Batman: Prey

Batman

by Doug Moench, Paul Gulacy (Illustrator), Jimmy Palmiotti (Illustrator)

From the pages of LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #11-15 and 137-141! Batman must confront the sinister Dr. Hugo Strange, a man with a deadly secret who is determined to kill the Dark Knight. Who is the fearsome Night Scourge, and what is his link to the GCPD? And how does Catwoman fit into all this?

Contains two stories - Batman: Prey and Batman: Terror.

Genres: Comics, Batman, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Doug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok. Moench has worked for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics and many other smaller companies; he has written hundreds of issues of many different comics, and created dozens of characters, such as Moon Knight. In 1973, Moench became the de facto lead writer for the Marvel black-and-white magazine imprint Curtis Magazines. He contributed to the entire runs of Planet of the Apes, Rampaging Hulk (continuing on the title when it changed its name to The Hulk!) and Doc Savage, while also serving as a regular scribe for virtually every other Curtis title during the course of the imprint's existence. Moench is perhaps best known for his work on Batman, whose title he wrote from 1983–1986 and then again from 1992–1998. (He also wrote the companion title Detective Comics from 1983–1986.)

Moench is a frequent and longtime collaborator with comics artist Paul Gulacy. The pair are probably best known for their work on Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, which they worked on together from 1974–1977. They also co-created Six from Sirius, Slash Maraud, and S.C.I. Spy, and have worked together on comics projects featuring Batman, Conan the Barbarian and James Bond.

Moench has frequently been paired with the artist and inker team of Kelley Jones and John Beatty on several Elseworlds Graphic Novels and a long run of the monthly Batman comic.

Reviews

[Sr3yas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Modern Batman #6

Let me clear the confusion. Our Dark Knight is not the hunter, but the prey in this story arc!

And the hunter?

The whole Gotham city: The public, the police, the government and a dark vigilante named Night Scourge!



And all this is happening because of one man: Doctor Hugo Strange. The psychiatrist who is incidentally, a psychopath.


This is one of the unique and early Batman story which unleashes a calculating Hugo Strange over a young Batman. Strange starts a physiological warfare on Dark Knight by painting him as a psychopath during a string of public interviews. Furthermore, he secures himself a position in vigilante task force as consulting criminal profiler. This puts him in the driver's seat of this whole affair!


The story shows why Hugo strange is such an effective Batman villain. Hell, he almost beat him in this story.

The plot is not without its faults. The middle chapters are not as good as the initial ones and the ending was a bit of a cheap trick. Nevertheless, there are some unique scenes with excellent 90s art which makes the story quite fascinating.

Also, Bruce had to walk back to his cave, in broad daylight, in costume.


A reminder that he is, after all, a man. A trait the modern writers keep on forgetting.

[Molly™☺ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hidden gem that often goes untalked about, it's a perfect blend of psychoanalysis and gritty vigilante action. Hugo Strange allows for a more in-depth look at the Dark Knight, through both his own lens and deductions, and Bruce's conflicting thoughts over the scrutiny. A character piece as much as it is an action one, it's Batman at its near best.

[Mika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tell them the Catwoman is nobody's Partner

The bat-signal was used for the first time once more in this volume. Weird to read Gothic were it was ‘new’ and now also in Prey which follows right after.

Happy to see Selina who is also known as the Catwoman. Unfortunately though she looked unusual. I was certainly not a fan of the art style this time. While Gothic wasn't able to set the atmosphere correctly how it was supposed to be by using too much (colourful) colours, this time the faces look odd. I don't know, it's just not my taste.

In addition, I didn't like how each volume had at least one woman half-naked in it and sometimes even wearing a Bat mask.

I really liked the idea of writing a Batman story about his early days as Batman and his struggles to form a trusting bond with the citizens of Gotham City. It's a lot about Bruce's internal conflicts to keep real from fake apart as well as his self-doubt slowly eating him up. The villain in this story didn't necessarily have an own backstory but was rather obsessed with revealing Batman's real identity. Catwoman first appears in this volume set and also makes her important for the ending which was really cool.

