Batman: The Widening Gyre (Hardcover review)

Written by Kevin Smith, Pencils by Walter Flanagan, inks by Art Thibert

Kevin Smith wants you to believe that the best thing about The Widening Gyre is the twist ending. Granted—and I won’t spoil it for you—it is kind of an awesome ending. It’s all Smith really talks about in his afterward. How he and Flanagan waited two years for that twist to be revealed, and how proud he is that no one saw it coming (but really, how did that happen? It was remarkably obvious). Still, as proud as he is about the ending, it’s not what makes Widening Gyre as success. There’s a rule to these kinds of stories: without the twist, does the story hold up? Movies like Unbreakable works while, sticking with M. Knight, Signs does not. It’s also important that the twist at the ending adds to the story instead of simply becoming the story. In this case, Widening Gyre both succeeds and fails. The story before the twist is actually interesting enough to hold on its own, but the twist hijacks the story…maybe.

What works before the twist is seeing a very seamless Bruce Wayne/Batman life. He’s approaching, as Smith calls it “crisis of infinite midlife” and wondering if he could really be Batman forever…and if this new hero, Baphomet can be his replacement. He’s falling in love with Silver St. Cloud…and out of love with Catwoman. It’s the greatest threat to Batman—Bruce Wayne finding happiness. And it’s an interesting character study. At first he’s more focused as Batman, but the more the story progresses, he finds himself more in tune with Bruce Wayne, maybe for the first time since he put on the mask. He even finds himself surprised at how okay he is with just being Bruce Wayne. Smith is great at setting up that pendulum with his characters as they go through identity crises. However, he’s not without faults. First of all is the title. I’m sorry, maybe I’ve just been in too many creative writing classes with too many jackasses who thought they were clever when they nailed that awesome title for their freakishly brilliant work of literary genius. Here’re two facts: the title was always either Signifying Nothing (thank god Faulkner already jumped the bandwagon with Sound and Fury) or, you guessed it, The Widening Gyre. The other fact…all of those stories sucked. So I was wary on the story from the beginning because of the clichéd title. And he loves his ending a bit too much. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have read the afterward he wrote, but by the end of it I just wanted him to stop smiling in the mirror and telling himself how clever he was. Like I said, if you read Cacophony, the reveal was all too simple. What was surprising was the scale of the reveal. As far as if it works as an ending…no. It doesn’t. Because it’s not the ending; it’s only part two of a trilogy and we have to wait for the next installment to see how the story comes together (note—it better not be “Batman must kill XXXXX”),

Batman: Widening Gyre #2 – Review

By Kevin Smith (Writer), Walter Flanagan (Art), Art Thibert (Inks), and Art Lyon (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I found the first issue of Widening Gyre to be decent enough to give the Kevin Smith series at least one more look. I’ve got my expectations set a bit lower than they were when I went into reviewing Cacophony, so I wouldn’t be totally shocked if I wind up being pleasantly surprised by Smith’s latest.

The Story: Batman gets another assist from the goat-faced vigilante during the rescue of a child. Afterwards, Bruce gets an unexpected visit from a beautiful lady that he has a history with. Unfortunately, he may not be able to make it to their second date…

What’s Good And What’s Not So Good: Two issues in and the best thing that Widening Gyre has going for it is the goat-faced guy. He’s designed well (artistically) and the way he’s used throughout the second issue of the series is effective enough to keep me interested in reading. Unfortunately though, the goat guy (I believe Kevin Smith’s planning on calling him Baphomet) is the only thing about the story that’s hooking me in so far. A trend seems to be developing where bad guys pop into the story in a random way, with no lead in and for no purpose other than to have an action beat/appearance by the goat person. Maybe the appearance by Silver St. Cloud is supposed to be big, but I wouldn’t know since, admittedly, I’m reading Gyre as a casual Batman fan.

Lackluster plot aside, Smith’s writing is quite sharp. His use of dry humor and pop culture references add a lot of personality to his story and the characters part of it. The downside to Smith’s style is that it feels as though Bruce Wayne’s tone swings wildly back and forth. I realize he’s a moody guy, but the shift from funny and casual to serious and remorseful is pretty jarring.

After reading two issues of Gyre, I can safely say that Walter Flanagan’s artwork for Gyre is quite a bit better than it was for Cacophony. The set pieces feel bigger (the opening scene of Widening Gyre #2 is particularly stylish and well executed), the character work is far more consistent, and the action flows in a more natural way. A few panels in Gyre #2 are a bit rough though. Robin’s pose early on is a bit disturbing, Silver St. Cloud’s face has a weird shape at times, and Bruce Wayne’s “surprised” facial expression looks almost creepy. Also, I have to mention that Flanagan’s got a bit of a problem keeping bodies looking consistent. That said, I have to give Flanagan credit for the way he tries to construct scenes as cinematically as possible. That could very easily be the reason why things occasionally look a bit off.

