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Batman (2016)
Batman: Night of the Monster Men
The first crossover of the “Rebirth” era is here! As a huge storm approaches Gotham City, Batman, Batwoman and Nightwing try and prepare for the worst, but nothing can prepare them for enormous monsters rampaging through the streets! Batman will need all of his allies to unite in order to stop these mad science monsters from tearing their city apart! Will the Dark Knight, Batwoman, Nightwing, Robin, Spoiler, Orphan and Clayface be enough? And who is the mastermind behind it all?
Collects BATMAN #7-8, NIGHTWING #5-6 and DETECTIVE COMICS #941-942.
Collects BATMAN #7-8, NIGHTWING #5-6 and DETECTIVE COMICS #941-942.
144 pages, Paperback
First published March 21, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 333 reviews
March 21, 2017
For me, DC’s Rebirth has been a disappointing parade of astonishingly low-quality comics - except for Tom King’s Batman which was surprisingly decent. So I was actually looking forward to Night of the Monster Men, the first Rebirth crossover book, thinking King was writing it. And then I saw the credits page: “Plotted by Tom King/Tim Seeley/James Tynion IV - Script by Steve Orlando” and my heart sank. Steve fucking Orlando.
You know what Orlando’s Midnighter book was? “I’m a gay superhero!” - and that’s it. You know what Orlando’s indie book Virgil was? “I’m a gay action hero!” - and that’s it. I get it dude, you’re a gay writer who wants to write gay comics, and I’m all for that but can you at least make them readable? His Monster Men isn’t “We’re Monster Men and we’re FAAAABULOUUUSSSS!” (although that probably would’ve been an improvement) but it is mega-mega-boring.
Dr Hugo Strange (who’s suddenly jacked for no reason) decides to make Godzilla-sized monsters to rampage across Gotham. Why? Stupid reasons. Ugh. Batman and the Bat-family fight them. Guess who wins? Ugh again. What a fucking useless book!
The story is so immensely dull because it’s static for a lot of the book. Batman rides around on his Batcycle most of the time, Clayface is directing people around Gotham (I still don’t buy why he’s suddenly a good guy either), Spoiler and Orphan are hanging out in a cave. Something happens to Nightwing and Gotham Girl (see Tom King’s first Batman book for her backstory) but it gets resolved predictably and easily. There’s no excitement or tension or anything in this crappy wafer-thin “story”!
And it shouldn’t be this way! Batman! Bat-Family! Mad scientist! GIANT FUCKING MONSTERS! How is it this boring? I take it back, Steve Orlando is talented - talented at sucking out anything remotely interesting from a narrative!
Night of the Monster Men is a completely pointless, unentertaining and irrelevant book full of dull action and a meaningless, unmemorable pseudo-story. Whether or not you’re reading Batman, Detective Comics or Nightwing, you can easily ignore this one - and I recommend you do - without it affecting those titles. It’s the Rebirth standard: unreadable comics! Steve Orlando joins Dan Jurgens and Scott Lobdell as the worst writers DC have at the moment.
You know what Orlando’s Midnighter book was? “I’m a gay superhero!” - and that’s it. You know what Orlando’s indie book Virgil was? “I’m a gay action hero!” - and that’s it. I get it dude, you’re a gay writer who wants to write gay comics, and I’m all for that but can you at least make them readable? His Monster Men isn’t “We’re Monster Men and we’re FAAAABULOUUUSSSS!” (although that probably would’ve been an improvement) but it is mega-mega-boring.
Dr Hugo Strange (who’s suddenly jacked for no reason) decides to make Godzilla-sized monsters to rampage across Gotham. Why? Stupid reasons. Ugh. Batman and the Bat-family fight them. Guess who wins? Ugh again. What a fucking useless book!
The story is so immensely dull because it’s static for a lot of the book. Batman rides around on his Batcycle most of the time, Clayface is directing people around Gotham (I still don’t buy why he’s suddenly a good guy either), Spoiler and Orphan are hanging out in a cave. Something happens to Nightwing and Gotham Girl (see Tom King’s first Batman book for her backstory) but it gets resolved predictably and easily. There’s no excitement or tension or anything in this crappy wafer-thin “story”!
And it shouldn’t be this way! Batman! Bat-Family! Mad scientist! GIANT FUCKING MONSTERS! How is it this boring? I take it back, Steve Orlando is talented - talented at sucking out anything remotely interesting from a narrative!
Night of the Monster Men is a completely pointless, unentertaining and irrelevant book full of dull action and a meaningless, unmemorable pseudo-story. Whether or not you’re reading Batman, Detective Comics or Nightwing, you can easily ignore this one - and I recommend you do - without it affecting those titles. It’s the Rebirth standard: unreadable comics! Steve Orlando joins Dan Jurgens and Scott Lobdell as the worst writers DC have at the moment.
July 1, 2020
So now we've decided to just redo old stories? How original! Batman and the Monster Men has been done more than once (and much better). So Hugo Strange is now a master geneticist in addition to being a psychiatrist. And he's created Kaiju out of corpses to run around Gotham? What!? Then Nightwing figures out some nonsense about how the monsters are representative of Batman's psyche. There's a ton of psychobabble nonsense in here. Batman takes a backseat in this book to Nightwing and Batwoman. If you're a fan of watching people being evacuated, this is the book for you because that's what most of the book consists of. To add insult to injury, the Justice League shows up to help clean up the aftermath. You know when it's time to call in the JL? When Godzilla first appears in your city, not after they've destroyed it. All in all, this is the most boring book you'll ever read of the Bat-family fighting monsters.
Received an advance copy from NetGalley and DC in exchange for an honest review.
Received an advance copy from NetGalley and DC in exchange for an honest review.
