An episodic travelogue of a comic book, which keeps things moving and interesting, but with art that I was a bit disappointed with. Run-of-the-mill, without anything to really incite you to pick it up.

Yeah, didn't finish this one. It was too dark and deary.
Didn't like the stories that I read, or the style of the layout, or the artwork. So this had nothing going for it, in my honest opinion.
Doubt I'll bother with vol 3.

Really enjoying Rebirth DC. The artwork in this volume was absolutely beautiful. Enjoyed the layout of poetry type writing at the start too. I liked the many villains involved in the storytelling process. But the art was the most impressive part of the book. The last story didn't seem to go with the rest of the volume.

The first volume of All Star Batman was overflowing with supervillains. It was like a piñata filled with supervillains. Every time Batman whacked it, more would tumble out.

This volume is a bit more restrained ... at first. Mr. Freeze dominates the first issue in a story that doesn’t really make sense until it’s explained in later issues, but the gist is that Freeze unleashes some ancient bacteria that’s chewing a big hole out of the northwest. That’s okay because there are no superheroes in the northwest so nobody much cares except the lumberjacks who live there.

Poison Ivy picks up the action in the second issue because the bacteria somehow made it to Washington and Batman thinks Ivy will help him find a way to neutralize it. Ivy kisses Batman (if Catwoman finds out about that, there’s going to be real trouble) but she has her reasons.

Oh yeah, there’s also a strike force chasing after Batman and Duke. They call themselves the Blackhawks, although presumably they aren’t the Chicago hockey team.

The third issue injects some Batfamily members, including Batwoman and Nightwing and Red Hood, all of whom fight Batman, but things are not as they appear. What’s real is the classic supervillain: the Mad Hatter. I like the way the art gets a little psychedelic when the Mad Hatter is around. I also like Hatter’s analysis of the themes Batman stories have shared with Alice in Wonderland. To prove it, a bunch of supervillains resurface, but again, things aren’t quite as they seem. The story is unexpected and edgy and really different.

And then … another villain, one of my favorites, but I won’t spoil it by telling you who it is. Duke needs to be rescued (again) and things seem to be going south for the Bat (again) but (again), things aren’t as they seem. The story pulls together nicely and it actually makes a certain amount of sense.

The remainder of the volume tells a Riddler story. Really, you can’t go wrong with a Riddler story. And it’s another “training Duke” story. Those have been good. I couldn’t make much sense of the ending, but it’s not really an ending, so maybe it will make sense later.

The art in this volume … uneven. Pretty much as always. Some of it is good and some seems to have concocted on an etch-a-sketch.

I finished reading All-Star Batman Vol 2 this week and I really didn’t love it as much as I thought I would. It felt a bit disjointed and chaotic to me. I did really enjoy the Alice in wonderland references and sequence, but otherwise it was not my favorite.

Scott Snyder continues his work with the Dark Knight in this second volume of All-Star Batman. After the "buddy road trip" of the first volume, this volume focuses on vignettes with different classic Batman villains. This is well worth reading for any Bat-fan, as well as fans of Snyder and Jock. Highly recommended.,

Scott Snyder delivers an ambitious and yet again beautifully illustrated graphic novel that sees Batman travel the globe battling some of his greatest foes whilst piecing together clues to enable him to find out who is behind it all.

A bit all over the place but nevertheless this edition was still enjoyable!

Batman travels to the Arctic to stop Mr. Freeze from releasing a biological menace for out of the ice. He then travels to the desert to get aid from Poison Ivy to counter the plague that had escaped. This was followed by a trip to the swamps of Louisiana to confront the Mad Hatter and discover who was the puppet master. Finally he confronts the puppet master in Washington, DC. with the aid of Alfred and Catwoman. Also included is a tale of Duke and Batman countering the Riddler. A nice, semi-coherent plotline with plenty of action and suspense.

I love the rebirth series and this is just another thrilling volume. I look forward to future volumes

To me, the only thing to like about this story is the art, each issue having a different artist. Batman hops from villain to villain with each issue, one leading to the next. This however, isn't my issue with the book. Snyder tells each issue in a different style and I hated it. The Mr. Freeze issue almost felt like prose, told in third person with no word balloons. The Poison Ivy had a typical comic style of storytelling. The Mad Hatter issue was told in first person as relating a story from the past. And then the Ra's issue back to a typical style. It made the story very disjointed and hard for me to connect with.

