I cried today because of a comic book.
It wasn't a sad comic book. It was simply so beautiful. So beautiful that it made me cry.
It was Batman & Robin: Year One, title by writer Mark Waid and artist Chris Samnee.
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| I couldn't believe a "Batman and Robin: Year One" hadn't been done before, but... this is it, now, apparently. |
At first glance, you might just lump it in with the Mazzuchelli style (the one "Batman: Year One" was drawn in. Thick lines, with a vague air of Madison Avenue-era ad art.
But it's much better than that. A little more on that later.
Both the writing and the art do a great job of (SUBTLY) referencing the Batman '66 television series. For example in the cover art above, you can see references to the show's opening credits in the villains they are fighting.
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| See for yourself. |
Dick Grayson chaffing at some obscure study at home, then being reminded how important studying (Egyptology, leaf structures, bird songs, etc.) was for proper education. With a slight change in dialog this is nearly a scene from the show.
Then a Death-Trap Escape complete with "follow my movements exactly", which could have come straight from the show.
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| That was a LOT easier than the killer player-piano roll machine. |
Add to that a nearly pitch-perfect version of Two-Face
which references the essential irony that he is both extremely predictable in some ways and extremely unpredictable in others. Nowadays, a good characterization of Two-Face is so rare as to bring tears to my eyes all by itself.
There's even an old school mystery of the type we seldom get in stories about the World's Greatest Detective: Two-Face has stolen a FILE from Commissioner Gordon and neither Gordon NOR Two-Face will tell Batman what's in it.
Batman is puzzled by the villain's apparent uncharacteristic diversion from the "two" motif in this crime.
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| My bet is that the file is Gordon's deductions on Batman's DOUBLE identity. |
All this is very Silver/Golden age. But wisely there are certainly nods to modern sensibility, such as Gordon balking at the "kid sidekick" and Robin being confounded by the supercriminals who don't simply kill you on sight. The whole issue is a truly timeless story, using lots of very traditional elements of Batman history that most modern writers would be scared to death of attempting. It's the kind of thing that, currently, only Mark Waid can pull off.
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Well, Sholly Fisch could.
Because there's nothing Sholly Fisch can't pull off. |
All this storytelling is ideal for a long-time fan like me and Chris Samnee's ability to draw in essentially an abstract, Golden Age style, but through a modern lens is the perfect complement. This, though, is the panel where it really hit me what I was seeing:
At first, it might seem unremarkable to you. I mean, there's little action, no dialog, no interactions, no captions.
But I just keep staring at. Maybe five minutes. Then I realized I was crying.
Because it's perfect Golden Age composition, where the art tells the story. The Batmobile, unassuming, is headed for a conflict with THAT MAN, who is high above, but in a direct line across from its path, from our view. And colored with meaningful and tasteful contrast.
Let's put this in some context.
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| This is Golden Age art. It is a study in economy and contrasts. |
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| This is modern comic book art. It tends toward photorealistic and maximalism. |
Don't get me wrong; these are both "good art". But the modern art impresses me with its technical proficiency while the classic art moves me, emotionally and intellectually with its skill at choosing the right art for the storytelling at hand. It is art that is there for the story, not for itself. That, to me, is the appropriate role of art in this medium. And seeing Chris Samnee's work in Batman and Robin: Year One made me realize that it was NOT a lost art, as I had feared.
The relief that gave me was worth more than a tear or two. Thank you, Chris Samnee.
