Batman: Contagion

So first and foremost let me address a point many people might be wondering about. It's been mentioned in another review, but I want to mention it as well to lessen the number of people that will be confused: this volume does NOT contain Batman Legacy. It's understandable how some might get confused, as when this volume was first announced and then listed on Amazon it did mention that Legacy would be included. Furthermore, it's made even more confusing because the title of the listing has changed since it was first put up. I watched it in the months since its announcement and personally saw it go from Batman Contagion/Legacy, to Batman Legacy/Contagion, to Batman Legacy, and then finally Batman Contagion. So it is again very understandable how some might get confused and why a few people that pre-ordered the item when it first popped up might be disappointed (as the first reviewer was). That being said I don't think it should really be held against the volume and the number of people who are disappointed from this point forward should drastically decrease, since the final changes to the listing have been made and should stay as they are since the volume is available for purchase now.So, onto the actual trade paperback. I've always had something of a soft spot for this event, due to where it stands in that Batman mythos. Contagion is the first Batman event to take place after  Batman: Knightfall, Vol. 1  (My personal favorite Batman event of all time) and is also really what should be considered as the beginning of Batman No Man's Land. By that I mean that Contagion begins a downfall for Gotham City that culminates in No Man's Land. The order should therefore be read as:Contagion->Legacy->Cataclysm->No Man's LandYou have the outbreak of an extremely dangerous disease, a second outbreak, an earthquake, and finally the city being quarantined by the U.S. government. Read together it's really just an amazing arc in my opinion, which ran from the mid-90s to the early-2000s. DC recently just finished re-releasing  Batman: No Man's Land, Vol. 1  and  Batman: Cataclysm (New Edition)  , and have also started to release  Batman: Road to No Man's Land Vol. 1  trades, that take place after Cataclysm and lead into the event. So it can really be seen that they've been putting some effort towards releasing updated versions of everything that deals with No Man's Land, which is why this new release of Contagion isn't such a surprise. It's also why i'm fairly confident that we'll see a new release of Legacy within a year or two. The fact that the listing originally mentioned Legacy as well also makes me think that DC clearly hasn't forgotten about the event.More importantly, while this volume doesn't collect Batman Legacy it DOES collect all of Contagion AND many Batman stories that took place between Contagion and Legacy. This includes Azrael Agent of the Bat (1995-2003) #15-16, Batman (1940-2011) # 529-532, Batman: Shadow of the Bat (1992-2000) #48-52, Batman Chronicles (1995-2001) #4, Catwoman (1993-2001 2nd Series) #31-32, Detective Comics (1937-2011) #695-696, and Robin (1993-2009) #27-30. This brings the volume to just over 500 pages in total, which to me is definitely fair for slightly more than $20. That also makes this volume almost twice as large as the original printing from 1996 (Which I used to have and can confirm had 260-270 pages). Just to go more in-depth, the original volume lacked some issues from Shadow of the Bat and Robin. So if you're planning on picking up the event and can't decide, this new trade is the way to go, being far more complete than the original one was. This is standard for the updated trades DC's been releasing over the past few years and I don't think you could go wrong with this.Contagion is a very interesting story, because as Batman notes time and again a disease isn't something you can physically combat. So when a major one is let loose in Gotham City he is naturally struggling to fight back against it. He can't punch it in the face or throw it in jail, which makes this story unique in that stopping any one villain isn't going to solve the greater problem at the end of the day. None of the classic Batman villains (Such as Joker, Scarecrow, and Two-Face) even had anything to do with the virus being released into Gotham City and they don't have a large presence in the event. The story remains focused on Batman and his allies dealing with the outbreak and the chaos it causes, while also valiantly searching for a cure. This story is kind of like a time capsule, in that when compared to Batman stories of today you can really see how things have changed. Besides Batman, Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Robin (Tim Drake), Oracle (Barbara Gordon), Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), and Azrael (Jean-Paul Valley), all show up and play some role in the plot. That's what the Bat Family looked like in the 90s. Today, besides Batman, none of those characters are in the same roles that they were back then (Besides Jean-Paul, and that is very, very recent, as in something that happened within the last few months. Everyone else has moved on to another role). It's just interesting to look at how things change.Personally, I enjoyed seeing the separate stories of all the characters. Batman is Batman, so he rules Gotham City and everyone reports back to and works with him, but the best stories here are the ones where different characters are on their own. I really enjoyed the issues from Robin and I was pleasantly surprised by Catwoman. This isn't like the current take on the character. This is where she was a straight up villain and enemy of Batman, who really wouldn't have been caught dead working with him. I probably enjoyed her issues even more because they are from her 2nd series, which ran through the 90s and for the most part has never actually been collected. In her own way she tries just as hard as Batman, Robin, and the others to find a cure for the plague. On the subject of the plague again, every writer does an excellent job portraying it. The volume begins with its release, so you can really see the slow way it spreads from person to person, before finally ravaging the entire city. The way different characters and authority figures react to it are great and interesting to behold. You will put this volume down with a new understanding and respect for diseases, because the authors do that good a job at portraying how horrific they can be.I will say that this is not the best story you could read if you want to see a worn down Batman, that is to say the character when he is exhausted from everything going on around him. While Batman does note being tired and how frantic things are, it really isn't driven home that well. In comparison, Knightfall had Batman's exhaustion being a central part of the story, and it plays a large role in what allows Bane to defeat him. Here it's not really that big of a deal. However, it's notable in that Batman really works his butt off (as do his allies) to find a cure for the virus and fails time and again. This helps make the story that much better in my opinion. There's no quick fix and Gotham doesn't escape unscathed. Thousands of people die and many of them are shown doing so. It is in fact the people of the city who might be called the real, or secondary, villain in this story, since a lot of what Batman has to deal with is a result of their actions. You don't see many classic Batman enemies wandering around here, which is another aspect of this story that sets it apart from others of its kind. With so many artists you also have the artwork changing pretty drastically, and this can happen from issue to issue based on how the story's set up. It doesn't ruin things in my opinon and I was able to enjoy the different kinds of artwork.Overall, I think this is an excellent volume that collects a great event. Not the best of all time, but a suitable addition to any collection, especially if you're a fan of No Man's Land.