If it wouldn't have been for the nudity and the art style (which I personally didn't like), I would have probably given this read 4 stars as it's more centered about Bruce Wayne himself than his villains.

StoryGraph review

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine collection. It deals with events rather early in Batman’s career. In fact, I suppose these could be considered “year one” events, since this collection depicts the first use of the bat signal. The Prey story was first published around 1990-1991 when I was at school and, needless to say, reading a lot of comics. It could be that my judgment is being clouded by nostalgia but I’d like to think that this isn’t the case.

Prey is actually quite violent. One of the challenges Batman faces here is a Vigilante called Night Scourge and the story shows how wearing a mask can amplify personality traits (for better or worse). Isolated from (Captain) Gordon and being driven over the edge by the psychological machinations of Hugo Strange, Prey features an all-too-human Caped Crusader who struggles to keep things together. The story also clearly illustrates the importance of James Gordon in the Batman mythos.

Recommended.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, there was Batman: Prey, and the secretly-demented Dr. Hugo Strange seeks to destroy, replace, and become the Batman. Add a later series of the return of Strange, and you have Batman: Prey, an even finer volume.

[Katherine (Kat) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 Stars

Really enjoyed this story. Batman always used to be one my main favourite DC character growing up and I never really cared for Hugo Strange throughout my years of being alive, after reading this I find him super underrated!

Individual issues rated below -

Legends of the Dark Knight #11: 4/5
Legends of the Dark Knight #12: 4/5
Legends of the Dark Knight #13: 3.5/5
Legends of the Dark Knight #14: 4/5
Legends of the Dark Knight #15: 4/5

[Jonathan Terrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a graphic novel that almost follows on from Batman: Year One, excluding of course the introduction of Batman villains such as Joker. This is an earlier version of Batman, a Batman still struggling with himself and his identity as a crime-fighter. A Batman who needs Jim Gordan to help him in his war on crime.

In this story, the new villainy of Dr. Hugo Strange is introduced for the first time. Hugo Strange is a psychologist, one of those breed of bizarre individuals who wear creepy spectacles and have shaved heads and have mannequins in the place of lovers. Or at least, those are the stereotypes of psychologists adopted in this book. That, for me would have to be one of the major negatives of this work, that there are so many stereotypes of the unknown 'other' of the psychologist adopted for this novel. That said, Hugo Strange, as a villainous mastermind who works out Batman's identity and sets up several intriguing traps is a fascinating character.

If you want a graphic novel with a classic story and some dazzling artwork I'd fully endorse this. It's Batman at his finest: as the Caped Crusader, Dark Knight and world's greatest detective all rolled into one. Now with added action. Did I mention also for the fanboys that Catwoman features prominently in this book? I didn't? Well what other incentive is there to go and read this?

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

Set in the early years when Bruce was just starting out as Batman, Gotham City is slowly adjusting to the appearance of the Dark Knight with many still fearing him. Dr Hugo Strange, a prominent psychiatrist, builds upon that fear to leverage power and fame by convincing the Mayor to order Captain Gordon to set up a Batman task force to take down the vigilante and haul him in for questioning. Gordon gets hot-head officer Max Cort to lead the team as another vigilante, a cat burglar, emerges – but what does Hugo Strange really want?

Doug Moench wrote a lot of Batman comics in the early 90s and none of them were any good. The Knightfall Trilogy where Bane famously broke Batman’s back was wayyy too long and his other books, like the more recent Batman: Unseen with Kelley Jones, have been similarly terrible. Batman: Prey has gained some prominence in recent years thanks to Hugo Strange’s appearance in the brilliant video game Batman: Arkham City, but, based on this book, he’s nowhere near as cool or interesting. In fact, Batman: Prey is a downright awful book but not just because of Strange but because of the entire cast, including Batman, as written by Moench.

