This book comes out today! Thanks to DC Comics for the advance review copy.
Tom King. Batman Volume 8: Cold Days. Burbank, CA: DC Comics, December 24th 2018. 176 pp.
4 out of 5
Purchase: Amazon
The adventure with Batman continues! This eighth volume of Batman collects Batman issues # 51-57 in DC’s Rebirth era. Being released in December there is a winter theme to the stories collected in this comic book.
There are three stories in this volume. The first story is the longer story of those in the volume and is titled “Cold Days.” It is a three part story. The second story is titled “The better man” and it is a short story (one issue long). The last story is a three part series titled “Beasts of Burden.”
Reading this work I think I got the sense that the writer Tom King is trying to write in a way that is less formulaic of the typical superhero comicbook narrative. The first story “Cold Days” is less action and more of a court jury drama involving Bruce Wayne being a jury involving a case of the villain Mr. Freeze. Like Twelve Angry Men (the short story and the short film) Bruce Wayne is the one juror who goes against the grain of everyone else and upsets everyone. I thought Tom King ought to be commended for the exploration of vigilantism, social justice and legality in this story. King did a good of using Bruce Wayne’s dialogue of questioning the assumption of the problem of Gotham of why is it that the police isn’t able to do the work that Batman is doing of investigating and stopping criminals. Comics have gone a long way from just straight fighting super hero action.
Both the second and third story is an exploration of also father figures and sons. The third one is more complex and I thought the Russian assassin Anatoli Knyazev with his relationship with his father was a foil with Batman and his relationship with his “son” Nightwing and also in the end with a twist of even Batman’s relationship with his father. There’s a lot I need to still ponder over with this story such as what’s the point of the Russian famous fable The Animals in the Pit being told and juxtaposition into the story.
The stories in this volume is a bit more different and more drama than straight action. There’s also a touch on the exploration of even Batman almost as a godlike figure and its rather weird that Bruce Wayne says he is an atheist in the first story. While I do appreciate comics outside the box and exploration of a person’s deeper psyche I think this one was a little strange for me.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by DC Comics and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
Looking for the next volume after this book? Check out Batman, Volume 9: The Tyrant Wing
The Domain for Truth 
You break down Batman the same way you look at Scripture? This is so detailed
This sounds a tad like the Legion stories as they entered into the 00s and 10s. The plots became so convoluted and so full of navel gazing that they required several re-reads and I still didn’t know what was going on.
I love those LSH reviews! Any of them this upcoming week? I do think if you venture to modern stuff Black beetle is a good place to begin
RE: LSH
Thanks! This morning I wrote the draft for the next LSH review…to be published a week from Thursday. It’ll be my 18th LSH review which means I’m halfway through the series. Yeah, I plan on visiting a comic shop for the Black Beetle sometime in January. Haven’t been in a comic shop since August 2017.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas Joshua! How was your Christmas in Japan?
My Christmas was awesome! We had a great Christmas celebration at church (in Nagasaki – approximately 2 and a half hours from where I live). We had a potluck and sang Christmas hymns.
My brother, Jeremy, and I played Christmas songs on our guitar and ukulele in Dad’s English classes. That was fun!
Thank you for the review. The atheist thing being inserted is strange. That could have been left out. I never questioned it. Just enjoyed the good over the bad. :))
I think that’s also strange and a bit unnecessary on the part of the author though there was a Christian grandma that talked to Bruce in this comic, That lady reminded me of you! God bless you and may you have a Merry Christmas! Any families coming over today?
Awww thank you and Merry Christmas and I have gone there.:))
This volume collects the infamous issue where Batman reveal he’s an atheist. It was even on the news!
This was fun to read. Seemed you enjoyed it like I did