Execution of Black Lightning’ concludes the Masters of Disaster saga, and is illustrated by Steve Lightle and Sal Trapani.
Issue #11 begins ‘The Truth About Katana’ by exploring her past and the implications of her magic blade. ‘A Sword of Ancient Death!’ is by Barr and Aparo and continues with ‘To Love, Honour and Destroy’ which leads directly into #13’s impressive ‘In the Chill of the Night’, illustrated by Dan Day and Pablo Marcos, in which the desperate team must capture a dying and delusional Dark Knight.
The first Annual follows: ‘…Land Where Our Fathers Died…’ introduces a gang of ultra-patriots called the Force of July in a barbed epic written by Barr and illustrated by Jerome Moore, Alex Savuik, Jan Duursema and Rick Hoberg with Aparo on inks. This is followed by issue #14’s ‘Two by Two…’ with art by Willingham and Bill Anderson and #15’s ‘Going For the Gold’ (spectacularly illustrated by Trevor Von Eeden) a two-part thriller set at the 1984 Olympics.
‘The Truth About Halo’ begins and is inconclusively revealed in ‘…Goodbye…’ but the next two issues (#17-18) diverts to the desert for ‘We Are Dying, Egypt… Dying’ and ‘Who Wears the Crown of Ra?’ spotlighting Metamorpho, and the volume ends with another Christmas tale. ‘Who’s Afraid of the Big Red “Sâ€?’ is a powerful tale of date-rape and sexual bullying, which pits Geo-Force against Superman and in many ways is the best story in this book.
Although probably not flashy enough to cross the Fan-Barrier into mainstream popularity, this is a competent and highly readable series re-presented in an inexpensive and accessible way. An open minded new reader could do lots worse than try this example “fights’n’tights†fiction.
By various (DC Comics)
ISBN 10: 1-84576-682-2 ISBN 13: 978-1-84576-682-5
Although I only reviewed this title a few months ago I just felt you ought to know that a lovely new paperback edition has been released in time for Christmas. If you’d like a more detailed run-down of the contents then you might want to check out our Archive section, but if you’re in a hurry you can just take it from me that this is one of the best and most satisfying Batman books ever published.
Originally a four issue miniseries, the editors invited some of the world’s greatest comics creators, whether they were new to the character or long-time Batman veterans, to tell a story of the Caped Crusader free of any continuity constraints and designed to work in stark monochrome.
The results were astounding, challenging and naturally, mega-award winning. If you are any sort of Bat-fan or aficionado of the art-form there will be something in this wonderful tome that will blow your socks off. Just don’t read it in front of your Nan – she spent hours knitting them.
By Grant Morrison, Andy Kubert & Jesse Delperdang (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84576-429-6
Expectations were high when Grant Morrison was announced as the new scripter for Batman, so disappointment was always a risk. This volume (collecting Batman issues #655-658 and 663-666) tells only half the story of the eponymous son, however, so perhaps it’s a little premature to rush to judgement. Still, if I was a newcomer picking up a Bat-book for the first time…
The Joker is back on a murderous rampage when the Caped Crusader, finally snapping, shoots him in the face… The revelation that the shooter was an impostor is brushed aside and the obsessive hero goes on a vacation to London where Talia, a criminal mastermind and ex-girlfriend, attacks a charity ball with an army of mutated ninja Man-Bats, kidnaps the Prime Minister’s wife and leaves behind a sword-wielding boy she claims is their son.
Bringing the boy home, Batman tries to assimilate him into his life but the murderous child, trained from birth by the world’s greatest assassins, proves to be a bit of a handful. Even though he assaults Alfred, attempts to murder Robin and actually beheads a minor villain, Batman brings him along for a final confrontation with his mother and her Were-bat army.
After an interlude with the Joker (a prose story that took up a whole comic book issue – cloyingly overwritten to the point of self-indulgence, but with photorealistic illustrations by John Van Fleet) the saga reconvenes with Gotham plagued by more brutal Batman impostors terrorising the underworld and the populace, whilst son Damian (back with his mum) is still proving a trial…
Jump forward (for no apparent reason) a couple of decades and Damian is the new Batman: A savage, murderous mastermind in a monstrous world staving off the end of everything with uncompromising ruthlessness. And that’s where we end…
Although magnificently drawn by Andy Kubert this mess is just a pretty-but-vacuous triumph of style over content as Morrison “phones it in†for a change, in his typical iconoclastic fashion. Ending with Damien as a new Batman in a future the author knows full well won’t be part of the “real†continuity appears lazy and gratuitous, and although possibly good for the publicity machine, the faithful fan-base surely can’t be appeased with shallow stunts.
