Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga, Vol. 2 by Jiro KuwataMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga collects five Batman stories written and illustrated by Jiro Kuwata.
As with the previous volume, the style is '60s manga, warts and all. I love the way Jiro Kuwata's Batman and Robin look. Apart from the '60s Batmobile, greatest of all Batmobiles, and the Batcave, everything else is different or absent. Gordon is an inspector rather than commissioner. Vicki Vale and Alfred are introduced. More on that in a bit.
In these stories, Batman and Robin battle Clayface, The Outsider, a wrestler called The Hangman, an aquatic dinosaur, and some masked guy that I've already forgotten the name of. Clayface is a version of the Batman villain, most resembling the Matt Hagen version, while The Outsider looks like his DC counterpart, complete with being created with Alfred's "death."
Much with the previous volume, Batman and Robin are the consummate straight-men in a somewhat ridiculous world. Dinosaurs, both robot and true, brutish pro-wrestlers, and protoplasmic monsters barely make them bat an eye. As with the last volume, the world of Batman and Robin feels lived in. They've fought Clayface before, whether it was documented or not.
I'll be sad to see this series end with the next volume. The stripped down, odd, meat and potatoes style is a nice change of pace in a world where we get a Batman book or two every week.
Four out of five Batarangs.
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