Batman: Earth One Vol. 2

Just finished. What a phenomenal story. I'm blown away. I couldn't put it down. And I certainly didn't expect the multiple twists at the end. A must-read. One small complaint about the shipping... The book arrived with some strange oil on the cover. I easily washed it off, but I was pretty disappointed when it first arrived. Anyway, great great story!

I really enjoyed this and hope that a third installment is on the drawing board.I particularly enjoyed the Catwoman portion of the story that I hope is further explored in the next installment (I hope).

Got Done reading Batman Halloween. Saw Dent get acid thrown into his face during trial. This story shows alcohol being thrown into his face then lit on fire. Crock turns out to be good. Story was interesting. Can't wait to see earth one volume 3.

As a Batman fan, I'm willing (and usually anxious) to read any of the different spins on Batman. I enjoyed the first volume of Geoff Johns's Batman: Earth One, and looked forward to reading more. The Earth One concept keeps enough of the original concept to be familiar, but gives the writer more room to play and experiment, particularly with consequences. Batman falls right in line with this.

In the latest volume, Bruce Wayne/Batman is trying to catch the Riddler, a particularly vicious villain who is killing Gotham citizens at random. Throw Killer Croc into the mix, along with James Gordon and a slightly less passive Alfred Pennyworth, and Johns continues to create an interesting take on Batman.

Too often, the Riddler is portrayed as a joke, but in Batman: Earth One, he is a cold-blooded killer. It puts more of a desperation into Batman's hunt for him. Gordan and Harvey Bullock are also under pressure, both to catch the killer and for working with Batman. This makes for a good mix and propels the story along.

I enjoy Batman the most out of the Earth One series, and will continue to read them as future volumes come out.

Johns has done a nice job, and while I prefer the mainstream Batman, Earth One is a fun take on the character. I would recommend it to Batman fans, or comic fans looking for a different take on an iconic character.

I received a preview copy of this book from DC Comics in exchange for an honest review.

Batman Earth One continues to unfurl it's saga in the pages of this new re-imagining. For those not familiar with DC's Earth One line of books I guess it'd be comparable to DC's 90's venture, "Elseworlds" or Marvel Comics' "Ultimate-verse". Basically making it casual reader friendly & alluring to non comic readers not familiar with these characters. This sits outside of the regular & usually vast Batman line of monthly books making this a perfect jumping on point for new readers.What I personally really love about Earth One is that they're stand alone story's presented in that old school, graphic novel one shot format. Like Superman Earth One, the Batman found here is very much influenced by the recent films so it's got that gritty & grounded feel to it with many of the supporting characters re-imagined like Alfred, The Riddler, & Harvey Bullock to name a few. This isn't unlike Frank Miller's Batman: Year One but this is Geoff John's & Gary Frank's vision of the dark knight's humble beginnings & I look forward to their next chapter.

The return of Batman as played by rich Dave Lizewski. The Earth One Batman for those who haven't read the first volume is a rich guy who doesn't receive training from around the world instead working with his bodyguard/butler and deciding to dress up as a bat to fight crime. His intellect and gadgets are nowhere near the level of the Batman that is more commonly known but by God he is giving it his all.

Here in Volume 2 Batman and Detective Gordon have survived going head to head with Mayor Penguin and Birthday Boy. The main driving force of the book is trying to figure out who has taken over for Penguin now that he is out of the picture. The Riddler as teased at the end of volume 1 is the main villain while Batgirl who was teased has gone off to college. Riddler did have some fun riddles that made me sit back a think for a bit. Other notable Batman characters to show up are Harvey Dent and a certain frisky feline. Killer Croc pops up as a circus freak who just wants to be left alone and will even help you out if you will leave and not hurt him. Gordon and Harvey aren't quite as fun as the first book but this is more focused on Harvey getting pushed to the back as Batman and Gordon start hanging out.

Just as the last volume the art is top notch. I'm guessing if they ever do a volume 3 and lord knows how long that will take, it will focus on Batman and Catwoman's first encounter as well as the debut of Batgirl.

Amazing twists! I loved this! This re-imagining of Batman is so much fun! Alfred is a bit of a Cockney thug and he and Bruce are at odds on the methods Batman should be using. One of my favourite villains is introduced, Killer Croc, and in this version he's just a poor misunderstood guy suffering from ichthyosis. I've never been a fan of The Riddler but he's the main villain in this volume and when we finally get a look at him, all I can say is wow! Gary Frank presents us with, not some dude in a green suit but, the most psychopathic looking Riddler ever to grace the page. Harvey and Jessica Dent are working on the side of justice but as the book closes we are given a sneak peek at Two-Face and the brief hint at the new re-imagining of this villain is beyond brilliant. Plus to cap it all off the book ends with a fabulous spread introducing the villain who will be terrorizing Gotham in Volume 3. Hold on to your seats, this is a glorious ride! Loved it!

