I love it to a ridiculous degree. This is the sort of book that is designed for me. Alternate/what-if versions of a familiar character, crossovers, and origin stories. PERFECT. The art is beautiful, and I very much enjoyed all the different options of choices that make whole new characters.

Metal was a great run and I continue to talk about it to anyone who will listen. The resulting effects on the entire DC continuity, as well as making the multiverse cool again, made all the difference.

What happens with some of the greatest modern minds in comics come together?

Well, you get Dark Nights: Metal: Dark Knights Rising.

The concept of the Seven Dark Knights immediately drew me in. Something so familiar but taken to a completely dark and twisted place. I'm here for that. These 'Batmen', because "Batmans' just doesn't sound right, are wreaking havoc across the multiverse, each with their own particularly twisted brand of menace.

The varied stories, artwork, and total insanity lend to a really fun read. While part of the Metal saga, these stories kind of do their own thing in a really interesting way. You could probably follow this even if you hadn't kept up with Metal and still get a lot of enjoyment. That is definitely a testament to great storytelling.

Another good prequel collection building up the antagonists of Dark Nights: Metal - all creatively twisted alternate versions of Batman.

I LOVED this storyline and this volume was one of my faves. I really enjoyed seeing the origin stories for the Dark Knights. The anticipation from the other volumes that lead up to this was worth the wait. Fans of Elseworlds would really enjoy this story as well. The Batman who laughs...heck yeah!

I don't often read comics, and this series reminds me of why. Hard to follow, and very chaotic. I didn't get much out of the story, though I'm sure fans who are used to this format would enjoy it more.

Like other books in the series, it's a fun, albeit slightly confusing ride. Really think it's worth your time to read the other books in the Metal series before getting into this one.

This one is my favorite of all the collections. We finally get the origins of the Dark Knights of the Dark Universe. In each story, the Batman of their universe took out another member of the Justice League and took their powers in the moments before their worlds ended. This makes them perfect fodder for Barbatos. I'm a sucker for DC's Elseworlds stories. These origin stories are just that. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

The Dark Knights are out to play their part in the Dark Metal saga. This volume tells the tales of the nightmare Batmen of the dark multiverses coming out to play. Interesting variations on Batman. Unfortunately, not really coherent on its own merits.

Dark Knights Rising gives some in depth back stories to the dark batmen of the dark universe. It was interesting but sad to learn of what drove these men and women to Barbatos. Devastator is the batman/superman that inflicted a doomsday virus onto himself. He has to become a monster to stop a crazied Superman. Drowned is the batwoman/aquawoman that wages war against the Atlanteans. I thought that was foolish but she had her own dead army. Barbatos number one in command, batman who laughs, got a virus in his final battle with the Joker. He invites Red Hood, Batgirl, Robin., and Nightwing over. He happily slaughters them because they'd notice him changing. I agree it was smart to get rid of the ones that'd call ya out. Now he's batman/joker. Dawnbreaker is batman/green lantern that gets a green lantern ring when his parents die. He gets revenge but doesn't stop there. No villian is safe from this teenage antihero. I understood getting justice for his parents but killing Jim Gordan was going too far! Murder Machine is batman/cyborg. Batman loses Alfred in a horrific murder. Cyborg helps batman with an  Alfred AI program. The programs kills everyone in Arkham, thinking it's protecting bruce.Bruce stops Cyborg when he tries to stop it. Merciless is batman/wonder woman. Batman loses Diana to Ares. Batman puts on the helmet of Ares to get revenge. With this power, he kills without mercy. Red Death is the batman/flash. Batman steals the speed force from Barry. He wants to change his past like his parent'smurder. It ends up combining the two into one body. All these batman would do anything to save their worlds. Batman who laughs gave them all the chance to do do. They became agents of Barbatos. It was all about bringing the dark.
We learn that detective chimp was apart of the challaneger's mountain scientists and metal metal. His backstory of being a runaway chimp that gets intelligence from the fountain of youth is interesting. Bobo, detective chimp, give SOS to the flash even as he was losing intelligence. Red Tornado is freaking out about the dark universe.
Raven tries to get the right tune of the multiverse. The batmen show up to fight her and Cyborg in the carrier. I was impressed with Raven. She is able to use Dawnbreaker's constructs against him.
Flash mananges to find the baby universe. He gives positive entry to Red Death, which makes her insanely slow. Merciless bruce Wayne turns nto Barry Allen. He sees the light and is able to help the Flash. Unfortunately that combination ends up ripping him apart.
There's a mysterious 53rd universe too.

