One of the seminal book on art deco is The Metropolis of Tomorrow by Hugh Ferriss. Ferriss took the skyscraper and made it an art form as well as inspiring a legion of designers and architects. One of those inspired by the book was designer/writer Chip Kidd. He took Ferriss’ ideas, threw in a dash of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and created (along with artist Dave Taylor) a Batman story set in this art decoish universe, Batman: Death by Design. The art and the look of the story are amazing, the concept is brilliant and the execution misses the mark. Not in the art, but in the mediocre story. But it is a gorgeous book to look at. Let’s see what went wrong.

Inspired by the real-life rebuilding of New York’s Pennsylvania’s station, the story has Cyndia Syl begging Bruce Wayne to reconsider replacing Wayne Central Station, an architectural wonder that is on the brink of collapse, and to preserve it instead. This leads us to a long winded, architecturally inspired plot where the old Wayne Central Station is collapsing due to the union forcing substandard materials and inferior contractors to be used in the construction for the kickbacks. The architect was disgraced when the station started collapsing.

This leads us to a story about the dreams of fathers and sons. Batman and a mysterious vigilante are brought into a mystery around Wayne Central Station and the crooked union boss. There are appearances by the Joker as a catalyst for some of the issues. But the bigger problem is that the story is fairly hokey and bland. And that is a shame. Because the art is amazing (for the most part). The design of the buildings and the backgrounds look great.

The only problem I had with the art is that when people are shown, they look too static (almost like mannequins).

Bruce and Cyndia look like they were mannequins brought in and placed in a party. They look out of place and too much like statues. When we look at Batman and Joker, they look a lot more alive and flowing.

Overall, it’s a mediocre story with some amazing art and that’s enough to get me to read the book. I’d be willing to read future stories from this team, with hopes of better writing, in order to enjoy more of the art. Don’t expect too much from this story, but take in the cityscapes and architecture of the story. Mildly recommended.