| Title | : | Batman: Gothic |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1563890283 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781563890284 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 128 |
| Publication | : | First published August 1, 1990 |
Batman: Gothic Reviews
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"Tonight I met the man who's been murdering Gotham's gang bosses. It was my old school headmaster, Mr. Winchester." -- Bruce 'Batman' Wayne
"What an interesting education you must have had." -- butler Alfred Pennyworth
Now here's a little tale that puts the dark in 'The Dark Knight' name - Gothic, despite my edition's 2007 copyright date, is a story that dates from just over thirty years ago that provides additional backstory beyond the usual 'witnessing the murder of his parents' trauma for our crimefighter. The hook here is that young Bruce Wayne once attended a private school where the aforementioned cruel headmaster was eventually found to be a serial killer of children (!). After disappearing for a number of years the man re-appears in Gotham City as the supernaturally-powered 'Mr. Whisper,' disturbingly murdering a number of criminals in the opening pages. (With this predicament the mob bosses actually band together and construct their own Bat-Signal to request Batman's assistance.) Again, this is one bleak little story - I'd like to mentally scrub the image of a group of possessed, sex-crazed monks tearing the habit off of a terrified young nun from my brain - but the stakes are high, as Batman's opponent is the personification of pure evil. Also, Alfred the butler is the volume's MVP - his droll asides and cutting dialogue inject some welcome humor into the proceedings. -
A modern Batman tale set early in the Caped Crusader's career; an early encounter with the supernatural (although, to be fair, the story starts in "Dark Knight Detective" mode with a creepy edge and continues to get creepier.) The writing has one-too-many subplots for my taste; it takes half of the last chapter to wrap up all the story-lines.
Reprints Legends of the Dark Knight #6–10, placing it in (original) publication order directly between
Batman: Shaman and
Batman: Prey /
Batman: Prey.
Occurs in the
Wikipedia-defined chronological order between
Batman: Other Realms and
Batman: Going Sane. -
This is one of the most ridonkulous Batman stories I’ve ever read. A mad monk from the 17th century sells his soul to Satan in exchange for 300 hundred years of life (why just 300?) without fear of injury or death. Later he makes plans for a cathedral that will capture the souls of the recently deceased who will be infected by the bodies of the already deceased plague victims he’s been carting about everywhere with him. And then, yes there’s more to this convoluted plan, he thinks these souls will be accepted by the Devil as substitute for his own and he’ll live on forever. So what name do you give yourself if you can live forever? Mr Whisper. Stupid, on all counts.
A few things, besides the dumb plot, really bothered me. The Devil granted him 300 years of life - not any other powers - so Whisper beating Batman in hand to hand combat is a bit hard to swallow. Also how about the opportunity Whisper has to kill Batman? If I had to kill Batman and I had him tied to a table, I’d get a gun and shoot him in the head. Not Whisper though! Have you ever played “Mouse Trap”? It’s a board game with all kinds of fun and elaborate constructs. It must be Whisper’s favourite toy because he builds one of these devices in which to kill Batman - and fails. What an idiot! Then he stands around telling Batman his life story which reveals, yes!, even a 300 year old monk from Europe has ties to Bruce Wayne's life!
The gothic romance sub-genre that blossomed in late 18th century literature featured mad monks, moonlit monasteries, ghosts, abundant death and the Devil, and they’re all present in this book too, so I suppose that’s why this book is called “Gothic”. That and the cathedral Whisper builds in the heart of Gotham, is built in the gothic style. I quite like the magical elements that sometimes appear in Batman stories so for that alone this book isn’t a total dud.
Grant Morrison writes this straight, there are none of the confuddling literary tricks or bizarre narrative sidetracks he’s known for, but despite it’s accessibility I still felt the story was a mess and Whisper’s plan just doesn’t make sense. Klaus Janson’s art was... very 90s. It was ok, but it’s definitely not the best looking Batman book you’ll ever see.
