Katana #4 – Review

By: Ann Nocenti (story), Alex Sanchez (art), Art Thibert (inks), Matt Yackey (colors)

The Story: No use crying over broken swords, Katana.  Don’t try huddling in a heap, either.

The Review: Have you ever read a comic and halfway through thought to yourself, I can write a better issue than this?  Yeah, me too.  It’s an inherently arrogant sort of thought, we can all agree; after all, we are basically throwing down with writers who are actually getting paid to have their work published—not to mention the fact that we just put down our own good money to purchase this product we’re now disparaging.

I don’t want to overstate my own writing abilities here, but I’m pretty sure if I had Katana on my plate, I could at least deliver a coherent, focused plot.  Nocenti, on the other hand, is all over the place.  There’s really very little excuse for that kind of distraction in this case; it’s not as if she’s obliged to tie in the title to any event or story arc going on elsewhere.  Yet these four issues have given us four rather different conflicts which have only the most tangential connection to each other and which Nocenti barely manages to develop before moving on to the next one.

Katana #2 – Review

By: Ann Nocenti (story), Alex Sanchez (art), Claude St. Aubin (inks), Matt Yackey (colors)

The Story: Katana gets her Alias wig on.

The Review: For better or worse, minority characters always have a challenge developing a following on their own.  This is especially true in the world of comics, which is still mostly a pastime for white people, both on the creative and consumptive sides.  It’s not racism; it’s the simple fact that everyone tends to resonate more with characters that look and feel familiar to them, and in a market largely driven by one demographic, others will just struggle a bit.

Katana will have an even harder time of it because she’s not American by origin, meaning there’s that additional cultural barrier readers may have to deal with.  I had a discussion with commenter M0rg0th about the various remarks on Katana’s womanhood in the first issue.  M0rg0th saw it as misogyny, but I argued that it was misogyny with purpose.  As a Japanese woman, Tatsu does have these cultural expectations of what her place should be; it’s natural that when she goes against those expectations, she’ll suffer rebuke from others and doubt within.

Katana #1 – Review

By: Ann Nocenti (story), Alex Sanchez (art), Matt Yackey (colors)

The Story: A lady doesn’t need to sharpen her nails if she’s got a sword.

The Review: We all choose to jump aboard a series for various reasons.  Sometimes it’s creator loyalty; you love some writer or artist, so the moment you see their name attached to a project, your money’s already halfway out your pocket/purse.  Sometimes it’s character loyalty; you will buy pretty much anything with Bat, X, or Avengers in the title.  Sometimes it’s concept; the idea of a supervillain playing hero or a superhero in T-shirt and jeans.

And sometimes it’s something else altogether.  For me and Katana, I admit it was mostly a matter of principle.  I like to support female creators and characters and I like to support characters with minority backgrounds.  So having Ann Nocenti writing Katana, a female character who also happens to be Asian, in an ongoing solo sounds like a pretty cool deal.  If nothing else, that just piques my curiosity.

The Joker’s Asylum: The Joker – Review

By Arvid Nelson (writer), Alex Sanchez (artist), Jose Villarrubia (colors), Rob Leigh (letters), Andy Kubert (cover)

My initial reaction to this book was “missed opportunity”. After my second read and some debate with a friend, I love it. My expectations were hurting my initial perception of the book. Instead of the psycho we’re accustomed to I got the The Joker proving a point without murder, and it has more of an impact in retrospect. The concept of the series is brilliant: we’re getting inside info on Arkham’s most notorious inmates, but from the perspective of the most notorious of all, The Joker.

The positive to Arvid Nelson’s writing is the plot itself. It does feel softer than the more modern interpretations of the character, but there’s definitely an edge which was missing at times from the cartoon or 1989 Tim Burton movie. I love the concept of The Joker going to such lengths to prove a point. To tell you “the point” is certainly a spoiler, but it’s definitely classic Joker, and makes you think about society with the recent onslaught of “reality TV”.

The biggest criticism I have is how long it takes to get to the point. Until those final panels it feels like a rejected concept for Batman: The Animated Series. The show is amazing, but it definitely pulled a few punches, most notably with The Joker.  That being said, once you accept the story as a whole you can appreciate the methods in place. It’s like watching Fight Club the second time and catching all those hints littered throughout.

Inconsistent is the word to describe the art. The Joker looks as terrifying as we’re used to on the cover, but not the interior. Even more frustrating is the fact that Joker’s look changes almost panel to panel. Sometimes he looks like Ledger’s version from the upcoming film, others he looks like a normal guy, and even Leatherface for a few panels. I just wish Alex Sanchez would’ve picked one and stuck with it.

Sadly, I feel consistency may be tough to find in this series since a new creative takes over for the next issue. From the perspective of making deadlines, I get it, but it’s almost a sure thing that the overall story will suffer since each team will probably have a new take on The Joker. There’s a lot of good work in this issue, for what it’s worth, and I’m excited to read more about Arkham’s best, seen in the eyes of Arkham’s worst. (Grade: B)

– Ben Berger