The origins of the Nightmare Batmen. They are all pretty cool and the art is great. It is a bit of a stretch in that in each of these Batman is an amalgam with another Justice League member. If you like Elseworlds, then you'll dig these. Also included is the Wild Hunt one-shot which I guess is included because they didn't have anywhere else to put it. It really belongs in the main Metal miniseries as it's really issue 5.5 of the mini.

This type of massive DC universe event writing is one of the reasons I normally don't read superhero comic massive events. It's a gimmicky story-arc based on this wild idea: what if we took the powers of various Justice League characters and melded them with anti-batmen. Take one part Flash, one part Batman gone bad and you have Red Death. Take one part Cyborg, one part different Batman gone bad and you have Death Machine. Repeat the formula with Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Green Lantern, and Joker. What do you get? A gimmicky massive event with poor writing, uneven artwork (some pretty good, some dreadful), and an embarrassment to what a Batman story could be.

That was a lot of Nightmare Batmen. Each of them has a story in this one, and then we get a story on Blackhawk Island with the Scientists and Bobo as well.

I'm not gonna go over all of the Batmen here, but, I definitely liked some more than others. I liked Dawnbreaker a lot, who got a Green Lantern Ring and then did new and different things with it. The story line with the Red Death Batman was fun as well, he has Barry Allen's powers (and maybe more). The Joker Batman was the most disturbing of course.

I also found it interesting that a lot of the 'bad' Batmen stories even had (mostly) a teeny bit of good in each of them too. Intriguing.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to DC Entertainment.

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for the opportunity to read this for review.

If you enjoyed Dark Knights Metal, then you will probably enjoy this. It is mainly short stories about the various Nightmare Batmen. Not something I would really recommend on it's own.

I liked the look of about half the art. The colors did get a bit muddy sometimes.

I found that I am not a fan of the Metal Batman series. It is not something that I enjoyed and felt that the characters were not as developed as they are in other series such as those by Frank Miller

The artwork and storylines throughout were fantastic, plot twists and reveals come at an almost frenetic pace. Almost, but just not enough to overwhelm the reader..

One issue though in reading via the Adobe reader is that certain text fonts become almost impossible to read, especially the Laughing Batman. That made it hard to follow the storyline at times. Overall, I would prefer to read these in premier hardprint or a cleaner version of the ebook with the font issues addressed.

A solid 4.5 ⭐ for storylines and artwork but a 3 ⭐ on ebook/Adobe adaptation.

Another tie-in for the Metal series this one filling in the blanks where the Nightmare Batmen come in. I really enjoyed all the different stories, all the different ways Batman was corrupted.
The Red Death: a thief who stole his reality's Speed Force power. He used The Flash to control the Speed Force and is now merged with The Flash.

The Drowned: a female, amphibious Batman. The Atlantis of her multiverse devastated her world so she changed herself so she could defeat them all.
The Dawnbreaker: a twisted Green Lantern. As a child after the death of his parents the ring came to him but too angry at the world he corrupted the ring making it something very dark.
The Murder Machine: a deranged, deadly cyborg. The death of Alfred has Batman start the Alfred protocol but the Alfred AI didn't quite come out the way it was intended.
The Merciless: a warrior who wears the helmet of Ares. Batman and Diana were in love but in a war against Ares she falls Batman beats Ares and takes his helm and all his Godly powers
The Devastator: a part-human, part-Doomsday monster. Superman went bad and only by becoming part Doomsday is Batman able to save his world and defeat Superman.
and lastly The Batman Who Laughs: a lunatic driven mad by his world's Joker. The Joker is dead but Batman is poisoned and corrupted by the Joker last laugh. Overall I really enjoyed all the storylines I enjoyed Batman becoming the things he feared most. The art was hit and miss for me but it was more good than bad. I absolutely loved The Batman Who Laughs his character through the whole Metal series is one of my favorites.

