Scott's Take: Batman: Gotham by Gaslight - The Kryptonian Age by Andy Diggle and Leandro Fernández (illustrator)

 

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight - The Kryptonian Age by Andy Diggle and  Leandro Fernández (illustrator) is a book that is a sequel to the original Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, which I have not read, but I did not have any trouble following this read. This was originally supposed to be a 12-issue series but instead was turned into to two six issue series. The second series will be called Gotham by Gaslight – A league For Justice.  I read this in one sitting through the DC Universe Infinite app.

 

A lot of this story is setup for the next series so questions are raised without real answers and it all ends abruptly. This elseworld tale set sometime in the 1800s has Batman investigating the Kryptonian age. A lost civilization (Krypton) on Earth that disappeared with very few clues to what happened to them. This period of time is referred to as the Kryptonian age.

 

For some reason, a mysterious group is collecting artifacts from that time and killing anyone who gets in the way. Somehow the artifacts herald the return of the Kryptonian age. That return, somehow, threatens humanity. This tale is told through multiple perspectives and that means that a significant portion of the read is without Batman.

 

There is a wide range of characters involved from Superman (yes, there is somehow a Superman in the 1800s even if the Kryptonians died thousands of years ago), Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, the Suicide Squad, Lois Lane, and others. There is constant shifting between stories. One segment might have John Constatine in England with Queen Elizabeth while another has Adam Strange in somewhere cold looking for a lost city of the Kryptonians while still another has Catwoman trying to steal a relic in a museum.

 

 

I found the story interesting even with the abrupt ending and with so much unexplained. However, the creative team being told sometime while working on it that the series was being broken up into miniseries instead of the original plan definitely played a negative role here for the reader. The art was serviceable. Some pages were way more detailed than others.

 

The sequel, hopefully, will answer these questions. The sequel, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – A League for Justice, is not a horrible title, but maybe they can workshop it and make it better.

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4443PLI

 

 

I read this through DC Universe Infinite app.

 

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2025