Scott BeattyRezensionen

This is an oddly conceived collection for a pair of reasons. Firstly, Batman is barely in it. Sneeze and you'll miss the few panels he's in. Obviously they stuck his name on the cover in hopes to sell more copies. Second, we start with the origin story of Bane; a dark, gripping story based almost entirely in a fictional South (or is it Central?) American jail, and then the second half of the book jumps to a time *much* later in Bane's history with a multitude of references to what came in-between. Yes, the in-between that's not in this book. So unless you're up on your Bane continuity, prepare to be confused, as I was.

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I remember begging my mother to buy me this book, but I don't remember if I actually read it all or not. It was definitely interesting to see where the Wonder Woman story was at in 2003. I know the art was also what was printed in the comics at the time, but the oversexualization of Diana, the Amazons, and Diana's female villians is exhausting.

Another re-read as I'm presently on a Nightwing/Oracle kick because of the Convergence release. I went back to the retconned beginning of these two and their burgeoning relationship.

This one picks up a few years after Year One: Robin, with Babara trying to find her way. I appreciate how it's about the same size of writing, but it was broken into 9 issues (more gorgeous cover-art if admittedly costs more all across the board to the customer).

I do love this book so much. Barbara comes at this life from a completely different place, not mired in despair and death, and she's all pro-female power which is glorious to see. I loved all of it. I love the burgeoning romance, and the ups and downs of the bat family, and the importance of Jim & Gotham's cops. All around a glorious read.

Another re-read as I'm presently on a Nightwing/Oracle kick because of the Convergence release. I went back to the retconned beginning of these two and their burgeoning relationship. This one was serious and adorable. Alfred is pitch perfect, and Bruce & Dick are beautiful growing into each other. Jim totally owns my heart for comments to Batman about dropping him off a building if he gets Robin hurt, and for the comments to Robin about how he will never have a chance with his daughter.

So much grinning was achieved by this.

i remember being surprised at how much i liked the batgirl story as a kid: i was looking for badass comics of heroes like batman, dudes that kicked ass. batgirl was like, the lame 2nd tier sidekick in the shitty movie in my head. but this was very likeable.

the robin story is fine

I did not like Nightwing Year One so I didn't have high hopes for this but I would read more of both of these.

Tem vários conceitos e ideias legais que não foram tão bem executadas, infelizmente. Mas vale a leitura.

This was a very good back story of the villain Bane. I like how it also entwines with the history of Ras Al Ghul.

See my short note on it here:
[http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/07/short-booknotes-on-graphic-novels-3.html]

This graphic novel is an origin story of Sherlock Holmes. It includes the introduction to Dr. Watson and a back story as to how they became roommates and partners. It has an interesting mystery that introduces us to Dr. Moriarty (and boy is he evil) and sets up their rivalry quite well. It wasn't a great mind-blowing mystery but still good and I felt like this collection was more of a set up for future graphic novels than anything.

I thought the graphic novel had very good artwork. I didn't like that the characters had purple skin. There is a possibility that was just because I was reading it on my nook and maybe the colors were off.

First time reading one of the Adventures books. Not bad, especially since it links directly to some of the fiction, particularly Wendig's Aftermath trilogy.

Pretty great update and continuation of the Phantom Legacy

Disappointing.

I've looked at two other, larger Wonder Woman encyclopedias, and this one simply blows them away. Check out the illustration on pg. 38 for an example. The best part of this book is a month-by-month recap of every issue of the W.W. comic book up to early 2003. People who are devotees of DK books (as I am of their nature books) will not be surprised at all by the high quality level of this tome.

This is the second edition of the book. It is a nice quick reference for casual readers and a nostalgia piece for long-time readers like me.

Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

Nightwing: Year One is the last of the Beatty/Dixon-written "Year One" collaborations, both in my reading order and in terms of publication. This one expands on events only briefly chronicled in Batman: Second Chances to show how Dick Grayson decided to become Nightwing. It opens with Dick coming to Batman's aid in a battle with Clayface, but later than Batman would like, owing to Dick's duties with the Teen Titans.

They argue, and Batman ends up firing Dick-- this doesn't replace the firing depicted in Second Chances, though, as Dick declares he's been fired before, and the timeline of Dick's life in the front of the book includes the Second Chances firing in its events. So apparently much of Nightwing: Year One takes place during the single issue in Second Chances where Dick is fired and Batman first meets Jason Todd; the book as a whole overlaps with Second Chances a lot, as we don't see how Batman meets Jason or selects him as the new Robin, but we do see some of his training. In the meantime, Dick goes back to his old circus and gets a job there and meets Deadman, but the call of crimefighting pulls him, and building on a conversation he had with Superman, he decides to go into action again as his own man: Nightwing.

This book isn't terrible by any means, but it didn't really work for me. There are three main reasons, I think. The first is that Bruce Wayne is just an absolute asshole here. In Second Chances, he "fired" Dick because he was worried for Dick's safety. Here, he does it because Dick can't live up to the impossible standards he imposes on him, refusing to allow Dick defeating criminals with the Teen Titans to excuse him from working with Batman. I feel like you could write these two men drifting apart as they both grow older without making one of them as an arbitrary jerk, but I suppose no one ever hired Chuck Dixon to write a comic book with subtlety in its characterization.

