Batman: The Dark Knight Annual #1

    Sometimes I really just want a single-issue story I can sink my teeth into.  Something  bizarre, with an interesting take on the characters.  This, sadly, is not that story.  All the elements are there, but everything falls flat.  This is a story that is so overwhelmingly mediocre that I had to skim the book again just for something to say.  I read the book this morning, and eight hours of work and a Blackhawks/Red Wings game later, I had pretty much forgotten that it existed.

    I miss the days when Annuals were jam-packed with a few self-contained stories.  Maybe one or two tales related to current goings-on in the title, but the rest was all self-contained fun.  Maybe those days never really existed except for in my mind.  Regardless, Batman:  The Dark Knight Annual #1 exists here today, and let’s me down.  The art is flat, and in many cases confusing.  Szymon Kudranski has some great set pieces to work with in this book, which may be one of the positives I can say.  However, whenever the action gets up close it becomes cartoony.  Cartoony is a good way to describe this, actually, as this set up feels like it really could have worked in an animated fashion.  Would I like to see this as an episode of the seminal Batman:  The Animated Series?  Why yes, I would.  Unfortunately, this is what we have.

    Gregg Hurwitz gives us an interesting, creepy set-up:  three villains alone in a creepy, run-down abandoned orphanage, once run by the Arkhams.  Scarecrow, Penguin, and.... Mad Hatter?  I can let that one slide.  Sometimes a writer has a character that they always wanted to work with, or have a special emotional connection to that they want to pull into a story.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  The inclusion of the Hatter seems a bit arbitrary, as he is a C-list villain at best with a couple of A-listers.  Why either of the others would even respond to his invitation is beyond me.  They quickly realize they’ve been set up.  Hijinks ensue.  It’s pretty bland, there are some interesting flash backs that occur from a jolt of Scarecrow’s fear toxin, but nothing we haven’t seen before.  The whole release of the fear toxin scene was muddled and confusing as well.

 

    

    To summarize:  good set-up, poor execution and obvious ending; without solid art backing it up to make the whole thing worthwhile.  Go Hawks.