Book Review: Batman: Gates of Gotham by S. Snyder et al.

Batman: Gates of Gotham story by Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins, dialogue by Kyle Higgins and Ryan Parrott, and art by Trevor McCarthy

A new villain, the Architect, is blowing up bridges and skyscrapers in Gotham. His vendetta against the city has its roots in the city's economic boom a century earlier when several rich and powerful families (including the Wayne family) worked together to make Gotham into a rich and powerful city. Those families depended on some brilliant engineers to build bridges and skyscrapers, though the engineers (two brothers) clearly were not on the same social level. The book presents both stories in tandem.

This story comes from the Batman, Incorporated, era of Batman's storyline. Bruce Wayne is a background character funding various national incarnations of Batman. Gotham has Dick Grayson as Batman and Damian Wayne (Bruce's son) as Robin. They are joined by Tim Drake (former Robin now going by the identity Red Robin) and Cassandra Cain (a former Batgirl now going  by the identity Black Bat). The Bat-group investigate the destruction, uncovering information about the founding of Gotham in the alternate story. 

The present-day story is interesting, providing a mystery to solve, some personality conflicts among the Bat-group, and moments of action. The parallel, century-separated stories work well, though the ending is not as solid as the beginning.

Mildly recommended.

Book Review: Marvel-verse: Wanda and Vision by K. Higgins et al.

Marvel-verse: Wanda and Vision written by Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel, Steve Englehart, J.M. Dematteis, and art by Stephane Perger, Don Heck, John Tataglione, Kerry Gammill, Sal Buscema, and Mike Esposito

This volume collects three stories about the famous Marvel couple:

1. Avengers Origins: Vision (2011) written by Kyle Higgins and Alec Siegel, art by Stephane Perger--Ultron-5 builds an unnamed android to kill his enemies, the Avengers. By carefully controlling what information the android receives, Ultron assumes that he has built the perfect weapon to destroy the main obstacle in his way. Things don't turn out according to his plan when the android sees how the Avengers fight for each other and care for others more than for themselves. Curiously, Wanda is absent from this story!

2. Giant-Size Avengers 4 (1974) written by Steve Englehart, penciled by Don Heck, and inked by John Tataglione--The "Giant-Size" refers to the page count--a double issue--not the actual size of the Avengers. Two story lines are intermingled. The Vision goes to Dormammu's infernal dimension to rescue Scarlet Witch from his clutches. Meanwhile, the other Avengers try to stop Kang the Conqueror from stealing the woman who will be chosen as the perfect woman (either Mantis or Moondragon). I think the two stories would be hard to follow without a lot of previous knowledge of Marvel characters, more than someone can get from the MCU. The story ends with two weddings, one being the Vision and Wanda union. The stories are exciting enough but out of context they are a little more challenging to follow.

3. Marvel Team-Up 129 and 130 (1972) written by J. M. Dematteis, penciled by Kerry Gammill and Sal Buscema, and inked by Mike Esposito--Spider-man teams up with The Vision and then with the Scarlet Witch in these paired stories. First, Peter Parker goes with a soon-to-retire journalist for one last big story about a killer in a small New England town. Vision is also drawn to the town by a team of androids who are copies of the greatest humans of the past (including Mark Twain and Fyodor Dostoyevski). The two stories come together quickly. The second issue draws the Scarlet Witch in when villain Necrodamus (you could have guessed he was the villain just by his name) kidnaps her in an attempt to get revenge. The overall story is entertaining and does focus on the relationship between Vision and Wanda.

Mildly recommended--it might be a little tricky to appreciate the storylines without some previous knowledge.