Batman: Bride of the Demon

Ra's al Ghul Saga #2

by Mike W. Barr, Tom Grindberg (Illustrator), Eva Grindberg (Colorist)

With Batman and Ra's Al Ghul once again adversaries, Ra’s realizes that he is in need of a new heir. With no human on earth outside of Bruce Wayne worthy of being the Demon’s Head, Ra’s procures himself a wife (an aging Hollywood starlet), determined to have a son.

Genres: Comics, Batman, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book

96 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1990

About the author

Mike W. Barr is an American writer of comic books, and mystery, and science fiction novels. Barr's debut as a comics professional came in DC Comics' Detective Comics #444 (Dec. 1974-Jan. 1975), for which he wrote an 8-page back-up mystery feature starring the Elongated Man. Another Elongated Man story followed in Detective Comics #453 (November 1975). He wrote text articles and editorial replies in letter columns for the next few years. By mid-1980 he was writing regularly for both DC and Marvel, including stories for Marvel Team-Up, Mystery in Space, Green Lantern, and various Batman titles.

Legion of Super-Heroes #277 (July 1981) saw him take on editorial duties at DC, while writing issues of DC's Star Trek comic, for whom he created the native American character Ensign Bearclaw and a pacifist Klingon named Konom. In December 1982, he and artist Brian Bolland began Camelot 3000, a 12 issue limited series that was one of DC Comics' first direct market projects. In August 1983, Barr created what may well be his most enduring work, the monthly title Batman and the Outsiders with art by Jim Aparo. Barr wrote every issue of the original series, and its Baxter paper spinoff, The Outsiders.

His other comics work includes Mantra and Maze Agency as well as the 1987 OGN hardcover book Batman: Son of the Demon (with art by Jerry Bingham), proceeds from which reputedly "restored DC Comics to first place in sales after fifteen years." This title, and Barr's work on Batman with artist Alan Davis have been cited by Grant Morrison as key inspirations for his recent (2006) run on the Batman title.

In 2007, he wrote a two-part story for the pages of DC's JLA: Classified (#47-48, Jan-Feb 2008), returned to the Outsiders with Outsiders: Five of a Kind—Katana/Shazam #1 (Oct 2007), contributed to Tokyopop's Star Trek: The Manga, and relaunched Maze Agency at IDW Publishing. He has also scripted many of Bongo Comics' Simpsons titles, including a Christmas story for 2010.

In May 2010, the Invisible College Press published Barr's science fiction/fantasy novel, Majician/51, about the discoveries of a scientist working at Area 51.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

BLEURGH! Nothing to see here guys, move on, really. I thought I’d turned a corner with Mike Barr’s Batman comics after being pleasantly surprised with both The Wrath and Son of the Demon - and then I read Bride of the Demon. And while it’s not as offensively bad as Year Two, it’s still absolute garbage.

Ra’s Al-Ghul and the Ozone Layer - Barr barely attempts to connect the two into something resembling a plot but completely fails so forget that noise! Instead, here’s a bunch of unrelated boring rubbish to fill up space instead: a dull scientist and his brat, Ra’s and an actress (she’s the “bride” of the title - Ra’s wants her to give him an heir because I guess Talia’s not penis-y enough?), and Talia and Batman’s corny relationship. Faaaaaarrrrttt. And that’s Bride of the Demon.

The writing is amateurish at best, the story incoherent, and the most memorable thing about this crap is Tim Drake log rolling Batman’s giant penny - that’s how retarded things get! The art is shit (shart?) and Barr completely fails to explain how Lazarus Pits work. In one case it resurrects the dead, in another it makes the old young again, and in other instances it outright kills. Brilliant. So it’s whatever the plot needs it to be! Contrived nonsense.

If you want to see what vomit looks like as a Batman comic, check out Bride of the Demon, otherwise don’t bother and I applaud your superior life choices to mine!

[Sud666 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This was supposed to be the follow up to the "Son of the Demon" graphic novel. I didn't care for it much.

An older story with the substandard art to match, it tells of Batman struggling with Ra's Al-Ghul and his attempts to mess with the ozone layer. Yep, you heard that right. This is the "Global Warming" story, using the information about a hole in the ozone layer as the basis for a Ra's story. Now, it is also a story about Batman and Talia.

