Gotham Knights #32
With Jurassic World having become one of the highest grossing movie franchises of recent years, I kept waiting for the inevitable article pointing out that, if you’re into this sort of material, there is a much more satisfying way to spend your time. I’m talking about reading the awesome comic series Flesh, in which cowboys from the future go back to the age of dinosaurs in search for meat. It’s a nonstop gory thrill ride that dares the reader to sympathize with the human-killing dinosaurs, leading up to a memorable final gag.
Created by Pat Mills and published by 2000 AD, this pitch-black satire feels like an anti-Jurassic Park, except that Flesh came out more than ten years before the novel which served as basis for the film. First published in 1977, the comic was actually a reaction to the animal-hunting premise of Jaws (by the director of JP), yet probably also inspired by the chaos-in-cowboy-land of Westworld (by the writer of JP). Mills was clearly pissed off by Jaws, as he used variations of this type of high concept a number of times, most famously in Hook Jaw (where you root for a shark on a killing spree) and Shako (about a polar bear eviscerating CIA agents). Flesh is still my favorite take on this idea, although I’d argue that only the original series is required reading – the sequels are just more of the same.
But what about Batman comics? Do they have anything to offer to fans craving for Jurassic World-like action? Boy, do they!
Between their intriguing biology, their affinity with mythological creatures (monsters, dragons…), and their varying symbolism (age, size, extinction…), dinosaurs have become an enduring source of widespread fascination. W.J.T. Mitchell wrote an insightful book about this, analyzing what he calls an uniquely malleable cultural icon, ‘a figure of both innovation and obsolescence, massive power and pathetic failure – the totem animal of modernity.’
Never one to stay away from any major pop culture phenomenon for long, the Caped Crusader has been riding the dinosaur craze since early on in his career. He has had a tyrannosaurus in the Batcave for several decades now and, as seen above, artists never miss a chance to pit him against one of those on the cover! Plus, there is that toy in which he rides a T-Rex that eats criminals. For the most part, though, Batman has fought robotic dinosaurs, thus avoiding the Jurassic Park problem of expecting you to root against animals who are only following their natural instinct. With that in mind, let’s have a look at a few cool comics where the Dark Knight is chased by animatronic prehistoric creatures.
The obvious place to start is ‘Dinosaur Island’ (Batman #35, cover-dated June-July 1946). Written by Bill Finger, with art by Paul Cooper and Ray Burnley, this Golden Age tale opens with a title splash page that combines delightfully over-the-top – and historically inaccurate – narration with the amazing sight of Batman shooting arrows against a giant, gold-colored beast while Robin lies helpless on the ground:
Batman #35
The tale itself involves businessman Murray Wilson Hart setting up an island theme park with robot dinosaurs, where the stakes turn out to be deadlier than expected (come on, a young Michael Crichton has to have read this, right?).
In a weird move, Hart gives a dinner to big game hunters, letting them eat steaks cut from a frozen mammoth found in Siberia. The Dynamic Duo have been invited as well, ‘since they hunt the most perilous game – man!’ (a cute nod to Richard Connell). During dinner, Batman and Robin accept the challenge of trying to survive dinosaur attacks without their modern weaponry, like humans used to do back in the stone age (well, at least in the Flintstones/creationist versions of history). However, a criminal takes over the controls, so our heroes find themselves hunted by mechanical beasts that are truly out to kill them. At one point, they also fight animatronic cavemen, leading to the priceless description: ‘Robot primitive against modern man! The most bizarre battle ever fought!’
There is some ingenuity in the Dynamic Duo’s escape plan and a fair amount of charm overall. Although the story is not spectacular, I really dig some of the art, with Cooper and Burnley doing a fine, detailed job with the various creatures. The atmospheric coloring also helps:
Batman #35
Still, of course my favorite panel is the goofiest:
Batman #35
(In 1997, Graham Nolan did a very loose, action-packed remake of this story, for Batman Chronicles #8, making it explicit that the Batcave’s T-Rex came from Hart’s island.)
In ‘Death in Dinosaur Hall!’ (Detective Comics #255, cover-dated May 1958), Bill Finger returned to this kind of storytelling territory, putting the Dynamic Duo under attack at the Mechanical Museum of Natural History, where they just found the corpse of the museum director. This time around the plot is cleverer, though, as Batman and Robin have to solve a proper murder mystery with several suspects, so we get to see the World’s Greatest Detective make neat deductions, like figuring out where some stolen jewels are hidden because a South American ostrich has been misplaced in the African Wildlife Hall (‘No curator would ever put a Rhea there!’).
There is also a Silver Age flavor to the proceedings, with the comic throwing readers one wild idea after another. Instead of settling for Batman fighting dinosaurs, the story features other fun set pieces, like when the Caped Crusader uses the tusk of a sabretooth tiger to claw his way out of a tar pit or when the villain – wearing an African witch doctor mask – traps the Boy Wonder inside a whale. The way the Dynamic Duo fool and capture the villain in the final act is another high point, showing the kind of imaginative resourcefulness Batman should display all the time.
The art, by Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris, is not as moody as in the previous tale, but it does pull off some effective dino-designs…
Detective Comics #255
…not to mention this nice panel, at the climax:
Detective Comics #255
Jumping ahead two decades takes us to ‘Batman-Ex – as in Extinct’ and ‘Little Men’s Hall of Fame’ (Batman #287-288, cover-dated May-June 1977). This entertaining two-parter is set in the Dark Knight’s Bronze Age, but it’s written by David Vern (as David V. Reed), so it’s not afraid to get a bit campy at times. In fact, the opening is already quite bonkers, as it involves Gotham’s Société Française unveiling an equestrian statue of Napolean, only for the statue to explode and release a damn jurassic flying creature (while a caption box reminds us that Batman is up-to-date on pretty much every topic):
Batman #287
The whole thing turns out to be a plot by the Penguin, whom David Vern’s narration describes in ultra-alliterative mode as ‘that pitiless, pestiferous prince of pain and plunder.’ Apparently, the Penguin (‘that pedantic patriarch of predators’) has new M.O., which involves sending out expensive mechanical monsters imitating extinct birds in order to create a chaotic distraction from his simultaneous crime spree.
Again, for each of these attacks, we get didactic footnotes by editor Julie Schwarz:
Batman #287
If you think the Penguin’s strategy sounds convoluted, you haven’t seen anything yet. His actual plan is so intricate that Batman is only able to figure it out by somehow using the place of Machiavelli’s birth and the year of Napoleon’s death as vital clues (in addition to factoids about King Alaric of the Visigoths, of course).
But what about the dinosaur action? It’s even better than in the other stories, since the art is by Mike Grell (with inks by Bob Wiacek and colors by Jerry Serpe). If Vern is still stuck in the Silver Sage, Grell is clearly an artist for a more modern era, delivering a gritty vibe that creates a cool contrast with the ludicrous plot. He also does one of my favorite tricks, which to shape the panels’ layout like a Batman symbol:
Batman #287
You won’t find this in Jurassic World!