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10
So many of these anthologies have been disappointing. This is what I've been hoping for out of all of them. What a great read.
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10
So far I’ve only read Fraction’s story and that’s what my current score’s based on. I loved the story, the simplistic art matches so well with the writing, and the close up panel of joker’s smile just before batman arrives as well as the ending is something else in making you feel emotions.
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10
Detective Comics #1000 was one of my last year's favorite comics, and this awesome anniversary issue is way better than #1000.
Grant Morrison is AMAZING, I was happy to see his return to Batman, but this story was focused on the "Detective #26", and you will enjoy it a lot
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10
Rough ranking
1. Fraction - Many Happy Returns
2. Snyder - As Always
3. Bendis - The Master Class
4. Rucka - Rookie
5. Tynion - Ghost Story
6. Tomasi - Blowback
7. King - Legacy
8. Morrison - Detective #26
9. DeConnick - Fore
10. Jurgens - Generations
11. Tamaki - A Gift
12. Wolfman - Odyssey
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9.5
Tomasi/Walker: 6.5/10 Probably the weakest which is a bummer because Tomasi has delivered some pretty solid one shots and two parters while writing Detective Comics. Art was good, and the analysis of each villain and their traps was fun, but the ending felt too rushed and odd.
Bendis/Marquez: 8/10 Bendis and the Bat-Family, as drawn by David Marquez. This a fun little read and it shows how much Bats appreciates his family. Its Bendis speak to the max, so if you don't like that skip it, but if you don't it, it works here. Art by Marquez is fucking stellar, the way he renders Red Robin oml. A solid story.
Fraction/Zdarsky 10/10 Tragic and hilarious, which is pretty much how I describe Sex Criminals so I guess that makes sense. If you know this team, and you love Jon and Suze from SC you'll love this story. It's chilling, funny, and has one of the best one liners I've ever seen. Chippo does a great rendering the Batman (and I'm not surprised) and I'd love to see this pairing do another short story.
Rucka/Risso 10/10 Wow. WOW! Fucking WOW! Okay, so I have a personal history with this one. Greg Rucka's run on Detective Comics with Martinbrough and Burchett is still one of my favorite run's on any Batman book. And I'm not even talking Gotham Central, the spiritual successor to that book, which just as excellent. So I was fucking pumped to hear Greg was returning to the book and doing a story with Risso. And this story was just radiating with all the energy from Detective and Gotham Central and I couldn't help but smiling the whole time. The story is nothing new (reminded me of Gotham Central #32 with the two beat cops) but it's told in that moody, hard boiled, and atmospheric way that only Rucka can pull off. The subtle looks drawn by Risso, the grounded nature of the dialogue, and the resolution of the rookie cop possibly joining Major Crimes (and if you have read Gotham Central you know how dope that is) made this story an instant classic. I can't wait to reread this and I know I could read a hundred more like it fi Rucka was up to the task. I love his voice for Gotham and its citizens and I'll never get tired. Beautiful.
Tynion/Rossmo 9/10 Okay I really loved this one. I love Tynion's Detective Comics so any chance he gets on Batman usually wins my favor. This was also a fun little story starring the World's Spookiest Trio: Batman, Robin, and Deadman. While I don't normally love Rossomo's art, it really worried here and it was nice to see Tynion reflect on a different age of Batman, one where he's working with a classic Robin. This actually felt like a sequel to his story, The Precedent, in Tec 1000, but I digress. It's just a really well told, fun story with some nice touchbacks on Bruce's childhood. I would have loved to have seen more, and I hope Tynion gets to work with Rossomo on a book like this again. Seriously, I think we all want to see Batman, Robin and Deadman: Ghost Hunters in a prestige format one shot.
Wolfman/Lupacchino 7/10 A solid enough story, feels a little retro, but still decent. Feels like it was part of a longer story that was cut short, but who knows? Art was solid enough, but I don't know that Sienkiewicz was the best person to ink Luppachino, but it turned out alright I suppose.
