Batman and the Monster Men [Paperback]

Matt Wagner (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up–Bruce Wayne is in love, but trouble in Gotham gets in the way of his burgeoning relationship with Julie Madison, aspiring attorney and daughter of magnate Norman Madison. Batman's duties have multiplied in recent weeks as a series of unusually gruesome attacks have left at least one mutilated body floating in the sewer and have kept Julie waiting impatiently for Bruce. And of course, loan shark and mob boss Sal Maroni continues to wreak havoc among his clients. In cooperation with Captain Jim Gordon at Gotham PD, Batman gets the evidence he needs to discover the source of the vicious attacks–genetically mutated monsters created by renegade Professor Hugo Strange, a man with a Napoleon complex and money on loan from Sal Maroni. When Julie's father becomes entangled with Maroni, Bruce's emotional investment rises, and Batman must do everything in his power to bring down Maroni. The graphics are high quality, giving the appropriate darkness to the masked man and excellent detail to the mutated monsters. Both longtime readers and new fans of Batman will appreciate this chapter in the story.–Sarah Krygier, Solano County Library, Fairfield, CA
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From Booklist

Writer-artist Wagner, best known for his independent-comics creations Grendel and Mage, here updates a pre-Robin Batman adventure, vintage 1940, that portends the crucial change, from mere gangsters to supervillains, in the kind of criminals menacing Gotham City. In it, mad scientist Hugo Strange conducts genetic experiments that transform his victims into gigantic, flesh-eating "monster men." Wagner retains the original's verve and adds modern sophistication with both his simple but powerful art and his compelling storytelling. There's plenty of Batman product on the market, but Wagner's stands far apart from the rest. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (August 23, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401210910
• ISBN-13: 978-1401210915
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.2 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,603 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A TALE OF BATMAN'S EARLY CAREER, August 30, 2006

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Batman and the Monster Men (Paperback)

"Batman & the Monster Men" collects the six issue limited series into trade paperback format and is written and illustrated by Matt Wagner. Wagner sets this story in early Batman history, just about a year or so after the caped crusader first made his appearance in Gotham City. One of the advantages of setting a story in the past like this is that it gives the writer some poetic license to re-envision things as he likes and Wagner takes advantage of this in several ways. One is in the introduction of the Batmobile after Batman's first remote controlled, and rather mundane looking vehicle is destroyed in a crash. There's a rather amusing scene in the book when Alfred sees the car for the first time and wonders why Batman doesn't add tailfins to make it look even more like a bat...and idea that Batman takes quite seriously.

Another new Wagner take is Batman's first encounter with Professor Hugo Strange. Strange first appeared in Detective Comics #36. His appearance actually preceded the first appearance of the Joker by a couple of months. In this story, Strange is regarded as a rather crackpot scientist doing work in genetic research. He rounds up lost, homeless men off the streets to use as test subjects, and eventually mutates several into hulking monsters with a taste for human flesh. Besides Strange, the story's other main villain is local mobster Sal Maroni who is loaning Strange the money for his experiments. What he doesn't know is that Strange is using his monsters to bust up illegal gambling houses run by Maroni and stealing the money. He's using the mobster's own money to pay him back!

A subplot involves Bruce Wayne's girlfriend Julie Madison whose father is wealthy industrialist Norman Madison whose financial troubles also force him to go to Maroni for a substantial loan. Batman has an early encounter with three of Strange's monsters and barely escapes with his life. The battle shows how resourceful Batman is, even at this early stage. Meanwhile Strange is fascinated by Batman's sheer ability and wants to use his DNA for future experiments.

"Batman & the Monster Men" is the perfect story for Wagner's grim and gritty art style. Even the few daytime scenes are overcast against a pink sky giving the story a very noir-ish feel to it. Jim Gordon has not become commissioner yet, holding the rank of Captain, but he's already established a rapport with Batman and doesn't hesitate to call him in when the mutilated bodies are found at the illegal gambling operations. Look quick at the newspaper article about a criminal called the "Red Hood" who falls to his death in a vat of chemicals. This is, of course, reference to the identity of man who would later become the Joker.

