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Batman: The Ultimate Evil
by Andrew H. Vachss
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Warner Books (1995-11)
ISBN: 044651912X
EAN: 9780446519120
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Hardcover: 196 pages
SKU: T071205-3399
Condition: New
Comments: New book. New condition. Ships same day or next in a bubble mailer. Enjoy.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
When millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne experiences a revelation about his childhood and transformation into Batman, he follows a trail of perversion to Southeast Asia to destroy the Ultimate Evil . . . or die. By the author of Down in the Zero.
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Customer Reviews
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A Truly BAD Idea
Rating  (1)
Date: 2008-07-19
I began reading the comic mini-series version of this story. I didn't finish.
I looked at a copy of the book, made sure it was the same story, and put it back.
I have no idea if the overall book is readable what i do know is that the way in which Vachss twists the Batman origin story makes this book worthless.
Yes, Vachss is deeply concerned with the plight of abused children. Yes, he is a children's advocate. But his fiction - both here and in his "Burke" novels - is simplistic, relying on telling us how horrid the situationis, rather than showing us.
And his version of the Batman origin - that the Waynes were killed by a hitman sent by an organisation of wealthy pederasts and child pornographers, because his mother an "investigative sociologist" (whatever that is) about to expose them - throws away the essential power of that origin; its anononymity. *Anyone* might have walked down that dark alley after that movie that night, and the anonymous mugger waiting there might or might not have decided that they looked wealthy enough to bother with.
Any child could have found himself crying over the bodies of his parents.
Anybody. You or me.
Anf that's the powerful image that Vachss throws away.
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Super Reader
Rating  (4)
Date: 2007-08-07
A look through the eyes of the Batman at the horrendous world of the child sex trade, and child abuse in parts of Asia.
This involves crime so nasty that it takes Batman out of Gotham and pursuing this particular bunch of criminals across the world. It has a few things to say about the politics and law-enforcement environments that surround such activities.
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Life altering-if you're of a mind to be altered
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-07-14
Before reading Mr Vachss' take on the Dark Knight I was only superficially aware of the problem of child prostitution. After reading this book my eyes were opened. If you really think superheroes fight evil, then you absolutely have to hope they'd fight these monsters- far more evil in my opinion than any "supervillan"
A letter written to Mr Vachss shortly after reading this (and everything else of his I could lay hands on) showed me that not all superheroes wear tights. They're underpaid, overworked and unappreciated social workers and children's advocates
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Batman would approve of this book.
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-06-22
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
First of all, I'm a writer, so when I read a book, and review it with five stars, its passed a pretty rigorous test, based on story, character development and plot. Secondly, I am a pretty big Batman fan, big enough to have my own latex costume, and thusly, I read this book with an eagle eye, making sure that it stuck to the character and settings well.
And I must say, this is definitely within my top five favorite books of all time. Not of right now, or of the year, but of all time.
And I've read alot of books.
Mr. Vachss, contrary to some of the other reviews written about this book, is well versed not only in the evil that is child molestation and pedophilia, but also Batman himself.
This book is first a Batman novel, and it portrays the Dark Knight in an extremely familiar and faithful way, one that I personally really enjoyed. Sometimes I'll pick up a Batman book, and just from the first sentence or so, you can tell that this author has a different image of Batman than you do. But this book nails MY Batman dead on. Cool, uncompromising, but passionate.
And secondly, this is a book with a very deep message, one meant to raise awareness. It explores the very real aspects of the child sex slave industry going on in third world countries right now.
Some have criticized that Vachss is too good at writing about the child sex industry and not good enough at Batman, and I am refuting that right now.
This book is driven by a Batman who is very much the Batman we are all used to and would like to see in our world. Anyone who claims that Vachss doesn't know Batman, should really read some comics and re-evaluate that thought process, because this author portrays the Batman very, very well.
In short, you have an amazing Batman novel, one that in my opinion, is one of the best Batman novels ever written. But you also have a novel with a message, something that Batman himself would want people to know about, so that it can be fought, not by superheroes, but by people like you and me.
I cannot tell you how rewarding this book is, you just have to read it and see for yourself. It touched me very deeply, in my soul, and that is an experience that I will always remember.
I only hope that you can have that experience for yourself.
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Carries with it the feel of Batman Begins
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-03-02
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is a departure in feel from the Batman series as we've always known it but this is a book that I feel, though written before the movie, would certainly fit with the Batman we are given portrayed by Christian Bale. This book also does something that the DCVerse fails miserably at, true depth to the character of Martha Wayne. Through the subject of this novel, the author gives us a Martha who is more than the woman at Thomas Wayne's side. This woman is both the mother of Bruce Wayne but in her fight, we find the mother of Batman and that is a HUGE thing. It's been years since I read this book and I can still remember it clearly, it will stick with you and in a good and powerful way. Kudos to the author for writing it.
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