Batman: Reptilian

Product Information

The horrific and graphic nature of parts of the story, indeed, ends up becoming less shocking than it should have been; we are left wondering why a book that is supposed to be read by mature readers cannot be given full freedom of expression, especially with Mr Sharp’s artistic abilities being so impressive and Mr Ennis’ script being so bloodily funny. I'll leave the rest out since it's in spoiler territory, but while initially fascinating, it only muddles his history even more and possibly removes him from the playing field completely.

If he just protected this image to the criminals that is one thing, but even in the moment when he is alone with his thoughts he is the same. Not that I think it’s from a lack of opportunity - I’m sure he’s been offered every superhero title under the sun by Marvel and DC over the decades he’s been writing comics - but, if we assume the things expressed by characters like Frank Castle and Billy Butcher are similar to his perspective, it’s safe to say that Ennis doesn’t think much of superheroes in general.There is a scene in this book I was just not expecting after seeing how Batman was written in Hitman. He whips up a Dave McKean/Bill Sienkiewicz pastiche that's exhausting for a full issue, let alone six. Kresba je něco mezi Bisleym a McKeanem, pár panelů je naprosto skvělých, ale vlastně furt nevím, zda se mi líbí. The obnoxious dialogue really kills anything interesting about the actual story for me and made it a bit of a slog to get through since I had to stop and sigh and roll my eyes every other panel. The artwork style was a continual muddy and unattractive mess, and the storyline - involving some sort of sewer-dwelling mutated creature (with a noggin that seems somewhat inspired by - or is it simply ripped off from?

I’m a big fan of he and Grant Morrison’s run on Green Lantern, but his paintings in this series are absolutely stunning.Batman knows he represents justice, just as he knows that those who oppose him represent a kind of secular evil. It's almost okay but crosses the line a few too many times with a gleefully sadistic Batman, gratuitous fat shaming, and the mutilation and maiming of Batman's entire rogue's gallery in ways that either make this an Elseworlds tale or a canon story that will be quickly ignored or retconned. Back in 2016, the Preacher show was just about to launch on AMC, and around that same time, Steve Dillon, co-creator and penciler of Preacher, was very ill and hadn’t been drawing very much as of late. I also adored how all the rogues are drawn almost like caricatures of their normal selves since that’s exactly how Ennis sees them all.

All throughout this miniseries, then, six issues in total, what we are being given is a Batman who not only recognizes the dread he instils, but one who also acknowledges (and, perhaps, revels in) his status as a man who has reached the peak of what the human body and the human mind can attain. At the time, this would’ve been in continuity in the Legends of the Dark Knight anthology series, with the main draw being the creative team behind Preacher was doing a Batman book around the same time the Preacher show was premiering, which would have meant easy publicity because let’s be honest, Batman books sell. It turns out the idea for Reptilian has been floating around for some time as Steve Dillon was originally meant to draw this until his death in 2016 scuppered plans. Yes, he's got form on giving good bastard, but here he manages to work within Bruce's ridiculous limitations so as to make someone who is widely known not to kill genuinely menacing all the same. Inclusive a forma como Ennis retrata o Batman também é ambígua, não fica claro se ele está ou não zoando com o Homem-Morcego.

No a nabízí nám tu více satirickou verzi Batmana, kdy tu máte na něj více cynický pohled ve kterém vám dojde že on vlastně není taková dobrá duše a že i jeho konání místy se dá srovnat s padouchi se kterými válčí.