Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Gotham, Part VIII: Batman: The Ring, the Arrow and the Bat

Comic trade paperback, 182 pages
Published 2003 (contents: 1998-2000)
Borrowed from the library
Read November 2014

Batman: The Ring, the Arrow and the Bat

Writer: Dennis O'Neil
Pencillers: Greg Land, Sergio Cariello
Inkers: Dick Giordano, Matt Ryan
Colorists: Greg Wright, Rick Taylor
Letterers: Clem Robins, Willie Schubert

Year One, August - Year Two, February
I wish I'd known about this book when I did my big readthrough of Green Arrow tales, because it's much more Green Arrow and Green Lantern's tale than it is Batman's. This collects two stories: the first, "Peacemakers," is about the first meeting between Green Arrow and Green Lantern, while the second, "The Arrow and the Bat," unites the two with Batman.

That said, it's not very good. I feel like the later you are in Denny O'Neil's career, the worse his writing is, and this book is no exception. It's jumpy, characters don't (re)act realistically, the conspiracies are too complicated to make sense, it's bloodier than a mainstream DC superhero story ought to be, and it doesn't even get basic points of continuity right. Oliver seems to have lost his fortune already, but he hasn't even joined the Justice League yet because there is no Justice League yet. And it was O'Neil who wrote the story where Oliver lost his fortune, set well into his tenure on the League! What's the point of writing a tale to tick off a continuity box if you get the continuity wrong? None, as far as I can tell, because this is a disappointing and uninteresting book.

Next Week: Batman enrolls in D.A.R.E. in Venom!