Batman and the Mad Monk

This first thing that you should know about this is that it is a sequel to Batman and the Monsters Men (made by the same creative team as this). Be sure to read that book first. This is surprisingly really good, I had no idea what I was in for. It is one of Batman's more brutal cases. Like Batman and the Monster Men, this book also takes place in Batman's earlier years. This book also features one of Batman's earliest villians from the 1930's golden age era of Batman comics, the Monk. This character had always been rather generic and lame to me. But this creative team took that character and made very interesting and disturbing, which I did not expect. I will not spoil anything, I will allow you to experience the Temple of Doom like vibe that book gives you. Anyway, this book is a continuation of the love storyline between Julie Madison and Bruce Wayne. Like the previous book, Bruce Wayne is also trying to maintain his double life as Batman. The build up from the last book finally pays off in this epic story. Let me just say that this is one of the best portrayals of Batman ever. In this, he thinks like "the world greatest detective" should think and is very analytical. Batman in this book is particularly menacing. There is one scene where Batman defends Commissioner Gordon from an attack by crooked Cops. This was a perfect example of how Batman strikes fear into his enemies and compels them to follow his orders by doing so. This scene gave me chills and is easily one of my personal favorite Batman scenes in any form of media. In this book, Batman is also pushed to his physical limitations at times and needs to rely on his wit, which I love. Overall, I think this one one of the best modern interpretations of any classic Batman story. I recommend reading this %100, as long as you have a way of reading the Batman and the Monster Men story first. I hope I've helped you out, thanks for reading my review!

This is a sequel to  Batman and the Monster Men  and should be read after that (also great) book. On it's own this book could be considered to have a few loose ends, but then again, it's a sequel and shouldn't be judged as a completely stand alone collection.It's brilliant. I don't know for sure, but I suspect it's in part a retelling of a classic Batman story (as Monster Men was). Julie Madison is a character from Batman's past, and I wouldn't be surprised if the "Mad Monk" was as well.The story tells of Batman's first encounter with a possibly supernatural enemy. As Monster Men told of Batman's encounter with an impossible sci-fi type of foe.Both these books go exquisitely with Frank Miller's  Batman: Year One  and are probably the best year one-and-a-half stories in print.Even more amazing is the fact that Wagner not only spun this fantastic yarn but drew it beautifully as well. I've got all the respect in the world for a creator who is that talented. The art is a visual feast, and there's something about the colors that just haunted me (excuse the pun).I can't really imagine loving Batman and not loving this book. I hope and pray Wagner does more Batman soon.

Like Batman and the Monster Men, the story of the Mad Monk is based on one of the earlier Golden Age Batman stories and, likewise, I first read the original story when it was reprinted in one of DC's gone but not forgotten 100-Page Super Spectaculars. The original had a crazy dream-like quality to it that both made it almost nonsensical and totally cool and understandable to the eight-year-old brain. It had everything, vampires, wolves, giant apes, a voyage on a luxury liner, castles and lots and lots of action. It even had one of the rare instances when Batman used a gun.Wagner's adaptation keeps a lot of it, albeit, not the giant ape, and adds a cult of villainous followers and a bit of mystery as to the true nature of the villain. He also carries over some subplots from his adaptation of the "Monster Men," and the characterizations of the main characters is spot on, but, in stretching out the tale, the conclusion was not as satisfying as it should have been. Still, Wagner's Batman, story and art, is better than most, so some of my disappointment in this book comes from my elevated expectations.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. Batman and the Monster Men is a great read, but I didn't expect the sequel to be comparable at all, and in my opinion, it's even better, in some ways.There's two main story arcs carried over from Monster Men: Bruce's love interest, Julie Madison (who plays an essential role in this one) and her father's involvement with the mob (and obsession with "The Bat-Man") is more of a side story, but, again, an essential one for the ending of the story. Oh, and there's also more great dialogue between Batman and Gordon. - This being a story that takes place during the first year or so of Batman's career, there's lots of fun bits for Bat-fans about Batman's future (with Gordon and other villains, also).The new story about the Monk is done well enough (and I'm not a big fan of vampire stories), but with a more satisfying climax than I could have imagined, personally. In fact, it was rather refreshing, considering how most of Batman's villains are forced to end their reign of terror.Bottom Line: If you read/own Batman and the Monster Men, this is must read/own as well.

