BATMAN: ODYSSEY part 5 out of 12

RATING 3 out of 5:

My first time through the issue, I skipped through the dialogue. The dialogue is just tiring to read. I didn't mind it in the first three issues of the mini, but now it is get... get... getting on my nerves. The only saving grace in the book is that Neal can draw.

My second time through, I did trudge through the dialogue and it just rambles on and on..., it didn't really touch on anything that hasn't been said before in the previous issues. 

 





This mini seems to be more about showcasing Neal Adams art with every character in the bat verse and not much about the story.  We've had Robin, Riddler, Talia, Man-Bat, Deadman, Aquaman, and now with this issue he has moved onto drawing Joker.
All the cameo characters in this story also seem to know what is going on, and not... telling... Batman/Bruce what is going on, or... at least  letting us, the reader,... know... What the HELL is going on?!!!.

BUT ....I.. do  ... do ... do love love ...love Neal's Batmobiles. They are fast and slick...just the way I like them.  Yes... yes...YES.

There really isn't much to spoil for this issue (or maybe I just skipped it)
I asked my Hubby, "Are we getting the next issue?"
My Hubby said, "What do you mean?...It's Neal Adams, Why wouldn't we be getting it?"
He also still insists that we get JMS' current Superman story too..."What do you mean? It's JMS."
{I hang my head and shrug.}

BATMAN: ODYSSEY part 5
STORY and ART: Neal Adams, COLOR: Continuity Studios, LETTERS: Ken Lopez, ASSISTANT EDITORS: Jeanelle Siegel & Rachel Gluckstern, EDITORS: Marts and Carlin

BATMAN : ODYSSEY #4 Review

 
Rating 2.3 out of 5
I didn't care for this issue...

I can forgive many things in a Batman comic that is outside of the formal Batman continuity.
I can ignore the manic behavior.
I can ignore the beligerance to Alfred.
I can get over the repetitive dialogue.
I can forgive an almost undecipherable plot.
BUT I can't ... won't...accept a stupid Bruce Wayne as Batman.
No ...no no no no

REVIEW plus Spoiler, or two

The dialogue...I'm either getting use to it...or it's a smege better, but the shirtless Bruce is gone...which is such a shame.  Maybe that's why I'm not digging this issue...no hairy chested Bruce to distract me from the dialogue.  I found myself plodding along in the storyline.  There is a scene where Bruce/Batman looses control and starts beating the bad guy almost to death, and it seemed to last forever....

< WHO is this guy in the baby blue and purple outfit? I already hate him  and his little Robin look-a-like partner.

Also ...some of the art is really sketchy.
And I hate the coloring for Aquaman, his skin, hair, and top of his suit, mesh together.

The part that really lost me in the story... was Bruce/Batman mistaking the man-bat, (the one stealing the album in the above panel) for Kirk Langstrom.  What??? Is this where the line... "all man-bats look the same to me"... should be used?
Even if, the man-bat in question, is twice as big, wearing old man pants, and undershirt?

No mater the story, in Elseworlds, or other worldly location, Batman is a Detective. This means he has trained himself in the ability to decipher small clues at a crime scene, and to be able to see the smallest detail.   Bruce can be unsure in personal situations, like with women, or with his actions, but.... HE COULD TELL THIS MAN-BAT WAS NOT KIRK.  It would not take four to six panels for him to figure that out.  I'm still not sure if he knows.

YES...I'm getting the next issue...I'm still interested ... but it won't be the first comic I pick out of my pile to read.

BATMAN: ODYSSEY part 4
Story and Art: Neal Adams
Inks: Neal Adams & Scott Williams
Color: Continuity Studios
Letters: Ken Lopez
Publisher: DC Comics
Dec 2010

WHAT'S NEXT!

Batman Odyssey Part 5
Link

Batman knows his Odyssey must happen soon before he loses himself, but Deadman invades The Dark Knight's world and only sees the inevitable crash and burn of his old friend. Should Deadman add to Batman's "crash" – or hold off and give the Caped Crusader a few last moments of relative peace? This is Deadman we're talking about – of course he's going to step in!

