Before embarking on the epochal New Frontier, Cooke wrote and drew
several Batman stories, notably Ego, Cooke's first published comics
story other than one apprentice effort. It remains a stunning debut, a
psychologically loaded tale in which Bruce Wayne confronts his innermost
fears in the form of a grotesque embodiment of his costumed alter ego.
Even this early in his career, Cooke's striking style, made up of
dynamically simple drawings, cinematic compositions, and noirish
lighting effects, is fully formed. Besides Ego and a handful of shorter
stories featuring the Caped Crusader, this collection includes the
Catwoman graphic novel Selina's Big Score (2003), in which that
villainess attempts a final heist before her reinvention as a vigilante
defending the downtrodden. Its presence here might be questioned, for
nowhere is Batman to be found in it, yet it's so impressivethe
high-water mark of Cooke's preNew Frontier careerthat it's petty to
quibble. The many fans Cooke has acquired since these stories first
appeared will seize the chance to read these early efforts. Flagg,
Gordon