The first of eight special one-shot tribute comics arrives in comic-book shops this week, and it is everything I had hoped for. It celebrates the fun of the super-hero genre. It spotlights the talents of creators from yesteryear, and it demonstrates how the craft has evolved to what we're used to reading today. My favorite aspect of this comic book is the artwork. This comic promises to bring the unique and striking style of Carmine Infantino to new readers, and it was a pleasure to see Andy Kuhn taking on one of the industry's most enduring icons.
Batman investigates a murder, arriving on the scene to discover his partner, Robin, lying dead in the street. But it's not his crimefighting confidant, but an actor who portrayed the Boy Wonder on the small screen. There had been some friction between the victim and the actor who portrayed the Dark Knight in the popular TV show, so the heroes focus on him as their primary suspect. Speaking of the Batman and TV, a reality TV show has popped up and is growing in popularity. A producer has managed to capture the Dynamic Duo on tape, thwarting the schemes of Gotham's most dangerous and colorful criminals. The Batman is determined to get to the bottom of the would-be media mogul's success.
I was never a huge fan of Infantino's art when I was a kid. There's no denying that he captured the Flash's super-speed powers quite well in The Flash, but his Batman was the campy one of the 1960s TV show. Of course, that makes him an ideal choice for bringing the first story to life. He manages to instill a slightly edgier look here, though, bringing the grim Batman of today into the same world as the goofy Batman of the 1960s. His squat-headed figures and his unusual panel angles used to put me off 20 years ago, but today, I can't help but respect and admire how his style stands out as unique in an industry that often encourages imitation and conformity. It's a pleasure to see Giella's inks at play here as well. He adds a softer and slightl more realistic quality to Infantino's figures here.
Andy (Rex Mantooth, Firebreather) Kuhn's work here is quite impressive. His take on Gotham and its unusual residents put me in mind of the work of such artists as Duncan (Ultimate Adventures) Fegredo, Brian (The Ride) Stelfreeze and Michael (Gotham Central) Lark. There's a great deal of energy and movement in his art here, and that suits the quick and frenetic quality of the script. Bill Crabtree's colors are appropriately muted and eerie as well.
There's a nice role reversal in terms of the writers here. Geoff Johns's murder mystery boasts a more traditional tone. It could be the sort of thing we read back in the 1960s or '70s. Though his plot is a simple one, industry veteran Len Wein takes on more modern subject matter in his satire of reality TV. It's also fun to compare how the two writers crafted two different stories based on the same cover concept. This has me waiting with bated breath for the subsequent seven DC Comics Presents one-shots.
