| Title | : | Batman: Haunted Knight |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1563892731 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781563892738 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 191 |
| Publication | : | First published September 1, 1996 |
Batman: Haunted Knight Reviews
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Edited@16/05/2019: rating updated to 5 stars!
The artwork is so damn great, Gothic and graceful and moving! Artist Tim Sale, you surely is the man of my dreams!
A gritty mysterious Batman and Halloween, nightmarish maze and Alice in Wonderland, bad dreams and psychological horror, all in one go! What more can I ask for!?
PS: Poison Ivy is so beautifully drawn!
Original review@2017:
So these are the three Halloween special stories which had later been developed into The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. I really do like the artwork, the coloring is gloomy but beautiful. I like the story with Alice in Wonderland in it the best, still the last story about children doing trick or treat in the Wayne Manor is pretty nice too! -
8.7/10
What makes Loeb's Batman great?
Fans of the Caped crusader can find many good stories. Some short, while some take you on a long journey before they finally conclude their run. Many of them i like. There are some stories though, that i don't like..but i love.
These are the ones that remind me why for all those years, Batman stays on the top of the list of my favourite superheroes. At the same time they lit the fuel of my enthusiasm and make sure, he will stay on the top for many years to come.
Such a story was 'The long Halloween' and now so is 'The Haunted Knight'. Which brings us back to the question.
What makes Loeb's Batman great?
To me, it's his portrayal of Bruce.
Seeing Batman solving cases and going against criminals and villains is awesome. What's even better is the reason he does it. Why does multimillionaire puts on a Bat- suit and fights crime?
It's to make sure that as few people as possible will feel the same pain he does. Despite the many years that have gone by, that little boy who lost everything he loved that night, is still there.
You can feel the vulnerability and sadness in Bruce. You understand why he risks his own happiness and life so others can live in a better world. You have empathy and sympathy for him and you want him to be happy. That also gives a nice contrast between Bruce and Batman.
Another important aspect of the Haunted Knight is Alfred. I do appreciate when writers show the importance of this character, and Loeb definitely delivers here too. Alfred is both a father figure and a friend to Bruce. Without him who knows how Bruce would turn out.
Last thing i'm going to mention is that all of the great writing comes to life by the exceptional art by Tim Sale.
Highly recommended!! -
i enjoyed this collection immensely.
first story is about the scarecrow and a woman who batman falls in love with but she turns out to be a rich husbands killer, scarecrow kept evading batman many times in this story.
second story was about the mad hatter and it was inspired by alice in wonderland, it was a great story i specially liked the girl that jim gordon has adopted i never knew he had a girl from adoption before, maybe it happens in this story only i am not really sure as i am not an expert on all things batman..
oh and doctor Thompkins makes an appearance i know her from the tv series.
third and last story is inspired by Christmas carol, after batman catches the penguin he goes to sleep and gets visited by three spirits poison ivy, joker, i am not sure whose the third one though is it his father or was there someone else !
anyway the spirits teach batman to have some me time and to try and make a legacy for himself outside of crime fighting.
the art was great the writing was great overall a great experience and its my first time i think to be impressed by jeph loeb, not sure if i seen art by tim sale before but glad i finally did <3. -
If it is not obvious, I am a huge Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale fan. Their combined work on Batman have produced some of the finest Batman stories around (Dark Victory, Long Halloween, etc). This is a superb collection of three individual short stories from the esteemed collaboration of Loeb and Sale.
Originally printed as three Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Specials, they have been combined into one "halloween" themed collection. It is excellent!
The first story is "Fears" in which Batman fights the Scarecrow and has to travel a maze while poisoned by Crane's fear drug.
The second story is "Madness" and tells the story of how the Mad Hatter kidnapped Barbara Gordon, Jim Gordon's daughter.
The third and final story was my personal favorite "Ghosts" as it recreates the Christmas Carol, with Bruce Wayne as Scrooge; Thomas Wayne is the Ghost of Jacob Marley and Poison Ivy as Ghost of Christmas Past, Joker as Christmas Present and finally Batman as Christtmas Future. Well done!
