Those that want soap opera events like Batman "dieing", becoming a caveman, having a bastard son and being replaced will not find it in Gotham After Midnight. There's no Damian here or any of that. If that's what you want, read R.I.P., Final Crisis, Battle For The Cowl, Batman and Robin, etc. And I can understand how Kelley Jones' style is too different from mainstream-super-hero-style art for some comics fans. However, if you want something where Batman's still Batman and has no kid and if you like Kelley Jones' style and you like Batman stories that have an element of horror, then you might enjoy Gotham After Midnight. It's a fun read for a Batman fan looking for a change from the events in the other titles. I just want entertaining Batman adventures about Batman fighting crime with atmospheric art, which is why I enjoy the Bat-comics by Finger/Kane, O'Neil/Adams, Engelhart/Rogers, Miller, Monech/Jones, Niles/Jones Gotham After Midnight, and Miller/Lee All-Star Batman & Robin whenever it comes out, I don't buy into these lame old "Death of" gimmicks. As Frank Miller said "You can't kill him! Nobody's gonna believe it: he's Batman. He'll go on forever. I mean, you're not going to convince me he's dead." And I'm not interested in anyone else as Batman. I don't like big gimmicky character shattering events. As Walter Simonson said in Wizard, "After "The Death of Superman" the company then expected us to produce that constantly. They wanted one huge event after another. We'd usually do smaller stories. After "The Death of Superman" they just wanted giant story arcs. It got a little boring because you couldn't vary it. We were a little tired of it." Jon Bogdanove said, "Superman in that silly electric suit or Superman Red/Superman Blue, that was a product of an atmosphere of expectation. "What are you going to do to top the death of Superman? What's the next event going to be?" And of course, they weren't natural. They came from the pressure to create the next big event and it got to be less fun for everybody." I like short stories. My favorite Batman story is a short one-issue story called "There Is No Hope In Crime Alley" by Denny O'Neil featuring Batman fighting real world street crimes, muggings, robberies, helping elderly people and flashing back to his parents murder. It's a short simple story, and a touching one with emotional impact.
Personally, for me, Gotham After Midnight rocks. It's a fun read with a touch of nostalgia. Gotham After Midnight is short storylines with a continuing subplot within a 12 issue series. Each issue has a singular, encapsulated story—with each featuring a different Batman villain—but there is the structure of an over-arc to the entirety of the book. A different villain—each two to three issues have a slight mini-arc to them with one overriding story over the entire 12 issues. It features Batman fighting many of his classic villains, the Joker being very creepy with a plot involving children and cannibalism,
it's great to see Clayface and he's never looked stranger and more grotesque,
Scarecrow, Man-Bat, Croc
Catwoman (She hasn’t been a villain in Batman comics for a long time),
and the mysterious Midnight.
Batman has cool new toys, a new Batmobile and a Bat-Robot combat suit,
a new Batcomputer,
and Batman has a new girlfriend, April Clarkson.
Gotham After Midnight is also a tribute to the classic Gothic horror expressionistic films of the '20s and '30s. The title is a take on the lost silent horror film
London After Midnight starring Lon Chaney. Midnight is a tribute the Phantom in
The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney. The windmile scene in Gotham After Midnight is a homage to
Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff. The great thing about those visual horror films is there's real potential for strong, beautiful imagery. It's the one genre that really lends itself to creating strong images. And I've always loved that idea of windmills - your mind aimlessly spinning. I don't know what the symbolism of it is but it's beautiful. The reference to Dr. Lajos in issue 5. Dr. Lejos was the pseudonym Dracula (Bela Legusi) used in
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. I love those classic horror movies and I've always loved Batman stories that have elements of horror. It only goes to show what a versatile character Batman is.
This series hasn't been getting the attention it deserves because it's out of the mainstream New Earth DCU continuity so it doesn't have anything to do with gimmicks like Batman getting fried by Darkseid in Final Crisis, or Batman having a kid or if Dr. Hurt is the devil in R.I.P., or Batman's funeral in Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader, or Batman replacements. It's sad that you apparently have to resort to gimmicks in comics today in order to get people to pay attention.
I love what Steve Niles said about that,
"I really want this to be the kind of Batman book that, if by some chance somebody who isn’t that familiar with the character in the comics wants to pick up a Batman comic, these folks could pick up issue #3 and get a story. And then, hopefully, they’ll want to go back and get #1 and 2 and then go back and get #4 when it comes out. Some of the current attitudes for writing comics are a little more geared towards the writing of something like a television show like Lost than actual comic books themselves. Lost, to me, is a soap opera—and in soap operas they stretch things out. I just think the trend of long, slow stories doesn’t interest me. I think shorter stories leads to more enjoyment per comic book—when you look at a story that is part three of twelve—you are getting less of an issue of the comic book. And I’ve had editors call me and say, “Are you sure you want to do this? We could spread this out over a couple of issues…” and I’d much rather just pack this thing and really not stretch the reader out. If I can give readers something that doesn’t stretch a short story out—something with some real substance—in a twelve issue series, I’m going to be really happy."
NRAMA: Does Gotham After Midnight fall into regular continuity with Batman RIP and Final Crisis on the horizon?
SN: Absolutely not. This is Batman, Commissioner Gordon, Bruce Wayne, and some new characters I’m inventing—there’s no Robin and there is no connection to what is currently going on in the DC Universe.
I've been a fan of the art of Kelley Jones since his Deadman series in 1989. Niles plays to Jones strengths giving some disturbing visuals, like Midnight takes off his mask to reveal his face, and with Clayface devouring up people left and right. This series is really awesome if you can get into it. Kelley Jones' art is as fantastically trippy, strange and grotesque as ever! And the story by Steve Niles is fun.