While never terrible, much like the art, this story never can drag itself out of the cheesy plot/writing of the period. While the overall story is quite decent, some of the things made me roll my eyes. I will credit this Batman of using some cool detective tricks, but the overall story wasn't that good. The Talia-batman thing seems forced, and I'd have figured Ra's to have more sense. Also the "Ra's son" part? Dunno where that was going.

So an older Batman/Ras/Talia story. It hasn't aged well. Neither in art nor in story. A 2 star comic. People who like "classics" may enjoy this one. Everyone else? Prepare to "meh".

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

This follow up to Son of the Demon was a real turkey. There's a half-baked plot about Ra's destroying the ozone layer to kill off humanity. Even though that would kill off most everything else as well. The Lazarus pit is used as a fountain of youth, to restore the dead, and kill people in the same story. Barr needs to establish some ground rules and stick with them. The art is terrible. It looks like Tom Grindberg drew this in 1971 not 1991. The clothing and hair styles look extremely antiquated. This was very disappointing all around.

[Pranay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ras Al Ghul wants to save the planet. The ozone layer is depleting and he wants to rectify that. He has the perfect plan and will be using an expert doctor to help him in this noble endeavour. The only glitch in this noble endeavour is that in order to rectify the depleting ozone layer he has to destroy the earth and humans and start from the scratch.

Thankfully, the world's greatest detective is on the case and he has a few ideas up his bat sleeves. Talia Al Ghul (beautifully drawn by Tom Grindberg) is the same as always caught between her father and lover. Ras Al Ghul (very selfishly) uses the Lazarus pit to give youth and beauty back to an aging actress and then wants to marry her so that his lineage can move forward.

This book is bigger than regular TPBs and has a cinematic feel to it. It's a great adventure story featuring the Batman and a great addition to any comic collection.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This first appeared in 1990, a few years after Miller's THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS re-booted Batman, and shortly after the first Keaton movie re-booted superheroes in cinema. It hasn't been as highly regarded as many of the other Batman graphic novels, most of which were much darker, but I thought it was an excellent portrayal. It serves as something of a transition piece between the campy '60s and '70s, and the noir-Batman that became the rage of the last couple of decades. It's very attractively rendered, and Batman is still more blue-and-grey than all black. The story is interesting; Batman faces off against Ra's al Ghul and his daughter, Talia, and the topic of ecology is as complex and important then as it was now. Batman lives up to his title of detective in this story, something that has been sadly lacking in more recent years. The plot is very well paced, flowing like a mid-period James Bond movie, and I was overall quite well-pleased by the book.

[Dr Rashmit Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

the 2nd book of the Ra's Al Ghul Saga was one of the finest for me in the saga * with a rich story filled with enough action to fill your appetite and overfill it and Thrills that were very well placed considering the time the book was published in .

* Granted i haven't read the first book of the saga since i am unable to find in locally

Writer Mike W. Barr writes the story of Ra's makin yet another diabolical plan involving another attempt to make the planet earth better by bringing an wholesale change in the planet occupants and he plans to do it by taking advantage of the weakened state of the planet thanks to the man-made depleted ozone layers and meanwhile he also plans to make a new heir since his attempts to make Bruce Wayne his heir has failed and he plans to do so by taking a new Bride .

Mike Barr has made a really rich story emphasizing on one of the most not-talked-about crisis in the Human world , Pollution and Global Warming stand at the fore front of the story and make it an interesting read. Barr also creates difficult scenarios for our protagonist to handle and shows the cleverness and resourcefulness of the Batman in dealing with the said scenario . The art though well done for the time was a bit confusing at times and resulting in the eventual substraction of one star from my rating that said for the time of the book release Tom and Eva Grindberg have done a very beautiful job

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

As follow ups go, Bride of the Demon pretty much drops the ball at every conceivable moment.

I guess this was supposed to be a sequel to Barr’s own Son of the Demon (which was actually a lot of silly fun). Yet it never feels anything like it, except for the requisite names and mentions of previous events. Barr himself couldn’t even really make these 2 stories tie together since nothing in this collection does anything to make you connect the dots between the 2, other than seeing Talia again.

