When I picked up the current run for Batman: Black and White two months ago, I first read the fourth and fifth issues because those were the only available copies I could buy at the time. I received the latter issue more warmly than the former, to be honest. Basically, B&W is a collection of flash fiction concerning Batman and these stories are drawn in pencil illustrations as the title suggests. I have always been intrigued with the concept of writing and drawing Batman in black and white like a Japanese manga so I was very excited to get started with it then.
This very first issue is composed of five stories. Familiar names from the credits have already jumped out once I started reading, particularly Chip Kidd, Neal Adams, Joe Quinones, and Michael Cho. I claimed that the fifth issue is my favorite yet and this one comes close second. In fact, the overall visual look and feel for this is the most impressive and dynamic. Cho, Adams and Quinones' sketches understandably stood out to me the most. The range and detail of their illustrations are just exquisitely rendered page after page.
The most notable of the three has to be Neal Adams' whose art may be drawn in lighter shades than the other two but is probably the most detailed of all. He not only illustrated the story but he also wrote it, and it was a social commentary that questions Batman's heroism and symbol of justice. It was my favorite story out of the five because it forced me to question again the limited scope of Batman's ability to fight crime. Sure, he battles a colorful array of deadly villains and targets and destroys organized crime in Gotham City--but how about the small injustices that occur in the daily lives of its citizens? Neal Adams' story gives us a glimpse of how much Bruce Wayne himself as a person of immense wealth can also make a difference beyond being a vigilante.
My second favorite story is the one about Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy as drawn by Joe Quinones, who is one of the artists for Batman '66. His visual style had a groovy vibe to it which suited the comedic narrative pretty well. It was definitely reminiscent of both the sixties Batman and Paul Dini's animated series, and it's quite an irresistible combination. The other three stories were enjoyable too, but these two are the ones I favored the most. I only hope the next issues will be commendable collections as well.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
This was a definite improvement from the last issue, I can tell you that much. The five stories enclosed were written with a more convincing premise and a fairly justifiable resolution. Batman Black and White as a title is supposed to compose of self-contained stories or anecdotes revolving around Gotham's caped crusader and/or his villains, or even his interactions with the common man or the garden-variety thugs he hunts down at night. The last issue suffered the usual faults faced by writers when it came to the flash fiction formula where delivery is often a hit and miss because you are only given a short amount of space to properly convey a story with a precision and this could potentially reveal the weaknesses of your storytelling structure.
But this issue just shows that flash fiction, when greatly nuanced despite its brevity, can leave readers with a sense of contentment even if what they read only happen for five to six pages (since this is a comic book, the visual presentation is considered; but in mere prose writing, flash fiction can vary from one sentence to half a page of paper). With that said, the stories for this issue must therefore be commended, as well as their collaborators.
The reason the formula worked for the five stories in this issue is because they focused primarily on what-if scenarios that were delivered with an awareness of the Batman mythos; especially on how Batman operates both as a crime fighter and a man with a secret.
The stories all presented situations that long-time readers or fans of the Bat have contemplated or talked about at least once, like how does the presence of Batman affect your average gangster; what other tricks does Batman have under his sleeve in case of emergencies (e.g. having his secret location discovered and how he would deal with it); does Batman stand for more than just the punishment for crime--is there any other way he could make a difference even just as Bruce Wayne himself?
These are a handful of scenarios that the five stories were able to tackle, and that is why this issue of Batman Black and White was insightful in the best way you could imagine, and has left me with a lingering satisfaction once I finished. It's worth noting that therein lies the beauty and challenge of writing a flash fiction; the limitation of the literary style strips all the other gimmicks a writer could employ to make his narrative effective. And when done well, like in this issue, it becomes absolutely impressive.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
* I'm reserving a perfect score for the upcoming issues but this one has raised the bar and set the standards for me.
This wasn't a stellar issue as far as Batman Black and White standards go. I tried to think about how to come up with a decent review but there's not much to say about this particular issue except that I probably enjoyed looking at the artwork more than the writing. The five stories presented were simplistic and easy to just set aside after reading. I suppose it's suffice to say that style was prioritized over substance. There's not enough meat and bones to the stories that would capture and hold someone's imagination for long.
I did, however, find some very cute moments in all the stories but the moment is usually fleeting, and as soon as I closed the book, I was not left with any sense of lasting fulfillment. I still have issues 5 and 6 and I am hoping that they will fare better. I'll be on the look-out for the earlier three as well. I've watched a handful of motion comics online for Batman Black and White stories, and most of them have been outstanding so far so I still have expectations that the next issues will set the bar a little higher than what was accomplished here.
NOT RECOMMENDED: 6/10
* You're free to skip this one but the first story Ghost of Gotham is actually worth a glimpse.