A must have for any Batman fan. Loeb and Sale's Batman works are among my favorite Batman stories. Any reader of good comics and appreciative of good art will love this collection of three spooky stories set in Batman's world. -
These are short stories by the creative team that brought us The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. These stories focus on the theme of Halloween and the inner life of Bruce Wayne. Overall, the quality of these stories are not as good as the longer works mentioned above. Those longer works are amazing because they craft good mysteries. Since these are really short, there isn't time to develop mysteries, so they focus on introspection. If you like stories that delve into why Batman is Batman, you might enjoy these.
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Ah, Batman on Halloween... Seriously what could be better than this?? LOVED the artwork in this one! And with an All-Star cast including Poison Ivy, The Penguin, The Mad Hatter, The Joker and (the master of fears) The Scarecrow this made for a very good read! Would definitely recommend.
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I began Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's Batman trilogy in 2008 when I grabbed
Batman: The Long Halloween. After 4 years, it still remains my favorite Batman graphic novel. It's follow-up (I think - not really sure of the order),
Batman: Dark Victory, was an excellent sequel.
For whatever reason, I let four years go by without picking up the final book in the series, Haunted Knight. After reading this last night, I'm kicking myself for waiting so long.
Contained within Haunted Knight are 3 separate stories that all take place around Halloween.
Fears centers around Scarecrow and his attempt to frighten Batman down to his core. While the caped crusader comes off as a bit amateurish this time around, it does bring to light his buried quest to find happiness. This desire clouds his judgement when as Bruce Wayne, a love interest enters his life.
Scarecrow has always been one of my favorite Batman villains. Loeb establishes that he isn't to be taken lightly, that he's just as much a threat as anyone else in the rouges gallery of Gotham.
Madness gives us a story involving The Mad Hatter as he forces Batman to confront his unresolved issues surrounding his parents death.
Man oh man, does Batman let his rage shine through in this one. Not only is he royally pissed off at Jervis Tetch but he also has to rescue Commissior Gordon's daughter after she is taken captive. His final fight scene with Hatter is particularly brutal and managed to get an audible "Holy Shit!" out of me.
The third and final story, Ghosts, brings us Batman's own version of the Dicken's classic, A Christmas Carol. Instead of taking place during the holiday season, Batman is visited by 3 ghosts on Halloween.
While I wasn't crazy about this one (supposedly
Batman: Noël has done it better), I did like the final ghost reveal.
A fitting final chapter of the Loeb/Sale Halloween trilogy, Haunted Knight delivers excellent story telling combined with jaw dropping art that establishes this duo as one of the all time great Batman teams. -
4.5 Stars! Before the long holloween, there was Batman : Haunted Knight. Three tales of holloween in Gotham city.
Honestly this was a great Batman book and I enjoyed it from beginning to the end. Loeb and Tim Scale are too good when they collab together. so far what I've found after reading around 4 books written by this duo is that Loeb writes his stories in a way that they doesn't feel like a coherent plot, I mean his story moves in circular way instead of linear way. And his stories are always a character study, rather than a plot.
There are three things that I liked in this book -
1. First part is about Bruce meeting a lady named Jillian maxwell who is actually a secret CIA agent. In this part we see how Bruce has a deep desire to have a happy life with his beloved women. But on the other hand he doesn't have any choice to do that because he already lost his choice on the day his parents died.
Jillian's words in Bruce's mind- "Did you ever have the feeling that you wanted to go? Did you ever have the feeling that you wanted to stay"
There Bruce's struggles to decide, whether he should stay in happiness with Jillian or should go for crime fighting by leaving Julian(happiness).
Jillian : "Bruce... for a man who could have anything he wanted... why do I have the sense that you rarely get what you want?
Bruce : "An Innocent Question..."
Then again there was that part where Alfred exposes Jillian's true identity by giving Bruce a disk which contains info about her real identity but we see in that page that Bruce doesn't want to see that disk because he know at this moment that if he checks the disk then he would lose his current happiness who is Jillian, but last line on this page shows that he can't choose between stay or Go because He doesn't have a choice.
Bruce's thoughts : "I should throw the disk away without looking at it. Leap at a chance of happiness. But... I know what it's like... ...not to have a choice."
