I owned and read Castle of the Bat way back in the '90s, when it came out. I remember close to nothing about it now, but I do recall that I was not impressed at all.

I was quite into the whole Elseworlds thing back then, which is weird because I found most of those graphic novels to be major let downs. These days, I think I've purged them all from my collection, with the exception of The Dark Knight Returns (that was Elseworlds, right?).

Interesting. And useful. It was around this time that I stopped reading Marvel, so these are all new to me. Some (like Waid's Cap, or ClanDestine) I've previously heard good things about. But it's reassuring to see that there are several gems to be found in this period.

Waid & Garney both before and after (though Garney didn't stay on as long as Waid) the volume two 13 issue deal are among the very few Cap stories to entertain me. Especially their first volume run that MRP posted.

Okay, according to Lone Star's listing, I am reading the crossover issues that I do have to go with Final Night in this order.

Detective Comics #703
Final Night #1
Green Lantern #80
Final Night #2
Final Night #3
Parallax: Emerald Night #1
Final Night #4
Robin #35
Takion #6
Green Lantern #81

Detective Comics #703
Dixon/Nolan/Hanna

Four nights now Gotham has been in darkness. And of course the lesser of good citizens are out taking advantage of the others. And the story is "narrated" by a DJ with a very negative attitude about humanity. So while he's not expecting citizens to stand up for one another, and for Gotham to plunged into the dark ages again, we get to see Batman, Robin and Huntress foiling various crimes and protecting citizens. Even the very DJ that is accosted at the end after leaving the station, who had no faith in humanity.

Fairly basic issue. I guess in a prelude type fashion it is okay. But it, was a title I was getting monthly at the time, so it wasn't really that I thought it would add much to the Final Night series. Same with Robin and GL. Takion I got for the awesome cover, and the Parallax issue seemed important to the mini series, so I got it.

I also forgot the Final Night mini was all in one month. So Karl Kessel and Stuart Immonen cranked out four 32 page books in one month/ Ron Marz and Mike McKone doing the Parallax special.

Edit:
Final Night 1-4
Green Lantern #80
Parallax: Emerald Night #1

In GL, Kyle finds out Dr Light has been trapped in his battery, but "the other one" (which I take to mean Alan Scott) was the one who did it. And Dr Light escapes with new powers and intends to prove his new powers make him more formidable. But all Kyle is trying to do is explain to him Earth's situation. When Dr Light finally listens, Kyle tries to enlist his help, but Light is only interested in saving his own ass. However something he said makes Kyle think that he might have an idea of something that will help fix Earth's sun.

The Parallax issue is probably the most unnecessary of all to read. While I like Ron Marz writing, the Parallax issue is nothing but Hal trying to convince himself and others (that he transports to visit) that he is still a hero after his atrocities before Kyle (and the reason that) becomes the new Green Lantern. I've never been a Hal fan, even when trying to read him, in hindsight to Kyle being GL. He's got this complex that he knows what is right for everyone, and he knows better than them. (Not that that flaw isn't in other heroes.) And it shows as he going posturing to all the people that will tell him want he wants to know, even going so far as to heal John Stewart whose crippled when serving as Darkstar by Grayven. Why doesn't he appear before Batman and ask him what he thinks of him? Anyway, I read it, and of course after Earth's pep squad all boost Hal's ego he's ready to play the hero again.

Final Night turned out pretty good, for me forgetting most of it after all this time. It was pretty easy to tell it was four 32 page issues pumped out in one month by the story. Not necessarily dumping that on Kessel's shoulders, but the story didn't seem like there was much to it. The threat to the Earth's sun came just as soon as the solution. And that solution seemed just as rushed as the rest of the story. Or maybe it was DC's quickly thrown together excuse to bring back Hal and make him a hero again. I wouldn't know the history behind the issues themselves, but that seemed the case to me. The Sun-Eater (even in name) was just some generic entity that ate suns, like DC's solar Galactus, but with none of the thought and back story that Galactus has.

