| Title | : | Batman: Rules of Engagement (Batman Confidential, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1401214819 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781401214814 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 160 |
| Publication | : | First published November 7, 2007 |
Batman: Rules of Engagement (Batman Confidential, #1) Reviews
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Bruce Wayne vs Lex Luthor - 'Starkian' questions about weapon systems, billionaires and MNC footprints left across the globe. Really nice examination of two DC characters that should really have a much deeper history: I can see Luthor and Wayne as corporate competitors - and totally see that competition 'bleeding' over into SH/SV territory time and time again!
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Prepare to step into the Batman way back time machine, because this is a story that takes place early on in Batman’s crime fighting career. Before we venture back I warn you the flashback process might cause you to feel nausea, dizziness, a sense of ennui and maybe exasperation. Grab a retro-buddy’s hand.
Ready! Set! Go!
The room spins. Fellow travelers appear as if their faces are melting. Music and sound slows down. Everything goes black. Then, a thump.
Wow! That was unexpected and different! *goes to change underwear*
In this volume Batman goes up against his arch-villain, Lex Luthor. Wait. What? Too late! -suckers-
Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp (“The friendly face of tyranny!”) are vying for a Defense Department contract. Guess who’s not going to play by the rules and use subterfuge to get what they want? Guess who’s going to dress up like a flying rodent to cope? If you answered, Long John Silver and The Hulk, to those questions, you can click the “Home” button now.
This is a fairly solid, if unspectacular tale from Andy Diggle. The art, however, is just ugly. Whilce Portacio has a real issue with drawing faces. Sunken, shadowy eyes are the norm even if the character is, say, looking directly into the sun. Is that a grin or a sneer, a leer or a grimace? Does that character have some hidden agenda or is he just happy to be here?
“That will be all, Pennyworth.” -
Here’s my opinion: every fan of the Bat should at least read one Batman story where he goes up against giant robots. It isn’t something that comes along often, to be sure. And even if this kind of thing isn’t your idea of what a Batman story should be, you can always enjoy it for its novelty value.
Now, Rules of Engagement tosses a lot off the “rules” regarding the Dark Knight out of the window. You’d be forgiven if, at some point, you think you’re reading a Superman story. Heck, you’d be forgiven if, at some point, you think you’re reading the script for an Ironman movie.
Lex Luthor has come to Gotham. As we know, he has to make life miserable for The Man of Steel in Metropolis, so his particular brand of villainy may seem out of place in a Batman story, but it somehow works to a degree. Both Lex and Bruce Wayne are gadzillionaires, so they have that much in common. Rules of Engagement sees Lexcorp and Waynetech at odds in a defense contract tender. Lex, obviously, is willing to play dirty. This sets up a good old romp that is reminiscent of some of the more indulgent DC plots. In short: creative and crazy.
Despite being a rather dark story (it opens with a brutal murder), there are quite a few amusing moments. The time-line here is early Batman, and the idea behind this was to demonstrate how Batman got a lot of his more high-tech toys and how he learnt to come to a fight equipped for any eventuality. Also in Rules of Engagement: how Batman got the Batplane. -
Starts off really interesting and I was on board...even if the art was awful. But by the end of issue 1 we go from Batman trying to do better as a hero and clean up the streets of Gotham to a huge battle with Lex and I really don't give two shits about this...booooooooooooooooooooring.
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Batman has to go up against the infamous Lex Luthor not only as himself but also as his alter ego, Bruce Wayne.
MY GRADE: B. -
Lex Luthor steps into the Batman world as LexCorp and Wayne Industries both vie for a military contract to manufacture robot soldiers. Through some underhand dealings Luthor is able to win the contract but soon things start to go terribly wrong and soon not just Wayne Industries but the entire country will soon regret giving Luthor the upper hand…
I liked Andy Diggle’s “Green Arrow: Year One” but thought this book was too simplistic a story for Batman and kind of patronising. Lex is written as a one-dimensional Bond villain who wants to take over the world (really), while nobody seems to question Bruce Wayne’s public persona of non-caring playboy to suddenly becoming involved in presentations of complex scientific data to the military. The way Batman defeats Lex’s robots (who inevitably go evil – and by the way, robots, really?) is also very quick and easy making all the build-up kind of pointless. The artwork is really weird too, Batman doesn’t look like Batman, Lex’s eyes have way too much shadowing around them making him look like a racoon, and the batarangs look really odd too like giant discus’ rather than slim and sharp ninja style throwing daggers. And while I appreciate this is a Batman book, usually when Lex pulls this kind of stuff Superman shows up, so where was he this time? No mention of the man of steel, so kind of a plot hole.
