Okay, I’m cheating. I admit this because I cannot lie to you, dear readers. The first part of Batman: The Dark Prince Charming came out last week. But I decided to write about Black Vol.1 instead and I stand by that decision. The beauty of this being Klein’s Korner is that I can violate the rules on occasion because gosh darn it, Batman: The Dark Prince Charming deserves for you to stand up and pay attention!
Acclaimed European comics master Enrico Marini makes his American comics debut with an original, two-part graphic novel starring the Batman! Joker fans rejoice as this story is a personal mano a mano showdown between Ol’ Batsy and Mr. J. This one’s going to be as personal as it gets between arch nemeses. A young woman’s been kidnapped by the Clown Prince of Crime. Who is she? What is her connection to Bruce Wayne? Batman will plunge deeper into the darkness than perhaps we’re comfortable seeing him in order to save her. If he can.
The biggest selling point is Marini’s artwork. With all due respect to Sean Murphy and Joelle Jones, this might be the best looking Batman title on the shelves today. There’re a lot of reasons why the art’s been getting massive hype and I can attest it deserves every credit. The dialogue is written by a creator whose first language is certainly not English. However, it gets the job done and at a certain point, the graphic storytelling all that you’ll be paying attention to.
Do we need another Batman Elseworlds story? No. I mean, we’e getting a lot of different depictions of the Dark Knight. You have Batman: White Knight plus all of the one-shots that tie into Dark Knights: Metal. We have a lot of Batmen competing for our attention. The saving grace for Batman: The Dark Prince Charming is that no other version looks like it. No other story about the Caped Crusader feels this classic and intimate. Batman squares off against the Joker. The stakes are high and the hatred is personal. That’s all you get and all you need, the art elevates the rest.
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