Batman and a decapitated Joker head travel a post-apocalyptic world looking for answers. It’s a premise that could only come from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo!
Batman: Last Knight on Earth 1
Written by Scott Snyder
Pencils by Greg Capullo
Inks by Jonathan Glapion
Colors by FCO Plascensia
They did it again.
One more time I get sucked into a big production by a Snyder/Capullo Batman comic! It happened with the New 52; It happened with METAL. And it’s happening again here, with what is being solicited as what “could be the last Batman story ever told.”
I doubt it’ll be the last time Snyder and Capullo will collaborate on the character, but it terms of the timeline of this particular DC Universe (which may in fact be the end times of the New 52), LAST KNIGHT will likely take the title. The creative team throw you in the middle of a world that is unfamiliar not only to the reader but to Batman as well. And just as you’re getting used to your surroundings, things get even weirder.
BATMAN: LAST KNIGHT ON EARTH is the latest entry into DC’s BLACK LABEL imprint. Judging by the first issue, I think this may be the best original story the imprint has produced so far.
When the story’s first issue finally gets into gear – in what I assume will be its proper setting – we have a set-up for an epic quest featuring the Dark Knight, gone 10 years or more from a world that essentially no longer exists. His only companion on this journey to fight is a decapitated yet still alive Joker head in a jar, like something out of an episode of FUTURAMA. And all he wants to do is figure out what the hell happened to the world since he’s been gone.
It’s an amazingly weird story that constantly puts the reader off-kilter and changes direction at the drop of a cowl. In less-skilled hands, this could be a jumbled mess, but Snyder and Capullo are deft hands with wild and weird Batman stories. Every twist and turn makes sense (in relation to what makes sense in a crazy world) and the story is so engaging that I was frustrated when it ended.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how this turns out, and I bet the collected edition will be gorgeous.