Reviews - Comic - Batman & Robin Adventures - Annual #1
Review (James Harvey)
If you consider the title of this annual, “Shadow of the Phantasm,”
you’d be right if you’re expecting a dark, violent tale. The official
follow-up to the big screen Batman: Mask of the Phantasm feature
film, DC Comics published “Shadow of the Phantasm” in Batman & Robin
Adventures Annual #1. Featuring a story by Paul Dini, who was
involved with the original Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, we find
out exactly what happened after that movie and how everything comes
colliding together in a violent and heart-wrenching finale.
The story is basic. Phantasm returns to Bruce Wayne’s life to warn him
that an assassin is hot on his trail. Wayne struggles to trust Andrea
Beaumont again after the events of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
while trying to discover who is trying to kill him and avoid the hired
gun who wants to finish the contract on his life. It’s a fairly simple
story, but, well, looks can be deceiving. The story is more layered than
expected, incredibly dark, and brutal. A fitting follow-up to Batman:
Mask of the Phantasm I find, even though some may consider the tale
unnecessary (and understandably so).
Now, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm pretty much told the entire
story. It left a few loose ends, but nothing thshat really needed to be
revisited. We know that the Joker would live to kill another day and
Arthur Reeves would be institutionalized for the rest of his life.
That’s the impression I got as Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
entered its third and final act.f Did we need this story? No. Am I glad
we got it? Oh yeah! It’s such a great and dark story that really drives
the nail in the story for Phantasm while leaving the door open for
future appearances (which we would get in the wildly under-appreciated Batman
Adventures series by Dan Slott, Ty Templeton, and Rick Burchett).
The artwork only serves to add on layers upon layers of dark brooding as
the story takes twist upon twist.
Now, like I said, this could be considered an unnecessary story and some
fans saw it as such. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was pretty much
an open-and-closed case with no need to revisit and, yes, that’s true.
To an extent. The characters of said film easily lend themselves to a
revisiting, and that’d what we get here. And everything feels so
natural, everything flows so perfectly from the Mask of the
Phantasm to here. So, to those who do not like the issue, then it
can be dismissed without missing anything. To those who want more of Batman:
Mask of the Phantasm, you get your wish, and you get a real
gut-buster of a tale.
As I mentioned above, Batman has to avoid an assassin while dealing with
the return of Phantasm and search out who is trying to knock him off.
Personally, I rather enjoyed where Dini took Phantasm after the events
of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, as it makes logical sense that
Beaumont would become an assassin-for-hire, killing to make a living
while, at the same time, struggling to live with herself and what she
does. Once she gets word of a hit out on Bruce Wayne, she comes back to
Gotham to warn him. Things become complicated with the assassin’s
ability to shape-shift thanks to a mystical diamond in her possession.
As one can imagine, there’s more than a couple instances of mistaken
identity and problems that arise from the assassin pretending to be
someone else. This allows Dini a couple opportunities to throw the
readers for a loop, especially during the middle act of the book.
Despite this seeing print over ten years ago, I’ll avoid spoiling the
climax of the story for those who may not have read it. I will say that
it’s a brilliant twist on the story of one of the characters from Batman:
Mask of the Phantasm. Definite kudos are in store for Dini, given
the difficult task he had to do in making a relevant follow-up to a
movie that didn’t really need one.
Now, let’s quickly look at the artwork for the story, a task that was
divided up among four different creative teams. Ty Templeton provided
the art for the prologue and the epilogue for the story, with Dev Madan
and Terry Austin providing the art for Act One, Mike Parobeck and Austin
for Act Two, and Brandon Kruse and Austin for Act Three. Four creative
teams provide the artwork for the story to mixed results. Templeton’s
artwork is stunning as always, and Parobeck brings his A-Game to the
page, as do Madan and Kruse, but the sketchiness of Austin’s inks bring
down the quality of Madan’s and Kruse’s art. Parobeck’s full-bodied
pencils aren’t affected by the overall sketchiness of Austin’s ink-work,
but the works of both Kruse and Madan do suffer, making for a bit of a
disjointed read. We get the lush artwork that opens and closed the book
by Templeton, Parobeck’s great stylish work at the center, surrounded by
sketchy installments by Madan, Kruse, and Austin. It’s a shame because
Madan and Kruse are great artists who can easily hold their own with
Parobeck, but we don’t really get a sense of their abilities with Austin
on inks. Madan did some great fill-in work on The Batman Adventures
while Kruse did some phenomenal work on Batman & Robin Adventures,
but that talent is hidden under sketchy and disjointed ink-work. A
shame, really.
I just want to make a special note about Parobeck’s artwork. This issue
was Mike Parobeck’s last published artwork for DC Comics. A diabetic, he
unfortunately passed shortly after working on this issue due to
complications caused by Type 1 Diabetes, and before he was set to take
over Batman & Robin Adventures with issue #7. His artwork here is
phenomenal and I still can’t help but get choked up when I read his
portion of the issue because he was such a huge inspiration to me, and
it’s painful to see his last printed work or read the tribute to him
placed in the back of this book. It’s been more than ten years since he
passed away and he’s still greatly missed.
Overall, Batman & Robin Adventures Annual #1 “Shadow of the
Phantasm” is a dark, chilling story. While this story isn’t exactly
necessary, Dini does the impossible by making it enjoyable and
fascinating. He’s able to bring back characters from Batman: Mask of
the Phantasm in a way that feels natural, and actually makes this
story matter to the overall “Phantasm” storyline. The art for the most
part is great, save for a few problems with the inking I explained
above. It’s a great book, one that proved to be very popular upon
release, and with good reason. Now, if you haven’t read this issue or
don’t plan to, you won’t miss anything, but if you do, you’ll be treated
to a nice extra tale that perfectly follows the events of Batman:
Mask of the Phantasm. |
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