March 21, 2017
Goodness, this was awful. The story is basically crap. Giant, poorly explained monsters that are... supposed to provide a psychoanalysis of Batman? For six issues? This might have been more bearable in one or two issues, but who really needs Hugo Strange attempting to diagnose and replace Batman? Also, there's mind controlling spores, because of course there are. The awful, Power Rangers-esque Watchtowers is sort of the cherry on the D-movie sundae of terrible. Maybe if characterization was good, and the dialog was solid, or there was anything like a sense of fun in using so many tropes that are usually associated with delightfully bad SF at once, this would have been a fun and exciting read. There were none of those things.
November 27, 2016
Okay...yeah...okay...
So this isn't horrible idea. But the execution could have been so much better.
We have Hugo basically creating monsters around the city. Batman and friends have to stop this beast. After the death of "you know who" Batman is on the edge. He doesn't want any of his people getting involved in this. Of course Dick and Batwomen like "Bitch please we do what we want brah" and Batman all like "NOOOOO!"
That's my biggest issue. Batman seems so out of character and almost useless here. It's really thanks to Nightwing and Batwomen that anything gets done. Also they underutilized Spoiler and Batgir- I mean Orphan. So that fucking sucked.
The art is fine, and there's some enjoyable big monster take down moments, but overall it's just not all that great. Maybe next time the crossover could have a Batman that actually reacts like BATMAN. You know, like when Damien died. That was amazing.
So this isn't horrible idea. But the execution could have been so much better.
We have Hugo basically creating monsters around the city. Batman and friends have to stop this beast. After the death of "you know who" Batman is on the edge. He doesn't want any of his people getting involved in this. Of course Dick and Batwomen like "Bitch please we do what we want brah" and Batman all like "NOOOOO!"
That's my biggest issue. Batman seems so out of character and almost useless here. It's really thanks to Nightwing and Batwomen that anything gets done. Also they underutilized Spoiler and Batgir- I mean Orphan. So that fucking sucked.
The art is fine, and there's some enjoyable big monster take down moments, but overall it's just not all that great. Maybe next time the crossover could have a Batman that actually reacts like BATMAN. You know, like when Damien died. That was amazing.
March 4, 2018
You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.
You know what I despise the most about these crossover events nowadays? It’s this tingling feeling that I get every time I jump into them. That feeling that screams that one of their biggest intentions isn’t to deliver a series-wide major event that remains solid both in story and artwork, but a cash-grab attempt to get people to check out the other series that they might not be following. Night of the Monster Men is a crossover event that has its repercussions felt throughout Detective Comics (Rebirth) , Nightwing (Rebirth) and Batman (Rebirth) runs. Being the first crossover event part of the Rebirth era of DC Comics, hope for amelioration in regards of quality was much expected, yet failure was all that rose from this chaos.
It was unquestionably scheduled to be spread around Halloween to get people in that childish horror vibe, but it also remains a retelling of the original Matt Wagner story of the Monster Men. This crossover event takes place between Batman: I am Gotham (Volume 1) and Batman: I am Suicide (Volume 2), between Detective Comics: Rise of the Batmen (Volume 1) and Detective Comics: The Victim Syndicate (Volume 2), and between Nightwing: Better Than Batman (Volume 1) and Nightwing: Bludhaven (Volume 2). Stretching over 6 issues, two from each of these series, Batman: Night of the Monster Men brings Batman, his friends and Gotham together in a fight against the supernatural.
Most of the script in this story arc has Steve Orlando taking the lead, while writers Tom King, Tim Seeley and James Tynion IV still kept their hands in the game as consultants. I don’t want to put the whole blame on one writer, but man the writing in this story was just blatantly dry. There’s nothing in here that warrants an applause and the fact that the key ideas aren’t new (essentially comes from the original story by Matt Wagner) leaves this story absolutely empty of novelty. The story focuses on a Gotham rescue mission conducted by our vigilantes in order to save civilians from the wrath of huge monsters unleashed by Hugo Strange. The story is told through different POVs, and also has several side-horror stories revolving around Orphan (Cassandra Cain) and Spoiler (Stephanie Brown) and a cave parasite or around Nightwing and Gotham Girl and their little endeavor to insanity.
Throughout the series, a lot of characters were also butchered compared to their first story arcs in their respective series. I’m especially looking at Batwoman. Gotham Girl also continues to be a painful sight, although she has never managed to capture my interest since her introduction in Batman: I am Gotham (Volume 1). I also felt like the action scenes were a lot more static than dynamic in giving characters the chance to be who they really are. While these monsters were fun, they were still really childish and innocent. For ginormous aberrations that would require sophisticated tactics, these creatures were easily taken care of. Another big downside in this crossover event is how Hugo Strange, the main villain who triggers these events, barely gets the opportunity to portray himself and build the tension. In fact, they really rushed his motives and made every single moment look atrociously ridiculous. How exactly will you convince people about his obsession for Batman through such an exposition?
The artwork also wavers from acceptable to mediocre throughout the run. Maybe if it had some sort of pattern that worked to convey the whole monster vibe better, I would’ve enjoyed it better. Who am I kidding? Even the best artwork couldn’t save this story. There might have been 1 or 2 issues that had decent style and colouring, otherwise… eh… I always felt like crossover events that incorporated multiple series together would have a very hard time in maintaining consistency from one issue to another. Artwork is no exception.
In the end, what really killed this story is the script. The dialogues were really void of any strength and conviction. It sometimes felt repetitive and other times dwelt too long on the same idea. Night of the Monster Men still had potential ideas that could’ve been executed in a much better way. These ideas basically came from the original story, but with an opportunity like this to retell the original tale at a much modern day, it’s very sad that they couldn’t draw up something better.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: http://bookidote.wordpress.com
You know what I despise the most about these crossover events nowadays? It’s this tingling feeling that I get every time I jump into them. That feeling that screams that one of their biggest intentions isn’t to deliver a series-wide major event that remains solid both in story and artwork, but a cash-grab attempt to get people to check out the other series that they might not be following. Night of the Monster Men is a crossover event that has its repercussions felt throughout Detective Comics (Rebirth) , Nightwing (Rebirth) and Batman (Rebirth) runs. Being the first crossover event part of the Rebirth era of DC Comics, hope for amelioration in regards of quality was much expected, yet failure was all that rose from this chaos.
