Batman: Shadow of the Bat Vol. 1

One of the best Batman writers ever shines in his golden age. These are some classic stories with phenomenal art

Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle made Batman a must purchase back in the days. It's great to have their issues collected.

In the words of Alan Grant, "We needed a new angle for the comic - BATMAN monthly ran the regular continuity stories, DETECTIVE COMICS was more "what Batman did on his nights off from the monthly" and LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT focused on events in our hero's past. So what would be different about SHADOW? The title provided it: the shadow of the Bat would fall on various heroes or villains, putting someone new under the spotlight in each story arc."So the series was born and in the first arc (four issues total) Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle decided to focus on Arkham, the asylum itself. There's a new director, Jeremiah Arkham, and he rebuilds the place completely to modernize it and strengthen security. However, it looks like something weird is going on. A serial killer is on the loose and his M.O. is suspiciously like one of the asylum's occupants, Victor Zsasz himself (his first appearance, no less!). Batman decides to get inside as an inmate and find out what's going on. Conveniently, Jeremiah is so full of himself that he does not even allow the orderlies to remove his mask. "You see, Batman will do it himself for me once I cure him!" The story is great, the art is fantastic and it sets the bar high for the series. This is where Breyfogle is at his best, drawing every scene with great expression of motion. It feels like none of the characters ever rest.I was a little disappointed that he draws only the first six issues but thankfully the art is top-notch in rest of them, too. One of the big story arcs is drawn by Tim Sale. It's called The Misfits and it's a story about four D-level villains that decide to work together to try to get into the big leagues. Does anyone remember the Catman? Maybe Chancer? Killer Moth I do vaguely recall but even the Calendar Man is mostly a clown here. Chancer is even mocking him about it.

Arrived on time this collection of shadow of bats is some of the best 1st time Zaas appears

Great Batman storylines from the long ago series Shadow of the Bat.

Awesome find

I consider Breyfogle the greatest artist in Batman's long history, but this collection has some pacing issues as well as a feeling that the themes are really outdated. Having grown up during this era of comics, I can look at some of those anacronysms fondly, and some of them just make me want to put the book down or send it back.The first 4 issues are "the Last Arkham" storyline that's so expensive to track down. The art is good, but the story suffers from the lack of suspense or mystery from a typical Batman whodunit. You already know who the killer is a mere 5 or 6 pages into the story. The way the killer escapes captivity is also uninspired and predictable, which makes Breyfogle's art the only thing to look forward to. If you want a good Batman story that's psychological and imersive, check out Jeff Loeb and Tim Sale's "Long Halloween."Speaking of Loeb and Sale, their story of the Misfits take up issues 5-7, which is great but is already collected in Tales of the Batman, so I ended up skipping over those issues and reading the story of the "Ugly American". I don't know what's tackier, that story's main villain or his haircut and outdated beliefs.The remaining stories are mostly forgettable, save for a few with appearances by Nightwing and Tim Drake Robin. If you want to read better stuff from this era, I highly recommend picking up the Legends of the Dark Knight Breyfogle collection. This one is just meh.

great

Nice drawings.

Se trata de los primeros 12 números de la serie de los 90's llamada "shadow of the bat". La mayoría de las historias del cómic fueron escritas por Alan Grant; la primera fue dibujada por el gran Norm Breyfogle y quizá para algunos fans lo más interesante pueda ser "The Misfits" que fue dibujada por Tim Sale (Long Halloween y Dark Victory). Casi todas las historias incluidas son buenas en general, y pueden resultar atractivas para los fans del Batman de los 80s y 90s. La calidad del papel e impresión es muy buena. Quizá el único detalle negativo para mi gusto es que no incluyeron las portadas originales de cada número.

Great buy!