Man-Bat #1 (of 5)

Writer: Bruce Jones
Artist: Mike Huddleston
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher


A mysterious and deadly monster is plaguing the outskirts of Gotham City. As the body count begins to rise and with the evidence pointing to a large bat-like creature it seems that Dr. Kirk Langstrom has once again become the Man-Bat. Or has he? And what does Batman’s deadly nemesis, Hush have to do with it?

I almost really liked this book. I was really impressed with the first half of the book, which has a great horror movie feel that is rarely well captured in comics. The promiscuous teenagers, the sexual innuendo, the cheesy “I thought I heard something” dialogue and the gruesome deaths, it’s all there. After a few pages this formula becomes a bit repetitive with multiple scenes featuring slayings by a mysterious creature followed by bits of news reports, but it’s not so repetitive as to put me completely off. Plus, Mike Huddleston’s artwork is brilliant, perfectly portraying the creepy atmosphere and frightening encounters with the monster.

But what stopped me from really enjoying this book was the inclusion of the villain, Hush, which in my mind only serves to turn what was a unique horror comic into a typical superhero tale. It’s now a book mired in current Batman continuity, which will only rob the book of any sort of timeless quality it could have had. Being that Man-Bat is a Batman villain, I’d sort of expect for the Dark Knight to show up at some point, but when you start throwing other villains and assorted characters in there it just seems wrong somehow. It’s Man-Bat… not Man-Bat and Friends.

This issue also highlights a pet peeve of mine, something that has been popping up in a whole lot of comics recently - assuming that the reader knows everything they need to know already. What about the curious reader who’s never heard of Man-Bat, knows nothing about the character or his history but is simply drawn in by the amazing cover (and it is amazing)? How about just a little explanation of how Kirk Langstrom became the Man-Bat, what his current situation is and why one of his kids is a half-bat creature? Heck, I don’t even know the answer to that last question.

So what started off as a potentially cool horror story became something else completely by the end and that was enough to put me off buying this series all together.
 

Special thanks go out to Jeremy Shorr, owner of Titan Comics for allowing us to use his advance preview books for review purposes.

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