Customer Reviews

Batman: Crimson Mist

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

 

 

This is good. In fact, it's very good. It's a huge Gothic melodrama - which is a good thing. It's very gory. The art fits the story like a glove. But don't read it unless you've read the first two books in the trilogy (Red Rain and Bloodstorm). You'll be able to understand Crimson Mist without having read them, but I doubt you'll fully appreciate it. If you have read the first two I hope that saying it's more of the same will persuade you to read it as soon as possible. I think it's probably the best of the trilogy, but that could be because it's the freshest in my mind.

It's always nice when you spend a lot of money on a book to get nice packaging, and this was no disappointment. A good cover, which indicates exactly what the story is going to be like. The paper is very glossy and I don't think this is going to fall apart in a hurry. Little things, like the small gold images on the pages and the skull on the front cover indicate that care has been taken over this. It is expensive, but no more so than many hardback novels. I won't say it's great value for money, but it's not a rip-off by any stretch of the imagination.

The prose is gothic, over-blown, melodramatic and quite, quite brilliant. This is a vampire story. A tale of blood-lust, ancient evil, darkness and tragedy. The prose fits the themes. Batman sounds like a vampire should sound to all of us that have grown up on the Dracula myth. There's a nineteenth century feel to the writing that only serves to accentuate this. It's melodramatic, as I've already mentioned, but I like melodrama. It works.

I've always liked Kelley Jones' art. One thing that struck me was that everyone in the book looked grotesque. Which is how it should be. This is a horror story, after all. Even the 'good guys' have done wrong and are tainted by the memories of their actions and the evil enveloping Gotham. The only minor problem I had was with Poison Ivy, who should look beautiful, even in a book such as this, and she looked as ugly as everyone else.

The inking and colouring is excellent, and helped a lot by the paper quality, I'd imagine. There are shadows where there need to be shadows and the light, such as it is, glows. Gordon's moustache seemed to disappear in one panel, but that's taking nit-picking a little too far.

The plot itself works well, but I won't go into any detail here.

A very good book in its own right, and a fitting end to an excellent trilogy.

For fans of the vampire Batman series, Crimson Mist won't disappoint. CM picks up where Bloodstorm left off, with Batman staked and agonizing in vampire limbo. Unfortunately for Alfred the Butler and Commissioner Gordon, a new group of criminals is besieging Gotham, and only the undead Dark Knight can stop them. Can Batman defeat Two-Face and Killer Croc without becoming a worse monster in the process? Doug Moench takes you on a journey into the remnants of Bruce Wayne's soul, with stunning artwork from Kelley Jones that can't be ignored. The best Elseworld novel I've read yet!

One reviewer claims this is not a Batman tale like the first two, but instead a vampire tale using Batman as a device (my paraphrase). His point is well taken and understandable, but ultimately, I disagree. Batman is brought back from the grave. The Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Penguin, and Two-Face are the villains at center stage and Gordon is disparate and needs the Batman.

Batman fights against his nature where he can, buy giving into the bloodlust where he can - essentially, Gordon and Alfred and other "decent" citizens are safe (so much so he tells him to stay back because he can hear his pulse) but the evildoers, Batman uses his lust as a pre-text to drink their blood.

In the end, Batman compartmentalizes his morality and knows it is wrong. So when Jim Gordon, before the rocks form an explosion fall on him, prays for God's mercy on their souls, the Batman has no doubt Jim and Alfred deserve and will receive that mercy; however, he doubts he will. He is full of sin, blackened.

This ending alone can stir debate and discussion. Does Batman receive mercy, after all, isn't his end a form of repentance? This third installment richly weaves a narrative with the two previous books. This is a Batman story and is a great graphic novel trilogy.

Don't get me wrong, Batman as a vampire is the most compelling concept I've come across in comic-land. The first two books were so cool and intense that years later I still read it with eyes intent on the page. I can't say for others, but for me it speaks of the heart's deep inner urges, longings, appetites, and pent-up rage and regrets. Bloodstorm was, for me, the penultimate description of the human condition. Only Christie Golden's book, "Vampire of the Mists," can touch what the creators have done in this trilogy.

Having said that, I must admit that the third installment here carries two basic flaws:

First of all, it loses touch with what makes Batman a living, pulsing character. I can't speak for others, but I can't identify with an unleashed, hell-bent-for-slaughter-and-mayhem Batman pushed past an insanity even the Joker never had. This Batman kills without compunction, guilt, recrimination, or reserve. He's ten times worse than any criminal he savages, and he's SCARY in ways that Batman never was meant to be, even in Elseworlds!

