Batman Gotham by Gaslight Elseworlds
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars A Letdown
The premise for Gotham by Gaslight was so really intriguing, so I was pretty excited to read it. That excitement pretty much evaporated after about the first two or three pages. The artwork was really bland and the dialogue was very forgettable. The plot was so obvious that anyone with half a brain could have figured out exactly what was going to happen after about the first five pages. Another flaw I found was that it was too short for any of the characters to develop whatsoever. To sum up, great premise, very poor execution.
4 Stars Batman VS Jack the Ripper
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight was the first tale of DC’s Elseworlds label, putting an alternate reality twist on DC’s most iconic characters. This TPB features Gotham by Gaslight, as well as it’s lesser sequel, Master of the Future. Both are written by Brian Augustyn, but Gotham by Gaslight is undoubtedly the best of both, as we witness Batman of 1889 face-off against the murderous Jack the Ripper, who may have ties into Bruce Wayne’s tragic past. While this story is very satisfying and features some great nods to Batman mythology, it’s the artwork of Hellboy creator Mike Mignola that really helps it stand out. While not as moody as his artwork would become, it still makes an impression regardless. Master of the Furure finds Batman facing-off against a more generic lunatic as the time period approaches the twentieth century, and while the artwork by Eduardo Barreto is good, the story itself is sadly lacking. All in all though, Gotham by Gaslight is still a worthwhile Batman TPB that is worth a look for Batman devotees, but may be a little hard to get into for those that are newer to the world of Batman.
3 Stars Batman of the past
An interesting take on Batman for sure, this story sets Bruce Wayne and his collegues in the Victorian era Gotham. It was cool to see what the city looked like 100 years ago and how the people of that time would have reacted to the dark knight.
There are two seperate stories in here, both written by Brian Augustyn. The first finds Bruce returning home from London after his travels and resuming the role of Batman. It is at this time that a serial killer known as Jack the Ripper appears in Gotham and is continuing to murder women in the same fashion as the murders in London. It is assumed by the commishioner that Batman is the man behind this. Wayne is framed for the killings and has no alibi, since by revealing how he really spends his nights would most likely further incriminate him. It is a pretty interesting story, however I caught the killer long before the trained detective which always dissapoints me. Batman should always have it figured it out before the reader in my opinion otherwise it ruins the suspense.
The second story surprised me because I doubt I would have picked this up seperately if they weren’t collected together in this edition, but it turned out to be better than the first. The villain is more interesting and the whole story and villain could have easily been an adventure of Zorro. In the first story after Bruce has found the man responsible for his parents murder he quits his crusade. This seems very out of character for him. The newly appointed Commishioner Gordan knows there is a need for Batman still and when a new villain pops up to terroize the city, Bats answers the call. Julie Madison also makes an apperance as Bruce’s love interest.
After reading the second story “Master of the Future”, I wouldn’t be opposed to picking another copy of this version of Batman. Although this Batman of the past won’t ever top the Batman of the future for me, it’s still a worthy attempt and a good spin on the character.
3 Stars Doesn’t deliver what’s suggested
This book contains two stories: “Gotham by Gaslight” and “Master of the Future”. The latter is nothing special, and hardly uses the 19th century setting at all. “Gaslight” is better because of its darker subject matter, but it’s painfully obvious who the bad guy is, and the book suffers from comparison with the much superior “From Hell”.
I was expecting to get some steampunk-type action, but that never really happens.
We get yet another retelling of Batman’s origin, filtered through the elseworlds setting.
The artwork on “Gaslight” is very good, but the second story is not drawn by the same artist.
3 Stars Interesting take, but uneven…
This has got to be one of the most interesting Batman Elseworlds Stories in a long time. Most of them just get too wound up into explaining his origin in that setting. Gotham By Gaslight does not. It is careful never to attribute the deaths of Bruce’s Parents to Jack the Ripper (the central Villian of the first half) but leaves it ambiguous. However the story is uneven, having bursts of genius followed by uninteresting banter. The first story Gotham By Gaslight is the real jewel in this collection. With Mignola’s amazing artwork this is really the standout hit in the book. The Gotham By Gaslight story revolves around jack the ripper with a cameo by the joker, this story is engrossing much like Alan Moore’s From Hell. Brian Augustyn showed his brilliance by building up the action and dialouge scenes perfectly. However lightning rarely strikes twice and in the second story Master of the Future the story lacks the same engrossing qualities as the first losing the readers interest. And without Mignola’s artwork to please the senses it just isn’t the same beast and i found myself bored; Often forcing myself to complete the book.
All in all its a great read through the first half (Gotham By Gaslight), but i recommend to just read the first half twice and not waste time with the second half (Master of the Future)
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