8/27 Comic Reviews: A Jump to the Sky Turns to a Batman Kick
Immortal Legend Batman #1 written by Mat Groom and Kyle Higgins with art by Erica D’Urso and Dan Mora
For anyone who knows me, there was no question that I’d be all over this book the moment it came out. This was easily the book I’ve been most excited about this year. Not only is it a revival of the Elseworlds line, but it’s drawing inspiration from some of my favorite superhero genre fiction. On top of all that, is there a team with a better tokusatsu pedigree? Kyle Higgins, of course, was the one to kick off Boom Studio’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers book. He’s followed that up by co-writing Marvel’s Rise of Ultraman and bringing the Massive-verse to life at Image with his creator-owned book Radiant Black. Mat Groom also co-wrote Marvel’s Ultraman line, wrote six amazing issues of Boom’s Mighty Morphin, and has kickstarted two books, Inferno Girl Red Book 1 and Book 2. Also part of the Massive-verse, I’ve had the pleasure to read both of them. Inferno Girl Red Book 2 in particular, was a shining (light of hope in the dark) example of the potential for worldbuilding and character development only achievable by employing the techniques associated with tokusatsu. It’s fitting then, that on this book they are joined by Inferno Girl Red artist, Erica D’Urso, colorist Igor Monti, and Radiant Black letterer Becca Carey. To call this a stacked lineup is an understatement.
For those who don’t know where this book originated, some six or seven years ago, newcomer artist Dan Mora was doing an amazing job on Go Go Power Rangers and at one point started posting art of the Batman family, but reimagined in a style influenced by tokusatsu properties such as Super Sentai/Power Rangers and Kamen Rider. To say the art was well-received would be an understatement. The internet was clamoring for a book featuring these characters and the duo of Higgins and Groom were all too happy to make that happen. Unfortunately, between the pandemic and the gears of the comics industry, it was only greenlit recently. Of course, to no one’s surprise, Dan Mora is now one of the biggest superstars in comics and was booked so solidly that drawing the book was out of the question. However, the fantastically skilled Erica D’Urso had just finished up Inferno Girl Red Book 2 and, as anyone who’s read either book can attest, has a style that is pitch perfect for tokusatsu-inspired comics. The result is one of the most genre-bending and visually arresting takes on Batman I’ve seen in ages.
Our story begins deep in space. Humanity has expanded outwards into the stars thanks to the development of faster-than-light travel. The downside is that it involved tapping into the potential of dark matter, breaking down the barrier between our universe and its shadow. Thankfully, three individuals known as the Immortal Legends have harnessed the energy of the barrier between the two worlds and used it to transform themselves into the heroes Batman, Robin, and Nightwing. The three of them fight back against the shadows and make the spaceways safe for travel. However, a few years ago, the Batman abandoned his duties and mysteriously disappeared. Since then, reports have begun to spread that he’s turned his ire on the humans he was meant to protect.
Right off the bat, I was struck by how thorough the worldbuilding was. There is a history and legacy at play in the background hinting at vast amounts of moving parts of which who knows how many we’ll actually see the characters engage with. We’re presented with superhero dynasties, Wild West space colonies, and extra-dimensional monsters all within the span of a single issue, but because it’s all through the eyes of the characters, we can trust in the realness of it, because the characters themselves feel real to us. Despite the truly insane premise, the characters ground the story and keep us from getting lost in the big ideas. That isn’t to say there’s not plenty of spectacle though. As mentioned before, Erica D’Urso’s art is fantastic and a perfect fit for such an ambitious genre-mashup. We were told we’d be getting tokusatsu Batman and by the end of the story, we get a morphing call, a transformation sequence, and a finishing move. Anyone who is coming purely for that Saturday morning goodness is going to leave satisfied. Beyond that though, we have a fascinating character study of a Bruce Wayne who is on the receiving end of a superhero legacy rather than at the beginning of it. As always, he is singular in his determination and pursuit of justice, but here that might mean turning against the institution and tradition which gave him his power in the first place. We’re shown enough of him to know that despite the difference in setting and power, this man still possesses the moral core we expect from Bruce Wayne. Of course, this raises the question of what he’s learned or experienced to have caused him to turn away from the legacy he has inherited. For that matter, we don’t even know if he was right to do so. For once, there are people connected to him who may know more about his situation than he does, though it remains to be seen if they are as trustworthy or as altruistic as the public has been lead to believe. As the backup story indicates, they certainly don’t take kindly to perceived betrayals.
Speaking of backup stories, we’re lucky enough to get one drawn by Dan Mora himself! The story provides us with some of the worldbuilding our viewpoint characters may not have been as privy too, including more insight into where the power of the Immortal Legends comes from and some distinctions between those who bear it. Several names are dropped, once again hinting at a vast history full of stories that I desperately want to see explored in the future. This is a six-issue mini-series, but the world we’re being presented with is rife for a whole line of full-length stories exploring the various characters living within it.
One of the reasons Batman has endured nearly one hundred years is the character’s ability to be endlessly reinvented without losing the core that defines him. Yet, despite a near-century of reinvention, I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything as creative and thorough as the world established in Immortal Legends Batman. This book is insane and if I scored books, I’d have to break my own rating system to score it even higher. The absolute height of superhero genre-fiction, this is a book you have to read.