Kelley Jones

I'm not usually fond of psychedelic stories, but this was pretty decent. While I don't care for Jones' drawings of Batman (he looks good in shadows, but off, to me, when you actually see his face) his Scarecrow is undeniably amazing and horrifying, and the art throughout is quite good, and only very occasionally more disorienting than it intentionally should be. The story is fairly basic, but is built on a solid concept and is well executed. The dialogue is also pretty decent, a few oddities show more aside (Alfred referring to 'Master Robin', for instance, rings false, when surely he would have said 'Master Dick' or 'Master Jason' or whichever one he meant, and similarly it always bothers me to no end when Batman, however disoriented, refers to the person on his radio as 'Alfred' in public) and the occasionally clunky interaction with various Arkham staff.
I like how the vision Scarecrow behaves a lot more competent, a lot more dangerous seeming, than the Scarecrow we see during Batman's more lucid moments. I like the unanswered question of which inmate helped Scarecrow create the toxin (and the implication it might have been the Joker is nicely chilling, considering the story's beginning). I thought Gordon got to be really cool in a very Gordon-y way, which is always one of my favourite things to happen in a Batman story. I am similarly fond of a strong Alfred scene, and the pivotal one he gets here is very good. Details in it ring a tiny bit off to me at times, but at the heart of it, still a very worthwhile sequence that brought the story together.
All in all, I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. 3.25/5 show less

This one was a mixed bag for me. Both stories contained in this volume worked on one level (story and art respectively) and failed on other (art and story respectively).

First, Book of Thoth - this is origin story of one of the Conan's greatest antagonists, wizard Toth-Amon of Stygia. We follow him from his early days of youth in a problematic family with abusing father and [for all means and purposes] no-mother. Only person he has any love towards is his sister. Living in extreme poverty and show more forced by his father to beg and rob passer-byes in the street he is more than willing to grab first opportunity to achieve fame and fortune even if it means killing his friend and then orchestrating complete mayhem in Stygia to dark monstrous creature from the aeons past - Set. During this process Toth-Amon will slowly lose all of his humanity and soon turn his back to all people he loved. But his eternal hunger for power will be even too much for him and it will take rather unlikely allies to save his skin.

Story-wise this was excellent story, with powers of light and darking fighting through their avatars on Earth, population that gets pushed toward darkness thanks to thoth-Amon's actions used to push Stygians more and more to the brink until finally they can do nothing else but turn towards the cosmic darkness for safety.

Art is .... lets say not my cup of tea. This type of art is something Mignola is very good at and he makes it look very easy but believe me drawing characters on a high abstract level using only geometrical shapes and shade is very very complex thing and here it just did not work for me. While covers and some wide-shots truly look awesome rest of story did not click with me.

On the other hand second story - Mask of Acheron - had very decent art but story was ..... man. I might be wrong but this one seems o be comic adaptation of last Conan movie. Last I remember i did enjoy that movie but this story seems to be missing some of the pages. I dont know if it was rushed or actually missing story parts but it just jumps from one point to another without any explanation whatsoever. Weird.....

So as a whole mixed bag. But for me even with these .... issues? .... it was an enjoyable ride, especially the Book of Toth.

If you are fan of Conan give this one a shot but it might be good for you to first check art on the Net to see if it will sit well with you. Because lets not forget, comics are primarily bought for visual art. show less

Batman: Crimson Mist, written by Doug Moench with pencils by Kelley Jones, inks by John Beatty, colors by Gregory Wright, and letters by Todd Klein, concludes the vampiric Batman trilogy that began in Batman & Dracula: Red Rain. Elements of the story and style resemble Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Batman: The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, though filtered through the gritty horror aesthetic of Moench and Jones. The vampiric Batman, released from his undeath, stalks Gotham, dispatching every show more criminal and murderer, though he makes sure to take their heads in order to prevent them from rising as vampires. Alfred Pennyworth and Commissioner James Gordon realize that they’ve unleashed a monster in their hope to restore the Batman and must decide whether or not to forge an alliance with Two-Face to end the Batman. Each of the previous volumes felt like they were meant to conclude the story, so this one feels a bit tacked-on, but it does work to resolve the remaining plot threads. As part of a three-part story, Crimson Mist works well, but it is not the strongest when read alone. show less

Batman & Dracula: Red Rain is a Hammer inspired story about Dracula infiltrating's Gotham City's underground, feeding on the destitute, and Batman attempting to solve the mysterious murders that are taking place that are linked to Dracula. But, the clues lead to a confrontation for the ages which results in Batman truly becoming a creature of the night.

This is an operatic Horror comic that seamlessly blends two of my favorite things: The Dark Knight and vampires. It's a bit corny but that's show more part of the appeal.

It's an Elseworld classic for a reason. show less