Batman: Gotham by Gaslight

by Mike Mignola and Brian Augustyn

[celinenyx]

Summary: It's the end of the nineteenth century, and Bruce Wayne is coming back from his trip around Europe to arrive at Gotham. But it seems like Jack the Ripper, the notorious serial killer in London, has found a new killing spot in Gotham.

What I liked:
- The imagery is comparable to the one in the Hellboy comics (not very suprising, since both are illustrated by Mike Mignola), which worked very well with the turn of the century theme
- Gotham looked very atmospheric
- I love how they took a character we all know so well, and embedded him into the timeframe given here
- There is some pretty decent mystery; it was interesting to see how it all tied up in the end
- I quite enjoyed how the city doesn't trust Batman in the slightest, and how some tell they think Batman is a criminal to Bruce's face. This probably happens in every Batman comic, but it still has its appeal

What I didn't like:
- The pacing seemed a bit off. The start of the comic took very long, and it wasn't until about 20 pages in (which is 40% of the comic) that the main plot line gets time
- The ending was a bit rushed - although I liked the ending itself, the resolution could have been stretched out a bit longer

Verdict: A fun addition to the Batman canon, which can easily be read as a standalone. There are no cliffhangers, and if you've seen any of the recent Batman movies, you'll be fine background-wise. Definitely worth the ninety cents I bought it for.