It was unquestionably scheduled to be spread around Halloween to get people in that childish horror vibe, but it also remains a retelling of the original Matt Wagner story of the Monster Men. This crossover event takes place between Batman: I am Gotham (Volume 1) and Batman: I am Suicide (Volume 2), between Detective Comics: Rise of the Batmen (Volume 1) and Detective Comics: The Victim Syndicate (Volume 2), and between Nightwing: Better Than Batman (Volume 1) and Nightwing: Bludhaven (Volume 2). Stretching over 6 issues, two from each of these series, Batman: Night of the Monster Men brings Batman, his friends and Gotham together in a fight against the supernatural.
Most of the script in this story arc has Steve Orlando taking the lead, while writers Tom King, Tim Seeley and James Tynion IV still kept their hands in the game as consultants. I don’t want to put the whole blame on one writer, but man the writing in this story was just blatantly dry. There’s nothing in here that warrants an applause and the fact that the key ideas aren’t new (essentially comes from the original story by Matt Wagner) leaves this story absolutely empty of novelty. The story focuses on a Gotham rescue mission conducted by our vigilantes in order to save civilians from the wrath of huge monsters unleashed by Hugo Strange. The story is told through different POVs, and also has several side-horror stories revolving around Orphan (Cassandra Cain) and Spoiler (Stephanie Brown) and a cave parasite or around Nightwing and Gotham Girl and their little endeavor to insanity.
Throughout the series, a lot of characters were also butchered compared to their first story arcs in their respective series. I’m especially looking at Batwoman. Gotham Girl also continues to be a painful sight, although she has never managed to capture my interest since her introduction in Batman: I am Gotham (Volume 1). I also felt like the action scenes were a lot more static than dynamic in giving characters the chance to be who they really are. While these monsters were fun, they were still really childish and innocent. For ginormous aberrations that would require sophisticated tactics, these creatures were easily taken care of. Another big downside in this crossover event is how Hugo Strange, the main villain who triggers these events, barely gets the opportunity to portray himself and build the tension. In fact, they really rushed his motives and made every single moment look atrociously ridiculous. How exactly will you convince people about his obsession for Batman through such an exposition?
The artwork also wavers from acceptable to mediocre throughout the run. Maybe if it had some sort of pattern that worked to convey the whole monster vibe better, I would’ve enjoyed it better. Who am I kidding? Even the best artwork couldn’t save this story. There might have been 1 or 2 issues that had decent style and colouring, otherwise… eh… I always felt like crossover events that incorporated multiple series together would have a very hard time in maintaining consistency from one issue to another. Artwork is no exception.
In the end, what really killed this story is the script. The dialogues were really void of any strength and conviction. It sometimes felt repetitive and other times dwelt too long on the same idea. Night of the Monster Men still had potential ideas that could’ve been executed in a much better way. These ideas basically came from the original story, but with an opportunity like this to retell the original tale at a much modern day, it’s very sad that they couldn’t draw up something better.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: http://bookidote.wordpress.com
June 11, 2017
"This is hell isn't it?"- Gotham citizen discussing the book he is in.
This may not be the worst book I have ever read. I only say "May"because I fear recency bias might play a factor hear. It is undoubtedly trash. Nearly every five pages bring you something new to insult even the most modest of intelligences.
The general plot is that the bat friends have to defeat the poorly named "monster men." The monster men are really just kaiju. Both batman and Godzilla have their place, but mixing the too is like introducing a rat poison flavored soda. Some guy named Dr. Strange ( but not the likeable one) borrowed some magic science chemical from a guy named Bane. It turns dead people into sky scraper tall monsters, again with science magic. I won't spoil anything , but I will make a list of some of the most egregious crimes committed by the writers.
Batman wears clay face like a suit of armor to some advantage.
Bat woman riding a falling monster 60 stories to the ground, but not being hurt because said monster landed on a magic cure needle.
Flying motorcycles
Naked weightlifting
Villain sitting on a throne of books, but since the artist, or writer, or both don't know anything about psychology, they are mostly just called 'psychology'
Batman building holograms into all of gotham's street lights
Batman building buildings that are really giant battle stations.
Oxygen being cut off to a room, but it expiring after a few minutes.
Hugo's stupid suit idea
Evil cave moss that makes people evil, but never touches any one from the bat friends.
Repeated mention of clayface being spread too thin, but with no pay off
The name "psycho-pirate"
Don't read this book. You could take harmonica lessons or wash the underside of your car instead.
This may not be the worst book I have ever read. I only say "May"because I fear recency bias might play a factor hear. It is undoubtedly trash. Nearly every five pages bring you something new to insult even the most modest of intelligences.
The general plot is that the bat friends have to defeat the poorly named "monster men." The monster men are really just kaiju. Both batman and Godzilla have their place, but mixing the too is like introducing a rat poison flavored soda. Some guy named Dr. Strange ( but not the likeable one) borrowed some magic science chemical from a guy named Bane. It turns dead people into sky scraper tall monsters, again with science magic. I won't spoil anything , but I will make a list of some of the most egregious crimes committed by the writers.
Batman wears clay face like a suit of armor to some advantage.
Bat woman riding a falling monster 60 stories to the ground, but not being hurt because said monster landed on a magic cure needle.
Flying motorcycles
Naked weightlifting
Villain sitting on a throne of books, but since the artist, or writer, or both don't know anything about psychology, they are mostly just called 'psychology'
Batman building holograms into all of gotham's street lights
Batman building buildings that are really giant battle stations.
Oxygen being cut off to a room, but it expiring after a few minutes.
Hugo's stupid suit idea
Evil cave moss that makes people evil, but never touches any one from the bat friends.
Repeated mention of clayface being spread too thin, but with no pay off
The name "psycho-pirate"
Don't read this book. You could take harmonica lessons or wash the underside of your car instead.
