Customer Reviews

Batman: Man Bat (Batman (DC Comics Paperback))

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

 

 

Purchasing this book by cover only, I was prepared for a typical "child" reading of a comic book favorite. I was WRONG. This mature reading and graphic art by Jamie Delano and John Bolton, kept me in utter suspense and shock. This truly adult depiction of Manbat is a "Real life encounter with the way Manbat would really be if he existed today." The art work is truly dark and in-depth, while being stunning...totally complimenting the solid story. Any Batman fan or Manbat fan should not pass this Dark story up.

I read this five years ago and was absolutely blown away by the graphics. Every page looks like a realistic and perfected painting. There is even a short section at the beginning of the book that has pictures of the artist (I don't remember his name, sorry) working in a studio. Apparently he takes photos and face casts of friends, family and models and draws from those so that he can draw the same face from several angles and have it come out perfect. The art here is amazing and it gets the high quality printing it deserves.

The actual story here was OK. Not terrible to finish, but not worth hunting down either. Batman goes to an island where genetic engineers have been trying to combine human DNA with bat DNA to make their own version of Batman. They have succeeded and their creation is the Manbat. Batman soon aquires a cute female reporter as a side kick. He and Manbat fight. Batman saves the reporter from Manbat and she gets a secret crush on him. Manbat is strong. What will Batman do? They fight some more. Batman wins. Yay! OK, the story was really not so bad. The layouts are good, and the story kept me reading. I am just not so into superheros fighting, but if I was then I would have liked this more.

In many ways the comic is a good representation of the larger pulp sci-fi genre in 1995. The story about genetic engineering is not totally dated, but was a bigger newer concern then. Also the graphics, done by hand (I think also touched with a bit of Photoshop magic) and looking like oil paintings are a product of the times. I think that in many ways the particular beauty here is a product of finding the point where hands on paper stop and computer aided illustration begins.

If you are at all interested in drawing for comic books then find yourself a copy of this. As you turn the pages and see more and more extremely well done illustrations you will alternately drool and experience fits of jealousy. The story here is nothing worth mentioning, but the art is worth some effort to find.

When the attempt of ecological extremists to film the illegal practices of genetic research firm Endecorp goes awfully wrong, activist Marilyn Munro barely escapes with her life... and a mysterious vial of biological material.
Chance brings her to the underground compound of scientist Kirk Langstrom, the Man-Bat, and his monstrous family and creations...Who may prove to be humanity's greatest enemy... Or their only hope.
Investigating the incursion into Endecorp's labs, an unrelenting, nearly inhuman Batman lands right into the middle of it all, precipitating the situation into an evolutionary, inter-species war...
Writer Jamie Delano crafts a deep multi-layered story about ecology, family, love, sex, politics, economics, evolution, biology and science, giving fair space to all points of view he presents and tipping his hat to the absurdity of a bat-masked vigilante by peppering the pages with some on-the-mark satire, never enough to destroy credibility and just enough to bring a tad of levity to the many important themes he juggles. Honestly, even fit an alternative, out-of-continuity take on Batman, I'm amazed at what he got away with, in terms of sexy imagery, frank thoughts on sex, political statements and quips at the whole concept of Batman. There are some pretty good character moments and ironic nods to the rich past of this icon.
Last but not least, John Bolton's fantastic paintings illustrate the tale to near perfection, though they cannot escape a common danger to most painted comic book art: some panel choices are odd and possibly the writer might have had to edit the text more to better suit the art in a couple of pages, and the art looks stiff at times, tending more towards illustrating than narrating (hence the writer's many, but never obtrusive, words). But his creatures, his madly impassive Batman... They're magnificently terrifying. Open spaces scenes are glorious.
All in all, a top quality comic, sadly half forgotten (finding a decent copy might be hard and/or expensive) and one of the best products of DC Comics' Elseworlds line.

In 1995 comic book artist Neal Adams who created many memorable stories in batman helped in excelling to create a two sided tragic story of batman dubbed and called man-bat throughout the 1970s in which it was about a two sided character in direct oppositon to the Batman in the form of a winged parasite called man-bat.And because of this the artwork in this comic is unbelievably,good done in an almost photo realistic style. Its layout is dark in so far as that it,s an atmospheric chilling colour scheme. Nothing is at all toned down in this comic making the content particularly gruesome, this is what makes this comic a realistically stylish photo ablum to read. Nothing is left out or hidden in it which I found refreshing as a graphic novel to read and browse through as a reader. It's a comic book worth buying and although it may be difficult to find,in the shops this is an Elseworlds tale with a thrilling flair of difference. The story is unique in that it,s full of imagination in taking us to realms that we cannot imagine or begin to imagine in the dead of night. Man Bat after all is tragic figure who takes us in to a underground cave of refuge for him as a place to hide and continues genetic experiments on fellow peers in which is his wife Francine and two sons araon and eugene takes along with him for the thrilling ride of lifetime for which he has had to been thrust into what is the middle of what could soon be the end of humanity o for all of us on earth. This is the beginning of a story that only the rest us people will add to an amazing and astonishing ending. This is a comic of pure genius in it,s storytelling that only needs to be acquired if you are a true bat enthusiast of the dark knight himself and his enemies. The story is full of suspense and vivid imagination thrusting the reader into a realm of untold myth or seen reality. Nothing is quite how it seems in this book and it keeps the reader enthralled throughout taking, turns on each other sides which are totally unexpected in it. The cover of the comic is exceptional of course in that it showcases the two polar opposite sides of the same winged animal together in the front cover,for in the end, its imagination at it's highest peak level of storytelling and artwork in pictures.

I loved Delano's unique characterization of Batman. This series is one of the prizes of my 15,000+ comic collection. Get a copy, if you can.

This graphic novel had some good art in it at times, but sadly the way they depicted batman didn't appeal to me. The story to this graphice novel was all wrong. Through out the story they made Batman think he was above the law, made him look like a fool, and he went against his morals at one point and time. ... I do not recomend purchasing this graphic novel. If you are a true Batman fan it would just be a waste of your money. Obviously the authors of this book didn't know enough about batman and were more interested in the art than the story.

This is the only graphic novel I've seen where the artwork on the inside is just as good as the cover artwork.