Batman and the Monster Men

In this instalment we see Batman's first encounter with Hugo Strange. Strange is an odd villain, that I don't think has really been used all that often in Batman's history. I remember reading Prey - which is upcoming in my timeline - and also the Arkham City tie-in comics. But I don't know of him being used that recently - unless he has been used in the New 52 in some manner... Which is odd because as a villain he precedes Catwoman and even the Joker.

This storyline is also host to several other 'firsts' in this timeline of Batman's career. It shows his first serious relationship, with Julie Madison. It offers another tantalising glimpse at the Joker, with the newspaper front cover which comments on the Red Hood falling into a vat of chemicals. Although this seems at odds with the end of Year One where the Joker is already threatening Gotham. It also shows more of his relationship with Gordon and it shows more of his battle against the Falcone crime family.

As a storyline though, this did feel a bit disjointed at times. A lot of the elements felt at odds with one another - on the one hand we had the serious repercussions of Norman Madison dealing with Sal Maroni, whilst on the other we had the bizarre 'monster men' of the title. 

Hugo Strange for me felt like an underdeveloped character at times, his motivations never seeming all that clear. Is he someone who is angry at the world for the hand he has been dealt? Is he someone on the search for genetic perfection? Or is he a petty criminal who uses his 'monster men' to steal money to fund his strange (no pun intended) experiments? The different facets of his character never really gelled for me. Plus I wasn't a fan of Sanjay, his assistant...or the moment when someone referred to him as 'bum boy'...

When he first met the Batman though, his character took on an interesting motivation - one which I know will follow through into Prey - as he became obsessed with the physical perfection that Batman has achieved. He marvelled as Batman fought off, and escaped from, three of his 'monster men'. This was one of my favourite scenes in the book, as again it showed Batman in his prime; fighting against the odds in order to escape from a dangerous situation.

I did also like the emphasis on Batman's detective skills, although I did feel as though he rushed into Strange's base of operations a bit too quickly without even knowing what he was letting himself in for. This didn't feel like something Batman would do. This was rectified slightly in the aforementioned fight sequence though, as we saw the more calculating side of Batman.

The love interest subplot was fairly generic for my tastes, and I didn't really see anything which was that special about Julie Madison that warranted her being the one who gained Bruce's affections. For me, the love interests who have been most interesting have always had that twist to their character that makes them interesting. Talia, Selena Kyle and even Jezebel Jet will be remembered as the great loves of Bruce Wayne. Unless something exciting happens with her character in the next storyline or so, I doubt I will remember. Julie. Madison at all.

It sounds like I'm being overly negative about this storyline, and I guess I am. I am reading it almost straight after. Year One and Shaman after all. It's not that it was terrible, it just didn't live up to the previous two volumes. 

Next up - Batman and the Mad Monk