Title: Batman.
Volume: 3.
Story Arc: Ghost Stories.
Universe: Rebirth.
Writer(s): James Tynion IV.
Penciler(s): Guillem March, Carlo Pagulayan, Carlos D’Anda, Danny Miki, Ryan Benjamin, Bengal, James Stokoe.
Inker(s): Danny Miki.
Colourist(s): Tomeu Morey, David Baron.
Letterer(s): Clayton Cowles.
Publisher: DC Comics.
Format: Single Issues.
Release Date: June 15th, 2021.
Pages: 176.
Genre(s): Comics, Science-Fiction.
ISBN13: 9781779510631.
My Overall Rating:
Previously in the Batman (2016—) series:
Batman (Vol. 1): Their Dark Designs by James Tynion IV.
Batman (vol. 2): The Joker War by James Tynion IV.

Change is easy to imagine. Hard to bring about. Tragedy often begets change in hope of a better future but change requires more than just a thought. Without the proper means, the right convictions, or the necessary people, change is an uphill battle. For Batman, change has always been his driving force, something that he has always hoped to achieve for Gotham City, whether it’s through Bruce Wayne and his enterprises’ projects or through Batman and his crime-fighting routine. Unfortunately, there is always a handful of individuals who continuously stand in his way. However, this time, he doesn’t have much of a choice if he’s to help the people of Gotham find the light at the end of this dark tunnel. The latest volume in the Batman comic book series collects Batman #101-105, a story from Detective Comics #1027, and Batman Annual #5.
What is Batman: Ghost Stories? Following the devastating Joker War, Bruce Wayne must adapt to change and find new ways to protect Gotham City from terror and madness. Without the same resources or the allies, as he once had, he must look elsewhere for means to overcome this latest challenge. Although he must now venture into uncharted territories, he and his mission are eternal. Meanwhile, Clownhunter is still running loose in the city looking for the two killers of his parents, especially Harley Quinn who inadvertently lend a hand in their fate. Additionally, a new threat known as Ghost-Maker surges from the shadows, greatly disappointed in Batman for failing his mission. This new face seeks to instore a new agenda for Gotham, one that will make him its hero, a hero that will do everything that Batman wouldn’t to get things done.
“There’s no approximating that Old Gotham anymore… There’s only remembering.”
— James Tynion IV
It’s difficult to blame them for giving us a story arc that serves as a transition right after the highly anticipated Joker War event. Luckily, this volume has a narrative thread that ties it all together cleanly. Unluckily, the story falls flat. What readers get is a sort of exhaustive introduction to Ghost-Maker. It explores his crime-fighting methodology, his understanding of crime and punishment, and his relationship to Batman. His arrival also ties in with the newly introduced kid Clownhunter who is now Ghost-Maker’s primary target. The Batman Annual issue also dives into Clownhunter’s origin story, exploring his conflicted emotional state following his encounter with Batman during the Joker War.
The overall story is an average action drama where the only mystery lies in Ghost-Maker’s history with Batman, which is quickly addressed anyway. While a lot of his character’s raison d’être remains vague, a new face is always welcome in Batman’s lore. The chain of events is also quite rushed, trying to tackle multiple character development arcs simultaneously, whether it’s Harley Quinn, Clownhunter, or Batman, giving them all had a moment to reflect on their behaviours and what they needed to change going forward. Where it truly hurt is in the finale where a supposedly epic battle is brought to an end in the most stupidly stupendous fashion. As if the dullness of the story wasn’t enough, that ending made sure to give this volume no chance of being anything more than a superficial and inconsequential introduction to new faces.
Nonetheless, Ghost-Maker’s character design is quite awesome; although he does remind me of a cross between Moon Knight and Deadpool. He’s mostly brilliantly drawn by Jorge Jiminez on the different cover art but the artists in this volume did a decent job in giving him a threatening, a bit questionable too, design. The overall artwork does suffer at times from being shared with several artists, some succeeding in capturing a vibrant and sinister Gotham City more than others. The same can’t be said about the Batman Annual issue drawn by James Stokoe, whose particular style wasn’t as adapted to the story as one could hope for. That being said, the artwork channels the same kind of energy as the story: mundane and forgettable.
Batman: Ghost Stories is an introduction to Ghost-Maker and Clownhunter in a forgettable story of change and reparation.


Ouch, ouch! Mundane and forgettable? Lashaan, have you been eating chilli or razor blades lately?? 🤣🤣🤣
It’s a pity, though; seems like old Bats can’t find his footing at least since the fateful King run… or even the end of Snyder’s one!
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Hahahah “fateful King”. Too many ups and downs for Tom King’s run to be “memorable”. But Snyder’s one definitely was! But hey, the truth is the truth. I hope an upcoming story arc will prove that Tynion IV has some cool ideas for Bats soon… Thanks for reading as always, Ola! 😀
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After glancing through the pictures, I can see what you mean about seeing the influence of Moonknight on the character design.
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Yep. I feel like it’s inevitable nowadays, to notice similarities between past heroes/villains. I also know it’s still possible to create new characters with unique designs though. The next story arc has another new character that should be pretty unique. Remains to be seen how long that character will last too hahah
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“the most stupidly stupendous fashion”, oh dear that sounds bad! 😂 Great review Lashaan!
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Hahahaha you’d have facepalmed if you saw the ending in this story! Thanks for reading, Nicki! 🙂
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This sounds quite exciting! No really, I’m very, very excited about it. 🙂 Ouch… maybe next time’ll be a better read.
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Hahahah that’s funny. Well, I too am excited by the potential of this new Ghost-Maker character for future stories. Hopefully, they can make a classic story with him like most Batman characters have!
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Hope you read this and follow the blog🙂
https://sebs3a.wordpress.com/2021/06/25/the-caravaggio-of-comic-booklore/
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Kind of you for sharing but you should be more considerate about where you post. Put yourself in my shoes. You don’t say anything about my post and expect me to enjoy yours? Thanks for passing by.
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Great review Lashaan, it seems you are enjoying these Batman books less and less! I love your comparison of Ghost Maker’s design to Moon Knight/Deadpool, I remember wondering why he looked familiar! It’s funny, because I’m reading the monthly issues as they come out, this seems like an age ago but your review jogged my memory of this arc. I think it was fine, clearly serving to establish Ghost Maker. Stick with it, I think you might enjoy the next arc a bit more – oh an the new Detective Comics run is quite good as well.
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Thanks, Chris! It’s been so long since I really read each issue as they came out. I find it all more revealing in terms of quality and overarching plotting when I put them together as they intend to do for the paperback. It’s maybe why I weigh in more flaws than other readers? I doubt I’ll ever give up, always looking out for that story that will really blow my mind. Good thing there are other comics out there who still manage to deliver that though hahaha I’m definitely seeing this story arc as a brief opportunity to establish Ghost Maker but man did it feel like an average read in the end. I hope that next “Joker War” type of story will be coming soon. 😛
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…”stupidly stupendous fashion”…sometimes you just have to call out bad writing!
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Absolutely! Can’t shy away from criticism when I’ve seen so much better in the past!
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