Man, must've been a tough one to collect back in the day. Eleven issues from no less than <i>seven</i> different series. And only one of these is from the main Batman series. You might've noticed that eleven issues is not anywhere close to the five hundred page count. That's because the main event only takes about three hundred and the rest is "chapters that lead into the thrilling confrontation with the mastermind behind the outbreak in BATMAN: LEGACY." That's right, almost a full half of the book is something else. I've not yet read the Legacy event so I have no idea how relevant are these additional issues to it, they might just be a filler.So, what do we have here? We have Dixon, Moench, Grant and O'Neill as writers on their respective Bat-series all working on the same event. What more could you wish? The story is about a plague that sweeps through Gotham city and our heroes all scramble to find the cure while the city descends into chaos and is then quaratined by the National Guard. Macabre apocalyptic visions intermixed with high-adrenaline action, and, what's interesting, pretty much only two cameos from the rogue gallery, Poison Ivy and Penguin, which is a good thing. Too many crossovers have these big villain rosters starting with Joker and it starts to get boring after some time. Catwoman is a big part of the event but she's grudgingly on the good side, as would be expected. The event is over before you even know it and we're off to the bonus content.The Deadman Connection stars the dynamic duo of Batman and Deadman traveling to the South America to thwart the bad guys robbing secret tribe of Inca. This book is probably the first time when I've seen the famous Kelley Jones art in action and it's gorgeously creepy (the Contagion arc also includes one issue). Batman is always drawn in the poses of monsters from the horror movies, striking fear not only into the hearts of criminals but also the hapless reader.The second story I want to highlight deals with the new guy called Narcosis that has his own mix of fear gas, ahem, I mean sleep-and-fear gas. It gets the Batman early and he has to spend a lot of the story time walking in a nightmarish dreamland confronting his enemies and, ultimately, himself. It's Batman: Shadow of the Bat issues 50-52 and it's not in the description of the Kindle and Comixology versions.The third one is a quick Hitman cameo in a short story by Garth Ennis and it's a welcome sight to raise the mood up a little. I've always had a soft spot for the murdering bastard. Hitman is hunting another horror that's broken free from containment into the plagued city.This is a big chunk of good Batman content with only a part of it pertaining to the title so take that as you will. If you're only looking for the crossover events, everything after the Contagion arc ends can be safely skipped.

Art work looks it was scanned and printed. Looks faded and blurry kinda disappointed. Good plot though.

The story of contagion has a well thought out plot. The way the virus is introduced to Gotham City is very organic. The refuse of the Babel Towers for Gotham's so-called elite, and their demise, Is poetic justice. Robin's dilemma adds even more important to finding a cure. My only problem is with the new villain introduced at the end of the Contagion story, Narcosis. He is a one dimensional character. And the ending of his story is reminiscent of the Joker's creation, it's just lazy writing.

This has to be one of the most gripping stories I have read. I got so wrapped up in this story and the batman graphic novels following that I actually forgot to grab the NEW stuff for about two months (my comic guy thought I was dead). This is a VERY good story, the writitng is well done, the art is pretty great (I don't care for the ones where his ears are bigger than his head), but all of the other art is really well done. This is a Batman comic, how a Batman comic SHOULD be. It blows almost all of the new Batman titles out of the water!

Very nice prequel that sets up the events of No Man’s Land

This is a classic story. The only part I didn’t like was that the art sometimes gets a little too cartoonish for the subject matter.

Once again, I owned the previous released version of this, and so I'm glad that the new version brought back a lot of the omitted material.

Great storyline

I volumi della Dc sono sempre forieri di gioia. I due in particolare di Contagion splendidi e ad un prezzo davvero risibile. Andrebbero presi tutti, quando si trovano per coprire gli archi narrativi, da quando Batman è nato all'altro ieri. Gli ultimi meglio soprassedere.

Compré este tomo pensando en la nostalgia que me causaron los cómics de Contagion de Batman en los noventas, la edición es buena, por eso lo doy cuatro estrellas, no le pongo cinco porque la nostalgia me venció, Contagion era una historia malísima. Ni modo, lo compré por la nostalgia y solo por eso vale la pena.

The main story is the usual overly long crossover, but it only takes up 2/3 of the book. The stories rounding out the volume are great three-parters that ran immediately after the crossover and finish the volume on a good note.

Bizarrely the copy I received does not contain the legacy story line at all. Instead the second half of the book includes the totally unrelated 'Shadow of the Bat' storyline. It may be worth going to your brick and mortar stores for this book to make sure you get an edition that includes the issues you want.