Second and more importantly for me, he looks U-G-L-Y ...with a capital UGH! I don't WANT to look at an animated rotting dessicated corpse of a once-Batman-turned savage killer running about tearing out necks and cutting off heads! I can only handle so much gore, and the creators gave more to spare here!

Call me silly, but one of the reasons I loved the first two installments is that Batman looked so COOL as a vampire! All shadows and cape and fangs ...he was creepy, but in a COOL way. He was all that Batman pretended to be... for real! But this Batman is just an ugly, insane monster.

Aside from all that, it was still a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. The end of Bloodstorm left me hanging, sad, and wanting more. Crimson Mist left me with a feeling of closure, as Batman dissolves into dust, leaving his cape behind to find that peace that he so longingly searched for.

Doug Moench, Kelley Jones, and John Beatty finally, FINALLY get to release the long-awaited final chapter of the Batman vampire trilogy. We get to see variations on such Batman villains as Black Mask, Two-face, Killer Croc,and what has to be my favorite- a Riddler with a question mark stitched into his face! Batman, rapidly losing control, deals them his own rough justice, all the while wondering just how far he'll let himself go. the art is some of Jones's and Beatty's finest, and the colors here scream out at you. This one is not to be missed!

This is the best book. It has caused me to search for the other two. I love both Batman and anything having to with Vampires. Even though it's the last book of this set, it explains enough background to let the reader understand what's going on. SWEET!

I read these in order fairly close together with this being the third and final installment in the series. Not only is this the last one, it's easily the worse one in my book. I understand how some may love it for it's tales of angst of good vs evil and pre vs post vampire batman and who's really less evil then who...but wow I did not care for this. The proper ending did not justify having to trudge through the rest of this story. Beside the supporting cast of characters, this is nothing that resembles a batman tale. They should have stopped after the second. Not only did that one end perfectly, but this sends it into another direction that many of us would rather not see our hero go. This is worth reading only for the completionists. Over the top killing left and right and ugly looking drawings of a vampire batman await those who dare take the challenge.

The main character of this piece was a vampire in a Batman suit, not a vampire Batman. By that, I mean the author never got inside Batman's head the way the first two installments in the trilogy do.
I understand that he is supposed to have been driven insane by the blood thirst, but what "remained" was not recognizably a characterization of Batman. You could take this story, replace Batman with one of the generic European aristocrat vampires from bad horror stories and the final product would essentially remain unchanged.
The ending was especially egregious. He "suicides" by voluntarily walking into the sunlight just as the female vampire from the first volume did. There is no real reason he couldn't have done that at any point in the story from volume 2 on. All the over-the-top slaughter of familiar characters in the third volume was completely gratuitous. In terms of the Batman character as he has long since been established, destroying himself before he became a murderous beast would have been completely in character and believable. By showing him do it, they establish that he could do it. By not having him do it until after the slaughter, they lost what could have been a moving ending to the trilogy.

...I make my way over to the graphic novels, and low and behold I find part 3 in the Batman/ Vampire trilogy! Of corse, I have not read the first 2 books but I picked this one up since it was in paperback and all the other copies I found were in hardcover...being the avid Batman Graphic Novel reader I am, I expected Batman to cure himself from being a vampire (that's all I had heard. That he became a vampire, and knowing my folklore, there is a cure to gaining your humnaity back). No such luck. :(
Batman is dead, I'll tell you that much. For you Batfans like me who expect him to always survive in the end, give up hope now, because he's already dead at the beginning of this book.
Boy, and another thing, if your like me, you'll have a sick feeling after reading this book. But that's because you see practicaly every famous Batman character hacked and slashed beyond reconition. And trust me, it's not all that great to see your favorite childhood characters treated that way. No sir. :(
But all in, this everything I didn't expect it to be, and that's why it's a good read. It's dark, it keeps true to Vampire folklore and the art is great! I just love Kelly Jone's art, it's so gothic!
You must pick this book up! It is a damn fine Batman novel. And if you don't like Batman, pick it up anyways because it's also a damn fine Vampire novel.
But word to wise, read the 1st 2 books beforehand... oh... and bring a barf bag.

Este es un muy buen libro que completa la trilogia de vampiros (Red Rain y Bloodstorm siendo los otros dos), el arte es continuo con los libros anteriores y el relato excelente. Personalmente creo que Red Rain cuenta la mejor historia, Bloodstorm (mi favorito) entra de lleno en el mundo del detective y Crimson Mist da un buen termino a la serie. No considero cinco estrellas ya que me hubiera gustado ver a un Batman un poco mas humano en Crimson Mist, y quizas una historia un poco menos apresurada.