Another from Alan Moore

Alan Moore is amazing. His works are among the greatest in the modern superhero genre - Watchmen, V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and others.

And this isn't his finest work.

That last statement is the equivilent of saying that DaVinci's latest work has a chip on the brow. Only this isn't DaVinci's latest work, it's one that's nearly twenty years old and that we've managed to see the reprecussions of now, and it's just this very last bit that lets me be okay with this graphic novel.

The basic plotline is that the Joker has decided to drive Commissioner Gordon crazy by crippling his daughter - who the Joker doesn't know as Batgirl. If any other author took a swipe at such a major character in the DC universe, the results would have been disasterous. With Moore's pen, Batgirl became more than just a wasted victim. In the years that followed this novel, Barbara Gordon became Oracle, a great character in the DC universe.

After maiming Barbara Gordon, Joker kidnaps the Commissioner, and Batman has to rescue the old man again. The action is good, the art is well done, but the resolution of the story just doesn't seem to fit with the tone of the rest of the work. It is only this resolution that is the chip in the master's work.

This imperfect work should be read by comic fans - particularly of the DC universe, and it is a quality work, but it's a notch below Moore's greatest works.