March 12, 2017
6 issues too long, this could of been a 6 page back-up story.
February 26, 2025
Leitura divertida, mas a história é realmente boa? Nem tanto. Porém, a variedade de eventos intensos que ocorrem, com magnitudes maiores do que as que o Batman está acostumado a lidar, cria uma trama bem fluida e rápida de ser lida, com cenas de ação boas e interações interessantes da Batfamily.
É importante destacar que Os Homens Monstros é uma referência explícita ao quadrinho de mesmo nome, que foi reimaginado por Matt Wagner, de uma história da época em que o Batman foi criado. Na trama, é contado o primeiro encontro entre o Batman e Hugo Strange. Em Noite dos Homens Monstros, o Batman enfrenta o Hugo Strange novamente, mas também os monstros, porém com proporções gigantes.
Os Monstros representam uma análise psicológica que o Strange fez do Batman (como herói, não como Bruce) e busca refletir o que encontrou nos monstros. Essa ideia não é entendida facilmente, o roteiro explica com a ajuda do Asa Noturna, e depois disso, com a reflexão do leitor, até que parece uma ideia interessante.
O que destoa um pouco do que conhecemos do Batman, é toda essa magnitude dos monstros e o que o Strange fez. É possível associar a destruição com os eventos do Batman dos anos 90, mas os monstros acabam causando estranheza.
Acredito que o hate que esse arco sofreu foi por conta de não ter em mente o que Tom King estava construindo com o Bane, que culminará em encadernados bem a frente do run do Tom King. Mesmo assim, a trama é divertida, porém bizarra.
O que mais gostei de ver foi a interação da Batfamily, principalmente com a participação da Batwoman, que raramente aparece nas histórias regulares. Sua participação foi de extrema importância, sendo um pilar da Batfamily.
Por outro lado, achei bem estranho as torres Wayne que parecem pedaços de megazords e o uniforme da Cassandra, além dela ser chamada nesse período de Orfã.
É importante destacar que Os Homens Monstros é uma referência explícita ao quadrinho de mesmo nome, que foi reimaginado por Matt Wagner, de uma história da época em que o Batman foi criado. Na trama, é contado o primeiro encontro entre o Batman e Hugo Strange. Em Noite dos Homens Monstros, o Batman enfrenta o Hugo Strange novamente, mas também os monstros, porém com proporções gigantes.
Os Monstros representam uma análise psicológica que o Strange fez do Batman (como herói, não como Bruce) e busca refletir o que encontrou nos monstros. Essa ideia não é entendida facilmente, o roteiro explica com a ajuda do Asa Noturna, e depois disso, com a reflexão do leitor, até que parece uma ideia interessante.
O que destoa um pouco do que conhecemos do Batman, é toda essa magnitude dos monstros e o que o Strange fez. É possível associar a destruição com os eventos do Batman dos anos 90, mas os monstros acabam causando estranheza.
Acredito que o hate que esse arco sofreu foi por conta de não ter em mente o que Tom King estava construindo com o Bane, que culminará em encadernados bem a frente do run do Tom King. Mesmo assim, a trama é divertida, porém bizarra.
O que mais gostei de ver foi a interação da Batfamily, principalmente com a participação da Batwoman, que raramente aparece nas histórias regulares. Sua participação foi de extrema importância, sendo um pilar da Batfamily.
Por outro lado, achei bem estranho as torres Wayne que parecem pedaços de megazords e o uniforme da Cassandra, além dela ser chamada nesse período de Orfã.
March 10, 2017
There are a lot of face palm moments in this story. A LOT.
But what makes it a disaster is the inconsistent art. In Nightwing issues, the art is rich and defined and in Batman issues, the art is totally different (sometimes like undried water painting). You need to remember that this six issue crossover event is a continues affair. So its not fun to see the character's appearance change every 22 pages.
Another issue for me was the over the top technology and some weird ideas they used in combat. Wayne tower power rangers? Clay bat face ? What?
Overall, a disappointing crossover event.
But what makes it a disaster is the inconsistent art. In Nightwing issues, the art is rich and defined and in Batman issues, the art is totally different (sometimes like undried water painting). You need to remember that this six issue crossover event is a continues affair. So its not fun to see the character's appearance change every 22 pages.
Another issue for me was the over the top technology and some weird ideas they used in combat. Wayne tower power rangers? Clay bat face ? What?
Overall, a disappointing crossover event.
September 18, 2017
Wow that was so underwhelming.
World: The art is fine. Nothing special. The world building was patchy and made no sense. But then again it was a kaiju story and needed to make no sense. However using Strange the way this event did was a waste.
Story: Boring and pointless and not well done. I don't mind a over the top kaiju fest but there was just so many plot holes and points in the story. I can go on at length of how inconsequential this book is but I can't be bothered.
Characters: Meh. No one had any arcs and no significant event occurs.
Pointless ans forgetful. People have already forgotten it.
Zzz.
Onward to the next book!
*read individual issues*
World: The art is fine. Nothing special. The world building was patchy and made no sense. But then again it was a kaiju story and needed to make no sense. However using Strange the way this event did was a waste.
Story: Boring and pointless and not well done. I don't mind a over the top kaiju fest but there was just so many plot holes and points in the story. I can go on at length of how inconsequential this book is but I can't be bothered.
Characters: Meh. No one had any arcs and no significant event occurs.
Pointless ans forgetful. People have already forgotten it.
Zzz.
Onward to the next book!
*read individual issues*
September 5, 2019
Okay so... who the fuck thought this was a good idea?
What’s it about?
In a crossover event (yay, every comic fan’s favorite) a bad storm is coming to Gotham. The Bat-family (well, most of it... there are a few Bat-family characters that aren’t here) is trying to help the people of Gotham escape the storm. Should be fairly simple until a villain has a bunch of monsters he created show up.
Pros:
Most of the art is pretty well done and makes the book pop.
There is no denying that this book has a lot of intense action throughout.
