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It's been a while since the publication of this comic. A dreaded re-read only confirmed my very poor opinion of this comic. It can't be the worst comic ever (it has Jim Aparo as illustrator) So work it out by subtractive deduction.
This is one of the best and interesting graphic novel to own. Story line is great and shocking. Loved the old school drawings, it brought back memories. Recommend to buy this book.
The geopolitical angle with the Joker is silly, but the way the iconic villain meticulously sets a trap for Robin is brilliant, as it plays on the worst aspects of an ego that cannot be dismissed as youthful exuberance to do the right thing.The feelings of Bruce Wayne/Batman truly slice into the soul of someone who understands the slippery slope of allowing raw emotions to determine actions while in the line of duty. DC Comics used a cheap promotional tool - a fan poll - as a means to "determine" what should be done with the second Robin, Jason Todd. Turning a story line into a typical means for a radio station to give listeners "ownership" in shows yielded Todd paying the ultimate price for his brashness and bold steps into vigilantism, no matter the end results for Batman. But was everything done by the Dark Knight to prevent the steps to death.Though this volume is not be a complete picture to the hype - that won't happen until the company releases the alternative finish for the vote - it is a compelling story that gave the (slim majority of) voters what they wanted.in a compelling story.
This, of course, only amplified the effect of the titular death. I just finished reading this, and wow. I also enjoyed much of Joker's plans in this story. That was one of the best Batman stories I've read. Being myself adopted, I connected straight off with Todd's search for his mother, not knowing who she is. The Iranian delegate struck kind of close to home- remember the guy who said "no preconditions".- but it never got too political, even in dealing with that. A great, emotional Batman story with a great twisted Joker plot.
In fact even if you're a Batman fan and you don't have a lot of money to through around there a lot of other Batman stories I'd point to before this one. Two other examples are Batman bringing gliders and a mini helicopter with him to the Middle East/Africa. This is a decent story which is mainly well known for the out come rather than a great story. Now having been a fan of comics for a number of years now, I have come to know that often I will be asked to suspend my disbelief. I also liked the fact that the story addressed that when the Joker got out of Arkham he was without most of his assets and need to make some money to get started up again. Now I don't want to say that this is that bad of a story I was entertained and never thought about not finishing reading it.I think the biggest problem for me was the fact that most of the time it didn't feel like the Batman universe. For example it seems a little too coincidental that Batman follows the Joker to the same city in the Middle East that Jason Todd ran off to looking for his mom.
I don't know it could just be me but I thought that was a bit much.There were a few good things about it to though. This is something I would recommend to fans of Batman to read for the sake of the importance to the Batman story line, but I probably wouldn't recommend to many others. And the Joker being recruited as Iran's ambassador by Ayatollah Khomeini. It just seems odd having Batman run around in the Middle East. But a few times it took it a little too far form me in this one. While I wouldn't say the art work was amazing or anything, I thought it was pretty good and reminded me of the artwork in some of the older Batman comics (I mean that in a good way). In short I recommend this for the historical aspects rather than a great story.
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