Batman: The Ultimate Evil part 2

Batman: The Ultimate Evil #2

by Neal Barrett Jr.

An Adaptation of the novel by the same title by Andrew H Vachss. Weary of fighting exotic criminals, Batman has reached a crossroads. As wealthy philanthropist Bruce Wayne, traveling with a beautiful young social worker and child advocate, he begins to realize a change must occur in his life. But what? Alfred, his faithful servant, provides the answer. He reveals to Batman the secret of his parents' death. They weren't the victims of random crime, they were murdered with intent. Wayne's mother was also a crime fighter. She discovered a worldwide network of child pornographers, pedophiles, and pimps and left behind her findings with instructions to Alfred to turn them over to her son when the time was right. Batman targets child sex tourism promoted by a Southeast Asian country and, posing as a pedophile, makes the right contacts and soon finds himself battling the government.To document the real-life horror of this situation, a nonfiction article is included.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Dc Comics, Batman

46 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Neal Barrett, Jr. was a writer of fantasy, science fiction, mystery/suspense, and historical fiction. His story "Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus" was nominated for both the 1988 Nebula Award for Best Novelette and the 1989 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.

Reviews

[Kay ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Batman is still beating up pedos and thinks that taking out one sleezy pedo ring overseas fixes everything. Mediocre artwork with an okay story. Glad its over with.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The adaptation is interesting. At first it kind of jumps in and is disconnected and doesn't flow real well - like they tried to cram to much story into too short a comic (thought the book itself was fairly short as novels go). But, visually, it almost is better than the book at showing Batman/Bruce's inner turmoil.

My original review on the novel:

This is not your usual Batman story.

I've always Iiked the characterization of Batman as urban legend. Something about that resonates with me and seems in keeping with criminals being a "superstitious and cowardly lot". If Batman isn't mysterious and makes public appearances, that would take away from the fear he creates.

But this could almost read like the last Batman story. It pulls him out of the fantasy superhero world he lives in, and puts him in the real world, facing the real ugliness that exists there. And from that, I should think, there's no going back.

And I find it odd that after so many years fighting the dregs of society, he has this existential crisis and suddenly wants fight the lowest of the dregs of this society.

That being said, it's an interesting story, and well-written, though the subject matter is a bit dark. But it's probably good - more awareness always needs to be raised about child trafficking - even if it takes a Batman story to do it. And read the piece at the end, an eye-opening article about the child sex trade.

[Kamil Henri · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10