How I Read Batman 2: Batman & The Monster Men

While the character of Bruce Wayne the Batman is one of the most revered, and interesting in all of comics, my favorite Batman stories are the ones where we see how others react to The Dark Knight.

Batman And The Monster Men, originally a mini-series written and drawn by Matt Wagner, introduces us to modern age versions of Batman characters, and shows how they are changed by their first encounters with him. 

In a roundabout way the center of this story is Sal Maroni, one of the top men in the Falcone Crime family.  He joins together the two subplots of the story by 1.) bankrolling and extorting a scientist named Hugo Strange, and 2.) bankrolling and extorting prominent businessman, Norman Madison, whose daughter happens to be dating Bruce Wayne.

Hugo Strange is your typical mad scientist bent on changing the world.  He uses Falcone money to create a series of mutants (the eponymous Monster Men).  When Maroni sends musclemen to pressure Strange into paying his debt, Strange unleashes his Monster Men on one of Maroni's underground card games, thus stealing Maroni's money, and using it to pay Maroni back.  When Batman gets involved, Strange fixates on what a perfect specimen he is, and vows to either capture or kill him.  When things don't go according to plan, he decides, rather than hiding from Batman underground, to become a public expert on Batman, going on television and tlaking about how disturbed he is.

Norman Madison's tale is a little different.  As a prominent businessman from the Gotham elite, he believes himself superior to Maroni and his thugs, and refuses to see them as a threat until they threaten his daughter, Julie.  To protect her, he asks her to find a place to hide, and not tell him where it is.  He demands the Falcone thugs take him to Maroni directly.  While there, the Falcone compound is attacked by Strange's Monster Men.  He is ultimately rescued by Batman who addresses him by name, and tells him to leave.  The issue ends with Norman sitting in front of the TV, watching Hugo Strange tell a reporter that Batman is a relentless, insane vigilante.  He is visibly sweating, thinking to himself "He knows my name."  There's also a neat panel about halfway through the trade, where we Norman Madison's face shrouded by the Gotham skyline, suggesting that Wagner is using Norman as a metaphor for Gotham City's troubled relationship with both crime and Batman.

When her father asks her to go into hiding, Julie Madison rushes to Wayne Manor to tell Bruce, who responds by drugging her (Wayne is easily one of the worst superhero boyfriends in comics.  I once saw Hank Pym shaking his head at Wayne, muttering "At least when I hit Janet, she knew that I loved her.").  When she wakes up, a day and a half later with a Roofie hangover, Bruce tells her that her father's debts are taken care of, and she continues to be all starry-eyed over her mysterious playboy lover.  She doesn't know that (dun dun dun) her life is soon to be completely altered by her involvement with Batman.

We also get to see Lieutenant James Gordon come into conflict with the new police commissioner, Grogan, over Gordon's alleged connection with Batman. 

Even Alfred gets some face time in this book, when he lays his eyes on Bruce's new crimefighting car  and quips "I'm actually surprised that you didn't add winged fins to the rear fenders and make it a true 'Batmobile!'  Oh good lord!  You're actually considering it!"

DC has placed a #1 on the spine of this book, and a #2 on Wagner's follow-up story "Batman And The Mad Monk".  While the two stories are related, there are definitely a number of Batman stories that take place between the two collections.  It's actually odd that DC has numbered them at all, as they rarely put any sort of label on any trade paperback that isn't part of some giant crossover.

I've seen other reading lists that place The Joker: The Man Who Laughs as the book that immediately follows Year One, as it features The Joker who LT. Gordon mentions on the final page of Year One.  While I do think that Miller intended the next story to feature the joker, and Brubaker certainly intends for The Man Who Laughs as the first Joker story, I think the chronology works better if we get to know Batman better before introducing his greatest villain.  There's also the issue that Gordon has grown comfortable enough in Gotham to call it "my city" early on in The Man Who Laughs, and he has not arrived at that point in his life at the end of Year One.

Story: 5/5, Art 5/5