BATMAN: ODYSSEY Part 3 Review

Rating 3 out of 5

I know... I'm alone in a world of malcontent, but I'm still enjoying the series.  It's not the same old dreary Batman, not the usual Batman/Bruce, but I like him.  Although... I may be the only one left reading the series.

Review/spoilers

More then one poster on more than one forum can't get past the unusual dialogue that Neal Adams has given Bruce Wayne.  Too chatty... too repetitive...

Even Neal has Alfred commenting on it by saying , "Never improves by the repetition." ... And Alfred says this while he is preparing a syringe of something to inject in Bruce. Bruce already has his wounds bandaged... so what is that about?

Is Neal doing this on purpose?

Never in my wildest dream would I think that Bruce would call Alfred a, "Jerk". Who would write a Batman that would call Alfred... "JERK!"?
I can't help but think this is intentional and not just bad dialogue.


Bruce seems to still be talking to the mystery person and ....retelling the story, of when he retold a story to Alfred. What's up with all this retelling? In the second issue he had finished the retelling of the retold story of the Train/guns. Phew..

The story told to Alfred, in this issue, is how Bruce and Dick foiled the Riddler's plans at the warehouse on the pier.
NO matter how you feel about Neal's dialogue, he is a master at drawing action. There is a wonderful action portion to this book that lasted for 10 pages. TEN PAGES... of straight action.   Oh YEAH!!!

AND ...THEN...THERE'S...TALIA

Neal has given her the "Poor little rich girl" characteristic.
And..She gives, Valley Girl, a bad name. 

Oh yes...he went there...

 If you think about it, that's not far from the true character of Talia, and I can't wait to see what Neal does with it.







Come on...this story is NOT  in continuity.  Quit reading it like it is...and maybe relax and enjoy it.
Ten more issues...WHAT will happen next? 
 
It's a little campy...all the Characters are a different take from the original.
Neal is injecting a little humor and giving us a different take on a all too serious Batman.

BATMAN: ODYSSEY  Part 3
Story and Art: Neal Adams
Color : Ken Lopez
Assistant Editor: Janelle Siegel & Rachel Gluckstern
Editors: Marts & Carlin

BATMAN: UNSEEN #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 TPB Review

RATING 3.3 out of 5

Kelly Jones was born to be the artist on this story, and unlike Gotham After Midnight, he has a decent writer, Doug Moench.  The ending ... makes my right eye twitch... but over all... it was a good read. The story is complete in these 5 issues. I doubt if it will be considered part of the continuity of the regular Batman(Bruce Wayne) mythology.

 
I'm not particularly... a Kelly Jones fan, but I did love gazing at his art in this story.  He has a flare for drawing a dramatic and moody Batman that I doubt any other artist can match.

The writer, Doug Moench seems to understand Jones' style and is able to write for it.  The two have been teamed up many times before on various Batman projects.  What I find interesting with Moench, at least to me, is that Moench style of writing has matured since the publication of Batman: Book of the Dead (1993), and I like the flow a whole lot better.  He kept me wanting more and looking forward to the next issue, where the older story was a little meh...to read.






STORY SPOILERS and the ending that makes my eye twitch don't go past this point if you don't want to know:

Black Mask finds one of the scientist, Dr Nigel Glass, that has been fired by Wayne Industries, and funds his research of Invisibility.  Dr Nigel uses himself as a ginea pig.  The panels with only his skin invisible which his organs and bones showing, I found cool, but the syrum is driving him crazy mad.  When he finally succeeds with full invisibility...he goes on a rampage, killing all the people who did him wrong.  Batman needs to track him down and stop him. I found all this stuff cool..., until Issue 5.  As you can see from the cover...Bruce (rolleyes) drinks the syrum to turn invisible so that he can have a even chance with Dr Niger....
SAY WHAT?...
The highly intellegent...highly trained ...can fight in the dark while blind folded....Batman (Bruce Wayne) needs invisibility to beat this mad scientist.  I have trouble seeing Bruce have any trouble with this guy what-so-ever...the guy has to take his clothes off to be truely be invisible....
WHY not use...
Smoke to make him visible...
Infrarade googles to see the heat from his body....
HELL... just throw some paint on the guy.

