Reviews - Comic - Mask of the Phantasm
Review (James Harvey)
The comic adaptation of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is a solid
representation of the movie, both from an artistic standpoint and from
the written word. Kelley Puckett, writer of The Batman Adventures,
and Mike Parobeck, artist for the same title, somehow managed to find
the time to squeeze in a double-sized movie adaptation without skipping
a beat. The art looks just as polished as the regular monthly title and
the writing is just as sharp.
But, still, this adaptation does run into the same problem that any
movie adaptation does. This comic, though double-sized, does have to be
able to tell the entire story and, to be honest, it falls a bit short.
Puckett no doubt had to compromise in a lot of places to get the story
to fit completely within the front and back cover, and it appears as
though the action sequences get the short end of the stick. Some
sequences, which play out much longer in the movie, last a limited
amount of panels before the story quickly moves on. Also, I found that
transitions from present-day and the flashbacks were handled a bit
abruptly as well, some of them appearing almost out of nowhere. If the
reader didn’t see the movie before reading this, he/she would surely be
lost.
Thankfully, the artwork manages to cover most of this up quite
beautifully. Parobeck’s artwork is astounding here, as always. True, his
style makes the final showdown feel a bit less epic than it was in the
movie, but that’s a small price to pay here. His pencils are so full of
life, so thick, and so plentiful. Each character leaps off the page. I
find it amazing how he’s able to flawlessly mix his own style with the
designs from Batman: The Animated Series. It’s a perfect marriage
that very few artists can pull off, and Parobeck has got it. I sincerely
doubt anyone will ever be able to top him and his work, especially how
he can do so much, like this Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
adaptation and the monthly comic and not lose a step.
The Official Comic Adaptation of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
remains probably one of the best efforts by DC Comics to really nail a
comic adaptation. Usually these comics are just done at the last minute
and appear very rushed, but not here. The artwork is beautiful and the
story, save for some of the problems it has fitting the entire movie
together between two covers, is a solid representation of the big screen
flick. The fact that the regular creative team of The Batman
Adventures managed to work this comic into their schedule without
missing a beat is a true testament to how hardworking and creative these
guys were, and it shows in the finished product. Puckett did the best he
could with the format and size he had to work with in order to do the
story justice and, as it goes without saying, Parobeck just hit it out
of the park with the artwork.
Those looking to hunt this down, even now, may be in for a difficult
time. The newsstand edition is still quite easy to come across online,
but the prestige edition release may be harder and more costly. The
newsstand copy features cover art by Mike Parobeck while the prestige
edition release features art by Bruce Timm. The prestige edition was
re-released in digest size and packaged with the VHS release of Batman:
Mask of the Phantasm way back in 1993, so that will likely be the
easiest one to come across. Regardless of the format you pick up, this
is a solid comic adventure that fans of the movie will definitely
appreciate, especially if you followed the amazing Batman
Adventures comic at the time. A great comic for all Batman: The
Animated Series fans. |
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