By d. emerson eddy — I wanted to close out the year on a high note for comics, one of the best Batman stories ever told, from a creator to whom this was their comics debut. A story that I think fundamentally gets inside what it means to be Batman and explores his identity in a stunning visual style that blends the pulp deco style of Batman: The Animated Series with Alex Toth and Frank Miller. I'm talking about Batman: Ego by Darwyn Cooke and Jonathan Babcock.

Of course, Darwyn Cooke was no stranger to Batman or DC characters when he made his comics debut. He'd already been working for Warner Animation as a storyboard artist for episodes of The New Batman Adventures and Superman: The Animated Series and had designed the title sequence for Batman Beyond, translating that storytelling experience beautifully to comics. And it starts immediately from the first panel. We get a zoom out from an extreme close-up of a Gotham City limits sign to Batman perched on a bridge, all in a nine panel grid, and it's just a wonderful use of pacing, mixing techniques used in one medium to a great effect in another.

Cooke would adapt his visual style a bit for each of his projects, growing as an artist throughout his career, but here it stays very close to the animated style lain out in Batman: The Animated Series. There are times where it's a bit scratchier, a bit weightier, taking on some elements that I'd probably credit to a Frank Miller influence from Year One and Dark Knight Returns, but it's still very much within that stylized animated look from the cartoon. And it works magnificently. The movement and tendency towards iconic representations very nicely brings out the depth and heart of the story itself.

Those Year One nods continue with Jonathan Babcock's lettering, utilizing a similar cursive approach that Todd Klein used for the earlier comic. This story is set around Year Three of Batman's career, possibly a little after because Robin's already established, but having those narration boxes and the approach of Batman essentially keeping journals is a nice bit of visual continuity kept through. Cooke's Batman might be a bit more introspective, and a bit more floral, in his observations, but it fits the overall nature of the story.

In a way, Batman: Ego is a take on Bruce's dark night of the soul. Having lost a lot of blood and confronted with a horrible suicide of an underling Bats kind of put in an untenable situation, this is a story of Bruce coming to grips with his darker driven side, that he calls Batman, but which calls itself Fear. Whether it's just a hallucination brought on by the blood loss and trauma, or a burgeoning psychosis, is more or less left up to the reader, but it takes a good, hard look at Bruce and thereby Batman's identity, purpose, and reason for being. Even tackling subjects like how a just man could potentially allow the Joker to live. It's a stunning character piece.

Overall, I think that Batman: Ego by Cooke and Babcock is something that every Batman fan should read at least once. And hopefully come to love it and relish it as much as I do. It's an incredible start to Cooke's comics career and his work only ever got better and better with each offering.

Batman - Ego

Batman: Ego
Writer & Artist: Darwyn Cooke
Letterer: Jonathan Babcock
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: August 30, 2000
A collection of pulse-pounding stories of the Dark Knight, Catwoman and more of Gotham’s finest. Featuring Darwyn Cooke’s unique visions of Batman and Catwoman, now available as a Deluxe Edition hardcover!
Price: Available collected in Batman: Ego & Other Tails – Deluxe Edition ($7.99)

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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.