Review by Ian Keogh

Jim Benton is known for the simple cartoon illustrations accompanying his funny all ages novels, so it’s hardly a great stride into comics, and Fann Club is in the same style, only with more drawings and fewer words.

Ernest Fann discovers holes have been chewed in his prized celebrity sock collection, and considering himself around the third best detective in the world he’s going to get to the bottom of it. Just then a Batman comic blows in through his open window, and he decides he’s going to start a fan club, or Fann Club, if you will. He can’t be Batman, so he’ll be Gerbilwing. All thoughts of detection are forgotten as he leads his best friend, his babysitter and his dog through the neighbourhood helping out. They’re all masked, as secret identities are of course important, and Benton has other ideas about what Batman may need, including creams and powders for rashes caused by itchy costumes.

Batman pastiches have been plentiful over the years, but Benton scores through his good natured take with youthful perpetrators. It’s funny for all ages, with Benton a surprisingly adaptable artist. The default setting is cartoon simplicity, but when it’s called for, usually to serve a joke, he can supply considerable detail. Pages separating the chapters also have a different look, shrouded in shadow with something of Too Much Coffee Man about them.

Benton also includes short appearances from Batman’s primary villains in Ernie’s dreams, where he’s always able to defeat them via methods Batman never seems to have considered. Why not just wipe the make-up from the Joker’s face and reveal him as an embarrassed old man?

Inevitably, Gerbilwing and co. find themselves in a real situation, or as real as a werewolf robbing a bank with a hand grenade gets. It’s all hilariously silly, but what at first seem random events are given logical reasons, which is smart on Benton’s part. There’s also a short back-up strip in which Gerbilwing explains how important it is always to be good, and not to just go around punching people.

For younger readers the jokes and silliness ought to transmit whether or not they have any idea who Batman is, which means it’s job well done.