Batman: Death by Design [Deluxe Edition] [Hardcover]

Chip Kidd (Author), Dave Taylor (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: June 5, 2012 | Series: Batman

A  New York Times Bestseller

A June 2012 Amazon Best Book of the Month

In this new original graphic novel from superstar writer/designer Chip Kidd and artist Dave Taylor, Gotham City is undergoing one of the most expansive construction booms in its history. The most prestigious architects from across the globe have buildings in various phases of completion all over town. As chairman of the Gotham Landmarks Commission, Bruce Wayne has been a key part of this boom, which signals a golden age of architectural ingenuity for the city. And then, the explosions begin. All manner of design-related malfunctions–faulty crane calculations, sturdy materials suddently collapsing, software glitches, walkways giving way and much more–cause casualties across the city. This bizarre string of seemingly random, unconnected catastrophes threaten to bring the whole construction industry down. Fingers are pointed as Batman must somehow solve the problem and find whoever is behind it all.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a fantastic period piece about architecture, politics, and murder."—Publishers Weekly

"...crisp, clean style that is both awe-inspiring and regal."—IGN


From the Trade Paperback edition.

About the Author

Chip Kidd is a graphic designer and writer living in New York City and Stonington, Connecticut. His first novel, The Cheese Monkeys, was a national bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book. His first book, Batman Collected, was awarded the Design Distinction award from ID magazine. He is the co-author and designer of the two-time Eisner award-winning book Batman Animated. He is the editor-at-large for Pantheon, where he has overseen the publication of Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, Dan Clowes's David Boring, and the definitive book of the art of Charles Schulz, Peanuts (designed, edited, and with commentary by Kidd). He has also written about graphic design and popular culture for The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Details, The New York Observer, McSweeney's, Vogue, The New York Post, ID, and Print. His book jacket designs for Alfred A. Knopf (where he is associate art director) have helped spawn a revolution in the art of American book packaging. His work has been featured in Vanity Fair, Eye, Print, Entertainment Weekly, The New Republic, Time, Graphis, New York, and ID magazines, and he is a regular contributor of to The New York Times' Op-Ed page.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics; De Luxe edition edition (June 5, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781401234539
• ISBN-13: 978-1401234539
• ASIN: 1401234534
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 1 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #302,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Looks GORGEOUS, but sadly lacks substance. April 22, 2012

By James Donnelly VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Chip Kidd, while being a rather excellent historian, doesn't have the deftest hand when it comes to works of fiction. Kidd's written any number of books about comics, comic characters, creators, etc. and he's a four-time Eisner winner. After years of just writing about the people and the characters, DC gave him a shot to write FOR one of those characters, and it's the one character I can practically guarantee every comic fan has a fan-fic piece in their head about: Batman.

This is a piece filled with some really interesting ideas, and an 'Elseworlds' take on the character to a certain extent. The book, while never stated to be in a specific year, based of reference, style, and dialogue seems to take place in the 1930's. The book opens with artist Dave Taylor (who drew about 10 issues of BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT in the 90's and then a decent amount of JUDGE DREDD afterwards) giving some beautiful pencilled cityscapes as Batman tests a grappling gun on the old Wayne Central Station, a historic landmark marred by the passage of time and is soon to be razed by Bruce Wayne himself. However, during Wayne's press conference, a massive construction crane topples and almost kills everybody there. Naturally, it's time for Bruce to put on the cape and cowl and put his "world's greatest detective" skills to work.

And naturally, there are several suspects to this case: thuggish Union boss Bart Loar; the new station's primadonna architect Kem Roomhaus; the mysteriously-missing original architect Gregor Greenside; the beautiful suffragette 'urban preservationist' Cyndia Syl. As the story progresses, The Joker enters the fray (as more of a flamboyant and deadly crook rather than a anarchic homicidal lunatic, which is much more of a throwback to his earlier years), and so does a new possible threat: A costumed man calling himself Exacto, who comes to warn of impending structural dangers just as the dangers become real. Exacto also seems to be able to teleport. And all of these players have key roles in the forthcoming action.

