The only good thing I can say about this series is that it ended.

Bad characters, bad plotting, bad pacing. Weak dialogue and moments, with the characters speaking in Twitter-speak half the time and mock-Tolkien the other half.

Taylor's weakest Elseworld, one of the weaker things DC has put for some time. I hope they don't waste any more time with this tbh because there are a lot more stories (better ones) to be told. more

Well, this series was a waste of time.

The setting is frankly, uninteresting. Taylor never goes beyond surface-level pop-culture fantasy tropes, that aren't aided by his bipolar need to either make everybody either super-nice or darker and edgier versions of themselves.

The characters have less personality than a toaster (and that need to hide their motivations because of the twist didn't help them either). This has to be the most boring Batman, in terms of personality, I've ever read.

Which is bizarre because plot-wise this is one of the most Batgod-wank based series I've ever read. He's got an overload of tropes to make him the coolest (even getting part of Superman's powers, he's given a dragon, secret king bastard son that's so great he renouces his heritage), which feels extremely artificial, and yet his character is flat as a table.

This versions of Superman and Wonder Woman are basically caricatures (Superman is nice. Wonder Woman is a warrior. The end). Wonder Woman, who is supposdly normal, having to be told not to be xenophobic or a savage by Batman and the Kryptonians is bizarre.

And the plots are as standart as you can get (aliens attack, Justice League has to form to fight them) and the execution, overly convoluted (we need characer making stupid decisions so that we can pretend this is going to be a war between kingdoms that goes nowhere because the threat is something else entirely) and the narration, just dull.

I've got my fair share of problems with Taylor's other Elseworlds, but this has to be the dullest one by far. I hope now this has finally ended Yasmine Putri can move on to something else.
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Taylor always goes for easy exits.

Mmm, interesting final, but I think Taylor hit the wrong key with this first issue in general.

same level as the latest Nightwing issues.

Ooof. This was... Rough. I generally don't like to be negative (specially because started lining this series) but this reveal felt simultaneously too predictable (many people had figured out that the prophecy involved imposters, hence the "they'll look like us") and completely disconnected from the narrative this story was *seemingly* presenting. Spoilers ahead:

It was aliens. The war has really little to do with any of the factions involved, they're being impersonated by aliens.

Which to me, feels like the biggest cop-out ever. Now, having a *third* faction of shapeshifters involved in the plot isn't bad, what is bad is the fact that they remove almost all culpability from any of the Houses (you know, the people we're actually following in this plot). The bad thing is that they are non-characters we haven't really followed. The bad thing is that they've prevented characters like Kal or Zala from having anything but the most barebones characterization for a whopping 9 issues (for fear of revealing that there were imposters involved too early).

They are Taylor's built-in excuse to have "shocking" deaths ala Game of Thrones, but without any of the gravity that comes with it.

I now get what Taylor wants from this book. He wants a book he gets to write "And now Batman rides a f*cking dragon! Awesome!" which can be cool, but for some reason he craves the supposed "respectability" that comes with more serious fantasy with morally grey characers (which isn't necessary tbh), and his solution to have them both was to pull this Scooby-Doo level twist.

Also, I'm still not a fan of the severe Batman-favoritism this series has. more

I'm afraid the series is pretty lost. Taylor pacing for this story is sadly, well, bad. Really bad. When you need to put the same narrative trick (and now, an evil counterpart of the Superman family will reveal themselves to be evil) four times in a row in, with literally no alteration, in the span of whopping 8 issues to advance your plot maybe you just don't have enough story for twelve issues. Which is a shame because other parts of the setting could and should use that panel time, TT's worldbuilding is pretty barebones and his characters are held hostage by the plot that needs you to not know them too much.

The Green Man still feels like a pretty weak antagonist and the conflict lacks that personal touch you need in a war story. I hope Taylor's next twist isn't what everybody thinks it is (imposters). It's a shame because when this story started, it seemed to have some promise, but even beyond some writing choices (which can be a bit more subjective) the storytelling skills just aren't there, I'm afraid this plot isn't really salvageable at this point but maybe that's just me.

Putri's artwork continues to be top notch, though. more

At this point, I kinda understand the negativity.

This series is a complete and utter failure. It’s so fixed on pretending to be smarter than it actually is it completely fails at every level. The story is complete forced conflict and randomeness, we’ve got a bunch of characters that barely know each other fighting each other because a third group we barely know anything about just falls from the sky and kills somebody so that the story can advance, yet, instead of trying to get the tone of a “classic” fantasy series, this wants to trick you into thinking it’s actually layered when its not. The twists are either so obvious they don’t really warrant so much time dedicated to to them (yeah, the Evil Els are probably imposters, we get it, that reveal should have come several issues ago and it still hasn’t come) or so obtuse they are imposible to guess (I was low-key hoping the Joker Green Lantern thing was a fakeout because it’s completely stupid and came out of nowhere). The characters are cardboard cutouts (partly because the series is so enamored with its asinine imposter plot it cannot actually characterize them for fear of showing its hand early), the conflict is completely artificial and the pacing completely dreaful (we’re way past the halfpoint of the series and it still feels the plot, which is pretty generic btw, has just started). We are still ending chapters with a random baddie coming into the story and murdering somebody, as if that were shocking anymore. I went to this with an open mind but seriously other than the artwork, this is absolutely terrible.

And don’t get me into Taylor’s (lack of) dialogue writing skills…
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Desilusionante conclusión de todos los escritores pensé que por lo menos Taylor iba a respetar el canon. Esto fue una copia barata pero mucho menos inteligente de libros anteriores.

En cuanto al arte Es realmente maravilloso las escenas de acción perfectamente plasmada Pero por desgracia la historia deja mucho que desear

The art is good, the script...... well, can we have some new writing, please?
I got tired of Tom Taylor, it was good to get rid of Ric Grayson's taste, but that's enough.

I wish something interesting came out of this crossovers instead of them just being there to fight Canon fodders and bystanders. I wish there was a bigger lesson learned by them being there Like one of the consistent things in this book is Grayson trying to help the homeless and Raven could've mentioned the fact how her mother used to be homeless and how that led her to be manipulated when she was only seeking some shelter and help. Maybe mention how greatful she's that there was someone to help her and even though not everyone is going to be manipulated by a Demon worshipping Cult but everyone could use some help at their lowest and how happy she is that someone is doing it for others. That's a lesson there damnit. but all of them so far have just been to say : oh Grayson is a great guy. And I think I can say that most people know That's the case. Why not put some twist on it? more

Taylor keeps throwing in characters and plot points when we barely know anything about the existing ones, which makes for a dull read.

Also, not a fan of Chosen One Batman having Superman's powers and absorbing his role in the backstory with the Kents, to be honest, talk about a fantasy series cliché.

Honestly it's good to see this book have another story than blockbuster throwing Canon fodders at dick and this book having some actual story progression and stakes. The problem for me is that those stakes are tied to a character that barley has any character build up after her introduction and her being in

The end was good, but it seems like if you tore out 15 pages of the book, you wouldn’t miss anything.