Cons:
The story is dumb. At the beginning of it a bunch of characters meet Batman on a rooftop and are all “Batman, you can’t fight weather” and Batman basically goes “Fuck you, I’m gonna fight weather” as he‘s all sad because died . Then the ridiculous monster men show up and it just gets stupider and stupider from there.
The characters are written rather one dimensionally here. It’s like Steve Orlando (who wrote all the scripts but co-wrote the plot with Tom King, Tim Seeley and James Tynion IV but I will only partially blame those 3 for this problem since all they did is help come up with what happens in this book) said “Let’s just... have most of the Bat-family... there? Oh and I’ll have a villain and uh... he’s gonna be bad. Yeah, this will work!”
This story is very predictable. In all fairness it may be because I’ve already read Batman: The Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 1 which contains some issues that take place after this but even then a lot of it seems like it would be obvious either way.
There’s a bit of comic relief... it fails.
The dialogue is pretty bad. Just a lot of really cringe worthy lines throughout.
This comic takes itself a little too seriously. Like, honestly the Bat-family fighting ridiculously cheesy monsters could be entertaining as a fun, sorta cheesy but kinda self-aware comic but no, it is written the same serious way that most Batman stories are written and it doesn’t work.
(This just works too perfectly for the review)
The plot convenience is just ridiculous. It’s like things just work out a certain way whenever it’s needed and I hate that.
The monster designs... they’re pretty terrible. I really would have liked if they looked kinda cool but they look absolutely ridiculous.
(Okay, the ridiculousness of sports mascots are getting out of hand now).
That last image reminds me, while most of the art is good, the art in the first issue of this collection is actually pretty bad. Just that issue but it’s noteworthy.
The ending is stupid. Mostly due to 2 things. So that terrible storm and the flood that’s meant to happen seems to be at least mostly gone the next morning so what the fuck was the point of that massive subplot? Also the Justice League shows up to help repair damage that happened... umm... where the fuck were they for the giant monster attacks? Seems like the kind of thing they’d see in the news and show up for... hell, even if they didn’t see it in the news why didn’t Batman call them? He didn’t see giant monsters destroying the city and think “gee, my friends that actually have fucking superpowers could definitely help me with this thing that may destroy the fucking city”? I mean, I’m guessing they weren’t busy, they seemed wide awake in that panel they’re in that takes place the next morning. I’m actually annoyed by this now.
Overall:
This comic is terrible. I mean, I didn’t necessarily expect it to be particularly great, it’s called Night of The Monster Men for fuck’s sake but I didn’t expect it to be this awful. Stupid and predictable story, poorly written dialogue and characters... that’s just a couple of this book’s problems. Yeah, aside from some flashy pictures and exciting action there’s nothing good about this comic. It’s a shame too because I read the first story arcs of the titles involving this crossover yet it’s not even one bit as good as Batman: The Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 1 (which contains the first 2 story arcs of the series plus the issues that are in this event), not nearly as good as Nightwing, Vol. 1: Better Than Batman and... okay it is better than Batman: Detective Comics, Volume 1: Rise of the Batmen but that really isn’t saying anything. I wouldn’t recommend this to anybody.
2/5
What’s it about?
In a crossover event (yay, every comic fan’s favorite) a bad storm is coming to Gotham. The Bat-family (well, most of it... there are a few Bat-family characters that aren’t here) is trying to help the people of Gotham escape the storm. Should be fairly simple until a villain has a bunch of monsters he created show up.
Pros:
Most of the art is pretty well done and makes the book pop.
There is no denying that this book has a lot of intense action throughout.
Cons:
The story is dumb. At the beginning of it a bunch of characters meet Batman on a rooftop and are all “Batman, you can’t fight weather” and Batman basically goes “Fuck you, I’m gonna fight weather” as he‘s all sad because died . Then the ridiculous monster men show up and it just gets stupider and stupider from there.
The characters are written rather one dimensionally here. It’s like Steve Orlando (who wrote all the scripts but co-wrote the plot with Tom King, Tim Seeley and James Tynion IV but I will only partially blame those 3 for this problem since all they did is help come up with what happens in this book) said “Let’s just... have most of the Bat-family... there? Oh and I’ll have a villain and uh... he’s gonna be bad. Yeah, this will work!”
This story is very predictable. In all fairness it may be because I’ve already read Batman: The Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 1 which contains some issues that take place after this but even then a lot of it seems like it would be obvious either way.
There’s a bit of comic relief... it fails.
The dialogue is pretty bad. Just a lot of really cringe worthy lines throughout.
This comic takes itself a little too seriously. Like, honestly the Bat-family fighting ridiculously cheesy monsters could be entertaining as a fun, sorta cheesy but kinda self-aware comic but no, it is written the same serious way that most Batman stories are written and it doesn’t work.
(This just works too perfectly for the review)
The plot convenience is just ridiculous. It’s like things just work out a certain way whenever it’s needed and I hate that.
The monster designs... they’re pretty terrible. I really would have liked if they looked kinda cool but they look absolutely ridiculous.
(Okay, the ridiculousness of sports mascots are getting out of hand now).
That last image reminds me, while most of the art is good, the art in the first issue of this collection is actually pretty bad. Just that issue but it’s noteworthy.
The ending is stupid. Mostly due to 2 things. So that terrible storm and the flood that’s meant to happen seems to be at least mostly gone the next morning so what the fuck was the point of that massive subplot? Also the Justice League shows up to help repair damage that happened... umm... where the fuck were they for the giant monster attacks? Seems like the kind of thing they’d see in the news and show up for... hell, even if they didn’t see it in the news why didn’t Batman call them? He didn’t see giant monsters destroying the city and think “gee, my friends that actually have fucking superpowers could definitely help me with this thing that may destroy the fucking city”? I mean, I’m guessing they weren’t busy, they seemed wide awake in that panel they’re in that takes place the next morning. I’m actually annoyed by this now.
