My only real criticism of this book is that it is flipped. For those that don't know what that means, comic books in Japan (also known as manga) are read backwards compared to western comics, because Japanese is written vertically in a right to left fashion. Manga translated to English is printed right to left, but in the early days for some reason the publishers thought westerners wouldn't be able to wrap their brains around reading backwards. (The early InuYasha comics were sold like this.)

The story is a little bland, but a lot of the Batman plots from the time were like that so I don't fault it for that. I like the art aside from the little goofs that the flipping introduced. ( )

This is an English printing of a "Batman" graphic novel originally published in Japan in 2000; hence the Manga stylings. I'm not really a fan of Japanese Manga and Anime, but I guess this is westernized enough to make it palatable to me. Plus, this is actually a very well-written, mature take on the effect Batman has on those unbalanced sorts who idolize him - and his foes. A female Japanese reporter comes to Gotham to interview Batman, is enmeshed in a bizzare sequence of suicidal Rogue's Gallery impersonators, and becomes further involved with Bruce Wayne when Batman goes to Japan to track the source of the bizarre drug that is responsible. The writing is superb and subtly complex, the artwork is generally fine, although there are occasional panels where the action is difficult to interpret. There is even a small gallery of Batman artwork that follows. This is adapted for American readers by Max Collins, but it's not clear just what his role was. Minor, I would think. ( )