While Dan DiDio and J.G. Jones’s story is good–though Jones is a little static and one has to question whether Batman should really be allowing Man-Bat to eat people, even if they are really bad guys–it’s also the only decent story in the issue. The rest are atrocious.
Rafael Grampá, who has a very indie style until he apes Paul Pope’s Batman, does this terrible little story with the Joker and then a big reveal at the end. Awful narration.
Rafael Albuquerque does something similar, just without narration and it makes a little less sense. Batman in purgatory, confronting his past. Dumb final reveal, bad sting.
Then Jeff Lemire goes for the heavy narration too–about Thomas Wayne mostly–set against Alex Nino’s nearly incomprehensible action art.
The last story, with lovely Golden Age inspired art from Dave Bullock, has an idiotic script from Michael Uslan.
CREDITS
Manbat Out Of Hell; writer, Dan DiDio; artist, J.G. Jones; letterer, Travis Lanham. Into the Circle; writer and artist, Rafael Grampá; letterer, Steve Wands. A Place in Between; writer and artist, Rafael Albuquerque; letterer, Sal Cipriano. Winter’s End; writer, Jeff Lemire; artist, Alex Niño; letterer, Dezi Sienty. Silent Night… Unholy Night!; writer, Michael Uslan; artist and letterer, Dave Bullock. Editors, Camilla Zhang and Mark Chiarello; publisher, DC Comics.
I’ve got to give Azzarello credit. He doesn’t just let Comedian get a little loose. He runs it entirely off the rails; with integrity, though. Definitely with integrity. Even when Rorschach and Nite Owl show up, Azzarello never lets the comic become a cheap tie-in.
Azzarello finally pushes too hard with the political history lesson and loses control of the series. It’s not a bad issue, just mediocre. Jones can’t draw Nixon, which is a problem.
And another good one. Azzarello likes doing war comics; he should stick to them. Even though there are some confusing parts to the narrative–Azzarello fractures it without establishing the bookends–and the song lyric excerpts don’t work, it’s a successful issue.
It’s another surprisingly good issue.
Yeah, Azzarello definitely enjoys writing Comedian. There’s a lot of Vietnam War history here, a little American political history and almost no Watchmen connection. The Comedian could just be anyone. Azzarello never gives him anything superhero specific.
I thought J.G. Jones was a better artist. I don’t know why exactly, but I did. His figures in Comedian are terrible. People change size, make no sense when standing next to one another. And his faces are even worse. It’s an ugly comic. I guess the editors didn’t think they could tell him to actually work at it.