My own problem is the sudden stop without any attention to a narrative pay-off. People who buy books want endings as well as middles, no matter how familiar they think they are with the characters and scenarios. Let’s hope there’s a satisfactory conclusion coming, and soon.
By Grant Morrison & Klaus Janson (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84576-671-9
As with most of the “British Invaders†that made the jump to American comic-books, Grant Morrison was offered a shot at Batman sooner rather than later in his career. At this time, with popularity at an all-time high because of the Tim Burton movie, DC had launched a new Bat-title that was designed to present multi-part epics refining and infilling the history of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths hero and his venerable cast. The added fillip was a fluid cast of premiere and up-and-coming creators.
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight was a fascinating experiment even if the overall quality was haphazard. Most of the early story arcs were collected as trade paperbacks, helping to jump-start the graphic novel sector of the comics industry, and the re-imagining of the hero’s early career gave fans a wholly modern insight into the ancient if highly malleable concept.
This current edition is the second story-arc, (issues # 6-10), and features the rising star Morrison paired with relative veteran Klaus Janson in an interesting if slight supernatural thriller full of the author’s signature fascinations, and illustrated in the rough and visually dynamic post-Frank Miller manner.
Batman is still relatively new to the streets and shadows of Gotham when the city’s criminal hierarchy start dying in spectacular and rapid succession. Desperate, the surviving Ganglords try to establish an armistice with the caped vigilante so they can deal with the murderous and terrifying Mr. Whisper.
When Batman discovers that the monstrous murderer is not only a 300 year old monk but also a serial child-killer and one of the teachers at Bruce Wayne’s own prep school twenty years previously, he finds a potential connection to his own father which leads him into a world of ghosts, devils, arcane architecture, sacred geometry, and a plot to destroy Gotham with a centuries old Plague-bomb.
Fast-paced if a little over-egged, this modern horror-romp is a solid but uninspiring thriller. Bat-fans will be comfortable with the formula, but Morrison’s contemporary fan-base might find it a little insubstantial.
If you buy into the myth, then there are actually many, many great Batman stories. Over the decades lots of very talented creators excelled themselves with the various toys and icons of Gotham City. That’s not to say that there haven’t been some real turkeys along the way, but on the whole people seem to extend themselves for Batman. Often the real problem is one of context, since many stories worry reprint editors in terms of “Sell-By Dateâ€; as if nearly eight decades of creativity can avoid looking dated to some modern consumers.
Guys, who cares? These are the ones who want to colourise Citizen Kane and Arsenic and Old Lace, add cell-phones to Shakespeare and never read any book written before 1989. If they can’t get Wuthering Heights unless Angelina’s in it, their money’s no good anyway.
At least this selection contains a few general rarities from the canon, although the origin from Detective Comics #33 (1939) has been seen so often that most fans can draw it from memory – and many parody artists have. ‘The Case of the Honest Crook’ comes from Batman #5 (1941) and ‘The Secret Life of the Catwoman’ is from #62 (1951). ‘Robin Dies at Dawn’ (Batman #156, 1963) is one of the last classic-look tales before Julie Schwartz, John Broome and Gardner Fox projected Batman into the Silver Age of Comics with their “New Lookâ€, a period strangely unrepresented here.
‘The Batman Nobody Knows’ comes from Batman #250, an attempt by Frank Robbins and Dick Giordano to rationalize the then newly-restored aura of mystery to the character, whilst ‘The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge’ (Batman #251, 1973) is a genuine classic from Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams that totally redefined the Joker for our age. For many people this is The Definitive Batman/Joker story.
Steve Englehart is fondly remembered for his collaboration with Marshall Rogers, but ‘Night of the Stalker’ (Detective #439, 1974), illustrated by Vin and Sal Amendola, with Giordano inks is one of his most powerful and emotive successes, but Rogers’s accompanying illustrations for O’Neil’s lacklustre prose vignette ‘Death Comes at Midnight and Three’ displays little of his design skill. It originally ran in DC Special Series #15 (1978). Number 21 of that magazine (1980) gave us Frank Miller’s first Bat story when he illustrated O’Neil’s ‘Wanted: Santa Claus – Dead or Alive’.
