The Spirit/Batman by Darwin Cooke

The idea to combine Batman and the Spirit is fun, but the comic Batman/The Spirit doesn't really develop too far beyond getting the two vigilantes together.
The first half of the story is told through parallel action, using different color schemes to indicate the different cities. Gotham seems darker, using cooler tones, while Central City is covered in warmer and lighter colors. The contrast between the two cities is minimal enough to prevent Central City and Gotham from being completely alien to each other, but at moments the affinity between the two cities is too great, and may be confusing. Like most parallel action, as the action converges, the number of panels inbetween the actions become fewer.
Aside from form, it is interesting that the villains initiate the bridge between Gotham and Central City. Either Plato or Aristotle writes that when man secludes himself from society it is unhealthy and the root of villainy/evil in men, yet here we have the heroes being secluded while the villains fraternize with each other across cities. The fight for evil is more organized and offensive, while the fight for good is counteractive. Although maybe this makes the fight of good seem overwhelmed, so that the audience roots for the underdog. I’m not sure.
For this comic overall I would have liked to see a larger sense of the noir in the illustrations and more development on characters. I know that the characters have already been developed to the point of icons, but I feel that the concept would have been better served if more time were taken to sit with the characters.