I have seen a mixed response from readers.
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.
Cheers - CL
Alan Grant can do (almost) no wrong in my eyes, but I think after the first year Shadow of the Bat 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
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 Shadow of the Bat was launched in part as a consolation prize after they'd already removed him from the flagships (Batman and Detective) once before.
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.
"Has Sariel summoned you here, Azrael? Have you come to witness the miracle of your brethren arriving on Earth?"
"I WILL MIX THE ASHES OF YOUR BONES WITH SALT AND USE THEM TO ENSURE THE EARTH THE TEMPLARS TILLED NEVER BEARS FRUIT AGAIN!"
"*sigh* I hoped it was for the miracle."
Dan Watters' Azrael was incredible, a constant delight and perhaps too good for this world (but not the Forth). For the love of St. Dumas, DC, give us more!!!
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.
Pulls: Batman, Detective Comics, SiKtC, Catwoman, Nightwing, Titans, Godzilla, Wonder Woman, Batman & Robin, Brave and the Bold, No/One, Kill your Darlings, and Deviant.
My runs: Batman #230-, and Detective #420-
"Has Sariel summoned you here, Azrael? Have you come to witness the miracle of your brethren arriving on Earth?"
"I WILL MIX THE ASHES OF YOUR BONES WITH SALT AND USE THEM TO ENSURE THE EARTH THE TEMPLARS TILLED NEVER BEARS FRUIT AGAIN!"
"*sigh* I hoped it was for the miracle."
Dan Watters' Azrael was incredible, a constant delight and perhaps too good for this world (but not the Forth). For the love of St. Dumas, DC, give us more!!!