“Batman: Gothic” is Grant Morrison’s worst Batman book and is all too forgettable when you set it down. If you’re not into the kind of Batman stories that play with the supernatural, this isn’t for you, but neither is it for anyone looking for a good Batman book. I’d recommend steering clear of this and going for Morrison’s later, greater Batman stories starting with “Batman and Son” straight through into “Batman, Inc”. -
This was a weird story.
Batman has to fight this guy named Mr winchester whose a monk who sold his soul to the devil 300 years ago to be immortal and also he was Bruce's teacher and well he now wanst to evade the devil and is murdering people and is connected to some criminal case Bruce is investigating and when they fight, secrets are revealed and a typical goth horror shocking story is born but the end result is its confusing and meandering and boring tbh. I hated it and literally had to force myself to read this. Its all over the place and doesn't at all come off as interesting and the art doesn't help, its 90s art in a bad way and a chore to read. I would say skip it as its one of the least interesting Batman by morrison stories. -
"A man with no shadow who's lived for over three hundred years. Dreams. Ghosts. Murdered children and occult architecture." That's pretty much it in a nutshell.
It sounds interesting in theory, but between narrative jumping, lack of development, and Klaus Janson's clunky artwork, this didn't work for me. I've never found Batman a great fit for Victorian horror, and even Morrison, one of my favorite comic writers, can't sell it to me. And the when the storytelling doesn't suffer from those three points, it's either boring or underwhelming. At least for me. Tread lightly with this 90s one-shot.
An Absurdly Short Note on the "Deluxe" Edition...
This is not deluxe. This is a normal cheap hardcover that's slightly larger. An okay dust jacket, plain black paper hardcover, tight glued binding, and very thin paper aren't selling points. It's no wonder this is the only format in print. -
5 stars
Grant morrison is terrifying when he writes something great like this.
i remember the first time i read for him was superman the new 52, and it was really bad since then i have read his batman arkham asylum and now batman gothic and they are both really good.
and its specially amazing reading his idea come to fruition at the end, it always impresses me in a weird way since i see the pencils and i think to my self they look shabby and i skip them but i can never skip the script since i always think its so good.
i have written small bits and pieces on each issue in the single issues version of this.
read this people if you didn't you will gain new respect for batman masterpieces. -
Batman Gothic was written in 1990 by Grant Morrison. I think it was his first Batman title. I found this excellent Deluxe Edition to add to my collection.
GM drew from a variety of original source material for this tale. First, the basic plot- a mysterious person known only as Mr. Whisper is killing mob bosses. This panics them so much that they actually ask for help from Batman. Batman tracks down this killer, who has a connection with the early years of Bruce Wayne, and foils a nefarious plot related to the Gotham Cathedral. There that's all the spoilers you are going to get. This is a story worth reading.
Gothic is presented, by GM, as a "Romance in Five Volumes". The only connection with anything remotely romantic is the prevalence of Mozart's magisterial opera Don Giovanni. In the opera, Don Giovanni is a seducer and libertine (Mozart was inspired by the Baroque author Tirso de Molina's Don Juan character). It is worth noting, in the Opera, Don Giovanni is portrayed as a young, arrogant, and sexually promiscuous nobleman,who abuses and outrages everyone else in the cast until he encounters something he cannot kill, beat up, dodge, or outwit. I can see where this has a subtle connection with Mr. Whisper (once you learn about his history), but fail to see the romantic side of it.
While the character of Mr. Whisper has subtle similarities to the operatic character, there is quite a bit more inspiration drawn from Marlowe and Goethe's Faust. IMHO it has more correlation with Goethe's version than Marlowe's version (Marlowe's Faust and Mephistoles are more vulgar and comical characters). But the concept of the Faustian bargain with Mephistopheles (who gives Faust magical powers for a set number of years, but at the end of the term, the Devil will claim Faust's soul, and Faust will be eternally enslaved) is perhaps the main plot inspiration.
The other hint for gothic inspiration is likely the name of the monk- Manfred. Manfred was a dramatic poem written by Lord Byron, in which Manfred succeeds in challenging all authoritative powers he comes across and refuses to submit to spirits of higher powers. As is obvious there is much in common with Byron's Manfred and Goethe's Faust in the plot.
