Customer Reviews

Batman & Captain America (Elseworlds)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's 1945, and World War II is dragging towards its inevitable conclusion. But, in Gotham City, Batman learns that the Joker has his eyes on a certain government secret project. The U.S. government realizes that the Joker is a pawn, but who is pulling the strings? They fear it might be millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne. Who can get to the bottom of this? Why, Captain America, of course!

I thought that the artists did an excellent job of creating a Golden Age era story, complete with the old style Batmobile. While the story wasn't as gripping as it could have been and should have been, I thought that it was quite entertaining. Plus, I must admit that I enjoyed seeing Bucky Barnes teamed up with Batman, and Robin fighting alongside Cap! If they had made a Batman & Captain America comic during 1945, I do believe that this is the story that they would have come up with.

Overall, I enjoyed this graphic novel; I loved the characters, and liked the story a lot. If you are looking for an angst-filled modern tale of the Dark Knight, then you will be very disappointed with this book. But, if you are looking for a flash back to 1945, then this is the book for you. My eleven-year-old son and I both highly recommend this book to you!

it's awesome. John Byrne's more than beautifully detailed artwork never looks better.

The story is poignantly written. It's great to see Batman and Captain America and their sidekicks Robin and Bucky join forces to defeat their respective enemies. I liked the concept of Joker and Red Skull as the villain duo of the book.

What better team-up than this pairing? Pairing of DC's Batman and Marvel's Captain America. The duo are arguably the best fighter in his own universe.

the ending was well done with a feeling of inspiration.

This book is fun, exciting and exhilirating. Good for the Byrne fan, the comic fan, or anyone who likes a good story, powerfully and neatly told.

I will never get tired of a good, old-fashioned John Byrne story. He is always able to take and insignificant book/character and give it cosmic importance. Where many writers and/or artists have failed to craft an interesting story--John Byrne consistently SUCCEEDS! When you read a John Byrne story, you never want it to end. Thank you, Mr. Byrne for all the years you put into the industry elevating your craft.

Here's a whiff of the past that never was. BATMAN & CAPTAIN AMERICA is an Elseworlds story, 62 pages of retro-fun as written and awesomely illustrated by John Byrne. Elseworlds, as you may or may not know, is an imprint of DC Comics which takes characters out of their normal continuity and into alternate realities and timelines. BATMAN & CAPTAIN AMERICA is rendered even more outlandish by DC pairing up its Caped Crusader with Marvel Comics' Captain America. Batman versus Captain America... tell me you're not intrigued.

The year is 1945 and in war-torn Europe Captain America has just foiled the latest German assault, with some help from Sgt. Rock and the Easy Company. But then Cap gets recalled to the homefront for a top secret mission. Gotham City is the site of a hush-hush U.S. government project, but it seems that the Joker has been indulging in some high-level espionage. The big brass figure that the Joker is a mere pawn and that the true mastermind is the Gotham Project's major funder, playboy millionaire Bruce Wayne. So here's the neat twist: the military gets Cap, in his civilian identity of Steve Rogers, assigned as Bruce Wayne's bodyguard.

John Byrne pretty much kicks it Golden Age with this one, shoving themes like cynicism and postmodernism and comic book deconstruction under the rug. Captain America always was revered as a shining light and a beacon of hope and all that hoo-hah. Batman nowadays is regarded as brooding, obsessed, paranoid, and possibly a fascist. But this story is set in 1945, during World War II but also during an era that was conversely more hopeful and positive, so it's perhaps apropos that Byrne features a not so Dark Knight. To segue a bit, the more recent interpretations of Batman and Superman present the World's Finest as suspicious of each other and of their respective methods. So it's interesting to me that, in their first meeting, Captain America greets Batman with unreserved respect and cordiality. I like to think that it's not that Batman is less driven and menacing. Rather, it's that there is a war on, and even a boy scout like Cap realizes that the harsh times call for dark heroes like Batman, who serve in their own way, even if it's by lurking in shadows and fighting crime and corruption thru fear and intimidation. And, as a side order of irony, I think that, of the two, it's Cap who is more likely to take a life (it's war, after all). Batman may be all broody and scary-looking, but he will never kill.

BATMAN & CAPTAIN AMERICA is a fun read, although there's really not much to the plot. John Byrne focuses more on the Golden Age feel rather than the depth and character development of the narrative. I kind of wish that there'd been more interaction between Bucky and Robin; as it is, they come off as interchangeable. The Joker and the Red Skull as the two Big Bads blandly play out their roles and, except for that cool moment when the Joker finds out he's been working with a Nazi, it's all ho-hum nefariousness.

