Here's a shocker: I like Batman.

I like Batman being “Batman,” you know what I mean? I don’t like it when Batman is “jacked with,” if you will. Consequently, I wasn’t a big fan of many of the ELSEWORLD stories that involved my favorite comic book superhero.

Now there are some that I really liked, such as BATMAN: GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT. That one, which is actually the first of DC’s ELSEWORLD tales, was pretty damn good. However, I can’t say that about the 1994 book, BATMAN: IN DARKEST KNIGHT.

Here’s the deal: Bruce Wayne becomes Green Lantern instead of The Batman.

That’s it folks, thanks for reading!

Well, I’m kidding about this review coming to an end, but really, that’s all you need to know. But since I’m a nice guy, I shall continue.

IN DARKEST KNIGHT (written by Mike Barr with art by Jerry Bingham) is sort of like BATMAN: YEAR ONE -- in fact, it actually begins just like that classic Batman story with the bleeding Bruce Wayne sitting in Wayne Manor asking for a sign on what he should become “to make them afraid.” Then out of the blue it happens! No bat flying through the window this time, but a Green Lantern arrives and tells Wayne that he has been “chosen.”

Chosen for what? Well, if you know Green Lantern, Bruce Wayne has been selected to become a member of the Green Lantern Corps serve as the Green Lantern of Earth. Wayne is sworn to uphold order and protect the innocent. He's also obliged to the guardians of Oa, something that doesn’t sit too well with the strong-willed Dark Knight.

From that point on, the story becomes an amalgamation of the Batman and GL mythos, but it leans way to the latter. Sure it’s set in Gotham City (for the most part) and you’ve got Alfred and Jim Gordon, but it is really a GL story at the core.

Look, I certainly don’t dislike GL, but I’m a Batman fan, OK? Seeing Bruce in a GL costume -- one that sports a goofy blue and green cowl and Batman-like cape -- just wasn’t my thing.

In addition, it simply got way too strange for my tastes with a Sinestro Joker (The villain) and the inclusion of Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash GL’s!

No, I’m not kidding.

For me, IN DARKEST KNIGHT has a clever premise and starts out OK, but fizzles out rather quickly. If you are a Batman fan, skip it -- unless you collect or just like the Batman ELSEWORLDS. I do believe that fans of the Green Lantern mythos will enjoy it much more.

A NOTE FROM JETT: IN DARKEST KNIGHT is out of print and rather hard to find.