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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
It was ok, but I have to admit I was a little bit disappointed by the story, too much drama with the two Gotham brother and sister. Looking forward the next installment anyway, Batman is Batman.
Non era male, ma un po' troppo drammatico per i miei gusti con i fratelli Gotham. Comunque non vedo lora di leggere il prossimo numero ugualmente, perché Batman é Batman....
THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!
Non era male, ma un po' troppo drammatico per i miei gusti con i fratelli Gotham. Comunque non vedo lora di leggere il prossimo numero ugualmente, perché Batman é Batman....
THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!
I'm way more of a fan of DC Rebirth than I expect to be, although I understand where the mixed opinions are coming from. The Batfamily comics (and particularly the crossover) aren't as epic as the best of the New 52 storylines, of course, but the Batman is a solid addition and the set-up for the crossover event makes for an interesting start. The two new characters (Gotham and Gotham Girl, yes, really, o.0) are the too naive, good intentions-bearing, sort of foils that Batman always plays well with. Some compelling art and great reference panels rounds this out to be a fairly strong beginning to the latest reboot.
First issue remains my favorite, particularly for Batman's convo with Alfred. Wish we picked up on that thread more. But overall this is an exciting beginning to a new Batman story.
Batman: I am Gotham
Author: Tom King (Author), David Finch (Illustrator), Ivan Reis (Illustrator)
Publisher: DC Comics
Date: 2017
Pgs: 192
Dewey: 741.5973
BAT
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
_________________________________________________
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
There are two new heroes in town-a pair of masked metahumans with the powers of Superman and a devotion to preserving all that is good about this twisted city. Calling themselves Gotham and Gotham Girl, they’ve saved Batman’s life, fought by his side and learned from his example.
But what happens if Gotham’s new guardians go bad? What if they blame the Dark Knight for the darkness that threatens to drown their city?
When sinister forces are unleashed that can warp the minds of men and make heroes into monsters, the time will come for Batman and his allies to decide once and for all: Is Gotham a force for good…or an engine of evil?
_________________________________________________
Genre:
Comics
Graphic Novels
Superheroes
Why this book:
Batman
_________________________________________________
Favorite Character:
Alfred...in pretty much everything that he is written in.
Loved this take on the Calendar Man. Taking what was basically a holiday joke villain and turning him into a macabre piece of the Gotham City underworld. Nicely done.
Least Favorite Character:
Bane is my least favorite Bat villain. I might dislike Hush more. But not by much.
Favorite Scene / Quote:
Alfred vamping for Batman before a rampaging Gotham and his relief when the real deal arrives.
Gotham Girl losing touch with reality and taking down Colonel Blimp, Captain Stingaree, and Kite Man.
Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Batman’s easy acceptance that he was going to die while saving the plane and Gotham City doesn’t ring true to the character. That said, the conversation with Alfred was very sweet.
Waller feels out of character here. Either that or her losing control of Strange and the Pirate was intentional. Waller is a manipulative bad ass and more than a match for Strange and the Psycho Pirate.
Hmm Moments:
Gotham and Gotham Girl are odd. Super-Dupe and Dupe Girl, almost. Instant Bat-Mite or Mr Mxypltzk alert. Especially in light of the comment that Alfred made when he put out the call for the JLA and Supes was unreachable because he was off planet or fighting a monster.
Ultra-vision? That’s a leading statement to make us think Crime Syndicate and Ultraman.
Monster Men...is that you, Hugo?
Like the mirroring in Gotham and Gotham Girl’s origin of Batman’s origin...if it’s true?
More than a few red herrings in Gotham and Gotham Girl’s backstory.
Damn...Hugo Strange, Amanda Waller, and the Psycho Pirate. Hell is coming.
Meh / PFFT Moments:
And we don’t get a real origin of Gotham and Gotham Girl’s powers.