Some SPOILERS in this next paragraph.

Fitting the more innocent Golden Age flavor, Batman calls Robin "old chum" and Byrne draws the heroes as uber-confident and grinning quite a lot as they administer smackdowns on sundry thugs and goons. Byrne throws in nifty little surprises, such as when Batman and Cap switch sidekicks or how the fighty fight between Batman and Cap is abruptly resolved. If you've ever wondered how a brawl between these two would go, John Byrne offers - but doesn't follow thru on - a possible outcome. And it's kind of comforting to learn that even a murderous psychopath like the Joker can be a patriotic Joe in the end ("I may be a criminal lunatic, but I'm an American criminal lunatic!"). One particularly nice touch is the two-paged epilogue, which to a point does stay true to Cap's original storyline. Except that this time around it isn't the Avengers who find that block of ice containing a frozen figure.

I just got this one and I gotta tell you... I loved it! I was so surprised because I did not think it was gonna be as good as it was. I was expecting this to be just another run-of-the-mill crossover where the heroes meet; they fight; they realize they're on the same side; and then there is no further conflict between them... sort of in the vein of the "BM/Spirtit" or even the "BM/Spider-man" books... for those of you who are familiar. I will say that the cliches are present but this book offers so much more than that. In order for me to make my point I have to explain one thing.

In the world of Batman there are probably about three types that you will get in the books. There is "gotham" Batman: where he can be his normal, dark, brooding self. Then there is "away from Gotham" Batman: where he's still a bada$$ and a soldier and this is where you usually get to see more of the strategist, take charge, side of him; especially when he's paired up with other characters. Then there is the "out of place" Batman. This BM tends to pop up more in his "old school" timeline but is not limited to this. This is the one that at some point will usually have you go "What, he would never say or do that!" I must state that "out of place" BM has got to be my least favorite. With all that being said, just by looking at the cover to this one I was well aware the BM that appears in this book is the "out of place" version.... and he IS great!

The characters and the artwork for this are awesome! The BM is "old school" but somehow at times also feels contemporary. This story is set in the forties hence the "old school" versions of our heroes and villains. This works here because everything has that dated feel to it. Whether it's the old versions of the "bat-vehicles" or the jokermobile, those nostalgic feelings will be conjured up again and again. Probably one of the most striking scenes was the awesome batcave that will just bring you back if you grew up on the old, old, cartoons or even the campy show. Something about the excellent cover to this just draws my eye. I just don't know what else to say besides the fact that to me, this is probably as good an all around BM book as I have read! Thats right, this one is great.

I must recommend this for everyone especially casual comic readers due to the fact that it's accessable to just about anyone. I'll admit that even though I knew the Red Skull was in this his appearance caught me off guard because I was so into it. By the way, the epilogue was great to; I don't know why they don't use this concept more. Buy it!!

Two of the worlds famous icons together to fight crime! Good story, great graphics! A must have for the collector of the DC/Marvel Cross-over!

could not find this anywhere.. kept gettign Out of Prints online and at local comic shops and trade shows... Peoepl that solid it, shipped with care and comic/novel is in mint condition. Story is great, artwork awesome...What else could you ask for, a rare find of Cappy and Bats fighting together.

I admit that John Byrne is a hard-working fellow. He writes, draws, inks and letters most of his own work, as is the case here. The case with this book, though, is that he makes up a boring plot. Plain and simple, it's boring. B-O-R-I-N-G. And the dialogue is so corny.

Captain America and Batman meet up during the 1940s to face off against their arch rivals, Red Skull and Joker. The book has Red Skull and Joker woking together as a team, only to have Joker betray Skull because he's a Nazi. As if the giant Swasticka didn't all ready point that out. And since when does the Joker have morals? Isn't he supposed to be an insane murderer?

The most insane, cracked-out part about this book, though, has to be when Captain America faces the ultimate Nazi weapon. It's sort of a tank that's the size of huge city building. It is very well drawn, that I admit, but so totally unrealistic...and I'm talking about a comic book, where we're supposed to stretch our imaginations to believe that such things can be possible!! Captain America takes it out EASILY, no sweat!

The only reason why this book gets two stars is because this is probably the best showing of Byrne's art. That's as good as it gets, folks. One hundred pages of pretty good artwork, and one hundred pages of total [garbage] for a story. Don't even think about buying this.