Overall, a very weak Batman adventure that doesn’t really do justice to these great characters and felt like a third rate Bond adventure tailored to suit the Dark Knight. Diggle is a decent writer but this isn’t his strongest book by far. Fans only. -
My enjoyment of the Batman: Confidential comes to an end, not because this was a bad volume - it was probably my favorite of the series - but because my county's library system only carries five of the eight books. Such is life.
This time around the Dark Knight steps into James Bond-ian / industrial espionage-style action-adventure where he matches wits (and bank accounts) with Lex Luthor and his merry band of killer robots. The only thing Luthor is missing in his villain role is the fluffy white cat on his lap.
There is a two-page spread in the climax where Batman charges his new Batcycle out of the cargo doors of a descending aircraft. It will speak to your inner ten year-old self. (Likewise, a scene where he is stuck knee-deep in a certain . . . substance . . . is good for a quick gross-out laugh.)
Lastly, there should be a drinking game for how many times Batman makes his 'war face' throughout the story. -
The plot is quite cool but the artist has something against drawing faces... Also the coloring is really tasteless. So I am giving a generous 2.5 :)
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The basic premise is Bruce Wayne's first real confrontation with Lex Luthor. It leads to some changes in the way Batman behaves as well as the way Bruce Wayne is portrayed on the world stage.
It's the first steps in changing the public "Bruce Wayne" persona from a sleazy, empty headed billionaire into a sleazy empty headed billionare who puts his money back into helping Gotham.
I feel like Lex Luthor went from regular evil businessman to James Bond levels of evil businessman who wants to take over the world way too quickly. It's also kind of weird to have those kind of stakes without Superman getting more than a token mention.
I didn't really like the art. Not that it was bad, just not a style that really appeals to me. -
Starts off okay, pitting Luthor and Wayne against each other bidding for a military contract, taking place about a year after Batman becomes active. The writing is a little sloppy though. Luthor's plan is a little too brazen, IMO and the second half seemed to be an excuse to have Batman go up against a bunch of robots with a rather cliche resolution. Also, in the dialogue, Batman says something that basically says he's Bruce Wayne right to Lex Luthor. Portacio's art has never been fantastic. His layouts aren't bad but sometimes his anatomy is way off and faces tend to look very gaunt. All of his designs and panels have straight lines at sharp angles or slopes. Strangely, the sketches in the back of the book looked better than his finished art.
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Story in this book is great but the art isnt really to my taste. The way faces specifically are drawn is ugly, however I like the way the batsuit looks in this. Thankfully, the writing is good enough that it doesn't detract that much. This story is about Bruce Waynes first battle against Lex Luthor and gives a bit of context about how his company gives him access to his awesome array of gadgets. I love that this book gives Lucius Fox, Gordon, and Alfred all time to shine and my favorite part of the book is when Batman creatively uses both his batplane and batcycle to break into a certain facility. Its epic! And without spoiling it, the Bruce Wayne ending is sweet in all senses of the word. This book has a bit of everything we love about this character and all in all I recommend it.
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Read this review and more on my
blog.
Batman Confidential Volume 1 collects issues #1 - #6 of Batman Confidential.
Set one year after Bruce Wayne takes up the mantle of The Dark Knight, Rules Of Engagement looks at how Gotham as reacted to the arrival of Batman and his continuing impact on the city.
The art style was reasonable. I loved the action scenes and how the majority of the characters looked. It very much complimented how the story was progressing.
The actual storyline was more complex than others I have read, although it was still relativity easy to follow. Both Batman and Bruce Wayne had roles to play with Lex Luthor wanting to take over the world as usual.
An interesting start to this series and I am curious as to how it will continue. -
This book is not great literature. It was alot of fun to read though. Batman Vs. "World domination" bent Lex Luthro, sounds like a match made in heaven.
The art is very good. The artist really made Luthro look crazy and dangerous at times. At the same time the jet, batman, and the robots were cool looking too. So well done sir.
The story is interesting as well as it would seem to be another Batman storyline set early in Batman's career. It seems to be the timeframe of choice for alot of writers of Batman storylines. Still I enjoyed it alot. Batman had at least 2 "Die Hard" momments in this story, and those are always enjoyable. So it gets 3 stars for being fun, but not terribly original. I'm hoping future volumes are forthcoming and will be even more impressive. -
Top-notch writing brings Andy Diggle to the top of my "must-watch" list of comic book authors. The wicked pacing and judicious dialogue makes most books seem like they're wading through putrifying molasses.
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An odd Batman/Lex Luthor confrontation with no Superman in sight.