Let’s start with Strange. It’s an obvious comment but the name is apt. When he’s not saying weird things about Batman on TV, he’s talking to his female mannequin in his apartment and dressing up as Batman. Yeah, that’s pretty nutty, but on the barest pieces of information, he’s able to figure out Bruce Wayne is Batman – although never explicitly saying so out loud or to anyone else – and can set up elaborate traps in Wayne Manor involving lifelike mannequins who look exactly like Bruce’s parents. You’d think Bruce would’ve set up some security cameras or anything around Wayne Manor – he is trying to stop people figuring out he’s Batman after all! Anyway, Strange needs to do all of that because the plot says so, not because it makes sense.

The dialogue in this book is horrendous. Strange spends most of his time turned towards the reader making speeches about this and that, thinking out loud, repeating plot points, etc. Strange’s dialogue is the worst but none of the characters really say anything that sounds at all convincing. Everyone’s thinking out loud and telling you what they’re doing as they’re doing it!

Catwoman’s outfit is just bad. She’s called a cat burglar in the press so she has to play up the cat part by literally having a tail, cat ears and whiskers, all of which do nothing. If you think the tail is her whip, it’s not – her whip is coiled up around her shoulder. A tail, cat ears, and whiskers – honestly, what’s the point? It’s sooo stupid! Forgetting her appearance (in theory – I won’t forget this, Moench!), she is a completely pointless addition to the book. She shows up, steals some jewels, runs away from Batman across Gotham’s rooftops, escapes – repeat, rinse. They smooch, she saves him (but only because Bruce is so damn incompetent in this book), and that’s it. In other words, just like every other Catwoman appearance ever.

Max Cort is the worst character in the book. He’s apparently a great police officer who behaves more like a bar brawler, only more dangerous because he has guns. After repeatedly failing to bring Batman in, he’s brainwashed by Strange through hypnosis (really) into becoming a vigilante himself laughably called Night Scourge. He just happens to have a ninja outfit with spikes tailor made for him, complete with a variety of knives and swords, all of which he’s suddenly proficient in, and manages to successfully take on Batman. So, as a police officer with far more resources at his disposal he was unable to do anything about Batman but suddenly, mind-wiped, with fewer resources, and a mask, he’s able to achieve more? Whaaat?!

But the worst of the bunch is Batman. When Bruce became Batman for the first time, he’d gone through years of training, physically and mentally preparing himself for the demanding role he was now taking on. In Batman: Prey, it’s like that training never took place. Not only can he barely deal with Strange – a non-super-powered psychiatrist – or any of the GCPD, but he’s routinely challenged by no-name street thugs, and, in the second story arc of the book, Terror, he gets beaten up by Jonathan Crane aka Scarecrow! These two are the villains of the book: Strange and Scarecrow, and they’re supposedly Batman’s physical equal! Only in this book. I understand this is Batman in the early years but you can only play up Bruce’s lack of experience so much.

Moench is famous (relatively speaking) for doing this kind of nonsense narrative. In Batman: Unseen, Batman fights an invisible man by taking off his clothes, drinking the invisibility potion thus becoming invisible – then he puts on his Batman outfit again, negating the invisibility and then goes out to fight him! Moench writes Batman as a brain-dead nitwit and it seems whether he was doing it in the early 90s or the late 00s, that’s how his Batman will always be.

In Terror, the sequel to Prey, also included here, Scarecrow is the main villain. This story is also utterly hideously written and conceived, but it at least has a genuinely hilarious origin story for Jonathan Crane. Apparently he was teased in high school for being scrawny and his bullies would say to him “Go scare some crows, Crane!” (which sounds exactly like something teenagers would say) and these insults so scarred him(!) that the only way he could relieve his frustration was, yes, scaring some crows(!!!). The panel showing Crane lunging after some crows is amazing. He then developed his own “Crane-style” fighting moves which involves him kicking his legs up really high while waving his arms around - this weird dance move is the same fighting style that bests Batman! So of course he puts on a Scarecrow costume and (sigh) becomes Scarecrow. This is one of the dumbest origin stories I’ve ever read. Good for a chuckle though.

