Customer Reviews

Batman Black and White

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was distressed to seee the reviews pegging it half a star short of a must-own status.Here's my contribution to send this marvellous effort to its rightly earned position.
Might as well add that i do not agree with anyone who says that the eight page space provided to the individual writer artist teams was insufficient .No amount of space wil ever be sufficient for an artist/writer to showcase his talent in its entirety.That is why we have to see them work their magic and reveal themselves in their best form under the constraints provided.An eight page oppurtunity to do what the individual artist always wanted to do with this iconic character,paint him in the very colors he felt suited the caped-crusader best.The keen detective,the confused avenger,the derilious idealist...Black White and Grey of it all.Though i agree some of the stories are mediocre in script ,but there are enough gems to outglitter everything else that isnt ten by ten.Take my word for it.

Seeing the Dark Knight in black and white is what made me give this book 5 stars. The black and white artwork was awesome! I must admitt that the short stories were just average, however the artwork saved the short medicore stories.

Well worth the discounted price I paid for it from Bud Plant Comic Art. A solid 5 star read.

This hardcover collects the excellent 4-issue miniseries from DC Comics. Contains short stories (some serious, some not) by some of the best writers and artists around, plus covers, sketches, gallery, tipped-in plate by Jim Steranko, and a cover image by Jeff Jones. The covers are on art board stock, giving it a very unique appearance. Also includes work by Corben, Simonson, McKeever, Timm, Kristiansen, Toth, Windsor-Smith, Ross, Stelfreeze... that should be enough to get your attention! The only problem I had with it was the brief appearance of Lobo in the Gaiman/Bisley story - can't stand that character.

In my Astro City: Local Heroes review, I may have been a little harsh on what is, overall, a great series (even if I stand by my review of that particular trade), saying that Astro City shows the limits of the viginette format, and Batman Black and White proves true, except with Black and White, writers get about eight pages. It's just hard to make a great graphic novel with the short story format like Batman Black and White.

This book is a series of unrelated black and white stories featuring various artists and writers. I think the idea is very good, and it is a great way to peep other talent. Katsuhiro Otomo wrote a great, if forced, Batman story, and so did Matt Wagner, of course, Paul Dini's Two-Face story is the best of book, many other stories are really interesting and may be read again (depending on your tastes, most of the stories are noir, some are humorous, like Gaiman's excellent Black and White World, and some are dark, like Brain Bolland's story). But the stories take about 5 minutes to read, and you probably won't find yourself engrossed in them like you did the first time. It's a great idea though, and the trade features some extras like art and blurbs about each of the writers and artists. However, the book isn't phenonimal, it's good (but unfortunately hampered by it's format). I could reccomend this to someone who wants to fill in a Batman collection for the sake of having one, but that's about it.

With all that said, I really do like this book. I'm not trying to put the book down, I'm just trying to put the book in perspective. I don't think it should get five stars or a must own reccomendation. This book should get priority over some Batman books, and even some other trades, but not top priority.