So if this is such a good story why the 4 stars and not 5? The art, typical of the '90s, is borderline execrable. It has not aged well and was likely not very good to begin with. However, don't let the art stop you- this dark story of Batman his own struggles with his past is quite good. A classy Batman story. -
This has to be one of the weirdest (and by that I mean worst) Batman stories I have read. Here's why:
1. It features a mad monk that's inclined to do nothing but evil for no particular purpose. It was mentioned that he does it to gain salvation, but it still doesn't make any sense. If he really wanted salvation, making deals with the devil is hardly the thing to do.
2. For a big chunk in the beginning, the story was centered on mob bosses getting murdered by a Mr. Whisper. Then suddenly, they were forgotten and the story moved on to a wholly different atmosphere. It went from urban-nightmare-gang-infected Gotham to drowned-castle-full-of-ghosts Austria in the blink of an eye.
3. Batman is an incompetent, idiotic person here. He lost in hand to hand combat with a monk and is an ignorant fool who didn't see the weird deaths of the mob bosses until it was nearly too late. And for a genius crime-fighter, Batman still had to ask a priest to slow down because his German was not the best. Way to go Batman. Oh yeah, he also got scared of his own reflection.
4. Bruce went to a school with an evil principal, who literally sucks the soul out of his students. I don't even know where to begin. It's cliche. It's uncreative. It has SO MANY plotholes. And THANKS SO MUCH FOR RUINING BATMAN'S ORIGIN STORY. Seriously, is it really necessary to connect this horribleness to Bruce's childhood? What was Morrison trying to prove?
5. Batman and the supernatural just doesn't match. It makes the whole picture become ridiculous and Batman as a symbol loses its meaning.
6. Batman got tied up in a death trap. The kind with a chain reaction thing. COME ON!
So for those of you out there who are looking for a good Batman story with some angst and horror in it, don't even look at this one. This was an utter mess to say the least. But to be fair, I still recommend Grant Morrison's other works in Batman. In fact, his stories are one of my favorites. -
Nineties art from Klaus Janson for this gothic/horror/supernatural-comes-to-Gotham story by Grant Morrison, with his typically convoluted, overwrought plots.... The idea is that Morrison is some kind of crazy genius but I think he's just out of control here, who could follow his plot, the story of Dr. Whisper, an off the map bad guy who has sold his soul to the devil, while Batman is plagued with horrific nightmares to fit the horror theme, etc. Why gothic? Oh, who knows? Why not, I guess.
The art is just okay, plot confusing... with Morrison's usual collection of insane nuns, literary references for whatever reason to Shakespeare ((Twelfth Night? why? How is this gothic?) and Italian opera...
I just read The Invisibles, volume one, which is supposedly Morrison's more developed contribution.. but I would say based on these two volumes, he seems pretentious, trying-to-seem-edgy for no really good purpose, over the top but not in a good way... I read The Filth and some other stuff a while ago, so maybe let me revisit him to see if I am being fair. Maybe this Gothic is early stuff, not fair to characterize his work based on this. . . but I am not feelin' it so far. -
Comics always confuse me in the beginning, but I’m glad I pushed through this one. It definitely took me for a wild ride, but I quite enjoyed it! This took some turns I wasn’t quite expecting, but it was a pleasant surprise. And the villain was absolutely psychotic, which made this even more wild. I also really liked the ending! Overall, it was a good time. :)
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Batman works very well when not laden down by ongoing plots and crossover storylines. Perhaps if publishers were to move away from the 'tie ever issue of every title into one big to-do so that people just have to buy them all' mindset and gave us consistent stand-alone stories and small arcs, sales might actually increase? I know I'd be much mnore likely to try a new title, or retry an old one, if I wasn't concerned with a year's worth of backstory or relentless cliffhangers and could just enjoy a short story.
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A solid but ultimately kind of forgettable tale from Morrison far before his Batman run.
