Batman: Reptilian

Product Information

Back in 2016, the Preacher show was just about to launch on AMC, and around that same time, Steve Dillon, co-creator and penciler of Preacher, was very ill and hadn’t been drawing very much as of late. Yes, there were already hints – an Alfred so waspish that he was rapidly passing The Servant en route to 'Suits you, sir! There is a beast tearing through Gotham’s underground and leaving Batman’s greatest villains torn to pieces.

Batman: Reptilian collects issues 1-6 of the DC Comics series written by Garth Ennis and art by Liam Sharp.

The twist of this story is also an astounding disservice to Killer Croc’s character (you wouldn’t believe me even if I told you what it was), tastelessly butchering his background and nature for the sake of delivering a ludicrous, unoriginal, and dull surprise regarding the story’s mysterious main antagonist. I would have been a bit dissapointed in this book, but I did not have great expectations for this book anyway. He discovers that he's not born with a bizarre skin condition, but that he's an hermaphrodite cross between alien and human. Batman is depicted as cruel and harsh in his manner of dealing out justice, while conversely Killer Croc (one of the few Batman villains Ennis likes) gets a tragic backstory and helps defeat the monster.

don't get me wrong I love the art, hence the 3 stars but the dark brooding mood it evokes combined with this humor . It’s fun and scary and gorgeous: exactly what I want the DC Black Label books to be - A little more mainstream than Vertigo was, but totally untethered to traditional DC sensibilities. The rogues in the story are mostly played for laughs or shocks, but those moments mainly work for me because of how dry the humor is during the interactions. And, if he’d been this silly from the beginning, it could have been delightful, but as it is it’s just bizarre. It’s colorful to say the least, deformed and caricatural- Batman is like 7 feet tall/250 pounds- but it reminded me of the glorious years of experimentations with the medium of the mid 80’s-mid 90’s.It’s hard not to tell people about this series without giggling a little, which is maybe the best you can hope for from any sort of mainstream American entertainment in 2021. The Cameo: Most of Batman's Rouges Gallery become this, as they don't actively participate in the story and are mutilated after a villain meeting, some of them off-screen. This self-contained GN seems to be pretty unpopular hereabouts and, though I agree it's far from perfect, it's not quite in the "Worst Comic Ever" territory either.

For anyone interested in the print edition of this, in the back of the hardcover is a variant cover gallery, Ennis’ original pitch for the series that he wrote back in 2016, and Liam Sharp’s initial concept art for the book. It's intriguing and has it's own style but it is visually very dark, to where you can't always make out what is happening in the panel. The book delves into a new take on Killer Croc and his evolution and, while there are some interesting ideas on display, the whole thing becomes extremely convoluted.Who knows why the Russian is more appealing than Croc, but somehow Batman’s kidnapping habit saves the day, but not before almost killing a crowd of exotic bird watchers who have gathered on the gross Gotham beach in the middle of the night, but a few explosions later - Batman wraps everything up, says something mean to Killer Croc and wanders off into the sunset. Self-Deprecation: There are a number of snarky remarks about Batman being nothing but a rich guy with too much time on his hands, most of them courtesy of Alfred. What really sunk the book for me though was Liam Sharp abandoning his usual style for a murky and ugly Arkham Asylum morass that looks like Bill Sienkiewicz painting over Sam Kieth. The other thing that is obviously on my mind is what would this book have looked like if Dillon got to draw it?

In the end, this graphic novel is not the surprise any fan would’ve expected to get and, hopefully, isn’t the beginning of this creative team’s descent into mediocrity. Inclusive a forma como Ennis retrata o Batman também é ambígua, não fica claro se ele está ou não zoando com o Homem-Morcego. There are also some serious creative liberties taken for iconic characters, notably the Joker, who look nothing like anyone would’ve ever imagined for these characters. Kresba je něco mezi Bisleym a McKeanem, pár panelů je naprosto skvělých, ale vlastně furt nevím, zda se mi líbí.gave birth to the creature that is assaulting the villains during a meeting where they tried to ally against Batman.