Batman/ The Spirit One-Shot Review
This Review was submitted by Knightwingbk:
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artist: Darwyn Cooke & J. Bone
Best book of the week, by far. I picked this up on a whim, having enjoyed Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier mini-series. I wasn't expecting much, having never read any of Will Eisner's Spirit, but I came out totally blown away.
This is the story of how Batman and The Spirit first met, recounted by Commissioner Gordon of Gotham City and Commissioner Dolan of Central City. This takes place way back when Robin still wore Green scaly underwear and pixie boots, so forget any continuity. The tale sees all the great policemen of the country traveling to a conference in Hawaii and try and be murdered by the villains of Gotham City and Central City. Batman and the Spirit cross paths, and assist each other in foiling this fun, nefarious scheme. I don't want to say much else because I want you to go and get this book! The $4.99 price is a bit steep for 48 pages but it’s a lot of story in these 48 pages. Not counting the inside covers, there are only 7 pages of ads in this book, and they don't come every other page like some other comics this week (Teen Titans I'm looking at you!).
Darwyn Cooke's art may not win everyone over with its old-school style, but his story-telling will. Every action panel of this book feels frenetic, and Cooke chooses his shots like this were an animated movie. Hell, this should be an animated movie. Getting back to the point, it’s great. If you must buy only once comic outside your pull list, make it this one, you will not be let down. A+