The biggest threat to whoever the villain is of the piece is Gotham Gazette reporter Richard Frank, who is actually an architectural reviewer but is thrust into following this story from an investigative end, and ends up in danger throughout the second act of this book as he receives warnings from both Batman and Exacto to either pursue or stay away from the investigation.

The book, despite being beautifully drawn entirely in pencil and colored on certain pages by Taylor, is desperately lacking in anything under the surface. There are comparisons on the book's jacket to works like Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS, Ayn Rand's THE FOUNTAINHEAD and even Elia Kazan's ON THE WATERFRONT. After reading this book and then seeing those comparisons, I was actually slightly offended. It's one thing for a reviewer to use those types of hyperbolic comparisons, but it's another thing entirely for the company itself to use them, especially considering that the subject matter of all of these works are barely there in this book. Don't get suckered in by that. The book is much more of a throwback to Batman's early adventures, with a more modern feel to the narrative structure. There's even a bit of a 30's newspaper sci-fi dailies element with Batman's new gadgets, such as a stasis field emitter and the Flash Gordon-esque design of the grappling gun. Unfortunately, these were the only things I really enjoyed in the book. The book reads like a 30's serial, and has about the same substance. There are an almost infinite amount of plot-holes in the mystery and the mystery itself has no real solution; just assumption. There was one ridiculous deus ex machina during climactic moment that was so baffling, I had to re-read the third act of the book to see if I missed something, and I didn't. Creating an inordinate amount of confusion during your climax is never a good idea.

Obviously when for a while now, being totally spoiled by Batman stories over the past few years by the amazing talent of writer Scott Snyder (who has done the single best work on the character since Frank Miller in the 1980's), and also the films of Christopher Nolan, Batman is a more complex character than someone like Flash Gordon or even like Dave Stevens' The Rocketeer, and while the fun pulpy elements of the story are present, it doesn't translate as well as Kidd would like it too for the character of Batman.

The early days of the Finger/Kane Batman weren't particularly great, and sometimes these things lose their luster over the decades. Kidd has made quite a career and a reputation out of the love of those years, but this Taylor's beautiful art deserves something more. This book is about a two-and-a-half out of five for the story but five out of five for the art, so I feel the four-star rating is somewhat fair.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Dull, dull, dull May 14, 2012

By Sharilyn

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Let me start by saying that I'm pretty much a comic book novice. So I can't judge how well this graphic novel fits into the overall ethos of the Dark Knight. As a stand-alone story, however, Death by Design is downright dull.

The plot revolves around the demolition of the crumbling Wayne Central Station. Socialite Cyndia Syl is protesting the loss of an architectural treasure and the mysterious Exacto is warning about a lack of structural integrity in new construction.

The story comes off as some kind of vague morality tale. I'm just not sure exactly what scriptwriter Chip Kidd is trying to say. Is it a condemnation of labour union leaders? A plea to save old buildings? Or a call to build new ones that are more energy efficient?

Kidd trots out a classic nemesis in what I can only assume is an attempt to inject a bit of much needed excitement. Sadly, not even the Joker can breathe life into this thing.

At least Dave Taylor's artwork is appealing. The charcoal drawings give Death by Design a nice retro feel. It's just too bad they are wasted on such a lacklustre story.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice art, but boring story May 6, 2012

By Tom Reagan VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

The pencil illustration artwork is very nice, if not inconsistent (Bruce Wayne has about three different side profiles). But the story is boring and lacking.

This is a whodunit story, yet Batman's master detective skills are barely used, here. I know this takes place in his early days as Batman, but maybe that was a mistake for this type of story. Or maybe the writer, Kidd, should have used that as a vehicle for Bruce to test his detective skills for the first time.

and Why is the Joker in this book? His character has no point what-so-ever in this story. He just shows up out of nowhere and has no motivation to the main plot, except to act as a Dastardly character to the female lead, in the end.