NOT only does Batman turn himself invisible with this dangerious syrum that is driving the scientest insane...
BUT he wears his cowl and gloves... while...invisible.

My son...who is 7 years old...went "Why does he wear his gloves and cape if he wants to be invisible?"

If you like Kelly Jones art you'll enjoy the story but if asked ...I wouldn't recommend it as a great Batman story because it turned too ....stupid.

Just think about it...
To be invisible, you have to be naked..and so

<--this is a naked Bruce with only a Cowl and Gloves.







BATMAN: Unseen  #1 #2 #3 #4 #5  TPB
Writer: Doug Moench
Artist: Kelly Jones
Colorist: Michelle madsen
Letterer: Pat Brosseau

Publisher: DC Comics
Nov Dec 2009 Jan Feb 2010

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

BATMAN ODYSSEY #2 Review

RATING 3 out of 5

The dialog is very repetitive and at times very unnecessary. This becomes distracting and takes away from the over all appeal of this issue, but the story line is intriguing and entertaining, which makes me want more. So.... I'm sticking with the mini and will be getting the next issue.

Full REview with spoilers.

This is a faaasst paced book. Action covers almost every page. The dialog almost gives me a feeling that Bruce has had too many cups of coffee, then there are the  double captions talking about the same thing.  More and more dialog.  I think it's the hardest part to accept about the issue,  that Bruce would talk so damn.. much, or think... so so much. 
But in truth, WHY wouldn't he?

 Batman, is the world's greatest detective, and known to be prepared for every contingency,  So ...WHY wouldn't he have a running dialog and thought balloons for everything that he is doing. It kinda makes sense..., but doesn't work well for a comic.

 Neal Adams pencils are amazing and brings the action alive and pulls you into the story, but then the dialog throws you back out.

  

  Bruce is still retelling a story within a story in this issue.  In issue 1, he had passed the time while waiting for information from Man-Bat, by telling a story to Robin. The story he told to Robin, was about when he first started as Batman and was carrying guns.   
    Now ... in Issue 2, we find out that Bruce not only didn't finish the story, but wasn't telling the whole story to Robin

During a fight at the piers he is knocked unconscious and he has flashbacks of that story he was telling Robin, the REAL story.

 MY favorite part of the issue was Bruce saving the little old "Ruthie Diels". It won me over for the whole issue. Those few panels made me say "Aw...he saved Ruthie."


I also loved the large two-page spread of the train engine blowing apart. BAWHOOM .. he he he, I like bigga badda booms.

SO Yeah...I'm gonna get the next issue.  The story is very intriguing and entertaining.  I liked the issue  more on the second read, because I already knew the dialog.

BATMAN ODYSSEY: #2 

Story and Art: Neal Adams

Color: Continuity Stodios

Letters: Ken Lopez

Assistant Editor: Janelle Siegel

Associate Editor: Rachel Gluckstern

Editors: Marts & Carlin

Publisher: Dc Comics

Oct 2010

BATMAN ODYSSEY #1 Review

RATING 3.9 out of 5

Neal Adams...what else do I need to say?
Awesome Neal Adams... also comes to mind.
This is a twelve issue storyline. I love this first issue and hope the others live up to my expectations.

FULL REVIEW some Spoilers

When  reading this issue, you've got to think YOUNG.  Bruce Wayne is so...so...Young.  He reminds me of how Nightwing use to be, except a little more serious and more focused.  Those first few pages is a reflection to back when he first tried the Bat costume, and it is a story that he is recounting to Robin (Dick Grayson), so he is even younger.




Neal Adams addresses Batman carrying a gun, right in the beginning of the issue.  Why wouldn't Batman carry a gun, so many other crimefighters,  from The Phantom to the Lone Ranger... have chosen the gun.  A gun surely would be more efficient... then a boomerang, and Bruce being the smart man that he is, has to see that.

In the story, before the fight, Bruce has serious doubts about the costume, but the gun he didn't have any doubts about, and the gun was the first thing he pulled out to use.  When he confronted the bad guys,  the costume worked, it terrified and confused them.  The Bat costume needed adjustments to make sure it stayed on, but nevertheless worked. The batarang test model number 37, also worked "like a charm."



