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The Batman Strikes #3
The Batman Strikes, Volume 3: Duty Calls
VILLAINS BEWARE!
No matter how powerful of diabolical the threat, Gotham City's Dark Knight Detective and his unflappable sidekick Batgirl stand ready to foil all of crime's best-laid plans! Not convinced? See for yourself inside this very volume as the Joker, Bane, the Penguin, Catwoman, the Riddler, Clayface and Poison Ivy all take on the Batman and the Girl Wonder in these seven stirring stories:
* Man of Service
* Break in at Gotham Central
* Prowler
* Sands of Time
* Hit and Run
* A Question of Identity
* The Greenhouse Effect
Duty calls -- and the Batman will answer!
(Collects issues #11-14 and #16-18 of the comic book.)
No matter how powerful of diabolical the threat, Gotham City's Dark Knight Detective and his unflappable sidekick Batgirl stand ready to foil all of crime's best-laid plans! Not convinced? See for yourself inside this very volume as the Joker, Bane, the Penguin, Catwoman, the Riddler, Clayface and Poison Ivy all take on the Batman and the Girl Wonder in these seven stirring stories:
* Man of Service
* Break in at Gotham Central
* Prowler
* Sands of Time
* Hit and Run
* A Question of Identity
* The Greenhouse Effect
Duty calls -- and the Batman will answer!
(Collects issues #11-14 and #16-18 of the comic book.)
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
32 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 13, 2020
The coloring and drawings are wonderful....muted, shadowed, full of mystery. The stories, seven comics, featuring a variety of villains for Batman (and Batgirl) to battle. Clayface is really gooey and the Joker looks very creepy and crazy. My favorite story was "Man of Service" dealing with Alfred and all he has to put up being available at all hours with no time for sleep, being the bearer of bad news to women Bruce is dating (when Bruce has to cancel at the last minute because of Batman)....Alfred doesn't have a life of his own and many times has to fight for his life because of Batman putting him in harms way. I found it an interesting tale about someone who's always there but not usually thought about.
September 26, 2024
Entertaining, but fundamentally a brain-lite collection of stories (aside from all the fantastic riddles and puns).
July 10, 2025
Quipy, predictable, and action-packed.
October 22, 2022
Penguin, Bane, Catwoman, Clayface, Joker, Riddler and Poison Ivy all feature in this collection of tie-ins plus Batgirl in the last issue.
Not all the best but all mindlessly enjoyable for fans of the show.
Not all the best but all mindlessly enjoyable for fans of the show.
February 9, 2009
This book seems to suffer from a sharp drop in quality compared to the first two -- very odd, considering that it appears to be the same creative team!
The first two collections of The Batman Strikes, Crime Time and In Darkest Knight, are both manga-sized and slender; they collect five issues each. This collection, Duty Calls, is a trade paperback collecting seven issues, and it seems like the "usual" size for a comic book trade paperback. I don't know what size the individual issues were printed -- if they were originally manga-sized, perhaps that would explain why the art is so bad!
And the art is unfortunately bad, here. For example, in the first story, "Man of Service", I found Alfred unrecognizable on the first page, and had to go back and re-read it once Bruce entered and it was clear that yes, this was Alfred Pennyworth. Then, a few pages later, Bruce's two eyes point in two distinct directions in the middle of a conversation. A few pages after that, Bruce Wayne and Ellen Yin appear to have faces drawn at two different scales, or possibly by two different artists, despite facing each other in the same panel. I'm picking out the worst examples; some of the art was decent. None of it struck me as particularly nice, though. Despite having the same penciller, inker, and colorist, the first two volumes look much prettier. I'm looking at these side by side, and I'm reasonably certain that they were originally printed at the same size, and either Crime Time and In Darkest Knight were shrunk or Duty Calls was blown up. It's a shame!
As for the stories themselves, they were still quite good. There are seven issues collected here but really only six storylines, as "Prowler" and "Sands of Time" are a two-parter featuring Catwoman, Clayface, and Detective Yin. Detective Yin is actually a big deal in most of these stories -- she appears in every story except "Hit and Run" and "The Greenhouse Effect" and is a smart, capable player. (I especially loved her concern when the Riddler threatened to expose Batman in "A Question of Identity". Except for the two-parter, the stories don't flow together much plot-wise; the common elements are always the people: Bruce, Alfred, Yin, mob boss Mr. Thorne, Clayface, and the familiar faces of the Arkham crowd.
The last story, "The Greenhouse Effect", was something of a departure from the others. While the first five stories were set during the first two seasons of the television show, this last one jumps ahead to the third season and a radical change of cast -- this is the only story featuring Jim and Barbara Gordon, despite the cover of the collection placing Batgirl so prominently. It's a wonderful follow-on from the episode "Batgirl Begins" and the relationship between Barbara and Pamela Isley which was built there, but might be jarring and confusing for readers not also watching the show.
