Art Therapy: "Batman: Hush" Coloring Book (Part 3 of 104)

This page begins the mini-prologue included with issues of Wizard Magazine offered as a preview..in case somebody out there wasn't entirely sure Jim Lee could draw Batman. Well, rest assured, he draws Batman phenomenally well. This prologue retells Batman's origin..in case somebody out there didn't know Batman's origin. Well, now they do.

I think the earliest Zorro pulp stories are considered public domain, so it might be okay to refer to the name of that character and his first adventure..but the film, "The Mark of Zorro", might not be. Tricky thing, copyright..that's why the Waynes are seen leaving a theater playing a cheery musical in Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman" and an opera playing Die Fledermaus in "Batman Begins", not to mention the creation of The Gray Ghost as a substitute for Zorro in the various animated series. Zorro's cool - at best, he has an unflappable presence - but Batman has more going for him than Zorro did. All you can do with Zorro is..keep him classy. Anyone interested in a crossover where Batman meets Zorro? Dynamite and DC Comics seem on good terms - they already did crossovers with Green Hornet and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - why not Zorro?

I think Thomas Wayne is a Tom Selleck-type of guy..Martha Wayne has always been an enigma. Even when Grant Morrison hinted that she might've been a drug-addled socialite before and during her marriage to Thomas..and I recall the novel Wayne of Gotham danced around the same circles, but...eh. She's just..Bruce's mommy.

And then there's Joe Chill. Around this time, Batman's continuity was subtly revised so that he never knew who killed his parents. Jeph Loeb toyed with the idea with having the killer be unveiled in Batman/Superman as John Corben, aka, Superman foe Metallo, back when he was a small-time criminal and long before becoming a robot housing his disembodied brain ( ah, comics ). This turned out to be a red herring in the storyline, and it wasn't until the Grant Morrison years of Batman comics that Joe was reinstated as the Wayne's killer.

3 Down, 101 to go...