Morrison/Burnham: 8.5/10 This is the fun romp I expected from Morrison and I was not disappointed. Classic tale of the pulp hero who tries to hard to be the change that Gotham needs, only to get shown up by Batman, the story itself being a commentary on how Batman out shined all those other pulp heroes once he came on the scene. Afterwards, they just faded away as superheroes became more popular I think the Silver Ghost guy literally said he didn't want to end up as just Detective #26, and yet he did. It's just a really clever and subtle way to show how Batman's impact was so monumental on the title and is the perfect celebration of his legacy. Considering Morrison already finished his Batman epic I can see why he didn't want to focus on the Batman's thoughts too much in this story, but it actually feels like the Batman has more of an impact in his absence and short appearance. Huh, I guess less really is more sometimes. Art by Burnham is standout as expected, and it's sad in away, because after this and Green Lantern, Morrison is retiring from the superhero scene. So, what a solid send off, I say, what a truly solid send off.
King/Simonson 8/10: I was very intrigued when I learned that Simonson would be returning to Detective once again, after like 40 years or something. He did those Manhunter stories in the 70s and they are phenomenal, not to mention an excellent run with Steve Englehart. Plus, working with King had me intrigued as he tends to work quite well with his artists. And they did indeed deliver. It's a classic King gut punc short story, where Batman is in an all out fight with they ever forgotten lame Batman villian, Doctor Phosphorous. The story basically involves Phosphorous making his last stand, trying to make his legacy in killing the Bat, and juxtaposed with Bruce on his death bed, dying of cancer, from that Batman Annual two years back. And it's told very very well as only Tom can do in these short stories. (I still remember his phenomenal Sgt Rock short story from 2017) Simonson delivers solid pencils, a little rough in a couple places, but some panels that show that he's still got it and King's dialogue is in fine form. I was intrigued mby this story's announcement and my curiosity has been satisfied. Solid work.
Snyder/Reis 8/10: It's peak Snyder Bat God, told from the perspective of Jim Gordon. Which is fitting I suppose, considering how much Snyder focused on him during his run on Detective. It's a nice little focus on their freidnship, and while I thought the wrap up was a little rushed, the story left me with a really nice feeling. Art by Reis is beautiful as it always is, and it is nice to see Snyder writing Batman. Even if it isn't perfect, he knows how to spin an engaing yarn, and I'm always happy to see him do it.
Tamaki/Mora: 7.5/10 This is a fun prelude to a story that sets up some stuff coming in Fall/Winter. While I wasn't crazy about the Joker War connection, the story was solid and the real draw is Dan Mora's Batman. Oml it is so beautiful! I checked ahead and I'm wondering why Tamaki isn't finishing this story? Like it's her setup, but Tomasi is finishing it which seems odd to me. Solid story, could have been more without the JW connection, but solid enough I suppose.
Jurgens/Nowlan 7.5/10
DeConnick/Romita Jr. 7.5/10
I didn't have any major thoughts on these last two, they were just kind of solid enough to keep me interested. I'm somewhat interested in what this Generations one shot is going to be after this story, but not much. DeConnick delivered a fun snarky story, but not too much to speak it terms of how it was told and the art was okay for Romita. It might be nice to see her tackled a longer story, but I doubt she's interested. And that's really all I have to say about these two.
So! What a hell of a collection! I gotta say, I was worried this was gonna be a retread of Tec 1000, but it sill managed to stand on it own. It had some great stand alone stories that I'll reread one day or never read again. But at 144 pages and only $9.99 I'd say it's worth your cash. Here's (again) to a thousand more! more
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9.0
Much much much better than the other batman one.
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9.0
Tomasi/Walker: 5/10 Great art, pointless story - if one can even call it a story when really it's more of a Batman's rogues gallery recap.
Bendis/Marquez: 10/10 Probably the best thing Bendis has done at DC so far outside of Naomi. Someone give him and Marquez a Batgirl ongoing STAT.
Fraction/Zdarsky 10/10 Obviously. What did we expect? I'm a sucker for anytime Bruce and Joker get downright Freudian with each other, and this may be the best example of that yet. Also, honourable mention for Joker grafitting an alley with the following quote: "Every alley is a Crime Alley if you believe in yourself!" Indeed.
Rucka/Risso 9/10 Again unsurprisingly great with a team like this, and a really topical and inspirational entry in this anthology.
