CREDIT: DC Comics
Rating: 4/5 – Awesome Reprinted Story with a Too-High Price Tag.
by ComicSpectrum EiC Bob Bretall.
Batman Universe #1 reprints the Batman story written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Nick Derington that was originally included in 100-Page Batman Giant #3 & 4 which were available only at Wal-Mart stores.
The story is great. In my opinion Bendis does best on street-level heroes and I enjoyed his work here on Batman far more than on Superman. Derington shines on the art, a clean/crisp style that does a great job in conveying both action and signature Bendis “talking heads” pages. Appearance by The Riddler and Jinny Hex are well done and convey the gist of the characters with ease as part of the story, which makes this very new reader friendly, which was the stated intent of the original Wal-Mart issues (reaching new readers). That said, charging $4.99 for this 24 page issue of reprints seems a bit excessive, given that the original Wal-Mart issues were 100 pages, a 12 page new story and 88 pages of reprint material. Sure, it’s “new to comic shops” but DC is really reaching into the wallets of their fanbase with this one, it should be $3.99.
My quibble over the pricing of this series aside, it really is a great story (5/5 – 1 point for predatory marketing). A good story for new readers, but given that this will run 6 issues and it’s reprints anyway, it might be a good idea to skip six $4.99 issues that will cost ~$30 and just get the collected edition when it comes out. I suspect it will be fairly easy to get the collection at a price less than $30.
Reviewed by: Bob Bretall
(bob@comicspectrum.com)
http://comicspectrum.com/ By Fans who Love Comics For Fans who Love Comics
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