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Title: Batman: Child of Dreams by Kia Asamiya, Max Allan Collins ISBN: 1-56389-906-X Publisher: DC Comics Pub. Date: 01 March, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Asamiya Weaves a Good Story
Comment: When I first picked this graphic novel up in the bookstore to look it over, I had no intention of buying it - the manga-style of drawing seemed too neat and clean, and the images are in black-and-white - but then I sat down and started reading the story. I was hooked.
Asamiya has great skills in plotting a story so that it captures and reader and moves you along. Asamiya also makes skilled use of dialogue - he relies very little on the narrator's voice because he is able to convey a remarkable amount of background information and character-development through his use of dialogue and a novelist's sense of timing when he switches viewpoint characters.
The story revolves around a number of disturbing themes that should have the intended unsettling effect on the reader: things and people are not what they seem; the most obvious, apparent enemy is not the source of the problem; and identities are always contested and sometimes compromised.
Asamiya introduces other themes as well, such as blurring the lines between "news" and entertainment, blurring the lines between television and reality, the dangerous extremes to which a fan (or fans) can take their identification with a celebrity and fantasy role-playing, and it touches on Commissioner Gordon's inability to control the crime in his own city - his, perhaps, over-reliance on one vigilante.
Oh, and did I mention the consuming public's perhaps over-reliance on pharmaceuticals to make us feel good, "get back in the game" and to imagine that we are that which we wish to be?
And then there are the very central themes of the relationship between dreams and reality, and the question of whether or not it is merely genetics (biology) that makes the man, or if something more is required?
This brings us back to the artwork. It didn't take long before I realized that Asamiya's art actually added to his ability to tell the story, rather than detracting from it. Most images are minimal and simplistic, but there is also a significant amount of detail in many of the frames; and the details Asamiya selected are just the right details to enable the reader to experience the story.
Night frames with aerial views of Gotham have all the feel of New York City. Frames inside the hotel lobby, the hospital, gritty back alleys, Wayne Manor and the Batcave are highly effective. And I could actually feel the hot shower as Yukio tried to relieve her stress back at the hotel after making a shocking discovery in the Gotham Cemetery. Tokyo is equally well-captured.
In other words, this story works. It works because the plotting pulls you in and holds your interest; it works because the dialogue tells the story and makes the characters real; it works because the themes the writer selected are not far removed from the reader's day-to-day reality - and that has a rather chilling psychological effect; and it works because the art sets the right mood and calls your attention to details that will stimulate the intended sensory and emotional reaction in the reader.
While the climax of story seems to drag on a bit, Asamiya is making an important point about what it is that really makes Batman who he is. As Frank Miller humanized Batman in his revolutionary treatment of the character, Asamiya also provides a revolutionary and humanizing treatment, but without resorting to an anti-heroic image.
There is also something Mooresque (as in Alan Moore) about Asamiya's ability to weave themes through his story, creating an integrated whole. Asamiya's themes, as mentioned above, center on dreams, fans, role-playing, identity and what it is that makes a person who he or she really is.
Asamiya weaves a good story and illustrates it well. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 3
Summary: not bad, not great
Comment: Imposters posing as Batman's major villains attack without warning and die mysteriously, as a Japanese TV crew tries to do a story on the Dark Knight. A dangerous new drug on the street is involved, and Batman ends up travelling to Tokyo to get to the bottom of the mystery.
This was a fairly average Batman story, with numerous plot elements that have already been developed by other authors. There are fights with multiple villains (Jeph Loeb has done this twice), a warning on the danger of drugs (Alan Grant and others have done this), and an arch villain who wants to be Batman (a running theme with Azrael). The genetics angle was somewhat interesting, but not enough to create an original story.
I thought that the painted cover was very good and reminiscent of the early Batman movies. However, the interior art was a bit mixed in quality. Asamiya draws noses too big, and the frames were coarse and grainy at times. I couldn't tell whether this was a style choice, or a production problem. On the other hand, the shadowy atmosphere of Batman was well done, and the Joker was nicely drawn too.
For some reason, characters were often drawn with only one eye visible. Is this a manga convention of some type? It had to have been intentional. The manga style was apparent at times, but the book reads like an American comic. Occasionally the translation seemed awkward.
I would recommend this book for manga fans, and fans of Kia Asamiya, but anyone who has read a lot of Batman will find this work derivative and only mildly interesting. Still, it was not a terrible effort, and I'm now interested in looking at some of the author's other work.
Corey Butler
Rating: 4
Summary: It shows that Batman is an international hero.
Comment: Yes, it is a very interesting story and it flows well as Batman pieces the puzzle together in his usual methodic manner. What was striking to me was that it seems the artist used Keaton's Batman for his model, something I have not seen used since the first movies comic. The action is a bit hard to follow and I never was much for magna adaptations of American comics, however it is a story worthy of any fans attention and a very enjoyable read.
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