Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Fatwah or Batwah?

So Frank Miller plans on doing a story that pits Batman against Osama Bin Laden.

This could be very good, if Miller is playing his A game. If it's done in the style of All Star Batman and Robin, then...

Well, this could be very good, if Miller is playing his A game.

However, a story that pits Batman against Osama Bin Laden underscore the problem of having a comic book hero deal with a real-world villain who, as of now, remains at large. How does Batman defeat him in the comic if he is still a menace in our world? And if he is caught or killed before the book comes out, how does the book retain any dramatic tension?

I presume from the story description that Miller intends to pit Batman against Osama, not against some roman a clef villain with Osama-esque features. I'll admit, my curiosity is piqued; I'll be there to check this one out once it sees print, for sure!

Meanwhile, I still have hopes that Miller will return to his Jesus! project that Dark Horse announced several years ago; Miller was putting in a great deal of research time in preparation for a complex comic book biography of Jesus that would be both reverent and historical. I hope he hasn't given up on that idea; seeing him tackle something this powerful would be fascinating indeed.

1 comment:

Doug G said...

Mr. B - if Miller keeps up the All-Star schtick, we can expect to see lots of homoerotic overtones and Batman saying, "Shut up, raghead...I'm the god damn Batman."