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wishlissa's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tawfek's review against another edition
4.0
i enjoyed this collection immensely.
first story is about the scarecrow and a woman who batman falls in love with but she turns out to be a rich husbands killer, scarecrow kept evading batman many times in this story.
second story was about the mad hatter and it was inspired by alice in wonderland, it was a great story i specially liked the girl that jim gordon has adopted i never knew he had a girl from adoption before, maybe it happens in this story only i am not really sure as i am not an expert on all things batman..
oh and doctor Thompkins makes an appearance i know her from the tv series.
third and last story is inspired by Christmas carol, after batman catches the penguin he goes to sleep and gets visited by three spirits poison ivy, joker, i am not sure whose the third one though is it his father or was there someone else !
anyway the spirits teach batman to have some me time and to try and make a legacy for himself outside of crime fighting.
the art was great the writing was great overall a great experience and its my first time i think to be impressed by jeph loeb, not sure if i seen art by tim sale before but glad i finally did <3.
first story is about the scarecrow and a woman who batman falls in love with but she turns out to be a rich husbands killer, scarecrow kept evading batman many times in this story.
second story was about the mad hatter and it was inspired by alice in wonderland, it was a great story i specially liked the girl that jim gordon has adopted i never knew he had a girl from adoption before, maybe it happens in this story only i am not really sure as i am not an expert on all things batman..
oh and doctor Thompkins makes an appearance i know her from the tv series.
third and last story is inspired by Christmas carol, after batman catches the penguin he goes to sleep and gets visited by three spirits poison ivy, joker, i am not sure whose the third one though is it his father or was there someone else !
anyway the spirits teach batman to have some me time and to try and make a legacy for himself outside of crime fighting.
the art was great the writing was great overall a great experience and its my first time i think to be impressed by jeph loeb, not sure if i seen art by tim sale before but glad i finally did <3.
ferzemkhan's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
jdh_ky's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
ejski's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
viera's review against another edition
2.0
This one was kind of lame. Story 1: Bruce Wayne wants to stop being Batman and dates a gold-digging stalker. Scarecrow kidnaps Gordon. Story 2: the mad hatter kidnaps young Barbara Gordon who ran away from home. Bruce Wayne remembers how much Leslie Thompson helped him out. Story 3: Scrooge homage where Bruce Wayne is visited by ghosts who convince him to put more effort into being Bruce Wayne and he makes a deal with Lucius Fox. It’s bad. The art is all over the place but it’s Tim Sale. So it’s THAT style. Very rough.
turret's review against another edition
4.0
Note: The Goodreads star rating is a calculated average of the individual ratings I've given each of the stories in this book. This review covers three Batman Halloween specials by the same creative team.
“Fears” (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special #1): +8 Originally called Choices in its original publication, the special was called Fears from its first trade paperback onwards.
Both the A and B plots are quite simple, but intertwine nicely around both of the self-titled themes, fears and choices. Bruce’s decision with whether his obsessive fight against crime is worth pursuing, versus his want for a romantic partner to free him from the burden that is his own self-imposed loneliness and life mission is a really interesting consistent struggle to read about. This impending choice is enforced to Bruce, and by extension the reader, as he continually fails to keep Scarecrow locked up throughout the special, only succeeding after he has gone through a nightmare-ish runthrough of his fears in a dream sequence from Scarecrow’s fear toxin.
Bruce latching onto Jillian, the romantic interest of this story, so quickly and making elaborate plans with her like going travelling is such a big indication of how desperate Bruce truly is for a romantic partner or companion in his life. There were a couple points where Loeb’s plot didn’t really make sense, like how does fear toxin control birds? That’s never been a part of Scarecrow’s powers. Why was Jillian’s words repeated several times, just for us to see the scene itself? Did her words really have such a large impact on Bruce?
The art itself is not like Sale’s newer work like The Long Halloween, but is way more 90’s and cartoony. It’s very indicative that he’s still trying to find his own artstyle. Thus - the art is fine, but it isn’t amazing like his other work. The layouts are decent, with plenty of double spread pages and panels with no text that are able to show the action wonderfully.
Reading introspective stories about Batman’s personal life like this is always super cool, but has to be really well done to be any good.
“Madness” (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special #2): +9 Once again, another knockout standalone Batman story by Loeb and Sale.
The Mad Hatter and his Alice in Wonderland gimmick/obsession is a great way to make the reader uncomfortable - he’s perfectly aware of his actions, but still chooses to speak lines from the classic 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Additionally, the font of his dialogue switches between upper and lower case consistently, making him even more unsettling. I’m really glad the creative team decided on this lettering technique since it really makes the Hatter stand out from other Batman villains.
The plot is entertaining enough, but what really takes the cake here is Bruce reminiscing about memories of his mother through the thought of Alice in Wonderland, and the evolving relationship between James Gordon and his niece, Barbara. Loved seeing both of these play out, change, and affect the characters by the end as they came to an understanding.
The art by Sale is a little closer to his newer work compared to Fears, with a black and white limited colour palette being used several times to convey different emotions and tone. The best pages are those that have several smaller panels on one page, it really broke up the pacing quite well here, allowing for plenty of dialogue and set-up for locations that didn’t need a massive art spread.
A definite recommendation!
“Ghosts” (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special #3): +6 Imagine if the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and the Batman mythos mixed together, the result would be this story.