Tynion/Rossmo 9/10 A surprisingly sweet story that also happens to be spooky and action-y. Rossmo draws the cutest Robin I've seen.
DeConnick/Romita Jr. 8/10 A nice short thriller that actually puts more focus on Bruce than it does Batman. Not groundbreaking, but very entertaining.
Wolfman/Lupacchino 6/10 I didn't feel strongly about this one either way. It's not necessarily bad, but it's too compressed to be interesting. Feels like Wolfman tried to fit an annual's worth of plot into 15 pages, and the plot wasn't all that to begin with.
Morrison/Burnham 8/10 A darkly hilarious tale of a poor concerned Gothamite who intends to be the saviour of his crime besieged city. Until he remembers, oh right, there's Batman.
King/Simonson 8/10 It's a simple enough story, but as usual King manages to deconstruct Batman even in a few pages, and he uses a neat time-looping plot device to do it. You mileage will vary with whether or not you enjoy King's Batman. I mostly do.
Snyder/Reis 10/10 Snyder makes the most out of a few pages to show just how deep the (super weird but also adorable) friendship between Batman and Gordon is.
Jurgens/Nowlan 7/10 It's an interesting prelude to whatever shape the Generations event will finally take on next year, but I'm guessing it wasn't meant to be read as a one off because it doesn't really work well that way. Still it got me interested in Generations, which I guess is what it was meant to do.
Tamaki/Mora 7/10 Saddled with tying into not only the ongoing Joker War, but also the next Tomasi Detective arc, Tamaki crafts a good story that probably isn't half as great as it could've been if she had been allowed to just do her own thing. Oh well.
Overall, it's a great anthology with mostly amazing stories, a couple of mediocre ones, and a whole lot of creative teams I now wish had a little corner of the Batverse to call their own. more
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8.5
Really liked Legacy(shame about the art), As Always, and my favourite was Detective #26.
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8.5
" You're a fine bunch of detectives. Each and every one of you."
- BATMAN
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8.5
These anthology anniversary books are always hit or miss for me. This was overall one of the better ones I’ve read though.
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8.0
this was a massive step up from the Issue 27 from Detective Comics 2014 series. I still liked the 1000th issue, but this issue also has some golden nuggets. I liked Matt Fraction/Chip Zdarsky (my favorite), Bendis story (surprisingly), Greg Rucka, James Tynion IV, Kelly Sue Deconnick, Grant Morrison, Tom King (surprisingly), Scott Snyder, and Dan Jurgens.
Overall, there were some misses, but I would reccomend this anthology issue.
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8.0
I only read Many Happy Returns, Detective #26, and A Gift, so my experience was quite ruthlessly curated. I liked them!
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8.0
I hate Anthologies!
It feels like I only get one bite of an amazing steak before it gets taken away from me. Cause I want MORE of it!
But, as long as all the courses are good and I enjoy the overall meal then I guess I'm happy!
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8.0
"Blowback" by Tomasi and Walker = 6/10
-Rogues gallery clip show. Walker's art is great though.
"The Master Class" by Bendis and Marquez = 8/10
-Nothing better than the family in action. Bendis juggles the cast really well and Marquez fits the script extremely well.
"Many Happy Returns" by Fraction and Zdarsky = 9/10
-The fact that "Where's my birthday present!" is already a meme is hilarious.
"Rookie" by Rucka and Risso = 10/10
-Bring back Gotham Central please!
"Ghost Story" by Tynion and Rossmo = 8/10
-Say what you will about Tynion, man can write the hell out of Robin.
"Fore" by DeConnick and Romita Jr = 6/10
-"Holy Birdie Batman!"
"Odyssey" by Wolfman and Luppachino = 7/10
-Compressed as fuck but great homage to the golden age pulp detectives.
"Detective #26" by Morrison and Burnham = 10/10
-King Moz hits it out of the park with a great commentary on superheroes killing the pulp genre of comics. The last page can be seen as a curtain call for Morrison, as the end of an era for the final bastion of veteran writers of this generation.
"Legacy" by King and Simonson = 7/10
-Very meh but Simonson art is good to see again.
"As Always" by Snyder and Reis = 8/10
-Gordon x Batman <3; Endless Winter hinting + Batman always wins = Basic Snyder story.