The art is also pretty much garbage. 1990 art wasn’t ever that great but here it’s just lazy, plain, and flat. Every character looks the same, all the action is basic, and the colors all blend together with terrible randomness.

As another reviewer also mentioned, the only good thing in this volume is Tim Drake rolling Batman’s giant penny down the batcave. Everything else is just, bleh.

[Baal Of · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not very impressed with this graphic novel, and I was wondering if it is just because I don't care for comics as much as I used to. Then I saw all the negative reviews here, and they confirm how I felt about this book. It's messy, incoherent, and kind of boring. The "relationship" between Batman and Talia is just embarrassing. Al Ghul's plot makes no kind of sense. I guess this is another to add to the pile to get rid of.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bride of the Demon falls short of Mike Barr's previous Ra's Al Guhl graphic novel: Son of the Demon. It's more campy than its predecessor, but where it particularly falls flat is with plotting. There is far too much going on within these 80 pages. A new bride for Ra's, a hired assassin, a few doctors to aid the Demon. All introduced within these pages, and all quickly ushered away as plot devices to leave us with all the main players on stage at the end. Nothing that happens to any of the secondary characters seems to matter much to Batman or Ra's, so we're left with empty dialogue as we make our way to the inevitable conclusion.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ra's al-Ghul returns and is planning on replenishing the ozone layer. Why is that so bad, you ask? Because in the process humanity will be destroyed as part of his increasingly insane plans to "purify" the Earth. Luckily Batman, armed with yoga breath-holding techniques and spray-on laytex face mimicking gas, can sucker punch his way to victory over Ra's at the latter's Antarctic mountain fortress. Talia al-Ghul, Batsy's former lover, tags along also in a see-through bikini and tries to tell the B-Man about the kid she had that she lied to him about.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Batman story. Ras A' Gul is the best Batman villain to me, far surpassing the Joker. Very Recommended

[Brunò · Rating 3 out of 5]

English/Spanish review:

This is a follow up of Batman: Son of the Demon but it didn't really feel like it. There's not even a real plot up until the last quarter of the book where Ra's reveals he wanted to revive the Earth's ozone layer. By pretty much killing everything inside of it. Yeah, pretty…ecologic of you. The first big part of the book is wasted on a scientist and his kid relationship (for some reason), Batman and Talia's unexplained relationship and Ra's trying to getting it on with an actress, rejuvenating her.

The art's bad. The only memorable moment is Tim doing things, the actress and scientist thing was shit and the Lazarus Pit is used three times, each time for different things such as resurrection, rejuvenation and killing so Barr does a terrible job at explaining how they work.

It didn't feel as terrible to me as to other reviewers while reading it but thinking about the book again it ain't nothing memorable, this might be it for me about the Demon's saga. I pretty much recommend just reading the first one and just to see the inspiration for Damian.

Español:

Esta es una continuación de Batman: Son of the Demon pero realmente no se sentía así. Ni siquiera hay una trama real hasta el último cuarto del libro donde Ra's revela que quería revivir la capa de ozono de la Tierra. Prácticamente matando todo lo que hay dentro. Sí, bastante... ecológico de tu parte. La primera gran parte del libro se desperdicia en un científico y la relación de su hijo (por alguna razón), la relación inexplicable de Batman y Talia y Ra's tratando de ponersela a una actriz, rejuveneciéndola.

El arte es malo. El único momento memorable es Tim haciendo cosas, lo de actriz y el científico fue una mierda y el Pozo de Lázaro se usa tres veces, cada vez para diferentes cosas como resurrecciones, rejuvenecimiento y matar, por lo que Barr hace un trabajo terrible al explicar cómo funcionan.

No se sintió tan mal para mí como para otras personas que lo criticaron mientras lo leía, pero al pensar en el libro nuevamente, no es nada memorable, esto podría ser todo para mí sobre la saga del Demonio . Recomiendo simplemente leer el primero y solo para ver la inspiración para Damian.

