Each of DC and Warner Bros.’ Justice League/Looney Tunes crossovers have struck a delicate balance between slapstick comedy and classic superhero action that ends up making all of the characters involved more interesting. In the upcoming Batman/Elmer Fudd special, though, things get vewy, vewy dark.
Writer Tom King has always been fantastic at infusing a sense of existential darkness and dread into comics, and in Batman/Elmer Fudd, he lays it on thick with a classic, noir story of revenge.
Here, Bugs is “The Bunny,” a bucktoothed hitman responsible for killing someone Elmer loved. Just before Elmer can unload his shotgun into Bugs at Porky’s bar, though, Bugs reveals the identity of the billionaire who hired him to do the killing: Bruce Wayne. This information puts Elmer on a path toward his next target and the target’s iconic, most-guarded secret: the cowl.
Batman/Elmer Fudd is in stores next Wednesday, but you can read through the first couple of pages below: