Batman: Europa
We begin with Batman going toe-to-toe with Killer Croc in some Gotham alley and the Dark Knight is really feeling it, but not in a good way. “Getting’ too old for this, Batman?” KC chides. And even though Batman finally puts the big guy down for the count, he has to admit that “it was harder than usual.” Is he getting old? In need of some testosterone replacement therapy? I mean, over the course of nearly a hundred years of crime-fighting he has taken quite a beating.
Alas, things are worse than that. It seems a secret canonical villain has infected Batman with a virus that will kill him in a week. This sends Batman hopping about Europe trying to find out who’s responsible. He’s first off to Berlin, then to Prague, Paris, and finally Rome (being sure to hit all the must-see tourist monuments like the Brandenburg Gate, Notre Dame, and the Coliseum). The twist is that he finds out early on that the Joker has been infected with the same virus, so they actually have to go on this little road trip together. It’s a team-up of unlikely partners, which turns out to be as much fun as you’d expect.
I didn’t care much for the story. The whole premise seemed like the flimsiest sort of excuse for throwing Batman and the Joker together. The problem I had with it is that I just couldn’t see how it made any sense, even on the level of the way the plots of most criminal masterminds in comic books are needlessly complicated and don’t add up. And then Batman’s trick at the end to take down the bad guy struck me as ridiculous.
But the plot isn’t the point anyway. What we’re really getting here is a gallery of striking artwork from different artists for each of the travel destinations. Now if all you want is art in the standard DC or Marvel comic book style then you may be put off by it. I found the Paris section by Diego Latorre to be particularly dark and sketchy, making a lot of the action hard to figure out. It reminded me a bit of Reptilian in that regard, for better and for worse. But most of the time I was really impressed.
Despite the interesting idea of pairing Batman and the Joker as buddies I really didn’t care for the script. What sells Europa is the art though, which is well worth a look.
Alex Good 
Batman getting older is why he got addicted to “venom” in one storyline. All the good stories have been told already 😦
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Yeah he’s feeling his years here, but he’s also got a bug so fix that and he’s back in fighting trim. I’m going to be reviewing Off-World next and boy does he take a beating in that comic. But he always keeps coming back. I mean, look at what Bane did to him and he came back from that!
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If you can recover from a broken back, there’s nothing that can stop you 🙂
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So D.O.A. for the comic crowd? That Paris section sounds noir-ish. What about the rest?
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D.O.A. had a lot more plot that made sense, but the idea is kind of similar. The Paris isn’t so much noir as like a streaky and blurred oil painting aesthetic. Which may have been an attempt to show Batman’s dissolving state of mind but was more likely just that artist’s signature style.
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Made me think of that too, but I only remembered Denis Quaid and not the title 🙄 so cheers for that!
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I saw the Quaid one first, but I think that was actually the third or fourth D.O.A. Popular idea.
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Ha! The 1950 original with Edmond O’Brien’s a classic, but don’t think I’ve ever seen the remake. Any good? I like Dennis Quaid…..
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Long time since I’ve seen it, but I think it was a good thriller, had a good cast too.
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Same as Fraggle. Haven’t seen it since it came out, or thereabouts on VHS, but I remember it as being pretty good. Think it got good reviews too, back when reviews meant a little more than they do today.
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I’ll give it a shot. The plot plus Quaid is worth the risk! : -)
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Poor old Batty.
The cover was misleading – I thought they were going for some homoerotic thing.
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I think the Joker would have been up for that, at least for a while. He makes a lot of cracks along the lines of their always having Paris and it being the start of a beautiful relationship, etc.
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