Batman The Cult Graphic Novel Review (Canon Read Through #25)

[Deffinition]

I wrote this review before the death of Bernie Wrightson but due to having to go back and read Crisis On Infinite Earths i've been unable to post it.

That being said, it completely blew me out of the water, i've read it about 2 times prior but this time really cemented it as my favourite graphic novel.

Till this point it had been long halloween for over 10 years but this is just a stellar piece of work.

You can read my full thoughts below

Batman The Cult Graphic Novel Review

Cheers

[JBatmanFan05]

The Cult is amazing, it's a fave of mine right there with Blind Justice, that very high strata of my regard just below maybe DKR, Killing Joke, Year One, etc. The Cult is sort of akin to Blind Justice to me in the sense that both are not known by quite enough more mainstream/casual fans. They're two sort of books that you can perhaps use as a test for some hardcorest Batman comic fandom.

Just read a short online interview with Jim Starlin and The Cult is his favorite of his Batman work. Starlin said it's about a lot of things, economic disparity being near the top of things it is about.

What's cool is that it was Knightfall and NML before Knightfall and NML. The story brings Gotham & Batman to its knees in a convincing way (and in so fewer pages). My favorite general aspect of the story is I think just how effective Starlin is showing brutal horrific dramatic takedown of order in Gotham. The story has this suspense about it.

Perhaps my favorite little scene is where Starlin takes a shot at comic censorship, censorship of horror comics that Wrightson made his life doing. There is a city kid working on a superhero drawing and he's killed while in the middle of drawing, his blood right like right on his sketch page IIRC. Take that comics code.

The Cult is grim n gritty done so well. Starlin hits on enduring relevant themes and issues in society. Wrightson wows you with every page turn. You sorta feel like you're reading some sort of sequel of DKR in terms of the surreal coloring and grit.

[Aioros22]

Agreed on everything. Together with the Diplomath`s Son, it`s easily his best and gutsy DC work, without losing in translation and years as the 10 NOTB which I also enjoy (basically the 90`s before the 90`s as JBatman05 notes). That scene with the kid was an eye opener when I first read it, the stakes womed me at how well executed and crude it looked. Batman was broken in a way you`ll likely never see again until Bane comes in. The opening scene is amazing and sets the story right away.

My absolute favorite scene is Bruce, after coming back from the ordeal and Jason`s rescue, admitting to himself that it all really to beat his fear, right before they awesomely storm the gates so to speak in a fashion that only the TDKR could do any better. And the whole sequence until the duo splits up after a whole corridor of bodies stays with you.

[Mace Dolex]

Glad to hear Batman The Cult getting some recognition finally, I remember when it first came out hearing how it was explotative of excessive violence and that Starlin was merely aping Frank Miller as a TDKR rip-off. But this was Knightfall before there was a Knightfall, here we have Batman mentally beaten resorting to stealing food from people having a picnic but in the end he comes back with guns ablazing I mean I think the huge Bat-tank he uses is bigger than the one in TDKR.

[Deffinition]

Yeah, I think it took me a couple of reads to properly appreciate it, it is difficult seeing your hero in these kind of circumstances when you're younger I think. I'm in my late 20s now though so I do tend to prefer more psychological comics that really break down the character and have atale of redemption. It's a brilliant tale of the rise and fall of the dark knight that really shows just how deep you can take Batman into the Abyss before he can rise up.

[son of booyah]

Definitely a good one. Starlin is a hugely underrated bat-writer. I need to get his other stuff, really...

[Deffinition]

yeah definitely, he has some absolute classics

[son of booyah]

Digging the project, by the way. I want to hear your thoughts about stories/the franchise when you're done.

[Deffinition]

thank you, im really enjoying it so far even though it is a bit of an impossible task, so far ive worked out that if I read a book a week I will still be doing it into late 2019, im obviously up for it but it's definitely gonna be one of the biggest things that I ever do reviews wise