Conclusion: Batman: Widening Gyre #2 is solid enough, but the story definitely needs to pick up a bit before I can fully commit to the entire series.

Grade: C

-Kyle Posluszny

Batman: Cacophony #2 (of 3) – Review

By Kevin Smith (Writer), Walter Flanagan (Pencils), Sandra Hope (Inks), and Guy Major (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I am definitely what you would call a Kevin Smith fan. In fact, just last night I spent a healthy chunk of the evening re-watching the hilarious Evening with Kevin Smith DVD (if you haven’t seen it, you must). I’m fully aware of how entertaining the man can be. That said, the first chapter of his Batman story left me a bit disappointed. It was entertaining enough and Onomatopoeia’s appearance was downright awesome, but for whatever reason, I expected something more… satisfying, I guess. Maybe things will pick up in the second chapter.

The Story: The war between Joker and Maxie Zeus heats up (literally) when Joker sets Zeus’ club ablaze in retaliation for the manufacturing and distribution of the drug known as “chuckles.” Batman shows up among all the chaos to rescue whoever he can and bring down the Joker, but an appearance by Onomatopoeia throws a wrench into the hero’s plans. The aftermath of all the action leaves Batman contemplating the connection between Joker and the mysterious Onomatopoeia, as well as how he can deal with the delusional Maxie Zeus and his popular drug.

What’s Good: While some of the problems I had with the first issue remain, the second chapter of Cacophony is a definite improvement. Most importantly, the story develops at a much more solid pace. And while it isn’t the deepest tale ever told, it scores points for successfully toeing the line between aspects that are dark and weighty and those that are more lighthearted and fun. Also, there is more Onomatopoeia, which is always a good thing.

As for the art, I have to mention how Walter Flanagan and his team put together a few  impressive looking scenes. In particular, there is one shot of Onomatopoeia that I consider to be poster worthy. It’s that cool looking.

What’s Not So Good: Like I said, some of the problems I had with the first issue remain in Cacophony #2. While Joker is a bit more enjoyable this time around, there are still aspects of his portrayal that don’t quite sit right with me. Sometimes it’s the visual style and sometimes it’s the dialogue, though oddly enough, rarely both at once.

Conclusion: While it has a few kinks, Batman: Cacophony is definitely proving to be a fun series to follow, especially for a casual fan like me.  If the final issue shows as much improvement as the second one did, Cacophony might even wind up being somewhat memorable.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

Batman: Cacophony #1 (of 3) – Review

By Kevin Smith (Writer), Walter Flanagan (Pencils), Sandra Hope (Inker), and Guy Major (Colorist)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I am not much of a DC reader, but as long as it’s not heavily steeped in continuity, I will pick up the occasional Batman story from time to time. I decided to get the first issue of this particular story after reading a recent interview Kevin Smith did in Wizard. The story he has planned sounds quite interesting and Smith swears that Cacophony will get completed on a decent schedule (unlike some of his past work).

The Story: Deadshot breaks into Arkham Asylum in order to assassinate the Joker. But he soon finds that another, Onomatopoeia, is after the same target for a different reason. A fight ensues and soon Joker is free from Arkham, looking for revenge on the person responsible for using his Joker venom for profit. Meanwhile, Batman has his hands full dealing with the lunatic, Zsasz.

What’s Good: The story is off to a nice, intriguing start and I’m definitely glad I decided to give Cacophony a shot. The artwork by Walter Flanagan is lively and the writing by Kevin Smith is (mostly) humorous and entertaining. Also, I have to mention how awesome I think Onomatopoeia is. He’s a character that really puts the medium to great use.

What’s Not So Good: My biggest complaint is that I am really not a fan of the way Joker is portrayed in this story. He comes across as (and looks) a bit too wacky for my tastes. While the dark edge necessary to make Joker work is there, something just feels a bit off. And considering he takes up a decent portion of the book’s pages, it lessened my overall enjoyment of the story a bit.

Conclusion: More Onomatopoeia and less Joker would have earned this book a higher score. That said, I liked what I read (and saw) and am interested in seeing where the story goes from here. Also, I’m pretty sure that this story will be best suited for casual readers as opposed to hardcore fans… but I could be wrong.

Grade: C+

-Kyle Posluszny