For me this is a "blow me away" book. Although my first contact with Herb Kane, he feels familiar, comfortable, honest... besides being knowledgeable, creative, insightful. My feeling is that both his illustrations and his "story" about Hawaii is right.... it has been written and painted through him, you might say..... but this man is not a new-age flake.... very solid, very real.

Hey Bat-Squad Blue Boys and Girls! Greetings from the soon-to-be-no-more No Man's Land! Oh yeah Happy New Year 2000...anyways, down to business. BATMAN: WAR ON CRIME is a phenomenal work by Alex Ross and Paul Dini because it captures the Dark Knight's raison d'etre...to fight crime in all its elements. Whether it be the grim and gritty streets or the jaded halls of high society, Batman/Bruce Wayne is there to go about the business of justice, and it is this principle that is so eloquently captured by this book: justice. It was refreshing to see Batman not just combat the symptoms of crime but also its causes in his guise as Bruce Wayne, and this is something that you rarely see in comics or superhero-related literature. Alex Ross' artwork is breathtaking, and I wholeheartedly agree with the previous reviewer about making a comparison to Norman Rockwell's art...Ross has certainly done 'im proud. Paul Dini once again offers us a concise, heartfelt story that is touching on many levels. All in all, BATMAN: WAR ON CRIME is a worthy successor to the legacy created by the team who did SUPERMAN: PEACE ON EARTH...in fact, I must say that B:WOC is a timeless story that encapsulates the fight for justice in fiction as well as in real life. Until next time, swingin' around the city on a nearly broken line...

- Gary da M3 Jetstorm

This book is a must have for anyone who enjoys comic books, anything about Batman, and a good, thoughtful adventure. Like Superman: Peace on Earth, this story is narated by Batman and tells of an introspective adventure that defines the character. The premise is that Batman stops a theif, only to learn that the guy murdered the parents of a small boy before his eye. Sound familiar? This hits a little close to home for Batman, and so he sets out on a quest to redeam this section of Gotham, and hopefully the boy too, as he has no one else to look out for him. The art, by the famed Alex Ross of Marvels and Kingdom Come, is actually full page paintings, (no, not drawings, real paintings!) with living models used for the characters. His portrayals of Batman in action are excellent, perfectly capturing the grace and power of Batman's moves. So if you haven't gotten the picture yet, BUY THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW AND KEEP IT ON YOUR COFFEE TABLE WHERE EVERYONE WILL PICK IT AND SAY "WOW!"!

First of all, the art is basically the reason to buy this book. Yeah, there's a story, and yeah, it ain't bad, and yeah, Dini can write this stuff really well, but come on, people: ALEX ROSS! That said, the art, in case you hadn't yet gotten the impression, is incredible, as it is in the book's predecessor, Superman: Peace on Earth. One thing you should know: this isn't really a comic book in the sense that you normally think of comic books, as pictures with speech and thought bubbles on them. It's narrated by Batman, and nobody else gets to say anything that we don't hear from Batman's perspective. It's kind of a cross between a comic book and a picture book. If you're a fan of Batman, this is definitely worth owning. Just don't expect it to be in comic book format. Not that you'll be disappointed anyway.

After presenting "Origin of Marvel Comics" and "Son of Origin of Marvel Comics," Stan Lee decided to forgo "The Return of the Son of Origin of Marvel Comics" and go instead with "Bring on the Bad Guys: Origins of the Marvel Comics Villains." This is actually something of a problematic effort because where as you can simply go to issue #1 of "The Fantastic Four" for the origin of the Fantastic Four, or "Amazing Fantasy" #15 for the story of how Spider-Man came to be, the origin of a super villain is usually tossed off in a couple of flashback panels. That means the results are going to be a bit uneven in this collection.

The goal was to try and focus on the key super villain for each Marvel superhero, which means Doctor Doom for the Fantastic Four, the Green Goblin for Spider-Man, the Red Skull for Captain America, and so on and so forth. For those who want to know specifically what Marvel comics are reprinted in "Bring on the Bad Guys" here is the list of what you will find inside: (1) "Prisoners of Doctor Doom" from issue #5 of "The Fantastic Four" and "Origin of Doctor Doom" from the 1964 FF Annual, both by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby; (2) the first fateful meeting of Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, and the Dread Dormammu from issues #126 and #127 of "Strange Tales" by Lee and artist Steve Ditko; (3) three installments of the "Tales of Asgard" from issues #112, #113 and #115 of "Journey into Mystery" telling the story of how Loki became the bad boy of Norse mythology and a full fledged fight between him and the Mighty Thor from #115, all from Lee and Kirby; (4) the Captain America halves of three issues of "Tales to Astonish" by Lee and Kirby telling the origin of the Red Skull; (5) issue #40 of "The Amazing Spider-Man" with the famous confrontation between the unmasked Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, courtesy of Lee and John Romita (Sr.); (6) two Hulk stories from "Tales of Suspense" featuring ol' Greenskin against the Abomination from Lee and Gil Kane; and (7) a confrontation between the Silver Surfer and Mephisto, with artwork by John Buscema (you have figured out by now that Stan Lee wrote all of the stories contained within this book).

As you would imagine the Doctor Doom stories and pretty good, the Spider-Man tale is a classic, and the rest are a matter of choice. The Red Skull trilogy would be my personal choice as the best of the rest. As much as my appreciation for the way Ditko drew Spider-Man has grown over the years I have just never really liked his work on Dr. Strange. In the end, it is Jack Kirby's artwork that dominates the book more than anything else and the thing that stops this from being a truly great collection of Marvel reprints is the fact that the focus on origins effectively prevents Lee from providing some of the greatest stories facing these seminal villains.

Some people here have called the artwork in this book clunky & not very good when compared to the Artwork in Comics today. These people don't know what they are talking about. How do I come to that conclusion? Because I once said the same thing to the owner of a comic book store. Not just any comic book store, but one which dealt specificaly with buying and selling vintage comic books. I remember saying that the Steve Ditko artwork on the first 38 Original Spiderman issues was terrible. I'll never forget..the owner had this incredulous look on his face, and told me that this was "Comic book Art" and not "Let's draw something as realisticaly as possible Art!" With that in mind, I went home and looked at the Steve Ditko Spiderman issues again and came to slowly realize......"I must have been crazy!....He's absolutely right!" For myself, this is part of the genious of "Bring on the Bad Guys!". And this is especaily true of my personal favorites in this book.....the origins of Doctor Doom, Loki, and of course.....Thee Red Skull! What fun they must have had in creating these classics!

I'd argue, "sure." Here in Bring BACK the Bad Guys we witness the origins/first appearances of famous baddies Galactus, The Mandarin, Kingpin, Kang/Rama Tut and others. We are treated to a reprinting of GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS #2, which alone may be worth this book's price since it is virtually impossible to find anywhere. The other reprints are enjoyable (except for Fin Fang Foom's -- what the heck is HE doing in here?), especially a Professor X-Magneto flashback tale.