Title: Batman.
Story-Arc: Creature of the Night.
Writer(s): Kurt Busiek.
Artist(s): John Paul Leon.
Colourist(s): JOHN PAUL LEON.
Letterer(s): Todd Klein.
Publisher: DC Comics.
Format: Hardcover.
Release Date: March 31st, 2020.
Pages: 216.
Genre(s): Comics, Science-Fiction.
ISBN13: 9781401280635.
My Overall Rating: ★★☆☆☆.
There’s nothing more reassuring than to imagine the world protected by our favourite superheroes. To know that somewhere out there, there’s a Superman or a Batman who secretly helps law enforcement take down the bad guys and keep us safe in our everyday lives. It’s only as we grow older that we learn that heroes might not come in the form of super-powered alien beings from other planets, that heroes are born out of an unselfish desire to help others, whether it’s by arresting criminals by wearing a legal badge or extinguishing fires that no one in their right minds would otherwise dare to confront. Unfortunately for one kid, his pure love for a superhero was envenomed by a devastating robbery that will trigger a chain of psychological events and turn him into an obsessive and mentally-ill boy. A spiritual companion to Superman: Secret Identity, writer Kurt Busiek attempts to explore a dark, twisted, and terrifying mind through a child’s love for Batman.
What is Batman: Creature of the Night about? The story follows a young nine-year-old boy by the name of Bruce Wainwright who happily indulges Batman comics, innocently viewing the world as the Dark Knight. It’s upon a horrific tragedy that strikes his parents that his life absorbs a dramatic shock that will turn his mind into a fragile territory for a nightmare like none other. Psychologically-devastated, unable to understand the unfairness of the world in which he lives and the lack of a Batman to help him avoid such tragedies, he desperately wishes that his favourite superhero would seek vengeance upon the people who dare steal his happiness, to cleanse his city of the evil and the corrupt for once and for all. Unfortunately for him, there was no one there to tell him to be careful about what he wished for, for now, a strange dark creature roams the night and there’s nothing he can do about it.
For this four-issue graphic novel to enamour the reader, there is one premise that readers will have to believe in: that the gazillion of coincidences found between the life of Bruce Wainwright (from his name to the insanely numerous number of characters who have similarities with Batman’s lore) and Bruce Wayne are original, striking, and plausible. If the constant attempt to link this character to Batman does not throw you off already, allow the writer’s attempt to reconstruct and explore the superhero’s personality and the universe to suffocate you with an unappreciative exploration of a superhero originally driven by sacrifice, justice, retribution, and hope. There is simply no love for Batman here.
This is a story that disapproves of the hero and voices a statement on the hero’s toxicity to people and society. The story also suffers greatly from the character’s obsession with fixing the unfairness that he suffers in his life. Many subplots are poorly developed and rarely ever manage to capture the reader’s attention by continuously bombarding the same ideas whilst building up the almost inevitable and obvious plot twist. There’s simply no moral to this story that could impress the reader beyond establishing that the idea of Batman is a delusional projection of our inability to protect ourselves from danger.
While the story might not have worked as well as I’d hoped it did, the artwork by John Paul Leon is quite remarkable. Channeling his inner David Mazzucchelli (Batman: Year One), he brilliantly draws Boston in the same vein as Gotham while capturing the darkness that it is engulfed in. The shadow work that is crucial to the storyline is also perfectly executed, allowing the story to bring out the dual-tonality that is often associated with the character. This representation of good and evil, through light and darkness, allows for an immersive experience that also gives us the opportunity to immediately understand the parallels between Bruce Wainwright and Bruce Wayne, beyond the obnoxious and obvious characters incorporated into the narrative.
Batman: Creature of the Night is a poor attempt to explore a fan’s love for Batman following a derivative tragedy that will send him down a dangerous path.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for sending me a copy for review!
Roars and Echoes 
Fab review Lashaan!
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Thank you so much, Nicki! I appreciate it. 😀
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Well, despite the fact that I think this book has a pretty interesting premise, it seems that the story was poorly executed and resulted in a not so good graphic novel. Shame really. The art does look good though, but well that’s unfortunately not enough to hide the fact that this is apparently not a really good effort😔
That said, slightly off topic: seen the new Batman movie trailer yet? That looks pretty good I have to say! 😃😃
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It really does! And I’m sure there are some who can overlook the issues I saw in it and still enjoy it very much for its dark and twisted take on Batman. I just wish it had attempted to do something differently.
