‘Man-Bat #1’ (review)

Written by Dave Wielgosz
Art by Sumit Kumar
Published by DC Comics

I have been hearing about this Man-Bat series for quite awhile.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I popped open this book, but man, this is a crazy reading experience. I am not sure in a good way either.

I love the character, but this is done totally different from the Man-Bat stories that I remember.

The opening of this book has Kirk Langstrom arguing with his wife, Francine. She knows that he is futzing around with being Man-Bat yet again. And let me tell you, Francine has had it!

She finally does what she should have done years ago.

She leaves Kirk.

It is pretty dramatic for sure, but then it gets even more dramatic. Kirk hits rock bottom. That is when he becomes Man-Bat again and hits the streets either fighting crime or acting like a nut, whatever you want to call it. It could be considered both, I guess.

So then, Batman shows up to help Kirk out. But he’s not going to succeed. We have seen this scenario done many times before but done better.

Regardless, it turns every crazier and by the last page I was just laughing.

I give the creators a lot of credit. They just go for it. I am not a fan of the script nor the sort of cartoony artwork.

Neither really works for this. But they go for it, and don’t look back. I couldn’t stand this book but somehow, this feels like such a wrong take I can’t wait to come back and read how much crazier it is going to get.

RATING: B-