Batman: The Cult (New Edition)

Product Information

when you can get your hands on some stuff by Starlin but in the distinguished competition, well, it’s not brainer to buy it right away. There are so many moments in this comic where I found myself stopping just to enjoy the gorgeous colors or clever way a series of panels was set up. I particularly enjoyed a number of sequential panels Wrightson does, for instance after Batman’s been shot and he’s trying to get up, instead he literally falls to pieces. It’s just a gorgeous example of him falling unconscious but drawn in such a creative way. You know that you’re about to get a thrill, when Jim Starlin is writing and even more if it’s something for DC, and even more and more if it’s about Batman. Batman: The Cult is a four-issued limited series published in DC's prestige format. Each issue of the series features a raised cover.

Batman: The Cult (Volume) - Comic Vine Batman: The Cult (Volume) - Comic Vine

Michael : I’ll tell on myself and say I didn’t realize this was Jason until later in the story. I’m really not all that familiar with him, but I thought he was very likable and well utilized in the story, but I can’t say he felt all that distinct. Josh: Same! But you have to keep in mind, when we first see Batman, he’s already endured a week of torture (we know he’s been beaten and stabbed), starvation, and been drugged semi-regularly. Then he endures roughly another two to three weeks of this. Batman is a beast, but he’s still human, so seeing this made me happy. Love Interests • Origins • Other Media • Publication History • Recommended Reading • Storylines • Video Games • Batman Family Azrael • Batgirl • Batman • Batman and Robin • Batman Beyond • Batman Confidential • Batman Incorporated • Batman: Dark Knight • Batman: Streets of Gotham • Birds of Prey • Justice League of America • Outsiders • Red Robin • Superman/Batman Not matter if you’re fan of Batman or not, if you wanted something out of your usual Batman’s story, where he’s not in total control, where he’s not having the upper hand, where he’s not prepared to the challenge, where he’s a fallible man…Michael : I got some major The Dark Knight Rises vibes from the anti-elite angle so I wasn’t surprised to learn that Christopher Nolan took inspiration from this book. Casper: I mean, the stuff at the end with the enormous Batmobile is awesome! I just love how over-the-top that is. Michael : Very good distinction there. It even has a religious angle that I kind of forgot about that was interesting but wasn’t delved too far into in lieu of drug induced mind control. Michael : This was my first time reading it and unlike our previous selection, I was not at all familiar with it. Josh: Yeah, the lift here is quite apparent, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. This is definitely where you see a tonal shift within the story. At this point, I think the element that makes the sequences actually work are the interviews with Gotham citizens.

Batman: The Cult Review - IGN

Josh: Yeah, out of all of the titles we selected, I feel like Batman: The Cult will probably be the one that our readers are less familiar with. It is a solid story, though, so I look forward to people discovering it. Josh: I agree with you all here. I got a sense of “the ends justify the means” but I also got a sense of “there’s nothing I can do.” I think there could have been a better outcome, and I’d almost be willing to bet that the team probably considered having Batman save the woman…but then you’d have to figure out what to do with her afterwards since they go directly into the sewer.The next issue features a note indicating that Todd Klein was incorrectly credited as the letterer of this issue. The actual letterer was John Costanza. In the mid-1970s, Starlin contributed a cache of stories to the independently published science-fiction anthology Star Reach. Here he developed his ideas of God, death, and infinity, free of the restrictions of mainstream comics publishers' self-censorship arm, the Comics Code Authority. Starlin also drew "The Secret of Skull River", inked by frequent collaborator Al Milgrom, for Savage Tales #5 (July 1974). But we see the GCPD fail, the National Guard fail, and Batman fail, to defeat simplistic tactics by homeless people with guns and knives. It's such bad plotting because these hurdles could’ve been jumped by any one of them if they actually behaved as they would rather than how Starlin wants them to. And the Army don't get involved because a newsreader (there's an abundance of newsreaders overused throughout to serve as both narrators and the Greek chorus - they become a hindrance to the flow of the story and tedious to read long before the end) informs us the President thinks it would be too costly to send the Army into a city in mainland US soil that's under siege! Riiiight, so if a major US city were held hostage, the government would write it off and allow it its own sovereignty? I realise “Dark Knight Rises” has this as a big part of its story but at least with the film there were large stakes – a nuclear bomb – as opposed to thousands of homeless people wandering the streets. The controversy comes, in part, from the murder -- the one Batman apparently commits. Armed with a machine-gun and hallucinating, Batman opens fire on what he thinks is the Joker. The dying man then changes to look like James Gordon and finally the truth is revealed. However, the murder is shown in such a fashion to one could argue Batman didn't actually do the killing. But those are just the hardcore unable to accept the truth -- Batman murdered a man while under the influence of a cult, incapable of controlling his actions or trusting his own senses. Meanwhile in Arkham, Nashton is upset that his plan failed and wailing in his cell. A neighboring cell mate, who is largely obscured behind the steel door of his cell, proposes Nashton a riddle, asking, "Riddle me this. The less you have of me, the more I am worth." Nashton answers, "A friend." They laugh together.

Batman: The Cult Vol 1 1 | DC Database | Fandom

Josh: The repetition of heads were exhausting after a while. More than anything, Wray’s colors stand out for me. I can’t say that they’re my favorite, but they’re so unexpected and striking, that they demand my attention… And I kind of think that’s what he was ultimately going for.

Searching his apartment, Batman is inadvertently aided by a cop who shows him a carpet cutting tool which Riddler had murdered the mayor with at the beginning. Realizing this tool is another clue to uncovering the Riddler's master plan, Batman cuts open the rug of the apartment and discovers via a map drawn on the floor underneath that Nashton has stationed car bombs around Gotham. No sooner has he done this than an online video of Nashton's final transmission before his capture and incarceration plays, explaining gleefully that he had cultivated an online following that plans to assassinate mayor-elect Bella Reál.