Batman: The Caped Crusader, Vol. 5

Batman: The Caped Crusader

by Peter Milligan, Chuck Dixon, Alan Grant

A beautiful collection featuring the legendary 1990s Batman comics and Detective comics!

This collection ties together the tales of Batman as he faces off against adversaries like the Queen of Hearts, King Snake and the Ghost Dragons, and the Idiot!

Jumping right in as Batman and Robin earn a spot in Hero World--but the celebration won't last long, once King Snake returns with a deadly vengence. Will the Caped Crusader be able to protect Robin? Or will King Snake finally get his revenge?

Batman heads off to Rio de Janeiro in search of the Queen of Hearts...but the enemy he's about to discover is much more sinister. Will Batman be strong enough to defeat an enemy that aims to eat his mind?

Collects Batman #466-473 and Detective Comics #639-640.

Genres: Comics, Batman, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2021

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Peter Milligan is a British writer, best known for his work on X-Force / X-Statix, the X-Men, & the Vertigo series Human Target. He is also a scriptwriter.

He has been writing comics for some time and he has somewhat of a reputation for writing material that is highly outlandish, bizarre and/or absurd.

His highest profile projects to date include a run on X-Men, and his X-Force revamp that relaunched as X-Statix.

Many of Milligan's best works have been from DC Vertigo. These include: The Extremist (4 issues with artist Ted McKeever) The Minx (8 issues with artist Sean Phillips) Face (Prestige one-shot with artist Duncan Fegredo) The Eaters (Prestige one-shot with artist Dean Ormston) Vertigo Pop London (4 issues with artist Philip Bond) Enigma (8 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo) and Girl (3 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo).

Series:
* Human Target
* Greek Street
* X-Force / X-Statix

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

No More Heroes by Alan Grant & Norm Breyfogle - ★★★
Batman and Robin chase a mobster into an amusement park where they must also deal with a sniper.

Shadow Box by Chuck Dixon & Tom Lyle - ★★★
The creative team behind the Robin miniseries bring the Ghost Dragons to Gotham where King Snake looks to get his revenge on Robin in this direct follow-up to the miniseries. These issues are also included in Robin Vol. 2: Triumphant if you think you are having deja vu.

Of Gods and Men by Alan Grant & Norm Breyfogle - ★★★★
Batman and Robin go after Maxie Zeus in this War of the Gods tie in.

Requiem for a Killer by Alan Grant & Norm Breyfogle - ★★★★★
Killer Croc protects his new family. He's been adopted by a bunch of street people living in the sewer. Easily the best story in this collection. I wish there was more.

The Idiot Root by Peter Milligan, Norm Breyfogle & Jim Aparo - ★
Batman heads to Rio to go after the Queen of Hearts. She's walking around with a drill, drilling people's hearts out. There he gets involved in some Vertigo-lite story of a ID consciousness trying to escape into the real world by eating kids' brains after they've taken a new street drug. Like most of Peter Milligan's stories, it's crap and makes little sense.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of this book focused on the Ghost Dragon gang and the leader’s obsession with wanting to kill Tim Drake. I love the dynamic that Bruce and Tim have and Tim has really grown on me as I’ve been reading his issues, but Batman has got to get over Jason Todd’s death and move on and trust Tim as Robin. This makes for an interesting story for sure, but it is beginning to get a little repetitive. Regardless, I enjoyed that story arc. There’s an issue that related to a larger event that was just okay in this one, as well. And the Killer Croc issue was really good, showing off the humane side of him, as his stories usually tend to do. Once Peter Milligan took over with his story, things took a very dark and weird turn in ways that have been typical from other books (mostly X-Statix related) that I’ve read of his. His run felt very much like Swamp Thing or Animal Man in the short four issues that were collected here. Overall though, I enjoyed what he wrote and really all of this volume!

[cloverina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all Caped Crusader collections, it's a mixed bag, but when it's good, it's excellent. I surprised myself a little bit with some of my opinions on this one.

No More Heroes is okay. It's the epitome of mediocrity that makes up most anthologies. The idea of a young boy wanting to kill a criminal for getting a family member hooked on drugs and causing their death isn't new. In fact, didn't Frank Miller do it with Daredevil a few years prior? Stuff like this happens all the time in Batman comics, too. Disappointingly, it's the most interesting part of the story too. Very skippable. Not sure why they add these filler stories in Caped Crusader collections instead of much more interesting stand-alones. 2.5 stars.

Shadow Box continues a really enjoyable arc from Robin: Reborn and starts Chuck Dixon's Batman. This story is no different than it's predescessor and I just really enjoyed it. I'm glad Robin actually plays a role in this story since many stories sideline him entirely. 4 stars.

Of Gods and Men sucks. Honestly. It might just be the fact that this shouldn't be included in the collection at all considering it's a single issue of a much larger WONDER WOMAN event. I just didn't enjoy it at all. The only upside is that it features a little Maxie Zeus, but it's really not much. 1 star.

Requiem for a Killer is just a good little Killer Croc story. I've never felt bad for Croc before, so it was interesting. I think this inspired that one episode of B:TAS? 4 stars.

Now, The Idiot Root: the most divisive story in this collection. A lot of hate and a lot of enjoyment, too, but not much downright love for this story. Me? I LOVE The Idiot Root. It's written exactly like a Vertigo story (Written like Doom Patrol, at that. Weird choice for Batman but I LOVE Doom Patrol and it ends up really working for me.), so it's trippy, a little bit dark, has that self-serious narration that I love (yes I know that's an insult but it is self serious and I love it) and a very fun plot. I found myself thinking about it constantly every time I stopped reading it. Also, Jim Aparo has probably become my favorite Batartist. I've been a Breyfogle girl for a bit now but WOW. I forgot how talented Aparo is. He's great in this story. (edit: apparently I thought all the issues were Aparo... I liked the Breyfogle art. Whoops.) My only issue is that Robin's presence is missed, but I think it works better without him. Other than that I am thoroughly interested, pleased, and entertained. FIVE FRIGGIN' STARS.

