Comic Book Review: Batman/Elmer Fudd Special

I love DC Comics characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Green Lantern and more). I love the Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Taz, and more). Mixing the two in a comedic environment works really well. But pitting them against each other in serious, real-life stories? I was pretty doubtful, especially after reading a couple of other issues that didn't do much for me (Legion of Superheroes / Bugs Bunny and Lobo / Wylie E. Coyote team ups). But IGN.com called this issue a masterpiece, so I decided to give it a try.

Batman/Elmer Fudd Special is a crime thriller comic book. It's available in print and digitally.

The Good

Film Noir Feel. This story looks and reads like a classic film noir tale from either the days of classic pulp fiction in the 1930s or detective yarns of the 1940s and 50s, and yet it feels so fresh and modern. Not an easy trick.

Reimagined Looney Tunes. Many of the classic Looney Tune characters are reimagined as realistic humans from Bugs Bunny to Yosemite Sam. They have just enough of the physical characteristics, personality quirks, and classic catch phrases to be instantly recognizable (with one exception) and yet were totally believable as humans.

The Bad

Ending. After such a great build up, the reason behind the murder was pretty disappointing.

Comedic Backup Story. In other DC Comics/Looney Tunes team-ups, the comedic backup story was the best part of the comic, but this time it was pretty disappointing from a poorly drawn Batman to a pointless story that tried to parody one of the least funny classic cartoons.

Foghorn Leghorn. All of the other characters were spot on, but this one was so poorly conceived it took me three readings to figure out who this should have been. Putting characters in blackface almost never works, and this was an epic failure.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish the ending had been as clever an original as the rest of the story, and I wish the backup feature had even a tenth of the imagination of the original story.

Overall

Batman/Elmer Fudd Special is an incredibly clever, well written reinvention of the classic Looney Tune characters as real life people but with enough of the physical and personality traits to make them instantly recognizable. The story is highly engaging up until the ending which is unfortunately a huge letdown. I give it a solid 4.5 out of 5 eReaders.