'Dark Knights: Metal: The Nightmare Batmen' is part of the DC Comics mega event. This is the third volume I've read and I feel like it's the strongest of the titles.

All the Earths have all the heroes. With the coming of Barbatos, Batman has been corrupted. This volume shows all the ways he is corrupted by conquering and using other heroes and villains. First, he becomes the Red Death by taking the Speed Force from Flash. Then he (or rather she) becomes The Drowned by conquering Atlantis. There are others, but my favorite might be The Dawnbreaker, which is what happens when an evil Batman takes on a Green Lantern Ring. The ringleader is the Batman/Joker amalgam The Man Who Laughs.

These stories are really dark, and I really liked them. I like the idea of a Batman who has been pushed over the edge and uses his mind to become a killer. The origin of Batman is in most of these stories, and it has driven him to revenge, not justice. I liked the various artists. The last story with the Detective Chimp feels like a weird aside after the preceding darkness, but it was ok.

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's clever Metal conceit is that the Dark Multiverse Batmen who attack our world are each an analogue for another Justice League member, so these are nightmare Batmen but they're also nightmare Leaguers -- Batman plus Superman, Batman plus Wonder Woman, etc. (plus Batman plus the Joker). What we get in Dark Nights: Metal: Dark Knights Rising is an interesting litany of the worst-ever Batman team-ups -- what if Batman fought the Flash, what if Batman fought Cyborg, and so on.

Something fun about the stories is that Snyder and company have mapped the Dark Multiverse Earths that these stories take place on to their equivalent "light" Multiverse Earths from Grant Morrison's Multiversity -- so, for instance, the female Aquaman-Batman "Drowned" comes from the Dark Earth-11, whereas in Multiversity Earth-11 is gender-swapped a la Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl. Some of the equivalents are not as clear, but part of that fun is trying to read into the choices, like Batman and Superman fighting on a Dark Earth-1 that might kind of be like the Earth One books, or Batman getting tricked into killing the Joker on Dark Earth-22, the dark opposite of the Kingdom Come Earth.

Probably best of the specials, sporting a powerhouse team, is "Merciless" with Peter Tomasi and Francis Manapul. Manapul's in prime form, drawing a classic-looking (and in love) Batman and Wonder Woman amidst destruction one minute, drawing high-tech war rooms the next. Not only does Tomasi bring in DC's geopolitical finest -- Steve Trevor, Amanda Waller, Director Bones, Sam Lane -- but he's also got a military bomber overhead piloted by Green Lantern's Tom Kalmaku and the long-absent "Cowgirl" Jillian Pearlman, for gosh sakes. It's a good-looking and emotional story. Honorable mention too to Tony Daniel drawing the Superman/Batman/Doomsday "Devastator" story, in line with his "Doomed" crossover work.

The end of the book is buffeted strongly by the "Wild Hunt" special. I've dug all the Final Crisis shout-outs in Metal, so being back "on board the monitor shiftship Ultima Thule, en route to the heart of the multiverse" with Morrison himself is a particular thrill. Tying it all together, I loved the nightmare Batmen's change of heart and that it comes down to Flash and Red Death; "We're a poison dart, fired straight at the heart of everything" reads like Morrison, and so does the pointed "There's always a sacrifice, Flash." "Wild Hunt" makes Dark Knights Rising something special.

Just what the world wanted – not one but two companion volumes to the most humdrum and dull event book from DC ever (qualified of course by all other events taking 20 books). This one covers all those dodgy Dark Batmen that did so damned little in the parent book, because we needed their origins, didn't we? Well, at least give this a chance to reach the second one, for the artwork is excellent. Even better, for different reasons, is the rack on Aquabatwoman, but by then you're really scraping the barrel – this is the equivalent of the prose collection that came out the other year giving every single character in the Mos Eisley cantina a back-story, trying to imbue blink-and-you-miss-them characters with just that – character. And failing. What's more, you get cameos here from the good guys that are sometimes longer than their presence in the actual Metal book, which shows again how dodgy that patchwork quilt of an effort was. Heck, you even get a rewrite of the original Injustice, and of course Grant Morrison is on hand at the end to make it unreadable. Thoroughly ignorable, beyond the two plusses I mentioned, and if one of them was a pair of boobs you can see how weak it is. One and a half stars.