It starts off with a simple call back to when Bruce Wayne was in school, learning his evil headmaster is actually a very bad person, and this bad person shows up in Gotham years later. But of course this is Morrison, and we have to get trippy, with eventually having focus on a story of Thomas Wayne making a deal with the devil and...yeah it gets weird.
But it's what I expect now days with Morrison. Simple enough, not overwhelming weird, but weird enough that it became kind of a chore to read at points.
But yeah overall not horrible, some great scenes here or there, but I wasn't overly impress with this one sadly.
A 3 out of 5. -
A supernatural horror Batman story that works really well. It's also not as convoluted as a lot of Morrison's other work. Also, if I already wasn't a middle aged man, Batman's "We are in hell, and I am the king of hell" line would have launched me into puberty.
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This one is so Underrated!! Actual Rating - 4.5 Stars!
One of my DC fellow recommended me this book. Honestly at first I was bit uninterested in this book considering how low it's rated here on goodreads but I just finished this book and I am absolutely blown away by this supernatural horror tale of Batman with the dose of fantasy and murder mystery. This was definitely a wild ride and so far my favorite Batman story.
Without spoiling anything, The plot is very simple yet very interesting and part of it deals with bruce Wayne's horrifying past in his early days of life in school. I really love the Gothic aesthetics of this book so much, this book nails in setting the mood and atmosphere. The main villain is pure evil and has backstory backed with ancient folklore. There are some genuinely terrifying and unexpected moments, even Batman goes to one of the most haunted and evil place of the earth to know about the past of his enemy. The dialogues and pacing is also very nice and it's so engaging that I finished this book in one sitting. The action is cool, panels are so cinematic and it has so many dramatic twists and turns, specially in the end. Also I didn't even realized until I finished this that it was written by Grant Morrison, so this is my first book written by him and I really loved his storytelling.
This book surely deserves 5 stars but I am gonna give it 4.5 stars because of 2 reasons : First, The artwork was super ugly, I know it was published in 1985 but still compared to other comics of that era, this one looks so horrible, all the panels are drawn so badly,they are filled with messy pencils, it seems like those panels were in early stages.
Second reason is they didn't explained clearly about how Batman escaped from deathtrap sat by villain. Like that was the scene where I really became so curious and excited to see how would he escape but they didn't explain it and showed him suddenly free in next panel without any explanation so that left me in bit distaste.
Overall This is definitely a very underrated tale of Batman that you shouldn't miss. I enjoyed every single bit of it, The artwork is bit ugly but this book proves that A really good story can save an ugly looking Artwork. -
It’s quite an exciting journey where fantasy and horror are blended together with the basic Batman formula of murder mystery to create a unique story that encompasses the surreal in a comprehensible scale. I really like the panel layout and coloring of this comic book. The cinematic quality of the art truly transforms the reading experience into a visual adventure. This story also earns extra points by showing us a fragment of Bruce Wayne’s childhood which was his schooling days. The use of poetry as sinister premonitions was also fascinating; not failing to mention the mystical aspect of the plot which makes it a rich and terrifying gothic tale where Batman faces a man who wishes to cheat the devil and discovers evil in its purest and most ancient form. There are great layers to this comic that are quasi-religious in a way but it can simply be enjoyed as a gripping murder mystery that has supernatural elements.
Though the gothic quality is outlandish, it somehow fit a Batman comic book nevertheless, enabling readers to see Batman confront forces beyond his control and actually see a side to him that’s not all vengeful caped crusader. I also liked the way the mobsters tried to contact Batman by shining an inverted bat signal in the sky. It can be likened to the symbol of an inverted cross. It could be taken as tongue-in-cheek but I personally thought it was a necessary symbol that helped established the mood. Gothic is supposed to reflect a supernatural take on evil, something that Batman rarely comes to terms with. The root of this evil is as dark as it comes for Gothic, and it provided a folklore as a backstory for the menacing Mr. Whisper. This was fun and engaging all throughout the five parts it was divided into. It has many climactic scenes and the pacing was executed with just the right amount of dread and intrigue. -
MINI REVIEW: the mob bosses of Gotham are running scared because someone from their past is hunting them down and this man (known as Mr. Whisper) cannot be killed. Enter Batman who believes it's only superstition at first until he finds out so much more.
