Visually, the story is a joy, packed with detail and easter eggs for keen eyes. It’s easy to lean on Batman to make a story interesting, but instead King allows Batman to augment the story and still get some great moments (particularly near the end, when we get another brief glance into the emotional life of Bruce Wayne). His use of the conventions of the Fudd/Bugs dynamic are also absolutely excellent – similar to Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla’s take on the Riverdale gang in Afterlife with Archie – you’ll find yourself smiling at the ingenious and surprising ways King evokes nostalgia while still driving the story.įor his part, Batman is the least interesting part of the story, but in a really healthy way: there are a few really good stories where Batman lurks in the background, rather than the foreground (think Gotham Central or Joker) and he fits this really well as a supporting crossover character. Fudd himself is an improbably great noir character I found myself thinking I was reading an issue of Frank Miller’s Sin City or Ed Brubaker’s Criminal at times, as King paints a fascinating picture of a simple, broken man, who is both familiar and new. This summary really doesn’t do the issue justice, but half the fun is seeing and discovering what the Looney Tunes characters look like through the lens of Gotham. What follows is a battle between Batman and Fudd (where even Fudd’s sound effects mirror his voice *PWUNCH* etc) that leads to a team-up, as Batman and Fudd take on the entire Looney Tunes universe in Porky’s. He sets out for Porky’s bar with revenge on his mind, narrating our story with his trademark speech impediment, only to discover who took out the hit on St. Cloud (a frequent Batman love interest) has been killed by Bugs ‘The Bunny’, another hired gun.

The issue follows Elmer Fudd, a broken-hearted assassin who’s girlfriend Silver St.

But as with his main run, King incorporates an incredible understanding of what drives Batman and a remarkably clever means of ‘Gotham-ifying’ the cast of Looney Tunes, to create a funny, clever, engaging Batman story that – against all odds – stands as one of the best stories I’ve read about the Dark Knight. This has led to some fun team-ups (Marvin the Martian and Martian Manhunter discussing the nature of humanity Jonah Hex and Yosemite Sam are stand-outs), but the real surprise of the lot is Tom King’s Batman/Elmer Fudd, which is so patently absurd that it almost defies belief that the story exists, let alone is great. This month, DC has been running one-off crossover issues, pairing Looney Tunes characters with their closest DC counterparts. You probably didn’t think you needed a gritty, hard boiled, noir Batman story about Elmer Fudd teaming up with Batman to take down Bugs Bunny…but I’m here to tell you: yes. Batman/Elmer Fudd #1 by Tom King, illustrated by Lee Weeks, coloured by Lovern Kindzierski, and lettered by Deron Bennett.

Yosemite sam and elmer fudd pictures