Gotham By Gaslight By DC ANIMATION

While their live action films are of varying levels of quality and entertainment value, I have nothing but good to say about DC COMICS and their animated movie division. For the past ten years or more they have consistently turned out great stories with fantastic animation and stellar voice actoring. It is only appropriate that Gotham By Gaslight gets it's due.

This was the first time that I discovered the genius that is Mike Mignola. I had never seen art like his ever before in a comic book. Instead of showing you everything, Mignola works in shadows and only shows you ENOUGH to get the point. He draws the whole page but then adds black to remove everything that doesn't need to be there. It's mesmerizing to experience as a reader. To some it looks easy but his style hasn't been replicated since. The success of this book allowed Mignola to put out HELLBOY and the world is a much better place for that.

 

 

Many people don't know that this was the first ELSEWORDS story that was made special for comic book stores. The book had a cardboard cover and heavier paper inside. Mike Mignola did the art he would later become legend for after his work on Hellboy. The story took Batman to the time of Jack the Ripper and proved that the concept of a Dark Knight was so strong that the character could exist and dispense justice at any time in history. So could all his counterparts like Superman and Wonder Woman. This started a whole genre of comics that imagined how our heroes would exist in other eras or dimensions.  Some of my favorite stories exist in these continuity free books. The greatest of the all - KINGDOM COME - is essentially an Elseworld story. But this one was first and I still have my copy. I fell in love with the art and the story immediately so I am excited about this new picture.