Review: Batman: Knight and Squire

written by Paul Cornell and illustrated by Jimmy Broxton

How did I get it: The library.

Why did I read it:  This is a question that I will ponder for ages to come.

How I would rate it: 1 out of 5 stars.

Summary:

Just as Gotham City has Batman and Robin, London has Knight and Squire – the British heroes and frequent allies of The Dark Knight.

In a secret bar within the city where magic is used to keep the peace, heroes and villains gather to enjoy a pint and talk about their days. But what happens when the magical barriers that prevent fighting are dropped and a building full of heroes and villains confront each other all at once? Knight and Squire have to save both friend and foe in this tale from hot writer Paul Cornell (ACTION COMICS) and up-and-coming artist Jimmy Broxton (THE UNWRITTEN).

Review: Flipping through Knight and Squire briefly at the library, I thought this would be something I’d enjoy. I love humor, I love puns, I love anything to do with the UK, and I think Batman is pretty cool. All signs pointed to fun and funny times. Sadly this was not to be.

Instead the whole thing was like an overly long and extremely juvenile issue of Mad magazine that was paying homage to British pop-culture of the 60s and 70s. Every single page was riddled with British slang, British catch phrases and sayings as superhero names, bad stereotypes, and quotes from British shows that Americans are familar with. I wish I could think of one good thing to highlight in terms of anything besides the artwork because the art was really great. There were some decent moments early on and even in later parts of the graphic novel, but I don’t know how much it matters since they were drowned in a sea of neverending one liners.

I cannot even begin to imagine how unenjoyable this would be for someone unfamiliar with the references and really not all that interested in being bombarbed by all things stereotypically British. My guess would be extremely, but even though I got each reference and I understood each attempt at humor, none of them were funny. Because nothing is funny when you don’t give the reader any time to enjoy anything at all. As for caring the storyline or characters? So little was taken seriously that by the time anything was it was absolutely impossible for me to have cared even a tiny bit.  

In conclusion, London deserves a better class of hero and criminal, and I deserved a better graphic novel. This was not Batman and Robin in England. This was simply a horrible hokey albeit well-illustrated nightmare. And even the Joker himself couldn’t prevent Knight and Squire from being the absolute worst graphic novel I’ve read in 2011.