REVIEW: The DC Universe by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman's most recognised comicbook work will always be his original creations, particularly Sandman (although even this was inspired by the original 1930s Wesley Dodds character). However, he has written numerous books featuring existing comic characters, both for Marvel and DC. As he points out himself in this books afterword, DC and especially Batman are his first loves, and even the Sandman's earliest titles featured established DC characters heavily, with the occasional cameo as the series developed. Gaiman is no stranger to working in an established universe, but his work is generally of that most interesting sort, the kind that takes established characters and settings and twists them into new shapes, or takes the concepts as far as they can be taken.

This collection brings together a variety of Gaiman's DC work from 1988 through to 2009, when the classic Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? was first published. Fully half of the material here was previously included in the WhttCC paperback, and this accounts for some of the best material, but since I never sat down and reviewed that, it seems worthwhile looking back over these stories. These are all Batman stories, or at least Gotham stories, that dwell on the fictionality of Batman's world and present new explorations of established characters. They explore Gaiman's continuing fascination with the nature of myth, in the same way Sandman and American Gods explore mythical and myth-inspired characters. As the world itself has multiple origin stories, it hardly seems hard to accept that fictional characters can as well.

The volume kicks of with “Pavane,” Gaiman's contribution to DC's Secret Origins series, focusing on Poison Ivy. One of the most interesting of the Batman rogues gallery, certainly one of the most powerful, and nonetheless one of the most vulnerable. With artwork by Mark Buckingham, it looks and reads very much like early Sandman, which makes perfect sense considering when it was written, but explores Gaiman's obsession with Batman through Ivy's eyes. One aspect I really like about this story is that, although it turns on Ivy's irresistible sexual allure, she isn't portrayed as some perfect comicbook pin-up. She's actually fairly ordinary looking, which emphasises her abilities even more.

This leads into Secret Origins Special, which includes non-Gaiman material for the sake of completeness and narrative drive. It begins with Gaiman's “Original Sins,” framing material about a chatshow team looking to get Gotham supervillains in for interviews, because without his villains, Batman is simply not interesting. The bizarre and elaborate array of criminals that continually plague Batman through his career define him. And so Alan Grant gives us “The Killing Peck,” a clever and entertaining story about The Penguin, and Mark Verheiden gives us a galling examination of Two-Face. Gaiman himself provides the middle instalment, “When is a Door: The Secret Origin of the Riddler,” which combines witty writing with wonderful artwork from Bernie Mireault and Matt Wagner plus gorgeous colours from Joe Matt. Any one of these stories could stand alone and still work, but presenting them together creates a compelling examination of Batman's world.

This extends to the big name story itself. Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? Was written by Gaiman to be the final story – or, at least, a final story – for Batman, marking the final issues of the initial runs of both Batman and his original home of Detective Comics. (Of course, both of these titles are still going, having kicked off again immediately with new issues ones.) A companion piece to Alan Moore's classic Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, which had previously served the same purpose for Superman. WhttCC is a more metatextual affair, however, taking place after Batman's death, where various characters, both heroic and villainous, semi-aware of their fictional nature, come together to mark the occasion. Various characters give their accounts of how the hero died, all of them completely contradictory and many of them surely completely impossible. Of them all, “The Gentleman's Gentleman's Tale,” is the best. Perhaps better titled, “The Butler Did It,” it reveals Alfred as the eccentric genius behind all of Batman's adversaries, his entire crime-fighting career a great hoax to keep Bruce's depressed mind occupied. The entire story is remarkable, though, and even though Batman will no doubt have more “final” adventures, it makes for a beautiful coda. Not only can these characters have multiple origins, they can have multiple endings as well.

Nonetheless, my favourite story in the collection is the shorter, simpler “A Black and White World,” Gaiman's contribution to the Batman Black and White series. Taking the metafictional theme further, it sees Batman and the Joker preparing for one of their epic battles, going through their lines and waiting to be called onto set. Genuinely funny in a restrained way (not something you can often say of a Joker story), its success is ensured by Simon Bisley's unique, disturbing scratchy artwork.

The remainder of the stories are newly collected in this volume, and take place beyond the confines of Gotham. The major draw here is Legend of the Green Flame, a legendary “lost” Superman/Green Lantern story that was originally written for Action Comics Weekly in 1988 to wrap up that publication, before editorial changes altered the fictional landscape of the DC Universe and consigned it to the never-weres. It finally saw the light in 2000 as a special publication, and has rarely been reprinted. The simple tagline would be “Superman and Green Lantern go to Hell.” As Gaiman points out, this is not the hell of his Sandman series, owing more to Alan Moore's depiction in The Saga of the Swamp Thing) but the development of the mythic universe of Sandman is clearly there in its early stages. It's an effective story that puts two of DC's most overly powered heroes through the ringer, consigned to a reality in which they are weakened and vulnerable. It also perfectly illustrates Gaiman's love of, and skill for, playing in the sandbox of the DC Universe, utilising such supernatural characters as Deadman and the Phantom Stranger to great effect.

Deadman also appears in “On the Stairs,” the shortest, most standalone story in the collection. From Solo #8 it gives the sardonic psychopomp a moment to explore his ghostly existence. It's another fine story that's made even better by being well-served by its artist, in this case Teddy Christianson. (Rob Leigh's lettering also works wonders here.) The final superhero that Gaiman tackles is “Metamorpho, the Element Man,” a C-list character for whom Gaiman has a not-so-secret fondness. Also featuring Metamorpho's female equivalent, Element Girl, I had hoped this would have some of the power and emotion of Gaiman's other usage of that character, the one-off story “Facade” in the third Sandman volume, maybe the most heartbreakingly beautiful thing Gaiman has ever written. This tale is very different, a deliberately retro-styled story told in twelve weekly instalments in 2009's Wednesday Comics, a series which stood to emulate the newspaper strips of old. It's the simplest, least interesting story in the collection, but it does what it sets out to do, which tell an entertaining comic adventure. The double-page periodic table spread is a joy.