The gun? It was in the way.  Bruce says, "...now I have to climb with one hand...stupid."
...and when it was needed the most, when there was a train full of lives at stake, when his life was at stake, when his identity was at stake..., he couldn't pull the trigger... to kill the one life that was a threat to so many.  The gun was useless.   As the under cover agent in the story said, "You should not pretend to be what you are not... You are not a killer."

The rest of the issue reminds me a little of All Star Batman and Robin, without the crudeness and the harsh craziness.  Batman is trying to teach Robin, to become better, to out think their opponent, the Riddler.  Kirk Langstrom as Man-Bat is trying to warn Batman of something but can't seem to get it across.
There is a mystery that started on the train, yet at this point, Bruce has no ideal what the mystery was, or that it would cause his world to come crashing down.

My favorite parts of the issue .. were the Gadgets. I love gadgets, especially the four wheeled kind... that is ..the sleek...Fast... sexy...and ...cool four wheeled kind.  Yes ...I'm a girl...and it's all about...the car ... and I wouldn't be caught dead in the current flying reverse ladybug, but this one...um um um...mama like.  This one flies too..AND turns into a boat, but with style.
BUT I wouldn't mind if it was just... a little bigger.


I really enjoyed this issue and highly recommend it. I hope the rest doesn't disappoint...What am I talking about? This is NEAL ADAMS...the AWESOME NEAL ADAMS.





PS:
Note that the Blue Narrator Dialog is in current time with the first page, and is a recount of what is happening in the whole issue, it is not Bruce's thoughts during the story.  It is recounting about the time he told Dick, as a child, about the Train car.  So this Narrator Dialog is not part of the story, even when it looks like the story is back to current day where Bruce and Dick take off to get Riddler.  It is still coming from Bruce's recount from the first page.


Questions came up on the forum on Man-bat and I thought I would help with answers and maybe the enjoyment of the book.

Why did Man-bat have access to the cave?
Man-Bat was created by Neal Adams and Frank Robbins, it really shouldn't be a surprise to see him in the  mini.
Man-Bat use to have access to the cave, in the good ol' days, and knew Bruce's identity. In bat form the sensors see him as just another bat so the security measures don't activate. He is also a member of the support of the Bat-Family network.
Also... another reason for him to be there is that Bruce asked him to analyze something. Bruce asks, "Have you verified my suspicions Kirk?"
When Man-Bat is in human form he is Kirk Langstrom a brilliant scientist (he developed the bat-serum), in which, and at times, Batman  relies on his expertise. This is not the first time that Bruce has asked for his expert advise. Unfortunately Kirk is not nearly as smart in Bat-form.

Who is the big Man-bat with the earrings? I don't know. But since he is a BAT the sensors won't detect him either.


BATMAN ODYSSEY Part One.
Writter: NEAL ADAMS
Penciller: NEAL ADAMS
Inking: Neal Adams with
Inking Associate pp 19 and 20: Michael Golden
Color: Continuity Studios
Letters: Rob Leigh

Publisher: DC Comics
Sep 2010


WHAT'S NEXT

BATMAN ODYSSEY Part 2
Intel from DCcomics.com >

The Caped Crusader slowly but surely loses control. A dark presence lurking in the background begins pulling Bruce's strings...who is responsible? This second chapter is a tour de force of action as the greatest crime fighter on earth displays his vicious combat skills. What else can you expect? Adams's art at its best!

BATMAN ODYSSEY  Part 3

Intel from DCcomics.com >

In the third chapter of Adams's epic Batman tale, Bruce Wayne and Alfred strategize the next steps on The Dark Knight's odyssey…but appearances by both The Riddler and Talia al Ghul might spoil their plans!

BATMAN ODYSSEY  Part 4
Intel from DCcomics.com >

The fourth chapter of Neal Adams' epic Batman tale sees Bruce Wayne confronted with a terrible moment that harks back to his origin. Will this shocking episode derail Batman from his Odyssey? Guest-starring Aquaman, Deadman, Talia and Man-Bat!