Review: All Star Batman Vol. 1- My Own Worst Enemy

Quick Summary

Pros: The action, fight sequences, and villain appearances are fun and exciting. The book’s conclusion is excellent and provides a thorough and heartbreaking look into Two Face and his relationship with Batman.

Cons: Some of the side stories are not that interesting. The art varies substantially in quality.

Overall: This is a road trip comic packed to the brim with Batman at his most outrageous. However, this isn’t just an action blockbuster, as there is a deeply emotional and touching story of friendship and betrayal woven between all of these action sequences. The book’s only real problems are that some of the side stories are a little boring and that the art is quite polarizing. Overall, this is a book for anyone who wants to see Batman fighting hand to hand with a ton of enemies, while still having an emotional story to go along side of it.

Story

Scott Snyder starts his new run on Batman with an off the walls, action-packed storyline. All-Star Batman Vol. 1: My Own Worst Enemy shows a grounded Batman taking down foe after foe in some of the most creative and tactical ways possible. It also goes through a unique examination of Batman and Two Face’s history and current relationship in a very interesting way. Though the two background storylines are not that great, the main story makes up for it.

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The main storyline here involves Batman transporting Two Face across the country in order to obtain a “cure” for his condition that the Harvey side of Two Face created. Along the way he comes across a variety of different enemies who he proceeds to take down in a just as varied number of ways. It is an action packed thrill ride that doesn’t stop until the very last issue. There is not well planned route of attack or hidden mystery in these moments, like there is in something like Detective Comics Vol. 1: The Rise of the Batmen (Review), instead it is just fun action, plain and simple. While this may not be for everyone, I personally found it to be very enjoyable and a nice break from the way Batman has been written more recently.

The story isn’t just action for the sake of action though, there is also a tragedy being unwound as the story progresses. In between bouts of action and fight sequences, there are heartwarming flashbacks to the man Two Face used to be. There are wonderfully sincere and highlight how upset Batman must be to see his former friend in the condition he is in now.

However, the end of this book is the real pièce de résistance of the entire story. At the story’s conclusion, Batman discovers that the “cure” he has been after this entire time is not a cure at all. Instead, it is simply a way to burn out the Harvey side of Two Face, something that the Harvey side of Two Face wants in order to finally have peace. He even reveals that he was the one who seeded the clouds with acid, all in his attempt to get Batman to help him. But Batman, being Batman, had a backup plan and injects Two Face with a cure of his own, one that will allow Harvey to have control in moments of strength and Two Face to have control in moments of weakness.

It is a crazy, twist ending that hits both Batman and the reader hard. Snyder really succeeds in putting you in Batman’s shoes and makes you feel the same betrayal and sadness that Batman does. Personally, I was floored when it was revealed that Harvey was the one who seeded the clouds, especially with the flashbacks showing how close he and Bruce were. Overall this ending was an emotional whammy that works in all the best ways.

The book isn’t perfect though, as the background storylines in this collection are nothing to write home about. One features Penguin trying to take down Batman and the other features the police coming in to investigate Wayne Manor. Both stories are presented as intense mysteries when the begin, yet fail to deliver anything significant. The Penguin storyline at least allows KGBeast to enter the fray, but the police investigation literally adds nothing to the story. For the amount of time that was spent on both of these plotlines, it is disappointing how little they actually do for the main storyline.

Alongside the main events of this book, there is a backup story about Duke Thomas trying to train under Batman. It is a somewhat interesting story that overall ends up being pretty average. The interesting part is the actual process that Batman uses for his training, though this is never completely revealed. The concept of a “Cursed Wheel” sounds great, yet we do not learn enough about it to be worth it. Overall, this is an alright story that leaves off with the hope that part two will be better.

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Art

John Romita Jr.’s art is always a point of contention among comic fans, some like him while others hate him. In this collection his skills range depending on what exactly is being drawn on that specific page. For example, his depictions of landscapes and countrysides look amazing. They are detailed, wonderfully drawn, and perfectly colored. Because this is a book mostly taking place in the country, it is full of these scenes.

However, when the art focuses on individuals, it does not look nearly as nice. In particular, character’s faces look incredibly odd and misshapen. This is a persistent problem throughout the collection, the only time it ever goes away is when characters are wearing masks. Readers unable to get over this will find it rather difficult to enjoy the art in this book.

Continuity

All-Star Batman Vol. 1: My Own Worst Enemy is the first volume of the All-Star Batman Rebirth series. Rebirth is not a continuity reset at all; it is more of just a good jumping on point for readers. This means that, although there are stories that come before this, an in depth knowledge of Batman’s past is not really required to enjoy this series. However, the story does still reference previous stories so we will still be listing them below.

The story started here continues in All-Star Batman Vol. 2: Ends of the Earth (Review)

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• Duke Thomas is a character first appearing in Scott Snyder’s run on Batman. However the only thing about his character that directly relates to this work happens in Batman: Rebirth #1, which is collected in either Batman Vol. 10: Epilogue or Batman Vol. 1: I am Gotham (Review).
  • The larger plot points from the rest of Duke’s short history can be found in our Duke Thomas timeline right here.
• Duke asks if Two Face is different because of “the gunshot”. This gunshot happens in Batman and Robin Vol. 5: The Big Burn.