Customer Reviews

Batman: Black & White, Vol. 3

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

 

 

I own volume 1 and volume 2 of Batman: Black and White. I was very excited when I saw volume 3 available. But sadly, this might be just one volume too many of this extraordinary series. None of these stories have the impact or imagination that the previous volumes had. I consider myself an intelligent person, but I had to go back and read several stories twice in a row in order to understand the endings. In a couple of stories I still don't understand the endings. These stories are confusing, dull, humorless, and the artwork really isn't up to par. In the case of "Fat City", drawn by Mick McMahon, the artwork was downright annoying and ugly. The writers here didn't seem as inspired as the previous volumes' writers were. I guess in a nutshell, this was a letdown. Buy it if you must just to complete the 3 volume set. But if you are reading the Batman Black and White volumes for the first time, please skip this one and read volumes one and two, which are far superior.

Speaking as an artist, not just a writer and publisher, I can tell that there is some great artwork in this edition. We offer it on our sci-fi network as a sample of great-looking ink styles for comic books and graphic novels, and our members love the fact that they can see such a diversity in one book. As for the stories being good or bad, you know what they say not only in America, "One man's trash is another man's treasure," so it's all personal, guys. I find some of the stories a bit jazzy and punky or even sketchy, but not necessarily bad. All in all, I highly recommend this title to all comic artists who want to study artistic versatility. Godspeed!

A lot of short stories that look at Batman in a different way. Very thought out for such short pieces. Volume I is better, so go for that first, but if you want more of the same, this will do nicely.

The main problem with this collection of tales from BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS is that many of the artists don't understand that drawing for B&W is different than for color. While these short stories exhibit more storytelling experimentation than most mainstream comics (and the lack of adherence to strict continuity is refreshing), the first two volumes are much better.