Friday, November 14, 2008

Snap Judgements: Detective Comics #850, Cleaners #1, Batman Cacophony #1

Short comic reviews based on initial, lizard-brain opinions. Arranged from BEST to WORST. Beware some potential spoilers.


Detective Comics #850 gets an A from AHR

This was one of the best Batman stories I've read in over a year. The ending resolves every storyline with an emotional gut-punch and a few surprises as well. Dini has weaved Hush and Ventriloquist II so well into the fabric of the Batman universe, I'm dying to see where they'll turn up next.

Cleaners #1 gets a B from AHR

If there's anything that my film school writing classes taught me, it's that people LOVE a procedural drama. This story explains the largely unexlored world of trauma scene cleanup, and that subject alone will keep your attention in a Discovery Channel sort of way. But the characters are also subtly written, which is a nice change in a storytellng medium that tends to rely so heavily on over-the-top archtypes. There's also some really horrific indications of the things to come, which leaves you feeling so anxious I feel almost obligated to get the next issue. Well played.

Batman Cacophony #1 gets a C from AHR

Dude writers like Kevin Smith and Judd Winick really love writing the Joker with lots of gay jokes. Objectively, this is fine (all's fair in love and Joker characterizations) but at a certain point this issue, it feels like Smith is using gay-sex jokes not just for cheap laughs, but as a shorthand for perversion. Plus I think we all know that the Joker is only gay for Batman. Anyway. This issue is mostly just cartoonishly violent, low-calorie fun. Low points include a weakly characterized Deadshot and a new villain that has a lot of 'splainin to do if Smith means for us to take him seriously.


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