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Batman vs. Lex Luthor. One of the worst Batman stories I have ever read.
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A few years ago, I made a chronology for how to read modern Batman. I was focused quite a bit on creating the order, as opposed to just reading the books for enjoyment, so now I'm going back to see how the chronology holds up.
I forgot how terrible this book was when I picked it up off the shelf. Upon my first reading, I wrote the following review:
In 2009,
Chris Claremont began the odd alternate timeline series in the Marvel Universe called
X-Men Forever: Réquiem. The series picks up from Claremont's 1991 X-Men run, and presents the timeline as he would have written it, had he not jumped ship to Image comics. While it's completely ridiculous, it's a focused examination of the X-Men by one of the series's premiere writers. Batman Confidential is a DC series that focuses on stories from early on in Batman's career. It's written by several long-time DC writers like
Peter Milligan,
Sam Kieth, and
Royal McGraw. I included one of the story arcs,
Batman Confidential, Vol. 2: Lovers and Madmen in a previous entry, but Rules Of Engagement helped clinch my decision to not include any more of the Batman Confidential series as part of this project. If something contradicts the chronology it needs to be at least fun, and this series seems more an exercise in frustration.
Rules Of Engagement is about Bruce Wayne/Batman's first encounter with Superman's nemesis, Lex Luthor. The plot outline: Lex Luthor sets up WayneTech to look dangerously inept in front of a group of defense contractors, all in the name of world domination! The evil, hand rubbing, mwa-ha-ha-ing bald guy attempts to take over the world because he doesn't like superheroes. Batman, of course, takes him down in the end. While the story is fun, the dialog is...questionable, and
Whilce Portacio's art is trapped forever in 1991. This was the first book that I had to struggle to finish.
Story: 2/5, Art: 2/5
****
If anything, I think that review is too glowing for this book. I got one issue in, and decided it wasn't worth ever having to read this again.
I only recommend it for Batman completists, and people desperate for a Bruce Wayne/Lex Luthor battle of wills. -
Historia que tiene lugar en los primeros años de Bruce Wayne como Batman, en los que relata su primer enfrentamiento con Lex Luthor. Argumento: "Como dos caras de una misma moneda, Bruce Wayne y Lex Luthor son deslumbrantes multimillonarios con tenebrosos secretos: uno es un genio del crimen, mientras que el otro consagra su vida a combatirlo como el Caballero Oscuro... Batman. Pero cuando ambos pretenden obtener el mismo contrato militar gubernamental descubren que, además de todo eso, comparten un enemigo: ¡un robot asesino diseñado por Empresas Wayne! ¿Cómo es posible que una de las creaciones de Batman se haya vuelto en su contra? Para resolver ese misterio, el mejor detective del mundo se adentra en un mundo de manipulaciones políticas, asesinato y espionaje industrial a escala planetaria mientras descubre un intento de llevar a cabo un golpe de estado en los mismísimos EE.UU. ¿Sobrevivirá Batman al enfrentamiento con una mente tan lúcida y endemoniada como la suya?"
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This is the Batman I know. He stands up for the people who can't defend themselves. Also, he's not completely nuts. Given the Batman of the last 15 years, that's a good change of pace. This book was more fable and less psycho-drama, The art work was just fine as well. Brighter but just as shadowy. I will look for more Diggle.
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The "rules" of engagement should be consistency in story & art. Started off well, Batman investigating an murder and the conspiracy behind it. Then sometimes descended into cartoonish silliness (fighting robots!?) The art can be weird and distracting (dark sinister lines on faces & under eyes made Bruce look like creepy villian) Was OK.
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The art on this one was really not my cup, but the story was still very enjoyable. It pits the dark knight against Lex Luthor, which really works, since they are similar in a lot of ways. They are two of the most strategic and secretive minds on the planet, so I always want to make popcorn whenever they're about to butt heads.
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Decent throwback story but the art isn't spectacular.
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Didn't really grab my interest as much as I would have hoped. If you like giant robots fights then it's probably great for you
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I have been wanting to read a story of Batman vs Lex Luthor for a very long time. This one was quite interesting, but I wasn't a fan of the art.
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Normalito,
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Una història diferent a les habituals, amb un toc de ciència ficció i espionatge industrial entremig, i amb Lex Luthor com a enemic. Llàstima del dibuix.
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Creo que oficialmente es la primer novela grafica de Batman que no me gusta...esos robots gigantes no pegan para nada con el universo de Batman en mi opinión.
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🌟3.8/5
La batifamilia se entera de la boda de Batman y Catwoman!
