World Famous Comics: Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (Elseworlds)
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (Elseworlds)
By: Brian Augustyn Publisher: DC Comics Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: DC Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 112 Publication Date: August 30, 2006 Release Date: August 30, 2006
A Letdown The premise for Gotham by Gaslight was so really intriguing, so I was pretty excited to read it. That excitement pretty much evaporated after about the first two or three pages. The artwork was really bland and the dialogue was very forgettable. The plot was so obvious that anyone with half a brain could have figured out exactly what was going to happen after about the first five pages. Another flaw I found was that it was too short for any of the characters to develop whatsoever. To sum up, great premise, very poor execution.
Batman of the past An interesting take on Batman for sure, this story sets Bruce Wayne and his collegues in the Victorian era Gotham. It was cool to see what the city looked like 100 years ago and how the people of that time would have reacted to the dark knight.
There are two seperate stories in here, both written by Brian Augustyn. The first finds Bruce returning home from London after his travels and resuming the role of Batman. It is at this time that a serial killer known as Jack the Ripper appears in Gotham and is continuing to murder women in the same fashion as the murders in London. It is assumed by the commishioner that Batman is the man behind this. Wayne is framed for the killings and has no alibi, since by revealing how he really spends his nights would most likely further incriminate him. It is a pretty interesting story, however I caught the killer long before the trained detective which always dissapoints me. Batman should always have it figured it out before the reader in my opinion otherwise it ruins the suspense.
The second story surprised me because I doubt I would have picked this up seperately if they weren't collected together in this edition, but it turned out to be better than the first. The villain is more interesting and the whole story and villain could have easily been an adventure of Zorro. In the first story after Bruce has found the man responsible for his parents murder he quits his crusade. This seems very out of character for him. The newly appointed Commishioner Gordan knows there is a need for Batman still and when a new villain pops up to terroize the city, Bats answers the call. Julie Madison also makes an apperance as Bruce's love interest.
After reading the second story "Master of the Future", I wouldn't be opposed to picking another copy of this version of Batman. Although this Batman of the past won't ever top the Batman of the future for me, it's still a worthy attempt and a good spin on the character.
Batman, the period piece. This book is a batman elseworlds story and it deals with batman going up against jack the ripper. it is a really great book. features great art, great story, and setting batman in victorian gotham is an interesting concept.
Grim and Gritty Batman: Gotham by Gaslight is a great retelling of the Jack the Ripper murders.
Mike Mignola's artwork, masterful in its use of shade and shadow, is a perfect match for Batman. The story is compelling and offers a great twist at the end.
Unlike some techno-nerds who bitterly bewail the absence of a 19th century "Bat-Carriage" or "Bat-musket" or whatever, I am glad to see this stripped down Batman.
Fantastic opportunity, utterly wasted I ask you, what's the point of having a Batman steampunk story without steampunk gadgets or ambiance? I've read this collected TPB, and I have no idea.
Lest you think my appreciation of Batman is so shallow, usually I find focus on Batman's arsenal of tools and weapons redundant and silly. Batman Begins, for instance, bored me to tears with its origin and history of all his toys. But with the Victorian "steampunk" genre comes an implicit expectation, of anachronistic technology. And whose universe is better tailored to these devices than that of Mr. Utility Belt! But alas, the only tool of his own that he employs is a knife (and it's not even shaped like a bat!).
So squandered was the opportunity of a steam-powered Bat-carriage, or grapple, or even those neat little spherical bombs with fuses. No ornate gilded Batarangs, no Tesla-designed electric stun thingies. Just a re-telling of Batman's rather bland origin in which his doomed father this time wears a top-hat, and Batman rides a horse instead of a nuclear-powered rocket car. Not even Mike Mignola's pencils were in any way recognizable as the exciting, unique art it is today.
So if you want to see Batman with a collared cape, by all means, buy. But if you're a fan of Batman and steampunk fan who is excited to see them mashed together, beware. Instead seek out Mignola's later steampunk effort, The Amazing Screw-On Head.
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