This story explores more time with Batman's relationship with Julie Madison. She has gotten herself into trouble unbeknownst to her. But to the world's greatest detective, it is all solved. It takes place earlier in Batman's career as the Dark Knight, but that doesn't mean that it lacks anything. It's got a hint of something unbelievable, yet it will keep you engrossed to find out the truth. I would recommend this for any Batman fan, new or old. Matt Wagner is a good writer in my opinion and makes Batman seem more like the guy next door...only if the guy next door has a gajillion dollars to blow through and doesn't feel the need to screw over the world for money.

Continuing directly on from Batman and the Monster Men and set just before Batman: The Man Who Laughs.The storyline in Batman: The Mad Monk is an entertaining and interesting tale. We get to see more of the amatuer year one batman slowly adapting more and more to the city he's sworn to protect and coming to grips with the fact that he may not be able to balance a love life with his bat-life. The story consist of batman trying to track down a blood sucking cult and it's creepy leader. It's an interesting concept and has some definite high points such as the escape from one of the castle traps which brings to mind the explosive gel from the arkham games. We also see batman killing a wolf, which is something I'm not too sure on. He has killed animals in many other stories but I'm just not sure I'm down with the ill never cross that line aslong as its not a human or sentient alien.The characters continue to develop with the Madison's still in Bruce Wayne's life. As Julie struggles to comprehend what secrets Bruce is keeping and her father deteriotes further after his encounter with batman in Monster Men. The characters arnt as interesting as they where in Monster Men but still provide ample entertainment.The art in the issues is the same as Monster Men. I'm not overly fond of the cartoony and in my opinion blurry art. The scenes of gore and horror are made slightly less scary and shocking by it but still captivating none the less.Again I would rate this book as good. Never will be a classic but provides a good early batman story with insight into batman learning new things about what he needs and what he must sacrifice.

This trade has acquired my personal stamp of approval. I don’t think that anything significant to the canon happens here but it was a very enjoyable read. The artwork was great to look at and the story provided a backdrop for the character interactions that I like seeing between Batman and his various allies and enemies. The question that remains, given my unimportant rating of ‘Monster Men’, is whether the series as a whole is worth reading. I will say two things about this. First, you really won’t enjoy this trade unless you have read Batman & the Monster Men. Second, I think that Batman and the Mad Monk is a great read. Either read them both or, if you only care about the canon, just give it a skip. That being said, if you choose to skip this series I think you’ll be missing out on a great trade.For an in-depth review check out: thecanadianmustash.home.blog/2019/06/06/batman-the-mad-monk-review/

Ich muß zugeben, dass ich diesen Batman-Band hautsächlich wegen des coolen Covers gekauft habe. Dracula meets Edgar Wallace meets Batman, dachte ich. Ich will nicht sagen, dass das Cover das beste am ganzen Buch ist, aber weder Zeichnungen noch Plot sind besonders gelungen. Dabei hätte mehr draus werden können, wenn das Ende des Mad Monk nicht quasi mit dem Brecheisen und Deus ex Machina erzwungen worden wäre. So war es nicht besonders zufriedenstellend, nachdem die Spannung eher langsam und über viele Seiten aufgebaut worden ist.Positiv fand ich, dass die Handlung sich von anderen Batman-Abenteuern unterscheidet.

Well i have been a huge batman fan ever since dark knight rises and went crazy buying as many novels as i could but when it came to this i was a little dissapointed, yes it's early batman with gordon only being a captain but honestly i was glad it was over once i read it. it has it's moments but for me it will just do and another for my collection

this was a kool story remind me of the batman i grew up with, bruce is more of a player in these comics more james bond then beat your face in superhero which is ok but batman best shown in position of power but not in this book they portrait him as weak, but other then that still a good book long read very entertaining