I still enjoyed the four issues, as I would some random creature feature movie that I might watch. But this one, I would necessarily suggest, unless one just likes to see DC's heroes come together and defeat a common foe. Though I guess this really wasn't any less "generic" that Cosmic Odyssey, in ends as quickly as it began. Or the solution seemed easier than the appearance of the antagonist. Differnce is CO had Starlin and Mignola. Not to say that in four 32 page issues Immonem's art ever took a dip. I am not per say, a fan of his art, but I can recognize that it kept it his best through the whole story.

So if you find any in the dollar bins somewhere and you just like DC hero team-ups, then I'd say they are worth it at that price. Also unless you are a Hal fan, skip the Parallax issue all together. It gets painful have to read that many pages of Hal tooting his own horn.

Okay, okay, my Hal rant is at an end.

Firebrand #1-5
Brian Augustyn
Sal Velluto

Covers
imgur.com/a/lGIky

The first three issues are pretty much origin and the original story line and antagonist involved in his origin. Which is detective Alex Sanchez gets to close to the truth in a case involving children being kidnapped. His apartment is blown up to kill him. However it does not, but leaves him in a state, after waking up from a three month coma, not in the condition to do much, possibly ever walk. But an anonymous benefactor has experimental surgery done on Alex during those three months that will at least give him 80% mobility back. From there we find out why and how Alex becomes Firebrand and why his benefactor helped him.

I really dug the costume and design when I saw the issue on the rack. That is what initally got me to pick it up. Reminded me of Kenshiro "Zero" Cochrane, Ghost Rider 2099 or a mix of Iron Man and 616 Ghost Rider. Either way I liked the design a lot and decided to give it a try and see what it was like.


Issue four was a pretty standard fare bad guys selling/buying guns complete with evil villain mech. Not much to it other than Velluto's art still going strong.

Issue five was the highlight of the series so far. Some bits, especially the origin, were coming back to memory as I read them, but this issue I had forgotten about. And that it being the last issue I bought, seems to be, at least in 1996, what got me either disinterested in it, or at least apathetic enough to not keep up with the series. So either my taste has changed or it was something else I do not recall.

Either way this is about a serial killer who stalks a specific age group and hair color of women, killing them in the same way and taking a souvenir from them. Just as some crazy psychopath Alex and his partner caught and was convicted by a court and sentenced for his crime. Still in state hospital for criminal insanity, his same MO starts showing up. So Alex figures it's a copycat. But the police kept everything under a tight lid as to the details of the crime, that no one should be able to copy his crimes in the detail that this person is doing now. And when they catch this copycat they can't manage to figure why exactly the man claims to have no memory of his actions and says he is innocent.

While reading this, I thought it was a lot like something I read before, but in a different title. I looked up Brain Augustyn and realized he wrote Gotham By Gaslight. And in that hindsight a lot of the panels seems a lot like scenes (in a general sense) from Gotham by Gaslight. And I thought, that would make a lot of sense, especially if Brain where involved a lot with the two artists in the panels conveying what he wanted. Here are some pages/panels from issue five.
imgur.com/a/dg1OT

Overall I would say it's not the best. But I don't think it's really a "90's" story. I think the setting and circumstances in it would be out of place in another day and age. All of the elements are pretty common in the reality of life outside of a suit of armour that can help a crippled man fight crime. But with the advancements in animatronics and prosthetics in the 20 years since this was written do make it seem closer to a reality.

It also wasn't a CCA approved comic, and that may have at that time, especially from DC or Marvel had a weight in why it was only nine issues. Although according to Lone Star's synopsis of issue nine and the title of it "Final Notice" seem to indicate, that at least Brain, was either done telling his story, or was given enough of an advance from DC that they were done with him telling his story enough to wrap it up somewhat. I guess I won't know for sure until I get the remaining issues and read them. So until then I will just have to speculate.

That's news for me.  I didn't know there was a Marvel Firebrand or previous DC Firebrands when I did a little research for the above review.

Could have been.  Takion is another (the issue involved in Final Night that I reviewed) title that lasted under 10 issues around that same time.  Plus, I know from reading and reviewing some of the issues that spun out of Zero Hour, some of them did not last long either.  And that was 1-2 years earlier.  I guess like Marvel and Image, DC was trying out things too and many didn't survive for long.

Yeah being 18 with a full time job and still at home helped me be a try anything guy too. I can see as probably half the titles coming out of the 90's I didn't stick with long. So I know too I was trying stuff blind.