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By Paul Dini & various (DC Comics)
ISBN 1-84576-575-3
DC comics are sitting on a goldmine of quality product to repackage as trade paperbacks and graphic novels, and the sooner they begin utilising it, the better it will be for the industry. They have been publishing child friendly versions of their key characters, most notably Batman, ever since the Paul Dini/Bruce Timm cartoon series first aired in the 1990s.
These adventures are consistently some of the best comics produced of the last two decades and why they aren’t permanently in print, if only as a way of attracting new young readers to the medium, has always baffled me.
One step towards correcting this problem is the subject under discussion here. Collecting the eponymous three issue miniseries, plus the one-shot Love on the Lam and a short story from much-missed Batman anthology comic Gotham Knights.
The fourteenth issue of the aforementioned anthology yielded up the brilliantly dark but amusing tale ‘The Bet’, written by Dini and illustrated by Ronnie Del Carmen. Incarcerated once more in Arkham Asylum, the Joker’s would-be paramour Harley Quinn and the irresistible, but toxic Poison Ivy indulge in a little wager to pass the time. Namely, who can kiss the most men whilst remaining in custody. This razor-sharp little tale manages to combine innocent sexiness with genuine sentiment, and still packs a killer punch-line.
Judd Winick and Joe Chiodo rather over-egg the pudding with their earnest but heavy-handed adventure ‘Love on the Lam’. Unsure of its audience, this caper sees The Joker dump Harley once again, so she teams with Ivy in an attempt to steal enough money to buy him back. Stuffed with guest-stars, and fully painted by Chiodo, this is an unwieldy piece of eye-candy, but it does serve to clear the palette for the final tale.
Dini reunites with artist Bruce Timm, ably assisted by Shane Glines, for a joyous romp as the ‘Bosom Buddies’ have a spat that wrecks half of Gotham before escaping to the Amazon jungle (or is that Rain Forest these days?) together, to take over a small country responsible for much of the region’s deforestation. Once Batman gets involved the story shifts to Hollywood and the very last word in creative commentary on Superheroes in the movie business. This is a frantic, laugh-packed hoot that manages to be daring and demure by turns. An absolute delight, and well worth the price of admission.
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