This is LoudMelissa, back with Metalmachine.net! How I’ve missed you! I thought it would be fun to get my feet wet again by doing an’ ol’ Marvel Vs. DC. I figured “Batman: Year 100” by Paul Pope Vs. “Wolverine: Old Man Logan” by Mark Millar, since they both take place in the character’s futures.
Oh man. Can I just start this off by saying that I am such a lover of Batman that I have spent the past 5 years looking for the right panel to tattoo on me? Yes, I have lots of tattoos.. one of them is a page from “Where the Wild Things Are”, by Maurice Sendak. So, I decided I was going to do a whole calf to ankle tribute of comics, cartoons and books that have inspired me and made my life that much better. The Dark Knight is of course, on top of that list. Who better? Maybe Rorschach… but come on, we ALL know that Rorschach is a real life Batman. That’s what the greatest comic book writer in the fucking world, Alan Moore even said. When he was creating Rorschach, he just thought of what Batman would be like, if he was a true person. Sorry to ramble, what was I saying? Oh yeah, Batman tattoos. Paul Pope might have drawn the winner. Seriously.
Now, as a born and bred NYC lass, I take my Gotham City shit pretty personally. I recently told someone that the one thing that would make my life complete would be seeing the Bat-signal go up and seeing him swing by, over a roof top. Again, I digress. So, I wasn’t sure how I would take Pope’s version of The Batman, 100 years into the future. I did however enjoy Heavy Liquid, so I thought I’d give it a go. The man’s a pretty brilliant artist and I was intrigued on how he would take this beloved character, and keep his vigilante status in a world that was pretty Orwellian.
HOLY GUACAMOLE, BATMAN! What a great book. It starts out with Batman, covered in blood and being shot by the mysterious FPC “wolves”. The role of Commissioner Gordon will be played by his grandson and Robin is a real bad ass, who doesn’t use any of the adorable TV Robin’s exclamations. He has two other comrades in this book, a doctor and her brainiac daughter who happens to be smart enough to hack into the computer files that he needs. Oh, sorry kids… there’s no Alfred character. I sort of wanted there to be one.
I hate when people read a review and the whole plot is given away. What’s the point of reading the book? I don’t do that, even if it’s something that’s old that I finally got to reading or writing about. Like these two books I am reviewing. So, here’s a little synopsis, without giving up everything: Batman is being framed for murder and hunted, because in this 1984 styled Gotham, Big Brother is everywhere and everyone’s identity is known…except for one person’s, that being the “last mask”, the one masked avenger left, The Batman.

Now, Gordon has his own issue because he knows that Batman is innocent of the murder, so the FPC is after him for the original GCPD Batman file, as well as his true identity. He and our masked hero, along with his team, get hooked up and he takes on these goons. They are being led by Tibble, who works for the main boss: Pravdzka. There is one of those intermediary characters to look out for, who is also on Batman’s trail, Mercer.
The thing about this book that I really appreciate, is that pretty much everyone in this book has a shady past. Gordon’s trying to make amends for a tragic event that happened at our favorite nuthouse: Arkham Asylum, Mercer has a past-life of his own and as for the life of The Batman…well, that’s the point, right? Who is this masked man and who the Hell is he? Pope does a great job with keeping the reader captive and let’s face it, the man is a true artistic genius. There are a few panels showing Batman with a set of gnarly ceramic teeth that are genuinely creepy! I am very much into the way that he sets up the future, where we are constantly being watched. I know I certainly feel that it’s getting closer and closer to that in NYC… this book is definitely worth a read. Unfortunately… it did NOT win this particular battle of the Marvel Vs. DC war…