Books read in 2023 # 75 - Batman, etc.
Jul. 4th, 2023 05:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marlowe175. The DC Universe by Neil Gaiman by Neil Gaiman and others - There's a script with Superman and Hal Jordan exploring the afterlife due to a golden age green lantern showing up. I was wondering why so many artists were working on the thing (especially since it's largely confusing and uninspired) until I read the essay afterwards where Gaimain explained that this was a story that he sold but had to take a kill fee for since it didn't match the continuity at the time (they didn't want everyone knowing Superman's secret identity).
The rest of this book consists of stories that I just read in the Neil Gaiman Batman collection. Apparently DC knows that Neil Gaiman is the one writer that is the money maker and they want to ride that train as much as possible. The Secret Origins stories are the entire issue and not just the Gaiman framing story and the Riddler story where poor Riddler feels left behind because all the other villains are dangerous psychopaths and he's still just the guy who tells Riddles. He misses all the Silver Age characters and this story is just as bathetic as it was when I read it the first time.
Also we get the Batman funeral with all the competing narratives and the Batman Black & White with Batman and Joker waiting backstage and running their lines before the big fight. Both are fun clever stories and unlike Neil's short stories, there's the comic book format to build them up against the thin plot.
The rest of this book consists of stories that I just read in the Neil Gaiman Batman collection. Apparently DC knows that Neil Gaiman is the one writer that is the money maker and they want to ride that train as much as possible. The Secret Origins stories are the entire issue and not just the Gaiman framing story and the Riddler story where poor Riddler feels left behind because all the other villains are dangerous psychopaths and he's still just the guy who tells Riddles. He misses all the Silver Age characters and this story is just as bathetic as it was when I read it the first time.
Also we get the Batman funeral with all the competing narratives and the Batman Black & White with Batman and Joker waiting backstage and running their lines before the big fight. Both are fun clever stories and unlike Neil's short stories, there's the comic book format to build them up against the thin plot.
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