Of the all the major superheroes, Batman has always held a place near and dear to my heart. Tim Burton’s 1989 movie and its gothic aesthetics were the first contact I had with Batman’s character and I’ve never fallen out of love, except maybe with the comically bad Batman & Robin.
In Batman lies the idea that humans ultimately have their destiny in control, if only partially. We are each responsible for how we respond to the events in our lives and how our response shapes our environment. Batman has no super powers – just the drive and the means to achieve the mission he set for himself. More importantly to his character, Batman’s entire reason to exist is for him to stop existing: he seeks to construct a future where Gotham is no longer in need of Batman.
Shopping for graphic novels is one of the rare things that is incommensurably better in France than it is the U.S. Despite North America being the birthplace of the modern comic-book, there is a much stronger culture and acceptance of graphic novels as a way to tell a story on the other side of the pond. Brick and mortar stores are manifold and the selection is richer.
In honor of Batman’s 75th anniversary this year, French publisher Urban Comics has released a series of five deluxe hardcover volumes, in black and white. These stories have been published before but I am surprised that I couldn’t find the equivalent edition of those books in English. In any case, I have ordered all five and can say they belong to the collection of any self-respecting Batman fan, even in the French language. The series gathers the works of Frank Miller, David Mazzuchelli, Jeff Loeb, Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo… Or, as the French would say, la creme de la creme.