Batman & the Monster Men

First off I'd like to say this belongs right beside Long Halloween and Year One. A very satisfying read. Don't overlook this one.

For those who follow Batman continuity and appreciate Batman's early historical villains from 1940 and that period, then this story is a great read. Wagner has a brilliant command of Batman continuity and weaves a tale consistent with Batman Year One, etc. The story is young Batman's first encounter with the more exotic of Gotham's villains, Dr Hugo Strange. Batman is forced to deal with much more than your garden variety street thug; the sci-fi villainy of the pulp era arrives for our intrepid dark knight. Along the way, Bruce Wayne deals with a modern version of his old 1939 love interest and damsel in distress, Julie Madison. Gotham's mob element (from Year One and Long Halloween) also play a role in the story. This story doesn't try to be Alan Moore's Watchmen. It's a just fun modern canon-laden nod to Batman's 1930's/1940's early pulp adventures (though no knowledge of Batman canon is required to enjoy the story). I think Wagner succeeds in his goal. Wagner really understands Batman and Bruce as characters. Also, I love Wagner's art in this story. Some may not. But Wagner's art is, perhaps coincidentally, similar to Batman The Animated Series.

I loved it. It was a great story which reflected my ideal depiction of Batman, not only as one who is dedicated to fighting human crime and battling his infamous Rogue's Gallery of Supervillians, but a detective who ends up tangling with supernatural or preternatural forces as well. It harkens back to the Batman comic's early days, where he dealt with such villians as the Monster Men and others regularly. I have always been a fan of the stories in which Batman battles the Supernatural, as much as the tales in which he fights so called "normal" criminals, as these tales fully realize the Gothic atmoshpere of the entire series. These stories force Batman, who despite his fearsome costume (which he chose to induce terror in superstitious criminals),and by nature who is a man of logic and science, to confront and accept the reality of things that are beyond his realm of understanding. BluesDruid

Batman and the Monster Men takes place roughly one year into Batman's career. It's a retro story placing an older storyline into current continuity and has Batman dealing with the mafia as usual, but for the first time faces a much greater challenge he's never dealt with before. At this point in his career, Batman believes he is on the brink of putting an end to organized crime in Gotham once he puts an end to the much talked about, but never seen, Carmine Falcone's operations. In addition to the Dark Knight, our main cast of characters includes Professor Hugo Strange, Sal Maroni, Jim Gordon, Julie Madison (Bruce Wayne's love interest), and her father Norman Madison. What initially brought this novel to my attention was Matt Wagner. I had read Trinity and enjoyed his thoughtful insights on the characters as well as his beautiful artwork. Some have criticized Wagner's illustrations as being too simple, but he captures the characters' facial expressions and mood so vividly, you don't even need to read the text to know what they're thinking about. And speaking of dialogue, the characters have some great lines in addition to solid character development through their inner thoughts. Typically, I'm used to just reading stories told from one character's perspective, but in Monster Men, we get to know each of the previous characters listed personally through their thoughts, which was a unique way of narrating. There were a few times in Trinity where I wasn't sure if Wagner quite had Batman's character down, but here he nails his personality exactly how he should be portrayed. Dark, moody, secretive and most importantly, determined. I won't give away too much of the main plot, but basically going into this, expect things to get mysterious and action packed about halfway through. Once the action starts, it doesn't slow down. I must say, this is one of the more violent Batman stories I've read in a while, up there with DKR. Let's just say the monster men have a taste for human flesh. It was also nice to be able to see Sal Maroni in a starring villain role, considering he is later notorious for creating Two-Face, but I never really knew much about his past up until now. If this novel has any faults they're minor. Bruce's girlfriend, Julie, wasn't the most fascinating love interest he's ever had. At times she seemed like she wasn't very necessary to the overall plot and was only used when it was convenient. She often would talk playfully in legal terms just to remind us she was a going through law school and that got a bit irritating after awhile, but I wouldn't have necessarily written her out. Her father Norman plays a more important role and goes through the most character development out of any other. I would have liked to see Gordon used a little bit more, but this wasn't his story, and the times he is focused on are well written. I always enjoy reading stories of Batman and Gordon early in their careers and their controversial "p

"Batman & the Monster Men" collects the six issue limited series into trade paperback format and is written and illustrated by Matt Wagner. Wagner sets this story in early Batman history, just about a year or so after the caped crusader first made his appearance in Gotham City. One of the advantages of setting a story in the past like this is that it gives the writer some poetic license to re-envision things as he likes and Wagner takes advantage of this in several ways. One is in the introduction of the Batmobile after Batman's first remote controlled, and rather mundane looking vehicle is destroyed in a crash. There's a rather amusing scene in the book when Alfred sees the car for the first time and wonders why Batman doesn't add tailfins to make it look even more like a bat...and idea that Batman takes quite seriously. Another new Wagner take is Batman's first encounter with Professor Hugo Strange. Strange first appeared in Detective Comics #36. His appearance actually preceded the first appearance of the Joker by a couple of months. In this story, Strange is regarded as a rather crackpot scientist doing work in genetic research. He rounds up lost, homeless men off the streets to use as test subjects, and eventually mutates several into hulking monsters with a taste for human flesh. Besides Strange, the story's other main villain is local mobster Sal Maroni who is loaning Strange the money for his experiments. What he doesn't know is that Strange is using his monsters to bust up illegal gambling houses run by Maroni and stealing the money. He's using the mobster's own money to pay him back! A subplot involves Bruce Wayne's girlfriend Julie Madison whose father is wealthy industrialist Norman Madison whose financial troubles also force him to go to Maroni for a substantial loan. Batman has an early encounter with three of Strange's monsters and barely escapes with his life. The battle shows how resourceful Batman is, even at this early stage. Meanwhile Strange is fascinated by Batman's sheer ability and wants to use his DNA for future experiments. "Batman & the Monster Men" is the perfect story for Wagner's grim and gritty art style. Even the few daytime scenes are overcast against a pink sky giving the story a very noir-ish feel to it. Jim Gordon has not become commissioner yet, holding the rank of Captain, but he's already established a rapport with Batman and doesn't hesitate to call him in when the mutilated bodies are found at the illegal gambling operations. Look quick at the newspaper article about a criminal called the "Red Hood" who falls to his death in a vat of chemicals. This is, of course, reference to the identity of man who would later become the Joker. Wagner shows why he is one of the best! Reviewed by Tim Janson