One of DC’s greatest strengths is also its greatest weakness
in a twenty-first century media-saturated America. The biggest of the big DC
heroes—Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman—are routinely compared with and
likened to mythological gods and heroes. It’s been the subject of no telling
how many master’s theses, stacks of pop culture non-fiction publishing, and
long boxes full of comics, all written by the flavor of the month, eager to
dazzle us all with “their take” on fill-in-the-blank character that’s been
around for fifty or more years.
DC even floated a separate line for these “imaginary
stories,” called “Elseworlds,” which has been and continues to be extremely
popular. After all, myths are made to be interpreted and re-interpreted, right?
So, the idea of setting Batman in, say, 19th Century London fighting
Jack the Ripper (Gotham by Gaslight) sounds
frankly awesome, doesn’t it? And in The
Nail, the Justice League are outlaws in a topsy-turvy world, made very
different when the rocket ship discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent ends up
in a another family's back yard (with artwork by Alan Davis and Paul Neary,
easily two of the best working comic book artists to this day). Sounds cool,
right? Oh, and let’s not forget the most famous Elseworlds of all—the one that
arguably spawned the need for an Elseworlds bullet in the first place—Batman: The Dark Knight, by Frank
Miller.
How can you not love that?