Later There was a part, where Bruce had a dream that he died and there he questions his own choice that was it really worth to choose that path and become batman and sacrificing his happiness? Because doing so, he lost his own self - Bruce Wayne.
Bruce on his grave : "For all the good that Batman does... have I left nothing for my self? Spirit, are these visions of things to come or is it too late to change?"
So I love this whole part.
2. Second thing I love about this book is Bruce's relationship with his father and mother.
There was this page where his father's spirit visited him and that part is actually reflection of Bruce's own beliefs about his father. But before this page, we get many flashbacks of his childhood which shows how Bruce always felt that his father couldn't give him enaugh time, how his father was more concerned with his medical stuff instead of Bruce's happiness. Bruce was ready to wait for his father whole night because... he doesn't have any friends and his father is the only one he has at that time.
Then a panel confirms all of this where Bruce's father appears in lots of chains and those chains were symbolic representations of his mistakes.
Bruce's father : "These chains I wear, I forged in life. Link by link, yard by yard, I made this burden. Obsessed with my medical practice, I lost sight of what was truly important."
And we know at this moment that all this is Bruce's dream which is reflection of his own inner self so there Bruce try to defend his father (actually his own guilt) so all this was so depressing for me to read.
I also liked that this book showed Bruce's relationship with his mother. I was surprised to know that he was the one who requested her mother to wear that Pearls at that night. And we know very well that how this leads to Pearls shattering death of her mother which forever hunts him for rest of his life. Then there's that sweet part which shows how Bruce's mother used to tell him the story of Alice in wonderland on rainy nights.
And then ending made me so shocked and sad that Bruce still after all this year reads that Alice book on every rainy night, just to remember her beloved mother.
Bruce's thoughts : "On rainy days, in particular... ...I miss my mother. But I know just the thing for it..." (reads that Alice book)
3. And last thing I love about this book is Tim Scale's brilliant artwork. Every panel is superbly crafted. His design of Batman with glowing red eyes is my favorite Batman design. Scarecrow has never looked more intimidating than he's in this book. He draws Ivy in very unique way. All the iconic villains like Joker, Penguin etc appears with very cool design. The artwork sets the spooky atmosphere of Gotham city so well.
Overall, I feel like This is an underrated Batman book that doesn't get enaugh attention from fans. I went into this book with expecting some cool and fun, happy story but it turned out as a very tragic, psychological study of Bruce's deepest fears and traumas. This is also first time where my tiny brain has been able to grasp the deeper meaning of panels so I felt very satisfied after finishing this book. I'm now very excited for next batman books in this series. -
Paure ☆☆☆☆☆
Follia ☆☆☆☆☆
Fantasmi ☆☆☆☆ -
Although bearing little resemblance to the Long Halloween, Batman: Haunted Knight holds its own. Tim Sale's artwork, although more 90s and cartoony than I'm used to, is very good and complements what I thought was a generally lighter tone and a kinder and more reflective than usual Batman. No teeth being knocked out here, Mr. Miller.
A side note: I love playing I Spy The Quote From One of Nolan's Films. From Fears, "Professor Crane isssn't here right now. But, if you'd like to make an appointment--?"
Haunted Knight is split into three short themed tales, Fears, Madness, and Ghosts. While Fears focuses on Scarecrow and is unique to Jeph Loeb, Madness and Ghosts draw from Alice in Wonderland and A Christmas Carol, which I've always thought was applicable to Halloween. The tales are self-contained but all three (if unsurprisingly) deal with Batman's fears: loneliness, loss, failure, and death. Although lighter in tone considering the content and the featured holiday, Haunted Knight still seriously examines Bruce's complex and sometimes romantic psychology. He constantly mourns, and yet yearns for his parents and a woman to give him the love and life he so desperately needs but selflessly refuses himself. Funny this much psychology can be extracted from such a small, fun book about Halloween. -
Its a story of 3 Halloweens first is about him vs Scarecrow as he is looting people and taking out electric grids and relying on Batman's fears and so its upto Bruce to stop this madman and restore the electric power to the city, the other is vs Mad Hatter and him having Captured Barbara and re-enacting Alice in Wonderland and how Bruce's personal life with Jillian clashes here makes for an interesting story and reaffirms his commitments to being Batman at the sacrifice of Bruce Wayne and then the final story is like "A christmas carol" where 3 spirits visit him telling him of various things and Bruce having realized his responsibilities. Its a good volume and like just shows the craziness he has to deal with and his pains but despite it he thrives to be the protector of Gotham city. Very beautifully written. The art is just gorgeous and makes Gotham City alive almost.
