I have seen a mixed response from readers.
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I have seen a mixed response from readers.
Grant & Breyfogle together were magic. The first SotB arc is a straight-up classic.
Grant without Breyfogle was kind of eh, and frankly he stayed on the book way past the point where it appeared he had run out of ideas. Occasionally he’d still drop a good one in there, but the overall quality dipped a lot after Breyfogle left.
Alan Grant can do (almost) no wrong in my eyes, but I think after the first year [I]Shadow of the Bat[/I] dipped noticeably in quality. I'd chock it up to crossover fatigue, as the book had barely gotten off the ground when it got roped into a plethora of crossover's, giving Grant no more than an issue or two at times to tell the stories he wanted before being interrupted.
Luckily he excelled at the brief, 1-3 part stories he was able to disperse amongst the various tie-ins. Like Coco Loco mentioned, there were good arcs later in the run, but they became fewer and farther between.
The less said about his unceremonious dismissal, the better. :(
Disregarding quality for the moment, I'm not sure about the purpose of the series. Legends of The Dark Knight is about flashback stories. Batman and Detective are basically 1 series separated into 2, so Shadow is the third? Coz I thought something as important as building a new Arkham should be in Batman or Detective
[QUOTE=SJNeal;5311775]Alan Grant can do (almost) no wrong in my eyes, but I think after the first year [I]Shadow of the Bat[/I] dipped noticeably in quality. I'd chock it up to crossover fatigue, as the book had barely gotten off the ground when it got roped into a plethora of crossover's, giving Grant no more than an issue or two at times to tell the stories he wanted before being interrupted.
Luckily he excelled at the brief, 1-3 part stories he was able to disperse amongst the various tie-ins. Like Coco Loco mentioned, there were good arcs later in the run, but they became fewer and farther between.
The less said about his unceremonious dismissal, the better. :([/QUOTE]
Yeah it kinda became a title to pad crossovers
[QUOTE=Restingvoice;5771971]Disregarding quality for the moment, I'm not sure about the purpose of the series. Legends of The Dark Knight is about flashback stories. Batman and Detective are basically 1 series separated into 2, so Shadow is the third? Coz I thought something as important as building a new Arkham should be in Batman or Detective[/QUOTE]
I think they are referring to the old series.
The new "shadow of the bat" event with the Arkham saga is taking place in Detective.
[QUOTE=Lal;5772053]I think they are referring to the old series.
The new "shadow of the bat" event with the Arkham saga is taking place in Detective.[/QUOTE]
I am referring to the old series. I forget that both Shadow of The Bat begins with a building of a new Arkham... ooh that's why they call the event that.
[QUOTE=SJNeal;5311775]Alan Grant can do (almost) no wrong in my eyes, but I think after the first year [I]Shadow of the Bat[/I] dipped noticeably in quality. I'd chock it up to crossover fatigue, as the book had barely gotten off the ground when it got roped into a plethora of crossover's, giving Grant no more than an issue or two at times to tell the stories he wanted before being interrupted.
Luckily he excelled at the brief, 1-3 part stories he was able to disperse amongst the various tie-ins. Like Coco Loco mentioned, there were good arcs later in the run, but they became fewer and farther between.
[B]The less said about his unceremonious dismissal, the better.[/B] :([/QUOTE]
Why was Alan Grant fired from the book?
[QUOTE=Timothy Hunter;5772884]Why was Alan Grant fired from the book?[/QUOTE]
Right around the time the "No Man's Land" arc began, editorial phased out Alan Grant, Chuck Dixon, and Doug Moench. They each wrote the early issues of their titles respective chapters, then disappeared. The details are escaping me at the moment, but there have been interviews published since that revealed it was not an amicable parting. I'm sure more savvy posters with better memories can add some context.
I do remember in Grant's case it was a double-whammy of sorts, as [I]Shadow of the Bat[/I] was launched in part as a consolation prize after they'd already removed him from the flagships ([I]Batman[/I] and [I]Detective[/I]) once before.
[QUOTE=SJNeal;5311775]Alan Grant can do (almost) no wrong in my eyes, but I think after the first year [I]Shadow of the Bat[/I] dipped noticeably in quality. I'd chock it up to crossover fatigue, as the book had barely gotten off the ground when it got roped into a plethora of crossover's, giving Grant no more than an issue or two at times to tell the stories he wanted before being interrupted.
Luckily he excelled at the brief, 1-3 part stories he was able to disperse amongst the various tie-ins. Like Coco Loco mentioned, there were good arcs later in the run, but they became fewer and farther between.[/QUOTE]
This is my memory of the series as well. Too many crossovers. I was so excited for it when it debuted. Grant on writing, Breyfogle on art, and Stelfreeze on covers. Great creative lineup.
[QUOTE=Coco Loco;5303729]Grant & Breyfogle together were magic. The first SotB arc is a straight-up classic.
Grant without Breyfogle was kind of eh, and frankly he stayed on the book way past the point where it appeared he had run out of ideas. Occasionally he’d still drop a good one in there, but the overall quality dipped a lot after Breyfogle left.[/QUOTE]
This (remember when Zsasz was more than just the who cuts himself?), along with being paired with some very... '90s artists for a few years and the constant crossover thing.
Alan Grant remains one of my all-time favourite Bat-writers (especially with NB). He was a guy who refused to reuse the same 5 big name villains over and over, and was constantly adding new characters and themes. However, the decent stories became increasingly few and far between as the book went on. It's always going to happen when a guy writes a book for, like, 7 years on top of the several years he already had under his belt on Bat and 'Tec.
I think the unceremonious ditching happened when DC replaced a bunch of higher up editors who all wanted a complete revamp. IIRC, this happened on Superman at the same time. It's both a good and bad thing as it sucks to suddenly cut writers just for being long-tenured without offering other work, but on the other hand in both instances (Batman and Superman) the teams had long run out of new/fresh ideas and desperately needed new blood.
The first arc was great, but it wasn't as good when Norm left. Plus then it got bogged down with crossovers which really deviate from the kind of stories Grant told.
[QUOTE=SixSpeedSamurai;6203006]The first arc was great, but it wasn't as good when Norm left. Plus then it got bogged down with crossovers which really deviate from the kind of stories Grant told.[/QUOTE]
That's true. Say crossover to Grant and he thinks he's taking over both books again as he used to do in the late 80's. Lol.