Wagner shows why he is one of the best!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Action packed character study. The best of both worlds, December 28, 2006

By 

Steven Scott "LeChuck" (L.A., CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Batman and the Monster Men (Paperback)

Batman and the Monster Men takes place roughly one year into Batman's career. It's a retro story placing an older storyline into current continuity and has Batman dealing with the mafia as usual, but for the first time faces a much greater challenge he's never dealt with before.

At this point in his career, Batman believes he is on the brink of putting an end to organized crime in Gotham once he puts an end to the much talked about, but never seen, Carmine Falcone's operations. In addition to the Dark Knight, our main cast of characters includes Professor Hugo Strange, Sal Maroni, Jim Gordon, Julie Madison (Bruce Wayne's love interest), and her father Norman Madison.

What initially brought this novel to my attention was Matt Wagner. I had read Trinity and enjoyed his thoughtful insights on the characters as well as his beautiful artwork. Some have criticized Wagner's illustrations as being too simple, but he captures the characters' facial expressions and mood so vividly, you don't even need to read the text to know what they're thinking about. And speaking of dialogue, the characters have some great lines in addition to solid character development through their inner thoughts. Typically, I'm used to just reading stories told from one character's perspective, but in Monster Men, we get to know each of the previous characters listed personally through their thoughts, which was a unique way of narrating. There were a few times in Trinity where I wasn't sure if Wagner quite had Batman's character down, but here he nails his personality exactly how he should be portrayed. Dark, moody, secretive and most importantly, determined.

I won't give away too much of the main plot, but basically going into this, expect things to get mysterious and action packed about halfway through. Once the action starts, it doesn't slow down. I must say, this is one of the more violent Batman stories I've read in a while, up there with DKR. Let's just say the monster men have a taste for human flesh. It was also nice to be able to see Sal Maroni in a starring villain role, considering he is later notorious for creating Two-Face, but I never really knew much about his past up until now.

If this novel has any faults they're minor. Bruce's girlfriend, Julie, wasn't the most fascinating love interest he's ever had. At times she seemed like she wasn't very necessary to the overall plot and was only used when it was convenient. She often would talk playfully in legal terms just to remind us she was a going through law school and that got a bit irritating after awhile, but I wouldn't have necessarily written her out. Her father Norman plays a more important role and goes through the most character development out of any other. I would have liked to see Gordon used a little bit more, but this wasn't his story, and the times he is focused on are well written. I always enjoy reading stories of Batman and Gordon early in their careers and their controversial "partnership" taking form.

Wagner also remembers the little details, such as the creation of the bat-mobile and Alfred's suggestion to put fins on it to make it more bat-like. Putting Vicky Vale's name on the newspaper article featuring the Red Hood on the first page. Setting up Maroni's vendetta against Harvey Dent. The line after Gordon asks "Are you joking?" to which Batman responds, "I'm no joker". It's the small stuff that makes it feel that much more like a Batman novel and not just a generic story you could stick any other random DC hero in and have it feel the same. It's always a pleasure reading something like this when you can sense the author truly gets it and makes it his own. Don't pass this one up.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but not the best, January 3, 2007

By 

Walter L. Luffman (Savannah, TN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Batman and the Monster Men (Paperback)

"Batman and the Monster Men" isn't bad. In fact, it's probably pretty good if you enjoy seeing the Dark Knight going against super-powerful adversaries. Personally, I prefer to have him go up against clever but non-super foes such as Joker, Penguin or a criminal scientist, or even a villain with offbeat and somewhat limited powers such as Bane or Matt Hagen's version of Clayface. I'm a longtime Batman fan, so I can enjoy just about anything featuring him; but I've read better, and probably won't re-read this one too often.