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Collecting three Halloween specials that feature a very reflective Batman. The first story, Fears, is sort of a Scarecrow story, but is really more about Batman's memory of his father. The second, Madness is (fittingly) more about his relationship with his mother. Hands down my favorite of the collection. The last panel (Bruce reading Alice in Wonderland on a rainy day) will probably remain one of my favorite memories of Bruce Wayne. The last story, Ghosts, is a Christmas Carol with Batvillains as the ghosts. It just didn't work for me. I'll be honest, I do have a bias. If it were up to me, I'd outlaw all new versions of A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life. That said, something about it just wasn't working. The ending felt particularly false. I think Batman just isn't cut out for A Christmas Carol.
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A collection of three short tales centered around Hallowe'en in Gotham City.
The one featuring Scarecrow (as a vehicle to explore Bruce's underlying fears) was the best one.
The second was pretty decent as Bats goes up against the madness of Jervis Tetch, and we get a glimpse at why Lewis Carroll's work touches a nerve with the Caped Crusader.
I probably liked the third one, a Hallowe'en rehash of A Christmas Carol, the least but Sale's beautiful art and Loeb's deft exploration of Bruce Wayne's psyche were strong throughout.
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This was part of Loeb/Sale's supposed Halloween trilogy, though I don't know what the hell the order is. This volume doesn't really fit with the other two. Their Batman is usually a serious detective and this one makes him seem pretty novice. This Batman doesn't seem to know if he's going for 1950s cheesy pulp Batman, 1980s pissed-off revamp Batman or 1990s balanced-in-every-way Batman.
The art and storyline of these three stories (Fears, Madness, Ghosts) would've made it pioneering if written a few decades ago when comic book writers were still trying to figure out the depths of Batman. But, here, it just seems like all the villains are cliches and everything Batman says to himself is almost a parody of Batman (my parents died, my father's house, no real me, etc). However, the last story is slightly intriguing, as it shows the beginning of The Wayne Foundation. But it's still one long variation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol.
It gets two stars, but not in a disappointed way. It's more like, "you guys were so close to something, but it just didn't work out." Paaaat on the baaaaaaaack. -
Having read "the Shadow" by Patterson and Co, I needed to clean my palate of the filth and I turned to the Batman, whose roots are somehow tangled with the Shadow, as in being borrowing from some of the Shadows early storylines (Yes the Shadow was around a tad earlier than the Batman).
This collections contains three Halloween stories, one based upon Dickens' Christmas carol, and one other based upon Alice in Wonderland and the opening story puts Batman opposite the Scarecrow and a black widow (not the Marvel character).
In all books we feel the desperation of one Bruce Wayne in his quest to keep Gotham safe from criminals. In these three short stories we already come across the notion that Gotham is filled with quite a few psychopaths in a weird outfit, but what is the difference with Gothams' defending Knight who travels by night in Bat outfit.
An excellent collection which is a promise for the upcoming Long Halloween which is considered a classic among the Batman literature. -
(I read this comic as content of "Batman by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale omnibus")
"Batman the haunted knight" is a comic written by the legendary Jeph Loeb and drawn by the incredible Tim Sale. This comic is actually separated in three independent chapters that were made for Legend of the dark knight Halloween specials in 1993, 1994 and 1995.
The first chapter is "Fears". In this story Batman fights Scarecrow while he starts having romantic feelings for a woman he met at one of his parties. This story focusses on the relationship between Bruce and Alfred but more importantly focusses on Bruce's fears and what makes him Batman. In this chapter Batman dives deep into his thoughts and he takes us with him.
The second chapter is "Madness". In this chapter Batman fights the Mad Hatter. A short guy who's obsessed with "Alice in wonderland" and kidnaps kids to take then in his crazy tea party. This story focusses on the relationship between commissioner Gordon and his daughter and also the relationship between Bruce and his now dead mom.
