Written by Eliot S. Maggin & Alan Weiss.
Art by Alan Weiss; José Luis García-López; Digital Chameleon; & Richard Starkings.
Cover Art by Alan Weiss.
SUMMARY:
DC Comics released this 64-page Elseworlds: Batman title in 1992. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln (in a manner reminiscent of Commissioner James Gordon) covertly summons U.S. Lt. Colonel Bruce Wayne in his guise as the masked ‘Batman.’ Wayne is ordered out West to Virginia City, Nevada, to recover mass quantities of gold and silver being stolen from U.S. reserves.
Not only must Wayne contend with renegade Confederate “Bloody Bob” Armstrong’s cutthroat army, there are evidently other sinister rogues lurking about. Joining Wayne briefly undercover is his aide, Alfred, but the Caped Crusader’s frontier allies include “Wild” Bill Hickok, Samuel “Mark Twain” Clemens, U.S. Colonel Kit Carson, and a young half-Native American nicknamed ‘Redbird.’ Most of all, Wayne’s true secret weapons are his alter-ego: the Batman and his fearsome black stallion, Apocalypse.
Posing as a foppish cavalry officer (resembling Errol Flynn) seeking fresh recruits, Wayne enlists a band of ex-slaves dubbed ‘The Dark Knights’ – essentially, a fictional precursor to the U.S. Cavalry’s post-war ‘Buffalo Soldiers.’ While Batman and his forces press Armstrong’s outlaws into a showdown, Wayne realizes the elaborate ruse being perpetrated by the theft’s true masterminds. Worse yet, rampant greed may precipitate another foreign conflict on the U.S. border with Mexico.
REVIEW:
Readers will either love or shake their heads at this ‘bait-and-switch’ alternate reality. Instead of an East Coast wartime espionage caper, the Civil War serves as a distant historical backdrop for a Lone Ranger-style Western shoot’em up (with Zorro thrown in for good measure).
Writer Eliot S. Maggin, on a few occasions, gladly acknowledges (in both dialogue and his plotting) that his Batman and Robin are a homage to the Lone Ranger and Tonto. Yet, aside from his costume, this Bruce Wayne/Batman only superficially resembles the Dark Knight that fans are expecting.
There is not any grim childhood motivation to fight crime – the brief reason given explaining Wayne’s choice of the Bat-motif is exceedingly weak. The same applies to no explanation re: how/where Wayne gained his unparalleled fighting skills (other than the U.S. Army). Instead of relying upon any utility belt, Maggin’s interpretation (ironically, given Batman’s traditional aversion to guns) is a composite of the sharp-shooting Lone Ranger and Zorro. More so, this Batman’s genius detective work evidently occurs off-screen.
For generally forgettable historical fiction with few welcome surprises, this is Maggin’s worst plot gaffe. Prior to the decent climax, he twice indicates that Wayne already senses who the true culprits are, but not once is it revealed how/when the hero knows. Maggin’s scripting, in that regard, does not exactly play fair. Then again, the ‘big’ revelation itself is closer to laughable tripe than an actual letdown. Suffice to say, eyes will still be rolling at Maggin’s Grade-B Western finish that practically echoes “Hi-yo, Silver! Away!”
This storyline’s best asset, however, is José Luis García-López’s artistic style that often surpasses the genre clichés The Blue, the Grey, and the Bat relies upon. If anything, Maggin might have retitled this story as “The Good, the Bad, and the Bat.”
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
None.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 5½ Stars
Note: If one likes Batman: The Blue, the Grey, and the Bat, there is also 1997’s (Elseworlds) Justice League: The Justice Riders. Aside from relying upon various classic Westerns, there is no mistaking that it also homages The Wild Wild West.
