Comic Book Review: Batman/Dylan Dog 1-2
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Dylan Dog is Italy’s answer to John Constantine: A paranormal private investigator, whose first appearance came only a year or so after Alan Moore’s ever intriguing creation. But whereas, John Constantine is one part cynical middle-aged punk rocker loosely modeled after Sting, one part hard-boiled detective, and one part Faustian student of the dark arts of magic, always selling and re-selling his soul in the nick of time to stay one step ahead of the devil, Dylan incorporates some of the more extreme elements of Italian farce and tragedy. The dark humor in the typical Dylan Dog story is sometimes mixed with surrealism and the occasional breaking of the fourth wall. Dylan’s assistant, Groucho, is for all practical purposes, Groucho Marks, or at least a Groucho impersonator.
But one of the interesting things about Dylan Dog stories is that the tone of the stories can radically shift, sometimes, from story to story, sometimes within the same tale. One moment Groucho is teasing his boss with bad puns about his perpetual lack of luck with romance, and the next, the story turns into a serious existential examination of terminal illness, and all of its philosophical implications. Dylan Dog is a versatile enough character that he can pull off both absurdist humor, and a serious examination of the human condition, all while fighting the same types of supernatural threats that drive Constantine to drink.
For those interested in reading some English translations of the Italian comics I would recommend checking out the four graphic novels published by Epicenter Comics.
The character of Batman has similarly proven to be equally versatile in terms of how the character is portrayed, so much so, that we are now at a point in time in popular American culture, where the campy tongue-in-cheek caped crusader popularized by Adam West can comfortably co-exist with the dark, brooding, eternally damaged monster of every villain’s nightmares seen in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.
Both Dylan and Batman, are two of my favorite comic book characters, so I was intrigued when an Italian friend on Twitter first alerted me to this crossover book. The question was, which representation of the characters would be crossing over, and how effective could the mixture of their worlds be. The second question that came to my mind, was, why have a crossover with Batman at all, when John Constantine seemed like a more obvious choice.
Batman/Dylan Dog was originally written and published in Italy. It was translated into English and published by DC Comics in America this March-May as a 3-issue limited series. For the most part, the translation is well done, although there are a few clunky wordings in the dialogue that suggest the series could have benefitted from a second translation pass by a writer more familiar with some of the more subtle nuances and colloquialisms of the English language.
The story concerns Batman coming to London to team up with Dylan Dog in order to fight The Joker and Dylan’s nemesis, Xabaras. Along the way, Catwoman becomes a part of the briskly moving story. The evocative art captures the Gothic architecture and dark alleyways of London that suit both Batman and Dylan Dog so well, as well as the grunge and sleaze of London’s underground scene, with vibrant colors.
So, which versions of Dylan Dog and Batman show up? Dylan still has the absurdist touch of Groucho as his sidekick, but at least in the first two issues, he’s not addressing the reader directly, and there are no surrealist allusions to the borders of the comics panels not being able to contain the evil within them.
Batman is the grim and serious dark knight who does not play well with others but stops short of being the completely humorless extremely driven obsessive he is sometimes portrayed as. Think of the personality of the Batman from Batman: The Animated Series, albeit drawn more realistically.
Then in issue two, John Constantine, the original Hellblazer himself makes an appearance, and my favorite scene in the series so far is John lamenting how Piccadilly Circus has gone from the decadent playground of London’s misfits and rebels where evil was plain to see on its face, to the cleaned up Disneyfied tourist attraction of modern day, where evil is cleverly hidden by hypocrisy and social media. John gets in some clever potshots at the Millennials, and Dylan retorts with some biting commentary on the failings of the Baby Boomers. One of the other commonalities of both John Constantine and Dylan Dog are their books’ tendency towards social commentary, and it’s done well here.
All in all, writer Roberto Recchioni and artists Gigi Cavenago and Werther Dell'Edera do a great job of telling an exciting story that stays true to the respective spirits of its two somewhat disparate characters. I look forward to picking up the final issue in the series, and I hope that more Dylan Dog stories are translated into English and published in America.
I should note too, that the American comics are quite a bargain for the price. The reader gets approximately 80 pages of comics story per issue for only $4.99. There are many American comics being published today that have between a third and a fourth that page count for the same price, so DC is actually giving you a lot of bang for your buck with this series.
In Tinseltown news, the Indiegogo Campaign is now over, although many of the tiers offered are currently available InDemand for the time being, here.
Meanwhile, one all-over printed shirt featuring Officer Abigail Moore and Tennessee Dan, as well as two different giant bath towels are available for pre-order for a limited time, along with other shirts and towels from Alterna Comics. But hurry, you can only order then until June 1st!
Thanks to everyone who supported the Indiegogo campaign. I’ll begin fulfilling it sometime next week.
Cheers,
David Lucarelli