Chapter three is "Ghosts". This chapter is heavily based on "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. In this story Batman is visited by three spirits. The first one is Poison Ivy, the second one is Joker and the third one is himself but dead. This story focusses in the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Batman.
For me this was a great Batman comic that dives deep into the character of Batman like almost no other. Personally I love both the writing of Jeph Loeb and the artwork of Tim Sale and I always enjoy to read any comic by them.
10/10 -
Three Halloween stories which explore Batman's fears — poorly, I'm afraid.
First story's probably the most decent but it lacks substance. Features Scarecrow.
Second story's about the Mad Hatter, who believes he's living in the world of "Alice in Wonderland." It reads like weedy fanfiction.
Third story's a Batman parody of the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I say parody because "inspired" is not it; it doesn't have any of the heart of Dickens' classic.
None the better for the presence of many iconic villains and apropos art. -
Haunted Knight falls short of the standard set by other series by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, but still manages to be a satisfactory read, with an optimistic and heartwarming ending not seen in many Batman stories.
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A damn near perfect appetizer for the Long Halloween where the best is yet to come!
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Granny has come out of her hiding place and has finally finished a book again. Like the cheesy, predictable bitch that I am, I chose to order a Batman: Halloween Special collection on October 30, so that it would arrive right on time for Halloween and I could have myself a good ole spooky read.
Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale are my favorite duo when it comes to writing and drawing Batman comics and sadly, this is the last comic I hadn't had read from them. This collects Choices, Madness and Ghosts, three short stories that were conceptually at different times but all take place on Halloween in Gotham City.
I absolutely adored all three of these stories! During the story "Choices", Batman is hunting down and trying to capture Scarecrow. Fear plays a large part in the story, with Batman nearly dying of fear while trapped in a large, poisonous thorn maze. I really love the way Tim Sale drew Scarecrow. His look was creepy and very detailed!
"Madness" tells the story of Captain James Gordon's daughter, Barbara, being kidnapped by Mad Hatter and forced to participate in a twisted tea party with other kidnapped children. Batman and Gordon finally save Barbara and bring down Mad Hatter. I really loved this story and it actually made me tear up at one point because Gordon was so desperate over the loss of his daughter: "This city never seemed quite as enormous -- before I lost my child in it." On top of that, I liked the interaction between him and Batman, since Gordon cares for Batman so much!
"Ghosts" is a Batman universe version of A Christmas Carol, with Bruce's father Thomas Wayne taking the place of Jacob Marley, and the three spirits being Poison Ivy (the Ghost of Christmas Past), the Joker (the Ghost of Christmas Present), and a Grim Reaper figure (the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) who turns out to be Batman's ghost. The message from the spirits is that Bruce should not let Batman take over his entire life. This was by far my favorite of the three and it also made me tear up a bit (can you tell I'm a sappy bitch). I know we've been the horse of Bruce's parents dying to death (like, literally) but I can never get enough of it. I like that we learn the new information that Bruce was reading A Christmas Carol with his mom on that fatal night they went out to watch Zorro in cinema. Also, Alfred is ma boy! <3
Overall, I fell in love with Batman all over again. I will never tire of reading comics from this universe! -
3.5 stars
I am not sure that I know why but Batman Haunted Knight reminded me of Batman the Animated Series!So even if the story was rubbish I would still love it!
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This had such a dream-like flow.
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3.5
My second Jeph Loeb Tim sale book about Batman, hmmmmm what do we have here. Oh 3 short stories about batsie. Cool.
Batman haunted knight - haunted knight is a collection of 3 short stories you could say, one being about scarecrow, one being about mad hatter and commissioner Gordon and the last being about penguin and batman finding out how in the future when he dies no one will care and the name Batman in the future will be useless to everyone.
My thoughts (the good and bad) - the first story with scarecrow was good, the second one with mad hatter shows you the struggle of being a parent mostly in the eyes of Jim Gordon which I really enjoyed and the last about Bruce Wayne finding out that in the future he will be forgotten. I’m still getting used to Tim sales art but it’s overall pretty good, and the stories in this are pretty good. My problem was that sometimes during the stories I wouldn’t get attached and wouldn’t care. I also thought the scarecrow one was a bit boring but Jillian made it better.
