Batman: Black and White

[thwhtGuardian]

Batman: Black and White has always been a favorite of mine as it features great art and short stories in an anthology format which is a recipe for great reading in my mind and with this newest installment I'm pleased to say the tradition continues as this was a great read! That said, like any anthology there are always going to be some flat spots and Tynion's contribution was definitely that; the concept of showing us just how fanatical Ra's Al Ghul's followers are was fun...but it didn't need to be ten pages long to get its point across, which is a continuing flaw of Tynion's. The art by Tadd Moore of Luther Strode fame was fantastic though, just not great enough to elivate the short past being the weakest link. But lest you judge the whole book by that entry the rest of the chain is pretty damn strong with J.H. Williams giving us a visually stunning walk down Batman's history, and Paul Dini and Andy Kubert delivered a great Ninja- Man-Bat story that felt like a lost chapter to Dini's great Batman run, but G. Willow Wilson and Greg Smallwood's Killer Croc tale was definitely the best of the bunch giving us an absolutely fantastic noir driven story that I'll definitely be revisiting again and again for years to come.

[Bad Witch]

Batman: Black and White has always been a favorite of mine as it features great art and short stories in an anthology format which is a recipe for great reading in my mind and with this newest installment I'm pleased to say the tradition continues as this was a great read! That said, like any anthology there are always going to be some flat spots and Tynion's contribution was definitely that; the concept of showing us just how fanatical Ra's Al Ghul's followers are was fun...but it didn't need to be ten pages long to get its point across, which is a continuing flaw of Tynion's. The art by Tadd Moore of Luther Strode fame was fantastic though, just not great enough to elivate the short past being the weakest link. But lest you judge the whole book by that entry the rest of the chain is pretty damn strong with J.H. Williams giving us a visually stunning walk down Batman's history, and Paul Dini and Andy Kubert delivered a great Ninja- Man-Bat story that felt like a lost chapter to Dini's great Batman run, but G. Willow Wilson and Greg Smallwood's Killer Croc tale was definitely the best of the bunch giving us an absolutely fantastic noir driven story that I'll definitely be revisiting again and again for years to come.

Are you talking about the book that came out yesterday? I haven't read the original black and white (I have the omnibus just haven't gotten around to it) I did grab the book that came out yesterday and I'm going to read it soonish. I have a feeling this series will be cool

[Hypo]

Batman: Black and White has always been a favorite of mine as it features great art and short stories in an anthology format which is a recipe for great reading in my mind and with this newest installment I'm pleased to say the tradition continues as this was a great read! That said, like any anthology there are always going to be some flat spots and Tynion's contribution was definitely that; the concept of showing us just how fanatical Ra's Al Ghul's followers are was fun...but it didn't need to be ten pages long to get its point across, which is a continuing flaw of Tynion's. The art by Tadd Moore of Luther Strode fame was fantastic though, just not great enough to elivate the short past being the weakest link. But lest you judge the whole book by that entry the rest of the chain is pretty damn strong with J.H. Williams giving us a visually stunning walk down Batman's history, and Paul Dini and Andy Kubert delivered a great Ninja- Man-Bat story that felt like a lost chapter to Dini's great Batman run, but G. Willow Wilson and Greg Smallwood's Killer Croc tale was definitely the best of the bunch giving us an absolutely fantastic noir driven story that I'll definitely be revisiting again and again for years to come.

Disagree whole heartedly on the Tynion/Moore story, thought it was the strongest one of the bunch by far.

[thwhtGuardian]

Disagree whole heartedly on the Tynion/Moore story, thought it was the strongest one of the bunch by far.

It would have been stronger if it was four pagers long...there's no way it needed the page count it had; it just kept repeating the same purple prose over and over again.

[hairys]

In Issue #4, only Zdarsky's Poison Ivy story was good.

I'm not really digging these color anthoologies and will have to stop buying them soon. (I definitely complained about Superman Blue and Red last week).

[hairys]

BTW, I think I'd be down for a Zdarsky run on Batman after Tynion is finished.

[thwhtGuardian]

BTW, I think I'd be down for a Zdarsky run on Batman after Tynion is finished.

Zdarsky's good but I'd rather Becky Cloonan, Karl Kershal or based on Batman/Superman Gene Luen Yang

[Hypo]

Terry Dodson posted a little process video for this story

[hairys]

Zdarsky's good but I'd rather Becky Cloonan, Karl Kershal or based on Batman/Superman Gene Luen Yang

What about Cloonan and Kershal? What work of theirs makes you think "Batman writer"? (Seriously asking for your input, not being snarky).

For me, Zdarsky's Daredevil tells me he's ready.

[hairys]

Anyone got ish #5 and can solve Kieron Gillen's Riddler puzzle? Lemme know and post using spoiler tags. Thanks!

(I should note that if there is no solution, it's a bad comic.)

[hairys]

Okay, so with Gillen's Riddler puzzle, you have free choice the entire time and don't have to only go down the paths the panels provide, i.e. if a panel gives you a choice between going to 5 or going to 8, you have free will to do neither can just continue on your own to whatever panel you choose.

One solution is: 1, 5, 10, 8, 20, 21, 22, 34, 39, 40

Overall, not all that fun or exciting a comic.

[thwhtGuardian]

Okay, so with Gillen's Riddler puzzle, you have free choice the entire time and don't have to only go down the paths the panels provide, i.e. if a panel gives you a choice between going to 5 or going to 8, you have free will to do neither can just continue on your own to whatever panel you choose.

One solution is: 1, 5, 10, 8, 20, 21, 22, 34, 39, 40

Overall, not all that fun or exciting a comic.

I liked the concept of it being a choose your own adventure story...but in execution it didn't work all that well as instead of skipping pages you were navigating panels and as it's a visual medium you get easily spoiled that way.