The second issue I have is the book's last few chapters, which do retcon some of Second Chances out of existence specifically, the "ONE YEAR AGO" issue where Dick first meets Jason. Here, Bruce manipulates Dick into participating in Jason's "Gauntlet," his final test to be a full-time Robin, where the two of them are meant to team up to save Alfred from Two-Face (although Two-Face is actually Alfred in disguise). Things go awry, but the two succeed in saving the day without the help of a sedated Batman. It's a fun adventure on its own merits, but it's a weirdly Batman-centric choice for the climax of a volume about Dick Grayson becoming his own man. I'd rather have seen him fighting his own villain(s), far away from the whole Batman clan.

Lastly, there's the art. I've never liked the team of Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens, not since they were Judd Winick's artists on Green Arrow, and I don't like them here. I think it's their way with faces, which just look weird and indistinct to me.

This is a likable book. Dixon is always good at writing action. The appearance of Deadman is fun (if a little pointless), and I liked Dick's talk with Superman. Alfred's final gift to Dick is pretty nice, and makes perfect sense. I wanted to like the flirting between Dick and Barbara more, but I don't think McDaniel and Owens made their body language work, and Barbara felt weirdly subordinate to Batman in his secret plans-- she's usually much more off on her own in my experience. Overall, Nightwing: Year One is fun, but kind of misjudged.

Batman "Year One" Stories: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence »

Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

I had wanted to really like Robin: Year One from (mostly) the same creative team as this story, but found it a bit disappointing. Not terrible, but I didn't feel like it really gave very much insight into Robin. So it was with a little apprehension that I approached Batgirl: Year One-- but that needn't have been the case, as Batgirl: Year One is excellent. The story covers the first few months of Batgirl's career, filling in with the occasional flashbacks to Barbara Gordon's pre-crimefighting life. Barbara wants to enroll in the police academy, but is too short, and beside, her father is entirely against letting her be in the same line of work as him. Deciding to tweak him by turning up at a costume benefit gala in a homemade Batgirl costume, she ends up accidentally becoming a crimefighter when the Killer Moth turns up, and then decides to run with it.

Batgirl: Year One gives us a succession of adventures as she "proves" herself to Batman. (Robin is, of course, smitten from the beginning. I think Barbara is 16 and Robin 14 during this time?) Along the way, we also see the miserable career of the Killer Moth (who no one takes seriously), Barbara teams up with Black Canary for the first time (but certainly not the last!), and Batgirl and Robin take down the Condiment King (yes!). The book is just fun and vibrant: the main tension with Batman comes from the fact that Barbara doesn't have a "reason" to fight crime. Bruce and Dick both lost their parents to crime, but Barbara just wants to help as best she can, and this turns out to be enough.

Everything conspires to make this book work: the charming narration by Barbara, the banter between the characters (like in Snow, I can totally hear Kevin Conroy saying all of Batman's dialogue), Javier Rodriguez's vibrant colors, and most of all, the expressive artwork of Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez. Their art is energetic and dynamic, their storytelling is rock-solid, and they just bring the whole book to life. The book was a joy to read from start to finish. I'm not saying every superhero comic should be this way, but it wouldn't hurt if more of them were!

Batman "Year One" Stories: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence »

I'll tell you one thing about comic book writers: They are totally fine with multiple characters having the same name.

Scott Beatty doesn't do the profession of librarianship any favors with this book, setting up Batgirl's day job as the very thing she wants so badly to escape she's willing to risk her life in daredevilry at night. But I came around, because Barbara Gordon is such a winningly progressive female character and because even she begrudgingly comes to see how her skills as a librarian help make her a vigilante-detective on a par with Batman himself. There are still times when she comes off as too "girlishly naive," as though Beatty is never quite sure how to maintain a strong female character, but I forgive it because the story is good all the way to the end, one of the rare (for me) satisfying conclusions to a hero graphic novel.

Having read Batgirl: Year One since finishing this, but before writing this review, it's impossible for me not to see Robin: Year One as a dry run for the later comics by (mostly) the same creative team. Batgirl: Year One is fun, bold, and matches the personality of its protagonist extraordinarily well; Robin: Year One feels as though it is striving toward these things, but not quite reaching them. Which is perhaps unfair to Robin: Year One, but I thought it was a fine comic, while Batgirl: Year One was a perfect one. I have some sense of what being Robin means to Dick Grayson after reading this, but not as much as what Batgirl: Year One gives me of Barbara and Batgirl.

Batman "Year One" Stories: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence »

This is actually a pretty neat little backstory/origin story on Batgirl's beginnings. And, shesh, people talk about Gail Simone and how much she does for women in comics, but this comic here really seemed to be digging deep into the "women are stronger than male chavinist pigs think".

I was somewhat reluctant to continue my reading of Batgirl after reading the most recent Gail Simone volume. Glad I did. Not five star quality stuff, but still enjoyable.

I just have to start off with one thing. Boo on DC for retconning Barbara as something other than a librarian. C'mon now, y'all had to take that away from us Librarians too? Least you didn't turn her blonde or something in this TPB.

It's another restart (although this one came way before the current New 52 restart, and then the restart of the New 52 restart as well, the early 2000s I believe) of Batgirl as they seem to do every few years with all the characters (or at least that's how it feels to me).

Her journey towards becoming Batigirl (a name that she seems resigned to in this TPB) is less about hero worship of Batman and more about being Batgirl in spite of Batman. Much more feminist sorts of view points for sure. It was an okay TPB, but, as I said, I did miss some of the old canon too.

I like these Year One books. Miller's revision of Batman's first year was far better, but the story of Robin as a foil to Batman was enjoyable. Bob Kane always said they used Robin to add some brightness to the Batman comics, which were excessively black and blue. This story riffs on that but showing Robin as the well-grounded crime fighter in comparison to the brooding, obsessive Batman.