The story, in both instances, is plodding and tedious at best. Batman is chased by doofuses (doofi?) and, because he’s also moronic in this book, he has trouble escaping them and solving the “mystery”. The storylines are utterly forgettable and stupid, how anyone can rate this book at all is beyond me. Paul Gulacy’s art is no great shakes but I didn’t mind it and it’s definitely the only commendable thing about this book. But it’s still not that good – the expressions on the mannequins and the human characters look exactly the same.

And one last thing, and it’s rare to have to bring this up, but the lettering in this book is diabolical. Batman’s narrative boxes – of which there are a sizeable number – are written in this flowery cursive style that makes reading them really hard. I suppose this being part of the Legends of the Dark Knight series, Batman is writing these adventures down in a book or something and maybe that’s why we’ve got this awkward handwriting style? It’s the only reason I can see why the letterer has chosen to do this but it underlines a basic truth about comics – if a comic has bad lettering, then it becomes a bad comic. Even if it had legible lettering, it’s still be the pits because of Moench’s script, but the two combined make this a nightmare to read.

Batman: Prey is a book written by an idiot, for idiots, starring idiots - don’t bother. In fact avoid anything written by Doug Moench!

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another subtly amazing tale of the early years of the Batman. Published circa 1993, the story takes us back to a very young Caped Crusader, shortly after the events of Year One. Bruce has not yet created a Batmobile (but he works on it, every chapter!), and the Bat Cave is closer to a hideout than a fully functioning crime lab.
The major plot is that Batman encounters Hugo Strange, here a psychologist with some twisted methods but obseeively fixated on The Batman. And Strange begins to insinuate himself into the Batman's psyche and Gotham's underworld to ruinous effect.
This volume collects Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #11-15. Chronologically, it follows Batman: Venom and comes before Batman: Collected Legends of the Dark Knight. With this chronology, we would have seen Dr. Hugo Strange previously in Batman and the Monster Men, but that was written later than Prey, so there are very few clues that Batman recalls him...
I run hot-and-cold over Prey. This is a less-certain Batman, a growing Batman, bested by circumstance and subtlety and his own weaknesses. But he's also a Batman with more room for good storytelling, for conflict and change and growth, and fewer constraints.

[Himanshu Karmacharya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Batman is always seen prowling the night and hunting down criminals. But in this particular story, Batman is the one who is being hunted. New on crime fighting career, the Batman is still not in good terms with the Gotham Police. He is being hunted down by the police force for his unusual vigilante methods and for crimes he didn't commit.

The story starts off very strong. The psychoanalysis of Batman part was very interesting to read. It was amusing to see how many things Hugo Strange even got right. He was even wrong about many things. And that's the main point that many modern writers have overlooked. They base Batman on the exact same things that Hugo Strange was wrong about.

The art is great for most of the parts, especially the action scenes. But, I absolutely hated the Catwoman costume.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very solid read! So this is one of the post Crisis origin stories for Hugo Strange, until it got retconned in favour of Batman and the Monster Men (Both I fully recommend!). While this is a solid read there are parts of Strange's character I'm glad they got rid of *Cough Sex Doll Cough* (No jokes). So the story is set pretty much just after Year One, which are always a delight to read since its a great part of the Batman timeline. Batman is cleaning up the streets but the city doesn't know what to think of him; then the Mayor has the bright idea to start a Vigilante Task Force with Gordon as its lead and Hugo Strange as a 'Consultant'. The story although not written by Miller, still keeps that same vibe of Year One, which is something I appreciated, and like Year One we have monologues from Both Batman and Gordon which are fun to read. Artwork, although I had to get used to at first, was very nice, it suited the tone well! My only real issue is how Strange is portrayed, its just out right weird. I guess at the time they wanted to be edgy while at the same time make him as Eccentric as possible. There were moments that that made me laugh (As most readers probably will), but then it got to the point where I was thinking: "My god this stupid!". I don't know by the end he was not an intimidating villain, removing any real tension; he's more of joke villain then anything else, something I'm glad they changed later. But overall a nice Batman story!

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Batman takes on Doctor Strange - no, not THAT one - in a plot that is reminiscent of one of those psychological thrillers ("Silence of the Lambs," "Basic Instinct" etc.) that were regularly churned out by Hollywood in the early / mid 90's. This book was released around the same time period. Coincidence? I think not. But it was a good story-line set during the Dark Knight's salad days, and there was a great debut (in this timeline, anyway) of the Batmobile.

[Sud666 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting older story from the early 90's. A "new" Batman walks the streets of Gotham and Cpt Gordon is ordered by the mayor to form a task force to capture him. Helping him in this task is obsessive cop Sgt Cort and psychologist Dr. Hugo Strange. Set in the days before Batman had ALL of his gadgets and it introduces Gordon setting up a preliminary bat-signal and batman getting a batmobile. So it was interesting to see him operate in a "Year One" scenario. He is not the famous hero of later years and comics and heck he isn't even the martial arts master we see in later and newer versions of the comics (not that he's a slouch but he is not someone that can just breeze through a half dozen opponents like he is portrayed now). It is an in depth psychological examination of what makes the Batman tick told from Wayne and Dr. Strange's perspectives. If you like a brainer Batman story..check this one out. The artwork is pretty solid as well considering the time.

[TheNeverendingTBR · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story takes place sometime during the early years of Batman’s time in Gotham. Some of the major characters involved are: Catwoman, Hugo Strange, and the Scarecrow.

It also provides an origin story to the Scarecrow.

Overall, it was brilliantly done, even though it was somewhat disturbing at times.

[cloverina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm pretty disappointed. But, in the same breath, I have to say that I DID enjoy reading it all the way through, because I'm pretty harsh in this review.

I've thought about lowering my rating, but there are a lot of natural aspects of Batman stories that I love no matter what. The traps, the illustrations, Gordon, the Batman-iness of it all is just too beautiful.

That said... It's the whole issue with the first story, Prey. I probably would've enjoyed this early on in my Batjourney, but it feels like a rehash of all the Batman comics, movies, episodes, probably even the fanfic. It all revolves around breaking Batman psychologically, but there's zero subtlety to any of it. Just Strange blurting "I'm going to break the bat psychologically!" to a mannequin (mannikin?) that he put in lingerie (by the way, it's more than implied that he does have sex with that thing. Yikes.). The only other plot is that the police force are after Batman, which has been told a bajillion times and is one of the LEAST interesting Batman stories to tell.

Everything just feels so unoriginal, can't say there's a single thing here that isn't done better in another Batman comic. Hugo Strange does nothing that the Joker doesn't do more interestingly, which is sad, because I was actually really excited about his character specifically, but it seems like a poor attempt to re-insert Strange as Batman's arch-enemy. But because of the ending, that CAN'T be it, right? So why does it feel like that?

And somehow it's 5 issues. It does NOT need to be that long while saying and doing so little worthwhile.

My expectations are probably what killed me on this one. I had high, high hopes (and even silently hoped to myself that Hugo Strange would become a new favorite villain, even though the only other time I'd seen him was B:TAS, where I didn't care about him one way or the other.) for the story, but it's not really worth seeking out, just stumbling across and going "Hey, I like Batman!"

The art is sometimes great and sometimes fugly, especially with women's faces.

It sounds like I hate the story, but it's really just easier to focus on the negatives. I mostly did enjoy it. I just can't appreciate it as much as I'd like to because it's painfully average. So, 3 stars; an "average" rating. I truly did wrestle with the rating and I think this is fitting. It just let me down as a Batman story, but didn't compromise any of my morals for the character or ruin important pieces of what I love about him.

Now, Terror.

Great things: Gordon (again), a more established Batman (but still no Robin 😔), fantastic art and coloring, a really cool opening, and Catwoman actually playing a role in the story instead of just kind of... Being there.

But that's it, and the rest is meh to bad.

I was most excited for Scarecrow in this story (expectations again), because even though all of his stories are so similar, I just KNOW somebody can do something great with him. There has to be somebody who can tap into his potential, and for that, he's among my favorite Batman rogues just for potential. Unfortunately, not only is this just a Scarecrow story that hinges entirely on Batman's reaction to fear gas (of course relating to his parents death... as always), but they make Scarecrow exponentially lamer.

