fajrdrako | Batman: War on Crime...

Last night I read Batman: War on Crime. It's an oversize book in which each page is like a poster. You can see commentary on it here.

Although I am not an unreserved fan of Alex Ross's art, I like his take on Batman - it is't exactly my Batman version of choice, but it's close, and I love the characterization by Paul Dini, which make me forgive the rest. It seems that Paul Dini's experience on writing Batman is from the animated series, which explains both why this story is so cinematic and why I never came across him in comics. This Batman is compassionate and sane; not an obsessive viglante who separates himself from the rest of mankind because he is socially abnormal, but a good man who would want a normal life if he could have it, but who has sacrificed those hopes to help others. Again, not exactly my take of Batman - I like him a little darker - but nice. Very nice. One panel made me cry, unexpectedly.

This comic is done without gutters or word balloons. The style made it feel both more cinematic and more literary than most comics. I missed the gutters and word balloons, but most of all I wished that the captions had been set off in sqares of their own (is there a word for that?) to isolate them from the art. In places, I found the words hard to read.

Whatever my quibbles, this is a first-class graphic novel, an excellent introduction to Batman for the uninitiated, and good (though short) story in its own right.