Overall:
This comic is terrible. I mean, I didn’t necessarily expect it to be particularly great, it’s called Night of The Monster Men for fuck’s sake but I didn’t expect it to be this awful. Stupid and predictable story, poorly written dialogue and characters... that’s just a couple of this book’s problems. Yeah, aside from some flashy pictures and exciting action there’s nothing good about this comic. It’s a shame too because I read the first story arcs of the titles involving this crossover yet it’s not even one bit as good as Batman: The Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 1 (which contains the first 2 story arcs of the series plus the issues that are in this event), not nearly as good as Nightwing, Vol. 1: Better Than Batman and... okay it is better than Batman: Detective Comics, Volume 1: Rise of the Batmen but that really isn’t saying anything. I wouldn’t recommend this to anybody.
2/5
August 22, 2022
There was zero reason for this to be as long as it was. Honestly the concept is fine. Monster's are unleashed in Gotham and there basically zombies. But there is zero reason for this to be long as it was. Maybe like 1 or 2 issues. It just felt like they were dragging it out, so people would buy more issues. The only thing I liked about the book, was the art.
Some cool pages: *may be spoilers*
Not recommended.
Some cool pages: *may be spoilers*
Not recommended.
May 25, 2017
Collects Batman issues #7-8, Nightwing issues #5-6, and Detective Comics issues #941-942
This was billed as the first DC: Rebirth crossover event, and I really wish they hadn't done one so soon after the new initiative kicked off. Especially this particular one. It was bad. The art was a mess and the story was boring.
Hugo Strange is the bad guy, and basically the whole Bat Family appears in these pages.
This was billed as the first DC: Rebirth crossover event, and I really wish they hadn't done one so soon after the new initiative kicked off. Especially this particular one. It was bad. The art was a mess and the story was boring.
Hugo Strange is the bad guy, and basically the whole Bat Family appears in these pages.
March 4, 2017
I received this from Edelweiss and DC Comics in exchange for an honest review.
This was intense! Loved it!
This was intense! Loved it!
November 27, 2016
An okay read! So this is basically a remake of "Batman and The Monster Men", which came out like ten years ago, and I liked it because it had a 90s feel about it. To answer the big question, no its not the worst batman comic book ever, but its not anything special! The plot is basically Hugo Strange unleashes these monsters on Gotham City and batman has to stop it; more like batman and his 50 interns! On the positive side, this book, although the artwork is average, the monster designs themselves are really cool, If you have ever played a Diablo game or are just into monsters, you will love the designs, because the monsters look really cool, you can see the artists just went crazy with this series! Story wise however its just average; mainly because this book takes a summer movie blockbuster, disaster film, vibe about it, and I think that's its biggest fault! The Original was good because, not only was batman by himself, but he was inexperienced, it was at the time after Year One, so Batman was pretty much just fighting mobsters, and he was not expecting to fight monsters! Basically its remembered as one of Batman's weird, mysterious cases, rather then a big disaster with huge stakes!
In the end its not as bad as some people are making it out to be, but your not gonna remember it T-minus a day. If you wanna read the better version go read the original, I will even provide you with a link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
In the end its not as bad as some people are making it out to be, but your not gonna remember it T-minus a day. If you wanna read the better version go read the original, I will even provide you with a link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
August 22, 2017
It looks like I'm in the minority here, but I really enjoyed this hyper-charged horror / action mash-up. It was like the Dark Knight was in a head-on collision with a Stephen King nightmare. (To mangle my favorite description of a typical King book - "It was a normal day . . . and then EVIL came to town!") The Monster Men of the title are a pretty disgusting lot, and it was a kick to see Bats and his 'family' - especially Gotham Girl (looking / acting more than ever like Britney Spears during her '07 breakdown), who's back in the thick of it, against everyone's advice - administer some rough justice to save Gotham City. Dr. Strange returns, too (no, not THAT one).
March 15, 2017
Giant monsters? Batfam assemble. Parts of this were really good, parts were really cheesy. Reminded me of a big 90's Batman event.
September 18, 2017
i'm so disappointed with this and i wonder how the hell did tom king approved this ?
May 23, 2020
The completionist in me led to me finally reading this. And y’know, not as terrible as I’d thought it’d be. I mean it’s also not very good either...
November 4, 2018
Gotham is ravaged by giant monsters and only the Bat Family is there to deal with it because it would be no contest if the JLA showed up, riiiiight?
Decent artwork with some rare peaks to the story and dialogue.
Otherwise fairly basic and sometimes off dialogue/story flow.
OVERALL GRADE: C plus.
Decent artwork with some rare peaks to the story and dialogue.
Otherwise fairly basic and sometimes off dialogue/story flow.
OVERALL GRADE: C plus.
June 11, 2017
I think we should start by commending DC for finally doing a few things right. They collected a crossover without repeating any of the material in other trades, and they had the main author of the crossover confer with the individual authors of the books he was invading. This is leaps and bounds ahead of the terrible editorial oversight during New 52.
However, the one bad thing here spoils the whole tower of bananas. Steve Orlando was chosen as the writer. Steve Orlando cannot write. This story has three very good ideas. One is thrown away two panels later, one is dragged on for 3 out of 6 installments and then when resolved, none of the aftermath is dealt with though it should have been pretty huge, and the final good idea has a simplistic resolution that involves pointless grandstanding and over exposition.
This is a 6 part story about giant monsters attacking Gotham. Somehow a motorcycle was jumping at one of the monsters for three books and then the monster was taken out in a single panel and forgotten about. Another monster was taken out almost as soon as it appeared, and the rest were fairly anticlimactic as well. This whole event is a non-happening. Lots of standing around talking about what is happening to the main characters, but very little dealing with what is happening with any thought or problem solving.
Thanks to DC editorial, you can easily skip this collection and never notice a skipped beat.
However, the one bad thing here spoils the whole tower of bananas. Steve Orlando was chosen as the writer. Steve Orlando cannot write. This story has three very good ideas. One is thrown away two panels later, one is dragged on for 3 out of 6 installments and then when resolved, none of the aftermath is dealt with though it should have been pretty huge, and the final good idea has a simplistic resolution that involves pointless grandstanding and over exposition.
