Rapha থেকে Rappojawa, Tallo, Makassar City, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
Read this book a couple of years back after I met the author on myspace. Gotta say it's one of the best I've yet encountered. The author's exploration of fantasy themes is fresh and unique, the story compelling and fast-paced, the characters -- captivating and intriguing. A true master work.
This. I'd give this six stars if I could, or ten. This. This is the last Batman comic - the finale of both Batman and Detective Comics. No matter how many issues of those two books there will be in the years to come, this is the end. And it's perfect. It's the definite tribute to one of the greatest comic characters in existence. Both Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert do an incredible job here of telling a story that is both timeless and manages to capture all the different eras of Batman. Since I've come to love Batman a lot in the last years, this had an immense emotional impact on me when I read it the first time, and it did so again when I read the collected edition (actually, simply reading the foreword made me cry). I have no idea how this reads for someone who doesn't really care about Batman, but for me this really, really captures what Batman is about, and why people love him and what makes him a hero. The end of the story of Batman is, he's dead. Because, in the end, the Batman dies. What else am I going to do? Retire and play golf? It doesn't work that way. It can't. I fight until I drop. And one day, I will drop. But until then, I fight. I could quote every line Neil Gaiman put in this one, because every line is spot on. And Andy Kubert's art is gorgeous and fitting and there are all those details I missed the first time around. This volume also has three more Batman stories by Neil Gaiman, which are all very good. I loved this. This may very well be one of my favourite books, ever.