Grovel letters

Greetings!

I am assisting our local rural librarians in making a decision re: some graphic novel packages that are available to us at a really cheap price. As a sci-fi/fantasy fan, and having friends who are comic nuts, I was familiar with many of the items on our lists. The few that were unknwon to me, I thought of researching on the web. I found your reviews to be EXTREMELY helpful in making our decision.

I have now bookmarked your site to make it easier to field questions about specific graphic novels in the future as a reference source.

Thank you for the wonderful site and excellant reviews.

Claire Williams

I found it somewhat disconcerting that this book did not receive five stars all the way down the line. I believe that this story is the most compelling of all of the graphic novels I have read. Oh well. Thanks for the great collection of reviews.
Scott Hicks

Fantastic novel, one of the best Batman books I have ever read.
Mr N McFadzean

I love your site. It provides great analysis of the stories and encouraged
me to check up on a few graphic novels that I did not previously bother
with.

About The Killing Joke:

Perhaps you ought to note that this story is the one in which Barbara Gordon
is shot and crippled by the Joker. This was a major event in Bat-history
because it lead her to become the wheelchair-bound Oracle. After all, Oracle
has become one of the most important characters in the Bat-world and it was
this story that lead her creation.

By the way, would you consider Batman: Thrillkiller and Neil Gaiman's
1602 as graphic novels?
Mark Treuthardt

Consider your The Killing Joke comment noted. Perhaps we could do a revision.

And yes, we would consider both those titles to be graphic novels for the purposes of this site.

A splendid review. When the Wind Blows remains, for me, one of the profoundest statements about the nuclear arms race. The last paragraph in your review is a splendidly concise evocation of that dreadful time, which is still snarling just over the horizon.

When the Wind Blows is a classic that should be in all educated bookshelves.
Janet Kenny

Bruce Wayne's age would me more likely be in his early fifties in this graphic novel. You did notice the graying hair, didn't you? I had not read a DC Comic since the early 1960s until I began following the Batman and Superman stories with the publication of the Man of Steel series that redefined the Superman character, and subsequently, Frank Miller's redefinition of Batman. I have a collection of every title of Batman and Superman from 1986 through 1993.

Forty years old is pretty darned young! You probably don't follow American baseball in the UK, but Julio Franco, firstbaseman of the Atlanta Braves is 46 and is a stud, as is Roger Clemens at 43. I lived in Leicestershire in 1982-1983, when Gary Lineker led the Foxes [that'd be Leicester City to an Brit - Ed] to a promotion to the First Division. Lineker should still be out on the pitch running with Beckham rather than broadcasting his exploits on TV.

Also, don't forget that Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond novels spanning the character's early forties.

By the way, I'll be 59 next month.
Wayne Bruce

Happy birthday for next month. We don't specifically mention Batman's age in the review, as Miller doesn't in his book. The reference to Batman being in his thirties is where we think the current Batman probably is. We'd agree that the Batman in The Dark Knight Returns is significantly older than that.

You're a dick, hitman is tops and it is pointless me explaining it to someone the likes of you. What a sorry excuse for a review.
Joe Robinson

There's nothing like a bit of constructive criticism...