HELL YES, MY FRIEND! You have no idea how insanely hyped up I am about it and a lot of the recently announced DC stuff!!!! It’s going to blow everyone’s mind! Mark my words!!! 😀 😀 😀
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Isn’t it just? I think it is really going to be good, and that it might be the first time that DC is actually going to put up a decent fight when compared to Marvel. In fact Marvel is in trouble with so many movies and tv shows that have been put on hold. It seems like pretty much they are both on their starting point. I’m definitely excited for it too😀
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Right? I’m tired of people looking down on DC movies post-Nolan. They aren’t complete garbage but they suffered immensely from trying to catch up to Marvel’s MCEU plan. Now, with The Flash movie, they clearly have a plan to fix that mess and start on the right foot and I’m all in for it! Time to get hyped up once again for Wonder Woman first though! 😀
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Love that scathing review, Lashaan! 😁 More of those, please!
I’m actually surprised you still have it 2 stars – I awarded it 1, and that solely for art 🤣
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Hahahah are you trying to feed the darkness in me, Ola?! 🙂 Ahhh, well, that’s probably because our rating systems differ in their ruthlessness hahaha My 2-stars usually mean that there was some sort of potential somewhere that was poorly capitalized on! 😛
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I don’t think your darkness needs any more feeding, Lashaan – you just need to stop being ashamed of it! 😜
Well, for the same reason of lost potential (truthfully, the additional star is for the art) I gave it 2 stars out of 10, which translates into 1/5 anyway 🤣
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The perks of having a 10-star rating huh hahahaha 😀
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😁
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Great review, Lashaan! It sounds and looks interesting. sad it didn’t turn out good. I also don’t like it when story doesn’t have impressive morals or nothing to keep readers engaged.
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Thanks, Yesha! It is indeed sad when the premise isn’t turned into a brilliant story full of memorable moments! 😮
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Mmmm so poor plot but brilliant art? Gosh you didn’t hold back anything Lashaan but such honesty is priceless! Excellent review as usual!
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Hahaha thanks, Sophie! You know it already! Honesty is the best policy. 🙂 At least this wasn’t a complete waste of time!
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Sounded like a premise with potential. Sorry to hear it didn’t pan out. The naming was quite brilliant though… Bruce Wain, right? So clever… 🙂
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Exactly hahaha And yes… Quite the name. They even made the exact same play on.. name.. within the story! You can imagine the facepalm that it invited from me.
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Oh, wow … never have I had such love for a piece of cover art (genuinely one of the best Batman covers I’ve seen) only for the story to sound so off-putting and lazy.
Safe to say, I think I’ll give this, and the dozens of unbelievable coincidences a miss.
Great review, Lashaan. Very well dissected 🙂
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Hahahah I’m sorry to have not come out with a much more positive review for it then! 😛 But, hey! Who knows? Maybe you’ll enjoy it much more than I did and actually find the direction of the story amusing, making that cover rewarding in the end too! 😉 Thanks for reading, Aaron! I also appreciate the kind words a lot! 😀
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I doubt I’ll pick it up … unless I see it a few years down the line, think the cover art is cool, buy it and then remember what I’ve got myself in for 😂
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Hahahaha reminds me of that bookworm nightmare where, as you get older and read more, you also forget what books you already own and read, only to end up buying the same books more than once hahaha 😀
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I’m living that nightmare …. recently discovered I own the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy … Twice 😭
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I hope they were different editions or something hahahahaah If so, I’m totally fine collecting those hahaha
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Yea, one set was the cheap-looking stuff that was brought out to celebrate the release of the films. The others are beaten and bruised and look like they’ll fall apart. So I suppose having a readable set is no bad thing
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Darn, I was quite interested in this as Busiek is normally reliable as a writer but seems the concept not only didn’t work but is actually an insult to our beloved Dark Knight! I like the sound of the Mazzucchelli-esque art (can we get more of that on the actual regular Batman books please, DC Gods?), surely the only thing this title has going for it. Great write-up Lashaan, another one I can avoid checking out haha!
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Yep, I think his take on Superman was much better conceptually than this one. Some might still enjoy this idea for Batman but man… I struggled to be impressed by all those “coincidences” forced onto us. Hahahah it would be such a huge move to go towards something more abstract and stylistic, almost old school after getting insanely talented “realistic” artists hahaha Thanks for reading, Chris! 😀
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