Written by Kieron Gillen
Illustrated by Renato ArlemThe phone rings. The voice speaks. They want you to fight Captain America. Again. The man who beat you before. The man who you know will beat you again. What can you say? You say “Yes”. Batroc: Traceur shows why and takes you every step of the road he walks. It’s time to meet the man behind the greatest moustache in the MarvelUniverse. Yeah, Stark. You heard.
While I initially had zero interest in Marvel’s most recent batch of blatant movie tie-ins 75th Anniversary Captain America One-Shots, this particular self contained story popped up on my radar screen during my most recent conversation with writer Kieron Gillen wherein I learned that this story was one of the first he ever conceived within the Marvel Universe. It’s a good thing this one percolated for a while, since in 22 short pages, Gillen manages to turn one of the lost running punchlines of the Marvel Universe into one of the most human, compelling characters in the MU (trust me, I’m just as surprised as you.) Click past the cut and watch me defend this claim.
If we’re going to be completely honest here, this story ended up being much less a Captain America AND Batroc story as opposed to a Batroc story featuring Bucky Cap (or “Captain America: Batroc”, if you will). The story opens with Batroc in the company of a seemingly high priced lady of the night before he receives a call, as the solicit indicates, for a job that comes with a high likelihood of a Captain America encounter. From this point, the story enters its major plot thread of defining the motivation of a super villain who knows, almost instinctively, that he will lose every fight he enters, who’s only ability is an admittedly daunting mastery of Parkour and aerial acrobatics.
In a lot of ways, the visuals of this book tell a completely different story than the text of Batroc’s inner monologue. While the visuals portray and simple training sequence followed by a traditional super hero fight and bookending the story with yet another hooker scene, the internal monologue reveals a level of depth I never expected anyone to ever ascribe to Batroc the frickin Leaper. You see, Batroc is well aware that he will not win a fight with Captain America (any Captain America, as the case may be.) For him, it is not about winning or losing, but rather acting, being the best person he simply can be. In the single greatest line of the book, a young Traceur that Batroc encounters during his exercises, defines the mindset perfectly in saying “competition is the antithesis of the Traceur’s art. It is not about what others can do. It is about what YOU can do. You only ever race against yourself.” In short, he fights Captain America because he CAN.
The story here is so much deeper than that though. Ultimately, whether he is motivated by some warped idea of zen, sheer delusion or complete insanity. There is so much more to Batroc than a simple villain for hire. This is usually the point in the review where I go on and on about how Gillen should work with the character more and tell more stories in the vein of this one (much like I continue to do with Fred Van Lente and Taskmaster). Well, I’m gonna go against the grain with this one since, honestly, the story has run its course. What we have is more than good enough and any more would just sully the messages behind this one. That said, because of this story, I will forever look at Batroc differently as both a character and a metaphor for the human condition, and THAT is what I can effective storytelling.
Speaking of effective storytelling, Arlem does his job with a flare not too dissimilar from Steve Epting or Mike Deodato. The fluid line work makes every panel almost a separate beast in and of itself, combined with the shading and use of dimension give this book an aesthetic that exists somewhere between Film Noir and Spaghetti Western, which is an interesting line to walk indeed.
Ultimately, while I can’t really make an argument for this issue being essential reading in any sort of continuity way, if you’re looking for a compelling thought pieces that universally redefines not only a classic super villain, but in a lot of ways the idea of an antagonist in comics, this one is stunningly worth your $3.99.
Final Verdict: 9.5 – Buy