[Bob Solanovicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nešto što je počelo obećavajuće završilo se prilično antiklimaktično jer Mike W. Barr otvori masu plotlineova od kojih neki ne odu nikamo, pogotovo ovaj naslovni, sa Demonovom nevjestom. Šteta, ali sad sam već naučio da je s Barrom skoro uvijek taj slučaj. Dobre strane ovog albuma su odličan crtež Toma Grindberga koji jest neka verzija Neala Adamsa, ali je dovoljno fascinantan u pristupu da me držao zaintersiranim do kraja. Isto tako, Batman je dobro raspoložen jer je u međuvremenu, nakon tuge i depresije za Jasonom dobio novog pomoćnika, Tima Drakea (koji pak u ovom albumu ni ne obuče kostim što onda zapravo čini njegovo pojavljivanje nepotrebnim, ali ima par simpatičnih scena bondanja sa sinom naučnika kojeg je Ra's regrutirao u svoju službu). Zanimljivo je da se album malo bavi i ekologijom, konkretno Učinkom staklenika koji nam je danas i više nego dobro poznat, ali vjerujem da je, pogotovo strip publici, u to vrijeme bio nešto novo. Nažalost, Ra'sov plan nije dovoljno bio dijaboličan za moj ukus i čini mi se da taj kao glavni zaplet uopće nije dobro izbalansiran uz sve silne ostale, to jest - ne dominira, kao što to bude slučaj u stripovima vještijih scenarista. Sve u svemu, Bride of the Demon djeluje kao neki odbačeni scenarij za film o Batmanu jer je sav teret kontinuiteta odbačen u cilju jasnije priče, no usprkos tome, uvijek prisutna kemija između Talije i Batmana nije razrađena kako treba i očekuje se da je čitatelj s njome otprije upoznat. Kad malo bolje razmislim, trojka je možda i predobra ocjena za ovaj strip, ali Grindberg i njegova supruga na kolorima definitivno zaslužuju barem zvjezdicu-dvije za svoj trud.

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another Bat-turkey from Mike W. Barr, though he’s not the only one to blame in this instance. Whereas Son of the Demon had exceptional artwork, this graphic novel is a far step below. It has the quality of illustration you’d see in the monthly titles of the era — not in a prestige graphic novel. And that’s to say nothing of the continuity errors between panels!

Talia is a bit more developed in this story in that she has more to do, but Ra’s comes off as goofy as hell, a kind of low-rent Thanos with a worse wardrobe. There’s little things, too, that betray Barr’s misunderstanding of the character once again. Like, why is the Bat-copter loaded with guns for Alfred to grab?

This one is for completists only.

[Jason Waltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good continuation of the story begun in Son of the Demon. Storytelling really shines in the motivations/desires of The Batman, Bruce Wayne, Talia, Ras, Evelyn. Mixed feelings on this - love the old-time storytelling, not a fan of most of the art. Sort of wish this story (as well as Knightfall) would be redone in modern art/design - while keeping the original story and not modernizing that part. Seems we've flipped things last decade+ ... graphic novel/comic stories used to be stronger than most the art; these days, most the art really trumps many of the storytelling. This is a tale for true Batman fans. And fans of Damien.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mike W. Barr is one of those comic books writers whose stories either succeed brilliantly or fail miserable with very few that are just blah. I'm not going to say this graphic is total crap. I mean there is at least some mystery there... and the plot is coherent. He plays fair with the reader, you don't have stuff coming totally out of left field. But sometimes he just puts the emphasis on the wrong subplots at the wrong time. There is one subplot that is put in there just to set up the third book- which while Barr was reportedly originally going to be the one to write it, it eventually got handed to Dennis O'Neil.

[Ross Cudmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brilliant art, and Ra's is again a brilliant character. But this follow up is weaker than the original (Son of the Demon).

The story unfortunately feels messy and unstructured. The plot also feels very dated, involving a terrorist plot to repair the ozone layer at the cost of civilization. That being said the artwork is amazing and Batman is well written with some fun scenes breaking into Ra's lair in disguise.

[Renan Fontes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic Batman story with shades of James Bond that's grounded in mature storytelling. Ra's plan is especially poignant in an age where we can all more or less admit that mankind has killed the planet. There's a campiness to the dialogue, but it in no way takes away from the story's quality and Bruce is particularly written well.

