Calliopes Realm

Written by Neil Gaiman; Art by Andy Kubert and Scott Williams; Covers by Andy Kubert and Alex Ross; Variant sketch cover by Andy Kubert

What ever happened to the Caped Crusader ? Part 1:

We start this issue with an voice over of someone asking where they are. The response is Gotham City. We then see a Catmobile pull up into crime alley.

Selina Kyle exits the vehicle and enters a tavern. There she sees a bartender and he directs her to the back room. She says to him I thought you were dead Joe and he replies that he was here at the beginning and he is not going to miss the end. She then enters a room where she is directed by Alfred to sit on the left side of the room. He then tells her that he always thought very highly of you and that if things had been different…she cuts him off saying that the are sure different now. We then cut to a 2 page spread of Batman in a coffin and the voice over states..but that’s me. We then see various arrivals to the funeral with Two-Face, Commissioner Gordan and Oracle and the Joker arriving in their various themed vehicles. Once we are back inside we see an assemblage of characters that have been involved either as heroes or villains in the crowd. At that time Dick Grayson asks if anyone has anything that they would like to say. Catwoman stands up and relates the tale of how Batman died. We see various points in history including her first costume as the Cat, and we are given the tale of how Batman would not give up being a vigilante for her. One night, after she retired from crime and opened a pet shop, Batman arrives to her injured. Instead of taking him for medical help she ties him to a chair in her shop and lets him die. All the while during this tale we continue to get the voice over from Batman saying that these details are wrong. After she is done with her tale, we then move on to Alfred as he tells us how Batman died. We see that Alfred left his performance theatre upon the death of his father to become the Wayne’s butler. He tells of the beginnings of Batman, and how even with all this, Bruce was still going into black moods. So Alfred took it upon himself, with the help of his troupe to become the villains that Batman needed to fight. He had one of his friends become the Riddler, and Alfred himself became the Joker. We get more voice overs from Batman on how this could not be possible. Alfred then talks of the day that Batman figured it all out and went to stop the Riddler. The Riddler had finally snapped and shot him in the face, killing him.  We then move back to the wake where Bruce asks if he is dead. The other voice says not yet. He then asks who this person is. The voice says your the world’s greatest detective figure it out. Neil Gaiman has weaved an incredible tale for this first part. Exploring the mythos of Batman as well as providing alternate scenarios of how Batman could have died. The artwork by Andy Kubert is phenomenal this issue, capturing the various eras and styles of previous Batman artists. We get a look at his sketchbook at the end of the issue and the pencils of some of the panels. Overall this book gets 5 out of 5 Batmen.

Put It On The Stack.