Overall good book -
"But in Gotham City, on Halloween...all hell breaks loose!"
Batman: Haunted Knight was my Halloween read. I'd been holding on to this one for a couple months & looking forward to it. The stories weren't bad, but they weren't anything super memorable, either. My favorite of the three was probably Fears. I loved the idea of this book, but it just didn't really work for me as a collection. -
Batman: Haunted Knights collects 3 Halloween Specials of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (Fears, Madness, and Ghosts) written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale
In Haunted Knight we get three stand alone comics. In Fears, Batman hunts The Scarecrow who is blowing up power station across Gotham City. In Madness, Batman is in search of the Mad Hatter who has kidnapped a group of children including Barbara Gordon. Finally in Ghosts, Batman is visited by the spirits of the past, present, and future.
I haven’t read these issues since probably 2006 and man were they a great revisit. When I originally read them, I didn’t realize they were part of the fabulous 90s Legends of the Dark Knight series. I remember getting random LotDK issues in middle school and feeling really cool to be able to read this dark and brooding series. That is a series DC desperately needs to reprint.
This series was Loeb and Sale’s first work on Batman which proved so popular that they went on to create the masterpieces that are The Long Halloween (The BEST Batman book. Fight me.), it’s sequel Dark Victory, and spin-off Catwoman: When In Rome. You can tell the early genius that is at work here with the two creators making a unique world for the Dark Knight. Sale’s art is beautiful as always and will always be how I envision Batman. It was such a great pleasure to revisit this series with the rerelease of Haunted Knight in an oversized, hardcover addition. It’s hard to believe Sale’s art could look even better but they did it. These reprinting of Loeb and Sale’s Batman works should be in every Batman fan’s collection. -
Fears
The premise of fighting Scarecrow on a Halloween night had potential to make for a very interesting Batman story, but this story was dull and uninspired overall. The story-telling and characterization were poorly done, and for being a Scarecrow-Halloween story it barely had fear playing any major role. This story was mostly: Batman chasing after scarecrow or Bruce chasing after a girl.
The story was unoriginal to say the least, in fact, it was almost painfully cliche. Batman fights the scarecrow and got poisoned with 'Scarecrow Poison' causing Batman to lapse into a dream where he marries a girl he just met. Upon waking, he decided to abandon his crusade (which we all know will NOT happen) and leave with the girl from his dream. Alfred saved the day by informing Bruce that the girl was not being completely honest. Hearing the news, Bruce had a change of plans and saved Gotham city. If that isn't cliche I don't know what is.
Scarecrow on the other hand, was busy blowing up power stations so he could loot the city in the dark, because that is definitely something the scarecrow would do. And here I was thinking he was obsessed with fear. Besides, didn't 'Scarecrow Poison' make people fearful and afraid? Then why did Batman dream of a relatively happy thing? And how did Halloween play a part in any of this?
But to be fair, among the many (failed) themes of this story, one of them was actually well done. It centered around Bruce's dilemma about Batman being something he must do. At first, he saw Batman as his obligation to the world, as if it was something he had to do. But at the conclusion of the story, Bruce realized that Batman was a choice that he made and he didn't regret it.
Madness
From the three stories collected in Haunted Knight, Madness is the most well conceived one. It features the Mad Hatter kidnapping runaway children and forcing them to participate in his insane tea party. It also introduces Babs, Gordon's adopted daughter. By some unfortunate series of events, Babs winded up as Alice in the Mad Hatter's tea party.
What made this story stand out was the elaboration on how the Mad Hatter was such a disturbing character. I quote the Batman: "In taking his identity from Alice in Wonderland, Jervis Tetch unknowingly perverts a happy childhood memory."
This story also featured a rare flashback into one of Bruce's happy childhood memories of his parents. This, more than the overused guns and pearls flashback, actually makes us sympathize with Bruce more. It makes us realize just how much Bruce has lost. After seeing just how innocent and ordinary Bruce was as a kid, it made us realize just how much Bruce was changed because of his trauma. This story even showed Bruce admitting (for lack of a better word) that his parents' death didn't only lead to bad things. Without their deaths, he never would have met Dr. Leslie Thompkins. Now that is good writing.
