Review:
The Legends of the Dark Knight ongoing series was a platform for newer or up-and-coming comics talents to show their mettle. Tales varied in size, seldom stretching to full-issue length. Indeed, this collection reprints 5 issues and includes 9 distinct stories.
With each new chapter, the writers and artists change, with all the impact one would expect on style, pacing, techniques and other individual touches. A very episodic series and collection.
The transitions likely felt more natural in the original online digital chapters - in a collected edition, be prepared for those large shifts between tales.
The cream of this 9-tale crop is "Tap Tap" by Roy Fawkes and illustrated by Stephane Roux. It is a fun romp of an interrupted cat-burglary, light and amusing, perfectly paced. Roux's images are dynamic and fluid, and at times the colors positively glow.
It's a sharp contrast with most of the rest of the collection, whose art is more often muted and dark, with tones of grey and blues, or else heavily inked. Even a more colorful one like "Carved" (by Paul Tobin and Tradd Moore) is heavy on the pencils and its angular characters display a quick-sketch feel.
Also worth your time is Jeff Parker's "Gotham Spirit" entry, with art by Gabriel Houdman. It tells the tale of an ordinary convenience store robbery thwarted by Batman. A tale in which Batman neither speaks nor narrates - the solid visuals convey all the reader needs to know about Batman.
With other appearances by Killer Croc (with his pet dragon), Scarecrow (a fascinating paraplegic future), Penguin (teaming up to work with Batman to stop a larger foe) and a couple monster mysteries, this is a solid book.
Description:
Top writers and artists from comics and beyond tell tales of the Dark Knight!
This second volume of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight collects short stories of the Dark Knight by Jeff Parker, Christos Gage, Chris Sprouse, Ray Fawkes and more!
Collects: issues #6-10 of the printed series, or #16-29 and 41 of the online digital chapters
Authors: 9 different authors
Artists: 10 different artists
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: May 20 2014
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-1401246006
Pages: 168 pages
No comments:
Post a Comment