Yep, I'm still reading Batman comic books this week - I'm as ashamed as anyone over this unexpected development. I do expect it to be over soon, though.
Last night finished the second of the Batman vampire trilogy graphic novels. This one picks up where Red Rain left off, with Batman as a vampire who is bent on destroying other vampires while refusing to drink blood himself. But he gets the craving for blood worse and worse as the story goes on (offering some great opportunities for artwork of a seriously strung-out blood junkie in a bat suit - can anyone ask for more?), and only gets relief when he around Catwoman, who in this story is a were-cat, transformed by a vampire's bite into a, well, purple were-cat with red nails. Nice original touch - if you're going to have Batman and vampires, why not take the fairly logical step of making Catwoman a real cat-woman? It couldn't be sillier than Halle Berry in a catsuit. (Respect must be paid to Michelle Pfeiffer in the same role, however, and once again, damn Warren Beatty to hell for getting Annette Benning pregnant when she had that role - I'm still mad about that).
The artwork of Batman suffering blood withdrawal is great - it's so graphic and so scary that, again, can't let Grayson see this, and I thought I was buying it for him. The artwork of Catwoman is just not much more than silly, unfortunately, despite the innate logic of the idea - somehow the drawings of a bulked-up muscular naked woman just don't do much for me when she has a tail, elongated ears and is purple. But still, an interesting story, although lacking the panoramic qualities of the first. That's partially the nature of the story - in the first Batman is literally flying around fighting Dracula so there are lots of opportunities for cape swirling around and great artwork, which is what I like about the series - the dark gothic nature of it. In this one the cape doesn't get to do much more that wrap a junkie who is fighting withdrawal and getting more and more desperate. Against, the anguish shown on his face is terrific - and frightening - but it's good artwork on a smaller, more personal, scale.
Have already ordered the third and final graphic novel in this series, as well as the one that preceded this trilogy, which sets Batman in Sherlock Holmes' England fighting Jack the Ripper. Now that ought to be good! And I'll stop after that, I promise.