Batman: City of Madness by Christian Ward, who also illustrated it, is the first book I have read by him. He does a really good job on both aspects. This is another standalone elseworlds Batman book. In this comic, Batman of the surface teams up with The Court Of Owls to stop the Batman Below. Secretly, there is another Gotham city below the main Gotham. This dark mirror world’s Batman has left his city to train a Robin in the above. He seeks to merge these two Gotham into one. Doing that would damage reality for all and cause widespread insanity in both levels. Batman of the surface and the Court of Owls will attempt to stop him.
This graphic novel is an atmospheric read featuring a
decent number of characters. Several characters play a bigger role than the
synopsis implies. Unfortunately, because it is only three issues, there
is not a lot of time to go into much detail in this fast paced read. I am a
little disappointed that the Gotham Below is not explored as much as it could
be.
The art is excellent and depicts the cosmic horror
really well. There are several disturbing scenes for some readers in regards to
body horror. There is a clear setup for a sequel. That setup causes the read to
abruptly end. I hate this trend of teasing a sequel that may not even happen.
I enjoyed this read despite its flaws. It really needed
a longer time to explore the ideas presented, but it is worth reading.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4gv1RIE
My reading copy came from Hoopla through
the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2024
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