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A review by acaskoftroutwine
Batman: The Black Casebook by Dick Sprang, Ed Herron, Edmond Hamilton, Bill Finger, Grant Morrison, Sheldon Moldoff, Lew Sayre Schwartz
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I decided to go back and actually read through Grant Morrison's Batman run, which I had started in high school and got sidetracked before finishing, but first I wanted to actually read the collection DC Comics put out collecting some of the comics that inspired Grant Morrison's Batman work.
Stylistically these comics are much different than the way comics are written now, but you can see what Morrison saw in each of these stories. Not just the weird and wild tone, but there's what could be called unfettered imagination.
Obviously, these comics were written and drawn under stiff deadlines by people who were frequently working on 3 or 4 different comics each month, so the stories are short, easily digestible, and not too complicated. But these stories aren't weighed down by concepts of what Batman should be. They take Batman and they show just how far you can stretch the concept, either by putting him in a situation bordering the cosmic, or by bringing the alien and bizarre down to the mundane.
It's a pretty fun collection, and I would definitely read it if you're getting into Grant Morrison's Batman run and don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of the era, as several ideas (The Club of Heroes, Zur-En-Arrh, Batwoman, etc.) are important to understanding Morrison's run, but also there are several specific moments and scenes recreated or referenced on some level and it will help you catch those.
4 out of 10 or so.
Stylistically these comics are much different than the way comics are written now, but you can see what Morrison saw in each of these stories. Not just the weird and wild tone, but there's what could be called unfettered imagination.
Obviously, these comics were written and drawn under stiff deadlines by people who were frequently working on 3 or 4 different comics each month, so the stories are short, easily digestible, and not too complicated. But these stories aren't weighed down by concepts of what Batman should be. They take Batman and they show just how far you can stretch the concept, either by putting him in a situation bordering the cosmic, or by bringing the alien and bizarre down to the mundane.
It's a pretty fun collection, and I would definitely read it if you're getting into Grant Morrison's Batman run and don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of the era, as several ideas (The Club of Heroes, Zur-En-Arrh, Batwoman, etc.) are important to understanding Morrison's run, but also there are several specific moments and scenes recreated or referenced on some level and it will help you catch those.
4 out of 10 or so.