Title: Batman: Earth One Vol. 2 (OGN)
Publisher: DC
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artists: Gary Frank (pencils), Jon Sibal (inks), Brad Anderson (colors), Gary Frank (covers)
Price: $24.99

For the uninitiated, the Earth One books are sort of like DC’s version of the Marvel Ultimate universe of characters. The stories are a relaunch of several of DC’s flagship characters in a new continuity-free universe. Many of the supporting characters from the original series are introduced in these books, as well – often with dramatic differences.

While I really appreciate the whole idea behind these books, I do have a few considerable problems with them:

1. They are overpriced. DC, of course, packages this product in a slick HC format with the best paper, but the books aren’t overly thick with content. At best, you’re looking at a length equal to that of a five-issue TPB. Shelling out $25 for a book of this size is going to seem unreasonable to most customers.

2. The length of time between releases is too long. One book a year? If you want people to even remember or care about this new universe you are creating, you need to have more frequent releases than that! Marvel may have had a spotty release schedule when they launched their Ultimate universe, but at least they put out 9 issues a year or so, and the flow increased as time went along.

3. So far, the writing hasn’t been BETTER than that in the regular DC universe. Sure, the writers are putting out some interesting stuff, but there isn’t anything there to really grab me and make me say “Wow!” The writing in many of the mainstream DC books is better than that in these “premium” books.

As you might expect, this second volume of the series picks up almost immediately where the first one left off. The book doesn’t have a good flow at the start. You would think that after a year of development time, things wouldn’t be so choppy, but it is what it is. The book gets better at the story progresses, and in the story we are introduced to several more familiar faces/names from Gotham City: Killer Croc, The Riddler, and Catwoman. The bulk of the story focuses on Riddler, but I have to say that I liked Riddler from the New 52 Batman series far better than this one. Killer Croc is definitely not what you expect, and Catwoman is a tease (no pun intended) more than anything.

Gary Frank’s art is as good as ever, and the inks are perfect. Colors by Anderson are good, but could have been a bit better in some areas. Again, when you have a whole year to get a book done, the expectation is sky high, but this book didn’t exactly deliver on all counts.

I’m not saying this book is bad, by any stretch. It’s a good book that is definitely worth a read. All I’m saying is that it isn’t worth the price of admission, and it failed to meet my expectations.

Writing: 7/10
Artwork: 9/10
Cool Factor: 9/10
Value: 5/10

Overall: 7.5/10

In Batman Earth One Volume 2, veteran DC Comics writer Geoff Johns offers an intriguing, gripping and intelligent sequel to his Batman Earth One. One I picked it up I literally could barely put it down until I had finished reading it.

Volume 2 features a fresh take on three familiar Batman villains plus a special guest appearance by a fourth—not including the fresh take on Oswald Cobblepot that we saw in Volume 1. We also see substantial development of both Batman and Jim Gordon toward the familiar characters we know and love.

I have only one criticism, and it’s one of only two I had of the first volume: the book is too short. Once again too I think I can safely say that Johns wove in elements that virtually guarantee that he can give us a sequel. :-)

Johns has pulled a coup in Volume 2 by actually outdoing the outstanding Volume 1. Bravo! :-)

I am loving the Johns/Frank version of The Batman. This story brings new and refreshing versions of the Riddler, Killer Croc, Two-Face, and Catwoman; I especially liked the take on the Riddler who has been among my least favorite Batman villains. Also, Alfred, James Gordon and Harvey Bullock continue to grow and develop in interesting ways. The story is dark, grim and gritty but doesn't go over the top into darkness.
A highly recommended series.

This is the sequel to Batman Earth One, volume one, which began as another retelling of Batman’s origin and the first adventure of Batman. Here in this volume the Batman takes on the villain known as the Riddler. I enjoyed this story but didn’t think there was anything that made it stand out among other comic books on Batman.

(Spoilers) I like Earth One Batman Volume 2. It defiantly was a step up from Volume One.

What I like:
-It was good to see Bruce improve as a character
-It was interesting to see Bruce relationships improve with Jim
-Harvey Bullock was cool

What I didn't like:
-Didn't care for the whole Two-Face twist, it wasn't that intresting
-I didn't feel like Riddler was a strong villain. He was just there and his riddles were lame

To look forward to:
-Catwoman
-Batcave
-Batmobile

Overall it was a fun read I did enjoy it.

One of my biggest criticisms of the first book was how it seemed to go out of its way to portray Batman as amaturish and immature. Thankfully they pulled back on this quite a bit, and present him as more of the batman we know from the comics. It also features a really scary take on the riddler, presenting him as more of a "terrorist" than before. It also takes some interesting deviations with other characters from the comics, which I thinks opens up some cool possibilities for the future. While the first book left me a little apprehensive about the sequel, my confidence has been fully restored for the next chapter in this story.