5. Batman: The Chalice

Batman: The Chalice written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by John Van Fleet

This, by all accounts, should have been my holy grail of Batman books, Chuck Dixon is one of my favorites especially for his work on G.I. Joe and while I had not been familiar with him before, John Van Fleet's artwork is unique and even amazing at times. The artwork has a sort of flat, 2D, Cel-shaded look that seems like it is almost computer-generated which isn't my usual kind of thing but really works for me here. The only time it fails is when actual 3D/CGI elements are used like some particularly bad and out of place 3D bullets. The writing is odd at best. It is all over the place and just never finds the mark with characters seeming like almost caricature more than anything and Bruce/Batman handled very minimally and in an unskilled way. That was the big flaw because with a slightly better storyline this had the makings of a good, quick, Batman tale that was a little outside of the usual fare. Bummer. I'm glad I own it for the unique artwork but that's about it. 2/5 (Poor)