This one echoes the old Batman stories even in artwork, making it feel very 1990s, and even though the copyright states 2007 it's actually a 1990 story composed in the “Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight” #6-10.
The artwork was kind of good. I find the 1990s artwork of Batman to be a bit off, especially when he's in bright blue yet trying to sneak around in the dark. Facial close ups are overdone, by the way.
STORY/PLOTTING/PANELS: B to B plus; ARTWORK PRESENTATION: B minus;
BATMAN MYTHOLOGY: B minus to B; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B minus to B;
ACTION SCENES: B; OVERALL GRADE: B minus to B; WHEN READ: end of September 2013. -
Batman: Githic collects issues 6-10 of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight written by Grant Morrison with art by Klaus Janson.
Bruce Wayne is having nightmares of his old school master when he returns to Gotham with powers.
I have made it no surprise that I'm not a big fan of Grant Morrisin. In fact, there is very little of his work that I actually enjoy. This work continues that trend. I feel Grant Morrison writes a full script, and then throws away every other page so that the reader is constantly confused throughout the story. There were large portions of the book where I had no idea what was happening. Usually I can overlook a bad story if the art is good. But I wasn't even impressed with the art. It lacks a lot of details and characters' limb proportions seem off. Thankfully I got this super cheap at a second book store so I'm not too upset I wasted money on this. -
I came into this one with pretty low expectations but was pleasantly surprised. The story is self contained and Klaus Janson did the pencils. Janson illustrated Frank Miller's Daredevil run and his style has an old school look to me. So this had an old school flair with modern sensibilities when it comes to violence. If The Black Mirror is Scott Snyder's Batman horror tale this is Morrison's. It's creepy with supernatural overtones and Batman is more detective than super-vigilante.
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A fun and spooky Batman story! Doesn't have the most exciting villain but it reminded me of Mask of the Phantasm a little with mobsters all being picked off one by one by a mysterious killer! The art seems to be divisive for some, as I see some here on GR don't like it. I enjoyed it for the most part, especially how Batman was drawn. I also quite enjoyed some of the paneling and visual storytelling. Overall its an okay read.
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I expected better art from the artist Klaus Janson who is famous for classic Daredevil stories. The writing was also weak for a hyped Batman story. I suspect it is known only because Morrison is current superhero fanboys favourite. Seriously overrated story.
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Loved the aesthetic of this one and even though the story was predictable as hell it was still fun. I'm usually put off when Batman stories leave Gotham but I'll make an exception with this one because it was both brief and interesting.
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Something that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since I finished reading this book is: who the hell is this man and why is he acting like Alfred ???
And why is Alfred here playing a petty villain?
That said, we can start with the relevant stuff: If you are one of those people who loves to watch over and over again the scene of the pearl necklace ripped from Martha Wayne's neck and the sound of pearls falling to the floor then this comic is for you as it explains why the Wayne family decided to go to the movies specifically that day.
Apart from that it should be noted that this is Grant Morrison's first work on Batman and it is evident since although this comic talks about the occult and things like that, it does not remove the boringness ...
Basically in Gotham a new (or rather old) villain who wants to do villain stuff appears, the problem with this guy is that he is immortal, 20 years before a gang believed that they had killed him, but hey! it was not like that. Now he has returned with a thirst for revenge and Batman has to solve his mystery before it is too late.
There are a lot of things I don't like about this book, but I think it's more important to mention the ones that actually I do like:
* I feel like Morrison gave a lot of time and love to this story, how Batman deduces and solves the mystery in a very Scooby Doo with steroids style was great and you can notice this man putting effort to the story.
* The part that talks about cathedrals, their structure and how this resource is used for history seemed very clever to me.
