From DC emerges the mind-twisting miniseries, Batman Last Knight on Earth. To say this is an easy read would be to be telling a tall tale.
It is a tall order to wander into this book as I have, a simple everyday Batman fan. This is deep water, a parched desert with mirages of blazingly wild writing. Scott Snyder brings an ‘A’ game to this Black Label imprint story. Last Knight on Earth spans 58 pages, penciled by Greg Capullo, inked by Jonathan Glapion and coloured by FCO Plascencia.
The visuals are magnificent. Detailed, carefully orchestrated and framed. The action sequences are nicely choreographed. Shadows fall upon realistically rendered forms, and backgrounds stay, well, in the background where they belong; supporting actors on the stage of this Last Knight epic.
It’s beautifully coloured, too. Attention has been paid to observing colour palettes. The night is of blue and black. The bright examination rooms are lit with fluorescent. perhaps. When the sun gets hot, the temperature of the oranges and yellows become pronounced.
It’s the story, though. It all revolves around the story. And in this case, the story takes on a mad mad journey, past the House of Mystery, down the Yellow Brick Road past barking mad Ol’ Yeller and into the Apple Orchard of Insanity. It’s an Arkham of Crazy. The Asylum of the all-inclusive Resort from Hell. It’s maddening, for sure, to get a grasp of what is going on around here. Of course, the Joker is along for the ride, playing second fiddle twice removed, a distant cousin of his own mind. And Alfred, he’s bad, no he’s good.
In other words, perhaps you are up on all the nuances of recent Batman stories, and you know all the characters who are playing tricks in Batman’s head. If so, you can go the front of the class and explain it all to the rest of us… the future we have met is ourselves, we are descendants of those who cloned us, and the only way to fight is to run.
And if you have read this far in this rambling review and are still hanging in, you are the ideal reader of this complicated, many-leveled trip down the psychedelic information highway! I’m clapping, I’m whistling at this issue, but I am still scratching my aching head.
DC Black Label, Batman Last Knight on Earth, Book One. $5.99 for 58 pages of content. Rating assume Teen + for intensity
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Brian Isaacs - Executive Editor / Publisher