BATMAN: Book of the Dead TPB Part 1 & part 2 Review

RATING: 2.5 out of 5

A disappointment. I was excited when I got them, but the storyline really turned out lame and I quickly lost interest. It is a full storyline in two trade paperbacks. It has a Elseworld's trademark, of which I'm glad, not really because of the Batman portion but because of the Egyption history portion of the story.





FULL REVIEW with SpOiLeRs:

What was I expecting!? Well let's see...

Maybe ...a BOOK OF THE DEAD. After all, that's n the title.. right?

Necronomicon from Army of Darkness and The Book of the Dead from The Mummy (1999)

Examples of really cool books of the dead that I've seen in the past... are from the Army of Darkness and The Mummy (1999).   I bet some of you recognize them.

BUT these TPB's had NO....book of the dead. Not a single page.

Which...yes...takes away from the coolness of these TPB's.


There WAS a lid of the dead, which was a Mayan lid to a sarcophagus.  Did I say Mayan? Yes I did....and so did Dr. Sheila Ramsey for EIGHT pages as she lectured Bruce, and me, on Mayan theories of the end of the world.



 
Her discovery...the symbol of a Bat-god, when you take a mirror image of the sarcophagus and turn it upside down etc...AND this led her to there being an unknown Bat-God in Egypt... etc etc... she thinks there is a hidden room under the Sphinx etc etc etc...holds the mystery of the next world wide catastrophic event.

NOW for the Elseworlds portion:

Bruces parents were killed because they had a clue to a ancient puzzle (have no problem with this because  the reason of their death changes with the writer)

BUT, then there are flashbacks of the far... far... past (28000yrs ago).
There were Aliens who helped the Humans to become a civilization. These beings were called gods.
Osiris
Isis
Horus
Seth
Nekhrun -Bat God


I know that you may think of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, but no....not them. A different set of aliens...but same old...old story. Seth being jealous of Osiris because of Isis, putting a kink in their plans of saving the Human race in 28,000 years by killing Osiris.

Nekhrun (Bat-god) dies trying to make sure that the knowledge to save the human race is entombed under the Sphinx, so that it can be discovered when humans are ready for the knowledge.

Bruce (Batman), in the present, risks his life by working through a maze (avoids the traps) to the treasure of knowledge.  There are others who want the treasure, of course he takes care of them.


THERE is a short glimpse of a mummy, but it is only Osiris being brought back to life (Stargate style with a sarcophagus).

I wouldn't suggest this TPB, but someone else may like it, especially now... that you know ...there is NO Book of the Dead, maybe... a Book of knowledge (except it's not a book either... but the cylinder thingy in Batman's hand on the cover of 2).

Another reviewer said that if you were a fan of Raiders of the Lost Ark you may like it, but he didn't. I loved that movie... and I thought this story was dry.  Maybe ...if there was more mystery... and maybe... if Bruce didn't have such a easy time with the maze, like a few traps he had to maneuver, to make it exciting( or maybe...a Book of the Dead)

I'd be glad to know what others have thought of the story. Maybe I was expecting too much.

AND on a high note ...
"KLAATU BARADA Nmmmumtmo!"
Damn...still didn't make these books any better when I opened them.

BATMAN: Book of the Dead

Writer: Doug Moench

Penciller: Barry Kitson

Inker: Ray McCarthy

Letters: Kurt Hathaway

Colors: Dave Stewart

Publisher: DC Comics

June/July 1999