"Holy Bad Idea, Batman!"I Liked This Story Better When I Thought It Was a Joke

"Holy Terror, Batman!" Superhero takes on Al-Qaeda

from AFP

NEW YORK - Bored with pitting his wits against the Joker and the Riddler, Batman is setting his sights on a more challenging target - Osama bin Laden.

"Holy Terror, Batman!" an upcoming graphic novel from famed Batman writer Frank Miller, sees the caped crusader facing off against Al-Qaeda operatives who attack Gotham City.

Miller, who has already inked his way through 120 pages of the 200-page opus, told a recent comic book convention that the novel was an unashamed "piece of propaganda" in which Batman "kicks Al-Qaeda's ass."

The driving force behind the work, Miller said, was "an explosion from my gut reaction of what's happening now."

Holy Terror is "a reminder to people who seem to have forgotten who we're up against," he said in remarks posted on the entertainment website, IGN.com.

A 20-year comic book veteran, Miller became one of the best known names in the industry with the graphic novel Dark Knight Returns, in which he brought Batman out of retirement.

He was also the creator of the graphic novel series Sin City, which was turned into a hit movie of the same name last year directed by Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino.

Miller said the use of comic book heroes for propaganda had an honourable tradition.

"Superman punched out Hitler. So did Captain America. That's one of the things they're there for," he said.

"These are our folk heroes," he added. "It just seems silly to chase around the Riddler when you've got Al-Qaeda out there."

No date has been set for the release of "Holy Terror, Batman!"