The man who redefined the look of Batman returns to tell a story of his own with his greatest enemy: The demon’s head.
A terrorist attack in Gotham ends with Batman, the salvation of the city is a rich businessman and his security company. His future is in the hands of Ra’s al Ghul and Bruce Wayne himself supports this operation. What has happened? Only Deadman can unravel the mystery of Batman’s death and Ra’s plan, and for this he will have the help of ¿Batman?
neal adams marked an era, his style has influenced so many American comic book authors that each new incursion is celebrated. His stages in Batman, Green Lantern, the X Men and many others are legendary among comic fans. But despite the fact that he maintains an enviable graphic level for his age and is able to match the current stars, as a screenwriter he does not reach those heights.
The story starts from an interesting premise. The city is on the verge of chaos after several terrorist attacks and the city government decides to use a novel program promoted by an altruistic Ra’s al Ghul. Batman fights against the decision and against the strange enemy attacking the city, dying in an explosion. But Bruce Wayne is alive and supporting the show. What has happened? What does the sinister Chiaroscuro have to do with all this? ?What is Ra´s plan?
The mystery of Batman’s disappearance is investigated by Boston Brand, Deadman. Another of the old characters that the author turned into a classic. In the end, the story is more of a Brave and the Bold of both characters than a story of the bat man. The initial mystery is replaced by a kind of interdimensional adventure to cheat in a pact between villains, who are also not what they seem in the end.
A convoluted plot that reads well on its journey through fantasy and barbarian worlds, but is more clunky in the real world. Shifting from one dramatic line to another, Adams seeks a brisk pace, but his overexposed, overtaxed dialogue never becomes dynamic. The twists are not too surprising, in most cases she introduces them with very little space to give them force before the denouement. Which leaves a rhythm with many ups and downs and a reading that never ends up curdling due to lack of interest in the main plot due to the total lack of development of it.
If something stands out Batman vs. Ra’s al Ghul it is in art. Adams will turn 81 this year, and he hasn’t lost the strength and impact that will take him to the top. Dynamic and with a powerful action, he continues to draw one of the best Batman that can be seen. Updating his own design, he transfers it to the present but without stopping introducing winks to his stage. The introduction of barbarian worlds allows him to play with his great style and imagination, leaving a work that can easily be compared to that of any current artist.
Neal Adams signs with this his third foray into DC in a few years. IN Odyssey he united Batman and the pulp, in The Arrival of the Supermen he revisited his ideas about Superman, and in the present work he decides to recover old characters to give them a more worthy ending, Deadman, or continue his eternal rivalry with the bat, Ra’s al Ghul. Although none of the three titles are brilliant, they make it clear that Adams is a great illustrator and that his age hasn’t stopped him from wanting to continue working.