This is a 6 part story about giant monsters attacking Gotham. Somehow a motorcycle was jumping at one of the monsters for three books and then the monster was taken out in a single panel and forgotten about. Another monster was taken out almost as soon as it appeared, and the rest were fairly anticlimactic as well. This whole event is a non-happening. Lots of standing around talking about what is happening to the main characters, but very little dealing with what is happening with any thought or problem solving.
Thanks to DC editorial, you can easily skip this collection and never notice a skipped beat.
November 7, 2016
The ending was soo underwhelming -_-
April 5, 2017
Well this was just awful.
April 8, 2017
Yeah, it's pretty crap.
Full review to come.
Full review to come.
July 20, 2018
Wow. Uh... ok, then.
March 16, 2017
* I got a digital copy of this book from DC through Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review. *
I read the DC Universe: Rebirth one-shot and a couple of the one-shots for the different individual series and a few single issues, but prior to this book, the Titans volume 1 is the only Rebirth collection I've read. None of the stuff that I've read so far has been a Batman title. I had absolutely no clue what I'd be getting into with this book.
This book is a crossover event that spans Batman #7-8, Nightwing #5-6, and Detective Comics #941-942. Each of those series are normally written by Tom King, Tim Seeley, and James Tynion IV respectively. For the issues of their individual series that this crossover encompasses, they only help plot out the story with some guy I've never heard of before, Steve Orlando. The latter then writes the script for all 6 issues. DC probably should have let one of the other guys write the whole script or let each person write their own series. Orlando didn't seem to be familiar with Batman and wrote some dialogue for him that was out of character.
In the first few pages, Batman has assembled a team that includes Batwoman, Nightwing, Spoiler, Orphan, and Clayface. I know not why Clayface is one of the people helping Batman now since he has always been a villain, but I just accepted it and moved along. I knew who all of these characters were except Orphan. By the midway point of the book, I figured out she was the former Batgirl, Cassandra Cain. I certainly hope that's not a spoiler for anyone. As all of the heroes are getting their assignments from Batman on how to help evacuate the city because of the flooding, a gigantic monster appears. By this point, we, the readers, are already privy to the fact that Hugo Strange is the one behind the monster's release into Gotham.
There are other monsters that soon join the fray as should have been deduced by the title of the book. As Batman and his allies battle the monsters, Alfred and some guy named Duke are at the Bat-cave running analysis on the data sent to them from the battle and trying to find a cure for the monsters. Aside from some bad dialogue in places, the story ramps up quite a bit in the middle and is going along pretty well before coming to a somewhat anticlimactic ending. The ending is very weak and seemed rushed. This story should have continued with a minimum of one more issue, but in order to be fully fleshed out, should have had one more issue for each title in the crossover. As is, there is very little shown about Hugo Strange's motivation to set all these machinations in motion. The blurb on the back of a book usually contains more information about the whole book than this story had written about why Hugo Strange made the monster men.
Moving along to the art. Riley Rossmo handles the pencils for the Batman issues. Roge Antonio is the artist for Nightwing and Andy MacDonald draws Detective Comics. All of these guys seem to emulate the ultra thin lined work of Francis Manapul. Unfortunately, none of them are in the same league as Manapul. Rossmo and MacDonald could actually be the same person. Had there not be two different names listed, I would have thought their issues were all done by the same artist. Both of these guys produce some lackluster art that is below average. Certain panels that are framed as close-ups look decent, but the panels where the viewpoint is from a distance are a mess. In the very first issue, Riley Rossmo draws one of the worst looking versions of Batman that I've ever seen. MacDonald, at least, draws a decent Batman. He also has the single best page in the entire book during the final issue. It's a splash page featuring Hugo sitting down. That one page makes me wonder why the rest of his art doesn't look that good. Antonio is only slightly better than the other two guys. He at least has some decent looking panels no matter what distance the view is from.
The art of Riley Rossmo and Andy MacDonald both get 2 star ratings. The art of Roge Antonio gets 3 stars. After averaging those all together, the overall art score is 2.5 stars out of 5. The writing gets 3 stars for having a good concept that wasn't executed very well and poor dialogue. I averaged the writing and art score together to get the 2.75 star total score for the book. I rounded that up to 3 stars for this site.
Since this is one of the first, if not the very first, crossover of Rebirth, DC should have brought out its all-stars for this. You already have superb writers on each of the 3 series involved so why hand the reins over to some no-name guy when you have King, Seeley, and Tynion IV on the books already. These same goes for the artists. The three artists in this book had absolutely no business taking over books that are normally drawn by fantastic artists like Mikel Janin, David Finch, and Eddy Barrows. A crossover event should be something special. If you're not going to involve the regular talent on the books, you have to break out one of the big guns. Someone high up the food chain at DC dropped the ball on this one. When they should have been breaking out the secret weapon, they sent in the cannon fodder.
I read the DC Universe: Rebirth one-shot and a couple of the one-shots for the different individual series and a few single issues, but prior to this book, the Titans volume 1 is the only Rebirth collection I've read. None of the stuff that I've read so far has been a Batman title. I had absolutely no clue what I'd be getting into with this book.
This book is a crossover event that spans Batman #7-8, Nightwing #5-6, and Detective Comics #941-942. Each of those series are normally written by Tom King, Tim Seeley, and James Tynion IV respectively. For the issues of their individual series that this crossover encompasses, they only help plot out the story with some guy I've never heard of before, Steve Orlando. The latter then writes the script for all 6 issues. DC probably should have let one of the other guys write the whole script or let each person write their own series. Orlando didn't seem to be familiar with Batman and wrote some dialogue for him that was out of character.