[Gloria Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story isn't great, kind of a complete mess (the title referring to a minor side character should indicate that it's kind of confused). But the art is cool and after a bunch of very generic 90s bold-lines primary-color books, seeing something this distinct is nice and boosts this one up a bit. Ultimately feels very inconsequential to the Demon plotline which was already not one of my favorites

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good art and action, if you are a anthrogenic climate change aficionado, you may enjoy some of the theme, but R'as al Ghul has no concern for humans, only his plans, so his "gotta break a few eggs" method does not work for the Batman. Check it out.

[Romano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mis expectativas eran bajas, al final resultó ser una aventura bastante entretenida.

[John Funderburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun, James Bond-esque Batman adventure. I liked this more than "Son of the Demon," but "Birth" is unquestionably the best.

[Trevor Dailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems to try too many things at once.

[Ramón Nogueras Pérez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es deprimente ver que en los 80-90 ya se veía el cambio climático como una amenaza y les da igual. Aquí entendemos la relación de Batman con la Liga de los Asesinos, y el romance con Talía

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apprezzo sempre il lato artistico, narrativamente davvero poca roba.

Greta thunberg apprezzerebbe, vera figlia di Ras al ghul altro che Talia.

[drown_like_its_1999 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ra's Al Ghul enlists the help of an expert climate scientist for another eco-terrorism scheme in an attempt to improve the earth's environment at the cost of human life. Batman tracks down his enemy and again struggles with his doomed love for Talia while trying to foil Ra's' murderous plot.

The second entry in the Demon trilogy, Bride of the Demon is even more contrived than the silly first entry and is yet again carried by art and camp. The eye rolling plot and stilted writing at least make for some unintentional humor along with the titular new bride of Ra's which is the worst written female character I've read in a while.

Much like the first entry in the trilogy, the art is very pleasing and has all the detail in shadowing and versatility in panel layout that make that book fun to look at.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

What can I say, it's a middle of the road Batman story. Nothing too exciting, nothing dire that you need to read to understand things in the future. Luckily I found the hardcover in a clearance section at a local comics shop, otherwise I wouldn't have purchased it. I wish I could say more about it but it's meh. Which is mildly disappointing, I enjoyed Mike Barr's first book, Son of the Demon and I enjoyed his Camelot 3000 series, but this was kinda.....generic. The art's fine, but isn't extraordinary, more generic late 80's early 90's comic art. I probably wouldn't pick it up separately, but would say it's worth a read when it's included in the "Batman: Birth of the Demon" trade that was release a few years ago.

[Citybones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Este es aún peor que “the son of the Demon”. Sin animo de ofensa.
El dibujo sigue siendo antiguo, que tampoco me molesta tanto, sólo lo comento. Pero lo que realmente me parece ridículo de este volumen es la trama en sí, se nota que es añejilla. Todo el asunto del agujero de la capa de Ozono y el efecto invernadero me recordó enormemente a mis clases de primaria. Lo peor de todo es la solución que pensaba darle Ra’as, no entiendo como hay gente que obedece ciegamente sus locuras.
Tengo curiosidad por lo que le pasará al hijo del científico después de salir del Lazaro’s Pit.
Otra cosa que no tiene ningún sentido en absoluto es por que Ra’as pasó todas las molestias de devolverle la juventud a la que sería su mujer. ¿No encontró candidatas para ser la madre de su hijo sin tener que dar tantos rodeos?
En fin, no es una historia que recomiende, entretiene, pero no es nada del otro mundo.

[sixthreezy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty lackluster in comparison to Son of the Demon. This doesn't really do much in terms of introducing relevant plots (sort of) or develop any of the characters any further than they had been developed in Son. I felt like I had jumped in to the middle of something too with this, that I didn't have enough background information on. Not the greatest individual R'as al Ghul story out there, but may be better if more ground were covered before the story. I am reading Batman: Birth of the Demon collection and wanted to review this story separately.

[Trekscribbler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike Barr penned a few of the seminal works of the Bat, all centering around Batman and his strange relationship to Ras al Ghul and his beautiful daughter, Talia. If you can get your hands on these works, you will not be disappointed. While they do have an almost James Bond quality to the story, they deliver exactly what the Best Batfiction should: action, detective work, one helluva great villain, and a morality play within it all. BRIDE OF THE DEMON is well worth the investment.