Death and the City

by Royal McGraw, Stuart Moore, Paul Dini

Paul Dini, the Emmy Award-winning writer and producer ofBatman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series and JusticeLeague, joins with J.H. Williams III, the acclaimed artist of the EisnerAward-winning series PROMETHEA, and others for this all-new collection ofmystery stories that will test the skills of the World's GreatestDetective!The Dark Knight must face the Riddler, the Penguin and Poison Ivy as wellas brand-new villains while trying...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401215750
• ISBN13: 9781401215750
• Release Date: November 2007
• Publisher: DC Comics
• Length: 186 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.6" x 10.2"

Customer Reviews

Great for those who love Paul Dini's writing

Paul Dini is one of the best current writers for Batman. This collection of Detective Comics #827-834 highlights Batman's role as a detective more than that of a superhero. I found the stories well written and the art is beautiful. Five of the eight stories are written masterfully by Paul Dini and illustrated by Don Kramer. The other three stories compliment those by Dini and are written by Stuart Moore and Royal McGraw and all three are illustrated by Andy Clarke.

Dini Has Does it Again

Dini has done it yet again! The mastermind behind Batman the Animated Series, Batman Beyond and even more famous DC animated shows takes his spellbinding writing to the next level in this intensely beautiful and interesting graphic novel. Not only are the stories filled with loads of twists and turns but the art by J.H. Williams III, another alumni of DC fame, delivers the characters you know and love with breathtaking art. This book will be worth the money and I'm sure you'll read more than once.

Outstanding

Having been a Batman fan for many years, I've found the Dini stories begun in the "Batman:Detective" collection refreshing. The stories return to Batman's sometimes overlooked role as the world's greatest detective. These are stories, tales, intimate looks into the intellectual (and human?) side of Batman. Watch as he forms uneasy alliances with former foes . . . and former friends. My favorite tale involves Batman and Zatanna teaming up to solve a case that brings about a deadly encounter with an unexpected foe. The plot weaves together a mystery with a touching story from Bruce Wayne's past. The image of Zatanna as a girl blowing magical bubbles, and its reappearance in Batman's mind during a certain scenario bring a chill. The splash pages in between stories rivet me everytime - the black and white images bring out the most stunning emotions. If you like the artwork and the effects it brings to the stories, check out some of the "Batman: Black and White" collections. This book does nicely on its own, but when you read it in conjunction with the "Detective" collection, it takes on a unique flavor that leaves you hungry for more.

Overall very good!

This graphic contains Detective Comics #827-834 and follows the "Batman: Detective" graphic, also by Dini. The artwork is good, and it contains 4 standalones and 2 two-part storylines. Dini has continued his trend of incorporating old villains turned good, and putting interesting twists on previous villains. In "Double Talk" Batman discovers Scarface is back from the dead (see "Face to Face" for details on Scarface's "death") and Scarface's new Ventriloquist. To Penguin's dismay, this discovery takes place in the newly revamped Iceburg Lounge. "Shark Bite" involves Riddler, teaming up with Batman in his new role as detective to find out who killed an old friend of Bruce Wayne, and why. The two-part "Siege" storyline makes buying this worthwhile by itself. Recent fans of Batman probably know that for a while, Bruce was become rather psycotic and utterly consumed by Batman, to the point of letting his relationships with his family suffer badly. More recent fans will know that Bruce lately adopted Tim Drake (see "Face to Face" for this storyline). "Siege" begins with Bruce attempting to broker a truce between the bickering heads of states of two unfriendly nations. Unfortunately, a suicide bomber decides to blow up Wayne Towers, leaving it up to Tim and Bruce to save the day, the heads of state, and themselves as well. "Kind of Like Family" stars Harleen Quinzel, better known as Harlequin. She's doing her best to get parole through her good behavior when she's kidnapped from Arkham (yes, really) and drafted by the new Scarface to help him carry out a robbery. This one did a good job of showing how Harley has changed, and showing her as a person rather than Joker's giggling henchwench. "Triage" was a fun detective story, with Batman using his sleuthing skills to hunt down the mysterious person apparently intent on killing off the Terrible Trio. The real twist was in who the would-be killer is. "Trust" was perhaps my favorite of the lot. The two-parter has a magician whose assistant died during a stunt. Batman's investigations turn up a pattern of deaths or mutilations in the magician's latest shows, and so he calls in Zatanna. It's probably a good idea to read "Identity Crisis" before reading this, although you can follow along fairly well without it. Over the course of their investigation, Batman and Zatanna must face the lack of trust in their relationship, and decide if their friendship can withstand the harm Zatanna did to Batman. Overall, good artwork, excellent stories, and a nice addition to anyone's Batman collection.

Batman: Death in the City

Having worked so extensively on Batman: the Animated Series, it's no surprise that Paul Dini can create such compelling Batman stories. A story about Harley Quinn and the new (and intriguing) Ventriloquist is excellently crafted, and look for a great Zatanna and Joker story at the end. Goes together very nicely with Dini's preceding work: Batman: Detective. (actually, would highly recommend reading the two books together - you get so much more out of Death in the City since so many elements from the first book get picked up again in the second).