Rated by the viewers of The Dark Knight.

Plot Summary: Batman finds himself in Istanbul, where thugs of Ra's al Ghul have stolen a journal belonging to a man called Talon. The journal details Talon's life in South America during the time of the Spanish Conquistadors, around the 1560's. During that time, Talon, a European who is disgusted at the destruction of the land by the Spanish invaders, lives with a native tribe of people who call themselves the Wayanmede. With them, he becomes a shaman, and learns to manipulate a great power. During this time, Talon meets Ra's al Ghul, who saves him from the attack of a cougar. The two men, both of whom seem to be immortal, become friends. Ra's and his men help Talon defend his tribe against the forces led by the evil Blackheart, an old enemy of Talon's. Blackheart and his superior force devastate the Wayanmede and their village. Afterwards, Ra's asks Talon to teach him of the shaman power he possesses, and reminds him that if he had used that power, the massacre could have been prevented. Talon refuses.

Flash ahead to the present, where Ra's has found Talon once again. As he explains to Batman, he must have the journal to possess the power he so desires. Batman refuses, giving the book back to Talon. As Ra's leaves, Talon tells Batman that the journal contains nothing of the shaman's power, and that the evil Blackheart still survives, and serves evil. In the end, Talon and Batman decided that it's best for all parties to tend to their business, and the two men part ways.

Review: Of all of the six issues of Batman Chronicles, I'd call this one the worst so far. Why? Well, boring and unimaginative stories. But, I'll get to the other two in a minute. First, let's talk about "Choices." It's a pretty bad story, I'll say that. I've always believed that Ra's al Ghul shouldn't be used as just another villain. He's a major, major player, and when he shows up, it's an event. Witness the recent Legacy crossover. So, why is the mighty Ra's relegated to this 18-page piece of crappola? Batman is in Istanbul from the first page, with very little explanation as to how he found out what was going on, and how he got there on such short notice. And, why is he here alone? Where's Robin?

But, I suppose little things like that aren't supposed to matter. This story isn't about Batman. It's not even about Ra's al Ghul; the story is that of Talon. And, Talon is a very boring man. His story is the same as dozens of similar heroes. He's a European who loves nature, and hates the "evil" men for raping the land and mercilessly killing the natives. Why is it that in every one of these stories, the invading Europeans are universally evil, and the natives are always peaceful and efficient and hate to fight anyone? Can we all say "stereotype?"

The dialogue is very poor, tries too hard to make Talon sound wise and intelligent. The names of the characters, Talon and Blackheart, sound artificial and contrived. And, the very notion that these immortal men have been manipulating history for centuries is just a little too much. Shades of Highlander, wouldn't you say? Ra's al Ghul should be a unique character. Afterall, not everyone gets to live forever. Why in the world would anyone want to take away even a little of that uniqueness, especially for such a rotten story? Maybe I oughta ask the writer. I put his name right up there at the top.

Review: Well, this story was definitely better than the last one, but still not up to what I've come to expect from this title. Afterall, Batman Chonicles is basically a monthly version of Batman: Black and White, only in color and not so . . . weird (weird in a good way).

This story is fair at best. Bruce, calling himself Frank Dixon, helps this great detective track a kidnapper. In otherwords, a young Batman on one of his first cases. One problem: it's not very interesting, or exciting, or thought-provoking, or any of the other things that I love Batman for. It's just a standard detective yarn, and it could've substituted any other young man for Bruce Wayne. In other words, it wasn't unique. This wasn't a Batman story.

I also have a bit of a quarrel with how young Bruce Wayne was portrayed here. He's shown to us as a daredevil, a physical marvel, but a bit hard in the head. He wants to rush into everything, doesn't even know enough to wear sneakers for the tailing of the kidnapper. Would he really be this dumb? I know, he's still young in this story, inexperienced. But, it's stated in the story that he's already worked with the world-famous detective Harvey Harris by this time. Didn't Detective Harris teach him anything? Apparently not.

Finally, let's talk about the artwork in this story. It's okay, I suppose. In fact, the artwork is probably the best part of the story. But, it's far from great. Often, the characters are drawn in awkward, unnatural poses, and I got the feeling a few times that something had happened from one panel to the next, and I had no idea what it was. For instance, there is a sequence that shows Bruce somersaulting down to the alley below from a fire escape. We see Detective Mallory clearly standing on the fire escape, watching this whole thing from above. The very next panel, he's standing behind Bruce, telling him not to rush out into the street. Play it discreet, he advises him.

Bruce Wayne isn't drawn so good, either. I suppose that it's possible he was wearing a disguise, but I doubt it. His nose is larger, and he has a receding, widow's peak style haircut. Not exactly a millionaire playboy, now is he?

A story about Bruce's training. Sounds like a solid premise. Just one problem: this is one phase of Batman's backstory that I could've done without. Japan? Sure. Training in the Moscow Circus? Absolutely. But, if you're gonna show me Bruce playing detective in Chicago, make sure there's a reason. I don't ask too much.

Review: At last, a passable story! Denny O'Neil does what he can to save this sorry issue of Chronicles, but one story isn't enough. The plot is pretty standard, and there's some ugly racism thrown in for good messure, but what makes this an enjoyable story is the lore of early Gotham City. But, this creates a few problems:

1. Oh, so now Blüdhaven came before Gotham? I see. The little whaling town isn't just a previously unknown neighbor of Gotham, it's actually it's predecessor! Hmmph. Thanks for the effort, Denny. You're only trying to help. I guess it's one of those retroactive things . . .

2. Gotham City was started as an asylum, huh? And, this asylum was essentially founded by a mad killer. How many cities do you know of that were founded as asylums? Not too many, I'd wager. It's not really normal for people to move to a place where insane people live, and run free, in fact.

So the plot has a few holes. So what? By the third story in this issue, I was hungry for something . . . anything that wouldn't make me go rob someone to get my $2.95 back. The artwork on "Cityscape" is excellent. And, the scenes with Robin and Alfred are well-done. The ending, dealing with the fact that one of the three main characters (a mulatto, an arrogant soon-to-be lawman, and a killer) is an ancestor of Bruce, is clever and leaves us wondering. My bet's on the lawman.

Not a very good issue. Unless you've been collecting the series from the start and want to keep up your collection, I'd just as soon pass on this one. Nothing special here.

Sorry, Denny. You tried.

Reviewed by: Nightwing

This file was last modified on December 31, 1999

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