Customer Reviews

Batman: Contagion

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

 

 

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......

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.

This is essentially what you get if you take an essentially decent idea for a Batman story and then spread it over about seven different comics belonging to four different characters, and several writers and artists. The plot is disjointed and the art varies between excellent and mediocre. That said, it was a pleasant enough inconsequencial read.

Batman: Contagion is a crossover story arc in the Batman comics taking place after the Knightfall Saga and before No Man's Land. A plague has come to Gotham and Batman and his allies must race to find the cure.

The premise sounds interesting, but the execution itself is average at best. The story was spread out over 12 issues between every major Batman title and spin-off comic available at the time, so the focus, writing, and art style are all over the place. There are story tangents (particularly in the Catwoman and Azrael sections) that take too much time and have very little payoff. Some art like the wonderfully grotesque gothic style of Kelly Jones clashes against the more mainstream and cartoony styles in the rest of the story. Alan Grant over-writes his chapters compared to the other contributors, and so on. The ending is unfortunately anti-climactic, with a deus ex machina cure that only makes sense to anyone who's followed D-list hero Azrael.

Skip this one. Readers looking for a good Batman crossover story should try No Man's Land instead.

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...

Collects the Contagion storyline that ran in all Batman related books. Overall, the book isn't so bad. There were some great moments such as Batman and Nightwing teaming together, Robin's dreams, and... I guess that's it. There were so many letdowns mainly because each writer seems to want to steer the story to his own direction rather than work as a whole. Major letdowns are the supposed major roles played by the Penguin and Poison Ivy, the quest for the plague cure, the annoying involvement of Catwoman and the resolution of the story. I had expected better.

Well, first I have to start by saying that this is one of my favorite Batman storylines ever. I love the number of characters it brings together, including a few unexpected alliances. But maybe it's because I like it so much that I feel the need to do a little nitpicking.

Okay, so here's this deadly unstoppable plague sweeping through Gotham City, caught pretty much the same way you catch a cold. Enter the Caped Crusaders and Company, bravely running through the streets to do what they can...without wearing so much as a surgical mask. Okay, so maybe there's an element of denial, sort of a Superhero Immortality Complex, but it just bothered me a bit that they didn't think to take any sort of precaution. It isn't until after One of Them (and don't worry, I won't tell you who) becomes infected that any of the Good Guys even seem to really acknowledge the fact that any one of them could, and even then only one of them actually starts wearing a mask.

Okay, I'm done being difficult. Anyone who calls him/herself a Batman fan should feel obligated to read this collection.

I cannot believe why some people do not like "Contagion". Like Knightfall, Knightquest, KnightsEnd, Prodigal, and Cataclysm & No Man's Land, "Contagion" is an awesome book. It has Poison Ivy (drool), Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Huntress, Azrael, Catwoman, Oracle, Commissioner Gordon, the Penguin, and many other supporting characters like Alfred and Ariana.

This wasn't a bad Batman tale by any means, considering it jumped on the bandwagon in the midst of the "Outbreak" type movies and TV fads about killer viruses. However, it's too much to take up a year's worth of issues for this one tale. Part sleeper and part intrigue, it reduced Batman back to his detective roots, but too many characters besides Batman kind of gives one the runaround. It's a must read if you plan on reading its slightly better sequel, Legacy.

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......