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A review by unladylike
Batman: Europa by Diego Latorre, Jim Lee, Brian Azzarello, Gérald Parel, Guiseppe Camuncoli, Matteo Casali
4.0
4.5 stars
This can be read entirely apart from any of the ongoing Batman comics, and without any more knowledge of his history than your average non-reading movie-goer might have. Mild spoilers might be ahead, but nothing I couldn't figure out from reading the basic synopsis and visual cues early in the book.
Europa has some of the most gorgeous and creative art of any Batman comic, or really any mainstream comic I've read. Much of the style reminds me of portions of Promethea, where J.H. Williams III and Todd Klein played with layers of translucency, photos of posed actors, etc. to convey an appropriate effect. Here, the effect is that Batman is increasingly delirious, losing his senses and mental competence. So what we see on the page reflects that with rainbow shimmers and topographical map-like lines overlaying things into a brilliant state of distortion.
Of course Jim Lee's name is supposed to draw attention, given his standing at DC, but it's the European (mostly Italian, I'm guessing based on the names?) team of artists and writers that make this book stand out.
Brian Azzarello has previously written some of my all-time favourite depictions of Joker, Lex Luthor, and the whole Greek pantheon surrounding Wonder Woman. I had high expectations of his influence on this book, and was not disappointed. On more that one occasion, Batman's voice reminded me of Frank Miller's [b:Batman: The Dark Knight Returns|59960|Batman The Dark Knight Returns|Frank Miller|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327892039s/59960.jpg|1104159], in that he sounds more like a cranky and crass recovering alcoholic than a thoughtful detective.
As Batman and Joker's voices shift throughout their week-long viral spiral, I began to develop my own theory of what was happening, which was never really fleshed out fully. More and more, we see Batman laughing at his own scattered thoughts - he starts seeing everything as a punchline. Meanwhile, Joker proves himself to be more sober and even heroic. He gets annoyed at Batman's disconnectedness from reality, and demonstrates his cultural and linguistic intellect in uncharacteristic ways. So naturally, I thought the virus was turning them into each other. Given the amount of hints in this direction, I feel it's a shame the writers didn't resolve or explain why the arch-nemeses were taking on parts of one another's personality.
The main thing that keeps me from giving this a full 5 stars is the villain they chose to be behind it all, and his lack of clear motives specifically. Midway through Chapter 3, in Paris, Bats and Mistah J are confronted by the big baddie, who says he's both of them combined. As soon as I saw the shape of that villain's mask and the size of his body, I said to myself, "Well shoot, why is Bane in this story?" And at the end of the whole thing, I still don't really know. Batman says something vague about underestimating how far Bane would go to get to him.
This story is more about the journey than the destination, though. I would have preferred a tidier ending, but instead it felt like the writers just drew straws to see which of Batman's biggest enemies would be the mastermind of this plot. The book starts out with a fight against Killer Croc, which already had me questioning *which canon* we were following. I personally prefer when Croc is more clearly Waylon Jones: a misunderstood, rejected protector of the weak who lives with a horrible skin condition and mutation and fights on whatever side he has to, or is manipulated into. But sometimes he's just a mindless beast who literally eats people and murders for fun, as is apparently the case in this version. Similarly, some Batman stories depict Bane as a mostly mindless strongman, while others elevate him as a behind-the-scenes plotter of superior intellect. Ohhh well. I'm sure some fans know all the reasons behind these shifts, and ultimately, this story is told well enough that I'll swallow it.
This can be read entirely apart from any of the ongoing Batman comics, and without any more knowledge of his history than your average non-reading movie-goer might have. Mild spoilers might be ahead, but nothing I couldn't figure out from reading the basic synopsis and visual cues early in the book.
Europa has some of the most gorgeous and creative art of any Batman comic, or really any mainstream comic I've read. Much of the style reminds me of portions of Promethea, where J.H. Williams III and Todd Klein played with layers of translucency, photos of posed actors, etc. to convey an appropriate effect. Here, the effect is that Batman is increasingly delirious, losing his senses and mental competence. So what we see on the page reflects that with rainbow shimmers and topographical map-like lines overlaying things into a brilliant state of distortion.
Of course Jim Lee's name is supposed to draw attention, given his standing at DC, but it's the European (mostly Italian, I'm guessing based on the names?) team of artists and writers that make this book stand out.
Brian Azzarello has previously written some of my all-time favourite depictions of Joker, Lex Luthor, and the whole Greek pantheon surrounding Wonder Woman. I had high expectations of his influence on this book, and was not disappointed. On more that one occasion, Batman's voice reminded me of Frank Miller's [b:Batman: The Dark Knight Returns|59960|Batman The Dark Knight Returns|Frank Miller|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327892039s/59960.jpg|1104159], in that he sounds more like a cranky and crass recovering alcoholic than a thoughtful detective.
As Batman and Joker's voices shift throughout their week-long viral spiral, I began to develop my own theory of what was happening, which was never really fleshed out fully. More and more, we see Batman laughing at his own scattered thoughts - he starts seeing everything as a punchline. Meanwhile, Joker proves himself to be more sober and even heroic. He gets annoyed at Batman's disconnectedness from reality, and demonstrates his cultural and linguistic intellect in uncharacteristic ways. So naturally, I thought the virus was turning them into each other. Given the amount of hints in this direction, I feel it's a shame the writers didn't resolve or explain why the arch-nemeses were taking on parts of one another's personality.
The main thing that keeps me from giving this a full 5 stars is the villain they chose to be behind it all, and his lack of clear motives specifically. Midway through Chapter 3, in Paris, Bats and Mistah J are confronted by the big baddie, who says he's both of them combined. As soon as I saw the shape of that villain's mask and the size of his body, I said to myself, "Well shoot, why is Bane in this story?" And at the end of the whole thing, I still don't really know. Batman says something vague about underestimating how far Bane would go to get to him.
This story is more about the journey than the destination, though. I would have preferred a tidier ending, but instead it felt like the writers just drew straws to see which of Batman's biggest enemies would be the mastermind of this plot. The book starts out with a fight against Killer Croc, which already had me questioning *which canon* we were following. I personally prefer when Croc is more clearly Waylon Jones: a misunderstood, rejected protector of the weak who lives with a horrible skin condition and mutation and fights on whatever side he has to, or is manipulated into. But sometimes he's just a mindless beast who literally eats people and murders for fun, as is apparently the case in this version. Similarly, some Batman stories depict Bane as a mostly mindless strongman, while others elevate him as a behind-the-scenes plotter of superior intellect. Ohhh well. I'm sure some fans know all the reasons behind these shifts, and ultimately, this story is told well enough that I'll swallow it.