Maybe DC did the whole “New 52” thing so they’d never have to address the terrible developments in Widening Gyre. I’d respect them for that motive. It’s just not a bad finish, with Smith killing off a familiar DC character, but a bad issue overall. Batman breaks into the Fortress of Solitude for a date […]
MoreOh, no, it’s another one with potential. Smith doesn’t resolve the cliffhanger–he just has Bruce running off to avoid it. Bruce and Silver in Aspen, even in the few scenes they have, is terrible. Their trip is juxtaposed against Tim Drake Robin narrating. Smith writes all the Robin narrations the same, so it’s bland but […]
MoreUh, oh, there are getting to be things I like here. Smith has turned it into a domestic–Batman fights crime while Silver waits home for him. The stuff with the new goat guy revealing his face to Bruce too soon is dumb; Smith can only rationalize comic book logic so far. But it opens with […]
MoreThis issue’s easily the best and I’m not entirely sure why. It’s a romance montage–Bruce and Silver off in paradise during the day, Batman out at night. There’s some stuff with the goat vigilante, who Smith writes like Brody from Mallrats and that scene is awful… and Smith writes Silver awful and the whole thing […]
MoreMore flashbacks, more guest stars… and some fat jokes. The child murderer at the open is practically a lookalike for Silent Bob. Batman keeps thinking of him as the fat guy, but he doesn’t actually catch him, someone else does. Then Silver St. Cloud shows up. I’m skipping some of the lame narration to get […]
MoreLeave it to Kevin Smith to try to make Batman sound hip. He also sounds really self-aware, which doesn’t really work for the character. I was half expecting Smith to make a gay joke, but then remembered it’s the one thing DC editorial won’t allow. This issue has Batman teaming up with Robin in flashback, […]
MoreAnd, boom, there goes the series. Smith opens the issue reasonably well with a big fight scene between the Joker, the new supervillain and Batman, but then he decides to do a Killing Joke rip-off instead. I think he even opens the conversation between Batman and the Joker like Moore does in The Killing Joke. […]
MoreThere’s some really problematic art this issue. I feel kind of bad pointing it out (it happens regularly throughout the issue) since this issue is even better than the first. Smith opens it with narration. I can’t remember the last time I read a Batman comic with so much opening narration. It’s wonderful. There’s a […]
MoreWho knew? Kevin Smith can write one heck of a Batman comic. And his buddy, Walt Flanagan (who spent many years as a punchline in Smith’s films), can draw well enough. I’ve certainly seen far less professional looking Batman comics than Cacophony. I haven’t read a Smith comic in ten plus years–since Daredevil. He does […]
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