In 1987 legendary and beloved artist Dick Sprang was coaxed out of retirement to produce a double page spread for Detective #572, which here precedes the introspective ‘…My Beginning… and My Probable End’ (Detective #574), by Mike W Barr, Alan Davis and Paul Neary. Bringing us out of the nineties is ‘Favourite Things’ by Mark Millar and Steve Yeowell (Legends of the Dark Knight #79, 1996) and the twenty-first century is represented by ’24/7′ by Devin Grayson and Roger Robinson from Gotham Knights #32 (2002).
In an industry that’s constantly seeking to reinvent and revitalize itself, it’s oddly reassuring to see that entertainment can have a timeless quality, even in a supposedly “throw-away†medium like the comic strip.
By various (Sterling)
ISBN 10: 1-4027-4718-7 ISBN 13: 978-1-1402-4718-2
For nearly seventy years the newspaper comic strip was the Holy Grail that cartoonists and graphic narrative storytellers hungered for. Syndicated across the country and the planet, with millions of readers and accepted (in most places) as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic-books, it also paid better. And the Holiest of Holies was the full-colour Sunday page.
So it was always something of a poisoned chalice when a comic-book character became so popular that it swam against the tide (after all weren’t the funny-books invented just to reprint the strips in cheap accessible form?) and became a syndicated serial strip. Both Superman and Wonder Woman made the jump in the 1940s and many features have done so since. But one of the best regarded, highest quality examples, both in the Daily and Sunday format was ‘Batman and Robin’.
Although a highpoint in strip cartooning, both the Daily and Sunday Batman features were cursed by ill-timing at a period in newspaper publishing that was afflicted by rationing, shortages and a changing marketplace. These strips never achieved the circulation they deserved, but at least the Sundays were given a new lease of life when DC began reprinting vintage stories in the 1960s in their 80 page Giants and Annuals. The superior quality adventures were ideal short stories and added an extra cachet of exoticism for young readers already captivated by seeing tales of their heroes that were positively ancient and redolent of History with a capital “Hâ€.
The stories themselves are broken down into complete single page instalments building into short tales averaging between four to six pages per adventure. The esoteric foes include such regulars as the Penguin (twice), Joker, Catwoman and Two-Face, original villains such as The Gopher, The Sparrow and Falstaff, but the bulk of the yarns have more prosaic criminals, if indeed there is any antagonist at all.
A benefit of work produced for an audience deemed “more mature†is the freedom to explore human interest stories such as exonerating wrongly convicted men, fighting forest fires and discovering the identity of an amnesia victim. There is even a jolly seasonal yarn that bracketed Christmas week, 1945.
The writers of the strip included Don Cameron, Bill Finger, Joe Samachson, Alvin Schwartz with art by Bob Kane, Jack Burnley and Fred Ray, inking by Win Mortimer and Charles Paris with lettering by Ira Schnapp. The strips were all coloured by Raymond Perry.
This lovely oversized (12 x 9.3x 1 inch) full colour book, first published by DC Comics/Kitchen Sink Press in 1991, also contains a wealth of extra features such as biographical notes, a history of the strip, promotional artefacts, behind-the-scenes artwork and sketches, promotional features and much more. It’s about time it was back in print, as it’s a must for both Bat-fans and lovers of the artform.
By various (DC Comics)
ISBN 10: 1-4012-1531-9 ISBN 13: 978-1-4012-1531-6
This third and final collection of short Batman adventures free of the hindrance of colour, despite being in many ways the weakest of the trilogy, is still a wonderfully varied and effective package showing the versatility of the character and the mercurial way in which creators as much as audiences respond to him.
Collecting the monochrome back-ups from issues #17-49 of the anthology Bat-title Gotham Knights, the thirty-three mini-epics here display just how far both art and story can go in terms of experimentation and entertainment. With so much material on offer detailed analysis is too space consuming for this forum, so a list of contributing creators must suffice, but I will call your attention to a few extra-special gems.
Amongst the pages art lovers should especially seek out are Aaron Weisenfeld’s ‘A Moment in the Light’, scripted by Joe Kelly, ‘The Call’, written by Mark Schultz, drawn in the classical manner by Claudio Castellini, and the largely pantomimic ‘The Bottom Line’ written by Michael Golden and illustrated by Jason Pearson.
