Ego and Other Tails

I got this book mainly because I know this writer has some pretty amazing talent. His 'DC: The New Frontier' is epic, and decided to check out these stories. Now, the title story, Batman Ego is a great look at how mentally screwed up Bruce Wayne really is, but the show stealer in the story about Catwoman. I expected great things in this book, and was still blown away! Any fan of Batman and/or Catwoman should read this, now!

This Hardcover volume reprints some of the Batman and Catwoman tales by the supremely talented Darwyn Cooke, one of the greatest graphic storytellers working today. Cooke started on Batman in the critically acclaimed cartoon "Batman the Animated Series" and eventually progressed to comics, where he showcased the wonders of weaving a chiaroscuro approach based on heavy use of darks that somehow never detracts from the detail but rather suggests more detail than is actually on the page. The stories in his volume are his earlier comics work but they are a Tour De Force, starting with EGO, a graphic novelette with an interesting take on Batman's psychology and the conflict of his two sides - the human and the "Bat" which runs his life. A few B & W tales follow which are nice to have as they were originally published as backups in Batman: Gotham Knights and not seen by many. The other two short stories were published in other relatively unseen anthology books and are also definitely worth having. The volume is rounded out by the best of the lot, the Catwoman story Selina's Big Score (which takes up half the book). Batman appears only in one panel, the rest of the story being a Noir-inspired caper tale (tail?) of Selina Kyle (hardly referred to as Catwoman) making a comeback. The characters are wonderfully fleshed out (even the ones who are noir stereotypes inspired by Richard Starck's crime novels). Selina comes across especially real and you can see why she became so popular after this story. The artwork in this story is spectacular, kinetic and at the same time extremely atmospheric evoking a 60's crime film feel. So overall, this is is a fantastic volume, reprinting some of the best comics has to offer. It may not be worth the price of admission for Darwyn Cooke fans, who have probably hunted down and bought all these stories before, especially since the Catwoman story is available separately as a hardcover. But for those just learning of his work who have not read these, it's a real prize! So why am I giving it 4 stars when the work clearly deserves 5? Simple. The volume which attempts to include all of Cooke's relevant Batman work, even throwing in the Catwoman tale, is incomplete. It's missing some fairly unknown but important stories published in Detective Comics 759-762, featuring Slam Bradley, a PI working in Batman's town of Gotham. The stories are actually the prologue to Selina's Big Score and should have absolutely been included not only to complete the collection of Cooke's Batman-related work but to present the Catwoman in the most complete form. It should be said it's not necessary to read these to understand Selina's Big score. But this is after all, a reprint collection and there's no excuse for leaving stories that should be included out. So here's hoping that DC comics' woefully useless department in charge of reprints, wakes up and decides to do a good job next time they collect Cooke's work. Till then we're stuck with th

This hardcover collect two excellent graphic novels by Darwyn Cooke, Batman: Ego and Catwoman: Selina's Big Score, as well as some short stories also by Mr. Cooke. Batman:Ego was published in 2000 as a 64 page graphic novel, but finally gets the hardcover treatment it deserves, while the Catwoman tale, which was an original hardcover, crops up again in the same format. Both tales feature fast paced writing coupled with a fantastic art style which harkens back to Batman the Animated series (for which Darwin was one of the designers) but with more of a noirish edge, so don't let the streamlined style fool you into thinking these stories are for all ages or too soft. If you liked Mr. Cooke's recent work on the Spirit, this is better. Much better. Some other reviewers on this page commented that this book was a little dissapointing due to the inclusion of a story which does not feature Batman, but don't be dissuaded from picking this one up. Selina's Big Score features one of Batman's oldest villians in one of her greatest appearances, so don't miss out. Give it a chance, then read the collections of Catwoman comics by Ed Brubaker, Cooke and Cameron Stewart, which are some of the best crime comics around. Fans of Richard Stark's Parker will recognize a Parker like Character, named Stark, a heister who helps Catwoman pull of the titular big score which is just as hard nosed (and fun) as any written by Richard Stark during the 60s and 70s. This will serve as a primer to Darwyn's upcoming adaptations of the first four Parker novels, beginning next year. This hardcover is also special because it does not feature the ugly spine design which appears on many of the current DC hardcovers where a DC logo appears at the bottom of the spine in a blue back ground, ruining a book's appearance on the book shelf. Don't miss out on one of the best written and drawn set of Batman stories of the last 20 years; right up there with the Batman classics of the 80s like Year One, DKR and the Killing Joke, at least in my opinion.

I,m a big Batman fan and I,ve loved Batman ever since I was 6 years old. In this graphic novel from Darwynn Cooke who brought you DC:The New Frontier comes several Batman stories all in one graphic novel. In the first story, Batman as Bruce Wayne fights a terrifying foe:Himself! He must fight his own inner demon and prove that he isn't like the antagonists he fights and has fought. There are also several Catwoman and Nightwing stories but usually I don't bother to read them since they're spin-offs but oddly I did enjoy them. They're all exciting and violent and cool. I would recommend this for anyone who is a Batman, Catwoman or a fan of either characters.

I'm a big batman fan, but I'm not really a fan of the other characters. I don't read the catwoman or nightwing or huntress spinoffs. I'm a fan of the detective. But in this graphic novel (which is a compilation of several short, stand alone works), catwoman's story is actually the best part. It's not even really a catwoman story, it's a heist story. But its exciting and violent and cool. And there's no batman. So oh well, maybe there's something to all these side characters. I'm still not going to read the catwoman comics, but I guess I'm glad I got tricked into reading this one...