Review- ALL-STAR BATMAN VOL. 1: MY OWN WORST ENEMY

ALL-STAR BATMAN VOL. 1: MY OWN WORST ENEMY (DC, First Printing, 2017; Hardcover)

Collects All Star Batman #1-5 (cover dates October, 2016- February, 2017)

Writer: Scott Snyder

Artists: John Romita Jr. and Danny Miki (My Own Worst Enemy main story) and Declan Shalvey (The Cursed Wheel back-up story)

Colorists: Dean White (My Own Worst Enemy main story) and Jordie Bellaire (The Cursed Wheel back-up story)

My son checked this out from the library and wanted to read it with me. I liked Scott Snyder's Swamp Thing run and am a huge fan of John Romita, Jr., plus I get to read comics with my son. It's a can't lose scenario!

Two-Face has Batman on the run against the clock, with the KGBeast (now known as The Beast) hot on their tail. JRJr really shines in the bonecrushing fist fight sequences. I still can't get over John Romita Jr. defecting to DC after decades with Marvel. I wonder if it was money or if it was simply boredom. He has handled every single Marvel property at one time or another and might have just felt that it was time to move on.

My only dislike about the My Own Worst Enemy story is the ret-con aspect of the flashback. I'm not sure if that facet really added anything to the overall story, even with the end result of it coming full circle. It likely flew in the face of some continuity established somewhere since 1939 and it did the story a disservice by tying it to the “then” instead of the “now”.

The Cursed Wheel was awesome, a story about a demented serial killer that Batman's new partner Duke manages to stop because he was able to piece together the clues faster than Batman. It is a dark story done at a PG-13 level. It was incredible.

This whole book was fantastic. I will freely admit that I have a double standard when it comes to DC. Their continuity doesn't have to make any sense to me since they have rebooted and ret-conned things so many times that I am not even sure if they have a definitive continuity. With that in mind I am free to read and enjoy anything that they release as it's own thing, with no thought or concern as to where it fits into the puzzle that makes up the big picture. Marvel's continuity was once as tight as a drum and I have never forgiven them for running it off of the rails.

My 10 year old son's take: I think that it was great. It was brilliant. The art was well drawn, the storyline was good. I liked that it all revolved around Two-Face. I disliked the little bit of swearing. (Note: The swearing was mostly in @#$%$% form.) It was the best Batman comic I've ever read. It was really well done.

This is so good that I am considering buying it. It's not like I will ever have to time to read it again, but it's so good that I would like to think that I'll be able to someday.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Library books are fascinating science experiments in the workmanship of the materials used to make these books. I'll be lucky to find enough time to read all of my books once, so I am not sure why I would consider buying more.

Paper stock: Good weight coated glossy stock.

Binding: Perfect binding.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: The dustjacket is in a Brodart sleeve and taped to the hardback. Difficult to evaluate on these library books.