Batman Year 100

by Paul Pope

Over the last few months, I've come across a fairly regular stream of work from Paul Pope in Wednesday Comics and in Marvel's Strange Adventures. It made me ask myself why I haven't read more of his work, and so I dove onto Ebay, where I was able to pick up all four issues of this series for a pretty reasonable price.

This is a story of Batman set 100 years after his original appearance, where somehow it's all canon, but Bruce Wayne isn't in his 120s or so. It's best not to dwell on this, because Pope provides us with an exciting story and tons of fantastic art.

The story involves some bad doings among people who work for the federal government; those same bad people are jamming up Commissioner Gordon (grandson of the one we know and love), and making things difficult for the people of Gotham. Enter Batman, with his Robin and Oracle, to fix things.

While it's a relatively standard story, it's the little flourishes and special touches that make it stand out. Government soldiers wear these crazy football jerseys, and their dogs have cameras in their eyes. Batman's motorcycle perches like a bat until he needs it. Also, Batman puts in these insane pointed teeth when going into battle, and is wearing a costume that involves a whole lot of laces on the pants and boots. Aesthetically, this is one pleasing comic.