Title: Batman.
Story-Arc: Preludes to the Wedding.
Writer(s): Tim Seeley & Tom King.
Illustrator(s): Javier Fernandez, Minkyu Jung, Travis Moore, Bradley Walker & Sami Basri.
Publisher: DC Comics.
Format: Paperback.
Release Date: September 11th 2018.
Pages: 144.
Genre(s): Comics, Science-Fiction.
ISBN13: 9781401286545.
My Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆.
While Batman and Catwoman might be just days from walking down the aisle and from going on one of the most special journeys they could ever live to enjoy, the Gotham underworld are far from ready to let this kind of happiness exist within their territory. After all, who would have actually thought that a wedding between these two could ever happen in peace? With a whole array of villains ready to jump on any opportunity to ruin a good moment, it was only a matter of time before things got out of hand and evil plots were unleashed to wreak havoc. But that doesn’t mean that there’s no one in Gotham to intervene and act as guardian angels for the Caped Crusader.
This collection features five one-shot stories all written by Tim Seeley with the help of various different artists. They each feature a battle between two characters and has the integrity of the upcoming wedding as the main connecting element. The first story puts Damian Wayne up against his grand-father Ra’s Al Ghul as he attempts to recruit his grandchild into his family business, while sowing the seed of doubt in Damian’s future within the soon-to-be new family. The second story features Nightwing as he is tossed into an unexpected battle against Hush who continues to suffer an identity crisis and brings Nightwing to live through the same existential questions. The third story has Batgirl going up against the Riddler as he makes her go through several riddles that has a bunch of innocent people’s lives at stake. The fourth story puts Red Hood on a mission to stop Anarky from achieving the chaos he wishes to bring forth right before the wedding. The final story is an interesting twist that has Harley Quinn going up against the Joker in order to stop him from ruining her friend’s wedding.
While Tom King isn’t the writer behind these stories, one of his stories is still inserted at the beginning of the collection and is undoubtedly the best story in the bunch. This story called “Your Big Day” was featured in the highly praised DC Nation #0 and has Tom King, with his trusted artist-friend Clay Mann, draw up a frightening and ridiculously beautiful moment between Joker and a clueless resident of Gotham. By bringing into play a Joker who is simultaneously composed and out of his mind, this creative team successfully showcase Joker’s unpredictable and volatile nature in a brilliant fashion. The story essentially comes down to the Joker waiting for an invitation for Batman and Catwoman’s wedding, while psychologically torturing this innocent resident. I can assure you that this story will send chills down your spine. It’s just that good.
The rest of the one-shots were minimally entertaining and had decent art, but they never truly went in any creative direction. Clearly, the goal of this collection was to hype up the impending wedding in the main Batman series (and get a couple of extra bucks out of fans). Often characters were also going on and on, almost as if they were on a soliloquy. The lengthy dialogues for some characters made it hard to find them authentic, especially when you’re drawing upon an event and characters built up by Tom King, who never made his characters say more than 10 words per panel. These inconsistencies made it hard to truly find yourself invested in the stories. The only way to enjoy these were to look at this collection as that magazine you pick up as you wait for the number on your ticket to pop up before it’s your turn to the main event.
Batman: Preludes to the Wedding is still a fun and quick read, but is far from being a quintessential volume in the bigger scheme of things. There’s nothing truly consequential in this volume, but at least there’s the little Tom King story that keeps this volume standing on two feet.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for sending me a copy for review!
Roars and Echoes 
I really enjoy reading your reviews of comics. You’re always very insightful and knowledgeable which [I’m sure] is very helpful to comic book readers when choosing whether to get them.
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Thank you for your kind words, sir. I do hope that these reviews are beneficial to those comic book readers, but also to non-comic book readers by inciting them to explore the genre at their own pace some day. 😀
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So, whatever happened to Tim Drake in this Rebirth universe? I know he played some part in finding a missing in time bruce wayne as Red Robin, but is that character still around?
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In the main Batman Rebirth run, he’s almost inexistant as more stories don’t focus on his characters. I think it’s deliberate and Tom King is just letting the Detective Comics run play with that character a lot more. As I might have mentioned in my reviews of the earlier volumes of that Rebirth series, Tim Drake plays a crucial role in the big villain that the whole Rebirth era has brought into play. I don’t think we’ll see much of Tim Drake within Tom King’s world. 😀
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Got it. So Drake is in the DC world, just not this particular line of Batman comics.
Thanks!
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Yep, exactly. He could appear whenever he wants, but he hasn’t really done so, so far. It has always been somewhat of an issue that there’s two main Batman series happening at the same time. Since the New 52, the main series has always been “Batman”, while “Detective Comics” always came second and had its own stories to tell (while sometimes connecting itself to the lore through those “main” or “crossover” events). Detective Comics, before the New 52, was the main series, and is, after all, the one that started it all with Batman. The issue numbering for that run speaks for itself as it is nearing the same milestone as Action Comics did back in April (1000).
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Hmm…sounds like this one was a bit of cash grab. That’s one of the things that usually happens when a highly anticipated series makes it’s way onto the comic scene. Do have to say that I like the premise for the Harley Quinn storyline! Oh well, still sounds decent enough I guess. As always, great post! 😊
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Indeed, unfortunate, but at least it wasn’t a complete disaster. It’s still a “fun” collection, and that’s the minimum you could do when it comes to any comic book story. 😀 Thanks for reading, my friend!
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Nice review Lashaan, I was aware of these specials but I tend to ignore things like this as they never seem to really add all that much value (guess I was burnt out after Marvel’s Civil War all those years ago, where I fell into the trap of trying to collect EVERYTHING outside of the main mini-series).
Still, that Joker story from DC Nation #0 was GREAT and it does tie neatly into the sublime two-parter in Batman #’s 48 & 49!
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I am completely on your side here. These spin-offs have been nasty at times. The last one I did was for the Metal event, but at least those were worthwhile, even the spin-offs, in my books.
I’m just glad to have got the chance to read that Tom King story cause I didn’t order my copy of DC Nation #0 (even if it was just 0.25$)! I also just finished reading volume 7. Just… Wow. More to come in my full review in the near future. 😛
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I CANNOT wait to hear your thoughts sir!
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… Harley AGAINST Joker?? Hmmm… Don’t know if I can get behind that. I do like the idea of them all being done by different artists though!
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The thing is, Harley, Poison Ivy and Catwoman have a special friendship together, and they usually go by the name of the Gotham Sirens. It’s actually a thing, and that friendship is sort of the reason why Harley would get in the way of the Joker and his desire to ruin the wedding between Batman and Catwoman hahah
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Never heard of those ones. I do have a few Harley and Ivy comics, though. 😉
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Glad to introduce you to a new squad then: the Gotham City Sirens! 😀 Maybe someday you’ll cross paths with them. 😉 There are rumours of a live-action movie for them though. You’ll now know that it’s actually a thing. 😀 😀
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I really like the concept for the Harley vs. Joker one. 🙂 Too bad to hear the others were just sort of middle of the road. Great and honest review. I like the look of the artwork, especially that cover.
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It is a fascinating one, isn’t it? There a little bit of extravagance and goofiness to this one, but the idea is nice and merits appreciation. 😀 And yes! I love that cover too. So haunting and disturbing! Thank you so much for reading! 😉
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