Elseworlds: Batman Vol. 1

by Doug Moench, Howard Chaykin, Norm Breyfogle (illustrator)

536 pages, Paperback

Published August 6, 2024

About the author

Doug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok. Moench has worked for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics and many other smaller companies; he has written hundreds of issues of many different comics, and created dozens of characters, such as Moon Knight. In 1973, Moench became the de facto lead writer for the Marvel black-and-white magazine imprint Curtis Magazines. He contributed to the entire runs of Planet of the Apes, Rampaging Hulk (continuing on the title when it changed its name to The Hulk!) and Doc Savage, while also serving as a regular scribe for virtually every other Curtis title during the course of the imprint's existence. Moench is perhaps best known for his work on Batman, whose title he wrote from 1983–1986 and then again from 1992–1998. (He also wrote the companion title Detective Comics from 1983–1986.)

Moench is a frequent and longtime collaborator with comics artist Paul Gulacy. The pair are probably best known for their work on Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, which they worked on together from 1974–1977. They also co-created Six from Sirius, Slash Maraud, and S.C.I. Spy, and have worked together on comics projects featuring Batman, Conan the Barbarian and James Bond.

Moench has frequently been paired with the artist and inker team of Kelley Jones and John Beatty on several Elseworlds Graphic Novels and a long run of the monthly Batman comic.

Reviews

[Green Megs &Ham · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second half is where the collection takes off. Castle of the Bat was definitely the coolest one

[Sebastian Lauterbach · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of stories that feature Batman in different kind of settings, written in the 90s. How bad can that be? Apparently very bad. My rating is definitely on the lower end of 2 stars, for there is not a single great story in this collection.

Many of these stories show the reader who the villain is very early on, focus on the dialogue between background characters and shy away from any action. That is a perfect formula for boredom. No plot twists, no tense moments in any of these.

Let's take a look at each of them separately.

Batman: Holy Terror: Batman's well known origin. The only difference is that the church is in power. Batman meets other superheroes and tries to find the people responsible for the murder of their parents. It's very uninspired, but at least the ending is good. -> Mediocre

Batman: The Blue, the Grey, and the Bat: Batman rambling in the Wild West. Too much talking too little is happening. The artwork is ugly. This is an inferior version of the Wild West story found in the Justice League Elseworlds Vol. 1 -> Terrible

Robin 3000: I like stories with Alien invasions and hostile overlords. It has little to do with the Batman mythos and it ends before anything is resolved. Apparently, this was produced a decade earlier and not meant to feature Batman. In my opinion, this doesn't belong in this collection, but there's worse stories in this volume. -> Mediocre

Batman / Dark Joker: The Wild: The best story in this collection, solely because the writing by Dennis O'Neil is really good. It captures the Man vs Monster conflict nicely, even though the Joker cosplaying as Sauron is a little weird. -> Good

Batman / Houdini: The Devil's Workshop: The worst story in this collection. Written from Houdini's perspective, as Batman hunts a villain and his henchman. The villain is revealed way too early and Houdini's role in this story is being the utility belt of Batman. He ads nothing to the story, the dialogue is boring and the artwork is ugly. -> Terrible

Batman: Castle of the Bat: Another bad story. Ugly artwork and a reimagined version of Frankenstein. The story has nothing interesting to offer and the Batman mythos does not work with the Frankenstein and his monster dynamic. -> Terrible

Batman: In Darkest Night: This is closest to a superhero story and the type of story I would have expected to see more of. Batman becomes Green Lantern and more powerful than he should be. It's an interesting angle and the conflict with established characters is intriguing. Unfortunately the story doesn't have an ending and nothing gets resolved. -> Mediocre

Batman: Dark Allegiances: Yet another story where the artwork is bad, the villain is revealed too soon, the action is dropped in favour of pointless dialogue and the setting is uninspiring. -> Terrible

Elseworlds Tales of Batman sounds so promising and I'm shocked how some of these stories were ever allowed to be published. My recommendation is to stay away from the whole line, as there is nothing to be missed.

[Jeremy Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were some great stories in this collection. Some I didn’t vibe with as well, but some were some great one-shots and I loved getting to experience those!