Okay, I also have to ask -- who decided that the right way to refer to Batgirl was The Girl Wonder? Seriously? Especially when Batgirl is a teenaged gymnast with a purple costume who fights crime even when Batman insists that she should give it up and go home? (For those of you who don't get the reference: in regular comics continuity "The Girl Wonder" was the fourth Robin, the first girl to be Robin, who got her start in crime-fighting as a gymnast who donned a purple costume against Batman's wishes.)
All of that said, I did enjoy this collection and I'm disappointed that the rest of the The Batman Strikes run apparently won't be collected in book format.
The first two collections of The Batman Strikes, Crime Time and In Darkest Knight, are both manga-sized and slender; they collect five issues each. This collection, Duty Calls, is a trade paperback collecting seven issues, and it seems like the "usual" size for a comic book trade paperback. I don't know what size the individual issues were printed -- if they were originally manga-sized, perhaps that would explain why the art is so bad!
And the art is unfortunately bad, here. For example, in the first story, "Man of Service", I found Alfred unrecognizable on the first page, and had to go back and re-read it once Bruce entered and it was clear that yes, this was Alfred Pennyworth. Then, a few pages later, Bruce's two eyes point in two distinct directions in the middle of a conversation. A few pages after that, Bruce Wayne and Ellen Yin appear to have faces drawn at two different scales, or possibly by two different artists, despite facing each other in the same panel. I'm picking out the worst examples; some of the art was decent. None of it struck me as particularly nice, though. Despite having the same penciller, inker, and colorist, the first two volumes look much prettier. I'm looking at these side by side, and I'm reasonably certain that they were originally printed at the same size, and either Crime Time and In Darkest Knight were shrunk or Duty Calls was blown up. It's a shame!
As for the stories themselves, they were still quite good. There are seven issues collected here but really only six storylines, as "Prowler" and "Sands of Time" are a two-parter featuring Catwoman, Clayface, and Detective Yin. Detective Yin is actually a big deal in most of these stories -- she appears in every story except "Hit and Run" and "The Greenhouse Effect" and is a smart, capable player. (I especially loved her concern when the Riddler threatened to expose Batman in "A Question of Identity". Except for the two-parter, the stories don't flow together much plot-wise; the common elements are always the people: Bruce, Alfred, Yin, mob boss Mr. Thorne, Clayface, and the familiar faces of the Arkham crowd.
The last story, "The Greenhouse Effect", was something of a departure from the others. While the first five stories were set during the first two seasons of the television show, this last one jumps ahead to the third season and a radical change of cast -- this is the only story featuring Jim and Barbara Gordon, despite the cover of the collection placing Batgirl so prominently. It's a wonderful follow-on from the episode "Batgirl Begins" and the relationship between Barbara and Pamela Isley which was built there, but might be jarring and confusing for readers not also watching the show.
Okay, I also have to ask -- who decided that the right way to refer to Batgirl was The Girl Wonder? Seriously? Especially when Batgirl is a teenaged gymnast with a purple costume who fights crime even when Batman insists that she should give it up and go home? (For those of you who don't get the reference: in regular comics continuity "The Girl Wonder" was the fourth Robin, the first girl to be Robin, who got her start in crime-fighting as a gymnast who donned a purple costume against Batman's wishes.)
All of that said, I did enjoy this collection and I'm disappointed that the rest of the The Batman Strikes run apparently won't be collected in book format.
August 26, 2012
Been a comics guy for years. LOVE Batman. But this was just further evidence of the extraordinary awesomeness of Paul Dini in Batman the Animated Series, the cartoon that not only appealed to kids it nailed Batman as a character that has rarely been equaled even in the comics. This was just kinda sad by comparison.
March 29, 2012
Good quality Batman for kids. I grew up on the Batman tv shows, and have been reading all I can about him. This doesn't seem to be all that revolutionary or groundbreaking, but it works for some good Batman fun, and is appropriate for little ones.
October 28, 2014
I liked that we get to see young Batgirl and Ivy--even if it does seem a little strange to me--seing them so young I mean. I love that the "Joker" get's to ride Batman's car--halarious! Over all it was well written with a good artist as well. It just wasn't my favorite Batman comic.
March 31, 2011
another version of Batman...part of the kid-friendly line from DC comics. various characters and origins are updated.
March 16, 2012
I LOVE BATMAN!!!!!
June 24, 2012
GREAT BOOK.
July 22, 2013
Batman for Kids, based on the newer animated fare, not quite the quality of the Paul Dini series. Serves a purpose, but nothing I'd read again or recommend.
January 21, 2021
This book was adventurous but cheesy.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews