Batman: Cacophony TPB
I have been wanting to read this since it was announced in 2008. Onomatopoeia was a weird but fun read in Kevin Smith's 2001 Green Arrow run, and here was Smith again, writing his own creation against Batman. Sounded like fun, and another theme villain against Batman? Yes, please, although I was hoping Ono' wouldn't be a permanent resident of Gotham after this. As time and money would have it, I didn't get to read this until March 2015, so here I am, six years after the 2009 release of the trade, writing this review.
First, let's talk about the intro a little bit, because it sums things up for me pretty well. Smith wrote his own introduction, and he went on about having gotten DC to give his friend Walt Flanagan the job of artist for this tale. I guess he caught flak for this from folks, but here's the thing: so what? The guy wasn't bad. There were a couple or three weird moments with Bruce Wayne's face, and an odd take on the Joker in the last issue (wouldn't a beard grow in green too?) but so what? It's not any stranger than Kelley Jones' sword-lengthed Bat-ears, or Keith Giffen's jam packed, headache inducing, sight gag filled backgrounds. So who cares how he got the job? He did the job.
Smith also talked about catching flak from fans over Batman's non-Bat dialogue in Issue One, and how he scrambled to correct this in Issues Two and Three. Well, this isn't personal, but FAIL, sir. It still didn't feel like Batman to me. It didn't feel like Joker either. Zzazz felt overly-whacked, and Maxie Zeus wasn't whacked enough. That was the point with Zeus, but it just didn't feel right. Even Deadshot was a little off, and he never misses (ho ho). Maybe it's that I've seen enough film of Kevin Smith to have a passable idea of what he sounds like, and to me, Kevin Smith is who I heard throughout the book, whether I was reading Batman, Joker, or even Alfred. It was like he was so overjoyed with having figured out his problems with Issue One, "boiling each sentiment down" so that he understood the characters better, that he still forgot to write in their voices.
Putting the dialogue problems aside, the story itself wasn't bad. Ono' and Joker sort of team up to hunt Batman, although it becomes a question of who is using who, before the end. I enjoyed the book for the further characterization of Onomatopoeia, especially since it was coming from the guy who created him. My only problem was the thing of collecting the masks of those he's killed. There was a similar idea in the 1988 Manhunter, and...okay, I just realized that's danged near thirty years ago, but SHUT UP, I guess I'm getting old.
Overall, I came away from this feeling that Kevin Smith should have written Cacophony, shelved it for awhile, then came back to it and did some retouches. Yeah yeah, deadlines, but this really came off with novice problems, and I'm a little embarrassed for him. Please understand: this is not a Kevin Smith hate fest. I have no ill will for the man, and I completely enjoyed his Green Arrow, and probably other stuff that I don't realize he was the writer on (because I don't always notice the creators' names).
I'm guessing of course, but I think the problems in the writing come down to deadline pressures, and gawd I hope some measure of distraction that can be blamed for this. He does say in the intro that he "banged out the first two scripts in a week." This honestly comes off as something I would post to the fan-fic board when trying to meet a contest deadline. I've muffed many an entry because I was trying to beat the clock, and it always shows in the votes. They're fixable, but too late for the contest. That's the kind of thing I'm seeing in Batman: Cacophony.
So the rating: Minus one star for Batman sounding like Kevin Smith. Minus one star for Joker sounding like Kevin Smith. Minus one star for everyone else sounding like Kevin Smith. Minus one star for a thirty year old mask collecting idea. Minus two stars for novice writing mistakes (yes, I know that makes a minus count). Plus two stars for fleshing out Onomatopoeia some more. Plus one star for pitting another theme villain against Batman. Plus two for championing Walt for the job, because good for being a friend! Minus two for crap writing mistakes, but only because I know Kevin Smith can do better, and for the price of comics these days, I expect my money's worth, or f*** you for stealing from me. So I'm surprising myself with a final score of two stars, and it's a surprise, because I honestly expected to enjoy this more. Here's hoping that The Widening Gyre was better- I have to catch up on that one as well.