The year is 1930. The
setting is Shanghai, China. Within the
comfort of his personal chambers, a crime boss is presented with a most
wondrous gift: The fabled Scroll of Destiny.
The Scroll can grant its owner with limitless power, and complete
dominion over any given territory.
Before “The Boss” can take possession of it, a colorful thief known as
Catwoman bursts into his domicile. She steals
the scroll and disappears into the alleyways of Shanghai. The Boss’s minions give chase. A rickshaw runner, who also has designs on the
scroll, joins the pursuit, but not before transforming into a hulking behemoth
known as Bane. Before long, yet another
combatant enters the fray: A mysterious apparition known as Batman, who seeks
to protect the scroll from all who would misuse it.
Batman of Shanghai is a three part animated short from Wolf Smoke Animation Studio. It premiered at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, and has since been shown on Cartoon Network’s DC Nation block of programming. The short throws caution to the wind by offering a rather outlandish take on the caped crusader. Fortunately, it manages to do so with a sizeable modicum of style and energy.
The character designs and concepts reveal a sense of the
absurd. Bane is hilariously re-imagined
as a rickshaw operator. He also displays
a dichotomy akin to the one that exists between Bruce Banner and the Hulk. After juicing up, he scales buildings like
King Kong. Catwoman looks like a cross
between a Peking Opera performer and a female Luchador. Batman himself is conceived in purely mystical
terms. He overcomes obstacles and
opponents not by using gadgets and technology, but by harnessing chi energy. He’s even able to disperse into a swarm of
bats a la Dracula. This iteration of the
Dark Knight clearly isn’t a regular guy.
Batman of Shanghai
is sheer nonsensical delight. It
operates according to its own rules in its own self-contained universe. It offers no logical explanation for any of
the onscreen occurrences, nor does it feel the need to justify its
existence. It simply is. After decades of “grim and gritty” Batman,
this sort of reckless abandon is refreshing.
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