Batman/The Spirit #1

“Crime Convention”
Writer: Jeph Loeb, Darwyn Cooke
Artist: Darwyn Cooke (p), Jeff Bone (i)
Publisher: DC Comics

Remember the Batman television series, starring Adam West? Sure you do. Remember the “crossover” episode, with Van Williams and Bruce Lee guest-starring as the Green Hornet and Kato? Of course.

What you may not remember is how painfully out-of-place the Hornet and Kato seemed, and how Williams and Lee were determined to portray their respective characters straight – in spite of the campy plot and wretched dialogue.

That’s the general impression I got while reading “Crime Convention,” the historic first meeting of two comic-book icons. Everything seems appropriate for The Spirit, who benefits from Loeb and Cooke’s lighter touch.

Unfortunately, Batman comes off like an old fuddy-duddy who’s reading a different script. This isn’t the Caped Crusader of the 1950s, who would have fit right in, but the contemporary, humorless Dark Knight. Everyone is part of the joke, from the supporting cast to the united villains, except Batman. He prowls the shadowy rooftops and alleys, while Denny Colt and Robin supress a chuckle at his expense.

Commissioner Dolan is the honored guest of the Policemen’s Benevolent Association. At the annual convention, to be held in Hawaii, the keynote speaker is his old friend, Commissioner James Gordon. While they prepare for their vacations, Gotham City and Central City’s major villains are leaving town en masse.
This exodus does not go unnoticed by Batman and The Spirit, operating independantly in their home cities. Their investigations lead them to Honolulu, putting them on a collision course with their major enemies and each other. Literally caught in the crossfire, they form a hasty alliance and foil a scheme to kill the nation’s top lawmen. Dolan is the target, sort of. Something about the PBA convention and a bomb -- or perhaps Commissioner Gordon’s speech is the bomb.

Basically, a whole bunch of bad guys from one series team-up with a whole bunch of bad guys from another. Sort of. Those bad guys are always embarking on their own. And double-crossing each other.
The plot drags in the tedious conventions of crossovers. Batman and The Spirit must join forces, of course, but inevitably the supporting characters cross-polinate. The villains socialize amongst themselves: There’s P’Gell and Poison Ivy, wooing the other hero's amicable police commissioner. Ellen Dolan and Babs Gordon are both daughters of said commissioners, right? Haven’t Killer Croc and the Cossak really hit it off?

In a moment of nostalgia run amok, Loeb employs the Old Switcheroo best left behind in the DC Archive editions of World’s Finest. I acknowledge and appreciate the touch, but wasn’t in any hurry to revisit it.

This DC one-shot was planned to introduce a wider audience to The Spirit, Will Eisner’s legendary character from the 1940s, and set the stage for a new continuing series. The concept of teaming Denny Colt with DC’s top-selling crimefighter had been discussed before Eisner’s death, and the Great One gave his blessing to the project. Unfortunately, the two icons don’t work together. Not well, anyway. Neither does the burgeoning cast of villains. The Joker is easily Batman’s most over-used nemesis, but the story might have benefited with him as the sole antagonist. The Joker’s homicidal hi-jinks, and Robin’s gee-whiz holy-explative naiveté, would be right at home in Central City. Most of the bad-guys merely decorate the sets, a la Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy film.

I looked forward to this one-shot, but the final product missed the mark. “Crime Convention” will become a footnote in Denny Colt’s career. Batman is just a celebrity huckster, lending his name and likeness to a new series launch.

As a “pilot episode” for The Spirit, this one-shot shows promise. As a “crossover”, it fails. In a bit of cosmic irony, Batman slips on the same banana-peel that felled the Green Hornet forty-years ago.

*Originally posted on Silver Bullet Comics (www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com).