Unfortunately - it has lots of unnecessary filler, and that drags the pacing, leaving not enough room for the ghosts and their visions/memories. The comic starts with a 14-page robbery by the Penguin and his arrest by Batman. This portion of the plot is severely disconnected from the rest of the comic - the only purpose for it is to set up Lucius Fox as a character and his father’s medallion as sentimental importance to him. Both of these could have been introduced much quicker with less page count, allowing for more time with the ghosts, particularly Joker.
The spirit that embodies Joker is incredibly underutilised, he could have really gotten under Bruce’s skin and showed how little impact the Wayne family has on Gotham in regards to improving the city for the better. There is a message in this book, don’t get buried by your work, let your legacy be remembered, take help from others, but it could have been so much better.
Tim Sale’s art is stellar, but very much the same as the previous specials. There are way more page-filled singular panels, emulating how dramatic this nightmare is for Bruce. The layouts are more varied and overlapping here though, especially during the nightmare, never saw a page that looked like another. Consistently Sale creates interesting and unique character designs, and they are jam-packed here. Penguin, Thomas Wayne, Poison Ivy and Joker all are distinctive takes on classic characters. The same can be said for the Mad Hatter and Scarecrow in the other two specials as well.
Overall, Ghosts was yet another reflective look into Batman's psyche and vulnerabilities, but lost focus on what truly made its take on A Christmas Carol unique.
[Read in February, read and reviewed in May 2023]
“Fears” (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special #1): +8 Originally called Choices in its original publication, the special was called Fears from its first trade paperback onwards.
Both the A and B plots are quite simple, but intertwine nicely around both of the self-titled themes, fears and choices. Bruce’s decision with whether his obsessive fight against crime is worth pursuing, versus his want for a romantic partner to free him from the burden that is his own self-imposed loneliness and life mission is a really interesting consistent struggle to read about. This impending choice is enforced to Bruce, and by extension the reader, as he continually fails to keep Scarecrow locked up throughout the special, only succeeding after he has gone through a nightmare-ish runthrough of his fears in a dream sequence from Scarecrow’s fear toxin.
Bruce latching onto Jillian, the romantic interest of this story, so quickly and making elaborate plans with her like going travelling is such a big indication of how desperate Bruce truly is for a romantic partner or companion in his life. There were a couple points where Loeb’s plot didn’t really make sense, like how does fear toxin control birds? That’s never been a part of Scarecrow’s powers. Why was Jillian’s words repeated several times, just for us to see the scene itself? Did her words really have such a large impact on Bruce?
The art itself is not like Sale’s newer work like The Long Halloween, but is way more 90’s and cartoony. It’s very indicative that he’s still trying to find his own artstyle. Thus - the art is fine, but it isn’t amazing like his other work. The layouts are decent, with plenty of double spread pages and panels with no text that are able to show the action wonderfully.
Reading introspective stories about Batman’s personal life like this is always super cool, but has to be really well done to be any good.
“Madness” (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special #2): +9 Once again, another knockout standalone Batman story by Loeb and Sale.
The Mad Hatter and his Alice in Wonderland gimmick/obsession is a great way to make the reader uncomfortable - he’s perfectly aware of his actions, but still chooses to speak lines from the classic 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Additionally, the font of his dialogue switches between upper and lower case consistently, making him even more unsettling. I’m really glad the creative team decided on this lettering technique since it really makes the Hatter stand out from other Batman villains.
The plot is entertaining enough, but what really takes the cake here is Bruce reminiscing about memories of his mother through the thought of Alice in Wonderland, and the evolving relationship between James Gordon and his niece, Barbara. Loved seeing both of these play out, change, and affect the characters by the end as they came to an understanding.
The art by Sale is a little closer to his newer work compared to Fears, with a black and white limited colour palette being used several times to convey different emotions and tone. The best pages are those that have several smaller panels on one page, it really broke up the pacing quite well here, allowing for plenty of dialogue and set-up for locations that didn’t need a massive art spread.
A definite recommendation!
“Ghosts” (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special #3): +6 Imagine if the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and the Batman mythos mixed together, the result would be this story.
Unfortunately - it has lots of unnecessary filler, and that drags the pacing, leaving not enough room for the ghosts and their visions/memories. The comic starts with a 14-page robbery by the Penguin and his arrest by Batman. This portion of the plot is severely disconnected from the rest of the comic - the only purpose for it is to set up Lucius Fox as a character and his father’s medallion as sentimental importance to him. Both of these could have been introduced much quicker with less page count, allowing for more time with the ghosts, particularly Joker.
The spirit that embodies Joker is incredibly underutilised, he could have really gotten under Bruce’s skin and showed how little impact the Wayne family has on Gotham in regards to improving the city for the better. There is a message in this book, don’t get buried by your work, let your legacy be remembered, take help from others, but it could have been so much better.
Tim Sale’s art is stellar, but very much the same as the previous specials. There are way more page-filled singular panels, emulating how dramatic this nightmare is for Bruce. The layouts are more varied and overlapping here though, especially during the nightmare, never saw a page that looked like another. Consistently Sale creates interesting and unique character designs, and they are jam-packed here. Penguin, Thomas Wayne, Poison Ivy and Joker all are distinctive takes on classic characters. The same can be said for the Mad Hatter and Scarecrow in the other two specials as well.
Overall, Ghosts was yet another reflective look into Batman's psyche and vulnerabilities, but lost focus on what truly made its take on A Christmas Carol unique.
[Read in February, read and reviewed in May 2023]
laura_npeace's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5