Can't get a 5 when the art is a 2.5!
Alright, alright, let me halt the hype train that is word of mouth about Detective comics. Scott Snyder has been doing excellent, excellent work writing this, researching it and coming up with wonderful twists on villain motivations. In "Hungry City", he researched banks and the reader really feels the difference when they are talked up to for a change! His Tiger Shark has an interesting way of speaking to Batman through his henchmen and is part of a sort of lineage of ancient pirates and sea people. I absolutely hate his mask, but I could look past it...
But now I'm at the point where I have had it. Francesco Francavilla, be warned, draws at the same level inside this issue as he does on the cover -- that's a problem! There's hyper-minimalism, and then there's I-don't-want-to-draw-very-much. See the title there? I'm sorry, I like professionally styled art, not a title that looks like my kid brother's proudest moment in art. Thankfully, the colorist tries to compensate, but come ON. This is why I don't read the very innovative 'Irredeemable'! You can just read the summaries of what is going on, because the artwork is terrible.
People didn't make McFarlane and Deodato into legends because they scrimped on detail; this is not a superb technique, it is a disservice to the fans. Story is very good, but the over-the-top end scene is too 'Hostel' for me to take. This is Batman, but Bloodman. Once you lapse into sensational horror like this, you may be running out of ideas. The art and the gruesome ending dock this to 2.5 stars, especially since all of a sudden it is very decompressed.
