![]() There, King and artist Byron Vaughns basically cast Batman as the Daffy Duck figure caught in the middle of Bugs and Elmer's eternal feud. And for those who want a Batman/Elmer Fudd crossover that skews in a more traditional Looney Tunes direction, the backup feature has you covered. There's a surprising sense of gravitas to this story, one that elevates it from merely being a fun romp to something much more memorable and ambitious. The same goes for low-level gangster Bugs "The Bunny," who proves a surprisingly compelling figure in his own right. But they make a concerted effort to cast both men as kindred spirits who share far more in common than one would ever expect. King and Weeks could have simply told a fun, straightforward story about the world's greatest detective clashing with the world's most dedicated wabbit hunter. But as is pretty much always the case with King's Batman, there's a great deal of emotional weight beneath the humor and bizarre trappings. If any of these DC/Looney Tunes specials deserves a full-length spinoff, it's this one. It's enough merely to soak in the sights of Porky's bar and savor the numerous sight gags, cameos and bizarre new interpretations of old Looney tunes favorites. Beneath that, King and Weeks pay loving homage to both franchises and utilize every opportunity they have to offer fun new spins on familiar characters. ![]() But this is a comic that only strives to be serious on the surface level. ![]() Again, this clash of screwball comedy and detective yarn shouldn't work as well as it does. Like King's prose, Weeks' art is completely straightforward on the surface but subtly deranged and off-kilter underneath. It's about as realistic as we're likely to see fro ma Batman book, yet Weeks still captures the moody gloom and heightened reality of the story. His character designs manage to offer a grounded take on the Looney Tunes gang while still ensuring that each is instantly recognizable. The art is characterized by heavy shadows, thick black lines and a generally gritty texture, along with a dynamic sense of power to the action sequences. ![]() Weeks' art is cut from the same cloth as classic Batman artists like David Mazzucchelli (Batman: Year One) and Michael Lark (Gotham Central). (DC Comics)Clearly, Weeks has found a way of merging the visual styles of these two wildly disparate franchises. The result is that you frequently get hilarious scenes like this where the pervasive darkness collides with the inherent ridiculousness of the concept:Īrt by Lee Weeks. Batman is every bit as tortured and ominous a hero here as he is in King's regular Batman series. Elmer Fudd is cast as a brutal, lonely killer much in the vein of Marv from Sin City, yet he still speaks with that trademark speech impediment. King and Weeks play it 100% straight here, which is the source of much of the book's humor. Writer Tom King and artist Lee Weeks have chosen to play things 100% straight here, offering a dark, gritty, noir-flavored version of Gotham City where the traditional Batman rogues have taken a backseat to realistic, humanoid versions of all the iconic Looney Tunes. Each of the DC/Looney tunes crossover specials has taken its own approach when it comes to merging the two franchises.
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