Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (Batman) - Brian Augustyn

Yes, but why?

To me, this makes very little sense. I'm all for alternate stories and little oblique tales but this left me non-plussed. It becomes a weird sort of 'spot the things you know' game with everyone transplanted back to 1888: there's a picture of someone who looks very like the joker etc etc

Plus, I thought the art was on the poor side, or at least rushed - many panels with blank behinds - this made me sad given the rich detail that you can mine from the victorian era.

It all feels like jumping on a bandwagon probably started by League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and maybe there is a good Batman story than can be told in this way, but I don't think this is it. Check it out for curiosity if nothing else, but 'The Long Haloween' it 'aint.

Batman year one minus one hundred years

In Gotham by Gaslight, Augustyn creates a turn of the twentieth century Gotham that is in need of a Batman every bit as much as at the turn of the twenty-first century. Add Jack the Ripper and you have all the hallmarks of a fine Dark Night story. The atmosphere is brooding and Mignola & Russell create arwork that is reminicent of Batman Year One or League of Extrordinary Gentlemen.

Some of the clues and details are rushed though leaving a feeling of being short-changed on the detective work.

The second story is a much lighter super-hero-versus-megalomaniac romp with much lighter artwork. A romance for Bruce Wayne adds a bit of feel-good.

overall, definitely worth the money for Batman lovers.