Batman: The Black Mirror

Product Information

Battle for the Cowl Deluxe Edition: Collecting Battle for the Cowl #1-3, Gotham Gazette: Dead? #1, Gotham Gazette: Alive? #1, Battle for the Cowl Specials: Arkham Asylum, the Network, Man-Bat, Underground, & Commissioner Gordon Collects: Batman #587, Robin #86, Birds of Prey #27, Catwoman #90, Nightwing #53, Detective Comics #754, and Gotham Knights #13

Collects: Detective Comics #719, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #73, Nightwing #19, Batman #553, Azrael #40, Detective Comics #720, Catwoman #56, Robin #52, Batman – Isles of Men #1, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #74, Batman Chronicles #12, Nightwing #20, Batman #554, Batman: Huntress & Spoiler #1, Detective Comics #721, Catwoman #57, Batman: Arkham Asylum – Tales of Madness #1, and Robin #53 Collects: Batman #131, 144, 148, 155, 179, 181, 200, 217, Batman Kellogg’s Special #6, Detective Comics #298, 341, 349, 369, 388, 389, 390, 391

Success!

Collects: Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment On Gotham, Batman/Judge Dredd: Vendetta In Gotham, Batman/Judge Dredd: The Ultimate Riddle, Batman/Judge Dredd: Die Laughing #1-2 and Lobo/Judge Dredd: Psycho Bikers Vs. Mutants From Hell! Collects: Gotham Gazette: Batman Dead? #1, Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1-3, and Gotham Gazette: Batman Alive? #1 You have to judge the situation early, clearly... ...judge it from the diving board, high above, before you’re falling… before you’re in danger.

Collects: Detective Comics #766, Batgirl #24, Nightwing #65, Batman: Gotham Knights #25, Birds of Prey #39, Robin #98, Batman #599, Detective Comics #767, Nightwing #66, Batman: Gotham Knights #26, Robin #99, Birds of Prey #40, and Batman #600But as a final note, it seems pretty sour -- the bad guy is captured, sure, but not before he's suggested to the heroes the possibility that he's infected thousands of children with an untraceable, incurable disease, as though leaving the reader with thoughts of infanticide is somehow akin to the note of "is it a UFO or isn't it?" at the end of your average X-Files episode.

So maybe I'm just getting soft, but this sort of thing just seems purposelessly awful, even if it is just a comic book. It's where I think a lot of modern Batman writers have gotten it wrong, as they attempt to dream up newer and more horrible scenarios to toss the reader into, just for the sake of what they believe noir is.The big arcs –“I am Batman,”“I am Suicide,”“I am Bane,” and “The War of Jokes and Riddles”– are huge and fantastic. They’re also interspersed with little moments and side issues that are wonderful (and, in the case of the Ace the Bathound story from an annual, Eisner-winning). The two issues where he investigates a murder with Swamp Thing are particularly good. And if you read through this whole series and don’t go from “Kite Man! Hell yeah!” to “Holy crap, Kite Man,” I will give you one crisp dollar.* Seriously, it worked pretty well. This is paranoid schemer Batman at his finest: Bats has detailed plans on how to incapacitate the entire Justice League in the event that any of them go rogue (including himself, in what’s a pretty incredible piece of self-destructiveness). Waid and Porter get into Batman’s head while maintaining the bright, shiny superheroic tone both are really good at, and the result was a lot of fun. Collects: Batman #200, 203, 210, Brave and the Bold #75, 76, 79-85, Detective Comics #370, 372, 385, 389, 391, 392, and World’s Finest #174-176,178-180, 182-183, 185, 186. As I said, reading this, it's unclear why DC thought their universe and their comics line was so messed-up that it needed rebooting to save it, but, at the same time, it's clear why they wanted to keep Snyder around the Bat World. Grant Morrison’s first arc on Batman is also his most accessible: a good way to try it out and see if you might want to hang around. It introduces Damian Wayne, Bruce’s son from a torrid night of desert passion with Talia al Ghul and a less torrid 36 months of comic book superscience.