The whole book he calls everyone "bully" (or Bat-bully), because they reveal his origin story as... A kid who was bullied!

Gasp!

They don't really ever show this traumatic bullying, though.

It's a fine message, yeah. Bullying can be traumatizing. But I hate seeing that in Batman stories. It's just not interesting to me, and it's always SO in-your-face. As far as anti-bullying goes, Welcome to the Dollhouse is more effective, and that's not an anti-bullying movie. And it's just... It's lame. Scarecrow sounds like a child running around, saying "no fair! You're a bully!" For someone obsessed with fear, he's not the least bit menacing. So Scarecrow is the WORST part of this story. His design is also the scrawny Scarecrow design that I don't care for at all.

But there's nothing else to review. That's it. He's the whole story.

So... It wasn't very good. 2-2.5 stars.

Overall, I don't reccomend trying to read this. It's so unimportant in the grand scheme of Batman lore and you'll read a million things like it if you plan to read any Batman. It's not the classic that it wants to be, and sadly, it's not the classic that I wanted it to be.

[Alexa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted here!

I have been meaning to follow the Batman chronology for a while now, but I've only really come round to doing it fairly recently (this year, in fact). I love how, with every Batman story I read, I learn something new about him! Reading chronologically really helps, but I've been using this as my guide. As far as I know, there are no official DC listings for a Batman chronology, despite the wealth of comics about the Dark Knight that have been around for more than seventy years (Batman was first introducted in 1939). It suggested that after Batman: Year One (review here), I read Batman: Prey, so I dutifully obeyed.

Prey is estimated to occur shortly after Year One, so it is no surprise that we still see Batman as the dark, brooding hero coming to terms with his new mission as protector of Gotham City. Despite his best efforts to prove that he is actually one of the good guys, he is still a highly targeted vigilante for many of its citizens, particularly the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD). At the moment, his only friends (and the only ones who know his real identity as Bruce Wayne) are the ever-loyal butler, Alfred, and the detective-turned-captain James Gordon.

Prey begins with a police sting operation designed to catch a drug dealer who could reveal the syndicate behind it all. Before the GCPD could close in on the guy, though, Batman has shaken the guy and disrupted the whole operation. One of the officers, Max Cort, gets thoroughly infuriated by this and reports to an indifferent Gordon, who defends Batman by insisting that he is actually good for morale. In the next scene, Gordon is shown at a television show, being interviewed along with Gotham City Mayor Kauss and Dr. Hugo Strange, a well-known psychiatrist. Dr. Strange offers some insight against Batman, analyzing why he wears a costume, etc. The Mayor is very much impressed with him that he hires the man for his services in a newly-enforced "Task Force Vigilante" against Batman, unbeknownst to anyone in GCPD prior to Kauss's announcement on-air. Against Gordon's wishes, the Mayor assigns him as the head of said task force. As the story unravels, we get to see different sides of this Hugo Strange, as well as Max Cort, and even glimpses of Catwoman in between.

Even though I did not finish Prey in a day as planned, it stuck with me long enough for me to really get a kick out of it. I especially liked the latter parts, where the climax of the story is. The characters seemed very real, and were very convincing in their roles. Dr. Strange was, well, really strange, but more than that, he was downright creepy with his obsession and, to say the least, he was insane in the worst sense of the word. Max Cort proved to be as idiotic as Gordon thought he would be, all brawn with little brain, believing he could actually beat Batman! Tsk. As if. A thing that I would have liked to see more of was Catherine, the Mayor's daughter. She was established at the beginning to be a very opinionated woman, but later on she just served as a pawn in the power play between Dr. Strange and Batman. Her faith in the Dark Knight was pleasantly unexpected, which naturally made me want to see more of her in a setting that gave her freedom to do whatever she liked.

On the other hand, the art was, for me, exquisite. The illustrations by Paul Gulacy and Terry Austin and the coloring by Steve Oliff were brilliantly done, and the fact that it was made in the 90's made it even more impressive. I was rereading some parts of Prey for this review earlier and I thought, 'This is what comics should look like'. Probably part of what made me gush about the art was how I really love vintage style comics, especially from genuinely vintage comics. They just look so fine! Anyway, I really loved Prey. I was already dead set on loving Batman anyway, but reading stories like this made me remember why I love him so much. Really.

