Product Description

In every world, in every time, there is a Gotham City; a heartland of corruption in the midst of America. "Gotham By Gaslight" takes the Dark Knight detective back to the 19th Century for non-stop adventure and period pulp thrills! This volume presents the adventures of the Victorian-era Batman in one bumper edition for the first time. At the tail end of an unforgiving century, Batman is pitted against both Jack the Ripper and a maniacal death-dealer from the blimp-filled skies! Featuring some of Hellboy-creator Mike Mignola's finest superhero work, as well as art by famed fantasy artist P. Craig Russell (Sandman, Lucifer), these two tales of a Batman from an alternative past offer up a compelling steampunk saga!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37237 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

Customer Reviews

Bruce the Ripper?
Attempting to introduce Jack the Ripper into the world of Bruce Wayne/Batman was always going to be a risky move, as it requires either bringing the Ripper into the modern age, or putting Batman into history. Thankfully this tale chooses the latter, re-positioning Batman and Bruce Wayne as turn of the century figures who unfortunately get caught up in Ripper hysteria, and Batman has to track down one of history's most notorious killers.

The artwork is beautiful, and while the plot is a bit of a departure from the usual Batman adventures, it's well-written and unfolds at just the right pace. Highly recommended.

Yes, but why?
To me, this makes very little sense. I'm all for alternate stories and little oblique tales but this left me non-plussed. It becomes a weird sort of 'spot the things you know' game with everyone transplanted back to 1888: there's a picture of someone who looks very like the joker etc etc

Plus, I thought the art was on the poor side, or at least rushed - many panels with blank behinds - this made me sad given the rich detail that you can mine from the victorian era.

It all feels like jumping on a bandwagon probably started by League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and maybe there is a good Batman story than can be told in this way, but I don't think this is it. Check it out for curiosity if nothing else, but 'The Long Haloween' it 'aint.

WORTH THE MIKE MIGNOLA ART!
If you like Mike Mignola's art work than you might want to add this to your collection otherwise I can't see much reason to own this book. The second story is mildly interesting but the artwork is not to my taste. I enjoyed the first story and would recommend this to anyone who wants to see how Batman deals with the world in a different era, I just can't help but feel that they could have done something more interesting with this idea.