Written by Mike W. Barr
Art by Scott Hampton, Gary Frank, Cam Smith, Ian Hannin,
Alex Bleyeart,
*Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty* is the kind of story that breaks a reader's heart with possibilities unseen and opportunities unexplored. There's nothing bad about it in writing or art. Mike Barr is the kind of writer who could take the suicidal concept of a Batman "team" and make it an enjoyable read, and the three parts of * Dark Knight Dynasty* are rendered by unique professionals whose work complements one another. Scott Hamton's paintings are gorgeous and I've never seen Bill Sienkewicz more reigned-in. And yet somehow the sum of these parts is nothing.
The best Batman stories leave a lump in the throat, and that lump has been created in some of the most ham-handed ways. I'm looking forward to reading the *Batman in the 1970's* collection to see if I recall correctly just how many stories ended with Bruce Wayne turning to walk down a lonely street, his Bat-shadow flapping against the concrete. In the 80's, Mike Barr and Doug Moench brought Batman's existential loneliness to soap-opera depths of melodrama, and it was fantastic. All of which is to say the best Batman story doesn't have to be brilliant, just good enough to send shivers and remind us of Batman's thriller origins.
*Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty* is an Elseworlds tale (like any *Batman* story isn't, by now) that follows the exploits of a Wayne Batman through his or her final days in three periods. These are the *Dark Past*, in which Joshua Waynewright is a crusader who wears a bat motif as a family crest; the *Dark Present*, an alternate present in which Bruce Wayne's parents die while he is an adult; and the *Dark Future*, where around 2500 a woman takes after her Wayne ancestors and both defends and destroys much of Gotham City.
One thing I enjoyed about this story is its reliance on one villain through all three timelines: the Immortal, always impressive Vandal Savage, whose search for the key to his own immortality keeps putting him at odds with Wayne, the champion of the oppressed, or whatever Wayne is, in the end. Mike Barr enjoys the opportunities of a multi-generational story and has fun allowing Savage to win repeatedly, slaying this and that version of Batman in the process. One even gets the impression that scores of other Batmen and Batwomen have risen, possibly to be vanquished by Savage as well.
But it just didn't deliver for me, chiefly because I never could figure out what Barr's intended as his theme for the story. The *concept* is cool-- a long line of obsessives, each with a more striking visual flare, battle an ancient necromancer -- but there's never an answer to the narrative acid-test, "So what?"
The theme probably is sacrifice-- each of the stories involves the Waynes losing all to become the Bat. Except not much time is spent on the losses, nor do their sacrifices feel similarly painful across the three generations. In fact, generation three seems thrilled with her losses. We don't see any sort of context for Batman in the story, so we don't know if Batman is a mystery to his subjects, the people of Gotham, or whether his existence is even common knowledge. Nor does it matter, because these stories stay closely tied to Batman. That could work-- so many Batman stories have fixated on the "Player on the Other Side," the One whom Batman must face and/or die. But here there's not really even that theme, rather we get Batman as multi-generational murder victim. *Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty* plays like *Friday the 13th* for Batman, complete with Final Girl Batman.
Perhaps a Batman story suffers to the extent that it follows Batman around. A writer on *Batman* spoke recently about the character, saying Batman was most effective when presented as an urban legend. The problem was, how could we pretend that the world wasn't sure whether or not Batman existed if we saw him with the Justice League on a regular basis. That's an interesting thing for editorial staffs to argue about, but I have a better conundrum: wouldn't a series of stories about someone people aren't sure exists be awfully dull? The question certainly doesn't nag the readers because they *know* Batman exists, in as much as they follow his exploits every month.
The only way to truly accomplish that Keyser Sose sense of *does-he-exist-or-doesn't-he* mystery would be to abandon Batman as a protagonist altogether and use him strictly as a guest (and perhaps a catalyst) in stories about other people. Because you can't have it both ways. *Batman-as-urban-legend* strikes me as a concept that would work once or twice, and not in a regular series. In a regular series, you're stuck with Bruce/Batman as your lead, and you have to spend time with him-- you're not dating, you're married. This is why so many *Batman* stories are narrated by a Batman who's just this side of insane: insane is just more interesting than sane. The best alternative is "consummate detective." There are others you could try, some of which have been: religious zealot, compulsive criminal habituating himself away from his compulsions, workin' joe tied to a job, American patriot, sexual deviant, pacifist poet, violent bully. Pick one.
In *Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty*, there's no particular interpretation at all.
But I greatly suspect any theory that purports to spell out which kind of Batman story will work and which won't. Every few months a writer gives us his self-assured spin and it always involves slamming someone else's interpretation: "I can't stand it when they show Batman with his cowl back, drinking coffee; that totally ruins the mystery." Well, sure, if mystery is what you want. If your story is about Bruce Wayne, workin' joe, maybe not. And maybe both will be good stories. There was a genuine theme to the *World's Finest* to which the above reference refers, and the theme was friendship. Month in and month out, the story showed you Batman and Superman struggling with the responsibilities and pressures of friends from different backgrounds. Not what Batman's all about? What difference does it make when Batman has approximately three gazillion titles?
*Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty*, however, shows us another problem to be wary of: paying too much attention to the trappings and the plot, but leaving nothing to propel us forward.