Batman: Harvest Breed [Paperback]

Where to begin...? With the art that is often impossible to follow? With the murders that form a pattern on a map, one that is SO CONVOLUTED that no matter how many times I read and re-read it I still didn't understand it? How about the starting with the characters? Batman has NEVER been written more out of character than he is here. He belittles his only friend, Commissioner Gordon, and actually HITS HIM!!!HUH?? The supernatural element is ridiculously out of place here, and the image of Batman fighting a giant Devil actually made me break out laughing. It seems like Pratt saw "End of Days", and decided "Hey!! Imagine Batman instead of Arnold.....HMMMMM....."
Pratt does manage to create some atmosphere during the Viet Nam flashback sequences, but otherwise the book is a laughable mess. The revelation of the killer is a joke, as is their motivation. And why does a girl born during the Viet Nam War appear to be a teen-ager? This book is just awful, and if I could go lower than 1 Star, I would. And in the future, I'll be VERY careful when purchasing a DC Hardcover, since they seem willing to publish any old crap....

"Harvest Breed," whose title seems completely unconnected to anything in the book, is just another example of the standard DC formula for making Batman "edgier": use some non-traditional art form, add some transgressive plot element (here, it's demonology and the black arts), and of course pour on the violence. To be sure, "Dark Knight" and "Arkham Asylum" invented this formula, but their superior plots and characterizations worked with these other elements to create true masterpieces. In comparison, "Harvest Breed" is just a hollow shell wrapped in well-executed paintings and lots of darkness and gore.

"Harvest Breed's" plot . . . . hmmm . . . what can I say: if you're able to keep a straight face when confronted by a Vietnamese peasant practicing Haitian voodoo, geometric patterns for murder sites (yes, you've seen that one a million thrillers before, but never as incomprehensibly done as it is here), secret revelations in melodramatic war diaries, a little paranormally-enabled orphan girl who helps Batman out with astral projections of herself, and a final showdown between Batman and Satan, well - you're a better reader than I. Oops, I almost forgot the man who can heal people with his hands - AND foretell their deaths! That's two cliches in one! I guess I should also mention the "surprise" ending, which you can figure out pages ahead by asking yourself: "which character did the author go out of his way to describe as innocent and insignificant?"

Then there's the dialogue, which ranges from the hackneyed to the ham-fisted. Here's Batman taking a stab at psychological realism: "I'm losing it. Getting too violent. Not thinking straight - harder to keep myself in check!" In other words, in case you didn't get the reason why Batman just attacked Commissioner Gordon, let us ram it on home to you in words a four-year-old can understand. For me, this and the other clunkers with which the book abounds sounded best when I imagined William Shatner uttering them.

Even your average episode of "Batman Beyond" takes a more mature and nuanced approach to narrative than this piece of trash. Save your money.