Wisdom:
Batman asking Alfred how he helped him cope with the loss of his parents as he tries to reason with Gotham Girl. And Alfred lighting him up about his leaving a perfectly good mansion and a life of comfort to jump off of ledges dressed as a bat.
Missed Opportunity:
Giving us an ending.
_________________________________________________
Last Page Sound:
Leaving a TPB on a cliffhanger. Meh. Did love the Batman-Joker gallery in the end pages.
Author Assessment:
Maybe I’ll read more. With Bane coming on stage in the 2nd volume TPB, not sure if I’ll be onboard for that.
Editorial Assessment:
Editorial should have given us an ending point, either extended the TPB out or picked a better end place.
Knee Jerk Reaction: it’s alright
_________________________________________________
Author: Tom King (Author), David Finch (Illustrator), Ivan Reis (Illustrator)
Publisher: DC Comics
Date: 2017
Pgs: 192
Dewey: 741.5973
BAT
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
_________________________________________________
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
There are two new heroes in town-a pair of masked metahumans with the powers of Superman and a devotion to preserving all that is good about this twisted city. Calling themselves Gotham and Gotham Girl, they’ve saved Batman’s life, fought by his side and learned from his example.
But what happens if Gotham’s new guardians go bad? What if they blame the Dark Knight for the darkness that threatens to drown their city?
When sinister forces are unleashed that can warp the minds of men and make heroes into monsters, the time will come for Batman and his allies to decide once and for all: Is Gotham a force for good…or an engine of evil?
_________________________________________________
Genre:
Comics
Graphic Novels
Superheroes
Why this book:
Batman
_________________________________________________
Favorite Character:
Alfred...in pretty much everything that he is written in.
Loved this take on the Calendar Man. Taking what was basically a holiday joke villain and turning him into a macabre piece of the Gotham City underworld. Nicely done.
Least Favorite Character:
Bane is my least favorite Bat villain. I might dislike Hush more. But not by much.
Favorite Scene / Quote:
Alfred vamping for Batman before a rampaging Gotham and his relief when the real deal arrives.
Gotham Girl losing touch with reality and taking down Colonel Blimp, Captain Stingaree, and Kite Man.
Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Batman’s easy acceptance that he was going to die while saving the plane and Gotham City doesn’t ring true to the character. That said, the conversation with Alfred was very sweet.
Waller feels out of character here. Either that or her losing control of Strange and the Pirate was intentional. Waller is a manipulative bad ass and more than a match for Strange and the Psycho Pirate.
Hmm Moments:
Gotham and Gotham Girl are odd. Super-Dupe and Dupe Girl, almost. Instant Bat-Mite or Mr Mxypltzk alert. Especially in light of the comment that Alfred made when he put out the call for the JLA and Supes was unreachable because he was off planet or fighting a monster.
Ultra-vision? That’s a leading statement to make us think Crime Syndicate and Ultraman.
Monster Men...is that you, Hugo?
Like the mirroring in Gotham and Gotham Girl’s origin of Batman’s origin...if it’s true?
More than a few red herrings in Gotham and Gotham Girl’s backstory.
Damn...Hugo Strange, Amanda Waller, and the Psycho Pirate. Hell is coming.
Meh / PFFT Moments:
And we don’t get a real origin of Gotham and Gotham Girl’s powers.
Wisdom:
Batman asking Alfred how he helped him cope with the loss of his parents as he tries to reason with Gotham Girl. And Alfred lighting him up about his leaving a perfectly good mansion and a life of comfort to jump off of ledges dressed as a bat.
Missed Opportunity:
Giving us an ending.
_________________________________________________
Last Page Sound:
Leaving a TPB on a cliffhanger. Meh. Did love the Batman-Joker gallery in the end pages.
Author Assessment:
Maybe I’ll read more. With Bane coming on stage in the 2nd volume TPB, not sure if I’ll be onboard for that.
Editorial Assessment:
Editorial should have given us an ending point, either extended the TPB out or picked a better end place.
