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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Quick! Get Me The Antidote!, June 9, 2003
DC has reissued Batman: Contagion in the wake of it's mega-successful No Man's Land collections, and it serves as a good reminder of just WHY the Batman books needed to be shaken up so drastically in the first place... Contagion revolves around an outbreak of "The Clench", a fictional Ebola offshoot, in Gotham City. Batman and company attempt to contain the spread of the Disease, while trying to track down a trio of survivors of a previous Clench outbreak, with the hope of synthesizing a cure/vaccine from their blood. The book is very choppy, especially the first chapter, which appears to be heavily trimmed from it's original presentation in Batman: Shadow of the Bat. DC hasn't taken any steps to make their collections new-reader friendly, either, which could be a very big mistake. Longtime readers will know Oracle, Azrael, Nightwing, The Huntress, etc.; A new reader browsing this in a store would no doubt put the book right back on the shelf. The story has a few compelling moments, but for the most part it seems unnecessarily padded. Did we really need the Native American tracker? What did Biis contribute to the story? The writing is average at best; Most of the stories in Contagion were written by people who had long since overstayed their welcome on the Bat-books, such as Doug Moench & Alan Grant; The art ranges from okay to sub-par; Kelley Jones' chapter seems especially ugly thanks to poor color reproduction which mars his intricate pencils. The ultimate revelation of who is behind the spread of The Clench is sure to be a head-scratcher to new readers, since no background at all is offered to explain who these people are and what their motives are. DC really needs to get on the ball with their trade-paperback program; Preaching to the Choir is nice, but they need to try for new converts. Junk like Contagion is NOT the way to expand their readership......
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good storyline similar to "No Man's Land", August 4, 2005
Batman and Robin, contacted by Azrael, learn that a mutation of the Ebola virus is about to hit Gotham. The richest people in Gotham board themselves up and isolate themselves from the masses. However, one of their member is already infected, and the decadent millionaires offer the city five million dollars to find a survivor so that an antidote can be made.
This novel is a "cross-over" style, it takes place in Batman, Robin, Huntress, Azrael, and Catwoman titles. Each of the heroes approaches the problem as best they can. They reach a new height of desperation when one of their own is infected.
One of the ways I am the most impressed is how Chuck Dixon has developed the Robin character. Tim Drake is a great Robin, with a sense of humor and an even stronger sense of justice. The way he develops Robin into a selfless hero should silence most of the remaining critics that say Robin is only an offshoot of Batman, or a nuisance. When Robin is facing death and Catwoman bends over to touch him, he tells her to leave him alone, he will not stand by and watch people die. Even Catwoman, the irreverent spoil of the Batman squad, looks at Drake with awe and respect.
One complaint: the plot is a little choppy. They spend most of the time going one direction, only to find their efforts vain. The transition from one course of action (finding a survivor to get a cure) to the other (deriving an antidote from a strange, esoteric text from Azrael) seems a bit too inconsistent.
Overall, however, this book is a true test of the characters that watch over Gotham. Will they give in to the despair and fear like the other Gothamites? Even Nightwing, the most optimistic of the characters, thought Gotham to be doomed. "Contagion" is an interesting storyline that pits Batman and crew against a destructive, invisible force that cannot be conquered by orthodox means.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
In the Clenches of disease..., August 24, 2003
This bat book lays some of the groundwork for later Gotham tales, notably Cataclysm and the resulting No Mans Land. It could be tricky to get into if you're not a regular Batman reader - the Azrael components might seem confusing if you haven't read Sword of Azrael (and Knightfall/Knightquest/Knightsend). However, on its own the tale is pretty good; the art is decent and the writing is well done. It's wrapped up a bit too nicely with no real impact to the member of the bat-family who becomes infected with the disease (and I wonder how his attendant during the illness didn't get it), but that's to be expected in this sort of tale. Unlike NML that comes later, you can read Contagion without needing to get further sequels...
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