I'm not going to hold Brian to this book too much. This is really early work, when he was still finding his way, and it shows. There's some decent dialog at play but Batman doesn't sound very Batman and even Wonder Women feels off. I still enjoyed it, as it's a quick and easy read, but at the same time I won't be remembering this much. Early work from Brain is interesting because he does become my favorite writer of all time but this isn't a good showcase for him.

I actually read this a while ago, but forgot to mark it read on Goodreads. It was pretty good. I ship Batman and Wonder Woman, so it was nice to see them team up on a case in this. Unfortunately, I don't remember a lot of this, so I'll just have to leave it at I enjoyed it. :)

Besides Batman, Bruce Wayne has another alter-ego: Matches Malone, a sleazy gangland informant. In False Faces, Bruce receives a baffling call from Oracle: Matches Malone has been shot in a downtown Gotham bar! Say whuuuut!? Brian K. Vaughan’s Batman comics aren’t half bad though unfortunately the book starts with the best stuff and get progressively worse from there. I’ve always liked Matches Malone and Vaughan’s origin of how Bruce came by the persona was pretty compelling and the conundrum o...

This book had some excellent stories with Batman as the cool character we all know and love. The first story, “Close Before Striking” brings in a thug named Matches Malone who Batman has an interesting relationship with. The whole story is in this book. So, Yay! The second story is also complete, “Mimsy Were the Borogoves.” It dives into a children’s novel. For our third story we head to NYC and Wonder Woman. She goes up against one of Batman’s adversaries. (She is so cool!) Once again the who...

Batman: False Faces collects Batman issues 588-590, Detective Comics 787, Wonder Woman 160-161, and Batman: Gotham City Secret Files 1 all written by Brian K. Vaughan. This trade collects many of BKV's early work at DC Comics. The "main" story in the collection revolves around Batman solving the shooting of Matches Malone, one of Batman's aliases. We also get Batman versus Mad Hatter and Wonder Woman vs Clay Face. I really enjoyed the Matches Malone arc and it is probably the strongest story col...

Batman False Faces is a collection of Brian K Vaughn's work with DC. It collects two Batman stories and a Wonder Woman story, along with a strange "background" mini-story about Batman's enemies.The art is good, never great.The first Batman story was rather good. Someone has killed Matches Malone, except Batman is Matches Malone. This was interesting in that it helped to explain the whole "Matches Malone" story, as well as the persona.The second Batman story wasn't bad either. The Mad Hatter is l...

I quite enjoyed this, to be honest. Vaughan does that thing I love (and don't see enough in the Batsy books I've read) where, instead of just telling a story, he actually delves into who Bruce is as a person. It's quite a crazy thing for someone to decide, their best course of action would be to dress up as a giant bat and fight crime. The psych major in me desperately wants to pick his brain to understand what years of that work has done to his brain. The first story is mostly about Dick chasin...

2.5 StarsAccording to the preface of this book this is a collection of stories from very early in BKV's career. The first is a three parter about one of Batman's underworld identities, Matches Malone. I'm not sure if this has become canon but it was interesting to find out how Batman came by this identity. McDaniel's art is fine, but can be a little cartoony at times.Another story pits Wonder Woman against Clayface, which BKV writes and I agree with, is an interesting match-up for the clay angle...

Bait-and-switch / spoiler warning - despite the slightly dramatic cover art, Bats and WW do not team up for any ass-kicking (or other type of) action in this book. A missed opportunity, to be sure.That said, this is an okay collection of unrelated stories. Actually, the 'Matches Malone' opener was good, the best in this collection - it was great to see Batman briefly experiencing Donnie Brasco-like identity confusion; the Mad Hatter follow-up was nothing special (illustrated to somewhat resemble...

Brian K. Vaughan is undoubtedly one of the best writers working in comics today.. based on this collection, however, it seems he is best when working with his own ideas, and not existing worlds. The writing here is pretty poor - plots that feel either uninspired, or just plain uncharacteristic for the Batman. Dialogue verges on the painful, at times.Thank god for Saga and Paper Girls, to name a few.

Batman by Brian K. Vaughn collects all the things Vaughn wrote that feature an element of Batman. It contains a three issue Matches Malone story, a one issue Mad Hater tale, and two issues of Wonder Woman where she fights Clayface. The Clayface story is fun but has a better idea than execution. The Mad Hatter story has good art that tells the story itself but the dialogue in this story left me wanting at times, and the Matches story I like. I enjoy the exploration of identity by adding a third o...

This four story collection by writer Brian K. Vaughan and various pencillers and inkers wasn't anything special. Except the first and lengthiest story, the others was either poorly written, poorly drawn or too short. This tpb gets a 2/5 only for the 4-part "close before striking", the plot was intriguing and somewhat different from the casual neo-noir batman norme and Scott McDaniel's design tied in nicely. Stories 2&3, "Mimsy were the borogoves" and "a piece of you" were ultimate crap in every

Some early BKV; obviously not his best work, but still more readable than some of what passes for good comics nowadays. Recommended for fans of Vaughan and/or Batman. Or Matches Malone, for that matter.

accidentally read a second time. It wasn't any better.

A collection of good little Batman adventure stories; some a little corny and some just good serial-art fun.

Reprints Batman (1) #588-590, Detective Comics (1) #787, Wonder Woman (2) #160-161, and Batman: Gotham City: Secret Files & Origins #1 (April 2000-December 2003). Batman deals with his secret underworld identity of Matches Malone and suffers a break in reality when another Matches Malone shows up on the scene. Wonder Woman finds herself facing off against Batman’s villain Clayface who has special interest in Diana and her past. The Mad Hatter kidnaps his doctor from Arkham and utilizes Dr. Kirk

Barbra: "Yeah, but Batman isn't exactly your average Narc, Dick. For god's sake, he's the best there is, bar none!"Dick: "So was Sherlock Holmes...and he was a heroin addict. Being the greatest doesn't mean you're infallible."Barbra: "Well, that's debatable about Holmes. Besides, Sherlock's a fictional character. Bruce Wayne is real."Dick: "Now that's debatable. I mean, in a lot of ways, Bruce is just a mask that Batman wears when he needs him, right?"I really enjoyed the first story Close Befor...

Picked this up mostly because I saw Brian K. Vaughan’s name on it and I enjoyed this.Never sure on how to review comics but I do love reading about the different stories that can happen with Batman and the people he works with. There’s Nightwing and Barbara, and seeing Nightwing reminds me I need to pick up a comic about him and read his story! In this we get to see Batman turning into his alter-ego Matches and making a promise that defies his moral code.There are two stories here about Mad Hatt...

I'm a huge Brian K. Vaughan fan but this was not his best work. In fact, it might be some of his worst. I have never cared for Bruce Wayne's portrayal of Matches Malone and this story was all about Matches in the past and present. Unfortunately, it was forced and unnatural. It was not helped by Nightwing's over-protectiveness of Batman, especially considering everything they've both been through. The art by Scott McDaniel didn't fit the storyline very well at all. The second half of the book inv...

Given my love of Vaughn's indie work, and how much I enjoyed his take on Dr Strange, this was a pretty big disappointment. All the characters felt wrong, the story didn't connect and it lacked all the I CAN'T STOP READING magic of his other comics.