Finally, it must be added that Klaus Janson's art is one of the most representatives in the nineties comics and it is always a pleasure to see his panels. -
I, admittedly stupid, tried to read this book. There was only one reason that I read it; because I already had it. If you're looking for a reason to not read this, just know that Grant Morrison wrote it. Yes, the same shitty author of Arkham Asylum and the Return of Bruce Wayne and Final Crisis. For some, very odd and demented reason, Grant Morrison is seen as some authority on comic books. He isn't. He is horrible in every sense of the word. For instance, this is about a guy that makes a deal with the devil for immortality. He wants to capture all of Gotham City citizens' souls for Satan.
It is riddled with nonsense and stupidity. IGN has it ranked #16 in its top Batman graphic novels. They are dumb and stupid. Just like this story. And just like Grant Morrison. If you're smart, you'll avoid this like it's the plague (kinda like the one that the bad guy is supposed to unleash on the city at midnight.. how stupid and cliche). -
2018: Still three stars, but I liked it more this time around. Morrison certainly goes all-in on the weird, but the story is well done enough to be worth a read. It’s supernatural, creepy and very dark. I just wish it was a little less “out there,” because it’s close to being a classic, but it’s ultimately a little too ridiculous.
2014: I wish I could give it 3.5 stars because it really isn't quite a solid 4-stars in my opinion. Like a lot of Morrison's works on Batman, I like the idea of the story better than the actual execution of it. I'm not sure why I fall into this camp, as Morrison is a phenomenal writer, but I just do. Mr. Whisper is good villain and the premise itself is pretty creepy. A lot of evil, a lot of mysticism, a lot of detective work but not as satisfying or fun as I was expecting. -
This is kind of a mashup of Batman and all sorts of literary gothic tropes, from the Monk to Manfred to Porky’s…it all finds its way in here. Plus you’ve got all those weird melting angles of Klaus Jansen’s penciling and a burning nun. And a coupon for a small Wendy’s Chili, one per customer.
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Dark, haunting, and absolutely mesmerizing! Although Batman has one of the most bizarre rouges gallery ever, Mr. Whisper still manages to stand out as one of his creepiest villains! A brilliantly-told ghost story!
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Solid, if a little wonky. The allusions to Otranto were a nice touch, and Janson does fine work on art duties. It's a weird little tale, but as Morrison's prototype of what his Batman run would look like, it's a fascinating step back in time.
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Not a huge fan of this one. The art wasn't great but I'll give points for trying something different.
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Loved it! Batman meets supernatural forces of evil
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Want to read a fun 1980s Batman adventure? If so this story might be for you. I have to take a break from some of the newer Batman especially with DC Comics trying to bring in political agendas here and there mixed in with some issues that seems to be more fillers than anything worthwhile when all I wanted is just some good old fashion good story of a hero taking on a bad guy as a break from everything political around me. So while I haven’t read as much comics this year nevertheless I’m glad there’s 80s Batman to enjoy.
This story is about a villain that has a supernatural side to him name Mr. Whisper. Apparently he is a man without a shadow, but as the story progresses we learn there’s more to his supernatural ability than that. I love how this story gives us more information filling in the mystery of who this man is; I appreciate that since so often Batman being touted as a great detective yet there’s not as many comics with a mystery bent even as DC sell “Detective” comics as one of the popular lines of Batman comics. While this book is titled “Gothic” I felt it had a noir feel while also being reflective of Bruce Wayne’s own childhood journey. As the story moves along you see the experience of Batman’s childhood is important to cracking the case; I don’t want to give too much away for those concern about spoilers!
This story also made me think about what’s the difference between Batman and Mr. Whisper. At first seeing Mr. Whisper wiping out criminals seems like a good thing for those who think being a vigilante is a good thing but we learn of Mr. Whisper has a dark side that was first born out of pride that led to greater depravity and soon Mr. Whisper is such a problem that Batman has to stop him before the priority of fighting ordinary organized crime; one also learn how Mr. Whisper is so depraved that organized crime took it upon themselves to unite to fight him!
A fun story. I felt it break the mold of formulaic Comic book storytelling. Artwork is quite 80s but not bad. In fact I kind of like it and this style is growing on me.