"Generations Fractured" by Jurgens and Nowlan = 7/10
-Just another prelude, but excited to see what happens with the repurposed Generations.
"The Gift" by Tamaki and Mora = 6/10
-Joker War tie-in (yawn). Mora on Batman is perfection. more
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8.0
It´s okay, something was missing, I don't think all the stories deserve to be in this anniversary compilation, I think an 8 is fine, mostly the art is beyond reproach.
Honestly, putting this issue aside I think the Batman comics need a shakeup, not necessarily a change of creative team, but something innovative because I'm starting to feel both titles (Batman/Detective Comics) somewhat repetitive. I even get the impression that the "mega events" of Batman have dragged this title down, which in general feels a little more solid than the Batman title.
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8.0
Starts great with rlly good stories but ends really poor with teases that don't excite me. Art was really good though
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7.5
If DC still cared more about a good story they could easily have made this eventful issue a real milestone. Instead they chose an anthology of short stories. Some okay, some poor, a few good. I think when the upcoming Black and White mini is up I'm through with anthology Batman books. Over the last few years they've been rather poor. Here's my take:
Blowback: Understandable why this was the first one, as it was one of the best. 8/10
The Master Class: Considering the poor job he's done on Superman, this is a reminder that Bendis can write some good stuff. Good art too. 8/10
Many Happy Returns: It's nice to see a story focusing on the never-ending conflict between Batman and the Joker instead of the usual "Why not kill him?" crap I'm so weary of. Still, the plot was rather poor. 7/10
Rookie: An interesting insight into life as a new Gotham officer. Unfortunately it was quite boring with second-rate art. 4/10
Ghost Story: This was the worst story with the worst art. Everything wrong with modern anthology Batman books. 1/10
Fore: I've read a ton of tales like this, where a bad guy tries to blackmail Bruce Wayne. Still, it was rather good. Has Romita ever considered less marks on people's faces? It may improve his work a little. 8/10
Odyssey: Marv Wolfman needs to do his research. I thought Thomas Wayne's father was named Jack Wayne. Otherwise, this story was one of the more interesting. It's kind of like salvaging the Titanic. 7/10
Detective #26: This one has a rather amusing end, showing who may have been Gotham's defender if he hadn't been beaten to capturing the Chemical syndicate. I figured this issue would have been wasted if not for a reference to 1000 issues ago. 7/10
Legacy: I've seen several versions of how batman will die. I'm sure there will be a lot more. Still, the basic story with Dr. Phosphorus is pretty interesting. 6/10
As Always. This reminded me of the "Final night" crossover 24 years ago. Less interesting though. 4/10
Generations: Fractured: It's good to see Dan Jurgens write and draw a story again. Alas, I'd prefer it be a Superman story, but It was also good to see batman in his original portrayal. Purple gloves just weren't him. 6/10
A Gift: A less interesting tale from the legendary Black case book. 4/10 more
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7.5
Could've done without the teasers at the end.
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7.0
Not awful, but a lot of money for what's there. The two things that stood out to me about this issue are:
1) I don't understand why Riley Rossmo has a job drawing comics. His "art" is awful.
2) Please keep Grant Morrison away from Batman and all comics for that matter.
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6.5
I don't know why I read this. Shame on me for giving in to the hype, I guess. Here's my rough ranking and review for each of the stories. All in all, I thought this was pretty alright for an anthology.
