Customer Reviews

Batman: Prey

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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I easily consider this one of the best stories that ran in the "Legend of the Dark Knight" series (this book reprints #11-15) up till now (this one and "Gothic"). Batman, the hunter, becomes the hunted when the major demands him arrested. Captain Gordon is to form a special squad to do so, which shall be master-planned by psycho-analist Dr. Hugo Strange. While Strange shall try to unravel the mystery 'who is Batman' by logical psychological deduction, a street squad will do the fieldwork. Only it turns out that Dr. Strange himself isn't very sane and that he plans to reach far more than just the arrest of Batman, using whatever means neccesary. Meanwhile Batman is having a hard time to keep himself thinking straight. Something that proves to be difficult during the schemes of the mad Dr. Strange.

This is really a well written Batman story that will especially appeal to those who like "The Killing Joke". The art looks a lot like the art of Brian Bolland and, even more importantly, the theme and atmosphere of the story are very much alike (the theme, not the plot). A dark psychological thriller. It's really good to see is that the things that happen during the story aren't just coincedences but happen for a reason, and are backed with arguments. A small example of that is that when Dr. Strange concludes that 'the man behind the mask must be a wealthy man' it's backed up with the argument "The man must be wealthy since he's up all night and therefore doesn't have time to work a job in the daytime, but still has so much expensive devises". Things don't come out of thin air, like what unfortunately seems to happen in too many other books. And like this little example, everything else that happens also fits and is made to look logical. What is also a good thing is that you don't know how it's exactly gonna end untill you're at the last couple of pages. Just when you think you figured Dr. Strange's next move out, the plot twists. It isn't predictable anywhere and therefore never becomes boring. If you're looking to pick up a good Batman story besides the ones who got a lot of attention already (like "Killing Joke", "Dark Knight Returns", "Long Halloween", "Year One" etc. etc.), this would certainly be a good choice.

"Batman: Prey" appears to fit into the 'year one' chronology of the character in between the stories: "Batman and the Monster Men" and "Batman and the Mad Monk" and is the collected reprints in TPB form of "Legends of the Dark Knight" #'s 11-15.
***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD***
"Prey" picks up where "Batman and the Monster Men" left off. Professor Hugo Strange has failed to kill crime lord Salvatore "Boss" Maroni and all of his grotesque creations have been destroyed. However, the benefits are that now Strange has no more existing tires to the mafia kingpin, so with a newfound interest in Gotham's nocturnal crime fighter, Strange becomes part of a televised roundtable discussing the subject of Batman. Now, "Prey" starts out simply enough: after a night of trying to squeeze street pushers for the drug suppliers, Batman returns to Wayne Manor to rest and watch some T.V. At the roundtable tonight are the Mayor, Cptn. Gordon, and Prof. Strange; who - with highly peculiar savoring - gives his expert opinion on Batman's psyche, while Gordon is blind-sided by the Mayor who announces the creation of a new division in the GCPD dedicated solely to catching Batman; with Gordon as its leader. Both Bruce and Gordon fear what will likely happen as a result of this: as Batman, Gordon is the only cop he fully trusts, and Gordon - while never overlooking the fact that Batman's actions are technically criminal - is unwilling to fully comply with the new demands made of him. And to further complicate matters, Prof. Strange gets in with the Mayor so that he may act very closely with the new task force; but secretly has his own plans in store for the Dark Knight.
This story compiles just about every kind of mental disfunction any given person might have; with particular emphasis on Prof. Strange - his single-minded obsession with Batman and his store-mannequin girlfriend - to Gordon's first (if not wisest) choice to join the new task force; Sgt. Max Cort. Cort has his own role to play in this story that makes him a unique and welcome addition to the traditional cast. A hardcore, all-business, gungho attitude and a vainglorious sense of pride in being a cop, Cort hates criminals, but he hates Batman even more; viewing the Caped Crusader as making a mockery of REAL law enforcers and the law in general (he appears to be a forerunner of SWAT Commander Billy Pettit, who is best known for his appearances in the "No Man's Land #'s (1-5)" storyline). Soon enough, Cort gets wise to Gordon's deliberate sabotaging of the new task force and goes to Prof. Strange to see if the two can help each other out with their shared enemy. Strange decides to use Cort as a pawn to ruin Batman in the public view, by bestowing upon him the guise of the Night Scourge; a ruthless vigilante claiming to have been inspired by Batman, while Strange holds press conferences about the damaging affects of Batman's existence. Matters grow even more complicated when Strange has Cort kidnap the Mayor's daughter dressed as Batman and the Dark Knight must now work even harder to prove himself the hero and expose the true villains out to destroy him.
"Prey" is one of those graphic novels that comes around every so often that reaffirms their greatness in the eyes of their fans. The stars of this are Batman and Prof. Strange, who play off one another with seemingly tailor-made excellence. Throughout the story, Strange is trying to deduce Batman's identity, but it's not some hackneed "lucky-guess" work to his highly methodical thought process; it is done so well that he follows his assessment all the way to Bruce Wayne (though he has no way of proving it, or even being 100% sure of his deduction - the man's a mad scientist, not Sherlock Holmes). The only part of this story that doesn't seem to work are the off-and-on appearances of Catwoman, who spends her time in the story acting as just a cat-burglar; she does almost end up a victim of the Night Scourge, but is saved by Batman, yet nothing really comes of it. However, her appearances make more sense when you get into reading this story's sequel "Batman: Terror)", in which she plays a more significant - and highly more relevant - part.
I cannot recommend this story more, though I strongly suggest that you buy it along with its sequel "Batman: Terror".

Any fan of Batman Year One, the Dark Knight Returns, The Long Halloween, Dark Victory and Strange Apparitions should pick this up. This is classic modern Batman and I give it my highest recommendation. Great story, great art. Catwoman. A crazy psychotrist. Renegade police. It looks like amazon no longer has it in stock, so you may need to track it down somwhere else.

Batman: Prey, is yet another solid book that takes place during the `Year: One' timeframe. Still alone except for Alfred, Batman has not yet earned Gotham City's trust. That leads him down a dangerous path as psychologist Hugo Strange leads a police hunt to bring the Caped Crusader to justice once and for all. By obsessions lurk everywhere, and for some in this story, obsessions prove deadly.

Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy do a great job of providing a dense, rich read. They also conspire to highlight this very dark work with some moments of bright, delightful comedy in such a way that is not out of place with the rest of the work.

Some character highlights include the creation of the Batsignal, and further bonding between Gordon and Batman. Catwoman appears briefly throughout, but she seems out of place in the story, just flittering in and out without doing much at all.

This volume could be enjoyed by a newcomer to the Batman mythos, or a veteran collector, but silhouetted nudity might not make it appropriate for very young children.

Recommended.

This book collects the Prey storyline that ran in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. A very tense Batman book which also depicts the first meeting between Batman and the twisted Dr. Hugo Strange. In this book, Bats makes a lot of mistakes and he has let Dr. Strange get to him. Also introduces the Bat Signal and the Batmobile. It's really good to see Batman as a human being who goofs up and get ticked off by someone else. One disappointment I have with this book is Catwoman. It's as if she's just there. She didn't really contribute anything to the story.

This is a compilation of issues from early in the Legends of the Dark Knight series. Moench takes a crack at Hugo Strange, and looks at him from a different point of view.

Less of the supervillain mad scientist, and more of the crazed nutjob variety. When Strange finds a cop that is similarly unhinged, Batman has some problems.