Tales of The Batman: Alan Brennert

Tales of the Batman: Alan Brennert by Alan Brennert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Tales of the Batman: Alan Brennert contains the nine tales Alan Brennert wrote for DC Comics, the majority of them featuring Batman.

I was not quite five when my mom bought me a comic featuring Batman and an adult Robin. It wasn't until this year that I was able to identify it as The Brave and the Bold #182, written by none other than Alan Brennert. When I found out Alan Brennert wrote a comic that is one of my earliest memories, I decided to see keep an eye out for this. Fortunately, my wife got it for me for Father's Day.

While there's a Christmas story featuring Deadman and Supergirl and an issue of Secret Origins featuring Black Canary saying goodbye to her mother, most of the stories feature Batman. With the first story, To Kill a Legend, I was struck at how human Brennert makes Batman seem. That thread continues throughout.

The tales make heavy use of parallel worlds. Batman and Robin travel to another Earth to stop that Bruce Wayne's parents from being murdered. The Earth-1 Batman travels to Earth-2 to team with an adult Robin against Hugo Strange. The Earth-2 Batman finds love in the arms of Catwoman. Another Batman lives in a world ruled by a Puritanical regime. Even the stories not featuring parallel universes have the heroes showing that they're quite human underneath.

The art is also great. You get Jim Aparo, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Joe Staton, Dick Giordano, and others. I loved Joe Staton's square-jawed Earth-2 Batman almost as much as Jim Aparo's Dark Knight Detective.

For a guy with only nine DC comics to his name, Alan Brennert sure knows his way around a utility belt. I only wish he had more output in comics over the years. No one makes Batman seem more human than Alan Brennert. 5 out of 5 Batarangs.

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