It's obvious Snyder is bored with telling stories in a traditional format from what he's doing in All-Star Batman and After Death, neither of which have I liked.

This was very enjoyable. The first part had one of the most interesting layouts and art work I have seen for a while. This features so many "Villians" from Mr Freeze through to The Mad Hatter, The Riddler etc.. A really great read and interesting layouts and designs.

ARC from Netgalley.
Let me start off by saying that the art in this Volume makes me want to stop reading it with almost every page turn. For me, a major part of a graphic novel is the art. The story here is plausible:
Freeze, Ivy and Mad Hatter are all unwillingly a part of one of Ra's Al Ghul's schemes. Batman wins the day, as usual.
The gem of Snyder's storytelling comes from the issue of the fight with Mad Hatter. For a second (and given the plausibility of the idea with all the reboots we've been having lately), even I thought Batman might be living a lie....
Story saves this from being horrible..... I do not like Jock's art style one bit.
Recommend.

'All-Star Batman, Volume 2: Ends of the Earth' by Scott Snyder with art by Jock, Tula Lotay, Guiseppe Camuncoli, and Francesco Francavilla is a story spanning the globe and multiple villains.

When the story starts, Batman is in the Arctic tracking down Mr. Freeze who is about to unleash something upon the planet. Next, Batman is tracking down and antidote with Poison Ivy in the desert. Meanwhile a shadowy group of soldiers is out to stop Batman.

The art varies as does the story quality. I like some of the approaches to lettering that the story took, but sometimes it was confusing to figure out who was talking. I really liked the last story with the Riddler and Duke.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Scott Snyder does it again with another great batman story. This is indeed All Star with all your favorite villains . Gripping story beautiful art

Ends of the Earth is the second volume in Scott Snyder's All-Star Batman series. It pulls together issues 6 - 9 and tells the various tales of Batman's hunt for a cure to save Gotham. It is grand in tale and scope and ambition. Beginning with Mr. Freeze and moving on to Poison Ivy, Batman must travel the Globe to save his beloved city.

Batman faces off against some of his most dangerous foes in this collection of stories leading up to the final villain who orchestrated it all. But in that it does become something of a mixed brew. There are too many villains in this collection and as such, the story suffers. You end up with the sense that there was so much more each one could have contributed to the tale.

Snyder is a Batman storytelling genius but in this one, he just seems to miss the mark.

Again we find that this book, despite the author's past Batman titles, being superior to the actual Batman comic (which is certainly not difficult). Four extra-long episodes aren't exactly brilliant in and of themselves, but they're close to the heart of Batman having to go unusual lengths to do what's right, and they're uniquely presented. Dr Freeze looks better than ever without the typical speech balloons and boxed captions; Ivy does look a bit naff and unattractive, but the presentation, with the warped blue and red lines of old 3D images, is fresh. But then it goes pear-shaped, with a muddle of a third episode, and an unsatisfying return of someone else, before a two-parter that is very disposable, and relies too much on the new sidekick we're still struggling to enjoy. Still, kudos for presenting distinctive issues, even if the full thing is a little on the disappointing side in the end. Two and a half stars, perhaps.

I've been pretty impressed with Scott Snyder's treatment of Batman; this volume is no exception. It's so good! The artwork is just as phenomenal as the writing.

This TPB had a whole lot of stuff in it. Again Batman travels around the world as if it's going out of style. He has a confrontation with Mr. Freeze, and Mad Hatter, and he even has a bit of a back and forth with Poison Ivy (that one was a bit heartbreaking).

Batman slowly realizes there's quite a connection between everything that's going on and he gets to sorta go up against one of the classic big baddie.

I still mostly like these All Star stories. They're slightly different and in a good way.

Ooh, and there was a bit with Selina as well (although it was as astounding as the Selina stuff in the 3rd Volume of the main Batman title).

I was given this ARC by Netgalley on behalf of DC Entertainment.