One thing I’ve been noticing lately in particular with DC comics is that they’ve been allowing more and more artist to write and draw books. With guys like Tony Daniel and Francis Manapul on major titles for DCs new 52 and with them doing a good job on those titles my faith in this new OGN began to sky rocket maybe a little to high.
Lee Bermejo artwork is phenomenal, if you thought his artwork on JOKER, LEX LUTHOR MAN OF STEEL or his work on WEDNESDAY comics was great then prepare to be amazed once again. Bermejo art in this book is beyond fantastic, while reading the book I could not wait to turn to the next page and see what amazing panels I would feast my eye’s on next. The great thing about this book and with most one and done stories is that it take place outside of continuity, so no previous knowledge of Batman or any of the other characters that appear in the book are needed.
The writing, the pacing and the overall story is also outstanding, most of the times when an artist takes over an entire project in comics one of two things will happen, the art will be improved and the story will be pushed aside or the art quality will decrease and the story will also decrease, but not the case with Lee Bermejo at all. The book is written in a very fairy tale way of fiction, it’s very similar to Alex Ross and Mark Waid Kingdom Come style or in similar style of Ironman Extremis.
This book is perfect for the Christmas season and would make a great gift for any comic book fan, it’s worth every bit of the cover price, and to be honest I wish more material like this was being put out. I really do love this high class art, this is the stuff of greatness and why the comic book medium is so amazing and should be respected. I give this an easy 10 out of 10 this is a must pick up, it really did live up to my expectations and more.
If I had one negative thing to say it would be this, I’m disappointed that books of this quality rarely come out, instead we are given mediocre pieces of work on a monthly basis for the most part.