Knee Jerk Reaction: it’s alright
_________________________________________________
3.5. All hail King, and Bellaire's colors make Finch's art sing, but the development/resolution of the Gotham heroes' storyline... I'm not sure what to make of it. At least we get dry, sarcastic Alfred, aka the best Alfred.
Well, that was an unexpected disaster to walk into! Got this off Netgalley, which was super-exciting because I never succeed with the comics department. But, unfortunately, despite my initial excitement to get into another of Tom King's works, this was achingly bad.
Having recently completed King's superlative [b:The Vision, Volume 1: Little Worse Than A Man|27163019|The Vision, Volume 1 Little Worse Than A Man|Tom King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1466479787s/27163019.jpg|49571362], I couldn't wait to see what he would do now that he had his hands on a Batman title - what I didn't expect was the disparity between this volume and all of The Vision.
'I Am Gotham' is a frenetic, poorly paced, poorly judged series. Batman has no substance, and the newly introduced characters are nothing more than extras fighting for panel space. There's Duke Thomas, whose role is little more than that of an analyst - I didn't see the point of him cropping up from time to time, only when Batman needs him. He has no personality, no ambition, no plot.
The characters this series is based on, Gotham and Gotham Girl (yes, commence eye-rolling now), are haphazardly thrown into the mix. Suddenly they are of importance, yet they add no value to the series, or to Batman. Bats decides to team up with them, but his dealings with them are all backwards. Their entire story arc is cliched - it's painful how cliched it is. And Gotham Girl is there only for decoration. She's hardly ever on screen (or on page, as it were). She's badly drawn (what's new, she's a typical anime recreation with bobble-head and giant eyes) and has the most ridiculous outfit ever (seriously, how have her legs not frozen from all that flying?). I don't get why she's called Gotham Girl, but her brother is just Gotham. Why not Gotham boy? Just because he's male, he doesn't need a gender tag for his codename? Then why does she? I initially thought she was his daughter (she's drawn small enough to be a young girl, especially next to his oversized muscular frame), which would at least have made the discrepancy in their codenames understandable - but no, they're siblings, and that makes it worse.
Spoilers up ahead.
Not only is the dawning of their superhero cravings contrived (yet another young boy almost witnesses the death of his parents in front of him), but their story hinges on yet another emotion-manipulating villain who turns her - get this - scared, and him, angry. But, of course. Gotham Girl spends an entire issue shaking like a leaf, while her macho dudebro smashes Gotham to pieces. She then goes totally crazy, shaving off her head, talking to her dead brother and weeping all over Bats. My eyes have rolled so far back in my head it's not even funny.
End spoiler.
The writing and dialogue is atrocious. Dialogue is re-hashed over and over again, running around in circles and not making much sense. Alfred is the king of snark, which would work well were it not for the timing of it all. People are dying, Bats is headed to his death, this is hardly the appropriate time to be making jokes.
Oh, and Amanda Waller is thrown into the mix as well, but I still can't figure out what the deal is with that.
There's a Justice League moment in this series, which... honestly, it lasts like one page, I can't even remember what they were doing here.
I read DC comics sporadically, but more often than not I find myself regretting the decision. This series is truly appalling, and I can't get my head around the fact that Tom King wrote this one. I feel like his connection and love for The Vision far outweighs his interest in Batman, but Bats is a gig no one can refuse; the lacklustre result appears to prove this theory anyway. I'm guessing it's quite similar to how JJ Abrams pretty much took Star Trek through the mud, but successfully embodied the Star Wars universe in The Force Awakens because that's the one he's a real fan of.
This is all conjecture, but the worry is that this is but the first volume of 'I Am Gotham', I shudder to think where the rest of the story is going. I hope it gets better, but it's unlikely I'm going to be looking out for it.