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prey/Terror

Storyline: 3/3
Artworks: 5/5 Gulacy rocks!!!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good early Batman adventure that introduces both the bat signal and batmobile.

It continues the thread of the police not trusting Batman while Doctor Hugo Strange attempts to uncover his identity.

I like seeing a younger, less experienced Batman who is fighting a more psychological battle against Strange and the police rather than the more theatrical villains.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A decir verdad, voy a leer esta historia porque está incluida en "Batman la Colección" (entre el tomo 2 y el el 3), pero subo la edición separada de Planeta por si se me ocurre opinar algo en especial de esta historia en particular (cosa poco probable). La marco en esta edición porque creo que usa exactamente la misma traducción. Cuando tenga más datos, seguro complete la lista."

Me equivoqué. La saga está bastante buena y guión y dibujo se complementan a la perfección, en un cómic que huele a 80s sin apestar en ningún momento. Salvo por el coloreado, me cerró en casi todo, y ahora sé que le voy a poder entrar a "Terror", de la misma dupla creativa, sin asco. A ver cuándo me animo al hiperpospuesto Slash Maraud.

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prey may very well be one of the biggest surprise Batman story arcs because even though it doesn’t introduce any new characters or being about any new revelations about Bruce Wayne/Batman, it’s just a damn good story.

Well told, well paced, and one of the most action packed of any Batman comic I’ve read. Plus its time frame, fitting in right after the events of Year One makes for one of Batman’s best periods.

And that’s not even mentioning Gulacy’s gorgeous artwork that looks amazing in both decades this arc covers. Neither Batman nor Catwoman has looked this good since Brian Bolland’s stellar work on the Dark Knight.

[Malum · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good continuation of Year One, and an interesting look at a villain going toe to toe with Bats using brains instead of brawn.

[Zofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5☆

[Bryham Fabian · Rating 4 out of 5]

He disfrutado enormemente esta historia, la tenía como pendiente y tuve un buen presentimiento desde que supe que tenía a Hugo Strange como villano junto con los posibles rumores en 2010 que lo ubicaban como posible inspiración de la trama de Batman Knight Rises ( cosa que lamentablemente no ocurrió).

La versión de Hugo Strange aquí es deliciosamente siniestra, presentando en las primeras viñetas a un enigmático psiquiatra deseoso por analizar al encapotado pero sin servir esto de antesala a lo que vendría después. Solo con verlo sabes que Strange oculta algo pero ¿Qué tan grande es lo escondido y hasta que punto su propósito admitido no es sino un eufemismo para un fetiche personal que lo desquicia por completo? Conforme avanza la historia todo a su alrededor se pone más y más turbio.

Pero al igual que las mejores historias de Hugo, Prey trata, en última instancia, del corazón y el alma del propio Batman y de su fortaleza reforzada con sus miedos y locura propia . Lo que lo hace tan gran villano es cómo empuja a Bruce al límite de lo que puede superar para que al final, el triunfo de Batman sea más que físico. Los golpes psicológicos que logra conectar a Bruce a lo largo de la historia son una auténtica salvajada.

[Doctorjimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Εξαιρετικο! Η καλυτερη ιστορια με τον Hugo Strange που εχω διαβασει μεχρι τωρα. Ολα ειναι απολαυστικα στο κομικ αυτο. Το σκιτσαρισμα ειναι λεπτομερες, με σκοτεινη αλλα ποικιλη παλετα χρωματων. Οι διαλογοι και ο τονος φερνουν στο νου τη noir αισθηση του Year One, ενω οι χαρακτηρες σωστα δομημενοι, ειτε μιλαμε για το arc του Batman, ο οποιος πρεπει να αντιμετωπισει τα μεσα, την αστυνομια και τις ιδιες του τις αμφιβολιες, του Strange, ο οποιος βλεπει τον Batman ως ανωτερο σεξουαλικα αντρα -πολυ ενδιαφερουσα η χιουμοριστικη κατευθυνση που πηρε η αναπτυξη του χαρακτηρα του, η του Max Cort, ενος αστυνομικου που θεωρει τον εαυτο του ως κατωτερο "κυνηγο" του εγκληματος απο τον Batman. Οι κακοι σε αυτο το κομικ απειλουν στα αληθεια τον Batman και η ρεαλιστικη κλιμακωση ειναι ταιριαστη με την pulp αισθηση του κομικ Γενικα, ο ρυθμος δεν ειναι γρηγορος, αλλα ισορροπει αναμεσα σε αργους διαλογους/μονολογους και καταιγιστικη δραση με δεξιοτεχνια.

Αν ηταν να βρω ενα αρνητικο, θα ηταν η γραμματοσειρα που χρησιμοποιειται στους μονολογους του Batman. Ειναι κουραστικο για τα ματια να εχεις τοση καλλιγραφια σε μεγαλους μονολογους!

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say?
Following on the heels of the very deceiving Batman: Gothic storyline, we get Batman: Prey.

When you combine a pretty goood writer with years of experience in the Batman-comic-writing-field with an artist such as Paul Gulacy, another veteran... you're hoping to get something good.

They deliver...
Batman: P×R×E×Y` is just that, good!

[JD Comics · Rating 4 out of 5]

Batman: Prey, written by Doug Moench and illustrated by Paul Gulacy, is a Legends of the Dark Knight story so it is set in Batman’s early years. This is the story where the Bat-signal and Batmobile were first introduced in the modern age. I would buy this book for those reasons alone, but it gets better because this story also features Dr. Hugo Strange. I have said this several times already, Hugo Strange is really an underrated villain, and this is the story that made me fall in love with his character.

As I said, this story is set early in Batman’s career. Jim Gordon is still captain here, and the GCPD does not trust Batman yet. In fact, an anti-vigilante task force was created to capture Batman, and Jim Gordon was tasked to head it (awkward). Mayor Wilson Klass also asked Hugo Strange to be a consultant for the task force.

It was fun to see Strange correctly psychoanalyze and profile Batman during a live TV appearance, and you can clearly see that this struck a chord with Bruce Wayne. Strange might not be a match for Batman physically, but he is more than capable of attacking Batman’s psyche. Hugo Strange the psychiatrist who is completely obsessed with Batman is the quintessential Hugo Strange for me. I am not a fan of the mad scientist version who creates monster men.

The art in this story is great. Paul Gulacy is a very talented artist, and he draws action scenes really well. The only reason why I am not putting this story on the same level as the other all-time great Batman stories out there is because I am not a fan of the Night-Scourge part of the story that constitutes a huge chunk of the second half of the story. I wish Moench made Strange the sole antagonist of the story instead of introducing a one-off villain. Nevertheless, this is a Batman story that every Bat collector should have. The 2012 edition also collects Terror, another Legends of the Dark Knight story that also features Hugo Strange.

Chronology: I would read this after Batman and the Mad Monk.

Collects Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (1989) #11-15.

My Batman Collected Editions Instagram page

[Matias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hugo Strange is such a good Batman villain, and this story serves as a great follow up to & The Monster Men. I was engaged throughout the entirety of this story, and read it all in one seating. The story was original and. stands out among the stories set early in Batman’s career. Bruce, Gordon, and Alfred all stand out in this and are greatly written as well.

[Ryan Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love early-career Batman stories, and this is a very solid duo of them, especially the title story “Prey.” This was surprisingly dark and twisted, with a lot of adult themes and imagery. Not a good choice to kick off your kid’s Bat collection, for sure. The dialogue is the weakest part, but the stories themselves manage to be quite good.

[Seb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This was badass, dark, and an amazing Batman book. Hugo Strange was a great villain. The deconstruction of Batman and Gordon’s character was really good. There was also great action. Overall, I loved it!

Highly recommend.

[Keegan Schueler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read through single issues and Huge Strange is massively underrated villain.