Do you wish DC's Batman books had a higher body count? If so, Batman: Lobo is the book for you.

Published out of continuity in DC's excellent Elseworlds line of books, Batman: Lobo brings the intergalactic hitman Lobo to Gotham City to fulfill a juicy contract on the Joker. The Joker, however, buys himself a stay of execution by hiring Lobo to first disgrace, then kill Batman. Lobo tackles the assignment by donning Batman duds and turning Gotham into a slaughterhouse in the Dark Knight's name.

This is not a story to be taken seriously.

Batman: Lobo is a caricature of gritty Batman tales. And it's funny stuff, if you don't mind seeing more decapitations and eviscerations than even Hollywood can stomach. (Don't worry, Simon Bisley's Mad Magazine style of art is never graphic in a gross or realistic sense. I shudder to think what this book would look like if drawn by Preacher's Steve Dillon!)

Writer Alan Grant made some unusual choices here -- I'm not sure why James Gordon is now Bruce Wayne's butler, why Alfred Pennyworth is now the commissioner of police, why Tim Drake is Nightwing while Dick Grayson remains Robin, or why Bruce Wayne is now bald. But it's an action-packed book filled with mindless mayhem and the brutal deaths of just about everyone in the Batman universe -- so it's an irresistable read!

[ by Tom Knapp ]