Having recently completed King's superlative [b:The Vision, Volume 1: Little Worse Than A Man|27163019|The Vision, Volume 1 Little Worse Than A Man|Tom King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1466479787s/27163019.jpg|49571362], I couldn't wait to see what he would do now that he had his hands on a Batman title - what I didn't expect was the disparity between this volume and all of The Vision.
'I Am Gotham' is a frenetic, poorly paced, poorly judged series. Batman has no substance, and the newly introduced characters are nothing more than extras fighting for panel space. There's Duke Thomas, whose role is little more than that of an analyst - I didn't see the point of him cropping up from time to time, only when Batman needs him. He has no personality, no ambition, no plot.
The characters this series is based on, Gotham and Gotham Girl (yes, commence eye-rolling now), are haphazardly thrown into the mix. Suddenly they are of importance, yet they add no value to the series, or to Batman. Bats decides to team up with them, but his dealings with them are all backwards. Their entire story arc is cliched - it's painful how cliched it is. And Gotham Girl is there only for decoration. She's hardly ever on screen (or on page, as it were). She's badly drawn (what's new, she's a typical anime recreation with bobble-head and giant eyes) and has the most ridiculous outfit ever (seriously, how have her legs not frozen from all that flying?). I don't get why she's called Gotham Girl, but her brother is just Gotham. Why not Gotham boy? Just because he's male, he doesn't need a gender tag for his codename? Then why does she? I initially thought she was his daughter (she's drawn small enough to be a young girl, especially next to his oversized muscular frame), which would at least have made the discrepancy in their codenames understandable - but no, they're siblings, and that makes it worse.
Spoilers up ahead.
Not only is the dawning of their superhero cravings contrived (yet another young boy almost witnesses the death of his parents in front of him), but their story hinges on yet another emotion-manipulating villain who turns her - get this - scared, and him, angry. But, of course. Gotham Girl spends an entire issue shaking like a leaf, while her macho dudebro smashes Gotham to pieces. She then goes totally crazy, shaving off her head, talking to her dead brother and weeping all over Bats. My eyes have rolled so far back in my head it's not even funny.
End spoiler.
The writing and dialogue is atrocious. Dialogue is re-hashed over and over again, running around in circles and not making much sense. Alfred is the king of snark, which would work well were it not for the timing of it all. People are dying, Bats is headed to his death, this is hardly the appropriate time to be making jokes.
Oh, and Amanda Waller is thrown into the mix as well, but I still can't figure out what the deal is with that.
There's a Justice League moment in this series, which... honestly, it lasts like one page, I can't even remember what they were doing here.
I read DC comics sporadically, but more often than not I find myself regretting the decision. This series is truly appalling, and I can't get my head around the fact that Tom King wrote this one. I feel like his connection and love for The Vision far outweighs his interest in Batman, but Bats is a gig no one can refuse; the lacklustre result appears to prove this theory anyway. I'm guessing it's quite similar to how JJ Abrams pretty much took Star Trek through the mud, but successfully embodied the Star Wars universe in The Force Awakens because that's the one he's a real fan of.
This is all conjecture, but the worry is that this is but the first volume of 'I Am Gotham', I shudder to think where the rest of the story is going. I hope it gets better, but it's unlikely I'm going to be looking out for it.
This was a decent enough start but there is too much focus on new characters Gotham and Gotham Girl, who are not interesting. Gotham Girl is a walking trope and damsel in distress in the guise of a superhero. Gotham is just Superman in a new suit, with less training. Boring.
I'd rather this opening volume had explored Batman's psyche and how he fits into the modern world. We get bits of that but not enough.
I did like the art though. It's what I associate with Batman. Gotham City looks amazing throughout and I loved the few landscapes of the city we get in the volume.
I'd rather this opening volume had explored Batman's psyche and how he fits into the modern world. We get bits of that but not enough.
I did like the art though. It's what I associate with Batman. Gotham City looks amazing throughout and I loved the few landscapes of the city we get in the volume.
The overall story was pretty garbage, but it gained an additional star for Alfred being awesome and snarky at all times.