Many Happy Returns- My favorite. I don't know. It was just a cool story that knew how to make a short and unique anthology story, plus the art was probably my favorite in the comic. 9.0/10
Detective #26- Pretty fucking hilarious. 9.0/10
A Gift- I actually liked this one quite a bit. The writing and art were both on point. I'm hoping this creative team will pick up Batman, because that might make me read the series again. 8.5/10
Fore- The most frustrating thing about this comic is that there's like two stories where both the art and writing are top-tier, and then a ton where one sucks, but the other is great. This has an outstanding story, but John Romita Jr. just isn't very good at all. 7.0/10
Generations: Fractured- No idea where this is going to be continued, but the setup was actually pretty good and it has me invested in the story. 7.0/10
Odyssey- Eh, I kinda liked it. It was fun and sort of... cute for lack of a better word. The writing and the art both had a nice classic vibe. 7.0/10
Ghost Story- The art was abysmal, but I didn't hate the story. 6.5/10
Blowback- I mean, what's there to even say about the story? The art was pretty awesome, though. 6.5/10
Legacy- I don't know. It actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting from Tom King. It's pretty shallow, but I liked the "you'll remember me as you live" stuff. 6.0/10
Rookie- Wasn't a fan of this one, plus the art looked like a weaker Sean Phillips. 4.5/10
As Always- The most boring story in the collection. I don't know. I spaced out at least five times and the payoff at the end was way less satisfying than they though. 3.5/10
The Master Class- I skipped through this one. I got tired of the Bendis dialogue early on, and there was nothing keeping me engaged. 3.5/10 more
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6.5
a real mixed bag.
on one hand we have fun and entertaining stories like Morrison's Detective 26, which was a fun dark humored parody of Batman's origin.
then we have Tom King trying to pretend he's clever, while at the same time taking his usual steaming $#!% on Batman.
not worth the $10 price tag. also not a worthy enough tribute to Batman.
just another DC cash grab.
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6.5
I really don't like anthologies, so I'm not expecting much from this. But hopefully it's not too bad.
Blowback was okay. It doesn't really do much besides reiterate Batman's rogues gallery, which is... Fine. I liked the art at least.
The Master Class was *fine*. I don't like Bendis' dialogue, but he writes the Batfamily with a certain brand of competence compared to his other work.
Many Happy Returns was actually really excellent. Fraction nails the writing, and Zdarsky's art is very fun.
Rookie was fine. It started out good, but it feels dragged out by the end. I wish it was a bit more brief.
Ghost Story was pretty bad, in my opinion. I just didn't find it entertaining.
Fore was pretty good. I actually think, overall, that John Romita Jr's art worked here. I liked the story. I just wish the dialogue was a bit better, is all.
Odyssey was terrible. It's just cheesy, it doesn't make a lot of sense, and I was bored with it pretty damn quickly.
Detective #26 was great. It's one of my favorites of the anthology. I found it really funny and it looked very good.
Legacy was fine. I get what they were going for, but cancer stories rub me the wrong way right now.
As Always was also fine. I liked the concept of the story, but I'm not sure I liked the execution.
Generations: Shattered was okay. I really do enjoy Golden Age Batman, so I liked seeing him, however fleeting it was. I'm not *excited* about Generations, but as a small little story, this is not the worst.
A Gift was, again, okay. I like the idea behind the story, I just don't think it's particularly well executed. I hope it leads somewhere cool, because Detective needs some sort of direction.
Overall, this was better than a lot of anthologies. There were only two stories that I'd consider bad, but a lot of stories that I wouldn't give much deference to either. The stories worth reading are Many Happy Returns by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky, and Detective #26 by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham. more
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5.5
Tomasi / Blowback - This story was good. Art was great
Bendis / The Master Class - This story was good but could've used with a bit more humor added in. But it was great to have the gang all together. Great art work.
Fraction / Many Happy Returns - This one was good but could've been better. The art was mediocre at best.
Rucka /Rookie - Long and boring. Art sucked
Tynion / Ghost Story - This one is okay. The art was really bad
DeConnick / Fore - Okay but greatly forgettable. Art was great
Wolfman / Odyssey - Story was a waste of time. Art was okay
Morrison / Detective #26 - Dumb story with bad art work
King / Legacy - The story was good but could've been better. The art work is awful.
Snyder / As Always - Interesting story and good art.
Jurgens / Generations - Okay but not a complete story. Art was good
Tamaki / A Gift - Okay but forgettable. Art could've used with some more work on it
Over all it wasn't worth the price I paid for it. more
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5.0
Meh, a lot of filler with 1 maybe 2 decent stories. The worst was "Rookie" for over all story and worst for art was "Fore".
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10
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10
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10
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10
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9.0
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9.0
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9.0
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9.0
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9.0
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8.5
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8.5
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8.5
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8.0
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8.0
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8.0
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7.5
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7.5
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7.5
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7.0
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7.0
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6.5