Luckily, the two writers chosen to create new stories based on an old concept cover from BATMAN #183, Geoff Johns and Len Wein, each have ideas of their own and they don't see the concept cover as a straitjacket. If anything, these two stories almost make you wish that current editors would take up the practice rather than going with the "pin-up" cover that continues to be in vogue these days. As the editor of this particular book, Joan Hilty, probably hoped, each writer comes up with his own unique take on this cover, and the resulting stories make this "gimmick" a worthwhile read.
Geoff Johns' story "Batman of Two Worlds" centers on the murder of the actor playing Robin in the BATMAN television show yes, there's one in the DCU too, it seems, only without the Batcave, Alfred, and Aunt Harriet after he and the actor playing Batman start fighting on set. As the real Batman and Robin investigate, however, they discover that the reason for the murder is far more complicated than the phrase "professional differences" could possibly cover. Not only does Johns deliver a surprise resolution, he also manages to get in some fun in-jokes about the real world BATMAN series, including those rumors about what the actors got up to when off set (but not out of costume). The only let-down in this story, oddly enough, is the artwork by veterans Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella, who did the original cover. This was no doubt meant to link the new story with the old cover, but both men's styles have altered so much in the past forty-odd years that they no longer make the seamless fit they had back then. This becomes painfully apparent when these two greats attempt to do the "contemporary" Batman and Robin the two characters simply look "wrong," as does much of the rest of the artwork. Simply put, it's too modern to be properly nostalgic and too old-fashioned to be properly post-modern. Thus the intended effect fails.
The marriage of Len Wein's script and Andy Kuhn's art, on the other hand, shows what the first story could have looked like had the editor decided against the nostalgia factor. Given the slightly more modern flavor of Wein's script, about a reality TV series created from illicitly taped footage of Batman's encounters with his rogue's gallery, Kuhn's contemporary approach is all to the better. While the story may not be as surprising as Johns', the art is far more startling than Infantino and Giella's.
I'd been a bit wary of this concept when I first heard about it, but all flaws aside, this first of eight weekly one-shots gives me a lot more hope for the two months ahead. And with the names attached to future books in this series (Morrison, Azzarello, and Busiek, to name those still coming in July), I can't help but wonder whether DC COMICS PRESENTS shouldn't be a regularly occurring series. It would be a far greater tribute to Schwartz's genius and we'd get a great monthly book out of it, besides.
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