Batman/Elmer Fudd Special #1 Review

This review contains minor spoilers.

The DC/Looney Tunes crossover madness continues in Batman/Elmer Fudd Special #1. While the recent mashups haven’t quite lived up to the hype, this arbitrary team-up actually works rather nicely. In fact, it’s one noir story that you’ll definitely want to add to your collection.

Right off the bat, I think it’s important to note that the Looney Tunes characters have been reimagined for the tale “Pway for Me,” so don’t expect the anthropomorphic characters from the cartoons to bounce around here. They’re human beings, but all their quirks and hints of their original appearances remain intact.

We’re thrown into the action as Elmer, who is imagined as a former hitman, walks into Porky’s to kill Bugs “The Bunny,” whom he suspects killed his girlfriend, Silver St. Cloud. The pesky wabbit admits to the murder, but adds that he was hired by Bruce Wayne to off her. Incensed and believing it to be out of jealousy, Elmer seeks out Bruce and shoots him. Naturally, Bruce survives and gets into his Batman getup, joining forces with Elmer to unlock the secrets of this murder mystery. The question is, whodunit?

Tom King must’ve been reading Mark Russell’s The Flintstones, because there’s so much of that series in this one-shot. The core of the characters is omnipresent, but there’s undoubtedly an adult sensibility to their behaviors as well. Rather than try to amalgamate two opposing properties into one conflicting world, King has established the setting he wants (Gotham) and adapted the Looney Tunes property to suit it.

With his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, King pens a pitch-perfect noir narrative bursting with sleazy characters, a femme fatale, and a hard-boiled mystery. Allowing for Elmer to narrate the thing is also a stroke of genius, since we can all imagine his signature voice at every turn. It was vewy, vewy good to hear his thoughts on who kiwled his wittle Cwoud.

On the art front, Lee Weeks cultivates the tone in fine style, keeping the settings and characters gloomy and playing around with the shadows to make it even cagier. But don’t be fooled by the glum artwork and morbid colors on display, this is a terrifically illustrated tale. Heck, it’s up there with Tim Sale’s work on The Long Halloween if you ask me.

The backup story, also written by King but with art by Byron Vaughns, is more in line with the classic Looney Tunes modus operandi, as it puts the Dark Knight in Elmer and Bugs’ playground. It’s funny, ridiculous, and so over the top that you can’t help but laugh. If you’ve ever wondered what Batman would look and act like in a Looney Tunes cartoon, King and Vaughns have you covered here.

Why so serious? There’s certainly room for a bit of silliness in the Batman world. I mean, he’s a grown-ass man running around in a cape and cowl – how can we not have a laugh here and there? Overall, Batman/Elmer Fudd Special #1 succeeds in crossing over two characters that we’d never think could work. It’s a barrel of fun, with a good story to boot.