Batman Adventures, The: Shadows & Masks - Volume 2 (Batman Adventures (Graphic Novels))

Rating:
Summary: BAT-TASTIC!
Review: THERE ARE A LOT OF GREAT STORIES HERE. THE ONLY REASON I GAVE IT FOUR STARS INSTEAD OF FIVE BECAUSE THE STORY "HERE COMES ALFRED" FROM BATMAN 16 WAS NOT INCLUDED. BUT STILL, A GREAT PIECE OF BAT HISTORY!

Rating:
Summary: DC really dropped the ball on this one...
Review: There are only a few reasons why I didn't give this poor selection of stories only a one star rating.

-The intro and text pieces by John Wells. With a couple of exceptions this guy knows his Batman in the Eighties history. I was actually impressed! Very informational and complete.

-The reprint of Marshall Rogers first week of Batman newspaper strips from 1989. Will we ever see this incarnation of Batman fully reprinted? I hope so. I have fond memories of reading it in Comic Shop News.

-The "For Further Reading" list on the last page. Unexpected and very cool. DC needs to be more thoughtful like this.

As for the choices of stories...

"Shadow Play" from Batman 348 was a decent choice if one had to include a story penciled by the terrible Gene Colan. Klaus Janson inks over him so it isn't this overrated artist's worst. It depicts the return to Wayne Manor and has Man-Bat in it.

The two part Batgirl story with sharp art by Trevor Von Eden was blandly written. They could have opted for "The Last Batgirl" story from Batgirl Special #1 since that helps explain why she was seldom seen up until 1988 in the Batbooks...

"A Batman and The Outsiders Primer" was nice since it's hard to find and it is short. Most of the Outsider's stories were okay but it would have been nice to see more Jim Aparo work in this book. More on that later.

"To Kill a Legend" and "Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker...!" are fun stories but since they're still in print in the Greatest Batman and Joker Stories Ever Told anthologies we could have done without them and reprinted a Batman annual such as Batman Annual #8's Ra's Al Ghul story, Annual #9's the "Four Faces of Batman" or even Annual #10's Hugo Strange story!

"Transition" was nice since it spun out of 1988's "A Death in the Family" and helped set the stage for "Batman: Year Three and "A Lonely Place of Dying" and included Nightwing. Nice Perez art too.

"Pieces of Penguin" was a beautifully illustrated Don Newton Penguin tale but it is only part one. Where's part two? Some readers will be confused why The Penguin got away. The Riddler story referred to in the beginning of "Pieces of Penguin", "When Riddled by the Riddler..." from Batman #362, is a Don Newton tale featuring a Bat-villain and is a one-parter. It would have made a much better selection.

"The Player on the Other Side" is a classic tale with smooth Michael Golden art and makes good use of Alfred and Commissioner Gordon. I can see why they picked it.

"Fear for Sale" is a fun Mike W. Barr/Alan Davis Scarecrow tale but not the best of their run. It would have been better to include Detective Comics #574 since it has a very fine retelling of Batman's origin in post-Crisis terms (the first complete one and that's counting Batman: Year One) and it revamps Leslie Thompkins into a useful supporting Batman character. Maybe this Scarecrow tale was included to cash in on the upcoming Batman Begins? Who knows?

Nice Jim Aparo cover but he only gets a two page story?! A collaboration between him and Jim Starlin/Mike DeCarlo would have been great such as Batman #416's "White, Gold & Truth" recapping the Jason Todd/Nightwing origins in one handy story (with a nice Joker cameo!) or the haunting "Victims" from Batman 414. A reprint of the covers to all the stories inside would have been nice too!

No Norm Breyfogle? He started drawing Batman in 1987 and was a fan favorite from almost the start! About 3 years of stories to choose from DC people! C'mon. Maybe they're saving him for the cover of Batman in the Nineties...

Rating:
Summary: A decade of change for the Caped Crusader
Review: While the sixties and the seventies proved to be character defining for our favorite caped crusader with Denny O'Neal revamping Batman into a more serious detective after the Adam West program; it was in the eighties that the Dark Knight truly became Dark.

The nine-some stories collected here present the best of the eighties (though I would have liked a few more). One of my favorites is "To Kill A Legend," by Alan Brennert, which has to be read to fully understood. Another tale, features Batman's opposite number, The Wraith, an "anti-Batman" so to speak in another landmark story, which I loved have to have seen dramatize in Bruce Timm's animated series.

Great notes help define the changes and highlights of Batman in the eighties, including the ground-breaking "The Dark Knight Returns", which I confess I have mixed feelings about.

But still, the collection here is great. A mixture of the dark and the light.

Bring on Batman in the Eighties, part II

Sincerely,

JThree
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