The Mad Hatter was portrayed really well in this story. Having his every line a quote from Alice in Wonderland (in one way or the other) just added to the creeps.
All in all, this story was a good one.
Ghosts
Alright, this story was just weird. And it wasn't Arkham Asylum hauntingly beautiful weird, it was just weird.
It started with the Penguin coming uninvited to one of Bruce's parties to rob the rich of their riches. After the Batman captured the Penguin, the Penguin was never heard of again throughout the story. Okaaay....
Then Bruce came back to the Manor and told Alfred the shrimp he had didn't agree with him. He promptly went to bed, only to be disturbed by the ghost of his father, Poison Ivy's, Joker's and then lastly his own.
The message they were all trying to tell Bruce was unclear and really confusing. Did they want him to stop being Batman? Accept Lucius Fox's offer? What? What does 'leave something for myself' mean?
The conclusion of this story was Bruce deciding to open Wayne Foundation (but didn't that exist already? What was the function at the beginning of the story for then?) and giving children candy for Halloween.
What just happened? Some food poisoning lead to all this?
This story was confusing and weird. -
I don't get what this comic is trying to say. Haunted Knight includes three unconnected stories happening in Halloween; non of them has a particularly satisfying conclusion, and they aren't particularly entertaining either.
The art makes it easier to read, but going through 50 pages consisting of Batman chasing after Scarecrow is just as uninteresting as it sounds. Meanwhile there is this woman ,who makes no contribution to story what so ever, tricking the world's greatest detective (only in Bruce Wayne's "mode") into falling in love with her so that she can kill him and inherit his money. Good thing Alfred is up to her, informing Bruce/Batman of her true identity before it is too late.
Next in line is the hatter's. Now it is his turn to run for 50 more pages, only this time involving Barbra along with some traditional hallucinations from Bruce's past (AKA the death of his parents).
And finally there is the Penguin, and yet more discrete hallucinations and nightmares. Bruce's father shows up wrapped in chains and informs him of three more ghosts to follow this night. The three ghosts are Poison Ivy's, the Joker's and the ghost of a zombie Batman. I have no idea why those three or what it is that they are trying to say (if anything at all).
I unfortunately didn't get this one, but feel free to explain it to me if you did. -
This book is a collection of three shorts stories written by the team that wrote The Long Halloween. The first is about Scarecrow, the second about mad hatter and the third is a Christmas carol but on Halloween?
The first two stories I really liked and were enjoyable to read, they were just solid Batman stories and those two I would rate 4 stars. The third one I liked but didn’t really get what they were trying to say about Batman and so I would rate it 3 stars. The artwork wasn’t as good as The Long Halloween and Dark Victory but considering this was written before it’s understandable.
Overall I liked the book and enjoyed reading it but it definitly didn’t feel like anything too important happened. If you’re looking for some quick, enjoyable and short Batman stories this is a good book for you! -
Ahhhh, yes! I needed a break from Grant Morrison's very confusing, very unsatisfying run of Batman, so I picked this up. It scratches my Batman itch just fine! That probably has something to do with the fact that the stories in this book actually make sense.
Okay, enough comparing.
Haunted Knight feels like classic Batman noir stuff. Some mystery, suspense, the aloof protagonist, and pretty straightforward stories. The art also simple. No elaborate backgrounds or really detailed character shots. But it works with the tone. This isn't a book that'll fill your brain with wonder or speculation, but it's worth the read if you like the style. -
Part of the loose trilogy of which includes Long Halloween and Dark Victory, and definitely the weakest of the three.
I enjoyed the first two stories: Fear and Madness. Loeb does his own thing in Fear with Scarecrow to portray Bruce Wayne's fears of what being Batman has done to him. Madness takes you down the rabbit hole in which you can feel the affect of the loss of his mother.
Unlike with Madness, Ghosts wasn't done well for me. Batman's world just doesn't work well with A Christmas Carol theme. It felt forced and was a week way to end this collection and brought down the first 2.
