Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

Batman Adventures

by Kelley Puckett, Mike Parobeck (Drawings)

The Official Comics Adaptation of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture.
A string of Murders
A lovs rekindled
An enemy returned
A hero accused
A duel of masks

Genres: Comics, Batman, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Kelley Puckett is a comic book writer. He is the creator of the character Cassandra Cain, the Batgirl who succeeded Barbara Gordon and who was succeeded herself by Stephanie Brown, as well as the second Green Arrow, Connor Hawke.

Reviews

[Jen]

You really have to watch the feature film to appreciate the beauty of the narrative, visually and sequentially. As a print medium though, this is more like a good summary. Plus, you can't hear Kevin Conroy's quintessential, sexy voice. Or really, the entire voice cast, all of whom are superlative talents, especially Mark Hamill (naturally).

[Anthony]

A pretty good adaptation of the film!

[cauldronofevil]

There are people - and I count myself among them - who say that Mask of the Phantasm is still the best Batman movie ever made.

This is the comic book adaptation.

“A String of Murders” starts with Batman trying to break up a counterfeit ring while at the same time Phantasm kills one of the crooks.

A councilman (Arthur Reeves) blames Batman for the murder.

”Such rot, sir. Why you’re the very model of sanity. Oh, by the way, I’ve pressed your tights and put away your exploding gas balls. ”

At a party at Wayne Manor Bruce gets a drink thrown in his face by a jilted ex.

Arthur teases Bruce for his taste in women.

Bruce flashes back to meeting Andrea Beaumont at the cemetery. Both visiting their parents. As cute as meet as you can get - at a cemetery.

We flash back to one of Bruce’s earliest outings. No costume. No them. Just skills against crooks who don’t take him seriously. He succeeds.

At home Andrea stops by for an unexpected visit.

Back to today, a crime boss is killed a cemetery by a cloaked figure that the bosses men think must be the Bat.

Arthur demands the police go after the crazed Batman. Commissioner Gordon doesn’t believe Batman’s guilty.

Batman watches Arthur and Andrea date.

Bruce flashes back to dating Andrea and meeting her father. He also meets Mister Valestra, a sudden appointment with her father. He makes Bruce’s skin crawl.

As Andrea and Bruce are leaving, Bruce sees a man being robbed by a couple of bikers. He takes one of them out but the other gives him a good wallop.

Later Bruce is very conflicted keeping his vigilante work going and having someone waiting for him at home.

Later we see that the councilman is also working with Mister Valestra.

Meanwhile Bruce proposes to Andrea. Who soon after dumps him.

Valestra hires the Joker to bump off the Batman.

Batman also distracted by the crimes of the Phantasm.

Interesting. It’s been a while since I saw the movie, so I can’t be sure of what I remember but I think they may have twisted some things around and certainly compressed it somewhat. It’s a good adaptation though. 3 stars

[Alessandro Gioia]

It seems this is an adaptation of an animated movie.

I have not seen the movie and I think that hurts the story a little bit.

I don't think the movie is necessary but I believe adapting a 1 hour 15 minutes movie to a couple dozens of pages of a comic book won't do it justice.

Anyway, It was fun and you can clearly understand the plot but I believe this is probably something to read after the movie.

[Kenneth Pheanis]

A good adaptation, but it could have been more.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm adaptation delivered on the story, but fell short on the scripting. The art was good and resembled the style of the film, but could have been scripted to be more exciting in the page composition. Overall a good presentation and an enjoyable read.

[John Schoen-McCullough]

I haven't seen the movie either fully or at least not in a very long time (so I didnt remember the story). This was quick, and felt abridged, due to the format and page length. I enjoyed this comic though! The art was lovely especially.

[Paperback]

Great movie, and the adaptation is fine enough, but it rushes through the plot without ever letting any of the scenes breathe or have as much impact. Feels condensed to a point of almost being a very basic summary more than an adaptation.

[Barrett Hall]

A fun quick read that didn’t blow me away, but didn’t frustrate me or anything. Fun action, fun villains, great character growth.

[Mati G. W.]

La película es un 10 pero el comic llega al 8.

[Moisés Vélez]

Lectura rápida, amena pero un poco liosa a nivel temporal. Me ha gustado la manera de ilustrar a Batman y cómo estaban escritos los diálogos.

[Dovile]

Comic novelization of the Batman animated movie by the same title.

If you can choose between watching the movie and reading this, I definitely recommend watching it. This comic is not bad, but it's quite abridged, also, the music and superb voice acting in the movie really help to get the emotions of the characters better. Besides, there are no cut/deleted scenes in this novelization. The art is good, really close to the series and the movie, although Bruce is shown having blue eyes, not dark as in the movie and the Batman series (although in later series he's shown with blue/lighter color eyes).

Not really necessary to read this, if you've seen the movie. If you want more Batman from the DC animated universe, look for original comic stories.

[Luis Reséndiz]

es inevitable comparar cuando i) mi lectura inmediatamente anterior fue mad love, que reseñé acá y ii) considero que "mask of the phantasm" es la mejor adaptación cinematográfica del hombre murciélago. en ese tenor, el cómic desmerece mucho: su narrativa es ligeramente confusa (como no tengo tan clara la película, me costó trabajo seguirla, y parece ser que sí, que es necesario ver la cinta para entender su narrativa) y el dibujo, pese a ser en esencia tan similar al de timm, sí desmerece mucho: parece más bien una mala copia (sin el dinamismo ni la expresividad ni el color de timm y su equipo). la historia, contada como está, parece una cosa muy genérica. le hicieron mejor favor en cine.

[Bryan]

Why alter the origin story of Batman and the Joker for every major Batman movie release? And this wasn't really that major, either.

Anyways, if you can get past the fact that Batman's origin involved a woman he almost married (never mentioned in any of the previous comics before this), then this does make a decent story.

And if you can get past the fact that the Joker's origin is tied up in this mess too (back in his petty thug days), then again this is a fairly decent story.

Actually... the Joker is pretty cool here. Much more in character than Batman or Bruce Wayne.

Maybe 2.5 stars at most...

[Angela]

Suitable for those who watch the cartoon series.

Someone is pretending to be Batman and killing crooks. In the meantime, Batmans long lost love returns to town. Quite a fun story, nice to see Batman having a romantic streak. The books a bit too short but a good read.

[Larry]

this was better than the last 2 novelizations i have read

[Jason]

I think I might like the comics adaptation better than the film. More to the point.