Pop Alert: Batman Noel
December 15, 2011, By Jack Heffron 0 comments
We've all heard the story a thousand times: miserly old cuss can't grasp the whole Christmas giving thing, so he's forced to host three ghostly visitors—past, present and future—and in the end he learns his damn lesson. Charles Dickens wrote the original, of course, but moviemakers have been updating and altering it for years.
"Batman Noel," by Lee Bermejo, however, takes the tale to a whole new level by substituting for Ebenezer Scrooge the Caped Crusader himself. The story moves to Gotham City and features the likes of The Joker, Catwoman and even Superman in the roles we know so well from "A Christmas Carol." But Bermejo goes way beyond some gimmicky formula. He creates a rich story that stands on its own, exploring new themes while rescuing the original's grit and grim from the fossilizing hands of countless community theater directors.
Stunningly illustrated and packed with fun plot twists, "Batman: Noel" sparked a buzz among Superhero fans when it debuted a few weeks ago, and that furor has only grown louder since then. Reviewers find themselves stretching for superlatives to do justice to the visual and narrative creativity evident on every page of the book.
Though I usually find the cranky, angst-riddled version of Batman a little tiresome—enough with the teeth-gnashing already; just punch somebody and nab the villain—the Dark Knight's tortured soul melds with surprising ease into the story of a lonely, bitter man's isolation from the world around him. Rather than slowing down the plot as it often does, Batman's dredging up of his tormented past moves the events forward. And the artwork throughout the book is simply too beautiful not to grab you and hold on tight.
With some audiences, "Batman: Noel" could become as much of a holiday classic as the story it's based on. When the played-out grind of holiday TV fare begins to drag you down, reach for "Batman: Noel." It will convince you that a gifted artist really can still capture the spirit of the season.
