Baruch Wane

Writing this post makes me feel old, because I'm jumping on the bandwagon three years after the fact. But to hell with it, even if there is nothing sadder than an aging hipster, the kids have got it right - Paul Pope is the best thing to happen to Batman since Frank Miller. For my money, I'd argue that his take on Batman is superior to Miller's version of the caped crusader.

Artistically, I find Pope the more interesting artist of the two. I was reading the notes he'd written about the character sketches, and not only was he dead on about the boots, I think he was on to something with the swim trunks and adding seams to Batman's clothing. Frank Miller might have been the first person to seriously rethink Batman's costume since Neal Adams, but it wasn't until Paul Pope came along that Miller's vision was fully realized.

I find the whole convention of superheroes wearing costumes kind of silly. I mean, if you were the Wolverine, chomping on a cigar, with a military background, would you really be caught dead in a yellow and blue costume? He looks like he would be more comfortable fighting crime in a pair of jeans, a wife beater, and a leather jacket. It's nice to know that there are writers/artists out there like Paul Pope thinking along the same lines.

And as a bonus with the Batman: Year 100 trade paperback (at least for reason subscribers), a libertarian superhero story!

Update: Todd Seavey wrote about Berlin Batman and Ron Paul here.

A Somewhat Related Aside: Brian Doherty has written some more comic book related stuff recently in reason.