Batman has been my favorite DC Comics character since the
great stories about him by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams some forty years ago.
(Has it been that long? Really? Good Lord . . .)
No matter how much DC manages to alienate long-time fans like me with big "event" storylines and constant rebooting, somehow Batman manages to remain consistent. He's still recognizably the same character I read about all those years ago. One of the newer creators handling his adventures in recent years is David Finch, a writer/artist I hadn't heard of until I came across a collection called BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT: GOLDEN DAWN. This book reprints the first five issues of a new BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT series from 2010, plus a couple of stand-alone stories, and I have to say, it's a very pleasant surprise.
The main story in this one introduces Dawn Golden, a beautiful socialite who was friends with Bruce Wayne when they were both kids. Now she's grown up, she's been kidnapped, and Batman sets out to find her before something terrible happens. Several different classic Batman adversaries wind up playing a part in this one, along with one of Jack Kirby's later creations for DC, Etrigan the Demon. There's also a shadowy villain manipulating some of the action behind the scenes. The identity of this mastermind isn't revealed, which is a little frustrating but I can live with it. This story arc moves along very well, and I enjoyed it.
The two stand-alone stories include one written by Grant Morrison that sets up Morrison's "Batman, Incorporated" storyline. I'm not a big fan of Morrison's writing overall, although he's done some stories that I like a lot. The other story is a vignette set in the future about the ultimate fate of the Batman/Superman team.
No matter how much DC manages to alienate long-time fans like me with big "event" storylines and constant rebooting, somehow Batman manages to remain consistent. He's still recognizably the same character I read about all those years ago. One of the newer creators handling his adventures in recent years is David Finch, a writer/artist I hadn't heard of until I came across a collection called BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT: GOLDEN DAWN. This book reprints the first five issues of a new BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT series from 2010, plus a couple of stand-alone stories, and I have to say, it's a very pleasant surprise.
The main story in this one introduces Dawn Golden, a beautiful socialite who was friends with Bruce Wayne when they were both kids. Now she's grown up, she's been kidnapped, and Batman sets out to find her before something terrible happens. Several different classic Batman adversaries wind up playing a part in this one, along with one of Jack Kirby's later creations for DC, Etrigan the Demon. There's also a shadowy villain manipulating some of the action behind the scenes. The identity of this mastermind isn't revealed, which is a little frustrating but I can live with it. This story arc moves along very well, and I enjoyed it.
The two stand-alone stories include one written by Grant Morrison that sets up Morrison's "Batman, Incorporated" storyline. I'm not a big fan of Morrison's writing overall, although he's done some stories that I like a lot. The other story is a vignette set in the future about the ultimate fate of the Batman/Superman team.