The main body of work is the result of canny craftsmanship from the distinguished individuals listed below, and although I’d love to cover them all I will give a special mention to Mick McMahon and Dave Gibbons for bringing a slice of 2000AD style and bad taste to the mix with ‘Fat City’, Will Pfeifer and Brent Anderson’s charming ‘Urban Renewal’, ‘Sunrise’ from Alex Garland and Sean Phillips, and the startlingly punchy ‘Cornered’ by Brian Azzarello and Jim Mahfood.
Without doubt the three most rewarding pieces are ‘Day and Nite in Black and White’ by Mike Carlin, Dan DeCarlo and Terry Austin, ‘Last Call at McSurley’s’ by Mike W. Barr, Alan Davis and Mark Farmer, and the wonderful ‘Here be Monsters’ by Paul Grist and Darwyn Cooke, all distinctly true to the nature of the Caped Crusader, and each utterly unique unto themselves.
So without any intended slight to Christian Alamy, Doug Alexander, Mark Askwith, Chris Bachalo, Hilary Barta, John Bolton, Philip Bond, Ed Brubaker, Mike Carey, Tommy Castillo, Eric Cherry, Denys Cowan, Todd Dezago, Danielle Dwyer, John Floyd, Nathan Fox, Dick Giordano, Rob Haynes, Geoff Johns, Michael William Kaluta, Paul Kupperberg, , Steve Mannion, Dwayne McDuffie, Don McGregor, Mike Mignola, Scott Morse, Troy Nixey, Anne Nocenti, John Ostrander, Scott Peterson, Whilce Portacio, John Proctor, Rodney Ramos, Dan Raspler, Sal Regla, Robert Rodi, Julius Schwartz, Ryan Sook, Karl Story, Kimo Temperance, Jill Thompson, Cyrus Voris, John Watkiss, Mike Wieringo, Judd Winnick, Bill Wray and Danijel Zezelj, I’ll close with a heartfelt recommendation to complete your set of Batman: Black & White volumes.
They’re great, they’re satisfyingly varied and they’re a sure and certain message to publishers that there is still a market for short stories and anthology books.
This second collection of Dark Knight adventures in monochrome is gathered from the back of the first sixteen issues of the Batman anthology title Gotham Knights, a showcase feature that derived from the success of the original miniseries collected in Volume 1 (ISBN 1-85286-987-9). Also included are five never before printed mini classics.
Kicking off proceedings is the incongruous ‘Case Study’, with Paul Dini’s Joker origin oddly over-rendered by Alex Ross. Much more satisfying is the hilarious ‘Bats, Man’ by Ty Templeton and Marie Severin, one of the most under-rated cartoon humorists of all time, which is followed by the charming and insightful ‘A Matter of Trust’ by Chris Claremont, Steve Rude and Mark Buckingham. The powerful reverie ‘Night After Night’ by Kelley Puckett and Tim Sale is followed by a classic duel of detective wits in ‘Fortunes’ by Steven T. Seagle and Daniel Torres.
Warren Ellis’ cynical procedural ‘To Become the Bat’ is sparsely illustrated by Jim Lee, whilst John Byrne returns to a simpler time in nostalgic ‘Batman with Robin, the Boy Wonder’. ‘Broken Nose’ is a sharp and visceral Paul Pope memory poem, and John Arcudi and Tony Salmons’ ‘Greetings from… Gotham City’ is an engaging caper yarn.
Bob Kanigher and Kyle Baker unwisely resurrect the Batman Junior concept in ‘Snow Job’, Dave Gibbons graphically recalls simpler times in ‘The Black and White Bandit’ and Harlan Ellison and Gene Ha combine brains with brawn in ‘Funny Money’. Tom Peyer reunites Gene Colan and Tom Palmer for the pocket horror story ‘Stormy Nether’, while the runaway best tales are the utterly brilliant story of a wager between Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, and the chilling psycho-drama duel of will between Batman and the Scarecrow. ‘The Bat No More’ is by Alan Grant and the astonishing Enrique Breccia, whilst ‘The Bet’ is written by Paul Dini and captivatingly depicted by the hugely under-rated Ronnie Del Carmen.
Batman is a character of seemingly unlimited flexibility and gifted with enough discrete history to provide apparently endless reinterpretation. These short tales, ignoring their gimmick of colour, show what Batman needs more than anything else is a venue for brief, complete tales as well as convoluted, over-long sagas.
 
