Batman: Other Realms
Batman: Other Realms, by Bo Hampton, Scott Hampton & Mark Kneece, Titan Books/DC Comics
FEATURING TWO two separate Batman storylines that were originally serialised in the Legends of Dark Knight series, it’s neither the Miller-influenced souped-up Batman nor the various film versions that have appeared in the last decade or so. This is Batman as rational protagonist, a smattering of detective intuition and sequential storytelling in a style that’s not so much out of fashion as much as becoming a lost art.
That the original books were edited by the late Archie Goodwin makes sense in that context. So, personally speaking, I know there’s a good chance that reading this collection is going to be at least worthy of my time.
Destiny takes the lead, as a veritable reincarnation of Jon the Viking Prince (an old DC/National character) goes to Gotham City. He’s there to apprehend, or kill, those hired by Asgard International; an organisation that’s building an underground nuclear waste processing plant in his Scandinavian homeland. Together he and Batman, head to Oslo, confront more baddies; then make haste to the fiords to save the say - Am I making light of this? No - In between there’s the little matter that the pair appear to be tied across the centuries by two halves of an ancient amulet, and meshed throughout the modern day drama they read a tale from long ago that mixes legend and grim fairy tale that fits well in context.
Plotted with full art by Bo Hampton, Mark Kneece is credited with the script, and while it’s not a must-read-before-you-die it is one many will enjoy, and I did. Hampton’s art leans on Hal Foster for influence, some might see Sam Kieith in some of the faces he draws for this particular story but then he’s always had a cartoony edge to his work, and the pacing of his storytelling is entirely his own, classic but his own.
His brother Scott weighs in with the second half of the book, both writing and drawing it as he takes Batman on a rather Jungian walk through the valley of Death, with Joseph Campbell trials for heroic champions, some cool gruesome monsters, and two buddies - so to speak - who tag along with him; the dialogue they offer and the stories they deliver of their own accord gives depth of characterisation in what could have veered towards psychobabble - I mean sure, we get that get kind of stuff to move the story along, but it’s pretty much kept in its place. Scott, though at times expressionistic in his art style here, takes a similar approach to this brother and has Batman played straight without modern hyper-melodrama. That stated, this has quite a shocking beginning, and the only way to pull off a satisfactory ending was to make it a bitter sweet one, which happens.
Both books are lettered by their sister Tracey Hampton Munsey; I take it that it has been produced digitally but it reminds me of her hand lettering from days gone by and has a charm and personality of its own.
Sponsored by Target Media.