In the first few pages, Batman has assembled a team that includes Batwoman, Nightwing, Spoiler, Orphan, and Clayface. I know not why Clayface is one of the people helping Batman now since he has always been a villain, but I just accepted it and moved along. I knew who all of these characters were except Orphan. By the midway point of the book, I figured out she was the former Batgirl, Cassandra Cain. I certainly hope that's not a spoiler for anyone. As all of the heroes are getting their assignments from Batman on how to help evacuate the city because of the flooding, a gigantic monster appears. By this point, we, the readers, are already privy to the fact that Hugo Strange is the one behind the monster's release into Gotham.
There are other monsters that soon join the fray as should have been deduced by the title of the book. As Batman and his allies battle the monsters, Alfred and some guy named Duke are at the Bat-cave running analysis on the data sent to them from the battle and trying to find a cure for the monsters. Aside from some bad dialogue in places, the story ramps up quite a bit in the middle and is going along pretty well before coming to a somewhat anticlimactic ending. The ending is very weak and seemed rushed. This story should have continued with a minimum of one more issue, but in order to be fully fleshed out, should have had one more issue for each title in the crossover. As is, there is very little shown about Hugo Strange's motivation to set all these machinations in motion. The blurb on the back of a book usually contains more information about the whole book than this story had written about why Hugo Strange made the monster men.
Moving along to the art. Riley Rossmo handles the pencils for the Batman issues. Roge Antonio is the artist for Nightwing and Andy MacDonald draws Detective Comics. All of these guys seem to emulate the ultra thin lined work of Francis Manapul. Unfortunately, none of them are in the same league as Manapul. Rossmo and MacDonald could actually be the same person. Had there not be two different names listed, I would have thought their issues were all done by the same artist. Both of these guys produce some lackluster art that is below average. Certain panels that are framed as close-ups look decent, but the panels where the viewpoint is from a distance are a mess. In the very first issue, Riley Rossmo draws one of the worst looking versions of Batman that I've ever seen. MacDonald, at least, draws a decent Batman. He also has the single best page in the entire book during the final issue. It's a splash page featuring Hugo sitting down. That one page makes me wonder why the rest of his art doesn't look that good. Antonio is only slightly better than the other two guys. He at least has some decent looking panels no matter what distance the view is from.
The art of Riley Rossmo and Andy MacDonald both get 2 star ratings. The art of Roge Antonio gets 3 stars. After averaging those all together, the overall art score is 2.5 stars out of 5. The writing gets 3 stars for having a good concept that wasn't executed very well and poor dialogue. I averaged the writing and art score together to get the 2.75 star total score for the book. I rounded that up to 3 stars for this site.
Since this is one of the first, if not the very first, crossover of Rebirth, DC should have brought out its all-stars for this. You already have superb writers on each of the 3 series involved so why hand the reins over to some no-name guy when you have King, Seeley, and Tynion IV on the books already. These same goes for the artists. The three artists in this book had absolutely no business taking over books that are normally drawn by fantastic artists like Mikel Janin, David Finch, and Eddy Barrows. A crossover event should be something special. If you're not going to involve the regular talent on the books, you have to break out one of the big guns. Someone high up the food chain at DC dropped the ball on this one. When they should have been breaking out the secret weapon, they sent in the cannon fodder.
May 7, 2018
Haha, no. Nope. Did not like. Very glad it’s over and that I don’t have to look at this ever again.
August 13, 2018
Horrific but not too horrific.
My complete review is at:
https://youtu.be/Rf4P6EUfAlo
My complete review is at:
https://youtu.be/Rf4P6EUfAlo
April 23, 2019
Disjointed, confused and confusing. Felt like a cross-over in search of a reason to exist. Spread across three different titles (Batman, Nightwing and Detective Comics) it certainly didn't make much sense in the Batman series and seemed more like an attempt to remind readers of each individual title that the other two exists.
October 7, 2018
So it’s a crossover event. And crossover events have to toe a line because they can cross a multitude of titles.
This one doesn’t toe the line of being coherent enough across all the titles.
Now all three titles this crosses I’ve actually read most of (still have to catch up on Nightwing) so the most enjoyment I got here was the little moments that further developed what was going on in those comics.
Other than that it’s a retelling of a story that I know has been told at least twice before. The Hugo Strange makes some monsters and Batman has to stop them that was one of the very first Batman stories.
Here they grow as gargantuan as Godzilla and represent Hugo’s thesis on Batman. Sounds interesting right? The execution leaves lots to be desired. The pace is slow, you mostly see the heroes doing crowd control and coming up with a plan and doing some detective work.
What would have made this better is if they took the 6 issues it takes up, compressed them into 3 MAYBE 4 issues where the pace has to be quicker and more clever and you’ve got yourself a starting point.
Nightwing and Batwoman are the stars here. But the event is largely uninteresting unless you like watching Nightwing do some detective work, which is fun.
I enjoyed it enough but won’t recommend it and probably won’t remember it very much. Save the Hugo Strange thesis idea which I think has potential if they went in a less crazy “Strange wants to wear Batman’s skiing route”
3 stars.
This one doesn’t toe the line of being coherent enough across all the titles.
Now all three titles this crosses I’ve actually read most of (still have to catch up on Nightwing) so the most enjoyment I got here was the little moments that further developed what was going on in those comics.
Other than that it’s a retelling of a story that I know has been told at least twice before. The Hugo Strange makes some monsters and Batman has to stop them that was one of the very first Batman stories.
Here they grow as gargantuan as Godzilla and represent Hugo’s thesis on Batman. Sounds interesting right? The execution leaves lots to be desired. The pace is slow, you mostly see the heroes doing crowd control and coming up with a plan and doing some detective work.
What would have made this better is if they took the 6 issues it takes up, compressed them into 3 MAYBE 4 issues where the pace has to be quicker and more clever and you’ve got yourself a starting point.
Nightwing and Batwoman are the stars here. But the event is largely uninteresting unless you like watching Nightwing do some detective work, which is fun.
I enjoyed it enough but won’t recommend it and probably won’t remember it very much. Save the Hugo Strange thesis idea which I think has potential if they went in a less crazy “Strange wants to wear Batman’s skiing route”
3 stars.
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