Of course its not like DC Comics doesn’t make mistakes and this Batman/Doc Savage Special is a prime example of that. I was really excited when I heard about this one shot that launched the new First Wave noir style series from 100 Bullets scribe Brian Azzarello. I was rather in the dark about who Doc Savage is I was hoping this title would clue me in more on the character plus being a lifelong Batman fan the combination seemed sure fire. 

I figured that writer of Brian Azzarello talents would throw down a really dark and awesome noir vibe that would be backed up by some crisp and interesting art. Instead what unfolded in these pages was a long winded and mostly boring tale that proved amongst other things that Azzarello has no idea how to write Batman.

By the fourth page of Batman/Doc Savage we’ve witnessed the caped crusader rummage through a safe while a corpse sits behind him and then fire two guns at thugs who interrupt him. Yeah, Batman shoots a gun, I don’t get it either. I can only assume that since Azzarello is trying to show a grittier and more “real world” Dark Knight with his First Wave book but it doesn’t work at all. Batman’s history is entirely too steeped in hating guns, which causes this version of it make Batman ring entirely untrue.

The other problem with the title is that it’s really, really boring. Outside of a couple of random fight scenes this double sized one shot is mostly just speeches. Batman, Jim Gordon, Doc Savage, random people at a dinner party, everybody just blathers on and on. The worst part is that the speeches go nowhere, nothing happens; even the “mystery” that’s forced out at the end seems uninspired. I was amazed that a master of the layered story arc like Azzarello could write something so muddled and confusing. Batman Doc Savage reads more like a script for 100 Bullets that Azzarello re-worked into this story and in doing that he lost his focus.

Art-wise, Phil Noto brings his fine art watercolor style to Batman/Doc Savage and it just doesn’t work at all. Perhaps I’m just too “comic book” oriented but usually when heavily stylized fine art enters comic books it comes across as dull. Noto is a great artist but his art is extremely flat which doesn’t allow for the panels to have any movement to them. Instead of blending together to create motion each individual panel just sinks like a stone. In some ways the flat aspects of the art shines an unwanted spotlight on just how lackluster the writing really is.

In the end Batman Doc/Savage isn’t awful, it isn’t great, it just kind of is. The main problem comes from the aspects tat don’t click together and how those grinding gears pull the rug out from under the title. Azzarello’s story arc fails to resolve itself, the dialog is entirely too wordy, the flat art, the lack of knowledge of who Batman is, it all causes Batman/Doc Savage to crash and burn. I’m hoping for future issues of First Wave Azzarello learns from the mistakes he's made here.