"The Cape Creator: A Tribute To Bat-Maker Bill Finger" Is A Kickstarter Campaign Worth Backing
"The Cape Creator: A Tribute To Bat-Maker #BillFinger" Is A @Kickstarter Campaign Worth Backing
This year marks the 75th anniversary of one of comics most beloved heroes, Batman. I’d venture to guess that you know about Bruce Wayne’s tragic beginnings, the nefarious villains he fights as well as the city he has sworn to protect. Well most of you don’t know the whole story behind the creation of this pop culture icon and there is a fantastic Kickstarter campaign going on right now to…
I'll admit, DC got me to purchase an $8 comic. One that's quite clearly using the renumbering for the New 52 as a marketing gimmick.
And you know what? It's really, really good.
For those of you not up to speed on superhero history, Batman's first appearance was in Detective Comics #27, back in 1939. (And yes, that's where the DC in DC comics comes from.) So, since DC reset all their titles back to #1 with the New 52 relaunch, this month had Detective Comics hit it's #27, and 2014 also happens to be 75 years from 1939. So this issue is an oversized "anniversary" issue; it's nearly a trade collection, fully bound, rather than stapled, and 96 pages long.
Inside, there are 7 stories, the first 5 and the last paying homage in various ways to Batman's history, and the 6th kicking off yet another Batbook-wide crossover.
Since I'm not following most of the current DC comics, the Gothtopia story, which seems to be the actual Detective 27 story, absent the anniversary hoopla, wasn't all that intriguing. It opens with a weird, utopian version of Gotham, where the heroes are all bright and shiny, and Batman has time to get rewards from the Mayor. Who happens to be a certain Cobblepot. Turns out, it's a villainous scheme that's drugging all of Gotham to hallucinate a utopian city. Or something. I assume the crossover will explain further. Seeing the AU versions of the various batfamily characters was neat; Selina's Catbird costume is a nifty mashup of Catwoman and Robin. But otherwise, not too interested.
The rest of the stories, however, were fantastic.
"The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" opens with Bruce Wayne hosting a party, and two sets of narration: 1 in the standard "Batman" narration boxes, explaining his thoughts about what's going on, and a somewhat-mysterious handwritten set expounding on "Why do I do this?". The actual plot is pretty straightforward, but it turns out to be one of Batman's first adventures (new-52 verse), and the running handwritten narration goes through all the conflicting reasons Batman does what he does. It's very well done, and really gets at the nature of Bruce Wayne, and why someone would become a costumed vigilante.
"Old School" was my favorite. It's a brilliant, 4th-wall-breaking examination of the evolution of Batman in the comics, and the hell he goes through as a catharsis for the fans. The 60s style bit has the Penguin predict Batman and Robin's plan because they narrated every move in speech bubbles. Then early-80s Scarecrow reads their thought bubbles. Then a very 90s inner monologue about always reliving the deaths of his parents. Then a modern style of Batman being confronted by his Rogues, claiming to be his immortal burden, before he wakes up at a comic store celebrating the 75th anniversary. Neal Adam's art is utterly perfect at capturing the feel of the different eras, and the writing by Greg Hurwitz is amazing. The last lines, after the villains have dissolved into the fans, is so good: "I see the Joker-wide grins. Hear them clapping and shoving and pushing. Need coming off them like heat. And I wonder... do they have any idea what I've been through?".
"Better Days" felt to me like an homage to The Dark Knight Returns, but with a happier spin. It's Bruce Wanye's 75th birthday, and the gang shows up to the cave to celebrate. Damien's taken over as Batman, and Barbara is the new Commisioner Gordon (and really seems to take a visual cue from both Carrie Kelly and the Batman Beyond version of Barbara). There's trouble, the gang pops out to deal with it, and then Bruce breaks his cane and goes out to the other side of the city as Batman to deal with things. It was fun, and hopeful. My issues with it were mostly superficial (namely, that Dick and Tim are still Nightwing and Red Robin, even in their 40s-60s? Really?), otherwise, I enjoyed it.
"The Sacrifice" is a sort of reverse "It's a Wonderful Life", where The Phantom Stranger shows Batman what would have happened if his parents hadn't died in that alley. He has a happy family life, with a wife and kids, but Wanye Manor is basically a compound keeping out the gang wars in Gotham, the Commissioner is paralyzed in a hospital bed, and Dick Grayson killed the man who murdered his parents, and has been sentenced to death. So Bruce decides it's not worth the price, and goes back to the "real" world. It's well-done, and the art is nice, but a bit predictable. I'm pretty sure I've read at least one or two other "what if the Waynes had lived?" stories before.
"Twenty-Seven" ends the book on an interesting note. It opens with Bruce deciding to become the Batman in the Wayne Manor hall, then he wakes up in the cave with an older dude who tells him that Old Guy is Batman, and he's the next incarnation. Basically, Bruce Wayne got old, and realized he couldn't keep fighting crime, but wanted to make sure Batman continued. And so he figured out how to essentially clone himself, and bring the clone up to just after he decided to be Batman. It shows several generations of these Bat-men, fighting in different eras of future Gotham. Mostly, it's an interesting idea, sketched out quickly, and I'd love to see a series of one-shots about the different future eras.
Overall, I really did enjoy the stories, and I thought it was a fitting homage to Batman's history and future.