The biggest reason why it's surprising is because Peter Milligan wrote Dark Knight, Dark City, which I enjoy but don't love. A little too edgy for my taste. This one is the perfect amount of edgy for me. I'm excited to read Hellblazer now and I'll probably bump it up on my list by a lot. I imagine it's similar to this but with Constantine instead. Definitley sounds like my kinda party. (edit: I got Peter Milligan confused with Jamie Delano.)

I HIGHLY recommend this collection, if for nothing else, than for The Idiot Root. If you like Doom Patrol and Batman and don't find it too off-putting that they mix, you'll enjoy. This is going in my "favorites" solely for Idiot Root since it doesn't have it's own collection.

[John Elbe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picking back up on my (re)reading of Post Crisis Batman I found this a hard volume to stick with all the way through. Not a lot is done with mostly second rate Bat Rogues. Feels like treading water in the days before Knightfall was put on the table. Peter Milligan is a favorite of mine, but his best work is not here. It's Jim Aparro's art that reminds my why he is one of my all time favorite Bat artists.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A disjointed volume as always. Grant's stories are actually the strongest of the bunch. Showcasing his ability to make grounded and still enjoyable superhero tales with Batty. Milligan makes the worst stories here, giving us piss poor villains. Dixon's story is okay, Cobra is just....whatever.

Overall good art, good stories with Grant. A 3 out of 5.

[Iain · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag, Dixon's arrival alongside Grant, both as solid as usual, but Peter Milligan's contribution of the The Idiot and Batman in Rio is not great.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fifth volume from DC comics collecting Batman comics from the late 1980s through early 1990s and this volume collects Batman issues 466 through 473 as well as Detective Comics issues 639-640. The opening of the book with issue 466 is dated “early August 1991!” In my opinion the stories from this time period are better than some of the comics today (post 2020).
Rather than an account in my book review of issue by issue or chapter by chapter I will highlight the villains Batman has to take on. There’s the Ghost Dragon gang that wants to kill Tim Drake, with the gang led by someone name King Snake. My favorite of the stories here is the one involving trying to deal with a sniper in an amusement park while also chasing mobsters through the amusement park. There’s a Killer Croc story that was really, really good and one sees the better side to him with him having a new family made out of homeless and street people hiding in the sewer system that he now feels obligated to protect. There’s a story that does seem to have twists and turn and maybe more darker than I want called “The Idiot root.” I think it’s one of those stories that some would really like because its different or really hate because its different.
The artwork really reflects the 80s style. It is funny how when I was a kid in the 1990s I wanted “new” comics for its art, but now that I’m reading this volume when I’m older and a father of kids who are Batman fans I like the 80s art feel. Batman fans will appreciate this volume and this series!

[drown_like_its_1999 · Rating 2 out of 5]

A series of serviceable but relatively standard morality tales including a spinoff from "Robin" involving Tim Drake's conflict with King Snake, a crossover tussle with Maxie Zeus, and a found family Killer Croc story. This collection was concluded however with a delightfully weird story by Milligan, Aparo, and Breyfogle that crosses both Batman and Detective Comics. It develops a villain calling himself "The Idiot" whom is created as a shared personality of four mental patients whose brains are wired together and given a drug that sends their consciousness to another dimension called "The Idiot Zone". After corrupting enough minds through the use of the drug, the Idiot can transport himself into the real world by exploding the head of one of the affected addicts and taking their place.

Most of the initial stories are pretty forgettable even though they have some pleasant character moments. However the concluding four-parter is entertaining lunacy, with Milligan going full madcap absurdism in that narrative. Just wild, silly insanity and boy did I enjoy myself. Breyfogle really steals the show here with trippy and imaginative hallucinatory art that is so much more joyful and experimental than one usually finds in a monthly comic. While Aparo's art on the story was less satisfying, it's still eminently well constructed as his work always is.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its hard to believe that these corny Batman tales are what readers, fans, writers, and editors thought were good in the early 90s. Batman has arguably the best rogues gallery in all of comics but in these eight issues we get random mobsters, Maxi Zeus, King Snake, Queen Of Hearts, and The Idiot. It would have been nice to see more of Tim becoming more of a fixture in Bruce's life, not a random trip to Rio. The art was classic but couldn't do much for the book. Overall, a corny mess.

[Luna Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dip in quality from the Batman stories that preceded them (especially ‘The Idiot Root’, that was awful). ‘Requiem For A Killer’ was absolutely fantastic though.

[C Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half is solid, but it was difficult to maintain engagement in the second half.

[Zachary King · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few decent stories, but the two longer tales - “Shadow Box” and “The Idiot Root” - are just plain boring. That’s seven of the ten issues in here.

[ISMOTU · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Milligan joins artists Norm Breyfogle and Jim Aparo for some trippy Bat-ventures. Chuck Dixon and Tom Lyle provide an arc that sets follows up on Tim Drake’s first Robin miniseries as well.

[Brent · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Killer Croc issue was great, but the rest of the book was just 90s nonsense.

[Harley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welp. The Idiot is terrifying.

[John Lamb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely my preferred Batman art style but these stories were pretty boring.

[machado · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*